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Royals Sign Jesus Tinoco To Minor League Deal

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The Royals signed reliever Jesús Tinoco to a minor league contract. The move was announced by Kansas City’s Triple-A team in Omaha. Tinoco elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Rangers last week.

A 29-year-old righty, Tinoco has pitched in parts of five MLB campaigns. That includes nine appearances with Texas this season. Tinoco had a rough go during that stretch, surrendering nine runs across 10 innings. He struck out nine, walked seven and hit a pair of opponents. Tinoco had turned in solid results for Triple-A Round Rock, working to a 3.80 earned run average through 21 1/3 innings. He fanned upwards of 30% of batters faced with a 47.1% ground-ball rate.

Tinoco owns a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 big league frames. His underlying marks are quite a bit worse, as Tinoco has a career 18.1% strikeout rate while walking 14% of opponents. The 29-year-old has a 4.46 earned run average in 153 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He had a solid 2.83 mark over 35 frames in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball a season ago.

The Royals have had one of the worst bullpens among postseason contenders. GM J.J. Picollo has made clear that upgrading the late innings will be a deadline priority. Tinoco isn’t going to impact the deadline calculus, but the mediocre bullpen could afford him a path back to the big leagues.

Mariners Place Bryan Woo On Injured List

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The Mariners placed Bryan Woo on the 15-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain before tonight’s loss in Tampa Bay. Seattle recalled reliever Collin Snider from Triple-A Tacoma to take the vacated active roster spot.

Woo left last night’s start in the fourth inning after experiencing the leg discomfort. The M’s sent him for imaging today. Woo told reporters he was diagnosed with a lower-grade variety of strain, though he wasn’t sure of the recovery timetable (X link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).

It’s the second injured list stint of the season for the second-year righty. Woo started the year on the IL with elbow inflammation. He had another scare a couple weeks ago when forearm discomfort led the team to scratch him from a scheduled start and send him for testing. An MRI fortunately came back clean and Woo was able to make two more starts before the leg issue.

A hamstring strain is far less of a long-term concern than any elbow or forearm injury would be. It’s nevertheless a disappointing setback for a pitcher who has been amidst a potential breakout season. Woo owns a sparkling 1.77 ERA in 40 2/3 innings. While he’s running a modest 18.7% strikeout rate, he has only walked three out of 150 batters faced. Woo has only allowed three runs in two of his eight starts.

Manager Scott Servais was noncommittal on who will step into the rotation spot (link via MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). The M’s have off days on Thursday and next Monday, so they could get by without a fifth starter until late next week. Emerson Hancock has been Seattle’s top depth arm, taking eight starts. The former sixth overall draftee has struggled to a 4.79 ERA while striking out 13.5% of opposing hitters. The M’s tabbed left-hander Jhonathan Diaz for a spot start when Woo was scratched a couple weeks ago, but Hancock would’ve been on short rest that day.

Soto: Plan To Address Contract “In The Offseason”

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Juan Soto will be the top free agent in the upcoming class and is trending towards the largest contract in MLB history — assuming one counts the Shohei Ohtani deal based on its approximate $461MM net present value. There has never been much doubt that the 25-year-old superstar would test the market, even after Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner left open the possibility of discussing a midseason extension last month.

Soto implied as much this evening in a conversation with Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Asked by Heyman whether he expected the Mets to be involved in the bidding, Soto replied “we will see. In the offseason we will figure it out. I’ll let [agent Scott Boras] do his thing. We’re going to see.” The three-time All-Star followed up by speaking glowingly of his time with the Yankees.

Steinbrenner’s comments aside, the Yankees presumably haven’t been all that optimistic about keeping Soto off the market. GM Brian Cashman said in February that the team fully anticipated Soto would test free agency (link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). The Yankees will certainly make a significant effort to keep him in the Bronx next winter.

Soto famously declined a 14-year, $440MM extension offer from the Nationals before Washington traded him in 2022. The Padres similarly expressed a desire to work out a long-term arrangement in the early portion of last offseason. That obviously didn’t materialize and he was traded again. There aren’t any publicly reported specifics on contract terms that either San Diego or the Yankees have floated. Heyman said last month (X link) that Soto had declined seven extension offers within the last five years. That has long made it seem like a foregone conclusion that he and his camp would take things to free agency.

He may well do so coming off the best season of his career. Soto hit his 19th home run of the season tonight and is on pace to top last year’s personal-high 35 longballs. He carried a .305/.431/.563 slash line into today’s game. That’d be the highest slugging percentage he’s posted in a 162-game schedule. It’d be the second-best on-base mark he has managed in a full season.

Giants To Promote Hayden Birdsong

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The Giants will call up pitching prospect Hayden Birdsong to start tomorrow against the Cubs. Manager Bob Melvin announced the news this evening (X link via Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle).

It’s the first major league call for the 6’4″ right-hander. Birdsong was a sixth-round pick out of Eastern Illinois in 2022. He has quickly outperformed that modest draft stock. Birdsong pitched quite well in the low minors during his first full professional season. While he ran into a bit of trouble during his first crack at Double-A, he established himself as one of the more intriguing arms in the organization.

Baseball America ranked Birdsong the #5 prospect in the San Francisco system entering the season. The Athletic’s Keith Law slotted him 10th in February, while Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs ranked him 17th on their organizational write-up in April. All three outlets credit him with a velocity jump into the mid-90s during his first season in pro ball. Evaluators praise Birdsong’s 12-6 curveball and slider as well, though scouting reports haven’t been especially keen on his changeup.

FanGraphs writes that Birdsong is likely to end up in relief because of subpar command. The reports at BA and The Athletic were more optimistic on his chances of sticking in the rotation, though both outlets noted that he’ll need to continue improving to profile as a starter. Baseball America writes that the development of Birdsong’s command could be the x-factor, while Law suggests the biggest question is whether he’ll find a pitch with enough lateral movement to complement his north-south breaking stuff.

Even if Birdsong does wind up as a bullpen piece, that’d be a very good outcome for a sixth-round draftee who signed for less than $200K. The Giants will give him an opportunity to stick as a starter before considering that possibility. Birdsong has turned in excellent numbers for Double-A Richmond this year. In 11 starts, he worked to a 2.05 earned run average while punching out 30.7% of opposing hitters. While he issued walks at a lofty 10.1% clip, his stuff was clearly too advanced for Double-A.

The Giants bumped the 22-year-old to Triple-A Sacramento 10 days ago. Birdsong allowed five runs on eight hits and six walks over his first nine innings in the Pacific Coast League. Despite his limited experience at the top minor league level, he’ll get a look against MLB hitters. The Giants lost Keaton Winn to the injured list over the weekend, necessitating a fifth starter if they weren’t going to use a bullpen game.

Birdsong is not on the 40-man roster. The Giants will select his contract tomorrow and will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster transactions. They don’t have any obvious candidates for a move to the 60-day injured list, so they’ll likely designate someone for assignment.

Orioles, Garrett Cooper Agree To Minor League Deal

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June 25: The Orioles have now announced the signing.

June 24: The Orioles are bringing in first baseman Garrett Cooper on a minor league contract, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). The Ballengee Group client presumably head to Triple-A Norfolk as he awaits his next MLB opportunity.

Cooper is on his third organization of the 2024 season. The righty-hitting first baseman signed a minor league deal with the Cubs and broke camp. While he turned in an impressive .270/.341/.432 batting line with Chicago, the front office was alarmed by his 13 strikeouts in 41 plate appearances. The Cubs designated Cooper for assignment and dealt him to the Red Sox in a cash trade.

The regression that the Cubs anticipated indeed came to pass in Boston. Cooper hit only .171/.227/.229 in 75 trips to the plate. Boston DFA him and released him a couple weeks ago. The former All-Star has lingered on the free agent market since then. The Yankees reportedly showed some interest after losing Anthony Rizzo to injury. New York opted for a different righty-hitting corner infielder/designated hitter, acquiring J.D. Davis from the A’s yesterday.

Baltimore doesn’t present the cleanest path back to the big leagues for Cooper. The O’s have arguably the deepest lineup in the majors. Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle respectively have first base and designated hitter secured. Baltimore has Anthony Santander and Colton Cowser as their main corner outfield tandem, while Austin Hays and Heston Kjerstad are also in the mix. It might take an injury for Cooper to get a look at Camden Yards.

At the very least, the minor league deal gives him an opportunity to try to find his rhythm against Triple-A pitching. Cooper has struggled offensively over the past year and a half, largely because of an uptick in his strikeouts. He’s a .242/.297/.395 hitter since the start of the 2023 campaign. Between 2019-22, Cooper was an effective middle-of-the-lineup presence for the Marlins. He hit .274/.350/.444 over that stretch.

Kris Bubic Moving To Bullpen On Rehab Stint

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Royals left-hander Kris Bubic is closing in on his first major league work since undergoing Tommy John surgery last April. The Stanford product began a rehab assignment last month and has made seven starts between Double-A and Triple-A.

While Bubic has worked from the rotation in the minors thus far, that won’t be his role with the big league club. General manager J.J. Picollo tells MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that the Royals are moving Bubic to the bullpen for now (X link). He has a week and a half left on his rehab assignment, so he’ll begin working in relief at Triple-A Omaha.

The assignment probably doesn’t come as a shock. While the 6’3″ southpaw has been a starter for essentially his entire career, Kansas City already has a defined front five. Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Brady Singer, Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh have taken all but four of the team’s starts this season. Ragans, Lugo and Singer have been varying degrees of excellent. Wacha is having his typically solid year, turning in a 4.07 ERA with plus control. K.C. signed him to fill that role as an innings eater and certainly isn’t bumping him from the rotation while he’s pitching this effectively.

Marsh is arguably the one question mark of the group. The second-year righty overcame a 15.9% strikeout rate to turn in a 2.70 ERA during the first month of the season. He dramatically increased the whiffs and ran a 3.86 ERA behind a 27.4% strikeout percentage in May. The wheels have fallen off over the past couple weeks, though. Marsh’s strikeout rate has normalized in between the levels of his first two months and he has allowed 6.66 earned runs per nine in June. He dominated the Yankees for seven scoreless innings on June 13 but has allowed at least three runs in the other six of his most recent seven starts.

If the Royals wanted to push Bubic back into the rotation, Marsh was the only one who might’ve been bumped. His overall body of work is still solid — a 4.40 ERA with average strikeout and walk rates — so the Royals will push Bubic to the bullpen instead.

Productive as their starting five has been, Kansas City’s relief group has been a weakness. They entered play Monday ranked 22nd in the majors with a 4.43 earned run average. No bullpen has recorded fewer strikeouts (17.5%) or missed fewer bats on a per-pitch basis (8.9% swinging strike rate). Picollo has already made clear the front office will try to add some firepower via trade.

Bubic isn’t the kind of power arm the front office has been seeking. His fastball sits in the low-90s and he leans on a low-80s changeup, not a power breaking ball, as his go-to secondary pitch. Yet Bubic had flashed bat-missing upside just before his elbow gave out. He ran a massive 14.7% swinging strike rate and punched out 23.5% of opposing hitters over his first three starts in 2023. Bubic’s elbow never gave him a chance to prove he could sustain that extra level.

The early returns on his rehab stint have been promising. Bubic owns a 2.14 ERA in 21 innings with Omaha, where he has fanned nearly 26% of opposing hitters.

Dodgers Temporarily Shut Down Clayton Kershaw With Shoulder Soreness

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The Dodgers are halting Clayton Kershaw’s rehab process. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that L.A. is shutting down the future Hall of Famer after he reported lingering soreness in his surgically repaired shoulder (link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register).

Roberts downplayed any significant alarm, noting that a recent MRI revealed “no new incidents.” Rather, it seems the team is chalking it up as residual soreness. That’s not entirely unexpected as Kershaw builds into game shape after undergoing the procedure to repair the gleno-humeral ligaments and capsule in his throwing shoulder last November.

It seems Kershaw will be shut down entirely for at least a week. Roberts left open a fairly broad timetable, indicating the 10-time All-Star will hold off until the soreness completely subsides. That’s an understandable approach that might not delay Kershaw for too much longer. It introduces some amount of uncertainty to his timeline, though.

The 36-year-old had looked to be on track for a return around the All-Star Break. Kershaw started a rehab stint for Low-A Rancho Cucamonga last Wednesday. He tossed 36 pitches, 26 of them strikes, over three innings of one-run ball in his first game action of the season. Kershaw’s second start had been scheduled for tomorrow but things are on hold after he felt the discomfort in the days coming out of his first appearance.

Los Angeles recently placed Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler on the 15-day injured list. That pushed Landon Knack into the starting five behind Tyler Glasnow, Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone and James Paxton. Knack was recalled to rejoin the MLB staff last Friday. He tossed five scoreless frames against the Angels. Roberts said this evening that the rookie righty will remain in the starting five for the moment and is slated to take the ball for this weekend’s series in San Francisco (relayed on X by David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports).

Nationals Select Harold Ramírez

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The Nationals announced on Monday that they’ve selected outfielder/designated hitter Harold Ramírez. Washington optioned corner infielder Trey Lipscomb to Triple-A Rochester to clear a spot on the active roster. The Nats have had a vacancy on the 40-man for weeks, so they didn’t need to make a move in that regard.

Ramírez inked a minor league deal with Washington a couple weeks ago. The Rays had somewhat surprisingly released him after a slow start to the season. The 29-year-old had hit .268/.284/.305 over 48 games. While the batting average was solid, he only hit one homer and drew walks in fewer than 2% of his plate appearances. Between the diminished offense and Ramírez’s limited defensive profile, he was squeezed off the Tampa Bay roster.

All 29 other teams passed on a chance to add Ramírez for the $2MM+ which remained on his $3.8MM arbitration salary. Once he cleared waivers, the Rays were left on the hook for that money (minus the prorated portion of the $740K league minimum for any time he spent on another team’s MLB roster). While he didn’t immediately secure a big league spot, Ramírez only needed seven games in Rochester to play his way back to the big leagues. He tattooed Triple-A pitching, picking up nine hits and drawing six walks over 31 trips to the dish.

The Nationals have left-handed hitting Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario as their respective starters at designated hitter and in left field. Ramírez could ostensibly take some reps against left-handed pitching at either spot. The righty-swinging Ramírez has mashed southpaws at a .361/.393/.483 clip in 303 plate appearances since the start of the 2022 season. He owns a more pedestrian .274/.314/.380 line against right-handed arms over that stretch.

Ramírez has more than five years of MLB service time, so the Nats can’t send him back to the minors without his consent. Washington can keep him around through the 2025 season via arbitration, though he will need to hit better than he did early in the year with Tampa Bay to avoid being non-tendered.

Andrew Golden of the Washington Post first reported (on X) that Ramírez was joining the Nats.

Padres Place Fernando Tatis Jr. On Injured List

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Monday marked a busy day on the transaction front for the Padres. San Diego placed star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 22, with a right femoral stress reaction. The Friars also optioned outfielder José Azocar and right-hander Jhony Brito to Triple-A El Paso. Filling the three spots on the active roster: outfielder Bryce Johnson, infielder Eguy Rosario and right-hander Adam Mazur. Johnson was not on the 40-man roster, but the Friars have had a vacancy for weeks.

The Tatis injury is the biggest development. Manager Mike Shildt indicated that Tatis could play through the issue but that it wouldn’t fully heal without rest (X link via Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune). The team isn’t providing a specific return timetable, though they expect it to be longer than the minimal 10 days. It’s not out of the question that Tatis is sidelined through the All-Star Break.

Any absence is a major blow to the San Diego lineup. Tatis has been one of the top outfielders in the National League this year. He’s hitting .279/.354/.468 with 14 home runs across 345 plate appearances. Tatis has trimmed his strikeout rate to a career-low 20.6% clip while making hard contact on a massive 53.4% of batted balls. There’s no easy way to replace that kind of production.

It seems the Pads could roll with a David Peralta/Johnson platoon in right field for the time being. The lefty-swinging Peralta is only hitting .204/.306/.241 over 25 games since being called up last month. Johnson, a switch-hitter, has yet to play in the majors this season. San Diego signed the 28-year-old to a minor league deal in January. The former Giant has reached base at a massive .430 clip over 259 plate appearances with El Paso. Johnson is hitting .301 while drawing walks more than 15% of the time. He has also swiped 18 bases in 20 attempts. Johnson is in the lineup against Patrick Corbin this evening.

Mazur returns to the big leagues just three days after being optioned. (He didn’t need to wait the minimal 15 days because he is technically being recalled to replace the injured Tatis.) In actuality, he’s more directly a replacement for Yu Darvish. San Diego anticipated the right-hander returning from the injured list tomorrow. However, Heilbrunn tweets that Darvish is battling some inflammation in his throwing elbow. While Shildt downplayed the long-term concern, he won’t be ready for MLB action tomorrow.

Darvish has been out since May 30 with a strained left groin. The late revelation of a new elbow concern is suboptimal, though it doesn’t seem the Padres are especially alarmed at this point. The injury will force San Diego to turn back to the 23-year-old Mazur for his fifth big league start. The former second-round pick has allowed 14 runs over his first 17 1/3 innings. Mazur has walked more than 19% of batters faced, a bizarre issue for a pitcher who has shown pristine control in his minor league career.

Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune observed (on X) that Johnson was in the clubhouse prior to the team announcement.

Braves’ Ray Kerr To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Braves left-hander Ray Kerr will need to undergo Tommy John surgery, manager Brian Sntiker told reporters this evening (video on X via Bally Sports South). Atlanta had optioned the hard-throwing southpaw to Triple-A Gwinnett on June 15. The Braves rescinded that option this evening and placed him on the MLB injured list with the UCL issue.

Kerr will spend the rest of the year on the injured list. (The small consolation is that he’ll be paid at the prorated $740K MLB minimum rate because the injury evidently occurred before he was sent down.) Atlanta can move him to the 60-day injured list whenever they need to open a spot on the 40-man roster. They’ll either need to reinstate him onto the 40-man or put him on waivers at the start of next offseason.

The latter outcome would be particularly frustrating, but it’s possible the Braves don’t want to carry Kerr on their 40-man roster all winter. He’ll certainly be out into the second half of next year and could miss the entire ’25 campaign.

Atlanta liked Kerr enough to eat $4MM of Matt Carpenter’s $5.5MM salary in a trade with the Padres last offseason. The Braves immediately designated Carpenter for assignment and released him, so the trade was entirely about “purchasing” Kerr’s contractual rights. Atlanta even dabbled with moving Kerr to the rotation, giving him a pair of starts in late May.

Those outings didn’t go particularly well, as the 29-year-old allowed seven runs across 7 1/3 innings from the rotation. Kerr had more success in his typical bullpen role, tossing 14 2/3 innings of six-run ball. He punched out 27 hitters while issuing seven walks overall. Kerr is up to 54 1/3 frames of 5.30 ERA ball over parts of three seasons in the big leagues. He likely wouldn’t reach arbitration until the 2027 season, so the Braves could keep him around at little financial cost if they’re willing to carry him on the roster.

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