Padres Place Jake Cronenworth On IL
The Padres announced today that second baseman Jake Cronenworth has been placed on the seven-day concussion-related injured list. Infielder Sung-Mun Song was recalled to take his place on the roster. The Friars also reinstated left-hander Yuki Matsui from the 15-day IL and optioned fellow lefty Kyle Hart.
The club hasn’t released any details on Cronenworth’s injury, such as how he sustained it or how long they expect him to be shelved. For what it’s worth, he hasn’t been in good form all year. He is currently sporting a .144/.272/.196 line on the season. Ideally, some time to heal up will get him back in good form. He had a strong .246/.367/.377 performance just last year.
His injury will allow Song to get his first real major league action. The Padres signed him this offseason to a four-year, $15MM deal. He got that coming off a strong two-year showing in South Korea, slashing .327/.397/.524 over 2024 and 2025 with the Kiwoom Heroes.
He hasn’t yet had a chance to transfer that kind of production to North America. An oblique issue popped up in January and ultimately put him on the IL to start the year. After he got healthy and completed a rehab assignment, the Padres sent him to the minors in mid-April.
He was briefly recalled when the Padres were facing the Diamondbacks in Mexico City, as the club was allowed a 27th man for that series. Song technically made his major league debut but in about the briefest way possible. He pinch ran for catcher Luis Campusano in the top of the eighth and then was replaced by Freddy Fermin in the bottom of the frame.
Song has a .293/.364/.354 line in Triple-A this year. That looks okay but is actually subpar in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, translating to an 82 wRC+. For what it’s worth, he’s been heating up. He departs El Paso sitting on an eight-game Triple-A hitting streak with a .351/.400/.459 line in that time. That’s a small sample but it’s possible he was just getting into a groove after starting the season injured.
He’s been splitting his time between shortstop, second base and third base. Presumably, Song will take over as the everyday second baseman while Cronenworth is out, though it’s perhaps worth considering the Fernando Tatis Jr. wild card. The Padres have been operating without a real backup middle infielder this season. Cronenworth has been the backup to shortstop Xander Bogaerts while Tatis has been the backup to Cronenworth.
Tatis came up as a shortstop but has been in right field for years. He only had one inning of major league experience at second base prior to this season but has logged 49 frames there in 2026. If the Friars felt comfortable with it, they could try Tatis there more often while Cronenworth is out. Tatis is out to a slow start this year, with a .252/.324/.301 line and no home runs yet, but he has a strong track record and a .275/.353/.504 career line.
The Padres have Ramón Laureano and Jackson Merrill next to Tatis in the outfield most nights. If they were to move Tatis to second from time to time, that would create more opportunities for guys like Miguel Andujar, Gavin Sheets, Nick Castellanos and Bryce Johnson.
Castellanos and Johnson aren’t hitting much right now but Andujar has a .305/.337/.476 line. He has been used mostly at third base and in the designated hitter spot this year but has some corner outfield experience. Sheets is hitting around a league average level while mostly playing first base. If he did play the outfield a bit more, that could open things up for Ty France, who has a .283/.321/.528 line this season.
Perhaps the Padres won’t overthink things, especially with Cronenworth potentially only missing a week. It’s possible they will go the simplest route and just have Song at second for the next little while. He is indeed at the keystone tonight, with Tatis in his usual right field spot.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
White Sox Acquire Trevor Richards
The White Sox have acquired right-hander Trevor Richards from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. Chicago has transferred right-hander Drew Thorpe to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. A corresponding active roster move will be required once Richards reports to the Sox.
The Phillies have had a number of bullpen injuries in the past few weeks. Closer Jhoan Duran hit the injured list with an oblique strain, while Zach Pop and Kyle Backhus also landed on the shelf. Duran was set to be reinstated tonight and Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported that Richards would be bumped off the roster for the closer. He is a veteran with at least five years of service time and therefore can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. But instead of designating Richards for assignment, the Phils have found a trade partner and flipped Richards to Chicago.
Presumably, the Sox are interested in the recent form Richards flashed in the minors. The Phils signed him to a minor league deal in the offseason and started him at Triple-A this year. He got out to an amazing start. He faced 50 batters and struck out 26 of them, a massive 52% rate. He only issued three walks, a 6% clip. All that resulted in a 1.93 earned run average in 14 innings.
The Phils called Richards up to the big leagues a week ago when Backhus hit the IL. Between that promotion and today’s trade, he made two appearances for the Phils. He allowed one earned run over 4 1/3 innings, striking out five while issuing three walks.
Richards has shown flashes of potential in the big leagues before, as he’s been able to strike guys out but has also struggled with command. From 2021 to 2023, mostly with the Blue Jays, he logged 201 innings. His 31.3% strikeout rate was much better than league average, which is usually around 22 to 23%. But he also gave out walks at a 10.9% clip, about two ticks north of par. The end result was a 4.61 ERA for that span.
The control problems got even worse for him late in 2024. The Jays flipped him to the Twins at the deadline that year but Minnesota released him before the month of August was done. He faced 59 batters as a Twin and gave out 11 walks, an 18.6% clip. He also hit two batters and threw seven wild pitches.
Since then, he has only been briefly in the majors. He made five appearances last year, three for the Royals and two for the Diamondbacks. As mentioned, he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Phils coming into 2026. The White Sox will see if Richards can sustain any of the exciting numbers he showed in Triple-A to start this year.
As for Thorpe, he had Tommy John surgery in March of 2025. His 60-day count is retroactive to the beginning of the season, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement in a few weeks. His current timeline is unclear but he hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment, so it doesn’t appear as those he’s close to a return.
Photo courtesy of Morgan Tencza, Imagn Images
Astros Designate Dustin Harris For Assignment
The Astros announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game. On the position player side, they reinstated infielder Nick Allen from the 10-day injured list and recalled infielder/outfielder Zach Dezenzo from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, they placed Yainer Diaz on the 10-day IL with a left oblique strain and designated outfielder Dustin Harris for assignment. The Diaz move was reported yesterday. On the pitching side, they recalled right-hander Jason Alexander and optioned fellow righty Ryan Weiss.
Harris, 26, was claimed off waivers a little more than two weeks ago. At the time, the Astros needed some help in the outfield. Dezenzo and Jake Meyers were both on the IL already. Joey Loperfido was also banged up and landed on the IL the next day. Zach Cole was on the IL in the minors.
Since being claimed, Harris has stolen four bases and been solid in the field but produced a tepid .226/.286/.290 line at the plate. That’s a small sample size of 11 games but it roughly matches his general profile. Harris is considered a speed-and-defense guy who isn’t likely to provide much with the bat. He has a .225/.307/.371 line in his big league career. His Triple-A line of .276/.366/.417 looks pretty solid but most of his time at that level has been in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, so the line actually translates to a 101 wRC+, barely league average.
Both Cole and Dezenzo have now gotten healthy, which has squeezed Harris off the roster. Harris spent most of the past few years with the Rangers but exhausted his final option season in 2025. Texas outrighted him off the roster at the end of last season. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He got a brief stint on Chicago’s roster before being put on waivers and claimed by Houston.
He now heads back into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Houston could take five days to explore trade interest, though they could also put him on the wire sooner than that. If he clears waivers, he has the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright.
The Weiss option is also a notable development, since he was an interesting part of their offseason. The Astros needed rotation depth but had budgetary concerns. Weiss got a major league deal with a $2.6MM guarantee. He came into this year with no big league experience but had just finished a good season in South Korea. He made 30 starts for the Hanwha Eagles last year with a 2.87 earned run average, 28.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.
If Weiss were able to put up similar numbers in North America, he could have been a sneaky bargain, but that has not panned out thus far. He has logged 26 innings in a swing role this season with a 7.62 ERA. His 22.9% strikeout rate is around average but he has walked 15.3% of batters faced, almost double league average. He’ll look to get back on track in Triple-A and could get another look with the Astros later in the year if he succeeds.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Outright Aramis Garcia, Jesus Valdez
The Diamondbacks announced that they have outrighted catcher Aramis Garcia to Triple-A Reno and infielder Jesus Valdez to Double-A Amarillo. Garcia had been designated for assignment last week when Gabriel Moreno was activated from the 10-day injured list. There wasn’t any previous indication that Valdez had been removed from the 40-man roster. Arizona’s count on that 40-man is now down to 38.
Garcia, 33, is a veteran depth catcher who is out of options. He is a competent defender but is has hit just .210/.245/.321 in his career. That has put him in position to bounce on and off the Arizona roster with regularity. He signed a minor league deal with the Snakes ahead of the 2025 season. Last year, he was twice added to the big league roster. In both cases, he was designated for assignment a few days later and sent back to Reno after passing through waivers.
It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out this year. Garcia was called up to the big leagues to cover for Moreno’s injury and then was bumped off when Moreno was reinstated. Garcia has the right to elect free agency but might be comfortable sticking with the Aces and waiting for the next catching injury to pop up.
The Valdez outright might be a more unique situation. The 28-year-old was just added to the club’s roster a little over a week ago. The Diamondbacks and Padres were playing in Mexico City and were allowed a 27th man on the roster. Valdez was added to fill that extra bench spot for the Diamondbacks, getting called up from Double-A Amarillo. He didn’t appear in either of the Mexico City games and was optioned back to the Sod Poodles right after that series.
It appears that the Diamondbacks quietly put him on waivers and no one claimed him. That’s not especially surprising since Valdez hasn’t really been a notable prospect in his career and is a 28-year-old playing in Double-A, though he does have some Triple-A experience. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a combined .241/.292/.401 line and 76 wRC+ in the minor leagues.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Tigers Designate Zack Short For Assignment
The Tigers announced that infielder Zach McKinstry has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Fellow infielder Zack Short has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Short is a glove-first infielder who was just brought into the mix by Detroit to address their recent injuries. He was acquired from the Nationals in a cash deal last week and then was added to the roster two days ago. He went hitless in three plate appearances and has now been quickly bumped off.
Though he’s competent in the field at multiple positions, Short is a .171/.269/.295 hitter in his career. The Tigers only really turned to him because they had a trio of infielders on the IL at the same time. McKinstry hit the IL over two weeks ago due to left hip/abdominal inflammation. Trey Sweeney has been on the shelf all year due to a shoulder strain and was moved to the 60-day IL in April. Javier Báez suffered a right ankle sprain about a week ago and hit the 10-day IL.
Short was used as an emergency tourniquet to stop the bleeding but he’s no longer needed with McKinstry’s return. Short now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Tigers could take five days to explore trade interest, but they could also place him on waivers at any point before that. Given his light hitting, Short would likely clear waivers, as he has done before.
If he does clear waivers again, he would have the right to elect free agency, but perhaps he would stay. He is plenty familiar with the organization and the Detroit infield depth is still a bit light due to injuries, though they did add Paul DeJong via a minor league deal earlier today.
Now that McKinstry is back, he can return to the multi-positional role that he was in before. He has experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base and in the outfield as well. He’s at third base tonight with Colt Keith heading to the bench. Second base is mostly covered by Gleyber Torres but he has missed a few recent games due to side tightness, which has led to more playing time for Hao-Yu Lee. Shortstop was being shared by Kevin McGonigle and Báez but the IL stint for the latter has largely left that spot to McGonigle. With Parker Meadows on the IL, the outfield mix includes Matt Vierling, Wenceel Pérez, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Jahmai Jones.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Rays Place Steven Matz On IL With Elbow Inflammation
The Rays announced that left-hander Steven Matz has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 4th, with left elbow inflammation. Right-hander Chase Solesky has been selected to take his place on the active roster. The 40-man roster had a vacancy due to righty Yoendrys Gómez being designated for assignment a few days ago, so Solesky can take that vacated spot without a corresponding move.
Matz’s status is unclear. He has been having a good season so far, with a 3.86 earned run average through seven starts. He last took the ball on Sunday and pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Giants. Apparently, something has popped up between that start and today. The severity isn’t publicly known but it’s enough that the Rays are going to put him on the shelf for at least a couple of weeks.
The Tampa rotation has been good this year and has been a key part of their early-season success. The Rays are 22-12 and have gotten a 3.16 ERA from their starters. That includes some openers and is therefore skewed a bit but it’s third-best ERA in the majors, behind only the Yankees and Dodgers.
Despite the good results, there are some concerns. Ryan Pepiot is going to miss the whole season due to hip surgery. Joe Boyle is on the IL with an elbow strain. Even in the healthy rotation, there are questions. Shane McClanahan missed the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons and may face load management questions at some point. Drew Rasmussen has plenty of injuries on his track record. Nick Martinez has a 1.71 ERA but is a 35-year-old swingman who has often been pushed to the bullpen in recent years. Jesse Scholtens is a pretty inexperienced guy who was just claimed off waivers last year.
Top prospect Brody Hopkins is in Triple-A but probably isn’t going to be called up anytime soon because he has a massive 20.2% walk rate so far this year. The depth is enough of a concern that the club is planning to stretch out both Griffin Jax and Mason Englert.
The Rays will have to juggle things for at least a couple of weeks or perhaps longer, depending on the timeline with Matz. Their next off-day isn’t until next Thursday. Martinez started last night. Rasmussen and McClanahan are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow, respectively. Thursday could be a Jax/Scholtens combo, which is what the Rays have done the past two times through the rotation. That would leave Friday open for a bullpen game or a spot start, before going back to Martinez on Saturday.
Solesky, 28, gets called up for now. This is his first time on a major league roster. A 21st-round pick of the White Sox from 2019, he has never really been on the radar of prospect evaluators. He was in the Nationals’ system last year and had a 5.17 ERA in Triple-A. He signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason and has a 6.57 ERA in Triple-A so far this year.
Most likely, he is just on the roster temporarily to absorb some innings, if needed. He has been pitching as a starter and went 5 1/3 innings on Thursday. The results haven’t been good but he could take on some mop-up work and spare the rest of the bullpen, if the situation calls for it. Even if it ultimately proves to be a brief stint in the show, it’s likely a thrill for a guy who has been grinding for a while and turns 29 in a few months.
Photo courtesy of Pablo Robles, Imagn Images
Angel Zerpa To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Brewers left-hander Angel Zerpa will undergo Tommy John surgery on Monday, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The left-hander will miss the remainder of this season and part of 2027 as well. He is on the 15-day injured list but will be transferred to the 60-day IL whenever Milwaukee needs to open a roster spot.
The news is awful but not surprising. Zerpa hit the IL about a week ago due to forearm tightness. Manager Pat Murphy said the injury was fairly concerning and that Zerpa would be going for further testing. In the following days, it was revealed that Tommy John surgery was a possibility. It now seems that no alternative was available, so Zerpa will go under the knife and face the standard recovery timeline of 14-plus months.
The Brewers clearly felt good about Zerpa’s chances of taking a step forward. He gave the Royals 177 innings from 2021 to 2025, allowing 3.97 earned runs per nine. His 19.7% strikeout rate was subpar but he had a strong 7% walk rate and excellent 57.1% ground ball rate. Milwaukee has a good reputation when it comes to helping players get the best of their talents. With Zerpa featuring upper-90s velocity, perhaps they could have found a way to have him miss more bats. Or maybe his ground ball tendencies could lead to him getting stretched out as a starter.
Milwaukee sent outfielder Isaac Collins and right-hander Nick Mears to Kansas City this past offseason in a two-for-one deal to get Zerpa. Whatever the Brewers had in mind for that deal is not going to pan out in the short term. Zerpa posted a rough 6.39 ERA in 12 appearances to start this year and will now be out of action until next summer.
Zerpa hit three years of big league service in 2025 and qualified for arbitration for the first time going into 2026. He and the Brewers agreed to a $1.095MM salary. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again for 2027 and 2028.
The Brewers will have to decide if they want to tender him a contract for next year when he might miss half of it. Since he is going to miss most of 2026, he won’t be able to secure much of a raise. Assuming the Brewers still feel good about Zerpa’s talent, giving him a bit over a million won’t be too much, since that is barely above this year’s league $780K minimum salary. It’s also possible that the next collective bargaining agreement pushes the minimum even higher. If Zerpa can get healthy and produce good results in the second half of 2027, the Brewers could retain him at a relatively affordable rate in 2028.
Despite having a number of injured lefties, the Brewers still have a balanced bullpen. Zerpa, Jared Koenig and Rob Zastryzny are all on the IL but they still have Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Shane Drohan and Brian Fitzpatrick taking up four of their eight relief spots. Injuries and underperformance will surely lead to changes throughout the season. Zerpa won’t be able to help out but perhaps Koenig or Zastryzny will.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Cubs Outright Ben Cowles
The Cubs have sent infielder Ben Cowles outright to Triple-A Iowa, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Cowles, 26, has been on waivers a lot in the past eight months. The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2024, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He was designated for assignment in September of 2025, getting claimed by the White Sox. This offseason, he went back to the Cubs, then to the Blue Jays and back to the Cubs again via a series of claims.
Those transactions speak to the fact that he has been an attractive player but with some downward trends. He generally hit well on his way up the minor league ladder. In 2024, the Cubs acquired him from the Yankees as part of the Mark Leiter Jr. trade. Between the two clubs, he slashed .286/.372/.457 at Double-A that year for a 141 wRC+. He also stole 14 bases while bouncing between shortstop, second base and third base.
That was a nice mix of qualities but his results haven’t been as strong lately. He got promoted to Triple-A to start 2025 and hasn’t done anything at that level yet. He now has 611 total plate appearances at Triple-A dating back to the start of last year with a .234/.303/.370 line and 72 wRC+. That performance has pushed him to a fringe roster position but he kept getting claimed, until this week.
This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, still not having made his major league debut. He therefore does not have the right to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the Cubs as non-roster depth and will try to play his way back onto the roster.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Giants Designate Jerar Encarnacion For Assignment
The Giants announced that outfielder Jerar Encarnacion has been designated for assignment and fellow outfielder Will Brennan has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. Those are the corresponding moves for the recalls of Bryce Eldridge and Jesús Rodríguez, moves that were reported yesterday. The Giants also recalled right-hander Trevor McDonald and placed left-hander Erik Miller on the 15-day injured list with a low back strain, retroactive to May 1st.
Encarnacion signed a minor league deal with the Giants in May of 2024. At that time, he had just come off a massive .366/.439/.989 showing in 26 Mexican League games. That’s a hitter-friendly league but that line was impressive regardless. He then put up a .352/.438/.616 showing in Triple-A and got added to the big league roster in August.
He has been on the 40-man ever since. Due to him being out of options, he has also been on the active roster that whole time, apart from IL stints. He spent a lot of 2025 on the IL, with stints due to a hand fracture, an oblique strain and a hamstring strain.
His numbers against major league hitting haven’t been nearly as impressive as his work in the minors or in Mexico. He has stepped to the plate 210 times as a Giant. His 3.3% walk rate and 27.1% strikeout rate in that time are both poor numbers. His .223/.248/.371 line in the sample leads to a wRC+ of 71, indicating he’s been 29% below league average overall. That includes a dismal .176/.200/.206 line here in 2026.
The San Francisco offense as a whole has been underwhelming. Encarnacion has been just a small part of that but he is the casualty for the club trying to shake things up. Since he’s out of options, he’s been bumped into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.
Based on how much he’s been struggling, it seems fair to expect him to clear waivers. He has flashed talent in the past but not in the majors. Even the exciting numbers he put up in Mexico and in the minors are two years old at this point. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again in the coming days.
Turning to the pitching moves, it’s unclear how long Miller will need to be shelved, but the Giants lose one of their more interesting relievers. Miller walks too many batters but has high-90s velocity and can get guys out. His 35.4% strikeout rate and 56% ground ball rate this year are both huge, though he has given free passes to 12.5% of opponents. With Miller out, the Giants are down to Matt Gage and Ryan Borucki as their southpaw relievers.
McDonald is starting tonight’s game and it appears to be a spot start. The Giants had to play a doubleheader on Thursday, with Logan Webb and Adrian Houser starting the two contests. Then Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp and Tyler Mahle started the three subsequent games. No one in that quintet would be available on regular rest tonight. After McDonald starts tonight’s game, it’s possible he gets sent back down to the minors, with a fresh arm coming up to join the bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Justine Willard, Imagn Images
Angels Designate Nick Sandlin For Assignment
The Angels announced that left-hander Sam Aldegheri has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a corresponding move, right-hander Nick Sandlin has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Sandlin, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He was added to the big league roster about three weeks ago. Since then, he has logged 8 2/3 innings but has unfortunately surrendered 11 earned runs in that time. He allowed nine hits, including two home runs. He walked five batters and hit another three while striking out five opponents.
The Angels have bumped him off the roster after those struggles. He has options but he just hit five years of big league service time in recent weeks. By getting to that line, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent, hence the DFA. He can be in DFA limbo for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Halos could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.
Sandlin does have some major league success but the past year or so has been rough for him. From 2021 to 2025, he logged 211 2/3 innings in the show with a 3.19 earned run average. His 11.4% walk rate was high but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced. Injuries hobbled him with the Jays last year. He made trips to the injured list for a lat strain and then later for elbow inflammation. He only tossed 16 1/3 innings around those IL stints. The Jays outrighted him in November and Sandlin elected free agency.
The Angels were hoping for a bounceback but couldn’t get it. He started his season with a 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 Triple-A innings but with poor underlying metrics. That low ERA was mostly a byproduct of a .222 batting average on balls in play and 87.5% strand rate. When he got called up to the majors, his results regressed to an extreme degree.
If Sandlin clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency. His recent form has been rough but some clubs may be interested in signing him to a minor league deal, hoping he can get back to his previous form with some regular reps.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images