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Ron Washington Taking Indefinite Break From Managing Angels Due To Health Concern

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Ron Washington will not manage the Angels for an indefinite period of time due to a health concern, reports Sam Blum of The Athletic. He will attend tonight’s game against the Astros and will watch from the suite. Bench coach Ray Montgomery will manage for however long Washington is unavailable.

Shortly before reporting the news on Washington, Blum noted that the Angels were holding a players-only meeting. GM Perry Minasian is expected to address the media shortly. Mike DiGiovanna relayed a comment from Minasian that Washington has not felt well for the past few days.

Washington, 73, is in his second season leading the Halos. They lost a franchise-record 99 games a year ago but have been far more competitive this season. They’re taking a 36-38 record into this weekend’s set against Houston. They’re in third place in the AL West, 6.5 games back of the Astros. They’re only two games out in what remains a jumbled Wild Card picture. Their -60 run differential is fourth-worst in the American League, but only the White Sox and A’s seem firmly out of the race in the AL.

Montgomery has been the Halos’ bench coach since 2022. He has held the position under each of Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin and Washington. Montgomery spent some time as acting manager during the ’22 campaign when Nevin was suspended for 10 games for his role in a benches-clearing brawl against the Mariners. The 55-year-old has never held a full managerial position but has been mentioned as a candidate in the past — including during the 2023 hiring process that eventually led to Washington. MLBTR sends best wishes to Wash on a speedy recovery.

Trade Deadline Outlook: Pittsburgh Pirates

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MLBTR is kicking off a new series for Front Office subscribers! Over the next few weeks, we'll go team-by-team and examine every club's deadline outlook as trade season approaches. There are some teams that'll be easy to categorize as buyers or sellers, but many still find themselves right on the bubble where their play over the next four to six weeks takes on extra importance.

There's nuance even for teams that are clearly into buy or sell mode. Where are those organizations from a payroll perspective? Are the buyers all-in for 2025 or just opening a long-term competitive window? Are the sellers committed to a multi-year rebuild, or are they likely to focus only on moving rentals while hanging onto players who are controllable beyond this season? Might the baseball operations leader be on the hot seat, and if so, how could that impact their deadline decisions?

We'll start the series with a focus on teams that have moved to the far end of the standings, giving a bit more time for the fringe contenders to clarify their plans. We'll get underway with the Pirates, who are headed to their seventh consecutive losing season.

Record: 29-45 (0.2% playoff probability)

Sell Mode

Impending Free Agents: Andrew Heaney, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Caleb Ferguson, Tim Mayza, Tommy Pham, Adam Frazier, Andrew McCutchen

The Pirates aren't likely to trade McCutchen. He has played on a series of one-year deals and has made clear he hopes to retire in Pittsburgh. Unless he has a change of heart and wants to compete for a championship, he'll stick around. They'd listen on any of the other impending free agents, but they'll probably have a tough time generating much in the way of returns for Pham, Frazier or Mayza. The former two haven't hit well in 2025 (Pham, in particular), and Mayza is on the 60-day IL due to a lat strain. He hasn't pitched since late April and isn't particularly close to a return.

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Latest On Mets’ Rotation Plans

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The Mets’ season-worst losing streak stretched to six games with tonight’s 7-1 defeat in Atlanta. Clay Holmes was unable to escape the fifth inning, and the Mets turned to righty Justin Hagenman to work the final 2 2/3 frames in mop-up fashion. Hagenman had been the likeliest choice to start tomorrow’s series opener against the Phillies, necessitating a change of plans.

As first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, New York will now turn to Blade Tidwell opposite Zack Wheeler. They’ll need to recall the 6’4″ righty tomorrow afternoon. It’ll be the second MLB appearance of his career. The Mets called up the former second-round pick for a spot start against the Cardinals on May 4. He gave up six runs in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss and was optioned back to Triple-A Syracuse the next day. Tidwell, one of the better pitching prospects in the organization, has worked 62 1/3 innings over 13 Triple-A appearances this season. He carries a 4.76 ERA but has punched out nearly 28% of opponents against a 9.5% walk rate.

This is likely to again be a one-off appearance. Frankie Montas has been on a minor league rehab assignment since May 24. Pitchers can spend up to 30 days on a rehab stint before they need to be activated (unless they suffer an injury setback). Montas’ rehab window closes on Monday, at which point the Mets need to put him on the MLB roster.

Manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed before Thursday’s game that Montas will be in the rotation (link via Tim Britton of The Athletic). That wouldn’t have seemed in doubt at the beginning of the rehab stint. The Mets signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM free agent deal. He would’ve opened the season in the middle of the rotation had he not suffered a significant lat strain early in Spring Training. The results on his rehab stint have been dreadful, however.

Montas has allowed more than 12 earned runs per nine innings over six rehab starts: two in High-A, four in Triple-A. Teams generally don’t place much stock in a player’s stats while he’s rehabbing. The primary focus is on getting healthy. Yet Montas’ struggles have been so significant that the Mets must be at least a little concerned. He has allowed more than a run per inning in three of his four Triple-A outings. Opponents have combined for a staggering eight home runs in 14 1/3 innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits (including one homer) while striking out only two of 23 batters faced against Miami’s top farm team on Wednesday.

The results certainly don’t suggest he’s ready to face MLB hitters, but the Mets are out of time on the rehab stint. There was some thought that they could activate Montas as a reliever, at least allowing Mendoza to deploy him in low-leverage situations as he tries to iron out his mechanics. That might have been the plan had they not lost Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill to the injured list within the past week. “Look, we need starters here,” Mendoza acknowledged to reporters. “We signed him to be a starter for this team, and we’re going to give him a chance.” That likely positions Montas to make his team debut early next week when the Mets welcome the Braves to Citi Field.

It was just eight days ago that the Mets were reportedly receiving interest in Paul Blackburn because it was unclear if they’d have room for him as a starting pitcher. New York had pushed their lead in the NL East to a season-best 5.5 games that same afternoon. Now, they’re tied with the Phillies as they head into this weekend’s series at Citizens Bank Park. Blackburn looks like a short-term rotation fixture behind Holmes, David Peterson and Griffin Canning. Montas will slot into the fifth spot after getting bombed by minor league lineups.

While things have gone downhill quickly, there’s more cause for optimism in the medium term. Sean Manaea, who has been out all season due to a Spring Training oblique strain, has been on a rehab assignment since June 6. His numbers are also poor, but that’s not as concerning when a pitcher is shaking off the rust very early in a rehab stint. He’s around two weeks away from an MLB return. Senga has a low-grade hamstring strain. He could resume throwing by the end of the month and return in mid-July if all goes well. The news on Megill is less encouraging, as he’ll miss at least 4-5 weeks with an elbow sprain.

The front office will have a little more than five weeks to see how their injured pitchers progress and gauge what they can get out of Montas before deciding on trade deadline priorities. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote this evening that they’re likely to be involved in the rotation market once July 31 approaches. That’s true of almost all contending teams, of course. The next month will go a long way to determining their sense of urgency to add a starting pitcher.

Marlins Outright Luarbert Arias

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The Marlins sent right-hander Luarbert Arias outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’d been designated for assignment last weekend when Miami called up Freddy Tarnok.

Miami added Arias to the 40-man roster at the beginning of last offseason. He was coming off a 3.04 ERA over 68 Triple-A innings and would have qualified for minor league free agency if the Fish didn’t select his contract. That put him on the doorstep of the majors, and he received his first MLB call within the season’s first week. Arias began his career with a three-inning scoreless appearance against the Mets on March 31. He gave up runs in each of his next three outings and was optioned back to Triple-A by the middle of April.

The 24-year-old had another brief MLB stint at the end of April. He’d been on optional assignment in Jacksonville since the start of May. Arias hasn’t had the same success he had there a year ago. His 3.93 ERA over 18 1/3 innings isn’t terrible, but he has recorded only seven strikeouts while issuing 13 walks. MLB opponents tagged him for 11 runs through 9 1/3 frames.

Arias has never been outrighted and has almost no MLB service time. He therefore doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He’ll remain in Jacksonville without occupying a 40-man roster spot and try to recapture last year’s form. He would qualify for minor league free agency at the beginning of the offseason if he doesn’t get back onto the roster before then.

Pablo Reyes Elects Free Agency

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Pablo Reyes elected free agency after going unclaimed on waivers, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. The Yankees had designated the out-of-options utilityman for assignment when they activated Giancarlo Stanton on Monday.

Reyes had been on New York’s active roster for the first two and a half months of the season. He broke camp after signing an offseason minor league deal. There wasn’t much playing time available for either Reyes or Oswald Peraza, another utility infielder who can’t be optioned. The Yankees essentially needed to decide between the two players once Stanton returned from his elbow injuries. They gave a longer leash to the 25-year-old Peraza, a former highly-regarded prospect whose bat has stalled in recent seasons.

The righty-hitting Reyes is a veteran journeyman whose primary asset is his versatility off the bench. He made 24 appearances overall but was only penciled into the starting lineup on seven occasions — four times at second base, twice at third base, and once in right field. He batted .194 in 34 trips to the plate. Reyes had similarly brief playing time with the Red Sox and Mets last season. His best season came two years ago, when he hit .287/.339/.377 in 64 games with Boston.

Reyes returns to free agency as a lifetime .245/.305/.342 hitter in a little over 600 MLB plate appearances. He has some experience at every position aside from catcher. He might be limited to minor league offers but should find interest as a depth piece. Reyes owns a .278/.349/.452 line in nearly 400 career Triple-A games.

Dodgers Select Jack Little

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The Dodgers announced they’ve selected reliever Jack Little onto the MLB roster. They optioned Emmet Sheehan to Triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move. Tony Gonsolin was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register first observed that Little was in the clubhouse, while Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic noted that Sheehan was heading out.

Little gets his first big league call after five-plus seasons in the minor leagues. The 6’4″ righty has been a pure reliever dating back to his college days at Stanford. The Dodgers drafted him in the fifth round in 2019. Little has never been a high-end prospect but has posted solid numbers in the upper minors. He combined for a 3.79 ERA over 57 innings between the top two levels a year ago.

The 27-year-old Little has spent all of this year in OKC, allowing only 2.20 earned runs per nine across 32 2/3 frames. He’s 10-11 in save chances and has fanned a slightly above-average 24.3% of batters faced. He averages 94 MPH on his fastball while mixing in a slider and changeup. Little is an extreme fly-ball pitcher, but he’s done well at avoiding home runs in the minors. He has the sixth-lowest ERA among the 84 pitchers with 30+ innings in the Pacific Coast League this year.

Sheehan heads to OKC one day after being activated from the 60-day IL following Tommy John rehab. He pitched pretty well in his return last night, striking out six while working four innings of one-run ball against San Diego. The Dodgers evidently preferred a fresh arm in their bullpen rather than keeping Sheehan in the rotation in the short term. He’ll need to spend at least 15 days in the minor leagues unless he’s recalled to replace a pitcher going on the injured list.

Gonsolin’s move to the 60-day IL is even more notable. He went on the shelf on June 7 with elbow discomfort. The Dodgers announced that initial imaging didn’t reveal any UCL damage. While they haven’t provided any indication that has changed, they’ve already ruled him out for at least two months. Gonsolin has made seven starts this season in his return from an August ’23 Tommy John surgery. The 60-day clock backdates to his initial IL placement, but that still rules him out into the first week of August at the earliest.

Anthopoulos On Trading Chris Sale: “Will Not Happen”

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The Braves enter play tonight seven games below .500. They’re 12 back of the Mets in the division and 6.5 out in the Wild Card race with five teams to jump. They’ve got their work cut out for them in getting to October for an eighth straight season, but that remains the focus for the front office.

President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos spoke with Nick Cellini and Chris Dimino of 680 The Fan this afternoon. The veteran executive made clear he’s operating with a buyer’s mentality six weeks before the trade deadline. He was even more forceful in pushing back against the idea that they’d consider trading away key players — at least barring a terrible stretch of play in July.

Anthopoulos interrupted a question about other clubs potentially attempting to pry defending Cy Young winner Chris Sale out of Atlanta. “No, zero. I’ve seen the speculation. It’s completely ridiculous to me. We are not selling, especially someone that has club control beyond the current year,” he said. “Will not happen. I never make definitive statements unless I’m going to stick to them. Once you make definitive statements and then you go back on them, you’re a liar and you’re done.

Will. Not. Happen. Bold, italicize it, caps. So much so that I’m trying to make a trade now — it’s very hard to make a trade in June — just to signal to everybody that we will not sell. (If) you get to the end of July and things are completely changed, I guess we would reevaluate, but you’d have to be extreme. We’re built to win. Our expectations are to win. Our expectations are to go for it the entire time.”

It’s not common for an executive to rule out trading a player that definitively. It’s even rarer for them to reverse course after making a public statement to that effect. Skeptics will point to Nationals’ GM Mike Rizzo saying the team was “not trading Juan Soto” less than two months before they did exactly that, but the turn of events required Soto rejecting an intervening $440MM extension proposal. Anthopoulos left the door slightly open to selling if the team’s play over the next month and a half made a postseason run all but impossible. Even in that scenario, it’s not clear that they’d be willing to discuss players who are signed beyond this season.

MLBTR examined the Sale situation in a post for Front Office subscribers last week. He’s playing this year on a $22MM salary and is under control via an $18MM option for one more season. They’ll rubber stamp the option unless he suffers a significant injury in the second half. Sale would command upwards of $30MM annually (for at least two and possibly three years) if he were a free agent. After running into some tough batted ball luck in April, he’s been every bit as dominant as he was last season. Sale had not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his past 10 starts coming into tonight’s game against the Mets. He is through another six scoreless innings at the time of this writing.

Even if the Braves miss the postseason in 2025, they’ll certainly go into next year expecting to contend. Having Sale atop the rotation makes that much more reasonable. At the same time, they’d bypass an opportunity at a massive trade haul this summer. Teams would be willing to give up significant young talent for the ability to control Sale for two postseason runs. The Braves still expect to be in that position themselves. If they remain well below .500 on July 31, however, they’d arguably be leaving significant value on the table as an at best long shot contender for one of Sale’s two remaining control years.

Anthopoulos argued that the next few weeks represent a huge opportunity. They’re currently playing the second game of a three-game set against the Mets. They’ll head to Miami this weekend before squaring off against the Mets (for four) and Phillies (for three) next week. They rearranged their rotation to ensure that Sale is lined up for both New York series rather than starting last weekend against the Rockies and taking on the Marlins in a few days.

They’re far enough behind New York and Philly that it’s difficult to see them winning the NL East, but they could theoretically pull back into the race if they go on a tear over the next two weeks. They’ll also take on St. Louis, one of the teams above them in the Wild Card standings, in their final series before the All-Star Break. While those will be tough sets, they have softer matchups against a few teams toward the bottom of the American League standings (the Angels, Orioles and A’s) in the first two weeks of July.

In the meantime, they’re evidently searching for a short-term boost. In this morning’s radio interview (which Atlanta fans will want to give a full listen), Anthopoulos identified the offense as the team’s biggest disappointment to date. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last week that they were pursuing outfield and shortstop help.

Nick Allen is a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop but isn’t going to provide anything offensively. Left field would be the obvious area to upgrade in the outfield. Neither Alex Verdugo nor Eli White have stepped up since Jurickson Profar’s performance-enhancing drug suspension. The Braves will get Profar back in early July, but he’s coming off a nearly three-month layoff and faces questions about the sustainability of last year’s breakout season. He’s also ineligible for postseason play this year, so the Braves probably want a contingency plan for that position regardless of how Profar performs next month.

Latest On Dodgers’ Outfield Alignment

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The Dodgers started Hyeseong Kim in center field tonight against San Diego right-hander Stephen Kolek. Kim was flanked in the corners by Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández, leaving Michael Conforto out of the lineup. Manager Dave Roberts said pregame that he’s unsure whether the lefty-hitting Conforto will get a start against rookie righty Ryan Bergert in tomorrow’s series finale (relayed by Sonja Chen of MLB.com).

Roberts didn’t frame it as a benching, saying he envisions Conforto “playing a lot still.” At the same time, the veteran skipper acknowledged that Kim has earned the opportunity for regular playing time. Kim is a natural middle infielder, but the Dodgers have Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman playing at those spots. That leaves center field as the clearest position for Kim to get consistent at-bats.

Signed to a three-year offseason deal out of Korea, the 26-year-old Kim began his Dodger tenure on optional assignment. Los Angeles called him up in early May. Kim was expected to work as a multi-positional player off the bench. He has thrived in his first look at MLB pitching, running a .382/.425/.544 batting line through his first 30 big league contests. He’s obviously not going to continue hitting that well, but he’s putting the ball in play at an above-average rate and has gone 6-6 on stolen base attempts.

Pages is playing at an All-Star level, while Hernández remains a middle-of-the-order bat. Getting Kim regular outfield work will come at the expense of Conforto, who is hitting .168/.305/.277 in his first season as a Dodger. He has hit below the Mendoza line in each month. Kim’s ability to play up the middle also allows the Dodgers to use Pages in left field. He’d otherwise need to play center when Conforto is in left.

It’s clearly not what the Dodgers envisioned when they signed Conforto to a surprising $17MM free agent deal. It was a fairly sizable bet on his strong finish to the 2024 campaign while with the Giants. He’d been up-and-down through the season’s first couple months before posting an OPS above .840 in both August and September. An injury to any of L.A.’s outfielders or a slump from Kim could reopen everyday work for Conforto, but he may lose some playing time in the short term as they ride the hot hand.

KBO’s Samsung Lions Sign Gerson Garabito

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The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced the signing of right-hander Gerson Garabito (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). Texas released Garabito last week, which Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported at the time was to facilitate his signing in the KBO. The Lions recently released righty Denyi Reyes, who suffered a stress reaction in his right foot (link via Yonhap’s Jeeho Yoo).

Garabito, 29, worked in low-leverage relief for Texas over the past two seasons. He combined for a 5.77 earned run average through 34 1/3 innings. The 6’0″ righty was also hit hard this year at Triple-A Round Rock. Garabito allowed an 8.53 ERA while averaging just over three innings across 10 starts. There’s very little in this season’s production to find encouraging, but he managed a 3.42 ERA across 55 1/3 Triple-A frames a year ago.

Reyes’ tenure in Korea comes to a disappointing end. The 28-year-old pitched fairly well for the Lions in 2024, working to a 3.81 ERA across 26 starts. That was up slightly over 10 starts this year before he suffered the foot injury. He’s a free agent and might look for a minor league opportunity to return to affiliated ball. Reyes made 12 MLB appearances with the Orioles and Mets between 2022-23.

Pirates Outright Brett Sullivan

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June 18: Sullivan cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Indianapolis, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It’s not clear if he’ll elect free agency or accept the assignment.

June 16: The Pirates announced that right-hander Dauri Moreta has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. To open a 40-man roster spot, catcher Brett Sullivan has been designated for assignment. Sullivan was on the active roster, so the Bucs now have an open spot there. That perhaps suggests that catcher Joey Bart will be reinstated from the IL. The club is off today so that may not be official until tomorrow.

Pittsburgh called Sullivan up last week to add depth behind the plate after losing Endy Rodríguez to injury. Bart has been out since late May, so the Bucs needed a backup catcher behind Henry Davis. Sullivan picked up three starts behind the dish. He went 1-6 with a walk and three strikeouts. It marked his third straight season logging limited MLB action. Sullivan appeared in 40 games with the Padres as a depth catcher in 2023-24. He’s a .204/.250/.291 hitter through 112 plate appearances at the highest level.

This is the second DFA of the season for the 31-year-old Sullivan. San Diego outrighted him off the 40-man roster during Spring Training. They traded him to the Bucs for outfielder Bryce Johnson a couple weeks later in a swap of non-roster players. Sullivan has spent the majority of the year in Triple-A, where he’s hitting .218/.254/.318 in 30 games. He’ll be traded or placed on waivers this week. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, he could elect free agency in lieu of an outright assignment back to Indianapolis.

Moreta last appeared in the majors in 2023. The 29-year-old reliever has been on the injured list since undergoing UCL surgery in Spring Training 2024. He’s been on a rehab assignment since late April. Pitchers typically can spend 30 days on a rehab stint but that is sometimes extended for those coming back from elbow surgery. Moreta is evidently healthy but struggled to command the ball on his rehab stint, walking nearly 17% of batters faced. The Pirates will keep him in Triple-A for now as he tries to find more consistency.

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