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The Angels could welcome Zach Neto back from the injured list as soon as tomorrow evening. As Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com each observed, Neto was in Long Beach on Thursday after playing consecutive games with Triple-A Salt Lake on his minor league rehab stint.
The team has not made any declarations on Neto’s status. The 24-year-old made it through nine innings at shortstop on back-to-back nights with Salt Lake on Tuesday and Wednesday. Manager Ron Washington had previously called that a necessity before the team would consider reinstating him. Neto now seems poised to rejoin them as they try to snap a four-game skid. They’ll play host to the Giants for three this weekend.
Neto injured his right shoulder late last season. He underwent surgery in November that was always expected to keep him out of the lineup on Opening Day. While he didn’t appear in any Spring Training games, he wasn’t far behind. He began a rehab assignment on April 1. Neto has looked no worse for wear against minor league pitching. He hit four home runs with a .286/.397/.592 slash over 13 games with Salt Lake.
The Angels have managed a 9-9 record despite playing without arguably their second-best position player. Neto was the team’s most productive player last season. He hit .249/.318/.443 across 602 plate appearances. He led the club with 30 stolen bases and trailed only Taylor Ward for the team lead with 23 homers. It was an impressive first full MLB season for the 2022 first-round pick.
Los Angeles has gotten no production at shortstop over the first few weeks. They entered play Thursday with a .140/.169/.158 slash and no home runs in 60 plate appearances out of the position. They’re last in batting average and slugging, while only the White Sox have received a worse on-base mark. Tim Anderson and Kevin Newman have combined for almost all the playing time. Anderson is hitting .171 with one double over 44 trips to the plate. Newman has three hits (all singles) and no walks in nine games. Nicky Lopez, who signed a major league contract just before Opening Day, has only made one start. He’s 0-6 with a strikeout.
Neto’s return will almost certainly result in someone getting designated for assignment. The Angels don’t need to create a 40-man roster spot, but no one on their bench can be optioned. Newman, Lopez and J.D. Davis all have more than enough service time to refuse a minor league assignment, as does Anderson. It’s unlikely that they’d drop Newman, who signed a $2.75MM free agent deal early in the offseason. One of the other three players is likely to be DFA as the corresponding move.
The Cubs re-signed righty Caleb Kilian to a minor league contract, reports Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. He’ll return to Triple-A Iowa after being released over the weekend.
Chicago designated Kilian for assignment last Thursday when they acquired Tom Cosgrove in a trade with San Diego. Kilian was on the minor league injured list at the time. Teams cannot place injured players on outright waivers. The Cubs needed to trade Kilian or release him after the DFA. The vast majority of such players will be released. Once they clear waivers, they’re free to talk to all 30 clubs, though it’s common for their former team to try to get them back on a minor league deal.
That’s what happened in this case, so Kilian sticks with the Cubs after a few days on the open market. He’s been in the organization since the 2021 deadline. The Cubs acquired Kilian and outfielder Alexander Canario from the Giants in the Kris Bryant deal. Both players were reasonably well-regarded prospects at the time, though neither has panned out thus far. Canario’s big power has been undercut by huge strikeout tallies. The Cubs moved on from him over the offseason.
Kilian has made eight major league appearances over three seasons. The Texas Tech product has allowed a 9.22 earned run average in 27 1/3 big league innings. He has walked 20 batters with 21 strikeouts. Over parts of four seasons in Triple-A, he carries a 4.37 ERA in 274 frames. His 21.8% strikeout rate is a little worse than average, as is his 9.2% walk percentage. Kilian had only taken the ball once for Iowa this year. He gave up six runs in 2 1/3 innings before leaving with the undisclosed injury that sent him to the IL. He’ll work as non-roster rotation or long relief depth once he’s healthy enough to return to the mound.
Over the coming days, MLBTR will look at next offseason’s option class. Steve Adams will highlight the players who can opt out of their current deals, while we’ll take a division-by-division look at those whose contracts contain either team or mutual options. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona signed the veteran righty, who missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in January 2024. Graveman was hobbled by back discomfort this spring and began the year on the 15-day injured list. He has thrown a few bullpen sessions but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. During his most recent healthy season, Graveman worked to a 3.12 ERA across 66 1/3 innings between the White Sox and Astros.
Grichuk posted big numbers in a short-side platoon role for the Snakes in 2024. Arizona brought him back on a $5MM free agent deal. He’s making only a $2MM salary and will collect a $3MM buyout on his option at the end of the season. Grichuk hasn’t gotten much playing time, starting six of Arizona’s 19 games (all but one as the designated hitter). He’s out to a decent start, batting .240 with five doubles over 28 plate appearances.
Colorado Rockies
Farmer has been a rare bright spot in what has been a terrible Colorado lineup. The veteran utilityman has started 15 of their 18 games. He’s playing mostly second base and is hitting .345 with nine doubles, the second-most in MLB. Farmer isn’t going to keep hitting at this pace, but it’s an excellent start for a player who signed for $3.25MM after a down year (.214/.293/.353) with Minnesota.
Kinley signed a three-year extension during the 2022-23 offseason. The slider specialist had a brilliant first half to the ’22 campaign, but that was cut short in July by elbow surgery. Kinley hasn’t been the same pitcher since returning. He allowed more than six earned runs per nine in both 2022 and ’23. He has given up five runs (four earned) with seven strikeouts and six walks across 7 2/3 innings this season. Kinley owns a 6.03 ERA while walking more than 11% of opposing hitters over 88 frames since signing the extension.
The option comes with a $5MM base value. It would escalate by $500K apiece if Kinley finishes 20, 25, and 30 games — potentially up to $6.5MM. He has finished two contests in the early going. While the option isn’t especially costly, this is trending towards a buyout.
Stallings produced the best offensive numbers of his career for the Rox in 2024. He returned on a $2.5MM deal early in the offseason. Stallings has been more of the 1-b catcher behind Hunter Goodman. He has started seven games and caught 59 innings. It’s been a slow start, as he’s batting .125 with 12 strikeouts in 27 trips to the plate.
Note: Thairo Estrada’s one-year deal contains a ’26 mutual option, but he’s excluded from this exercise because he would remain eligible for arbitration if the option is declined.
Los Angeles Dodgers
This could end up being a borderline call. The Dodgers can keep Muncy around for what’d be his ninth season in L.A. on a $10MM price tag. That’s not an exorbitant sum for baseball’s highest-spending team. Muncy has generally been an excellent hitter in the middle of Dave Roberts’ lineup. He’s a career .230/.355/.482 hitter in Dodger blue. He remained as productive when he was healthy last season, posting a .232/.358/.494 slash over 73 games. An oblique strain cost him three months.
Muncy is out to a much slower start this year. He has yet to connect on a home run in 18 games. He’s batting .193 with 25 strikeouts in 68 plate appearances (a 36.8% rate). It’s very early, of course, but he’ll need to pick things up. Muncy turns 35 in August. NPB third baseman Munetaka Murakami will be posted for MLB teams next offseason. The Dodgers will very likely be involved on the 25-year-old slugger, so it’s possible they’d prefer to keep the position open early in the winter.
Taylor is in the final season of his four-year, $60MM free agent deal. He was coming off an All-Star season in 2021, when he hit .254/.344/.438 with 20 homers. His offense has trended down over the course of the contract, especially sharply over the past two years. Taylor fanned at a near-31% clip last season, batting .202/.298/.300 in 246 plate appearances. He has only been in the starting lineup three times this season.
The Dodgers have kept Taylor throughout his offensive struggles. They clearly place a lot of value on him as a clubhouse presence and appreciate the defensive versatility he provides off the bench. Still, it’s hard to imagine them paying the extra $8MM to exercise the option since he’s essentially the final position player on the roster. The option price would increase by $1MM if Taylor is traded or in the unlikely event that he reaches 525 plate appearances and/or makes the All-Star Game.
Note: Alex Vesia’s arbitration contract contains a ’26 club option, but he’s excluded from this exercise because he would remain eligible for arbitration if the option is declined.
San Diego Padres
Díaz finished last season in San Diego after being released by the Rockies. He re-signed on a $3.5MM deal as the Padres went with the affordable veteran catching tandem of Díaz and Martín Maldonado. He’s hitting .206 in 13 games, though he has taken seven walks against eight strikeouts.
Hart, a soft-tossing lefty, returned to the majors after an excellent year in Korea. He signed a $1.5MM guarantee with a ’26 team option that has a $5MM base salary. The option price could climb as high as $7.5MM. It would jump $250K if Hart reaches 18 starts this year, $500K at 22 starts, $750K at 26 starts, and $1MM if he starts 30 games.
San Diego has given Hart a season-opening rotation spot. He has allowed seven runs over his first 11 2/3 innings. Hart has walked five with eight strikeouts and a below-average 8.3% swinging strike percentage.
King’s option is purely an accounting measure. He agreed to push $3.75MM of this year’s $7.75MM guarantee back to the end of the season in the form of a buyout — potentially buying the Padres a bit of flexibility for in-season trade acquisitions. Barring a major injury, he’s going to decline his end of the option and will be one of the top pitchers in next year’s class.
Wade agreed to a $1MM club option as part of a deal to avoid a hearing in his final year of arbitration. He was squeezed off the roster during Spring Training. Wade cleared waivers, accepted an assignment to Triple-A, then came back up last week. He’s playing center field with Jackson Merrill and Brandon Lockridge on the injured list. The option price is barely above the league minimum, but Wade is on the roster bubble and no guarantee to stick in the majors through the end of the season.
San Francisco Giants
San Francisco added Murphy on a two-year deal during the 2023-24 offseason. The veteran catcher has had a difficult time staying healthy throughout his career, and that’s continued in San Francisco. He played in only 13 games last year because of a knee sprain. He started this season on the shelf with a herniated disc that is going to keep him out for at least the first two months. This looks like a buyout.
The White Sox are in agreement with reliever Keone Kela on a minor league deal, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He’s been assigned to the team’s Arizona complex for the time being as he builds into game shape.
Kela is trying to return to the big league level for the first time in four seasons. He hasn’t pitched in the affiliated ranks since 2022. Kela’s most recent affiliated opportunity came on a minor league deal with the Dodgers late that year. He signed on with the Yakult Swallows in Japan in 2023, though his time there was limited to 14 innings for their minor league club. Kela had a better run in the Mexican League last season, firing 40 innings of 2.70 ERA ball while striking out a quarter of opposing hitters. He added 16 innings of five-run ball in the Mexican winter league.
The White Sox are intrigued enough by his form to give him a minor league chance. The 32-year-old Kela has pitched parts of seven seasons at the big league level. He had his best run early in his career with the Rangers, for whom he tossed 169 innings with a 3.45 earned run average. He worked to an even better 2.49 mark over parts of three seasons with the Pirates, though that came in a total of 47 innings. Kela’s most recent big league experience came when he allowed eight runs in 10 2/3 innings for the ’21 Padres.
At his best, Kela had a fastball that sat in the 96 MPH range and a swing-and-miss curveball. He has fanned nearly 30% of batters faced against a manageable 9.2% walk rate as a big leaguer. The rebuilding White Sox have very little in the way of established bullpen arms. It’s a decent landing spot as Kela tries to get back to the highest level. He’ll presumably spend a couple weeks at the complex before heading to Triple-A Charlotte.
April tends to be relatively quiet on the transaction front. The early part of the month saw a handful of extensions as talks that had begun in Spring Training carried into the regular season. There probably won't be much more significant hot stove activity for the next couple months. That's largely because all but three teams -- the White Sox, Marlins and Rockies -- went into the season with some measure of hope about competing. The trio of clearly noncompetitive clubs had already moved most of their realistic trade candidates who'd bring back prospect talent.
Luis Robert Jr. is an exception. The White Sox held onto their former All-Star center fielder over the offseason. Robert was coming off the worst season of his career. He lost nearly two months early in the season with a hip flexor strain and was unproductive when healthy. He hit .224/.278/.379 with 14 homers in 100 games. Robert looked nothing like the player who'd finished 12th in AL MVP balloting one year earlier.
It made for a difficult evaluation. Robert has shown star upside -- not only in the aforementioned 2023 campaign but in an injury-shortened '21 season when he hit .338/.378/.567 over 68 games. Last year's White Sox were en route to the worst season in the modern era. Maybe Robert's .216/.253/.302 showing in the second half reflected some amount of mental fatigue. At 27 years old, he should remain in his prime.
Luis Gil has not thrown since being diagnosed with a lat strain during the first week of March. The Yankees righty was shut down for at least six weeks at the time of the injury. While Gil has hit the six-week mark, he’s still not ready to begin throwing. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that Gil will remain shut down for at least another 10 days. Recent imaging hasn’t revealed sufficient healing for last year’s Rookie of the Year winner to resume throwing.
Gil will remain more than a month away from returning to MLB action even after he begins throwing. He’ll need a full ramp-up period after missing all of Spring Training, progressing through multiple sessions before he’s ready for a minor league rehab assignment. The Yankees welcomed Clarke Schmidt back from his own season-opening injured list stint on Wednesday, but they’re still down three starting pitchers. Gerrit Cole will miss the entire season, while Marcus Stroman went on the IL with knee inflammation over the weekend.
A couple other injury updates around the game:
White Sox outfielder Austin Slater underwent surgery to address a meniscus tear in his right knee yesterday, the team informed reporters (including Scott Merkin of MLB.com). He’ll be sidelined for 4-6 weeks.
Slater went on the injured list over the weekend. The right-handed hitter has appeared in eight games this season. He’s started 5-20 with a home run and a couple doubles. The Sox have given him 10 plate appearances against right-handed and left-handed opponents alike. He’s mostly been a short-side platoon bat throughout his career. Slater is a .270/.362/.431 hitter against southpaws. He has fanned in 33% of plate appearances against righty pitching, putting up a .230/.316/.334 slash.
The White Sox made a handful of modest one-year free agent pickups over the offseason. Slater was the first of those additions. He signed for a $1.75MM guarantee with another $500K in performance bonuses. The incentives range from 50 to 100 games and 100 to 300 plate appearances, so he could unlock most or all of those bonuses as long as his rehab process goes as expected.
Slater is one of three outfielders on Chicago’s injured list. They’re also without Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman for the moment. Michael A. Taylor is playing every day in left field. Lefty-swinging Joshua Palacios and switch-hitter Brooks Baldwin have been operating as a right field platoon.
The White Sox intend to promote catching prospect Edgar Quero, reports Francys Romero. He’s expected to join the team for tomorrow afternoon’s series finale against the A’s. It’ll be the first major league call for the 22-year-old. Quero is not on the 40-man roster, so there’ll be a forthcoming move in that regard.
Quero, a native of Cuba, signed with the Angels in February 2021. He quickly impressed prospect evaluators as an advanced switch-hitting catcher. He’d gotten to Double-A at age 20 before the Halos sent him to the White Sox alongside lefty Ky Bush for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López at the 2023 deadline. The Angels regretted that push very quickly, as they fell firmly out of contention and wound up waiving Giolito and López a month later to shed their salaries.
It was a nice return for the White Sox. Quero has ranked in the latter half of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects for each of the past three years. BA placed him sixth in the Chicago farm system this winter. That came on the heels of a strong .280/.366/.463 slash line with 16 home runs between the top two minor league levels. He kept his strikeout rate around 17% while drawing walks at a solid 9.7% clip.
Evaluators credit Quero with solid grades across the board (aside from the below-average speed expected of a catcher). He’s more of a bat-first player, drawing particular praise for his hit tool. BA writes that he has an average arm and has continued to improve his receiving skills, though, so there’s not much doubt that he can stay behind the plate.
At the time of the Giolito trade, Quero looked to be Chicago’s catcher of the future. That’s no longer a given, albeit for reasons beyond his control. The White Sox built the Garrett Crochet deal around former first-round pick Kyle Teel. Teel is generally viewed as the superior prospect, though it’s Quero who earns the major league call first.
The two highly-regarded young catchers have split the playing time at Triple-A Charlotte. Quero has had the much better start to the season. He’s hitting .333/.444/.412 with 11 walks and 14 strikeouts over 63 plate appearances. Teel has fanned 19 times and is batting .192 in a similar amount of playing time.
Matt Thaiss and Korey Lee began the season as Will Venable’s catching tandem. The Sox lost Lee to an ankle sprain last week. They initially brought up veteran Omar Narváez from Double-A rather than promote Quero or Teel. They’ll reverse course now with Quero, who should play fairly regularly.
It’s no longer possible for a player to accrue the 172 days on an MLB roster necessary to get a full year of service. Quero was a preseason top 100 prospect at each of Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline, so he would qualify for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. That means he could earn a full service year if he finished in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. The White Sox would not receive a bonus draft choice if that happens because they didn’t promote Quero early enough to spend 172 days in the majors.
Steven Matz makes his return to the Cardinals’ rotation tomorrow afternoon. The lefty is scheduled for his first start of the season against the Astros. Matz had opened the season in the bullpen because the Cards had off days in each of the first three weeks. They’re now going into their sixth game of a stretch of 13 consecutive game days, so they’ll move to a six-man rotation.
This has been the plan since Opening Day. St. Louis wanted to give Matthew Liberatore another rotation opportunity after he’d spent most of last season in long relief. Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas were rotation locks, while Andre Pallante has maintained his hold on the fourth starter role. Matz temporarily kicked into relief since it didn’t make much sense to use a six-man rotation when they had so many off days.
Matz has found success over his first five appearances. He has tossed 11 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned). His six strikeouts and 9% swinging strike rate haven’t been overpowering, but he’s throwing a lot of strikes and has gotten grounders at a solid 46.2% rate. Matz’s most recent appearance came on Sunday. He threw 46 pitches in 2 1/3 innings against Philadelphia. He’ll be working on three days rest and hasn’t had a full rotation workload, so he’ll be on a tighter pitch limit tomorrow. Daniel Guerrero of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Matz will be capped around 65 pitches.
The 33-year-old Matz is in the final season of his four-year free agent deal. His Cardinals tenure has mostly been marred by inconsistency and injury, though he did manage a 3.86 ERA in 105 innings two seasons ago. A back injury kept him to 44 1/3 frames over 12 appearances (seven starts) last year. He allowed 5.08 earned runs per nine with a below-average 17.4% strikeout rate. Matz is making $12MM and could net the Cardinals some salary relief and/or a modest return closer to the trade deadline if he has a solid first half.
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