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Blue Jays Release Spencer Turnbull

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The Blue Jays released Spencer Turnbull, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Assuming he clears release waivers, he’ll return to free agency. Toronto had designated the veteran righty for assignment on Wednesday.

Turnbull has over five years of MLB service time and had the right to refuse an outright assignment while retaining his prorated (approximate) $1.27MM salary. The Jays didn’t get much from that modest investment. They were shuttling through fifth starters after losing Max Scherzer to the injured list when they signed Turnbull in early May. He had gone unsigned all winter and wasn’t ready for MLB action, so he spent a little over a month on optional assignment building into game shape in the minors.

By the time Turnbull was ready to be called up, Eric Lauer had impressed the club in a swing role. Lauer subsequently took hold of the fifth starter job and remains in the rotation even after Scherzer’s activation, as Bowden Francis landed on the injured list. Turnbull only made three appearances — two in relief and one abbreviated start — and gave up five runs in 6 1/3 innings. He surrendered 12 hits with four walks and strikeouts apiece.

Despite the shorter stints, Turnbull’s fastball speed was down a tick. He averaged roughly 91 MPH after sitting at 92 as a swingman for the Phillies last season. He pitched well for Philadelphia, working to a 2.65 ERA while striking out 26% of batters faced in 54 1/3 innings. His 2024 season ended when he sustained a lat strain in late June.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Anthony Franco

  • Hey everyone, hope you've had a good week!

Tony

  • Thanks for the chat! My question is Cardinal related. It appears that their biggest needs are bullpen and right handed hitting outfield. If they packaged Fedde and Gorman (change of scenery) and a minor league catcher (or Pages from the MLB team) what kind of returns would you expect? Any impact players?

Anthony Franco

  • Not getting any impact talent with those guys. I think they each have slightly positive trade value but that's a quantity over quality package at this point. You'd probably need a team that really likes Pages' glove and thinks he's a low-end #1 catcher to get anything of note back

Sandy

  • All of the mock trades for me have been wild. If seen mocks that include both Leo De Vries & Ethan Salas is crazy. What type of package do the Marlins get for me

Anthony Franco

  • I have no idea what you're referring to on the mock specifics but yeah, they wouldn't get either De Vries or Salas
  • I do think they can pull a 50-FV type headliner though, someone who'd fall into the back half of the top 100 range. The velocity's still there, the command has been better lately, and he's making fourth/fifth starter money

Grateful Follower

  • Do you think any team (Tampa?) might attempt to acquire Soderstrom from the A’s with an eye towards possibly returning him to Catcher (even if the switchback was to wait until next year)?  Or has that ship sailed?

Anthony Franco

  • That'd be a really interesting one. I can see the logic, especially if they pull a controllable MLB starter. Doesn't even necessarily need to be a catcher conversion -- that'd be really tough to do midseason especially -- but just finding a team that can put him back at first base makes some sense

Utah Fan

  • Who would be targets for the TWINS if they are buyers at the deadline?

Anthony Franco

  • Man, any kind of functional pitching. Aside from Ryan, the staff has totally collapsed after the López and Matthews injuries. Feels like they need multiple relievers and at least one new starter if they're going to try to make it work this year

Knock-Knock

  • If Garver is your backup catcher you’re doing great at the position. He was brought in to DH for the M's, but that didn’t work out. He is overqualified for his current job, but I’d rather have him sit in the dugout 4 days in a row than bring up Ford to sit. With Cal as the forever catcher, Ford is tradeable. Why bring him up and run the risk of diminishing his value or to play once a week when he can add to his value playing every day in the minors?

Anthony Franco

  • This one seems like it's conditional on a Garver IL stint but at some point, Ford just has nothing left to show them in Triple-A
  • Cal's not going away anytime soon. They're just going to have to do the Drake Baldwin/Dalton Rushing thing of using him infrequently as a backup with the potential for occasional DH starts and letting him get his feet wet against big league pitching

Gimenez

  • Whatever happened to Andres Gimenez? Did he peak at age 23? It's one thing being a .250 hitter, but he's been below the Mendoza line for most of the season.

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Diamondbacks Sign Albert Almora To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have signed outfielder Albert Almora to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Reno. The move was announced by the minor league affiliate. Almora had been playing in Triple-A with the Marlins but was released last week.

A former sixth overall pick by the Cubs, Almora played parts of five seasons with Chicago as a light-hitting defensive specialist in center field. He logged a bit of time with the Mets in 2021 and appeared in 65 games for Cincinnati three seasons ago. The right-handed hitter turned in a .223/.282/.349 line through 235 plate appearances with the Reds in what remains his most recent big league action.

Almora spent all of last year in the Arizona system. He tallied nearly 600 plate appearances with Reno, batting .292/.349/.438 with nine home runs. That’s a solid slash line on the surface but is below average once one accounts for Reno’s status as one of the most hitter-friendly parks in affiliated ball. Almora never got an MLB look from the Snakes and signed a minor league deal with his hometown Marlins over the winter. He was batting .240/.289/.315 with their top affiliate in Jacksonville when they released him.

Griffin Canning Believed To Have Suffered Achilles Injury

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Mets starter Griffin Canning had to be helped off the field in the third inning of tonight’s win over the Braves. He injured his left leg in what initially seemed to be a small, harmless hop after a Nick Allen chopper to shortstop (video via Awful Announcing). Replay showed Canning’s foot appear to buckle as he hit the ground, immediately raising concern about a potential Achilles tear.

The team initially announced that Canning was being evaluated for a left ankle injury and was headed for an MRI. The club won’t provide a specific diagnosis until the imaging results come back, but manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed postgame that they believe it is an Achilles injury. While there’s no timeline yet, Canning’s season certainly seems to be in jeopardy.

Canning has been a surprisingly important piece of the Mets pitching staff. He signed for $4.25MM as a free agent after being let go by the Angels (in a salary dump trade) and Braves (via non-tender) earlier in the offseason. The former second-round pick might’ve opened the season in long relief had everyone been healthy. Injuries to Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas and Paul Blackburn pushed him into the starting five. He ran with the opportunity.

The 29-year-old Canning took a 3.91 earned run average across 73 2/3 innings into tonight’s start. His abbreviated outing dropped that to a 3.77 mark. He has gotten ground-balls half the time while recording a league average 21.3% strikeout rate. The strikeout rate is up nearly four percentage points while he has cut his ERA by about a run and a half relative to his final season with the Angels. The Mets encouraged Canning to use his slider a little more often than he had with the Halos to positive results.

While Canning struggled last season, he’d shown the potential to pitch at the back of a rotation earlier in his career. He’d struggled to rack up many innings because of various injuries, though. He lost a good portion of ’21 and the entire following year to a stress reaction in his lower back. Canning also missed time with elbow soreness at the beginning of his career. He had avoided the injured list for the past year and a half.

The Mets have lost three starters this month. Tylor Megill is going to miss at least a month with an elbow sprain, and they’ll need to closely monitor his progress to try avoid any setbacks. Kodai Senga will be down for a couple weeks with a hamstring strain. Canning’s injury seems the most severe of all.

Montas returned to make his season debut this week. Manaea is expected back next week despite a brief setback after he received an injection to treat a loose body in his elbow. Blackburn, who was briefly the subject of trade chatter when he seemed to be seventh on the depth chart, is now entrenched in the rotation behind Clay Holmes and David Peterson. The Mets will go with Peterson, Blackburn and Montas for this weekend’s series in Pittsburgh. They’re off on Monday and could activate Manaea to take Canning’s rotation spot next week. Blade Tidwell and Justin Hagenman are candidates for a spot start if they want to give Manaea a few extra days.

The Mets probably would have been in the rotation market at the deadline even if Canning were healthy. There’s a lot of risk in counting on Megill to make a smooth return from an elbow injury. Montas got through five scoreless innings in his season debut but had been knocked around on his minor league rehab stint.

Canning will reach six-plus service years and return to free agency this offseason. A significant Achilles injury would threaten a good portion of his ’26 availability and would obviously deal a huge hit to his market value.

A’s Release Seth Brown

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Outfielder Seth Brown has become a free agent after being waived by the A’s. The MLB.com transaction log indicates that he was released. MLBTR has learned that Brown, who recently crossed the five-year service threshold, elected free agency after going unclaimed on waivers. It’s an immaterial distinction, as he’ll hit the market while retaining the remainder of this season’s $2.7MM salary in either case. The A’s had not previously designated Brown for assignment, so this drops their 40-man roster count to 39.

It does not impact their active roster. Brown has been on the injured list since June 13 with a minor left elbow injury. Once he reached the five-year service mark, Brown earned the right to refuse an optional assignment back to Triple-A. That meant the A’s would have needed to keep him in the majors once he was ready to return from the injured list. They instead opted to place him on waivers and allow him to move on entirely.

The lefty-hitting Brown has struggled at the major league level this year. He’s hitting .185/.303/.262 with one homer and 23 strikeouts over 76 plate appearances. He spent a couple weeks in Triple-A after being outrighted off the 40-man roster in late May. Brown obliterated minor league pitching, collecting 21 hits and seven home runs in nine games to quickly get selected back onto the MLB roster. He unfortunately was limited to five games before going on the injured list. The A’s welcomed Gio Urshela back from the IL at the same time and have decided to stick with Max Schuemann and JJ Bleday for the final two bench spots.

Brown reached 20+ home runs in consecutive seasons in 2021-22. His numbers have dropped since then, though he hit .263/.304/.413 in the second half last year to persuade the A’s to tender him an arbitration contract. They’ll remain on the hook for the rest of that money aside from the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for whatever time he spends on another club’s MLB roster. Whichever team signs Brown would only pay the league minimum this year and could control him via arbitration for another season. That’d require a salary in a similar or higher level as this year’s $2.7MM mark, though, so he’d be a non-tender candidate in the offseason even if he finds an immediate MLB opportunity as a free agent.

Trade Deadline Outlook: San Francisco Giants

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MLBTR's subscriber series previewing each club's deadline activity continues. Next up: the team that has already pulled off what'll probably be the biggest in-season trade we'll get all year.

Record: 44-35 (56.2% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)

Buy Mode

Potential needs: first base, second base, mid-rotation starter, left-handed relief

Two weeks ago, identifying the Giants' biggest priority was simple. The lineup was floundering and in desperate need of an impact bat. Then came the Rafael Devers stunner. All of a sudden, the top half of the order looks strong. They've pitched exceptionally well all season. They have fewer areas that they absolutely need to address than one might expect, since they're still generally viewed as a step below the top contenders in the National League.

First base was the biggest problem into the middle of June. They finally pulled the plug on the scuffling LaMonte Wade Jr. while signing Dominic Smith as a stopgap. Smith has made a strong impression through his first 16 games. More importantly, the Giants quickly convinced Devers to start taking drills at first base. He remains a designated hitter for now, but there's a decent chance he's getting into games as a first baseman prior to the July 31 deadline.

That doesn't preclude an upgrade. Smith has had a strong couple weeks, but he was a replacement level player between 2021-24. He's not someone who firmly stands in the way of an outside acquisition. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge suffered a right hamstring strain in Triple-A just this week (relayed by Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News). He's going to be out of action for at least 3-4 weeks and is unlikely to make his MLB debut before July is out. The Giants could theoretically replace Smith while keeping Devers as a designated hitter.

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D-Backs GM Mike Hazen Talks Trade Deadline

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The Diamondbacks dropped this afternoon’s series finale against the White Sox, falling to 41-39. They’re 3.5 games back with four teams in front of them in a crowded NL Wild Card picture. As Darragh McDonald and I discussed on this week’s MLBTR podcast, Arizona is one of the most interesting bubble teams five weeks from the deadline. They’re still in the race but have been battered by injuries, leaving them shorthanded as they enter a pivotal stretch of the season.

General manager Mike Hazen spoke with ESPN’s Jesse Rogers on Tuesday and said he has started to receive calls from opposing clubs gauging their interest in selling. Hazen jokingly likened the rival executives to sharks circling but noted that the D-Backs aren’t interested in dealing away talent at this point.

“We have good players, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to play good baseball and stay in this and then get those guys back and maybe be able to add on at the deadline,” the GM said, referencing the recent injured list placements to right fielder Corbin Carroll and catcher Gabriel Moreno. Arizona has also recently lost Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk, but none of them will be back this season. Hazen acknowledged there may eventually be “a critical mass of injuries” that forces them to reconsider but added he “still (thinks they) have every opportunity to be competitive.”

It’s what should be expected from a bubble team’s GM this far out. It’d be far more surprising if the D-Backs were already open for business. They’ll know more in a month about their place in the standings and on the statuses of Carroll (wrist fracture) and Moreno (broken index finger). Hazen conceded, however, that playoff spots will be tough to come by in a National League that has ten teams that are above .500 at the moment.

If they’re still within a few games of a playoff spot in July, they’ll be motivated to buy. The D-Backs narrowly missed the postseason a year ago. Ownership subsequently approved a franchise-record payroll to support an excellent lineup. Their pitching plans have largely been decimated by injuries and/or underperformance from their free agent acquisitions. That has kept them around .500 despite an offense that trails only the Dodgers and Cubs in runs — one year after they led MLB in scoring.

The ideal outcome is that the team plays well enough that the front office can add to the pitching staff, especially in the bullpen. If things go in the opposite direction over the next month, they’d have no shortage of veteran players to shop. Josh Naylor, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eugenio Suárez, Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks are all impending free agents. Gallen seems unlikely to re-sign, and it’s tough to see the Diamondbacks retaining both Naylor and Suárez while again blocking Jordan Lawlar’s path to infield at-bats. The D-Backs could consider a qualifying offer for any of the first four players, though it’s unlikely they’d QO all four since there’d be an argument for each of them to accept.

Naylor and Suárez have been middle-of-the-order run producers and would be among the top rental bats if the D-Backs made them available. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote this morning that the Yankees have shown some early interest in Suárez with a likely infield need. Acquiring a third baseman would free them to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second base and move DJ LeMahieu to a utility role. Suárez is currently day-to-day after being hit by a pitch on Monday. He sat out the final two games of the Chicago series.

Gallen has had a poor season but has the pedigree to attract attention. The 36-year-old Kelly is churning out another low-3.00s ERA season while striking out a quarter of opponents. Miller, who is playing for barely more than the league minimum after signing an offseason minor league contract, would be a top bullpen target. He’s carrying a sub-2.00 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate while pitching his way into the ninth inning. Beeks has pitched well in a setup capacity and would be a target for teams seeking left-handed relief.

Diego Segui Passes Away

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Former ERA champion Diego Segui has passed away. He was 87.

Born in Cuba and a natural left-hander, Segui nevertheless began throwing a baseball right handed. He initially signed with the Reds but never got an opportunity in the Cincinnati farm system. He spent some time pitching for an independent team before the A’s purchased his contract. Segui would spend three seasons climbing the minor league ladder and reached the big leagues in 1962. The A’s, based in Kansas City at the time, used him mostly as a starting pitcher.

The 6’0″ hurler ate a lot of innings but didn’t have great numbers. The A’s sold his contract to the Washington Senators in 1966 before reacquiring him the following year. A move to the bullpen seemed to spark him, as he posted a 3.09 ERA over 70 innings. He turned in a career-low 2.39 mark over 52 appearances the following year, the franchise’s first in Oakland.

After that season, the Seattle Pilots — a team that played one season before moving to Milwaukee and rebranding as the Brewers — selected Segui in the expansion draft. He worked to a 3.35 ERA while logging 142 1/3 frames in an age when relievers frequently threw multiple innings. The Brewers traded him back to Oakland the following offseason.

The A’s third acquisition of Segui was their most successful. He had a career year in 1970, firing 162 innings across 47 appearances (including 19 starts). He led all qualified pitchers with a 2.56 earned run average. The A’s reached the postseason the following year, allowing Segui to make his playoff debut. He got the start in an elimination game against the Orioles during the AL Championship Series. He was outpitched by Jim Palmer and the A’s dropped the game 5-3.

Segui’s time with the organization ended for good the following season, as they dealt him to the Cardinals midway through the ’72 campaign. That unfortunately immediately preceded Oakland’s run of three consecutive titles in 1972-74. Segui spent a couple seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Red Sox. He didn’t post great numbers with Boston but was on the ’75 team that ended his former club’s three-peat in the ALCS.  While Segui did not appear in that series, he tossed a mop-up inning in a Game 5 loss to the Reds in the World Series. An inherited runner scored on a sacrifice fly, but he retired George Foster, Dave Concepcion and Cesar Geronimo in order.

The Sox dropped the ’75 World Series in a classic seven-game set, which kept Segui from ever winning a championship. He finished his big league career in 1977 with the expansion Mariners. He was the first pitcher in team history as the Opening Day starter and earned the distinction of appearing for both Seattle franchises. Thanks to his age (39) and previous Seattle ties, he received the fantastic nickname “The Ancient Mariner.”

Segui’s MLB playing days concluded after the ’77 season. He pitched in parts of 15 seasons and logged a 3.81 ERA in more than 1800 innings. Segui won 92 games, recorded nearly 1300 strikeouts, and collected 71 saves. His playing days stretched far beyond the end of his big league time, though. He pitched in the Mexican League until 1984, going through age 46. Segui also had an extended run in the Venezuelan winter league during his MLB career, for which he was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. His son David Segui would go to a 15-year MLB career of his own as a first baseman/outfielder. MLBTR sends our condolences to the Segui family and others affected by his loss.

Rays, MLB Have Discussed Potential Playoff Hosting Plans

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At 44-35, the Rays are firmly in the postseason mix. They’re one game back of the Yankees in the AL East and in possession of the American League’s top Wild Card spot. FanGraphs gives them more than a 70% chance of playing in October.

That’d present a challenge for MLB because of their stadium situation. The Rays are playing at an A-ball facility after last fall’s hurricane damage rendered Tropicana Field unplayable. Their interim home, George M. Steinbrenner Field, has a capacity a little above 11,000. The A’s are playing in a similarly small ballpark but have essentially no chance of making the playoffs this season, at least delaying their decision by a year. Every other MLB stadium has a capacity of at least 34,000.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Rays officials have had preliminary conversations with the league office about how they’d handle potential home playoff games. He writes that it’s possible the league will consider Steinbrenner Field satisfactory for potential Wild Card and Division Series but could push for a change in venue if the Rays advance as far as the AL Championship Series.

The concerns go beyond the optics of a small playoff crowd. The league could have difficulty accommodating the larger broadcasting and media contingents, as the field also has a very small press box. Rosenthal’s piece is worth a full read, as he goes into specifics about the logistical challenges that a smaller field present for the league’s broadcast partners.

The Players Association may also prefer a move to a stadium with more seating. Players’ postseason shares are a percentage of playoff gate receipts. Games at Steinbrenner Field will obviously have artificially low attendance numbers. It wouldn’t be a huge percentage of overall playoff gate revenue, but it would take on added importance if the Rays make a deep run. Playing the Rays’ scheduled home games at a neutral site would presumably generate more attendance, though it’d negate whatever on-field advantages they get from playing in front of their home crowd.

It may all end up being a moot point. The Rays could miss the playoffs. If they get in as the second or third Wild Card team, they’d play on the road for their entire three-game series in the first round (as all fifth and sixth seeds do). Nevertheless, the league will need to have a plan in place in advance of the beginning of the playoffs. That could also inform how they’d handle things if the A’s make the postseason before the scheduled opening of their Las Vegas stadium in 2028.

The Rays hope to return to Tropicana Field next season. Their lease at the Trop runs for three more years once it’s again playable. Owner Stuart Sternberg is reportedly in talks with a group led by a Jacksonville-based real estate developer about a sale of the franchise. That group is expected to seek a new stadium in the Tampa Bay region for the long term if the sale is finalized.

Trade Deadline Outlook: Houston Astros

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MLBTR’s team-by-team look at the upcoming deadline continues with the Astros. They're yet again in pole position in the AL West. Payroll might be an obstacle this summer, but they're in a familiar position as a deadline buyer.

Record: 45-33 (89.6% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)

Buy Mode

Potential needs: Left-handed bat, rotation depth, second base

Dana Brown gave us an easy starting point for the Astros' deadline outlook. Houston's general manager said over the weekend that the front office is already scouring the market for a left-handed hitter. That would have been easy enough to infer from a look at the roster. The Astros have the most right-handed lineup in recent history. They've given more than 2500 plate appearances to righty hitters this season (not including switch-hitters against lefty pitching). The second-place Angels are more than 400 PAs behind Houston, and no other team has even reached 1900. They're on pace to surpass the 2022 Blue Jays for the most plate appearances for right-handed batters in a season this century.

The flip side, of course, is that they've given a staggeringly low 175 plate appearances to pure left-handed hitters. Victor Caratini is their only switch-hitter of note. Yordan Alvarez should be back at some point, but he's coming up on two months since he fractured his right hand. Opponents have unsurprisingly thrown more right-handed pitchers at Houston than at any other. It hasn't stopped them from having success so far, but they'll obviously prefer to have more balance as they look ahead to potential playoff series.

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