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Cubs Release Steven Souza Jr.

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The Cubs announced that they have released outfielders Steven Souza Jr. and Ryan LaMarre and right-hander Juan Gamez. They also outrighted left-hander Matt Dermody, recalled righty Adbert Alzolay, optioned righty Colin Rea and added RHP Joe Wieland to their 60-man player pool.

Souza was a 30-home run hitter with the Rays in 2017, but he dealt with major injury problems as a Diamondback over the next two years. Souza was still able to land a guaranteed $1MM from the Cubs in free agency last offseason, but the move didn’t pay off at all for the club. He took 31 trips to the plate and batted .148/.258/.333 with one homer and 15 strikeouts before the Cubs designated him for assignment Sept. 5.

LaMarre previously garnered MLB experience with a few teams, most recently the Twins, but only owns a .623 OPS at the level. The Cubs signed him to a minor league contract in July, though he saw no action with the team before it released him.

Dermody, whom the Cubs signed to a minors pact Aug. 6, threw 25 1/3 frames with the Blue Jays from 2016-17 and returned to the bigs with a scoreless inning for the Cubs on Sept. 6 in his sole appearance of the season.

Rays Acquire INF Pedro Martinez From Cubs

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The Rays have acquired infielder Pedro Martinez, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Martinez is one of two players to be named later the Rays received from the Cubs in the teams’ deal Aug. 30 deal centering on Jose Martinez. The identity of the other player still isn’t known.

Pedro Martinez, who’s just 19 years old, joined the Cubs as an international free agent from Venezuela in 2018. He spent that season and last year producing quality numbers between rookie and low-A ball, where he combined for a .310/.393/.422 line with four home runs and 50 stolen bases on 69 attempts over 461 plate appearances.

While he’s still a ways from the majors, Martinez did rank as a well-regarded Cubs prospect before they traded him. MLB.com and FanGraphs are among the outlets that have favorable views of Martinez, as the former placed him 14th in the Cubs’ system and the latter ranked him 22nd. FanGraphs complimented the switch-hitting Martinez’s “bat-to-ball skills” and suggested he could at least turn into a role player in the majors.

Latest On Jed Lowrie

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It doesn’t appear Mets infielder Jed Lowrie will end up playing for the club this year, Tim Britton of The Athletic relays. The regular season is only a couple weeks from ending, but manager Luis Rojas said Wednesday he’s not sure whether Lowrie is participating in baseball activities.

“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Rojas said of Lowrie, who Britton notes has been eligible to come off the 45-day injured list for a week.

Lowrie has missed all but nine games since last season as a result of leg problems, including to his left knee this year. Since signing a two-year, $20MM contract with the Mets before 2019, Lowrie has totaled zero hits over eight plate appearances. That obviously wasn’t what the Mets had in mind when they picked up the switch-hitting Lowrie, now 36, off two straight healthy and highly impressive seasons with the Athletics.

Lowrie spent his best seasons in Oakland at second and third base (primarily the keystone), but New York hasn’t been without solutions at those positions during his prolonged absence in 2020. The Mets have mostly given second to a resurgent Robinson Cano and third to J.D. Davis, while Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme have been among those to fill in at those spots when necessary. The club’s still a disappointing 19-24, but it’s certainly not because Lowrie has been unavailable. And after back-to-back frustrating seasons, it seems likely the Mets will wave goodbye to Lowrie in free agency during the upcoming winter, ending what has been a regrettable union for the club.

Marlins Designate Justin Shafer For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that they’ve designated right-hander Justin Shafer for assignment and reinstated infielder Isan Diaz from the restricted list. The club sent Diaz to its alternate training site, and it also added outfielder Connor Scott to its 60-man player pool.

The 27-year-old Shafer joined the Marlins via waivers from the Reds in late July, when Miami was dealing with a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak. Shafer came to the team as someone with a 3.75 ERA in 48 major league innings, all with the Blue Jays, but his Marlins tenure has gone terribly so far. He threw 5 2/3 innings of eight-run ball while allowing eight hits and eight walks (against four strikeouts) before they designated him.

Scott, the Marlins’ 15th-ranked prospect at MLB.com, was the 13th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The 20-year-old topped out last season at High-A, where he batted .235/.306/.327 with one home run in 111 plate appearances.

Latest On Justin Verlander

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This season hasn’t gone as hoped for the reigning American League champion Astros, who have started 22-21 while dealing with several notable injuries. They have gone nearly the entire campaign without 2019 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who made one start in July and has been out since with a forearm strain, but it seems there is hope the right-hander will return this year. Manager Dusty Baker told Jake Kaplan of The Athletic and other reporters that Verlander was in line for a 50- to 55-pitch bullpen session Wednesday.

It remains to be seen whether Verlander will get through the session without setbacks, but it’s nonetheless encouraging that he has progressed to this point. Should he get through it unscathed, Verlander could be close to rejoining the Astros, who would make the playoffs if the season ended now.

Thankfully for Verlander-less Houston, Framber Valdez has established himself as a solid starter this year, which has helped complement Zack Greinke in their staff and make up for the loss of Verlander to a degree. Rookie Cristian Javier has stopped runs at a good rate (3.46 ERA over 41 2/3 innings), meanwhile, but his peripherals aren’t as encouraging. And though the Astros did just get back Jose Urquidy back from the injured list, they had to place Lance McCullers Jr. on the IL on Sept. 6 with neck issues. So, while the Astros would be thrilled to welcome a healthy and effective Verlander back under any circumstance, he may be especially helpful in the next few weeks.

Mariners Select Jimmy Yacabonis

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The Mariners have selected the contract of right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis from their alternate training site, the team announced. They optioned fellow righty Brady Lail in a corresponding move.

The 28-year-old Yacabonis is new to the Seattle organization, which acquired him from San Diego for cash on Aug. 19. Yacabonis previously signed a minor league contract with the Padres last offseason, but he didn’t wind up seeing any major league action as a member of the club. He did, however, appear in the bigs with the Orioles in each season from 2017-19. During that 101 2/3-inning span, Yacabonis pitched to a 5.75 ERA/6.01 FIP with 6.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9.

Yacabonis will now join a Mariners bullpen that, as Greg Johns of MLB.com points out, may need some fresh arms at the moment. Their relief corps pitched most of Tuesday’s loss to the Giants after Ljay Newsome left with an injury following just 1 2/3 innings of work.

Diamondbacks Place Ketel Marte On 10-Day IL

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The Diamondbacks have placed second baseman Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list with wrist inflammation, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. They also recalled infielder/outfielder Josh VanMeter and right-hander Joel Payamps, and optioned lefty Joe Mantiply.

The Diamondbacks are arguably the majors’ most disappointing team at an NL-worst 15-28, and with their playoff hopes all but dead, it’s possible we have seen the last of Marte in 2020. His presence was among the reasons Arizona was a popular pick as a contender entering this year. After all, just a season ago, Marte posted an MVP-level 7.1 fWAR with a .329/.389/.592 line and 32 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 628 plate appearances.

On the heels of last season’s tremendous performance, there wasn’t much reason to believe Marte would fall off dramatically this year. But he, like his team, has. Thanks in part to a significant decrease in walk percentage (8.4 to 2.9) and a massive drop in power (.264 ISO versus .117), he has hit a relatively underwhelming .290/.342/.407 with two homers and a single steal over 173 PA. Marte has also endured a roughly 6 percent decrease in hard-hit rate, per FanGraphs, and has seen his expected weighted on-base average fall from .379 to .327.

Blue Jays Place Rowdy Tellez On 10-Day IL

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4:39pm: The Blue Jays have placed Tellez on the IL and recalled outfielder Billy McKinney, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet.

3:28pm: The Blue Jays are likely to place first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez on the 10-day injured list with a right knee strain, Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star tweets.

At 24-18 and in possession of an American League playoff spot, Toronto has been one of the game’s pleasant surprises this year. The 25-year-old Tellez has been among the reasons the Blue Jays have jumped out to such a quality record and have scored the majors’ ninth-most runs (210). Tellez has slashed an excellent .283/.347/.540 with eight home runs in 127 plate appearances in 2020. Of course, with such a small amount of time left in the regular season, it’s unknown if Tellez will be able to return in the coming weeks. For now, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Travis Shaw will take up the lion’s share of playing time at first base.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, this is the second major injury their offense has dealt with this week. They previously lost outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, who has been an elite hitter this season, to a left oblique strain. Nevertheless, the Jays will go for a sweep against the division-rival Yankees on Wednesday.

Tigers Reinstate Jordan Zimmermann, Select Nick Ramirez

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The Tigers have reinstated right-hander Jordan Zimmermann from the injured list and selected lefty Nick Ramirez, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com tweets. In other moves, they optioned righties John Schreiber and Kyle Funkhouser and moved a pair of players – righty Ivan Nova and outfielder JaCoby Jones – to the 45-day IL.

Zimmermann, out all season with forearm issues, will make his 2020 debut with a start against the Cardinals on Thursday. Surprisingly, the 34-year-old will rejoin a team with at least a glimmer of a playoff chance as the regular season runs out of time. The Tigers haven’t qualified for the playoffs in any season since they signed Zimmermann, a former Nationals standout, to a five-year, $110MM contract before 2016, but they’re alive this year with a 19-22 record.

Of course, the failed Zimmermann deal is among the many reasons Detroit has struggled so much in recent years. Zimmermann has only given the Tigers 508 2/3 innings of 5.61 ERA/4.86 FIP ball so far. No matter how this season ends, though, Zimmermann seems likely to end up in search of a new organization soon as a pending free agent.

Ramirez, 31, made his major league debut with the Tigers last year and performed respectably, recording a 4.07 ERA/4.51 FIP across 79 2/3 innings from their bullpen. He logged 8.36 K/9, 3.95 BB/9 and a 46.2 percent groundball rate in the process.

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