Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Guardians Activate Slade Cecconi

By | at

TODAY: The Guardians have officially announced Cecconi’s activation. Right-hander Zak Kent was optioned to Columbus in the corresponding move.

MAY 16: The Guardians will activate Slade Cecconi from the 15-day injured list to start tomorrow against Cincinnati, relays Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. It will be the right-hander’s team debut. He was acquired from the Diamondbacks in the offseason Josh Naylor trade.

Cecconi, 25, probably would have opened the season in Stephen Vogt’s rotation had he been healthy. He strained his left oblique during Spring Training. He has made a trio of rehab starts with Triple-A Columbus over the past couple weeks. Cecconi has allowed seven runs over 13 innings. He got through 5 2/3 frames and tallied 68 pitches over the weekend.

A Miami product, Cecconi was a supplemental first-round pick in 2020. His prospect stock has dimmed since then, though the Guardians still liked him enough to send their longtime first baseman to Arizona. Cecconi tossed 104 innings for the Snakes between 2023-24, allowing just over six earned runs per nine. His 18.7% strikeout rate is below-average, but he has shown excellent control. He owns a 4.73 ERA over parts of five minor league seasons.

Cleveland lost Ben Lively to the injured list with a flexor strain earlier this week. Cecconi will slot behind Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Luis Ortiz and Logan Allen to round out the rotation for the time being.

Mets’ Anthony Gose, Jon Singleton Trigger Upward Mobility Clauses

By | at

Mets minor leaguers Anthony Gose and Jon Singleton each triggered upward mobility clauses in their contracts, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. That requires New York to offer them to other teams. If another club is willing to give either player a big league roster spot, the Mets would need to call them up themselves or let them head elsewhere (likely in a trade for cash).

Gose signed a minor league deal last December and was with the Mets in Spring Training. He worked six innings of one-run ball in camp. Gose has pitched 15 times for Triple-A Syracuse, pitching to a solid 3.31 earned run average over 16 1/3 frames. He has fanned a quarter of opponents but is walking more than 15% of batters faced. That’s par for the course for Gose, a former outfielder with a mid-90s fastball and scattershot command.

The Mets are stretched on left-handed relief depth after the A.J. Minter and Danny Young injuries. They called up minor league signee Génesis Cabrera to work as Carlos Mendoza’s primary southpaw. They added a second lefty last night, acquiring José Castillo in a DFA trade with the Diamondbacks. Gose has a relatively clear path to the big leagues in Queens, though they’ve already added two other depth arms to their bullpen instead of promoting him.

Singleton, a lefty-hitting first baseman, was in camp with the Astros. Houston released him at the end of Spring Training. He signed a minor league deal with New York at the beginning of April. He has appeared in 33 Triple-A games, batting .216/.358/.432 with seven home runs.

He’s hitting for power and drawing plenty of walks, but he has fanned in nearly 30% of his plate appearances. Singleton had a career-high 405 trips to the plate with Houston last year, batting .234/.321/.386 with 13 homers. With Brett Baty hitting well since being recalled two weeks ago, the Mets probably wouldn’t have room for Singleton if another team were willing to call him up.

Kristian Campbell Taking Drills At First Base

By | at

Kristian Campbell started doing first base drills before the Red Sox’s series opener against the Braves. Boston has been patching things together at the position since Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.

“Looking for options,” manager Alex Cora said about Campbell’s pregame work (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). “Obviously, we’re getting Romy (Gonzalez) probably by the end of the week or early next week. But just introducing (Campbell) to first base and seeing how it looks. … It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months, but we started the process.”

Gonzalez, a utility infielder, got first crack at the position after the Casas injury. He was sidelined by a quad contusion a week later. As Cora noted, the Sox expect he’ll be back after a near minimal stint. Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard, each of whom were in Triple-A at the beginning of the month, are splitting first base until Gonzalez returns.

The Sox approached Rafael Devers about taking first base reps. He indicated he wasn’t willing to do so, publicly expressing frustration with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow after the Sox moved him off third base to designated hitter at the beginning of the season. Devers has not played a single defensive inning all year.

Campbell has no collegiate or professional experience as a first baseman. He has played mostly second but also has experience at both left side infield positions and all three outfield spots. Campbell has started 34 games at the keystone during his rookie season. He has added 50 outfield innings — 38 in center and 12 in left. While it’s not worth placing much stock in six weeks of defensive metrics, Campbell has not graded well at second. Statcast has him two runs below average, while Defensive Runs Saved has graded him six runs below par. That’s tied with Jake Cronenworth for second-worst at the position (above Washington’s Luis García Jr.).

It doesn’t seem the Sox are planning an imminent first base move for Campbell. They may be reluctant to kick a 22-year-old top prospect down the defensive spectrum as a short-term response to an injury. There’s little harm in seeing how Campbell takes to pregame work, though, and the Sox have another top middle infield prospect looming. Marcelo Mayer is hitting .274 with eight homers at Triple-A Worcester. He could eventually push the scuffling Trevor Story for playing time at shortstop. If Campbell were to move to first, one of Mayer or Story could slide to second base.

Athletics Option Osvaldo Bido, Designate Jason Alexander For Assignment

By | at

The A’s made a few moves on the pitching staff before tonight’s series opener in San Francisco. They selected relievers Anthony Maldonado and Matt Krook into the big league bullpen. They’ll take the roster spots of righties Osvaldo Bido and Jason Alexander. Bido was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas, while Alexander was designated for assignment. They only needed to open one 40-man roster spot, as they still had a vacancy after returning Rule 5 pick Noah Murdock to Kansas City last week.

The pitching staff took a beating yesterday. The Dodgers put up 19 runs. Bido and Alexander took most of the damage. Bido started the game but was unable to escape the second inning, allowing six runs. Alexander was the first man out of the bullpen. He had an even tougher time, allowing nine runs on seven hits (including a trio of homers) and four walks across 2 1/3 frames. Mitch Spence took the next three innings before backup catcher Jhonny Pereda got a mop-up frame.

Bido has operated as Mark Kotsay’s fifth starter all season. He’d pitched well in a swing role last year, turning in a 3.41 ERA through 63 1/3 innings. This year has been a struggle. Bido has allowed 5.82 earned runs per nine over 43 1/3 frames. His strikeout rate has plummeted from a solid 24.3% mark to this year’s 14.6% clip. He has surrendered 10 home runs, more than two per nine innings. Bido has yet to complete six innings and has allowed four or more runs in all but one of his last five starts.

That kind of production clearly isn’t cutting it. The A’s don’t have an off day until Memorial Day. They’ll need to find another starter to operate behind Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Gunnar Hoglund and JP Sears. That might be J.T. Ginn, who has been out for three weeks with elbow inflammation. He tossed 64 pitches in a rehab start in Las Vegas on Wednesday and might make his next start in the big leagues.

Alexander loses his 40-man roster spot entirely. The A’s had signed him to an offseason minor league deal and selected his contract two weeks into the season. He has given up 13 runs (12 earned) in six innings over four MLB appearances. Alexander has been far better over five Triple-A starts: a 1.27 ERA with a 23.6% strikeout rate and massive 63.6% grounder percentage across 21 1/3 frames.

Maldonado and Krook were offseason acquisitions who’ll be in line for their team debuts. The 27-year-old Maldonado debuted with 19 innings of 5.68 ERA ball for the Marlins last year. The A’s claimed the righty off waivers early in the offseason and ran him through waivers a few months later. He has been excellent for Las Vegas, reeling off 12 1/3 frames of one-run ball with 17 strikeouts. Maldonado leans most heavily on a mid-80s breaking ball and has a low-90s sinker.

Krook, 30, is a left-hander who has five career big league innings. He signed a minor league deal over the winter. Krook has allowed six runs (five earned) over 14 innings with the Aviators. He has racked up 21 strikeouts but has walked eight batters and hit another. He has gotten an impressive combination of whiffs and ground-balls throughout his minor league career, but that has been undercut by well below-average command.

Pirates Select Nick Solak

By | at

The Pirates made a move just before tonight’s game in Philadelphia, selecting second baseman/corner outfielder Nick Solak onto the big league club. Pittsburgh optioned Ji Hwan Bae to Triple-A Indianapolis to create an active roster spot, while recently-claimed utilityman Michael Helman was designated for assignment in the 40-man roster move.

Solak, 30, is back in the big leagues for the first time since 2023. The right-handed hitter only made two appearances that year, one apiece with the Braves and Tigers. He’d appeared in 35 games for Texas the year prior. His most recent regular MLB action came with the 2021 Rangers, when he suited up in 127 games and batted .242/.314/.362 with 11 home runs.

A former second-round pick by the Yankees, Solak has bounced around to various organizations over the past few seasons. He was viewed as a bat-first prospect without a clear defensive home. He hasn’t hit enough to make that work at the major league level, running a modest .252/.327/.372 slash line in nearly 1000 career plate appearances. Solak has reliably hit minor league pitching, including a .291/.379/.472 mark over parts of six Triple-A seasons.

This year is no exception. Solak is out to a massive .393/.452/.625 start through 32 games with Indianapolis. He leads the International League in average and ranks among the top four hitters (minimum 100 plate appearances) in both on-base percentage and slugging. He has connected on six homers and doubles apiece, plus one triple. He’s drawing walks at a decent 9.5% rate and has kept his strikeouts to a tidy 13.5% clip.

The Bucs are hoping he can carry a fraction of that production over against big league pitching. They’ve again had one of the sport’s weakest offenses. Solak draws into the lineup tonight at first base against Phils southpaw Ranger Suárez. The Pirates will activate lefty-hitting Spencer Horwitz either tomorrow or Sunday. Horwitz is going to be the primary first baseman, especially against righty pitching. Solak could see more playing time in left field, where neither Tommy Pham nor Alexander Canario has been effective. He’s out of options, so the Pirates could not send him back down to the minors without running him through waivers.

The move almost immediately costs Helman his roster spot. Pittsburgh had grabbed him off waivers from the Cardinals on Wednesday; he has yet to make an appearance in the organization. The 28-year-old Helman debuted with nine games for the Twins late last season. He was traded to St. Louis shortly before the start of Spring Training. Helman is out to an awful .185/.260/.292 start in Triple-A this year, but he hit .271/.350/.487 with 14 homers in 72 games at that level a year ago. Pittsburgh will likely place him back on waivers in the next few days.

@smokeymeats45 first reported that Solak was being called up.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

By | at

MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today, exclusively for Front Office subscribers!

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

The Orioles’ Pair Of Rental Bats

By | at

The Orioles dropped both games of a doubleheader against Minnesota yesterday, falling 11 games under .500. They kept the bad times rolling with another loss this afternoon, getting to 12 games under. It’s the nadir of their season so far, one from which they’ll have a difficult time coming back.

As of last week, general manager Mike Elias wasn’t interested in contemplating the possibility that they’ll be deadline sellers. “We’ve got a record that’s not reflective of who we believe our team is, that I don’t think anyone thought our team was, and we’re digging a hole out of the standings right now because of that,” the GM told Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post on their podcast last Tuesday. “Hopefully, we claw back a lot of real estate in the standings and we get back in the mode that we fully expected to be. That is my focus right now. If it somehow evolves otherwise, I’ll address it then.”

The team has dropped six of eight games since those comments. Even with Zach Eflin returning from the injured list over the weekend, the starting rotation looks untenable. Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg face uncertain timelines to make it back from their own IL stints. The odds are very much not in their favor. FanGraphs has the O’s playoff chances down to a season-low 4.4%. The front office certainly didn’t anticipate being deadline sellers, but it’s increasingly difficult to see them avoiding that fate.

It would be surprising if the Orioles dealt any controllable core pieces like Westburg, Adley Rutschman or Jackson Holliday. It’d be tough to find a taker on Tyler O’Neill given his annual $16.5MM salaries and opt-out clause. Tomoyuki Sugano has had solid results in his first big league season, but he probably has modest trade value on a $13MM salary given his below-average velocity and 14.2% strikeout rate.

That leaves a pair of rental bats as Baltimore’s top trade candidates: Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins. The former has systematically improved over his two and a half seasons at Camden Yards. O’Hearn was a career .219/.293/.390 hitter when the Orioles acquired him from the Royals over the 2022-23 offseason. He turned in what was then a personal-best .289/.322/.480 slash during his first season in Baltimore. Last year’s batting line seems superficially like a step back — he hit .264/.334/.427 in 494 plate appearances — but it came with a dramatically superior strikeout and walk profile than he showed in 2023.

O’Hearn has maintained those impressive plate discipline metrics while hitting for more power early this year. He carries a .287/.374/.519 mark with seven longballs across 123 plate appearances. O’Hearn isn’t chasing pitches outside the strike zone. His 15.4% strikeout rate is well below the 22.1% league average. He’s making hard contact (a 95+ MPH exit velocity) on half his batted balls, well up from last season’s 40% clip.

The rate stats are slightly inflated by the O’s tendency to shield O’Hearn from unfavorable platoon matchups. They’ve mostly kept him away from left-handed pitching, giving him just 94 plate appearances against southpaws over the past three seasons. He’s more of a strong-side platoon bat than a true everyday player, but O’Hearn is thriving in that role. He is up to a .280/.339/.465 slash in nearly 900 plate appearances against righty pitching as a member of the Orioles.

That kind of production is a bargain for a player making an $8MM salary. O’Hearn will be a first-time free agent next year, as he enters his age-32 season. It’s tough to see the Orioles making him a qualifying offer that’d likely be north of $21MM. He has a good shot at a multi-year contract, but the O’s would probably be better served letting him walk to open first base/DH playing time for Coby Mayo. That all points to a trade.

Baltimore won’t pull the trigger on that kind of move two and a half months from the deadline, but he seems likely to be available in July. The Giants and Red Sox are the most obvious potential suitors for a rental first baseman. Boston will be without Triston Casas all season. San Francisco has gotten nothing out of LaMonte Wade Jr. this year. They won’t want to block top prospect Bryce Eldridge in 2026 but should make a short-term add at the position. The Rangers and Mariners would also make sense as landing spots.

The Orioles would need a stronger return on Mullins, who may end up being one of the best all-around position players available. The lefty-hitting center fielder takes a .230/.335/.446 line with eight homers into today’s game against Minnesota. Most of that production came early in the season. Mullins carried a .278/.412/.515 slash through the end of April. He’s hitting .119/.119/.286 thus far in May. He’s clearly amidst a skid at the plate, but he still ranks among the sport’s most productive center fielders overall. He is tied for fourth at the position in homers and ranks eighth in on-base percentage (minimum 100 plate appearances).

Even if Mullins was punching above his weight through the season’s first few weeks, he’s a quality player. He has been an average or better hitter in five consecutive seasons. He has topped 30 stolen bases in three of the last four years. The public metrics are split on his glove — he rates more highly by Statcast’s Outs Above Average than he does in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved — but there’s no doubt that he can play center field. There’s a dearth of talent at the position on the trade market, especially if Luis Robert Jr. continues to underperform offensively.

Mullins is making $8.725MM in his final season of arbitration control. There’s a decent chance the O’s would make him the qualifying offer if he’s not traded, but a multiple-prospect package could be superior to one compensatory draft pick. The Guardians, Phillies, Mets, Rangers and A’s are just a handful of contenders that could look for an upgrade in center field.

Respective images courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas and Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

White Sox Release Brandon Drury

By | at

The White Sox released Brandon Drury from his minor league deal, according to the MiLB.com transaction tracker. He has been on the injured list since May 8.

Drury hasn’t played a game for Triple-A Charlotte since April 26. Their manager, Sergio Santos, told Jeff Cohen of Future Sox last week that Drury had injured his wrist on a hit-by-pitch. At the time, Santos said that Drury was able to field without issue but experienced soreness when he was taking swings. He’d only been able to appear in 10 games before the injury. The veteran infielder hit .179/.319/.282 with one home run across 47 trips to the plate.

The Sox signed Drury to a minor league contract shortly before the opening of Spring Training. He looked well on his way to breaking camp when he raked at a .410 clip through 13 exhibition contests. That was scuttled when he broke his left thumb in the final few days of Spring Training. Chicago granted him his release but brought him back on a new minor league deal in mid-April once he’d returned to health.

There aren’t many specifics on his latest injury, but it stands to reason that Drury will find renewed minor league interest whenever he’s healthy. He won a Silver Slugger in 2022 and remained an above-average hitter as recently as ’23, when he hit .262/.306/.497 with 30 doubles and 26 homers for the Angels. The wheels fell off last season. His bat cratered to a .169/.242/.228 showing across 360 plate appearances, limiting him to minor league offers.

Diamondbacks Trade Jose Castillo To Mets

By | at

The Mets acquired lefty reliever José Castillo from the Diamondbacks for cash, the teams announced. New York designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment to create a spot on the 40-man roster. Arizona had designated Castillo for assignment on Monday.

Castillo has technically appeared in five MLB seasons, though all but eight of his appearances came with the Padres during his 2018 rookie season. He turned in a 3.29 ERA over 38 1/3 innings that year but was subsequently set back by injury.

The 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in November. It marked his second consecutive season in the Arizona organization. He had spent all of last year with their Triple-A team in Reno, though he lost the first half of that season to injury. The Diamondbacks assigned him back to Reno to begin this season. He struck out seven while tossing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball and was called up at the beginning of May.

The 6’6″ southpaw only spent a couple weeks in Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. He didn’t pitch well, allowing eight runs on 10 hits (including a trio of home runs) over 6 1/3 frames. Arizona bumped him out of the bullpen when Kendall Graveman returned from injury. Castillo is out of options, so they needed to designate him for assignment to take him off the MLB roster.

That out-of-options status means the Mets are prepared to give Castillo at least some time in their big league bullpen. They’ve been forced to scour the lefty relief market after losing Danny Young and A.J. Minter to season-ending injuries. They called up Génesis Cabrera from Triple-A Syracuse. He’s the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps. Cabrera has managed five innings of one-run ball over four outings, but he had walked nearly 15% of opposing hitters in Triple-A before the promotion.

The Mets will need to remove someone from the major league bullpen once Castillo reports to the team. Dedniel Núñez is the obvious candidate, since he still has a couple options remaining. Cabrera is out of options, so the Mets would need to designate him for assignment if they wanted to use Castillo as their only left-hander.

Herget relinquishes his spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets claimed the 34-year-old off waivers from Milwaukee early last offseason. He only spent one day on the MLB roster, allowing two runs on three hits in one inning. He has otherwise been working out of the bullpen at Syracuse. Herget has only allowed five runs over 15 2/3 innings, but that came with a pedestrian 13:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had a much stronger 32.4% strikeout rate over 38 appearances with Milwaukee’s top farm team a year ago.

The Mets will likely place Herget on waivers within the next few days. He has been outrighted twice in his career and would have the right to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

Rangers Release Adrian Houser

By | at

Righty Adrian Houser was granted his release from his minor league contract with the Rangers, the team announced. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reports that Texas hopes to bring him back (presumably on a fresh minor league deal), but he’ll have the opportunity to explore other offers.

Houser signed with the Rangers during the offseason. He has worked out of the rotation at Triple-A Round Rock, tallying 39 1/3 innings across nine appearances. While his 5.03 earned run average is pedestrian, that’s not all that uncommon in the Pacific Coast League. Houser has stronger peripherals. He’s striking out a decent 22.8% of opponents while running an excellent 57.3% grounder rate.

Ground balls are Houser’s speciality. He has gotten grounders at a near-52% clip over parts of eight seasons in the majors. That was up in the 58-59% range during his best seasons with Milwaukee but has been down to a more normal 46-48% mark over the past few years. That caught up to him last year, as he allowed 5.84 earned runs per nine across 69 1/3 frames with the Mets. Houser had begun the season in New York’s rotation but was kicked to the bullpen after seven starts.

His results in relief were much better. Houser carried an ERA north of 8.00 as a starting pitcher but turned in a 3.28 mark across 35 2/3 relief innings. Texas seemingly preferred him as rotation depth, though it stands to reason he could find interest from other clubs as both a starter and reliever.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top