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Diamondbacks, Michael Perez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The D-backs have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent catcher Michael Perez, per their transaction log at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Reno.

Perez, 32, has played in parts of six big league seasons, splitting time with the Rays, Pirates and Mets from 2018-23 and accruing more than three years of service time along the way. He’s a career .179/.248/.306 hitter in 599 major league plate appearances but draws strong defensive ratings, particularly when it comes to his ability to block balls in the dirt and control the running game (28.7% caught-stealing rate).

Though he hasn’t appeared in the majors with Arizona, Perez is signing on for his second stint with the D-backs organization. He appeared in 24 games for Reno last year as well. The lefty-hitting backstop split the 2024 season between the Triple-A affiliates for the D-backs, Orioles and Mariners, batting a combined .259/.354/.453 in 246 plate appearances. He’s a lifetime .246/.336/.424 hitter in 272 Triple-A games.

The Diamondbacks haven’t gotten much production out of Gabriel Moreno and Jose Herrera behind the plate this year — their combined .215/.291/.273 line translates to a 61 wRC+ that ranks 27th in MLB — and they’ve been without prospect Adrian Del Castillo all season due to a shoulder injury. He’s on the minor league injured list. Glove-first veterans Rene Pinto and Aramis Garcia have both hit well in Reno, even when adjusting for the heightened run-scoring environment there, but Perez will give them some extra depth who can also handle first base.

Corbin Burnes To Miss Next Start With Shoulder Inflammation

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Diamondbacks right-hander Corbin Burnes is battling inflammation in his right shoulder, as reported by Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. Piercoro adds that Arizona intends to scratch Burnes from his next start. It’s unclear whether or not he’ll ultimately require a stint on the injured list due to the issue, though Piecoro relays that manager Torey Lovullo told reporters before today’s game that they remain hopeful he’ll be back on the mound after just one missed start. The manager suggests that Burnes has been nagged by fatigue in his shoulder going back his last couple of starts, and that led to the club sending him for an MRI back in Arizona.

That MRI revealed “a little bit” of inflammation in Lovullo’s words, leading to the decision to skip the right-hander’s next start. Even as the Diamondbacks remain optimistic that Burnes will miss just one outing, the news is worrying for fans in the desert. After all, Arizona has fallen to fourth place in a hyper-competitive NL West division despite their solid enough 17-15 record. That record leaves them on the outside looking in for an NL Wild Card spot, behind the Padres, Giants, Phillies, and Reds in the standings aside from the division-leading Dodgers, Cubs, and Mets.

That lackluster pitching is a big reason for that middling record. While Arizona’s offense has been phenomenal so far, their run prevention has left something to be desired despite being a major strength on paper. The starting five’s 4.27 ERA is a bottom-ten figure in baseball this year, and Brandon Pfaadt is the only pitcher in the mix who has met expectations with a dazzling 2.78 ERA across six starts. Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and especially Eduardo Rodriguez have all struggled so far this year.

Burnes, meanwhile, has a decent enough ERA of 3.58 that clocks in 18% better than league average by ERA+. That’s not quite what the Diamondbacks had in mind when they signed him to a six-year, $210MM deal over the winter, however, and his peripherals tell a more alarming story. His pedestrian 20.0% strikeout rate is the lowest of his career, and he’s paired it with a hefty 12.1% walk rate after having reliably excellent command in recent years. Burnes’s 5.08 FIP, 5.31 xERA, and 4.61 SIERA are all very worrisome, and suggest that even his mid-rotation production to this point in the year isn’t sustainable.

Perhaps this inflammation that he’s been battling is at least part of the explanation for the righty’s struggles. The 30-year-old hurler has made at least 32 starts in each of the past three seasons, and while that durability is admirable it’s the nature of pitching in this current era of baseball that hurlers need more rest than ever before as they push themselves for higher velocity and maximum spin efficiency. Perhaps this breather will be enough to calm the inflammation and get Burnes back on track, which would surely be a relief for Arizona as they fight to force their way back into the NL playoff picture after their surprising World Series run in 2023 and narrowly missing out on October last year.

Whether the inflammation forces Burnes to sit down for just one start or requires a stint on the injured list, the Diamondbacks are reasonably well-equipped to handle his absence even after losing sixth starter Jordan Montgomery to Tommy John surgery earlier this year. Ryne Nelson is in the bullpen as a long reliever but threw 68 pitches his last time out and is stretched out enough for a spot start or even to slide into the rotation longer-term as needed. He appears to be the most likely candidate to replace Burnes, though hurlers like Tommy Henry and Cristian Mena are also on the 40-man roster as potential depth options.

Dodgers Acquire Ryan Loutos, Claim J.P. Feyereisen

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The Dodgers have acquired right-hander Ryan Loutos from the Cardinals in exchange for cash and claimed righty J.P. Feyereisen off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The Loutos trade was previously reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Dodgers moved righties Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech to the 60-day injured list to open 40-man roster spots for the two pickups.

Loutos, 26, has had a somewhat unusual trajectory to the big leagues, as explored in this profile from Goold last year. Due to his computer science background, the Cards hired him to develop an app to help minor leaguers use data, and let him pitch as well. “I know what I need to do to improve. I know what I could do,” Loutos said. “But I also know from their shoes what they see: ‘OK, let him play for a while. See what happens. Worst-case scenario, we maybe offer him a job in the front office. Best-case scenario, maybe he’s in the big leagues someday.’”

So far, the playing part has worked out okay. He made his major league debut last year, though it was brief. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings over three appearances. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has logged 134 innings on the farm with a 5.10 earned run average, 24.2% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate.

Feyereisen, 32, has a much longer big league track record. In 2021, he tossed 56 innings between the Brewers and Rays with a 2.73 ERA. He managed to top that performance in 2022, tossing 24 1/3 scoreless innings, with a 29.1% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. However, a shoulder injury intervened and stopped him from building on those numbers.

He underwent shoulder surgery and was traded to the Dodgers ahead of the 2023 season. He hasn’t been able to fully re-establish himself in the majors since then. He eventually spent that entire 2023 season on the IL, not making an official appearance anywhere. The Dodgers shuttled him to Triple-A and back in 2024. He only got to pitch 11 big league innings, with an 8.18 ERA in those. His 5.48 ERA in Triple-A wasn’t especially impressive either.

He was outrighted off the roster last year, allowing him to elect free agency and sign a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks coming into 2025. He got called up a couple of weeks ago after posing a 0.96 ERA in Triple-A. He then allowed two earned runs in two innings for the Snakes before getting designated for assignment and put on waivers.

For the Dodgers, they are likely happy to have some fresh arms, one of which they are already familiar with. With Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow both on the IL due to shoulder inflammation, they are down to a four-man rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. The club is keeping Sasaki and Yamamoto on the weekly schedule the pitchers are accustomed to from their time in Japan.

That situation, plus plenty of other injuries, have led to a great deal of creativity in cobbling the staff together. Pitchers like Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller and Ben Casparius have made spot starts. Yoendrys Gómez, recently claimed off waivers from the Yankees, is working a long relief role. Both Loutos and Feyereisen have options, so the Dodgers are adding some arms with some roster flexibility. The team is about to start a stretch of playing ten straight games. After one off-day, they will play another nine straight.

To open spots for those two, Kopech and Treinen hit the 60-day IL. Kopech’s move isn’t especially surprising. He’s been on the 15-day IL all year long due to a shoulder impingement and still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment. Even if he were to start one now, he would need a few weeks as a sort of delayed spring training. He could be reinstated from the IL in a couple of weeks but that doesn’t seem to be likely.

The move for Treinen is more notable. He started the season healthy but landed on the 15-day IL April 19th due to right forearm tightness. This transfer to the 60-day IL indicates the Dodgers don’t expect him back before the middle of June. He is 36 years old, turning 37 in June, and has a recent history of arm injuries. He only tossed five innings in 2022 due to shoulder problems and then underwent surgery which wiped out his 2023 campaign.

He got back on track last year with a 1.93 ERA in 46 2/3 innings, plus another 12 1/3 postseason innings with a 2.19 ERA, helping the Dodgers win the World Series. The team believed in that bounceback enough to give him a two-year, $22MM deal in free agency, the largest deal for a reliever going into his age-37 season or older since Mariano Rivera’s deal with the Yankees back in 2010.

Shortly after Treinen landed on the IL last month, manager Dave Roberts described the injury as a “low-grade sprain of the forearm” and downplayed the severity by saying “we’re in the dodged-a-bullet category.” It’s unclear if Roberts was just masking the extent of the injury or if something changed, but Treinen now appears to be slated for an absence of at least a couple of months.

Photo courtesy of John Geliebter, Imagn Images.

Diamondbacks Place Justin Martinez On 15-Day IL, Transfer A.J. Puk To 60-Day IL

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The D-backs announced Thursday that they’ve placed closer Justin Martinez on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder inflammation. Lefty Jose Castillo’s contract was selected from Triple-A Reno to take his spot on the active roster. Fellow southpaw A.J. Puk moves from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to create 40-man roster space for Castillo.

Martinez was set for an MRI this morning after experiencing an alarming velocity drop over the past week. He’s gone from averaging triple digits on his power sinker to sitting just 93.5 mph in his most recent appearance. Though the right-hander claimed he felt 100% healthy, he’ll head to the injured list with a still-vague injury designation. The D-backs will surely provide more information on his status and potential timeline later today.

This slate of injury-related moves is a brutal blow for a D-backs team that spent much of the offseason looking for established bullpen arms but wound up making generally smaller-scale moves. Martinez and Puk are the team’s two best relievers and entered the year as the favorites to work in save and high-leverage hold situations. They’re both on the shelf, and while Puk’s flexor strain won’t require surgery, today’s move to the 60-day IL only further underlines the fact that Arizona is going to be without him for quite some time.

Martinez, 23, averaged 100.2 mph on his sinker in 2024 and averaged better than 100 mph on the pitch in each of his first eight appearances this year. A dip into the 97-99 mph range over his next three outings was concerning but not necessarily cause for full-fledged alarm. Last night’s drop all the way to 93.5 mph, in an outing where he faced three hitters and allowed two walks and a home run, is another story entirely.

It’s become an ominous situation for D-backs fans to monitor, and one that’s compounded by Puk’s absence. Martinez broke out with a 2.48 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate, 11.7% walk rate, 58.9% ground-ball rate, eight saves and seven holds across 72 2/3 innings for the Snakes last year. He clearly has some command issues, but the elite velocity coupled with plus strikeout and ground-ball rates helped to mitigate that bloated walk rate.

The D-backs, clearly bullish on Martinez’s future, signed him to a five-year, $18MM extension during spring training. The contract contains a pair of club options for the 2030-31 seasons, which would’ve been Martinez’s first two free agent years. At the time, there was little reason to fear an injury (beyond the general attrition rate of pitchers in today’s game). Now, the outlook is far hazier.

Were Puk healthy, the Diamondbacks would surely have just plugged him into the closer’s role and moved forward with Kevin Ginkel setting up. But Puk hit the injured list with elbow inflammation after a strong eight-inning start to his 2025 season, and a subsequent MRI revealed a flexor strain that’ll require a notable shutdown period.

With Martinez and Puk both shelved, the D-backs will likely turn closing duties over to a combination of Ginkel and Shelby Miller, who returned to Arizona on a minor league deal this offseason and has been outstanding after earning a job this spring. Ginkel only just returned from his own bout of shoulder inflammation, which sidelined him for the first month of the season. From 2022-24, he pitched a combined 164 2/3 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. Miller has pitched 12 2/3 scoreless innings in his return to Phoenix, punching out a gaudy 31.9% of opponents against an 8.5% walk rate.

The 29-year-old Castillo isn’t likely to replicate the type of results that could’ve been expected from either Martinez or Puk, but he’s a reasonably experienced southpaw who’s had some prior success in the majors. Back in 2018-19, the southpaw looked to be breaking out as a viable bullpen arm for the division-rival Padres, pitching to a combined 3.23 ERA with a 35% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in his first 39 big league innings.

Injuries have blown up Castillo’s career since. He suffered a torn ligament in his hand that cut his 2019 season short. A torn lat wiped out his 2020 season. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and missed most of the 2022 season as a result. It’s a staggering run of unfortunate maladies for the southpaw, but he’s shown some encouraging signs since joining the D-backs on a minor league deal last year.

In 24 innings between Arizona’s Rookie-ball and Triple-A affiliates last year, Castillo notched a 3.75 ERA. He whiffed 24.1% of his opponents and issued walks at an 8.1% clip with Triple-A Reno. This year, he’s started out by holding opponents to a run on four hits and no walks with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 frames. Castillo has had an arduous grind to get back to the majors after pitching just two MLB frames from 2019-23. He’s now poised for his first real look in a bullpen since 2018, despite accumulating four years of MLB service time through his various stints on the 60-day injured list.

Because he only has four years of service, Castillo could be a multi-year option for Arizona if he can get back to his early career form. Enough time has already elapsed that he won’t be able to reach five years of service before the conclusion of the 2025 season. That means even if he’s back in the majors for good — and that’s far, far from certain — he can be controlled through the 2027 campaign via arbitration.

A.J. Puk Shut Down With Flexor Strain, Not Expected To Require Surgery

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D-Backs southpaw A.J. Puk has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. He’ll remain shut down from throwing for 2-3 weeks before going for reevaluation. Fortunately, the team does not believe the injury will require surgery.

It’s moderately encouraging news after last week’s revelation that Puk was seeking multiple opinions on his elbow injury. He went on the 15-day injured list on April 19 and almost immediately went for imaging. That obviously raised the possibility of surgery, but it seems he’ll avoid the worst-case scenario.

That said, he’s clearly going to be out for an extended stretch. Puk will not resume throwing until the middle of May at the earliest. He’ll surely require a multi-week build from there. He won’t be back on an MLB mound before June, and there’d seem to be a decent chance he’s out beyond the All-Star Break. Puk has a previous Tommy John procedure on his medical chart. He underwent the surgery while he was a prospect in the A’s system back in 2018.

Acquired from Miami at last year’s deadline, Puk has been brilliant for the Diamondbacks. He posted a 1.32 ERA with 43 strikeouts in just 27 1/3 innings down the stretch. He’d reeled off another eight frames of three-run ball with 12 punchouts this season. He recorded four saves and two holds without surrendering a lead over the first three weeks.

Puk’s absence puts greater pressure on Justin Martinez to cement himself as Torey Lovullo’s top late-game weapon. The fireballer has worked 10 innings of two-run ball with 11 punchouts and a massive 61.9% grounder rate. Shelby Miller, Kevin Ginkel, Jalen Beeks and Ryan Thompson are among the setup group.

Diamondbacks Notes: Lawlar, Marte, Infield

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Diamondbacks prospect Jordan Lawlar is doing everything he can to push for a major league promotion, as he’s currently mashing in Triple-A. Assuming he eventually cements himself in the majors, the question will be what position he plays.

He came up as a shortstop prospect but the Diamondbacks don’t have much need at that position. Geraldo Perdomo took over regular shortstop duties in 2022. The Diamondbacks are evidently pleased with him there as they recently signed him to an extension that runs through 2029 with a club option for 2030. They could move Perdomo to second or third base, where he has some experience. However, his bat has only been around league average in recent years, as his speed and defense at short are his primary ways of providing value.

That has made it seem like Lawlar would eventually move to second or third. He has always had tremendous offensive numbers in the minors, so his bat should play elsewhere. The Snakes have had Ketel Marte as their regular second baseman for years and he’s signed well into the future as well, which seemingly made third base Lawlar’s best path. However, Bob Nightengale of USA Today says that some scouts think Lawlar will take over at second and bump Marte to first.

There hasn’t been any reporting to suggest that the Snakes do plan on moving Marte to first, but perhaps their usage of Lawlar this year is a tell. With Triple-A Reno, he has 123 innings at second base so far. He has just 36 innings at third base this year and just 95 in his entire minor league career. He has hundreds of innings at shortstop over the years but just 54 in 2025.

It would be an interesting pivot if the club is making it. The Diamondbacks acquired Eugenio Suárez ahead of 2024 to cover the third base position. He was going into the final season of his contract, so it seemed possible that he was simply a stopgap until Lawlar was ready. Suárez struggled badly in the first half of last year but Lawlar spent most of 2024 injured, dealing with thumb and hamstring injuries. He only got into 23 minor league games last year, giving Suárez a chance to get back on track. Suárez destroyed baseballs enough in the second half that the club picked up their $15MM option on him for 2025, instead of going for the $2MM buyout.

Coming into 2025, it was still fair to expect that Suárez would eventually give way to Lawlar. Suárez turns 34 in July and will be a free agent at season’s end. That could still be the plan but the fact that Lawlar is playing a lot of second base is interesting. Marte has had some injury absences in his career and is currently on the injured list with a hamstring strain. He is 31 years old and the club recently extended him through 2031, which would be his age-37 season. Perhaps they believe that moving him to first base would be the best thing for his long-term health.

Right now, Josh Naylor and Pavin Smith are sharing first base and designated hitter duties. Naylor is an impending free agent, so that could provide an opening for Marte to slide into as soon as next year.

This is all still fairly speculative but it’s a notable position for the Snakes to be in. It’s possible that they are simply moving Lawlar around to different positions, experimenting to see how things go. If he seems viable at multiple spots, that will give them more choice for how to proceed next offseason, with both first and third base set to be vacated going into the winter. Another factor could be that LuJames Groover is also one of the club’s top ten prospects and is currently hitting well at Double-A while playing third base regularly.

However it plays out defensively, Lawlar is generating a lot of excitement with his bat. He’s currently sporting a line of .356/.451/.644 with Reno this year. He won’t be able to maintain a .457 batting average on balls in play forever but he has five home runs and a 13% walk rate. He also has 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts through 26 games.

Photo courtesy of Michael Chow, Imagn Images

Phillies, Diamondbacks Interested In Ryan Helsley

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The calendar has not yet even flipped to May, leaving more than three months to go until MLB’s trade deadline on July 31. That hasn’t stopped some teams from assessing their needs and even beginning to look into potential targets for the summer, however, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes that the Phillies and Diamondbacks both already have an eye on Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley. There’s no indications that St. Louis is currently listening to offers on their closer, nor that either Philadelphia or Arizona has reached out to Cardinals brass at this point, though Nightengale goes on to suggest that Helsley is “likely” to be dealt prior to the deadline.

It’s easy to see why Helsley would be an attractive candidate for teams looking for a closer. The righty emerged as the Cardinals’ closer in 2022 and has been nothing short of dominant ever since, with a combined 1.83 ERA (225 ERA+), a 34.6% strikeout rate, and and 2.35 FIP to go with 83 saves over the past three years. Those numbers are nothing short of elite: Among all qualified relievers during that stretch, Helsley’s ERA is third (behind Emmanuel Clase and Devin Williams), his FIP is fourth (behind Williams, Matt Brash, and Edwin Diaz), his saves total ranks sixth, and his strikeout rate ranks eighth.

Those sensational numbers made Helsely a prime trade target for clubs in need of relief help over the winter, including Arizona and Toronto. The Cardinals seemingly rebuffed offers on their closer throughout the offseason, however, even as they opted not to discuss an extension with their closer as they shied away from making long-term commitments this winter. St. Louis’s 12-15 record puts them 4.5 games back of the Cubs in the NL Central and three games underwater. It’s still plenty early enough for virtually any team in the majors to go on a run and get themselves into the playoff conversation, but failing a surprise reversal in fortune a Cardinals front office that attempted to soft-launch a retooling over the offseason appears likely to sell rental pieces like Helsley this summer.

Should Helsley be dangled by the Cardinals later this year, they’ll surely find plenty of suitors. Toronto pivoted to sign Jeff Hoffman after they failed to land Helsley, and that decision is going swimmingly so far. The Diamondbacks did not find a closer over the offseason, however, so Nightengale’s report that they have continued interest in Helsley makes plenty of sense. That’s particularly true after A.J. Puk was shelved last week due to elbow inflammation that seems likely to keep him out of action for the foreseeable future, further denting a bullpen that relied primarily on Puk and Justin Martinez to close out games.

The Phillies, meanwhile, attempted to address the losses of Hoffman and Estevez in free agency by signing non-tendered Jays closer Jordan Romano. The 32-year-old had been one of the league’s top closing pitchers not long ago, with a 2.29 ERA and two All-Star appearances between 2020 and 2023. Things changed last year, however, as Romano battled elbow inflammation and pitched to an ugly 6.59 ERA in the 15 appearances he did make. That led the Jays to non-tender Romano, and the Phillies eventually snapped him up on an $8.5MM guarantee. That deal was signed with the idea that Romano would join lefties Jose Alvarado and Matt Strahm in the late innings for the Phillies this year, but things haven’t gone to plan as he’s allowed a whopping 15 runs (14 earned) in just 9 1/3 innings of work over 11 appearances.

It’s hardly a shock that such an ugly performance has inspired the Phillies to begin surveying closing possibilities on the trade market. The club’s core is continuing to age and with players like Ranger Suarez, Kyle Schwarber, and J.T. Realmuto set to hit free agency this winter the team could look extremely different this time next year. If 2025 proves to be the Phillies’ last opportunity to win with their current core, it would make sense to be aggressive in supplementing it this summer even as they enter play today with a relatively pedestrian 14-13 record. Adding a solid back-end reliever like Helsley, as they did when they dealt for Estevez last year, could go a long way to helping Philadelphia gear up for a playoff run in what looks to be an extremely competitive National League this year.

As sensible as the addition of a player like Helsley may be, Nightengale is quick to note that the Phillies aren’t interested in trading their very best and most impactful prospects. Specifically Nightengale writes that both Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller won’t be included in any trade, and that’s hardly a surprise given that both are well-regarded pieces with high ceilings who are already in the upper levels of the minors. It would be a shock if either of them were traded this summer and it’s almost unfathomable that either could ever be considered in a deal for a rental relief arm, even one as electric as Helsley.

Diamondbacks Select Scott McGough

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The Diamondbacks announced a series of roster moves this afternoon, headlined by them selecting the contract of right-hander Scott McGough. Right-hander Yilber Diaz was optioned to the minors in a corresponding move, and righty J.P. Feyereisen was designated for assignment to make room for McGough on the 40-man roster.

McGough, 35, was a fifth-round pick by the Dodgers in 2011 who debuted in the majors with the Marlins back in 2015. He made just six appearances for Miami before spending the following years bouncing around the minor leagues with Colorado and Baltimore until he departed stateside ball entirely ahead of his age-29 season to pitch for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows. He put together a very impressive resume in four seasons as the Swallows’ closer, with a 2.94 ERA in 232 2/3 innings of work and a 26.0% strikeout rate.

That performance was enough to get him stateside attention from Arizona, and McGough departed Japan to sign with the Diamondbacks prior to the 2023 season for $6.25MM guaranteed over two years. That decision proved to be a mistake for the Snakes. McGough was a below average but relatively passable middle reliever for Arizona in his first year with the club, posting a 4.73 ERA (93 ERA+) and a matching 4.76 FIP across 70 1/3 innings of work for the team. While he struck out a solid 25.6% of his opponents, McGough was held back by a 10% walk rate and troubles with the long ball as a whopping 24.6% of his fly balls left the yard for home runs.

That poor fortune led to some advanced metrics like his 3.49 SIERA pointing to better days ahead, but things got even worse in 2024 when his peripherals collapsed across the board. The righty’s age-34 season saw him post a 16.7% strikeout rate against a 14% walk rate, leaving him with a ghastly 7.44 ERA and a 6.04 FIP across his 26 appearances. The Diamondbacks made the easy decision to decline a 2025 club option on his services last winter, though they eventually re-signed him to a minor league deal in April. Now, he’ll be tabbed to help eat innings for a Diamondbacks bullpen that has surrendered a 4.69 ERA and recently lost one of its top relievers, A.J. Puk, to the injured list.

Making room for McGough on the 40-man roster is Feyereisen, who has been at Triple-A with the Diamondbacks after surrendering three runs (two earned) on three hits in two innings of work. The move comes as something of a surprise given his dominance at Triple-A Reno, where he’s posted a 0.96 ERA in 9 1/3 innings of work. That work came with just a 17.9% strikeout rate, however, and Feyereisen was torched for an 8.18 ERA in ten appearances with the Dodgers at the big league level just last year. The 32-year-old has been struggling to get back into a regular role in the majors ever since he underwent shoulder surgery with the Rays back in 2022 and has just 13 innings of work in the majors in the years since then. The Diamondbacks will have one week to either trade Feyereisen or attempt to pass him through waivers, at which point he’ll be able to either accept an outright assignment or reject it in favor of free agency should he not get claimed by a rival club before then.

The D-backs’ Late-Blooming Slugger

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The D-backs moved on from Joc Pederson this past offseason, bidding farewell to a slugger who made 132 appearances at designated hitter for them in 2024 and turned in an outstanding .275/.393/.515 slash in 449 plate appearances. Pederson was limited to 42 plate appearances against left-handed pitching but was a mainstay in the lineup against right-handed opponents. He torched righties at a .281/.392/.531 clip -- 54% better than league average, by measure of wRC+.

Arizona spent more than anyone expected this past offseason, but the vast majority of that spending came in the form of their stunning six-year, $210MM signing of right-hander Corbin Burnes. That marked the largest contract in franchise history, helping push payroll to record levels. The rest of the front office's moves were understandably on the smaller side, at least in terms of financial commitment. A trade for Josh Naylor replaced Christian Walker at first base for about half the 2025 price (and one-sixth of the overall financial commitment). Re-signing Randal Grichuk cost another $5MM. Relievers Kendall Graveman and Jalen Beeks signed for under $2MM apiece.

Pederson's two-year, $37MM deal with the Rangers was announced on the same day as Burnes' deal with the Diamondbacks. Based on the totality of Arizona's offseason, it'd be fair to presume that signing both simply wasn't in the budget. Perhaps, however, the D-backs felt comfortable moving on from Pederson because they bought into the out-of-the-blue breakout from another lefty slugger on the roster.

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Diamondbacks Release Grae Kessinger

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The Diamondbacks have released infielder Grae Kessinger, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was already off the 40-man roster, having been designated for assignment by the Snakes on Saturday.

It’s a bit surprising to see Kessinger released, as most DFA’d players are either traded or placed on outright waivers. An injured player can’t be placed on outright waivers, so a release is sometimes an indication that a player is hurt, though there’s been no reporting to suggest that’s the case with Kessinger. Another possibility is that he has been released to pursue an opportunity overseas, though that’s entirely speculative.

Kessinger, 27, has spent most of his career with the Astros. That club drafted him and gave him a chance to make his major league debut. But he was designated for assignment in December and flipped to the Diamondbacks in a small trade, sending minor league pitcher Matthew Linskey the other way. Kessinger never appeared in a game for Arizona, as he was optioned to Triple-A Reno prior to Opening Day.

His big league experience consists of just 70 plate appearances with the Astros, with a .131/.243/.213 line in those. His minor league work has naturally been greater in quality and quantity. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has slashed .268/.370/.400 on the farm for a 105 wRC+, thanks in large part to a strong 13.6% walk rate. He did that while playing all four infield spots, providing a good amount of defensive versatility. With Reno this year before being designated for assignment, he had a 27.7% walk rate, .235/.447/.324 batting line and 113 wRC+.

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