Rangers Release Andrew McCutchen
The Rangers have placed Andrew McCutchen on release waivers, according to the MLB.com transaction log. That was the expectation after he was designated for assignment yesterday to make room for the signing of infielder Nicky Lopez.
Assuming McCutchen goes unclaimed on waivers, he’ll become a free agent. The former MVP can explore all opportunities at that point. The Rangers will remain on the hook for the guarantees in his contract, reportedly a $1.25MM salary. A signing team would pay him the prorated $780K league minimum for any time he spends on the MLB roster, which would be subtracted from the Rangers’ obligations.
McCutchen signed a minor league deal midway through Spring Training. He’d seemingly hoped to return to the Pirates for what would’ve been the fourth season of his late-career second act in the Steel City. The Bucs didn’t appear to reciprocate that interest, and the writing was officially on the wall when Pittsburgh signed Marcell Ozuna to a $12MM free agent deal.
Texas used McCutchen mostly in a short side platoon capacity, splitting his time between DH and the corner outfield. He didn’t hit much, batting .192 with one home run over 83 trips to the plate. McCutchen drew nine walks but fanned 22 times, a 26.5% rate that would be the highest of his career over a full season.
It’s the fourth straight year in which McCutchen’s numbers have declined. The five-time All-Star had been close to a league average bat over 551 plate appearances with the Bucs last season. McCutchen still has an elite understanding of the strike zone but no longer hits for much power.
Although he struggled against pitchers of either handedness in his limited sample with Texas, he hit lefties at a solid .267/.353/.389 clip a year ago. The Rangers themselves have been one of the worst offenses in MLB against left-handed pitching. They evidently weren’t expecting McCutchen to improve that production. The Mariners and Padres are also near the bottom of the league in hitting lefties and are speculative possibilities that could consider him for a bench role.
Rockies Transfer Jose Quintana To 60-Day Injured List
The Rockies announced they’ve transferred starter Jose Quintana to the 60-day injured list. He’d been placed on the 15-day IL on Monday with an elbow sprain. Today’s move creates a 40-man roster spot for Jeff Criswell, who has been reinstated from the 60-day IL. He’ll remain at Triple-A Albuquerque on optional assignment.
Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports that Quintana is expected to avoid surgery. However, a sprain by definition indicates there’s some amount of stretching and/or tearing to the ligament. The immediate IL transfer rules him out for at least two months. Quintana won’t be back until late July at the earliest.
That probably takes him off the summer trade market. Colorado signed Quintana to a one-year, $6MM deal just before Spring Training. They hoped he’d raise the floor in an historically bad rotation while pitching well enough to be a deadline trade candidate. Quintana was never going to bring back a significant prospect but could plausibly have gotten them a low minors lottery ticket or two if he were pitching well.
It’s theoretically possible that Quintana could return at the 60-day mark and start one or two games before the August 3 deadline. Even in that case, it’s unlikely he’d show enough to be a target for a contender. Quintana has only completed six innings once in his nine starts this year. He has a 5.27 ERA with a career-low 11% strikeout rate while averaging less than 90 mph on his fastball.
Making a second half return would be more important for the veteran southpaw personally. Assuming he wants to continue playing beyond this season, he’ll need an impressive final month or two to give himself a chance at securing another major league deal. The Rockies are also without Chase Dollander and Ryan Feltner, though the latter might be back as early as Saturday.
Criswell underwent Tommy John surgery in Spring Training 2025. The Michigan product had pitched pretty well in a small sample debut at the tail end of the ’24 season. His stuff has looked good on a rehab assignment, and he has fanned 12 hitters in his first 6 2/3 frames with Albuquerque. They’ll let him continue working against Triple-A hitters but could bring him back to the MLB level at any point now that he’s back on the 40-man roster.
Blue Jays Select Charles McAdoo
May 28th: The Jays announced their selection of McAdoo today. Right-hander Connor Seabold is also active after being acquired in a trade yesterday. In corresponding active roster moves, right-hander Chase Lee was optioned to Triple-A and Sosa was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right wrist contusion. To open a 40-man spot for McAdoo, righty Lazaro Estrada was transferred to the 60-day IL. Estrada’s 60-day count is retroactive to April 5th, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement in a few days. His current status is unclear but he hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment and likely isn’t close to reinstatement.
May 27th: The Blue Jays are selecting infielder Charles McAdoo onto the MLB roster, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. They’ll need to open space on the active and 40-man rosters before tomorrow’s series opener in Baltimore.
McAdoo was a 13th-round selection by the Pirates in the 2023 draft. Toronto acquired the San Jose State product the following summer in a deadline trade sending Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Pittsburgh. The righty-hitting McAdoo was amidst a big offensive season between High-A and Double-A. He initially struggled with his new organization, hitting .185 with a 30% strikeout rate to close the ’24 campaign.
The Jays kept McAdoo at Double-A New Hampshire for all of last season. He still struck out a decent amount but stole 34 bases while hitting 16 home runs. It was enough to earn a bump to Triple-A Buffalo this year. McAdoo carries a .250/.356/.436 slash with eight longballs in 202 trips to the plate. He has walked at an excellent 14% clip and, perhaps most importantly, has slashed the strikeout rate to a manageable 20%.
Baseball America ranked McAdoo the #16 prospect in the Toronto farm system on their updated writeup last week. Their offseason report credited him with above-average power and arm strength along with decent speed. The questions have revolved around his middling defensive value and the subpar contact skills he brought into the season.
McAdoo has split most of his time between the corner infield spots, along with occasional second base work. He played some outfield in the low minors but has been a full-time infielder since 2025. He has a similar defensive repertoire as Lenyn Sosa, an April trade acquisition who has hit .188/.205/.275 across 84 plate appearances with the Jays. Sosa is out of options, but that’s true of everyone on the Toronto bench aside from the recently activated Nathan Lukes.
Teoscar Hernández To Be Placed On IL With Hamstring Strain
May 28th: Roberts spoke to members of the media after the game and said Hernández will hit the injured list and probably miss at least a few weeks, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Ardaya later added that Ward will be recalled as the corresponding move.
May 27th: Teoscar Hernández made an early exit from tonight’s game against Colorado. The Dodgers left fielder strained his left hamstring while trying to beat out a ground-ball to shortstop in the second inning. Hernández was visibly frustrated and immediately exited the game. Hyeseong Kim replaced him in left field for the top of the third.
The Dodgers haven’t announced any specifics beyond confirming the apparent hamstring strain. They’ll likely provide more information in the next day or two after he goes for imaging. It’d be a surprise if he avoids the injured list even if the strain is of a lower-grade variety.
Los Angeles just placed Kiké Hernández back on the injured list this evening due to a significant oblique tear. It’ll be well over a month before he’s able to return. Alex Freeland came up from Triple-A to replace Kiké Hernández on the active roster. Manager Dave Roberts said pregame that Freeland would get the majority of the second base playing time, pushing Kim to more of a utility role.
Tonight’s game marked Kim’s first MLB work as a left fielder. He played 85 1/3 innings in center as a rookie. He’d been a full-time middle infielder this year aside from a two-inning cameo in center while playing in Triple-A at the beginning of the season. Kim is athletic enough to play the outfield, but his value is tied mostly to his defensive aptitude up the middle.
Alex Call got the start tonight in right field. The Dodgers seemingly wanted to stay away from Kyle Tucker on a rest day. Call has played well in limited opportunities but was acquired mostly for a short side platoon role. If the Dodgers are wary of using him as an everyday player and Teoscar Hernández misses time, they’d probably bring Ryan Ward back up from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Last year’s minor league home run leader, Ward is hitting .260/.386/.428 this season at OKC. He made his MLB debut in April while Freddie Freeman was on the paternity list, going 2-6 in two games. Tyler Fitzgerald and Alek Thomas are the other position players on optional assignment. Fitzgerald is primarily an infielder and hits right-handed, so he’s not an ideal platoon partner with Call. Thomas has been at the team’s Arizona complex since they acquired from the Diamondbacks two weeks ago, presumably working on mechanical adjustments.
An IL stint would be a sour end to what has been an excellent month for Hernández. He’s hitting .329 with a trio of homers and four doubles in May. After a fairly slow start, he’s been one of the team’s best players over the past few weeks. Assuming the Dodgers close out a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning, they’ll pull 4.5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and slumping Padres in the NL West.
Craig Breslow Discusses Red Sox’ Trade Outlook
Despite a convincing win over the Braves tonight, the Red Sox sit at a disappointing 23-31 that has them at the bottom of the AL East. A scarcity of great teams in the American League means every club is still within six games of a Wild Card spot, so even the slowest starters can talk themselves into the possibility of turning things around.
That said, the Sox are obviously aware they’ll need to play far better than their current 69-win pace to avoid a sell-off two months from now. The front office already made an early-season managerial change going from Alex Cora to interim skipper Chad Tracy. They also overhauled the hitting coach group in an effort to get more from a dramatically underperforming lineup.
The Sox were 11th in the AL in scoring and dead last in OPS (.667) when Cora and multiple hitting coaches were fired on April 25. They’re up to sixth in the Junior Circuit in OPS since then but second from the bottom in runs scored, better only than a reeling Detroit team. Playing the past three weeks without Roman Anthony hasn’t helped, but the second-year outfielder was struggling even before a wrist sprain sent him to the injured list. The biggest issue is an infield that, aside from first baseman Willson Contreras, has contributed almost nothing offensively.
Reports emerged over the weekend that the Sox were already gauging the trade market for lineup help. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow echoed that in speaking with reporters on Wednesday afternoon (links via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic and Chris Cotillo of MassLive).
“We’ve been aggressive in terms of outreach and trying to identify players that we think can help us. Obviously, we’ve talked about the fact that the league is very compressed and there’s a bunch of teams — despite poor performance — who are still in it,” Breslow said. “The other side of that is that there are other teams in the league who have not played well that otherwise could think about moving players and are saying, ‘Hey, we’re not that far out of it.’”
One could certainly argue the Red Sox themselves are among that group. Breslow confirmed they’re not interested in selling off any veteran pieces this early in the year, telling Cotillo they’re “focused on doing everything we can to turn our season around.” Boston would certainly have some big names they could dangle on the trade front if their performance doesn’t improve.
Sonny Gray will be a free agent when his 2027 mutual option is declined, though the Sox would surely need to cover a portion of the $10MM buyout if they trade him. Contreras is signed through 2027 at a $17.25MM annual value, not including the $8MM the Cardinals sent to Boston as a condition of last offseason’s trade. Aroldis Chapman, probably the second-best reliever in MLB after Mason Miller, has a $13MM option for next year that’ll vest once he reaches 40 innings on the season.
That’s clearly not the short-term focus for Breslow’s front office. They’re looking for ways to inject some life into the offense, ideally via acquiring a right-handed bat. They could upgrade over the middle infield duo of Marcelo Mayer and the currently injured Trevor Story. Offseason trade pickup Caleb Durbin has hit so poorly that he’s losing playing time at third base to Nick Sogard and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Durbin still has a couple minor league options remaining and might need a reset at Triple-A.
It’s unlikely there’ll be any significant trade pieces on the move this early in the season. The Giants could shop Luis Arraez, who is holding his own defensively in a move back to second base. San Francisco already traded Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey in a surprise deal. CJ Abrams would be the prize of the infield trade market, but the Nationals almost certainly aren’t moving him while they’re above .500.
The Twins recently optioned struggling former first overall pick Royce Lewis to Triple-A; perhaps he’d be available as a reclamation target. The Mets’ Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are no stranger to trade rumors. New York would presumably still have a high ask on the lefty-hitting Baty. Vientos hits right-handed but has been a full-time first baseman this year. He’d be a tough fit for Boston unless they move away from their offseason focus on infield defense and install him at third base.
Kiké Hernández Diagnosed With “Significant” Oblique Tear
Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández sustained a “significant tear” of his left oblique yesterday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Dylan Hernández of The California Post). Infielder Alex Freeland will be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.
Roberts didn’t specify a timeline on Hernández, but it sounds like another extended absence is inevitable. Hernández just returned from a season-opening injured list stint on Monday. He’d undergone elbow surgery shortly after the World Series and needed the first couple months of the regular season to complete his rehab.
Hernández started the past two games at third base while Max Muncy was nursing right wrist soreness. (Roberts said Muncy will return to the lineup tonight against Colorado righty Tomoyuki Sugano.) Hernández hit an RBI double in his first at-bat of the season and drilled a two-run homer yesterday. He was 4-4 with three extra-base hits on the year.
It’s unlikely Hernández would’ve remained a huge offensive threat. He’s a .232/.282/.392 hitter since the Dodgers reacquired him from the Red Sox at the 2023 deadline. Dodgers brass clearly loves Hernández as a clubhouse presence, however, and he’s a versatile defensive player. The Dodgers re-signed him to a $4.5MM free agent contract at the beginning of Spring Training.
Frustrating as it surely is for Hernández personally, it’s also less than ideal for the team from a depth perspective. L.A. designated the out-of-options Santiago Espinal for assignment on Monday to open the active roster spot for Hernández’s return. He’ll need to be traded or waived this week and would likely become a free agent if he clears waivers. The Dodgers could try to re-sign him if it gets to that point, but all other teams will have an opportunity to add Espinal to their MLB rosters in the interim.
Freeland and Tyler Fitzgerald are the remaining depth infielders on the 40-man roster. The switch-hitting Freeland was optioned on May 11. He’s hitting .238 with a .360 on-base percentage since going back to Triple-A. Starting second baseman Hyeseong Kim has gone cold this month, batting .217 with a .273 OBP and only two extra-base hits in 20 MLB games. Roberts indicated that Freeland will get the majority of the second base playing time now that he’s back up (via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). He’ll presumably be in the starting lineup tonight.
That’ll likely be a 2-3 week arrangement. Tommy Edman has been out all season recovering from ankle surgery. He began a rehab assignment at OKC last night. Those can last up to 20 days for position players, and it’s likely Edman will need the full window because he didn’t have a Spring Training. That’d put his return date in the second or third week of June barring any setbacks.
Cubs, Aaron Bummer Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs and left-hander Aaron Bummer have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The O’Connell Sports Management client will presumably report to Triple-A Iowa at some point in the coming days.
Bummer, 32, was just released by Atlanta last week. He was having an awful season, posting an earned run average of 7.63 over 15 1/3 innings. His 46.2% ground ball rate was decent but his 16.9% strikeout rate and 13% walk rate were both awful figures. Even more alarming is that he’s already been tagged for six home runs. His final appearance with the team saw him give up six runs on three hits and five walks in one inning against Miami.
Rough as this season has been, Bummer was a quality left-handed bullpen piece for Atlanta in 2024-25. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA in both years with plus ground-ball rates. Bummer had a strong 28% strikeout rate two seasons ago, but that fell to a pedestrian 21.7% mark last year. It proved an alarming precursor to his first couple months of 2026.
Bummer is a sinkerballer who was in the mid-90s for the majority of his career. His average velocity fell to 91 mph last season and is at a career-low 90.2 mph mark this year. He missed the final five weeks of the ’25 season to shoulder inflammation. Bummer hasn’t gone on the injured list this year, but the 32-year-old’s stuff clearly isn’t as sharp as it was not that long ago.
Atlanta is paying Bummer a $9.5MM salary for the 2026 season. They’re on the hook for that money aside from the prorated $780K league minimum for any time he spends on the MLB roster with another club. The Cubs have Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner and Ryan Rolison as southpaws in Craig Counsell’s bullpen. Luke Little, Luis Peralta and swingman Doug Nikhazy are on optional assignment. Bummer will join them in Iowa as he looks for his 2024-25 form.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Rangers Designate Andrew McCutchen For Assignment
The Rangers announced the signing of utility infielder Nicky Lopez to a major league contract. The CAA client is active for tonight’s game against the Astros and draws right into the lineup as the second baseman against Mike Burrows. Texas designated Andrew McCutchen in a corresponding move.
McCutchen signed a minor league deal midway through Spring Training. He’d seemingly hoped to return to the Pirates for what would’ve been the fourth season of his late-career second act in the Steel City. The Bucs didn’t appear to reciprocate that interest, and the writing was officially on the wall when Pittsburgh signed Marcell Ozuna to a $12MM free agent deal.
Cutch had a big Spring Training to nail down a roster spot, locking in a $1.25MM salary in the process. He was in the starting lineup on Opening Day as the designated hitter against Philly southpaw Cristopher Sánchez. Texas used McCutchen mostly in a short side platoon capacity, splitting his time between DH and the corner outfield. He hasn’t hit in a fairly small sample, batting .192 with one home run over 83 trips to the plate.
It’s the fourth straight year in which McCutchen’s numbers have declined. The five-time All-Star had been close to a league average bat over 551 plate appearances with the Bucs last season. McCutchen still has an elite understanding of the strike zone, but he’s whiffing at a career-high rate this year without hitting for any kind of power.
Texas has five days to trade McCutchen or place him on waivers. He’d be able to decline a minor league assignment while retaining his salary, so the likeliest outcome is that he’ll be released this week. He’d then be available to other teams for the prorated league minimum salary, assuming he wants to continue playing.
Lopez was designated for assignment by the Cubs last week. He cleared outright waivers and elected free agency just yesterday. It didn’t take long for his camp to find him another MLB deal. Lopez’s club debut tonight will be his sixth team at the big league level. He spent his first few seasons with the Royals and has bounced around since the end of the 2022 season.
A light-hitting infielder, Lopez has a .245/.309/.310 slash line in nearly 2400 career plate appearances. He was on the Cubs’ MLB roster for a month but didn’t start a game, only making four appearances off the bench. Lopez has graded as a plus defender at second and third base over his career. Public metrics are more split on his shortstop work, but the 31-year-old can play the position if necessary.
Texas has used a middle infield pairing of Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue over the past few weeks. They’ve been without second baseman Josh Smith since the beginning of May and lost Corey Seager a couple weeks ago. Foscue has hit pretty well but isn’t viewed as a particularly strong defender. He had a pivotal throwing error on Sunday night that allowed the Angels to complete a sweep with a walk-off win.
Foscue is out of the lineup tonight but could split DH time with Joc Pederson if the Rangers want Lopez in there as a defensive upgrade. Seager and Smith each seem at least a couple weeks away, but the out-of-options Lopez could be pushed off the roster once either or both of those players return.
Royals Outright Elias Díaz
The Royals sent veteran catcher Elias Díaz outright to Triple-A Omaha, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It’s unclear if he’ll report or elect free agency.
Díaz was designated for assignment last week when K.C. recalled speedy outfielder Tyler Tolbert. Kansas City had carried three catchers for the previous five weeks. Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen have each logged a lot of designated hitter work. Díaz gave skipper Matt Quatraro a little more flexibility for rest days. Jensen and Perez have alternated starts between catcher and DH over the past four games.
The 35-year-old Díaz picked up seven starts among his 10 games during his five weeks on the MLB roster. He popped a couple home runs and doubles apiece in 23 plate appearances. Díaz has been a below-average hitter throughout his career and hadn’t hit much in a tiny sample with Omaha before his call-up. He batted .204/.270/.337 across 283 plate appearances for the Padres a year ago.
Díaz has a plus arm and routinely throws out base stealers at a strong rate. He graded poorly as a receiving catcher early in his career but has tightened those numbers up in recent seasons. If he reports to Omaha, he’ll rejoin Luke Maile as non-roster depth catchers whom the Royals could call upon if one of Perez or Jensen is banged up.
Blue Jays, Matt Bowman Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are in agreement with reliever Matt Bowman on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The 34-year-old sinkerballer (35 on Sunday) will presumably report to Triple-A Buffalo.
Bowman was granted his release last week after opting out of a non-roster deal with Minnesota. It was moderately surprising that a Twins team with one of the worst bullpens in MLB didn’t carve out a spot. He pitched well at Triple-A St. Paul, working 21 1/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball. Bowman got ground-balls at a 55% clip with quality strikeout (28.1%) and walk (6.7%) marks.
Minnesota’s front office was evidently skeptical he’d maintain anything close to that against big league hitters. Bowman’s 7.1% swinging strike rate in the minors is well below average. He sits in the low-90s with his sinker while mixing in a cutter, slider and splitter. Bowman has pitched parts of seven MLB seasons with as many teams, logging the majority of his work with the Cardinals between 2016-18. He made 20 big league appearances with Baltimore last year, pitching to a 6.20 earned run average through 24 2/3 frames.
Toronto’s bullpen has been middle of the pack despite a top five strikeout rate. They lost a couple middle relievers, Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply, to the injured list last week. They have a handful of middle relievers who have bounced up and down from Buffalo this season and could be sent down if they want to carve out a spot for Bowman at some point. Chase Lee, Tanner Andrews and Adam Macko have options remaining. Yariel Rodríguez does not but would likely clear waivers and accept a Triple-A assignment based on his contract.