Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Braves Rumors

Orioles Claim Carson Ragsdale, Designate Dom Hamel

By and | at

The Orioles announced they have claimed right-hander Carson Ragsdale off waivers from the Braves and optioned him to the spring training complex. Ragsdale was recently designated for assignment when Atlanta signed Charlie Morton. Baltimore designated righty Dom Hamel for assignment in a corresponding move.

This is the second time in as many months that the O’s have claimed Ragsdale. The first came in early August, when the O’s grabbed the 27-year-old from the Giants. At that time, the O’s had just traded away a number of guys at the deadline and had roster spots available. He was later put back on the waiver wire when the O’s claimed lefty José Castillo. Atlanta put in a claim at that time but put him on the wire yet again a few days later.

The righty still has a very minimal big league track record. He just made his major league debut for the O’s less than two weeks ago, tossing three innings of relief in a September 14th game against the Blue Jays, allowing eight earned runs in the process.

Having an earned run average of 24.00 in the big leagues is obviously not impressive but he continues to garner interest from clubs based on his minor league track record. This year’s work on the farm hasn’t been amazing, as he has a 5.22 ERA, 19.5% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate in 89 2/3 innings. But last year, he logged 120 2/3 minor league innings with a 4.18 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate.

It’s possible the O’s would like to get him through waivers in order to keep him as non-roster depth, though their first such attempt failed. They could try again in the future but he retakes a spot on the 40-man for now.

Hamel, 26, was just claimed from the Mets a few days ago. He also has just one major league game on his track record, having tossed a scoreless inning against the Padres on September 17th. His minor league work isn’t overwhelming but he does strike guys out. Over 438 1/3 minor league innings, he has a 4.72 ERA, 10.6% walk rate and 26.8% strikeout rate.

With the trade deadline having passed, Baltimore’s only option with him now will be to put him on waivers. He still has a full slate of options. If any other club out there is intrigued by his minor league numbers, he could be claimed and wouldn’t need to be added to the major league active roster. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment, since he doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of big league service time.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images

Ozzie Albies Suffers Hamate Fracture

By | at

Sept. 23: Atlanta placed Albies on the 10-day injured list this morning, formally ending his season. Infielder Brett Wisely, recently claimed off waivers from the Giants, was recalled from Triple-A  Gwinnett to take his spot on the roster. The Braves also formally added fellow waiver claim Joel Payamps to their bullpen and optioned righty Nathan Wiles in his place.

Sept. 22: The Braves have been hit with yet another significant injury. Ozzie Albies was diagnosed with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand/wrist (relayed by Mark Bowman of MLB.com). The second baseman appeared to suffer the injury on a swinging strike in the third inning of tonight’s game. He took the next pitch before calling for a trainer and exiting.

Albies fractured the same wrist on a tag play last July. He was out of action for two months, only managing a late-season return before Atlanta’s brief playoff run. This will obviously cost him the final five games of a losing season. The far greater concern is that he has suffered similar significant injuries in consecutive years. It’ll presumably have some effect on at least the early stages of his offseason.

Hamate fractures typically cost position players around two months. If Albies requires a similar timeline, that would give him plenty of time to be ready for Spring Training. It’s not uncommon for a hitter’s power production to drop after a broken wrist, though, raising more questions about what Atlanta can expect from a player whose numbers have declined over the past two seasons.

Albies finishes the season with a career-worst .240/.306/.365 batting line. He picked up 16 homers and went 14-17 on stolen base attempts. Albies leads second basemen with 667 plate appearances. He had been very durable this season, but he wasn’t hitting the ball with much authority until the past few weeks. He hit .220/.290/.316 in the first half. Albies had a better showing down the stretch, batting .270/.328/.439 after the All-Star Break. He’ll look to avoid a similarly slow start as he comes back from another late-season injury.

The Braves hold successive $7MM club options on Albies for the next two years. The first of those comes with a $4MM buyout. That should still be a very easy call for the front office to exercise. The $3MM difference is on par with what utility/depth players like Kyle Farmer, Thairo Estrada, Josh Rojas and Kevin Newman commanded as free agents last offseason.

Albies’ injury adds to a handful of questions among the Atlanta infield. Ha-Seong Kim appears to be playing his way toward opting out of his $16MM contract. If he does, the Braves would need to find an upgrade over Nick Allen at shortstop. They’d presumably make an effort to bring Kim back on a multi-year deal in that scenario. Austin Riley will be coming back from core surgery. Nacho Alvarez Jr. hasn’t shown much consistency in his first real run as an everyday third baseman in Riley’s absence.

Braves Sign Charlie Morton

By | at

The Braves have reunited with old friend Charlie Morton. They signed him to a major league deal today. He had been designated for assignment by the Tigers but evidently cleared waivers and became a free agent. Atlanta optioned right-hander Jhancarlos Lara and designated righty Carson Ragsdale for assignment as corresponding moves. Manager Brian Snitker previously shared the news with Mark Bowman of MLB.com, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and David O’Brien of The Athletic. Bowman suggests it’s possible the club has brought Morton aboard to retire as a Brave. It’s undetermined whether he will pitch for the club in the remainder of the season.

Morton, 41, hasn’t said that he is retiring but it wouldn’t be a shock if that was his plan. He has flirted with the possibility for years now. “It could be this year, next year, but I’m not going to keep playing for a long time,” he said way back in April of 2018. “I can promise you that. I’m not going to keep playing four, five, six, seven more years.”

Of course, that was over seven years ago now. Since then, Morton has seemingly made a conscious choice to not overly commit to anything. He has repeatedly signed a series of short-term deals, apparently content to keep playing as long as he stayed effective.

After a so-so 2024 season in which he posted a 4.19 earned run average, he decided to give it another go in 2025. He signed a one-year, $15MM deal with the Orioles. “I remember walking off the field and just this like sinking feeling in my stomach — it just didn’t feel right,” Morton said shortly after signing with the O’s. “I’m sure a lot of guys toward the end of their careers, they think about retiring, shutting it down, and you really want to walk off the field the last time and feel good about it. And a lot of guys don’t get that opportunity. I just didn’t feel good about it. I felt like I could have done better. I felt like I still had the tools to be a good pitcher in the big leagues.”

Unfortunately, this season has been even more challenging than the last one. He posted a 10.89 ERA through five starts and got moved to the bullpen before the end of April. He posted some decent results working in relief and got his rotation spot back, then performed pretty well in the summer. He had a 3.88 ERA in 11 starts from late May to the trade deadline, which gave him enough value for the Orioles to trade him and some cash to the Tigers for minor league lefty Micah Ashman.

His first four starts with Detroit were fine, as he put up a 3.63 ERA in those, but things took a disastrous turn from there. He didn’t go more than four innings in any of his final four outings as a Tiger. He seemed to completely lose the zone, walking 19.7% of batters faced in those four games with a 12.75 ERA in that span. In his final outing as a Tiger, he didn’t make it out of the second inning and was booed off the field by a frustrated fan base as the club’s recent skid has become disastrous. The Tigers, desperately trying to avoid a situation where they miss the playoffs, cut him loose.

Atlanta doesn’t have any use for Morton in a competitive sense. Their season was a lost cause long ago and they are officially eliminated from making the playoffs this year. Bringing Morton aboard is a sentimental choice, one that allows him to finish the season with a club that he had a lot of success with.

Morton was originally drafted by Atlanta back in 2002 and debuted for them in 2008. From there, he bounced around, spending many years with the Pirates, Astros and Rays. He returned to Atlanta in 2021 and stayed there through 2024. In those four recent seasons with Atlanta, he made at least 30 starts in each one. Overall, he gave the club 686 1/3 innings with a 3.87 ERA.

As mentioned, it’s unclear if Morton is actually retiring or if he will take the mound in the final week of the season. But it seems possible that he is planning on heading towards the sunset. If that’s the case and he wants to climb the hill one last time, perhaps he can engineer a better final act than his most recent appearance as a Tiger.

Ragsdale, 27, was just claimed off waivers from the Orioles a few days ago. He was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett and made one appearance for the Stripers. Since the trade deadline has long passed, he’ll be back on waivers in the coming days.

His minor league track record is still quite small, consisting of just one appearance for the O’s this year wherein he allowed eight earned runs in three innings. His minor league work also hasn’t been great this year, with a 5.22 ERA in 89 2/3 innings, but he was better a year ago. In 2024, he logged 120 2/3 innings on the farm with a 4.18 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate.

He doesn’t have three years of big league service time nor a previous career outright. That means he does not have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. He also doesn’t have seven years of minor league experience, meaning he shouldn’t be eligible for minor league free agency at season’s end either.

Photos courtesy of Jim Rassol, Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Joel Payamps, Designate Connor Seabold For Assignment

By | at

The Braves have claimed right-hander Joel Payamps off waivers from the Brewers, according to announcements from both clubs. Milwaukee had designated him for assignment a few days ago. In a corresponding move, Atlanta has designated fellow righty Connor Seabold for assignment.

Payamps, now 31, had a strong run with the Brewers in the previous two seasons but has been struggling a bit more this year. He tossed 129 2/3 innings for Milwaukee over the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, allowing just 2.78 earned runs per nine. His 26.1% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 42.6% ground ball rate were all better than league average. He gave the Brewers nine saves and 48 holds over those two years.

But as mentioned, 2025 hasn’t been as smooth. His first 18 1/3 innings this year resulted in an ugly 8.35 ERA. Some of that was surely luck, as his .373 batting average on balls in play and 52.2% strand rate were both to the unfortunate side. But he also saw his strikeout rate drop to just 19% and his grounder rate to 29%. His 4.51 FIP and 4.40 SIERA weren’t nearly as bad as his ERA but  still pointed to him being worse than previous seasons.

Payamps is out of options, so the Brewers designated him for assignment in late May. Given his previous success, he could have been grabbed by any club, but he passed through waivers unclaimed. Perhaps his $2.995MM salary this year played a role, as most of that was still to be paid out at the time.

Players with at least three years of service time can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, those with less than five years of service have to forfeit their remaining salary commitments in order to exercise that right. Payamps is in that three-to-five window and therefore reported to Nashville.

He actually got back on track with the Sounds, tossing 26 2/3 innings. The 4.73 ERA wasn’t good but he got his strikeouts back up to a 27.3% clip and his grounders to a 38.9% rate. The ERA was seemingly spiked by a tiny 47.8% strand rate, which is why he had a 2.90 FIP for that Triple-A run.

The Brewers called him back up in early September, selecting him to the roster when Shelby Miller landed on the injured list. Since then, he has had decent numbers in a small sample, pitching 5 1/3 innings with a 3.38 ERA, 25% strikeout rate and 46.2% ground ball rate, though a high walk rate of 12.5%. Though the recent trends were somewhat encouraging, he was designated for assignment again recently when the Brewers called up Bruce Zimmermann.

With just a week left in the season, the vast majority of Payamps’ salary has now been paid out. That makes it relatively inexpensive for Atlanta to claim him today. They can now get a close-up look at him and decide if they want to tender him a contract for 2026. Since his big league results this year have been lacking, he shouldn’t be able to push his salary up much beyond the $3MM range he was in this year. His service time is still shy of five years, so he could also be controlled for 2027 via arbitration if Atlanta tenders him a contract for next year and things go well.

Atlanta is playing out the string on a season that has been a lost cause for a long time. The club has therefore been making moves focused on improving the 2026 club. They acquired Tyler Kinley from the Rockies at the deadline. They have also claimed players making notable salaries like Jake Fraley and Ha-Seong Kim off waivers, with Payamps now added to the list.

When teams are faced with a losing season like this, they usually find ways to save some money, but Atlanta has taken the opposite approach. Back in February, chairman Terry McGuirk said the club had “dry powder” to make deadline additions. Instead, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has used that powder to make that aforementioned moves. Kinley is making a $3MM salary this year, Fraley $3.125MM and Kim $13MM. As mentioned, Payamps is making $2.995MM.

Atlanta only took on a portion of those salaries, given that each player was acquired later in the year. But in each case, the hope was seemingly that the investment would allow them to bring in a current player who could help in 2026. In most of those cases, they didn’t really commit themselves to anything for next year. Kinley has a $5MM club option for next year but also a $750K buyout. Fraley and Payamps are both arbitration eligible, meaning Atlanta will still have a chance to non-tender them this offseason if they so choose. With Kim, they have less flexibility, as he has a $16MM player option for next year. They were seemingly happy to pay that out but he has been playing well lately and seems to be trending towards a return to free agency.

Seabold was also a waiver claimee this year but a more conventional one as he is still in his pre-arbitration years and isn’t making a notable salary. Since being claimed from the Rays in August, he has mostly been on optional assignment, only making four big league appearance for Atlanta.

Between those two clubs, he has thrown 69 2/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 6.07 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 36% ground ball rate. His major league career now consists of 119 innings spread across four different clubs and four different seasons. In that time, he has a 7.79 ERA, 17% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 33% ground ball rate.

Since the trade deadline has passed, he’ll be on waivers in the coming days. He doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of service time. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he would not have the right to reject an outright assignment. However, he has appeared in at least seven different minor league seasons, meaning he would qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if he’s still not on the 40-man at that time.

Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Chuckie Robinson

By | at

The Braves have claimed Chuckie Robinson off waivers from the Dodgers, according to a report from David O’Brien of The Athletic. Robinson was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett rather than added to the active roster, and right-hander Daysbel Herandnez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Robinson on the 40-man roster.

Robinson, 30, has just 52 games in the majors under his belt since he made his big league debut with the Reds back in 2022. It’s not hard to see why he hasn’t gotten much playing time in the majors to this point, as he’s a career .131/.161/.192 hitter in the big leagues across 138 plate appearances. That performance leaves him with a wRC+ of -4, meaning that he’s been 104% worse than a league average hitter at the plate. While the standards for offensive contributions from catchers are less rigorous than they are for other positions on the diamond, Robinsion is a non-factor at the plate even by the standards set by pitchers in the years prior to the NL adopting the DH rule.

Given his lackluster offensive abilities, it might seem like a shock that Robinson would get any sort of attention at the big league level at all. He carves out a niche for himself by being an extremely well-regarded defender behind the plate. He’s considered a strong game caller and even was heralded by Baseball America as a top defensive catcher back in 2020. That elite glove has been enough to make Robinson a fairly attractive candidate to be a fill-in depth catcher behind a given club’s regular tandem. This year, Robinson broke into the majors with the Dodgers because Will Smith and Dalton Rushing were both injured, leaving Robinson to join Ben Rortvedt in the club’s catching tandem for a time. He similarly helped to fill in for injured starting catcher Tyler Stephenson with the Reds during his debut season of 2022.

Now that Robinson is in Atlanta, it seems likely he’ll be tasked with helping to back up Drake Baldwin and Sandy Leon for the last few weeks of the season. The Braves have one of the best catching tandems in baseball when healthy, with Baldwin and Sean Murphy sharing time behind the plate, but Murphy recently underwent surgery that left the club without a third-string catcher behind Leon on the 40-man roster. Had Leon or Baldwin suffered an injury, the Braves would’ve been forced to turn to Jason Delay (who is not currently on the 40-man roster) or find an option outside the organization. It’s unclear if the Braves have interest in keeping Robinson in the fold in some capacity headed into the offseason or if he’s simply a fill-in depth piece brought in to help shore up the catcher position while Murphy is rehabbing. Even if that ends up being the case, Robinson’s strong defensive reputation should make it fairly easy to find a minor league deal with one organization or another.

The Changing Landscape Of The Offseason Shortstop Market

By | at

For much of the 2025 season, it's looked as though Bo Bichette will be the only notable shortstop in free agency -- and it's been plenty fair to debate whether he's a shortstop at all. The 27-year-old has bounced back -- and then some -- at the plate, largely quieting concerns about his anemic performance with the bat in an injury-ruined 2024 season that saw him slash just .225/.277/.322 with four homers in 81 games. But whatever good will Bichette has regained with a resurgent performance in the batter's box has at least partially been offset by a career-worst year with the glove -- and now yet another lower-half injury.

Elsewhere in free agency, what once looked like an otherwise-barren class has now begun to show some potential upside. Narratives surrounding several potential free agents have begun to shift -- enough that it bears taking a lengthier look at what the winter might bring.

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

Braves Select Jhancarlos Lara, Designate Jonathan Ornelas

By | at

The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Jhancarlos Lara from Triple-A Gwinnett and designated infielder Jonathan Ornelas for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Right-hander Dane Dunning was optioned to Gwinnett to clear a spot on the active roster.

Lara, 22, has posted ugly minor league numbers this year but continues to intrigue scouts due to the quality of his raw stuff. He’s sitting 98.5 mph with his four-seamer in Triple-A and couples the pitch with a slider/cutter that ranges from the upper-80s to low-90s and generates plenty of whiffs. As is so often the case with power arms of this nature, command is an ongoing struggle for the 6’3″, 195-pound Lara.

In 68 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Lara has yielded a gruesome 7.73 earned run average. He’s actually been better at the higher of those two levels, working to a moderately better 6.53 ERA. Lara fanned over one-third of his opponents in Gwinnett but has issued walks at a brutal 19.8% clip at each of this year’s minor league stops.

Despite the poor command, Lara still sits 20th among Braves prospects at Baseball America, 21st at MLB.com and 25th at FanGraphs. Atlanta would’ve had to add him to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft anyhow, so he’ll get an early promotion to the majors and get his first taste of big league opposition. Lara is, obviously, still very much a work in progress, but now that he’s on the 40-man roster, the Braves have at least three years to coax even passable command out of him. He’ll head into the 2026 season with a full slate of three minor league option years available to the major league club.

The 25-year-old Ornelas came to the Braves in a cash swap with the Rangers back in May. He’d been designated for assignment in Texas as well. The righty-swinging utilityman went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles in his only two games with Atlanta. He’s spent the rest of his time since that May trade down in Gwinnett, where he’s slashed .193/.279/.325 in 333 trips to the plate.

Ornelas is just 11-for-53 in a tiny sample of 58 big league plate appearances, leading to an overall .208/.263/.245 batting line in the majors. He posted decent numbers in the lower minors but has struggled each year since being bumped to Triple-A. However, he’s a plus runner who can play quality defense at shortstop, third base and second base — and he’s gotten some reps in center field over the past few seasons as well.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Ornelas will head to outright waivers or be released. He’s in his final minor league option year, which will hurt his chances of being picked up by another club, as he’d need to break camp on the big league roster next spring or else be designated for assignment once again.

Braves Claim Brett Wisely

By | at

The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve claimed infielder Brett Wisely off waivers from the Giants and optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Lefty Aaron Bummer was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to create space on the 40-man roster. San Francisco designated Wisely for assignment earlier in the week.

Wisely, 26, was a 15th-round pick by the Rays back in 2019. He landed with the Giants in a 2022 swap that sent outfield prospect Tristan Peters back to Tampa Bay. Neither player has made a huge impact with the team to which he was traded, but Wisely has spent far more time in the majors than the 25-year-old Peters, who made his MLB debut last month and went hitless in four games before being optioned back to Triple-A.

Wisely has logged major league time in each of the past three seasons, appearing in 164 games for the Giants. He’s tallied 457 plate appearances and posted a tepid .217/.263/.324 slash with seven homers, 22 doubles, a triple, five steals, a 25.2% strikeout rate and a 5.7% walk rate.

It’s clearly not an impressive batting line — wRC+ measures him 36% worse than a league-average offensive performer — but Wisely has provided the Giants with both versatile and skilled defensive play. He’s spent the bulk of his time at second base (682 innings) but also has ample experience at shortstop (269 innings) with cameos at third base and in center field. He’s graded out positively at every position he’s played in the eyes of both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average. And while Wisely isn’t a prolific thief on the basepaths, he does possess slightly above-average speed, sitting in the 55th percentile of big leaguers, per Statcast (and the 62nd percentile last year).

This is the last of three minor league option years for Wisely. He’s controllable all the way through 2030 but will have to stick on an Opening Day roster next season or else be designated for assignment and exposed to waivers prior to being sent to the minors. He’s far from a lock to last all the way into next year’s spring training on the 40-man roster with Atlanta, but if he does stick around that long, he’ll vie for a bench spot in what’s currently a wide-open competition.

The Braves claimed Ha-Seong Kim off waivers at the end of August, taking on the veteran shortstop’s $16MM player option in doing so. If Kim picks up that option, he’ll be the everyday shortstop in 2026. If not, Atlanta will enter the offseason with Nick Allen — a defensive standout but one of MLB’s lightest hitters — atop the depth chart at short. Atlanta would almost certainly be in the market for an upgrade, potentially pushing Allen into a bench role. Other candidates for reserve spots with the Braves would include Nacho Alvarez Jr. and former top prospect Vidal Brujan. Both Allen and Brujan are out of minor league options as well.

Suffice it to say, there’ll likely be a fair bit of turnover among that group, but for the time being, Wisely provides some depth at multiple positions and a versatile defender with slightly more bat than either Allen or Brujan can offer. In parts of four Triple-A seasons, Wisely is a .274/.371/.433 hitter.

MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage

By | at

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 Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will the Astros trade Christian Walker in the offseason and move Isaac Paredes over to first base? (38:45)
  • Will the Braves make any shocking trades of their core this offseason? (47:40)
  • Will the Red Sox nab a postseason spot and can they make a deep postseason run? (55:00)

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 Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Carson Ragsdale

By | at

The Braves have claimed righty Carson Ragsdale off waivers from the Orioles, per an announcement from the O’s. Atlanta has not yet announced the move, but David O’Brien of The Athletic reports that outfielder Jake Fraley is being transferred to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man roster spot. Baltimore designated Ragsdale for assignment on Monday.

Baltimore originally claimed Ragsdale off waivers from San Francisco following the trade deadline. The 27-year-old is a longtime Giants farmhand but never pitched in the majors until a brief three-inning cup of coffee with the O’s. He was tagged for eight runs on nine hits and a walk with two punchouts during that initial MLB audition.

A 2020 fourth-round pick by the Phillies (who traded him to the Giants for Sam Coonrod), Ragsdale has solid numbers throughout his minor league tenure but appeared to hit a roadblock in Triple-A this season, logging a sub-par 4.87 ERA with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate that are both worse than average. That said, he posted a 2.93 ERA in High-A and a 3.49 mark in Double-A before stumbling in Triple-A. He’s averaged 92.6 mph on his four-seamer this year and paired that pitch with a splitter and a curveball that sits in the high 70s. Ragsdale has a pair of minor league option years remaining beyond the current season.

For the Braves, Ragsdale adds some optionable depth to a rotation mix that’s been absolutely hammered by injuries this season. Spencer Strider began the year on the injured list rehabbing from last year’s UCL surgery, and he’s looked shaky in his return while also missing time due to a hamstring injury. Chris Sale was out for two months due to fractured ribs. Reynaldo Lopez made just one start before undergoing shoulder surgery. Young righty AJ Smith-Shawver underwent Tommy John surgery in June. Spencer Schwellenbach suffered a fractured elbow just a couple weeks later. Righty Grant Holmes suffered a partial tear of his UCL in late July. He’s attempting to rehab without surgery (knowing that late-July/early-August surgery would’ve wiped out his entire 2026 campaign anyhow).

There’s no guarantee that Ragsdale will last the entire offseason on Atlanta’s 40-man roster, but with so many of those pitching injuries extending into next season, it’s understandable that they’d take a late look at an optionable depth arm who won’t turn 28 until late next May. Bolstering the rotation will be a point of focus for Atlanta this offseason, but stockpiling depth in this fashion will be plenty important in its own right.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top