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Giants Re-Sign Logan Porter To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced that catcher Logan Porter re-signed on a minor league contract. San Francisco had designated him for assignment when they called up Sergio Alcántara to add infield depth as they navigated a few injuries on the dirt. Porter evidently cleared waivers, refused an outright assignment, then signed a new contract.

Porter, who turns 30 later this week, signed a minor league deal early in the offseason. He has spent the bulk of the season at Triple-A Sacramento but was called up for a week in June while Patrick Bailey was sidelined by a neck strain. The Giants optioned Porter as soon as Bailey returned but had kept him on the 40-man roster until last week’s DFA.

The righty-hitting Porter went 1-7 with a walk in four MLB games. Those were his first appearances since he played in 11 games for the Royals two years ago. Porter has spent parts of four seasons in Triple-A. He’s a .249/.365/.396 hitter with 29 homers in more than 1000 career plate appearances at that level. That includes a .222/.354/.310 slash over 193 trips to the dish with Sacramento this year.

Bailey and Andrew Knizner are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Tom Murphy has been on the 60-day injured list all season. Bailey and Knizner will continue as Bob Melvin’s catching duo for the time being. An injury to either player would necessitate selecting another backstop onto the 40-man. Porter would likely be the first man up in that scenario. Sam Huff and Max Stassi are both on the Triple-A injured list.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Anthony Franco

  • Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend!
  • Steve stretched his into a four-day weekend so I'm in today and he'll take the usual Friday slot. Going to stay around an hour on this one as a result
  • Let's get rolling

Cactusflair

  • Why didnt the Nats actually try to improve the team in this past off season??  Felt like outside of Sirotka signing they did nothing.

Denise Dunbar

  • Do you think the Nats' first pick in next week's draft will be even more telling after the Rizzo firing? It seems to me if they pick Holliday, they're saying the rebuild is ongoing for quite a while. In that instance, I think they should trade Gore if they can get a haul for him. Conversely, if they take one of the college lefties, to me that means they think they could possibly contend for a wildcard next year and might signal they plan to spend more this offseason. Interestingly, they sent out a season ticket holder survey about 10 days ago asking lots of questions about how satisfied we were with the direction of the team. I lambasted ownership, but not management, in responses. But I also wonder if this survey and its overall results factored into their decision making?

Anthony Franco

  • Two of a number of Nats questions in here. Martinez getting fired didn't really surprise me but I was a little taken aback that they moved on from Rizzo. I get why it happened, but I didn't see that coming
  • I actually think their offseason made sense. They felt they were still a year off from being competitive and didn't think a Danny Jansen signing or Eugenio Suárez trade would've moved the needle. Hard for me to disagree with that. They probably should've been involved at the top of the rotation market, but that's as much an ownership question as it is a front office one
  • Obviously, their series of low-cost bullpen pickups especially blew up, but I actually think they've shown progress this year in the more meaningful stuff (Wood's emergence as a superstar, Gore's development, etc.)
  • I wouldn't read too much into the #1 pick as a sign of their long-term direction. Even if they do take Holliday (or Eli Willits, I guess), it's not uncommon for top high school draftees to get to the majors within two or three years. It'd just be a sign that they think those guys are better prospects than the top college pitcher on their board

Opt-Out

  • Is this the trade deadline someone with an opt-out or player option finally gets traded?

Anthony Franco

  • Happened with Scherzer a few years ago, though he preemptively exercised the option to make it happen. I think someone will take the risk on Lugo this summer
  • He's obviously going to opt out if he's healthy, $15M if he does blow out would suck but isn't catastrophic (it's what teams gamble on the current version of Scherzer and Verlander and Alex Cobb), and the supply of starting pitching is really light

Edward Cabrera

  • What does a trade package look like for me and who do you think will be calling Bendix the most about it? Is there a world where Sandy and I get dealt to the same team?

Anthony Franco

  • He fits anywhere really (aside from the deep rebuild teams like Colorado and the White Sox). Cheap, amidst a potential breakout, two and a half seasons of control
  • Yankees, Cubs and Padres are the first three that come to mind but there aren't many places he could land that would surprise me
  • Seems less likely that someone would do the Alcantara/Cabrera package deal. They're both good enough to support a strong return individually, and the Fish would probably be better off splitting them up and shopping each individually. No guarantee they move Cabrera at all

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White Sox Recall Colson Montgomery For MLB Debut, DFA Vinny Capra

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Today: The White Sox have officially announced Montgomery’s promotion. To open a space on the active roster, the team designated infielder Vinny Capra for assignment. They had claimed Capra off waivers from the Brewers in May. He hit .190 with a .443 OPS over 23 games in Chicago, while splitting his time between second base, third base, and shortstop. The White Sox now have five days to trade Capra. If they cannot find a taker, they must place him on outright or release waivers.

In an additional transaction, the White Sox reinstated left-handed pitcher Fraser Ellard from the 60-day IL and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Because Montgomery was already on the 40-man and Ellard will essentially take Capra’s spot, Chicago’s 40-man roster remains at 38 players.

July 3: The White Sox will promote Colson Montgomery for this weekend’s series against the Rockies, reports Kris Norton of WITZ Radio in Indiana. Montgomery is already on the 40-man roster, so the Sox only need to make an active roster move.

It’s the first MLB call for the 23-year-old, who’ll likely make his MLB debut tomorrow against Colorado’s Antonio Senzatela. Chicago’s first-round pick in 2021, the lefty-hitting shortstop was one of the sport’s top prospects not too long ago. Montgomery placed among Baseball America’s top 50 minor league talents entering each of the past three seasons. BA ranked him as the best prospect in the Sox’s system each year from 2022-24.

Montgomery is listed at 6’3″ and 230 pounds, giving him big raw power potential for a middle infielder. A very patient plate approach led to strong on-base marks against low minors pitching, but he has had a tougher time against more polished arms. Montgomery spent all of last year at Triple-A Charlotte, where he hit .214/.329/.381 in 130 games. He connected on 18 home runs with a strong 12% walk rate but struck out in nearly 29% of his trips to the plate.

Chicago needed to add Montgomery to the 40-man roster last offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’d surely have been selected despite the middling Triple-A numbers, so that was an easy call for the front office. They optioned him back to Charlotte to begin the season, and he’s had similar concerns in his second crack at the level. He has struck out a third of the time while batting .218/.298/.435 in 55 games.

While the season numbers don’t exactly demand a promotion, they’re weighed down by an atrocious April. Montgomery had a serviceable May and was very productive in June, batting .281 with six homers and 11 extra-base knocks in 16 games. The plate discipline concerns persist — he struck out 22 times while drawing only five walks in 71 plate appearances last month — but he’d shown enough from a power perspective for the team to give him a look.

The Indiana native has played four games at third base this year but has otherwise been a full-time shortstop in his minor league career. It’s unlikely the Sox would call him up if they weren’t prepared to give him everyday playing time at his natural position. Rookie Chase Meidroth has gotten the playing time there. Meidroth, acquired from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, is hitting .260 with a solid .347 on-base percentage. He hasn’t shown any kind of power, but the disciplined approach is probably enough to stay in the lineup.

Meidroth’s defensive grades are serviceable, but most scouting reports project him as a second baseman. The Sox could slide him to the keystone and move Lenyn Sosa to third base to push Josh Rojas out of the mix. Sosa is a known commodity as a utility type as well, so the focus should be on getting Montgomery and Meidroth into the lineup on a daily basis.

Tayler Scott Elects Free Agency

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Reliever Tayler Scott elected free agency after being outrighted by the Diamondbacks, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Arizona had designated the righty for assignment over the weekend when they called up John Curtiss.

Scott has been DFA twice on the season. He began the year with the Astros and was dropped from the roster in mid-May. He elected free agency, signed a minor league deal with Arizona, and was selected onto their big league roster in June. Scott pitched six times for the Snakes, allowing nine runs in as many innings with seven strikeouts and four walks. He carries a 6.66 earned run average over 25 2/3 innings between Houston and Arizona on the season.

The 33-year-old Scott has pitched in parts of five MLB campaigns. He made 79 appearances with Houston but has otherwise yet to reach 10 games for any individual team. He has been a very popular depth target, however, as the Diamondbacks were the eighth club of his big league career. He’ll pursue his next opportunity now that he’s back on the open market.

Rays Outright Forrest Whitley

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The Rays announced that right-hander Forrest Whitley was outrighted to Triple-A Durham. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the move. Whitley, once the sport’s top pitching prospect, went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment over the weekend.

It was the second DFA of the season for the former first-round pick. The Astros had carried Whitley on their 40-man roster for years as he battled injuries and struggled to find the strike zone. They finally pulled the plug in mid-June, flipping him to the Rays after taking him off the 40-man roster. Whitley continued to struggle in his brief run in Kevin Cash’s bullpen. He surrendered 10 runs (eight earned) on 10 hits and a pair of walks in 4 2/3 innings.

The 6’7″ righty still has a power arsenal led by a 96 MPH fastball. Yet he has given up 18 earned runs in 15 1/3 major league innings over the past two seasons. His 8% swinging strike rate is well below-average. Whitley managed a 1.89 ERA across 33 1/3 Triple-A frames as recently as last season, but he’s out of minor league options. A claiming team would have needed to carry him on the MLB roster.

Whitley had never been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of MLB service time. He must accept the assignment and report to Durham. The Rays’ player development staff will have a few months to try to get him on track. He would qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the season if Tampa Bay doesn’t select him back onto the MLB roster before then.

Giants Select Sergio Alcantara

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The Giants selected infielder Sergio Alcántara onto the roster for tonight’s series finale in Arizona. Outfielder Daniel Johnson was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento, while catcher Logan Porter was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

Alcántara, 29 next week, is a switch-hitting middle infielder. If he gets into a game, it’d be his first big league appearance in three years. He has tallied just over 500 MLB plate appearances between four teams. He’s a .209/.281/.343 career hitter. His overall Triple-A track record is a bit better, though that hasn’t been the case this year. Alcántara has yet to hit his first home run of the season and is batting .206/.319/.252 across 256 trips to the plate with Sacramento.

It’s likely this is a brief call for Alcántara. Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Tyler Fitzgerald has experienced minor back soreness, leading the Giants to look for short-term insurance on the infield. Fitzgerald is in tonight’s starting lineup against Arizona righty Brandon Pfaadt, but it appears they want Alcántara on hand in case Fitzgerald needs to come out of the game. Alcántara is out of options, so the Giants would need to run him through waivers once they decide to take him off the big league roster.

The sequence squeezes Porter off the 40-man roster. The 29-year-old catcher had made five appearances in mid-June, going 1-7 with a walk. He backed up Andrew Knizner for a week while Patrick Bailey was injured and was optioned back out once Bailey returned. Porter has hit .222/.354/.310 in 48 Triple-A games this year. He’s likely to land on the waiver wire in the next few days and could elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

Max Muncy Expects To Miss Around Six Weeks With Bone Bruise

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The Dodgers placed Max Muncy on the 10-day injured list this evening, an inevitability after he was helped off the field following an ugly left knee injury yesterday. He has been diagnosed with a bone bruise and tells Sonja Chen of MLB.com that he expects to be out for roughly six weeks. Imaging did not reveal any structural damage.

All things considered, this is probably a positive development. Muncy’s knee appeared to snap back awkwardly when he was injured in a collision with White Sox outfielder Michael A. Taylor. Taylor was attempting to steal third base and unintentionally dove directly into Muncy’s knee as the infielder stretched to apply the tag. Muncy was in a lot of pain and gingerly walked off the field with assistance from trainers. It raised initial fears about potential season-ending ligament damage.

Those proved unfounded, though the bone bruise will keep him on the shelf into the middle or end of August. Muncy has been on a tear for the past couple months. After hitting .194 over the season’s first month, he has raked at a .282/.410/.546 clip with 12 home runs since the beginning of May. That shut down any speculation that the Dodgers would trade for a third baseman. A season-ending injury might have changed that calculus, but it’s unlikely they’d alter their deadline plans when they expect Muncy back for the stretch run.

Miguel Rojas gets the first start at third base tonight, drawing into the nine hole against Sox righty Aaron Civale. Manager Dave Roberts told media (including David Vassegh of 570 AM) that Tommy Edman will begin taking third base drills. Rojas, Edman and Enrique Hernández will rotate through the hot corner, allowing the Dodgers to use Hyeseong Kim more frequently at second base. They also claimed CJ Alexander off waivers from the Yankees to add corner infield depth at Triple-A.

MLB Mailbag: Braves, Cubs, Sasaki, Angels, Volpe

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This week's mailbag is a bit of a hybrid. MLBTR founder Tim Dierkes handles the first handful of questions, while Anthony Franco takes the final few to round it out. We'll get into the Braves' continually sinking playoff chances, trade possibilities for the Cubs, Roki Sasaki's disappointing debut season, deadline outlooks for a handful of bubble teams, and much more!

Kevin asks:

Should the Braves attempt a rebuild, move on from some of the core that is underperforming again and develop a new draft philosophy? Maybe draft some hitters?

Phillip asks:

I am a Braves Fan, win or lose and I watch them every night. This season and the season they won the World Series are 2 different entities. Why would the Braves not trade Raisel Iglesias and Marcell Ozuna? I mean we have so many weaknesses, we have 3 starting pitchers, bottom of our lineup is worst in baseball and our relievers are among the worst in baseball. What could we get for Ozuna and Iglesias?

It's worth considering that the 2021 Braves were 30-35 with 12% playoff odds on 6-16-21.  On 7-2-21, that had risen to 40-41 with a 20.6% chance at the playoffs.  The current team is worse at 38-46, but still holds a 17.2% chance at the playoffs.  It's not that different from where the World Series-winning team once was.

Still, the Braves are 7.5 games out in the Wild Card.  They've played like a 73-win team.  To have a shot at the playoffs they'd need to play more like a 100-win team.  I'm more on the side of Braves fans here than I am on the side of FanGraphs Playoff Odds.  And these guys wrote in before news of Spencer Schwellenbach's injury.

Ozuna, 34, has experienced a power outage this year.  However, his expected slugging percentage is .487 versus his actual .392 mark, and I assume he'll be fine.  He's a DH-only rental making $16MM, so my guess is that he'd bring in 40-grade type prospects.  Iglesias is 35 and making the same money.  His velocity and strikeout rate are slipping, and somehow 18.4% of his flyballs have left the yard.  I think he'd be a pure salary dump.

So while I don't think the Braves will make the playoffs, I also don't think they're re-stocking the farm system by trading Ozuna and Iglesias.

As for Kevin's question, let's do a mini-assessment of the Braves' core, with the player's 2026 age in parentheses.  Money owed in 2025 is not included.

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Mets To Select Rico Garcia

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The Mets are calling up reliever Rico Garcia, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. They’ll formally select his contract tomorrow and already have an opening on the 40-man roster. They’ll need to make a corresponding active roster move involving a pitcher.

Garcia gets his first big league look in two seasons. The Hawaii native signed an offseason minor league contract and has been pitching at Triple-A Syracuse. He has had pedestrian numbers, turning in a 4.45 ERA across 30 1/3 innings. Garcia has recorded an above-average 27.4% strikeout rate but has walked almost 15% of batters faced. He has given up seven home runs, just over two per nine innings.

Most of Garcia’s struggles came in April, when he allowed an ERA above 7.00 with more walks than strikeouts. He has posted a sub-4.00 mark in consecutive months, including a 3.18 ERA with 15 strikeouts and three free passes over 11 1/3 frames in June. Garcia has handled two innings on a few occasions and can provide a fresh arm in long relief on the heels of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Southpaw Brandon Waddell tossed three innings during the first game of the twin bill and won’t be available for a few days. He’s a candidate to be optioned out to make room on the roster.

The 31-year-old Garcia is out of options, so the Mets would need to expose him to waivers to try to send him back to Syracuse. He carries a 7.32 ERA in 35 2/3 MLB frames over parts of four seasons.

D-Backs, Seth Brown Agree To Deal

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The Diamondbacks are in agreement with corner outfielder/first baseman Seth Brown, MLBTR has learned. He’d been released by the A’s last week.

Brown, 33 this month, had spent a decade with the A’s organization. The former 19th-round pick emerged as a productive platoon bat early in his MLB career. He reached 20 home runs in consecutive seasons in 2021 and ’22, combining to hit .234/.304/.483 against right-handed pitching. His numbers have dipped over the two and a half seasons since then, though he staved off what once seemed a likely non-tender by hitting well in the second half last year.

The A’s tendered Brown an arbitration contract at $2.7MM. That didn’t work out, as he stumbled to a .185/.303/.262 showing in 76 trips to the plate. The A’s briefly outrighted him off the 40-man roster, but he quickly hit his way back to the big leagues by mashing seven homers in nine Triple-A contests. Brown suffered a minor elbow injury not long after the A’s reselected his contract, however.

Once he was ready to return from the injured list last week, the team decided not to put him back on the active roster. Brown had surpassed five years of service in the meantime, giving him the right to refuse an outright assignment without forfeiting his salary, so the A’s released him.

Arizona already has lefty-hitting first base/designated hitter options in Josh Naylor and Pavin Smith. They’re operating with an all righty-hitting bench. If Brown cracks the MLB roster at any point, the Snakes would only owe him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum. He’d be eligible for arbitration next offseason if he finishes the season in the big leagues, albeit as a non-tender candidate.

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