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Diamondbacks Outright Kyle Nelson

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The Diamondbacks have sent left-hander Kyle Nelson outright to Triple-A Reno, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Nelson, 28, has the right to elect free agency but probably won’t exercise that right. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit any remaining salary commitments in order to do so. Nelson is in that three-to-five window. He and the Snakes avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a salary of $825K for this year, a bit above the $760K major league minimum. He presumably wants to keep collecting that salary for the rest of the year and will therefore report to Reno.

A few years ago, the southpaw was a solid piece of the Arizona roster. In 2023, he tossed 56 innings for the Diamondbacks with a 4.18 earned run average. He paired a 28% strikeout rate with a 5.9% walk rate.

Unfortunately, he required surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome early in 2024, which put him on the shelf for most of that season. He’s back on the mound here in 2025 but his results haven’t been great so far. The Snakes have kept him on optional assignment and he has tossed 17 Triple-A innings with an ERA of 8.47. His 14.6% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate at that level are both clear downgrades from his major league work of a few years ago, with diminished velocity as well.

Given the uncertainty there, it’s unsurprising that no club put in a claim. Assuming Nelson accepts his assignment, he’ll try to get back on track with Reno. Perhaps he can regain some velocity and some better results as he moves further away from his surgery. If he’s not added back to the roster by the end of the year, he’ll be able to elect minor league free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man roster during a season.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Place Pavin Smith On IL, Select Tristin English

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The Diamondbacks announced a series of roster moves this afternoon headlined by their placement of first baseman Pavin Smith on the injured list with an oblique strain. Infielder Tristin English had his contract selected from Triple-A to replace Smith on the roster while left-hander Tommy Henry was recalled to the majors and placed on the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot for English.

Smith, 29, has played just one of Arizona’s last four games and now heads to the shelf with an oblique strain. The severity of the injury is not yet known, nor is it clear when Smith will be able to return, though he’ll be out until after the All-Star break at the very least. It’s a tough blow for a Diamondbacks roster that’s already been ravaged by injuries to key pieces like Corbin Burnes, A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez, and Gabriel Moreno this season.

The club’s first-round pick all the way back in 2017, Smith made his big league debut in 2020 but scuffled at the big league level for several years before finally breaking out during his age-28 season last year. Since then, Smith has been a key cog in the Diamondbacks’ lineup with a fantastic .265/.363/.485 slash line in 139 games, with 17 homers, 26 doubles, and a 13.7% walk rate. That sort of production is difficult to replace, and bench pieces like Randal Grichuk and Jake McCarthy will be called upon to help take up the load in the Arizona lineup.

One other potential contributor could be English, who is set to make his MLB debut should he make it into a game. The club’s third-rounder back in 2019, English has spent time in all four corners throughout his time in the minors can could be a major help for the club off the bench or against left-handed pitchers. The 28-year-old scuffled a bit at Triple-A last year but has hit incredibly well across 58 games at the level this season with a .338/.388/.549 slash line to go with nine home runs, 23 doubles, and a strikeout rate of just 14.2%. Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor have the infield corners locked down on a fairly regular basis for the Diamondbacks, though Smith’s departure leaves DH at-bats for the taking and English could contribute in the outfield as well. It’s also possible that Naylor, who has been playing through a neck injury in recent days, could benefit from extra time at DH that would allow English to step in at first base.

As for Henry, the southpaw underwent elbow surgery late last month. Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of AZ Sports) today that Henry’s procedure repaired his UCL with an internal brace rather than a full replacement (Tommy John) surgery. That could improve Henry’s odds of pitching at some point during the 2026 season, but the decision to move him to the 60-day IL remains largely procedural as he won’t pitch again in 2025 regardless. With that being said, the move does afford Henry the opportunity to collect an MLB salary and earn big league service time while he rehabs his surgically repaired elbow.

Diamondbacks Activate Corbin Carroll From 10-Day IL

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Corbin Carroll is returning to the Diamondbacks’ lineup, as the club announced that the outfielder has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list.  Utilityman Tim Tawa was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Carroll last played on June 18, when he was hit in the left wrist by a pitch from Blue Jays southpaw Justin Bruihl.  The result was a chip fracture and a trip to the IL that officially began on June 21, though thankfully, it appears as though Carroll dodged the bullet of a more serious injury.  Carroll felt good enough to play in an Arizona Complex League game on Thursday and he took part in a live batting practice session yesterday.

Before he was sidelined, Carroll was enjoying a huge season, and a return to the form he showed in winning NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2023.  The 149 wRC+ Carroll has posted through 323 plate appearances this season is indeed even higher than his 132 wRC+ in 2023, and a big step up from his relatively disappointing 107 wRC+ last year.  Carroll is hitting .255/.341/.573 with 20 homers and a league-best nine triples this season, also contributing strong baserunning and (in the view of the Outs Above Average metric) plus defensive in right field.

Getting Carroll back so quickly is a huge boost to the Diamondbacks, who remain on the outskirts of the playoff race with a 43-45 record.  Arizona is 4.5 games back of the final NL wild card spot with three other teams sitting between the D’Backs and the Padres, who hold that last wild card berth.  The Snakes will have to make up some serious ground in July to more properly get themselves into the hunt, and to potentially avoid a significant selloff at the deadline.

Tayler Scott Elects Free Agency

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Reliever Tayler Scott elected free agency after being outrighted by the Diamondbacks, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Arizona had designated the righty for assignment over the weekend when they called up John Curtiss.

Scott has been DFA twice on the season. He began the year with the Astros and was dropped from the roster in mid-May. He elected free agency, signed a minor league deal with Arizona, and was selected onto their big league roster in June. Scott pitched six times for the Snakes, allowing nine runs in as many innings with seven strikeouts and four walks. He carries a 6.66 earned run average over 25 2/3 innings between Houston and Arizona on the season.

The 33-year-old Scott has pitched in parts of five MLB campaigns. He made 79 appearances with Houston but has otherwise yet to reach 10 games for any individual team. He has been a very popular depth target, however, as the Diamondbacks were the eighth club of his big league career. He’ll pursue his next opportunity now that he’s back on the open market.

MLBTR Podcast: Depleted Mets’ Pitching, The Pirates Are Open For Business, And More!

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • Griffin Canning’s injury dealing another blow to the Mets’ rotation (1:45)
  • Which playoff-caliber starters could be available at the deadline? (6:10)
  • What does Canning’s free agency look like with this injury? (12:55)
  • The Pirates reportedly having almost no one off the table at the deadline (15:10)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Could the Orioles be sellers at the deadline and then make a late-season run for a Wild Card berth? (28:35)
  • Should the Royals make Vinnie Pasquantino available at the deadline? (31:20)
  • Should the Cubs get Eugenio Suárez from the Diamondbacks? (35:30)
  • Should the Mariners get Josh Naylor of the Diamondbacks or Alex Bregman of the Red Sox? (40:10)
  • If the Reds are sellers, should they make TJ Friedl available? (44:20)
  • The constant tough question of when a small-market team should sell a star player (47:05)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

D-Backs, Seth Brown Agree To Deal

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The Diamondbacks are in agreement with corner outfielder/first baseman Seth Brown, MLBTR has learned. He’d been released by the A’s last week.

Brown, 33 this month, had spent a decade with the A’s organization. The former 19th-round pick emerged as a productive platoon bat early in his MLB career. He reached 20 home runs in consecutive seasons in 2021 and ’22, combining to hit .234/.304/.483 against right-handed pitching. His numbers have dipped over the two and a half seasons since then, though he staved off what once seemed a likely non-tender by hitting well in the second half last year.

The A’s tendered Brown an arbitration contract at $2.7MM. That didn’t work out, as he stumbled to a .185/.303/.262 showing in 76 trips to the plate. The A’s briefly outrighted him off the 40-man roster, but he quickly hit his way back to the big leagues by mashing seven homers in nine Triple-A contests. Brown suffered a minor elbow injury not long after the A’s reselected his contract, however.

Once he was ready to return from the injured list last week, the team decided not to put him back on the active roster. Brown had surpassed five years of service in the meantime, giving him the right to refuse an outright assignment without forfeiting his salary, so the A’s released him.

Arizona already has lefty-hitting first base/designated hitter options in Josh Naylor and Pavin Smith. They’re operating with an all righty-hitting bench. If Brown cracks the MLB roster at any point, the Snakes would only owe him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum. He’d be eligible for arbitration next offseason if he finishes the season in the big leagues, albeit as a non-tender candidate.

D-Backs GM Mike Hazen Discusses Deadline Possibilities

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The Diamondbacks remain one of the most pivotal bubble teams with July underway. They’re in fourth place in the NL West entering tonight’s game against San Francisco. They’ve won two in a row to climb back above .500 at 43-42.

On Monday, general manager Mike Hazen appeared on The Show podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Hazen reiterated much of what he told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers last week but provided a little more specificity in the front office’s approach to the deadline.

“I want this team to put us in a position to buy. I want this team to put us in a position to be right beneath where we need to be,” Hazen told The Show. “We don’t have to be all the way back in (playoff position) or ahead; we just need to be within a distance that we feel like we’re being responsible in adding to this team.”

The GM suggested the upcoming two weeks are likely to be the biggest factor. The D-Backs are amidst a four-game series with the Giants. They’ll host the Royals this weekend before kicking off a crucial four-game set in San Diego. They’ll play the Angels in their final series before the All-Star Break. Arizona hosts the Cardinals for three games in their first series out of the break.

Between now and July 20, the D-Backs will take on three of the four teams directly ahead of them in the Wild Card race. Hazen’s comments came before Monday’s series opener with San Francisco. They’ve already taken the first two games in that set, while each of the Reds, Giants, Cardinals, Padres and Mets are coming off losses. On Monday afternoon, they were five games behind St. Louis for the final Wild Card position. That’s down to 2.5 back (of both San Diego and St. Louis) a little more than 48 hours later.

That all serves to highlight how quickly the picture can change this time of year. That’s particularly true for Arizona given how many direct competitors they’re facing. That gives the roster an opportunity to cement their status as deadline buyers. “I want to buy really bad, but we have a responsibility to the organization too. I can’t just blindly go in there and hope,” Hazen said. “That’s the most dangerous word this time of year. We’ve been so up-and-down this year. We have a talented team, this team is capable of playing better. … We need to start ticking off some wins here though.”

The Snakes were already receiving exploratory calls last month from teams that hope to pry some players out of the desert. The Diamondbacks have the best collection of impending free agents among teams on the buy/sell line. Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor are two of the top rental bats. Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen are quality starting pitchers, though the latter is having a down season. Relievers Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks have performed very well on bargain salaries.

Hazen confirmed the majority of interest they’re receiving is in that group of rentals. “It’d be no surprise who everybody’s coming after. It’s fairly straightforward,” he noted. “Talking about players (under long-term contractual control) gets into a little deeper conversation that we really haven’t had yet. Most of the initial phone calls are on the players that would be expiring.”

If they play well enough to buy, their deadline outlook would be similarly straightforward. Arizona has had one of the best offenses in MLB two years running. The pitching staff has not held up. There’s still a solid rotation nucleus on paper with Kelly, Gallen and Eduardo Rodriguez. They could add a starter and consider optioning the scuffling Brandon Pfaadt, but the more obvious need is a deeper relief group.

“(Bullpen) would for sure be the biggest area of focus for us,” Hazen confirmed. Arizona lost their top two relievers, Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk, to season-ending elbow surgeries. Miller and Beeks have stepped up in bigger than anticipated roles. They’ve scrambled to try to fill out the middle relief group. John Curtiss, Anthony DeSclafani and Jake Woodford were all in Triple-A on minor league deals within the past three weeks. Kyle Backhus is a rookie with eight MLB appearances. Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson have had inconsistent seasons.

Hazen suggested the priority as buyers would be on adding one or two late-game arms. He used the 2023 deadline acquisition of Paul Sewald as an example, noting that acquiring a closer and/or setup man would permit Torey Lovullo to use Miller and Beeks in leverage spots earlier in games. David Bednar and Kyle Finnegan are established closers on non-contenders who are likely to move. Bednar, who comes with another year of arbitration control and has been dominant for the past two months, may be the prize of the relief market. Aroldis Chapman should be available if the Red Sox fall out of contention. Miami’s Anthony Bender and Calvin Faucher are setup types who’d be attainable, while the Orioles are likely to field offers on Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto.

Diamondbacks Designate Kyle Nelson For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced that left-hander Kyle Nelson has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man move for the signing of righty Jake Woodford, a move that was previously reported.

Nelson, now 28, has been with the Diamondbacks for years. He was claimed off waivers from the Guardians in the 2021-22 offseason. He showed some potential at times but required surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome in April of 2024 and his numbers since that procedure have been rough.

He missed the remainder of the 2024 campaign after going under the knife. Here in 2025, he has been on optional assignment, having tossed 17 Triple-A innings. He has allowed 16 earned runs in that time, leading to an 8.47 ERA. That’s a small sample of work but he also only has 12 strikeouts, a rate of 14.6% of batters faced. He has averaged just 89.9 miles per hour on his fastball.

There’s a big gap between that performance and what he was able to do a few years ago. In 2023, he logged 56 major league innings for the Snakes with a 4.18 ERA. He struck out 28% of batters faced while averaging 92 mph on his fastball.

Overcoming a thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis is notoriously difficult. Pitchers like Matt Harvey and Chris Archer declined significantly later in their careers while Stephen Strasburg essentially had his career ended by the condition. On the other hand, Diamondbacks like Merrill Kelly and Ryan Thompson have each managed to engineer solid post-TOS seasons.

Nelson will now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Snakes could take five days to explore trade talks. Based on his injury absence and recent results, there may not be much interest.

If Nelson clears outright waivers, he will have the right to elect free agency but will probably decide to stay. Players with at least three years of big league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment, but those with less than five years have to forfeit their remaining salary in order to exercise that right. Nelson is in that three- to five-year window. He and the club avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a salary of $825K this year, a bit north of the $760K major league minimum.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks To Sign Jake Woodford To Major League Deal

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The Diamondbacks are going to sign right-hander Jake Woodford to a major league deal, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. Fellow righty Juan Morillo will be optioned as the corresponding active roster move. The Snakes will also need to open a 40-man roster spot.

Woodford, 28, just opted out of a minor league deal with the Cubs earlier today. He had also opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees earlier in the year, which led him to the Cubs. He was also with the Rockies on a minor league deal in spring training but opted out of that deal prior to the start of the season. Now the third opt-out will get him to the majors.

Between his time with the Yankees and the Cubs, Woodford threw 61 1/3 innings across ten starts and four relief appearances. He had a 4.55 earned run average, 21.8% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 47.8% ground ball rate.

He does have some major league experience on his track record. Over the previous five seasons, he logged 219 2/3 innings in the big leagues, mostly with the Cardinals. He has a 4.88 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate.

The Diamondbacks probably want him to serve in a long relief role, since he is currently stretched out. They have a rotation consisting of Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodríguez and Ryne Nelson. Their bullpen has been hit by a number of injuries. A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez were supposed to be the two top dogs back there but both required season-ending elbow surgeries. Christian Montes De Oca might also be done for the year due to back surgery. Kendall Graveman is on the shelf due to a hip impingement.

The bullpen got heavy usage during the three games from Saturday through Monday, with six out of eight relievers pitching twice in those contests. Gallen gave them a bit of a breather by going seven strong yesterday. Anthony DeSclafani, the only guy who didn’t pitch in the previous three games, soaked up the final two frames. On the whole, the group is pretty gassed, so Woodford will be on hand to potentially give them multiple innings, if needed. He is out of options and will therefore have to be removed from the 40-man if the Diamondbacks want to take him off the active roster at any point.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Trey Mancini Opts Out Of D-Backs Deal

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Veteran first baseman Trey Mancini has opted out of his minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Arizona evidently opted not to select him onto the MLB roster and he has returned to free agency. Utility infielder Nicky Lopez did the same this morning.

Mancini, 33, played three months with Triple-A Reno after signing an offseason non-roster deal. He’s had a nice season, batting .308/.373/.522 with 16 homers through 74 games. While that’s in a very hitter-friendly setting, Mancini has above-average numbers overall and had a particularly big showing in June.

The D-Backs have a first base/designated hitter tandem of Josh Naylor and Pavin Smith, leaving them without much room to accommodate Mancini. Smith has slumped since a scorching April, but he’s still carrying a .260/.369/.447 slash for the season. Arizona’s bench already skews right-handed, so Mancini would have been an imperfect fit as a bench bat.

Mancini will now look elsewhere for his first big league opportunity since 2023. He hasn’t been especially productive at the MLB level since being traded by the Orioles at the ’22 deadline. His numbers in Reno will at least allow him to find minor league interest elsewhere, presumably with a club that has a better path to first base playing time.

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