Yankees To Designate Rico Garcia For Assignment
10:17pm: Winans will indeed be recalled in the corresponding move, Sherman reports.
10:03pm: The Yankees are designating reliever Rico Garcia for assignment, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. They’ll promote a fresh arm to take his spot in the bullpen tomorrow. The 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Garcia’s stint on the roster lasted a few days and one game. The Yanks had claimed him off waivers from the Mets during the All-Star Break. The 31-year-old righty tossed 2 2/3 innings during tonight’s bullpen game in Atlanta. He allowed three runs on as many hits and a pair of walks. Garcia surrendered a three-run homer to Ozzie Albies that quickly broke the game open in what would eventually be a 7-3 loss.
After throwing 53 pitches, Garcia would have been unavailable for the next few days. He’s out of options, so the Yankees couldn’t send him to the minors. As the eighth man in the bullpen, he gets bumped off so they can make a move tomorrow. Bringing up Allan Winans as a long reliever makes the most sense.
Winans and Michael Arias, who is pitching in High-A, are the only healthy pitchers on the 40-man roster who can be recalled unless someone else is going on the injured list. Clayton Beeter and Jayvien Sandridge have each been optioned within the past 15 days; Brent Headrick is on the Triple-A injured list.
Garcia had worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings over two appearances with the Mets earlier this month. He’d missed plenty of bats in Triple-A before being called up. Garcia struck out 27.4% of batters faced across 30 1/3 minor league frames, but he also walked nearly 15% of opponents. He’ll likely be placed back on waivers in the next few days.
Blue Jays Agree To Terms With First-Rounder JoJo Parker
The Blue Jays have reached agreement with eighth overall pick JoJo Parker on a $6.2MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline. That’s a few hundred thousand dollars below the $6.81MM slot value.
Parker is a 6’2″ infielder who was drafted out of a Mississippi high school. A left-handed hitter, Parker ranked between seventh and tenth on pre-draft rankings from each of MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and The Athletic’s Keith Law. Evaluators uniformly praise him as one of the best hitters in the class. McDaniel, who was highest on Parker among the aforementioned prospect rankers, suggests he could be a plus-plus hitter with average power in his prime.
While he played shortstop in high school, Parker is expected to move off the position by the time he reaches the majors. Scouting reports suggest he could fit at third base, though there’s a chance he’ll need to move to a corner outfield spot. That’d put more pressure on Parker’s bat, but it’s possible he could hit enough to profile as a regular anywhere on the diamond.
Parker had been committed to Mississippi State. He’ll bypass that commitment, but his twin brother Jacob will join the Bulldogs. Jacob Parker was viewed as a solid prospect in his own right, though he was seen as more of a fourth-round talent. He didn’t find a signing bonus to his liking. The Diamondbacks eventually drafted him in the 19th round, but teams only select highly-regarded high school prospects that late in case an agreement with one of their earlier picks falls through (leaving them with unexpected bonus money).
Brewers Place Sal Frelick On Injured List
The Brewers will open the second half without their starting right fielder. Milwaukee placed Sal Frelick on the 10-day injured list, backdated to July 15, due to a left hamstring strain. Blake Perkins was recalled from Triple-A Nashville to take his spot.
Frelick suffered the injury in Milwaukee’s final game before the All-Star Break. He first showed some discomfort on a stolen base and came out of the game after making a sliding catch in the following half-inning. Isaac Collins finished the game in right field and gets the start tonight against Dodgers righty Emmet Sheehan. The switch-hitting Collins has a solid .259/.363/.389 line with five homers in 228 plate appearances. He’d mostly been playing left field, where Jake Bauers and potentially Perkins could get more playing time.
This interrupts an excellent season for the 25-year-old Frelick. He has seven home runs and is hitting .294/.354/.404 across 385 trips to the plate. Frelick has stolen 17 bases in 21 attempts and is playing his usual plus defense in right field. The Brewers haven’t provided a timetable on his return, though it’s perhaps encouraging that they waited a few days to monitor his progress before making the injured list decision.
Milwaukee concluded the first half on a seven-game win streak. They’re a season-high 16 games above .500 and have pulled within a game and a half of the Cubs in the NL Central. The Brewers hold the first Wild Card spot in the National League and are 4.5 games clear of the Giants, the top non-playoff team in the NL.
Reds Sign First-Round Pick Steele Hall
The Reds announced that they’ve signed first-round pick Steele Hall. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports that the 17-year-old infielder receives a $5.75MM bonus. That’s below the approximate $6.51MM slot value for the ninth pick.
Baseball America and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel each had Hall as a mid-first round talent on their pre-draft rankings. Keith Law of The Athletic was quite a bit lower, placing him 36th. The 5’11 Hall” is a right-handed hitter with elite speed. He’s expected to stick at shortstop and is viewed as a hit-over-power player. Both BA and McDaniel write that Hall has an aggressive offensive approach, while Law expressed concern about his ability to handle breaking stuff.
While Hall may be a somewhat divisive prospect, his youth and athleticism made it clear that he’d be picked high enough to sign away from a commitment to Tennessee. His signing bonus is close to the slot value of the 12th pick, so the deal provides the Reds a bit of cost savings for the later rounds. Cincinnati took two other high school players within the top 10 rounds: second-rounder Aaron Watson and fifth-round pick Eli Pitts. It’s likely that one or both players will get an overslot bonus with some of the money saved by cutting a deal with Hall.
Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Anthony Franco
- Good afternoon everyone, hope you're well!
- Sorry about dropping back to one subscriber chat these past two weeks. Prioritized getting those team-by-team deadline outlooks done before trade season really picks up
#1 Marlins Fan
- Sounds like all of the Marlins trade news has gone completely silent the last couple of days. How many of players do you expect to be dealt?
Alcantara
- When will the stove get warm? I am beginning to go crazy.
Anthony Franco
- Probably still another week before it really gets going. Most of the activity will take place in the July 29-31 window
- Barry Jackson with The Miami Herald had some details on the Marlins' thought process a couple days ago. Nothing especially surprising: listening on Cabrera, Sandy, Bender and Sánchez; would love to move Quantrill (obviously)
- I think the first four guys will all go. They should get a ton of hits on Cabrera given the scarcity of potential top-end starters. Feels like a sell-high opportunity with his injury history, and he's their trade candidate who'd get the biggest return
- I expect someone to add Fortes for a mid-level prospect. Might as well take what they can get for Faucher. Henriquez is probably their most interesting reliever but they might prefer to hold and let him build up a longer track record
Brewer Fan
- Why do prospects sign for less than slot value? I get why teams want to obviously but what stops a prospect from just saying pay me slot value?
Anthony Franco
- Just a lack of leverage, especially for college guys. If you're a college senior, you basically can either take whatever the team offers you or not play affiliated baseball
- High schoolers who go underslot usually do so because they're drafted higher than they'd go if it were just based on talent. The Braves went underslot with their first-round pick, but he was around 45th on Baseball America's pre-draft board. Slot value around that pick is in the $2M range
- So if the Braves come to him and say "hey we'll take you at 22 but you have to sign for $2.6M against a slot value of $4M," he's better off taking that than waiting for the slot value of a pick between 40-60. That discussion happens before they make the pick, because if the player says no, then the Braves just draft someone else
Ross Atkins
- Do you think Reid Detmers and Jo Adell might be available if the Angels are sellers?
Anthony Franco
- I do not. I think the Angels will buy as long as they don't completely tank in the next two weeks, and even if they sell, it'd be rentals
Ken
- What could the A's get for JP Sears?
Anthony Franco
- Three and a half years of control. Durable but it's middling velocity and below-average swing and miss. You could kind of write off his huge home run rate this year as a product of the Sacramento bandbox, but that was an issue for him in Oakland as well
- There'd be interest for sure but I think most contenders would view him as a low-end #4 or a fifth starter. Could see someone packaging a few mid-tier prospects but I'd be surprised if they got a huge headliner
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Rangers Trade Dane Dunning To Braves
The Rangers announced they’ve traded Dane Dunning to the Braves for minor league reliever José Ruiz and cash. Atlanta designated Jesse Chavez for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Ruiz was outrighted last month. Texas’ roster count technically drops to 38 but will climb back to 39 tomorrow when they select the contract of first baseman Rowdy Tellez.
It’s a salary dump for the Rangers. Dunning has fallen out of favor over the past two seasons. The former first-round pick tossed 172 2/3 innings of 3.70 ERA ball during the World Series season two years ago. He only managed a 5.31 mark in 95 frames last season. While Texas tendered him a contract, Dunning had to take a very rare arbitration pay cut to ensure the Rangers didn’t move on.
That didn’t get him a spot on the Opening Day roster. The 30-year-old Dunning gave up 10 runs in 11 innings during Spring Training. Texas waived him at the end of camp in the hope that another team would take his $2.66MM salary. No one bit, and he has spent most of the year in Triple-A.
Dunning was called up in April, again cleared waivers in May, and was selected back onto the roster last month. He has been limited to five MLB appearances, all out of the bullpen, and has allowed four runs across 10 2/3 innings. He has worked as a starter in the minors, pitching to a 4.47 ERA over 46 1/3 frames in the Pacific Coast League. Dunning has punched out 24% of Triple-A opponents against a 9% walk rate.
The Rangers were unlikely to give Dunning anything more than mop-up work. He had fallen behind Patrick Corbin, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker at the back of the rotation. Texas expects to get Jon Gray back from a wrist fracture in the next week or two. Dunning has a much better path to a rotation spot on an Atlanta team that has been decimated by injuries.
They’re without Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo López and AJ Smith-Shawver. They’ve given 15 starts to Bryce Elder, who has a near-6.00 ERA. Davis Daniel made his first start of the season just before the All-Star Break. He’s the nominal fourth starter behind Spencer Strider, Grant Holmes and Elder. They pressed 20-year-old Didier Fuentes into MLB work for which he was clearly not ready. He’s now back in Triple-A.
Dunning has been a capable back-end starter in the past. It seems he’ll work in long relief initially, as the Braves tabbed swingman Joey Wentz to start on Saturday against the Yankees. Dunning still has an option remaining. He’ll be eligible for arbitration at least once more. There’s a decent chance the Braves will non-tender him regardless, but they didn’t give up anything of note to acquire him.
Ruiz, 30, is a journeyman reliever. He managed a 3.71 ERA while striking out 24% of opponents over 52 appearances for the Phillies last season. Things went off the rails this year, as he has allowed 17 runs in 16 1/3 MLB innings. Atlanta claimed him off waivers from Philadelphia but waived him themselves after he gave up three runs in one inning during his second appearance with the club. He has since tossed 7 2/3 innings of four-run ball in Triple-A. The Rangers assigned him to their top affiliate in Round Rock.
The Phillies and Ruiz agreed to a $1.225MM arbitration salary. The Braves assumed that when they claimed him. Atlanta is paying down an unspecified portion of that sum. Dunning is owed roughly $1MM for the rest of the season, while Ruiz is owed about $450K. A direct swap without cash considerations would’ve knocked about $550K off the Rangers’ books. They’ll save a bit more than that depending on the amount of money that the Braves are covering.
It’s a small amount by MLB standards. However, as MLBTR pointed out in tonight’s preview of the Rangers deadline for Front Office subscribers, Texas should be motivated to cut spending around the fringe of the roster. Ownership clearly wants the front office to remain below the $241MM base luxury tax threshold. RosterResource calculated their CBT number a little above $234MM before tonight’s deal. That’s an unofficial estimate that doesn’t account for incentives that’ll add to the team’s tax number as they’re unlocked down the stretch.
The Rangers need to add at least one impact bat if they’re going to make a playoff push. They should probably acquire multiple hitters and would benefit from bringing in a power arm at the back of the bullpen. Dunning was the most obvious player for a pure salary dump as deadline season approaches. Gray, Adolis García and Jonah Heim could be candidates for a payroll-cutting trade as well, though they have (or will have, in Gray’s case) a bigger role than Dunning was playing.
As for Chavez, he’ll go back on waivers for the third time this year. There’s a good chance he’ll clear, elect free agency, then re-sign with Atlanta on a minor league contract. The 41-year-old righty has given up eight runs in as many innings over four MLB appearances this season. He has a 2.05 ERA across 30 2/3 innings in the minors.
Image courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images.
Draft Signings: Braves, Angels
The Cardinals announced a deal with fifth overall pick Liam Doyle this morning. A few other notable recent draft signings (all first reported by Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo):
- The Braves reached underslot deals with first and second round picks Tate Southisene and Alex Lodise. Southisene signed for roughly $2.62MM against a near-$4MM slot value; Lodise signed for $1.3MM, around $200K below slot. That enabled the Braves to go above slot for fourth and fifth round picks Briggs McKenzie and Conor Essenburg. McKenzie received a near-$3MM bonus that’ll be the highest in Atlanta’s class. Baseball America ranked the 6’2″ lefty as the #46 prospect in the class pre-draft, putting him more as a top of the second round talent. The Braves were able to slide him to the fourth because of the bonus money. Southisene, a right-handed hitting prep infielder, placed 43rd on BA’s rankings.
- The Angels agreed to a $2.0772MM deal with second-rounder Chase Shores, Collazo reports. That’s essentially slot value for the #47 pick. Shores, an LSU product, is a 6’8″ right-handed pitcher who posted a 5.09 ERA over 63 2/3 innings in his draft year. He recorded 70 strikeouts and issued 31 walks. Baseball America had him 86th on their rankings, praising his fastball-slider combination but raising questions about his changeup and control. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had him as the #68 player in the class. Based on the Angels history, it seems likely that they’ll try to fast-track Shores to the big leagues as a reliever.
Trade Deadline Outlook: Texas Rangers
The Rangers have spent most of the season hovering around .500. They have as strong a 1-2 rotation punch as any team in MLB. Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi give Texas a good chance to win every time out. They have little margin for error with a lineup that has struggled to score runs for a second straight year. Assuming the Rangers find themselves in position to buy, they need to swing for an impact bat. They still have much of the personnel from the 2023 team that mashed its way to a championship, but most of the hitters from that club have gone backwards over the past two seasons.
Record: 48-49 (18% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)
For other entrants in this series, see this post.
Buy Mode
Potential needs: First base, catcher, right field, power bullpen arm
The Rangers enter the second half tied for 22nd in MLB in scoring. They are eighth in runs scored over the past month, so things have been better lately, but they're still hitting .243/.322/.387 even over this recent stretch. They're in the bottom third in average, on-base percentage and slugging for the season. There have been far too many easy outs.
This is not a one-year problem. Texas had a .238/.305/.380 team batting line in 2024. They tried to remedy that -- with a particular focus on their woeful numbers against fastballs -- by signing Joc Pederson and acquiring Jake Burger. The offense hasn't gotten any better, at least in part because both Pederson and Burger have played poorly.
President of baseball operations Chris Young and his staff are back to the drawing board. The Rangers have had by far the worst designated hitter production (.160/.241/.265) in MLB. Most of that falls on Pederson, who has hit .131/.269/.238 in 46 games. He has been out nearly two months with a broken hand and is still weeks away from a rehab assignment. They've mostly used catcher Jonah Heim at DH in Pederson's absence. He's hitting .219/.262/.346 across 280 plate appearances. The Rangers need to find someone who can draw into that position.
Only 21 players have taken at least 150 plate appearances at the DH spot this season. Of that group, Marcell Ozuna is the most obvious trade candidate. He's playing on a $16MM salary that might be too rich for Texas, and he hasn't hit well over the past two months. The Nationals would happily dump what remains of Josh Bell's $6MM salary. The ever streaky Bell was terrible in April, raked in May, had an awful June, and is hitting well in a tiny sample in July. Texas could send the Nats a middling prospect and hope to catch lightning in a bottle.
Bell would only make sense as one of multiple offensive acquisitions. The DH spot has been the biggest issue but is far from the only problem. Texas has also gotten below-average production out of catcher, first base, third base and right field. They're not going to be able to afford upgrades at five different positions, of course, but that at least gives them a wide positional net they can cast.
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Latest On Rays’ Deadline Possibilities
The Rays stumbled into the All-Star Break. The Red Sox swept them in a four-game set at Fenway to conclude the first half. Tampa Bay has dropped 11 of their past 14 games. They’d climbed as high as 11 games above .500 in late June; they’re now just three over at 50-47.
Like many other fringe contenders, the Rays face a pivotal upcoming two weeks. They’ll play host to the Orioles and White Sox for very winnable series coming out of the Break. They’ll hit the road for sets in Cincinnati and a four-game series against the Yankees running through July 31. President of baseball operations Erik Neander acknowledged to Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times that the club’s deadline plans will in part be shaped by how they begin the second half.
“We’ve got to make up some ground,” Neander said of a team that sits a game and a half behind the Mariners for the last AL Wild Card spot. “There’s a belief in this team. … But these are really big games that will have some sort of influence on our decision-making as the month draws to a close.”
Unsurprisingly, Neander expressed hope that the team plays well enough for the front office to add. “I’d like to think that just about anything I think this group is capable of over these few weeks will lead us in a position where we’re looking to at least improve somewhere on the roster, if not significantly so,” he told Topkin. “But we’ve got to go out and play well and win. If we don’t, or if we have a stretch the way we had the last couple of weeks going into the Break, that comes with all sorts of additional questions that I’d much rather not think about.”
The Rays rarely operate as strict buyers or sellers. Remaining consistently competitive while operating with bottom five payrolls requires an openness to listening on veteran players even in years where they’re simultaneously trying to add to the big league roster. Tampa Bay already made one notable trade this month, acquiring controllable setup man Bryan Baker from Baltimore for the 37th pick in last Sunday’s draft. They could continue to add to the bullpen and/or bring in a right-handed bat (ideally in the outfield).
At the same time, they’ll certainly get calls on their more expensive players. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported last night that the Red Sox would be interested in Yandy Díaz if the Rays make him available. Boston has an obvious need for a right-handed hitting first baseman. Still, it’s not clear if the Rays will shop Díaz at all — much less to a division rival that currently sits 2.5 games above them in the standings.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote this morning that the Rays would likely hold onto Díaz, who is signed at a bargain rate for another two and a half seasons. He’s making $10MM this year and is guaranteed $12MM for next season. There’s a $10MM club option for ’27 that would vest at $13MM if he takes 500 plate appearances next year. Díaz and the Rays initially agreed to the extension in 2023 and restructured it just this spring to guarantee his ’26 earnings while adding the option year.
Rosenthal argues the Rays may be reluctant to trade Díaz so soon after he agreed to a team-friendly extension. That said, one could’ve made a similar point regarding Tyler Glasnow — whom the Rays traded to the Dodgers a little over a year after he signed an extension. Rosenthal nevertheless suggests that Tampa Bay would be likelier to move second baseman Brandon Lowe or closer Pete Fairbanks if the team doesn’t play well coming out of the Break.
Lowe went on the injured list with left oblique tightness last week but could be reinstated when first eligible tomorrow. He’s making $10.5MM this year and controllable for another season on an $11.5MM club option. Lowe started the year slowly but has been on a tear since May and is up to 19 homers with a .272/.324/.487 batting line.
Fairbanks has a 2.75 ERA and has gone 15-18 in save opportunities over 36 innings. His strikeout rate has been trending down for a couple seasons, though, dropping to a career-low 20.7% clip. While Fairbanks is playing this year on an extremely affordable $3.667MM salary, his contract contains an increasingly expensive club option for 2026.
That initially came with a $7MM base value but contained up to $6MM in escalators. Fairbanks has already pushed the option price to $8MM by reaching 125 appearances over the past three seasons and topping 25 games finished this year. It’ll climb by another $1MM when he makes three more appearances, $1MM more with 18 appearances, and another $1MM with 23 more games. It’d jump by $500K apiece with three, eight, and 13 more games finished.
Unless he suffers a significant injury, Fairbanks should push the option value well into eight figures. That’d make him one of the highest-paid players on the 2026 roster. As long as they’re in the playoff picture, the Rays may view that as an offseason problem. This year’s salary can only climb by a maximum of $300K. Yet it’s a factor for a front office that needs to balance the short and long term as much as any.
Beyond Lowe and Fairbanks, the Rays seem likely to shop a starting pitcher. Impending free agent Zack Littell is the most obvious candidate, but USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that they’re open to inquiries on controllable righty Taj Bradley.
The Rays have a strong rotation of Ryan Pepiot, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz, Littell and Bradley. Hard-throwing righty Joe Boyle is pitching in multi-inning relief, but Neander reiterated to Topkin that the Rays would be comfortable using Boyle as a starter if a spot opened. They’re also hopefully a couple weeks away from Shane McClanahan making his long-awaited return from injury.
Brewers Outright Drew Avans
Brewers outfielder Drew Avans was outrighted to Triple-A Nashville, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Milwaukee designated him for assignment on Sunday when Blake Perkins returned from the 60-day injured list.
Milwaukee picked up Avans on a waiver claim from the A’s last month. The rookie outfielder went 0-2 in his only big league appearance before being optioned. He has made 23 appearances with Nashville, hitting .261/.358/.391 in 106 trips to the plate. While that’s serviceable production on the surface, Avans has struck out 32 times. He’d only punched out in 14% of his plate appearances with the A’s top farm team earlier in the year.
Before this season, the 29-year-old Avans had played in the Dodgers’ system. He’s a former 33rd-round draft pick who has stolen a decent number of bases but struggled to make contact in his minor league career. Avans signed an offseason minor league contract with the A’s and earned an MLB call by hitting .328/.414/.444 in Triple-A. This is his first career outright, so he’ll remain in the Milwaukee organization and try to play his way back onto the roster. He would become a free agent at the end of the season if the Brewers don’t reselect his contract.