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Angels Designate Ian Anderson For Assignment

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The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. and recalled righty Víctor Mederos. In corresponding moves. they optioned righty Michael Darrell-Hicks and designated righty Ian Anderson for assignment.

Anderson was just acquired from Atlanta prior to Opening Day. It was a one-for-one swap with lefty José Suarez going the other way. It seems neither club was particularly committed to the player it acquired. Suarez was designated for assignment by Atlanta on Monday and now the Angels have followed suit with Anderson just two days later.

The results from Anderson have not been good so far this year. A starter for most of his career, the Halos kept him in relief. He tossed 9 1/3 innings over seven appearances but he has allowed 12 earned runs in that time, with eight strikeouts and seven walks.

That performance has bumped him off the roster. Since he’s out of options, the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man roster entirely. They will now have a week to determine what’s next for him. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Angels could take up to five days to explore trade interest.

If any club wants Anderson, it would be based on his results from a few years ago. Over 2020 and 2021, he tossed 160 2/3 innings with the club, posting a 3.25 earned run average in that time. His 10% walk rate was a tad high but he also punched out 24.5% of batters faced and got grounders on 49.9% of balls in play. He also made four postseason starts in each of those seasons, helping Atlanta win the World Series in the latter season.

But it’s been rough sledding since then. His ERA jumped to 5.00 in 2022 and then he required Tommy John surgery in April of 2023, shortly after he had been optioned to the minors. He spent the rest of 2023 recovering. He returned to the mound last year and logged 68 innings over 15 minor league starts. He had a 3.44 ERA in those with a 23.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate.

He exhausted his options during that time, which has led to his current roster bubble situation. Perhaps he can find some club that’s willing to give him a roster spot and some time to get back on track. He hasn’t been good for a few years but health was at least part of that. He’s a former third overall pick, top prospect and even has some past major league success. If he lands somewhere, he has less than three years of major league service, meaning he could be retained for three years beyond this one.

As for Edwards, he’s a veteran journeyman. He actually signed with a Mexican League club in early March but the Angels signed him a couple of weeks later. He has tossed 11 2/3 innings over seven appearances for Triple-A Salt Lake with a 1.54 ERA. His major league career goes back a decade, with a 3.54 ERA in 280 innings, but it’s been almost two years since he was a regular. His 2023 season was ended by a stress fracture in his shoulder and he only made one appearance in the majors last year.

Last night, starter José Soriano only lasted 3 1/3 innings, forcing the Angels to lean heavily on the bullpen. That included Anderson and Darrell-Hicks, who have been swapped out for two fresh arms.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro,Imagn Images

Dodgers Shut Down Blake Snell

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Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell likely won’t be returning to the club soon. Manager Dave Roberts told members of the media, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that the southpaw “didn’t feel great” after a recent catch session. He will be shut down and it’s possible he’ll be sent for more imaging. He’ll be re-examined when the club gets back to Los Angeles, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. The Dodgers are at Wrigley tonight, then have an off-day Thursday before starting a new homestand on Friday.

Snell started the season healthy but landed on the injured list after just two starts due to shoulder inflammation. An MRI at that time didn’t find any structural damage and the club was hopeful that he wouldn’t miss too much time. It’s now been three weeks since his last appearance and this latest shutdown figures to extend his timeline.

More information will likely be revealed in the coming days as the Dodgers conduct more tests but it’s obviously not encouraging for him to have any kind of setback or recurrence of discomfort. The Dodgers signed him to a five-year, $182MM deal in the offseason, though with some deferrals. He got that big payday on account of strong production on a rate basis. He has only twice pitched more than 130 innings in a season, with both of those seasons resulting in Cy Young awards.

The Dodgers surely were aware that they might have a few IL stints from Snell over the course of his contract, based on past precedent. In other seasons, he has managed to post decent results around his injuries. That was the case last year. He followed up his 2023 Cy Young season with an uneven campaign in 2024. He went on the IL a couple of times due to groin issues and had a 9.51 ERA at the end of June, but then dominated the rest of the way with a 1.23 ERA in the final three months.

That was an extreme example of a general trend in Snell’s career, as he has almost always been a slow starter and strong finisher. For his career, he has a 3.92 first half ERA but a 2.39 ERA in the second half. Time will tell if this is a significant ailment or just another instalment of Snell’s typical magic. The Dodgers surely care more about Snell’s ability to contribute in October, so it makes sense to be cautious with anything at this time of year.

Snell is one of a number of Dodger starters on the injured list. Each of Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan and Gavin Stone are out after undergoing major arm surgeries last year. Clayton Kershaw underwent knee and foot surgery and is still working his way back. Tony Gonsolin suffered a back injury during spring training.

Right now, the healthy rotation consists of Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Gonsolin and Kershaw are both currently on rehab assignments and could return in the coming weeks, though it’s a bit short-handed for now, especially with the club keeping Yamamoto and Sasaki on weekly pitching schedules. Ben Casparius is starting a bullpen game tonight after the Dodgers used six relievers in last night’s extra-innings loss.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Mariners Select Casey Lawrence

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The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence. Fellow righty Sauryn Lao was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding active roster move. To get Lawrence onto the 40-man, outfielder Víctor Robles was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Robles suffered a left shoulder dislocation a couple of weeks ago and isn’t expected back for several months.

Lawrence and the Mariners seem to have an arrangement that is working for both of them. The season is only a few weeks old but this is already the third time he has been selected to the roster. He signed a minor league deal with the M’s in the winter and was called up to the majors on April 9th. A few days later, he was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and elected free agency. He returned on a fresh minor league deal and was back on the roster by April 18th. Once again, he was quickly DFA’d and cleared waivers but is now back on the roster a third time.

Around those transactions, he has served as a multi-inning reliever for the club. He has logged five innings across three appearances thus far, having allowed two earned runs. By continually shuffling him on and off the roster, the Mariners can keep fresh arms moving in and out of the bullpen.

Lawrence is out of options, which necessitates him continually being removed from the 40-man. He has the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright but seems content to circling back to the Mariners each time. From his perspective, he gets to add a bit of major league pay and service time, not a bad outcome for a 37-year-old journeyman.

Emerson Hancock, the least established member of the Seattle rotation, takes the ball tonight for the M’s at Fenway Park. If he gets into trouble, Lawrence will likely be called upon to sop up some innings and save the rest of the bullpen before tomorrow’s day game.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images

Cubs Sign Nicky Lopez, Designate Gage Workman

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The Cubs announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder Nicky Lopez to a big league deal. Infielder and Rule 5 pick Gage Workman was designated for assignment to open a spot on the roster. Photographer Sam Bernero first spotted Lopez heading into Wrigley Field this afternoon and tweeted out a photo she snapped. Shane Riordan of 670 The Score subsequently reported that Lopez, an Octagon client, was signing a major league deal.

Chicago also selected the contract of recently acquired lefty Drew Pomeranz, optioned righty Gavin Hollowell to Triple-A Iowa and transferred lefty Justin Steele from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL (thus opening a 40-man spot for Pomeranz). Steele recently underwent elbow surgery and will miss the remainder of the 2025 season, so his move to the 60-day IL was a formality.

Lopez was with the Cubs as a non-roster invitee in spring training but didn’t make the Opening Day club. He opted out of that deal and signed with the Angels, who needed some infield depth due to a handful of injuries. The Halos reinstated shortstop Zach Neto last week and designated Lopez for assignment, after which he elected free agency.

The 30-year-old Lopez appeared in five games and was hitless in six plate appearances in his short stint with the Angels. He’ll hope for a larger look with the Cubs, who have some questions in the infield after optioning struggling top prospect Matt Shaw and seeing the now-designated-for-assignment Workman struggle at the hot corner as well. Veteran utilityman Jon Berti has been seeing more time at third base recently, though he hasn’t hit much either — just .250/.344/.250 in an admittedly small sample of 32 plate appearances.

Lopez, like Berti, brings a versatile and high quality glove to the Cubs. He’s spent the bulk of his career in the middle infield where he grades as a plus-plus defender at both positions. He’s less experienced at third base but still has strong grades in nearly 400 frames there (7 Defensive Runs Saved, 6 Outs Above Average).

Excellent as Lopez is on the defensive side of the coin, his bat leaves plenty to be desired. He’s a career .247/.311/.313 hitter in 2352 plate appearances at the MLB level, and even that modest production is skewed by what now looks like a clear outlier campaign in 2021, when he batted .300/.365/.378. In three-plus seasons since that time, Lopez has limped to a .232/.301/.286 line between the Royals, Braves, White Sox and Angels.

Workman, 25, was selected out of the Tigers organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft and made the Opening Day roster after he hit .364/.420/.705 in 50 spring plate appearances. He hasn’t carried that outstanding production over to the regular season. He’s appeared in nine games but tallied only 15 plate appearances, during which he’s gone 2-for-14 with a walk. Workman never got a true look with the Cubs, which isn’t surprising, as it’s difficult for contending clubs to carry a career minor leaguer who can’t be optioned to the minors.

Workman is viewed as a plus defender at third base with plenty of raw power and too much swing-and-miss in his offensive profile. He spent the 2024 season with the Tigers’ Double-A affiliate, where he batted .280/.366/.476 with 18 homers, 30 steals, an 11.7% walk rate and a bloated 27.5% strikeout rate in his third season of action at that level. He’s yet to appear in a Triple-A game.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Workman will be placed on outright waivers and offered to the rest of the league (excluding the Tigers). If he goes unclaimed, he will by rule be offered back to the Tigers for $50K.

The veteran Pomeranz hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 due to a lengthy series of injuries. He inked a minor league deal with the Mariners in the offseason and tossed 9 2/3 frames with their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma before being traded to the Cubs for cash. He allowed five earned runs (4.66 ERA) on nine hits and six walks (plus two hit batsmen) during that short stint with Tacoma. Clearly, Pomeranz’s command was an issue, but he also fanned 14 of his 43 opponents (32.6%) and sat 92.3 mph on his heater — a good bit north of the 90-91 mph he was sitting at during minor league stints with the Padres and Dodgers over the past two seasons.

Poll: Should Spencer Torkelson’s Breakout Be Believed?

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Not long ago, Spencer Torkelson seemed to be out of time. The Tigers first baseman was selected first overall in the 2020 draft to plenty of fanfare, and he instantly became a consensus top-5 talent in the minor leagues. A disappointing rookie season in 2022 tempered those massive expectations, but a strong second half in 2023 caused many around the league to think the following year would be Torkelson’s season to shine. That didn’t happen either, as the slugger was once again a below-average hitter overall and wound up optioned to the minors for much of the year. When the Tigers signed Gleyber Torres to push Colt Keith over to first base, it seemed like a bad omen for 25-year-old’s future in Detroit.

Spring Training changed all of that, as the club’s entire outfield mix save Riley Greene wound up on the injured list. That opened up enough roster spots for Torkelson to have a real shot at the Opening Day roster, and he made the most of the opportunity by hitting .340/.389/.680 in 55 plate appearances during camp. Spring stats only count for so much due to the less competitive environment, however, and Torkelson would need to show out in actual major league games if he was going to turn his career around. So far, he’s done just that. Torkelson has not only been the Tigers’ best hitter this year, but he’s been one of the top hitters in the majors.

Across 24 games this year, the slugger has slashed an excellent .273/.377/.591 with a wRC+ of 176. It’s enough to have made him the 12th-best qualified hitter in the major leagues to this point in the year. It’s early enough in the season that the leaderboard still looks fairly unusual; just ahead of Torkelson with a 177 wRC+ is veteran outfielder George Springer, who it goes without saying is unlikely to maintain a .444 BABIP all season long. While there’s plenty of reasons to be skeptical of small-sample performances, many of them don’t apply to the 106 plate appearances Torkelson has taken to this point in the year.

Torkelson’s BABIP is .309, which is the highest of his career but well within the range of expected outcomes for a hitter and not substantially higher than the .285 BABIP he posted last season. The fact that Torkelson is hitting the ball on a line (17.7% line drive rate) more often than last year (15.1%) surely helps his outcomes on balls in play, as well. His 26.4% strikeout rate is also a tick lower than last year’s 27.6%, but none of these are the most encouraging signs regarding Torkelson’s start to the 2025 campaign. The most exciting news here is that he’s not only resumed crushing the ball at the level he was during the 2023 season, but that he’s paired it with newfound patience at the plate.

The 25-year-old is swinging less than ever, at just 44.3% of his pitches. Torkelson’s swing rates both inside and outside of the strike zone are lower than ever, and that newfound patience has allowed him to not only draw walks at a phenomenal 13.2% clip but also make more contact when he does swing. His 10.2% swinging strike rate this year is the lowest of his career, and he’s making contact on 52.2% of pitches he swings at outside of the zone after putting the bat on just 40.6% of those same pitches last year.

That more judicious approach at the plate has allowed Torkelson to rediscover his titanic power after posting a paltry .155 ISO last year. He has seven homers and seven doubles already this year, and that power is backed up by his underlying numbers: he’s managed a phenomenal 17.7% barrel rate that would be by far the highest of his career if maintained over the full season and is nearly triple last year’s 6.1% clip, and 50.0% of his balls have been considered hard hit, good for a 95mph exit velocity or higher.

All of this is extremely impressive, and if Torkelson can keep anything close to this going for the full year, he’ll have finally tapped into the potential scouts saw in him half a decade ago as an amateur. Over his final 300 plate appearances in 2023, Torkelson hit .238/.320/.506 with a wRC+ of 125. His 26.7% strikeout rate was more or less identical over that stretch to this year’s figure. His 16.6% barrel rate and 52.2% hard-hit rate weren’t far off, either. Those numbers are all close enough to serve as a reminder that Torkelson’s first 100 plate appearances this year don’t guarantee his future production will be close to as impactful, although his 2025 numbers do have a few key advantages over his second-half numbers in 2023.

For one thing, Torkelson’s line drive rate is three points higher while his soft contact rate is nine points lower this season. Those figures could help to explain the huge difference in BABIP, which sat at just .262 during his final 300 trips to the plate in 2023. His discipline is also noticeably improved, as he walked 10.0% of the time during that stretch, nearly four points lower than this year. If Torkelson’s improved plate discipline holds up and he continues to make soft contact this sparingly, it’s not hard to imagine him being able to keep up this level of production over the long haul.

What do MLBTR readers think of Torkelson’s hot start? Is this finally the year he puts it all together and looks like the dominant offensive force he was always expected to be, or will this prove to be another flash in the pan like his late 2023 production? Have your say in the poll below:

Mets Expect To Activate Francisco Alvarez, Jeff McNeil On Friday

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The Mets are planning to reinstate catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil from the 10-day injured list on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters (video link via SNY). Both players will be making their 2025 debuts. Each will play in one final rehab game today.

Alvarez, 23, has appeared in nine rehab games thus far and taken 40 plate appearances. He’s out to a middling start, but the nature of his injury — a fractured hamate bone that required surgery — has a tendency to dull offensive performance early on when hitters return. The slugging backstop has been the Mets’ primary catcher over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .222/.294/.422 with 36 home runs in 765 plate appearances. Alvarez has also emerged as a top-tier pitch framer, though his blocking and throwing abilities lag behind.

So far in 2025, the Mets have gone with journeyman Luis Torrens as their starter and homegrown 28-year-old Hayden Senger as their backup. Torrens hit quite well through his first 11 games but has fallen into a deep slump. The 28-year-old is just 3-for-27 over his past nine games, making Alvarez’s expected return all the more timely. It’s likely that Torrens will continue on as the backup in order to preserve catching depth; he’s out of minor league options, whereas Senger has a full slate of option years left and can be sent directly to Triple-A Syracuse without first needing to clear waivers.

McNeil has been out all year due to an oblique strain. The Mets have gotten him some looks in center field during this rehab stint, although he’s not likely to play the position regularly. Still, with Jose Siri sidelined for upwards of 10 weeks due to a fracture in his leg, the Mets took advantage of McNeil’s rehab stint and versatile defensive profile to get him a start in center.

In all likelihood, McNeil will return and see time at second base, at designated hitter and perhaps in an outfield corner. The Mets opened the year with Luisangel Acuña and Brett Baty sharing time at second base. Acuña has handled things well, hitting .275/.351/.373 and contributing solid glovework.

Baty, after a torrid spring performance, had a brutal two-week stretch to begin the season but has begun to turn things around. The 25-year-old former first rounder crushed a second-deck homer off Zack Wheeler in the Mets’ currently ongoing game against the Phillies and entered play today on a .280/.357/.440 heater over his past eight contests. He’s still hitting just .204/.246/.354, but it’ll take some time to recover from the .111/.111/.148 line he totaled through his first 27 trips to the plate.

Rangers Getting Josh Smith Reps In Center Field

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The Rangers played utility guy Josh Smith in center field last night, something that Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News spoke to manager Bruce Bochy about. Smith had played a bit of center field in the minors but this was his first appearance there in the big leagues.

The decision speaks to a couple of things, one of which is just that the club wanted to get Smith in there somewhere. “He’s swinging the bat so well,” Bochy said. “I’ve got to find a place for him in the lineup.” Smith currently sports a monster line of .367/.456/.571 on the season. He won’t be able to keep a .485 batting average on balls in play going forever but he’s drawing walks at a 14% clip and his hard hit rate on pace to jump for a third straight year.

Given that performance, it’s understandable that Bochy wants to ride the hot hand, but Smith’s regular spots are taken. The Rangers have Jake Burger, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Josh Jung around the infield. Joc Pederson is the designated hitter while Wyatt Langford and Adolis García are in the outfield corners. Not everyone in that group is performing well but the struggling ones are established big league bats and should bounce back.

Center field is a bit more open, however. Leody Taveras has seen most of the playing time there in recent seasons but with diminishing returns. He managed to hit .266/.312/.421 for a league average 100 wRC+ in 2023. When combined with his speed and defense, that made him a useful player. But he dropped down to a .229/.289/.352 line and 82 wRC+ last year. It’s even worse so far in 2025, as he currently sports a dismal .197/.210/.246 line. He is striking out at a 27.4% pace so far and only drawing walks 1.6% of the time.

Time will tell if it’s a brief experiment or if Smith says in there longer, which will presumably depend on many factors. An injury for anyone else on the diamond might lead to Smith being moved elsewhere. Dustin Harris and Kevin Pillar have also been performing well in part-time roles. If Smith’s results taper off or Taveras improves, perhaps the calculus will change.

There’s also the Evan Carter factor. He once seemed like a potential long-term solution in center, as he came up late in 2023 and hit the ground running, playing a key role in the club’s title run that year. But he was injured for most of last year and the Rangers optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock to start this year, where he’s currently hitting .167/.352/.262.

General manager Ross Fenstermaker tells McFarland that the club is “pretty encouraged” by Carter’s progress as he works on managing his autoimmune back issue and making a swing adjustment. “We’re confident that he’s going to find his footing here and get going,” Fenstermaker said. “When that time comes that he’s the best option to help this club, he’ll be up here.”

Carter may be a factor down the line but his Triple-A numbers don’t suggest he’s likely to be called upon soon. That situation and the recent struggles of Taveras have opened a spot for Smith, which has expanded his versatility. He has now played every position on the diamond outside of the battery. His glovework in the outfield corners has been around league average thus far, but center field will be a bit more of a test for him defensively.

Photo courtesy of Ed Szczepanski, Imagn Images

Rockies Option Zac Veen, Outright Evan Justice

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The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve optioned outfielder Zac Veen to Triple-A Albuquerque and assigned lefty Evan Justice outright to Albuquerque after he cleared waivers. Veen’s return to Triple-A clears the way for center fielder Brenton Doyle to be reinstated from the bereavement list.

Veen, 23, was the ninth overall draft pick back in 2020 and for several years ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects. His stock has dipped in recent seasons as his production wilted a bit in the upper minors. He put together a solid 2024 campaign, however, slashing.258/.346/.459 between Double-A and Triple-A — although he was far more productive at the lower of those two levels. Veen got out to a nice start in Triple-A this year, hitting .387/.472/.677 in 37 plate appearances, earning his first call to the show with that impressive output.

Things didn’t go well for Veen in Denver. He appeared in a dozen games with the Rox and floundered at the plate, hitting just .118/.189/.235 in an identical amount of playing time (37 plate appearances) to his early run in Albuquerque. Big league pitchers punched Veen out 14 times (37.8%), and he chased pitches off the plate at an ugly 36.6% rate. His 58.3% contact rate, as measured by Statcast, is the sixth-lowest in baseball among hitters with at least 30 plate appearances.

Rough as that debut effort was, it came in a small sample and was preceded by a track record of generally solid minor league production. Veen may no longer be viewed as the potential star outfielder he was seen as a couple years ago, but he touts a career .263/.358/.430 batting line in the minors — including a .266/.336/.531 line in 129 Triple-A plate appearances. He also only just turned 23 this past December, meaning he reached the majors at an age when most prospects — certainly the majority of college draftees — are still in the minors. He’ll head back to Triple-A for the time being and continue to refine his approach, and barring some form of major injury, it’s likely he’ll return to the big leagues at some point in 2025.

In the meantime, the Rockies will deploy an outfield with Doyle in center, where he’ll be flanked by a combination of Mickey Moniak, Nick Martini, Jordan Beck and Sean Bouchard. It’s a patchwork collection of corner options, which only further underscores that there ought to be a place for Veen later on if he continues to show well in Albuquerque. Martini is a 34-year-old journeyman. Bouchard is a homegrown product who’s in his fourth partial season. He’s fanned in nearly 31% of his big league plate appearances and will turn 29 next month. Moniak was a low-cost, one-year signing who can work in a fourth outfield role. Beck, like Veen, has been viewed as a top prospect within the Rox system but has yet to piece things together in the majors.

As for the 26-year-old Justice, he’ll stick with the Rockies as a depth option. The 2021 fifth-rounder made his big league debut in 2023 and has pitched 7 2/3 frames for Colorado since. He’s been roughed up for seven earned runs in the majors and has had a tough start in Triple-A as well, surrendering six runs with more walks than strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. Justice’s 2024 season was shortened by a back injury that required a monthslong absence. He’s had trouble staying on the mound, also missing time with arm troubles in earlier seasons, but Justice has fanned more than 28% of his opponents in pro ball.

Cubs, Michael Fulmer Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Michael Fulmer, per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. The BBI Sports Group client is headed to Triple-A Iowa for the time being. Fulmer was designated for assignment by the Red Sox last week and recently rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Fulmer, 32, spent the 2023 season in the Cubs’ bullpen and logged 57 innings with a 4.42 ERA, a 27.4% strikeout rate and an 11.8% walk rate. That marks Fulmer’s last full, healthy season. The Cubs announced that October that Fulmer had undergone a UCL procedure in his right elbow, which wiped out his entire 2024 campaign.

Fulmer signed with the Red Sox on a two-year minor league contract and spent last season rehabbing with the organization. Interestingly, he was stretched out to work multiple innings in spring training this year and began the 2025 campaign as a starter with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester. Fulmer pitched well in 11 2/3 minor league frames, logging a 3.09 ERA with an 18-to-6 K/BB ratio (37.5 K%, 12.5 BB%). He made one big league appearance with the Sox, yielding three runs in 2 2/3 innings, before being designated for assignment.

Rotation work is hardly a new role for Fulmer, who not only broke into the majors as a starter but captured 2016 American League Rookie of the Year honors while pitching in that role with the Tigers. Fulmer was a key member of Detroit’s rotation from 2016-18 before injuries set in and threw his career into a tumultuous state. He underwent an ulnar nerve transposition procedure late in the 2017 season, had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee in 2018 and missed all of the 2019 campaign following Tommy John surgery. Fulmer returned to make 10 starts in the shortened 2020 season, but he was shelled for an ERA just shy of 9.00.

In 2021, Detroit began transitioning Fulmer to a relief role, and he hit the ground running. He pitched exclusively in relief from May 5 onward that year and recorded a pristine 2.25 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. By season’s end, he was closing games for A.J. Hinch.

That kicked off a nice three-year run of bullpen work between the Tigers, Twins (who acquired him at the trade deadline in 2022) and Cubs (who signed him as a free agent in the 2022-23 offseason). In that time, Fulmer pitched 190 1/3 innings with a 3.55 ERA, 19 saves, 45 holds, a 24.6% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate. He wasn’t quite an elite reliever, but he was effective and seemed to have fully acclimated to high-leverage settings.

Now back with the Cubs, Fulmer can be deployed in a variety of ways. If Chicago is intrigued by the idea of continuing to stretch him out as a starter, he’d make plenty of sense as rotation depth. Ace Justin Steele’s season is over due to elbow surgery, and young righty Javier Assad has yet to pitch in 2025 due to an oblique injury. He’d been on track for an early May return but exited a rehab start yesterday due to what appeared to be renewed discomfort. Right now, the Cubs are going with Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, Ben Brown and Colin Rea in the rotation. Top prospect Cade Horton looms in Triple-A, though he’s walked 20.8% of his opponents through his first three starts and could probably use some more development time.

Alternatively, the Cubs could drop Fulmer right back into the bullpen role he’s held in recent years. Chicago relievers have the fourth-worst ERA in the majors (5.34), the third-worst strikeout rate (18.4%) and the eighth-highest walk rate (11.5%). Right-handers Ryan Brasier, Tyson Miller and Eli Morgan are all on the 15-day injured list, which has thinned out the depth in Craig Counsell’s bullpen.

Phillies Designate Kody Clemens For Assignment

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The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve designated infielder/outfielder Kody Clemens for assignment. Fellow infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and will take Clemens’ spot on the active roster. Clemens is out of minor league options and thus couldn’t simply be sent down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Philadelphia now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.

Clemens, 28, came to the Phillies in the 2022-23 offseason alongside Gregory Soto in a trade that sent Matt Vierling, Nick Maton and Donny Sands back to the Tigers. He’s been an up-and-down utilityman for two-plus seasons but lost some of that flexibility in 2025 due to that lack of minor league options. He’s hitless through seven plate appearances in a limited role this year and carries a .220/.265/.394 batting line over the course of 275 plate appearances with the Phils.

The son of legendary pitcher Roger Clemens, Kody hasn’t yet put it together in the majors but does possess a nice minor league track record. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, he’s a .259/.331/.507 hitter with 63 homers, 50 doubles, 19 triples and 22 steals through 287 games. He’s a left-handed hitter and versatile defender who has ample experience at every infield position other than shortstop and in both outfield corners.

The Phillies can trade Clemens or place him on outright waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers take 48 hours to process, meaning he can be in DFA limbo for a maximum of one week. Any club that swings a trade for Clemens or claims him would have to plug him directly onto the big league roster.

Wilson, 30, has been a productive, late-blooming bench piece for the Phillies over the past two seasons. He debuted in 2023 at 28 years old and has turned in a stout .288/.375/.490 slash in his first 120 major league plate appearances. Nearly all of his production has come against left-handed pitching; he’s tattooed southpaws at a .241/.412/.614 pace in the majors but has limped to a .227/.277/.364 line against fellow righties.

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