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
Orioles To Sign Lou Trivino To Major League Deal
4:15pm: Right-hander Trey Gibson has been optioned to make room on the active roster for Trivino, per Jake Rill of MLB.com.
3:35pm: The Orioles have signed right-hander Lou Trivino to a major league deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Pro Edge Sports Management client just opted out of a minor league deal with the Phillies a few days ago. Baltimore has an open 40-man spot and doesn’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard. They will have to open an active roster spot.
Trivino, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in the offseason. The veteran finished the 2025 season on Philly’s big league roster and became an an Article XX(B) free agent, which essentially means he was a standard free agent, one who has at least six years of service time and wasn’t signed for the following season. When those players sign minor league deals, they come with automatic opt-outs five days before Opening Day, May 1st and June 1st.
The Phils didn’t break camp with Trivino on the roster but he skipped his first opt-out chance and reported to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He put up excellent numbers for the IronPigs, giving them 13 innings with a 2.77 earned run average. His 35.7% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate were all above-average numbers. He triggered the second opt-out in his deal and the Phillies let him go.
The Orioles will take advantage and scoop Trivino up from the open market. Trivino’s recent Triple-A work is a small sample but the veteran also has a solid track record. In 332 1/3 big league innings, he has a 3.87 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, 10.4% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate. He has 37 saves and 57 holds in his career.
Injuries prevented him from appearing in the majors in 2023 or 2024. He was back in the bigs last year, though with slightly diminished results. His 3.97 ERA was fine but his 17.9% strikeout rate and 33.8% ground ball rate were both below league average and shy of his previous career numbers. His results so far in 2026, though in a small sample in the minor leagues, are an encouraging sign that he can get back to his previous form now that he’s further removed from his injury woes.
The Orioles have been hit hard by injuries this year, with 11 players currently on the injured list. That includes four relievers. They have known since last year that Félix Bautista would miss most or all of the 2026 campaign due to shoulder surgery. They signed Ryan Helsley to take over the closer’s job but now he’s on the IL with elbow inflammation. Yaramil Hiraldo and Colin Selby are also on the shelf.
It’s a fairly wide open bullpen mix. Hopefully, Trivino can provide a stabilizing veteran presence. If the O’s want to bump him off the roster in the future, he has enough service time where he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline, Imagn Images
Astros Designate Daniel Johnson For Assignment
The Astros announced that outfielder Daniel Johnson has been designated for assignment. His roster spot goes to fellow outfielder Zach Cole, who has been recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding move. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to pass along the news.
Johnson, 30, was added to Houston’s roster a couple of weeks ago amid a flurry of outfield injuries. Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido and Taylor Trammell all hit the injured list in the middle of April, sapping the Astros of many of their best center field options. Cole was on the minor league injured list at the same time and wasn’t an option to help out.
Unfortunately, Johnson wasn’t much of a help. He got sent to the plate 17 times and produced a tepid .143/.294/.143 slash line. Brice Matthews, meanwhile, has largely taken over the center field job. Matthews’ .221/.289/.412 line isn’t amazing but it’s much better than what Johnson has been providing. Matthews has been receiving solid grades for his defense and speed as well. Now that Cole is healthy again, he’s been called up with Johnson bumped off.
Since Johnson is out of options, he had to be removed from the 40-man roster. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours so Astros could take five days to explore trade interest but they could also place him on waivers sooner if they so choose. He has been previously outrighted in his career and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again. His speed and defense give him some appeal but a career batting line of .191/.249/.306 is obviously unattractive.
Cole was called up last year and flashed some fun upside, hitting four home runs in just 15 games. However, he also struck out in 38.5% of his plate appearances. He started this year on optional assignment and suffered a broken toe after just a few games. Now that he’s recovered and there are opportunities in the outfield, he will try to earn some playing time, ideally with fewer punchouts.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Randy Vásquez’s Hot Start Could Be Huge For The Padres
Rotation depth has been an issue for the Padres for years and the most recent offseason didn’t do much to inspire confidence that 2026 would be an exception. So far, the starting group has been passable, with Randy Vásquez stepping up to play a big role. That has helped the Friars start 20-13 and it could help in future seasons as well if Vásquez can keep rolling.
In 2025, the San Diego rotation was middling. Overall, their starters had a 4.07 earned run average, putting them 16th out of the 30 major league clubs. At the trade deadline, they sent out some depth. They flipped Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert to the Royals in the Freddy Fermin trade. Braden Nett and Henry Baez went to the Athletics in the Mason Miller deal. At the end of the season, they lost Dylan Cease and Michael King to free agency. Yu Darvish required elbow surgery in November, wiping out his 2026 season.
They were able to re-sign King but Cease departed for the Blue Jays. The hope was that King, Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove could be a solid trio at the front of the 2026 rotation. That would leave two spots open for guys like Vásquez, Walker Buehler, Germán Márquez, Matt Waldron and JP Sears.
That latter group has been leaned on harder than the Padres would have liked. Musgrove hasn’t yet made an appearance this season. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2024 and missed the entire 2025 campaign. Getting back in the mix for the start of 2026 was a reasonable expectation but he has hit some setbacks and his timeline is unclear. Pivetta made four starts before he joined Musgrove on the IL. Pivetta has a flexor strain and will probably miss a few months.
As of a few weeks ago, there wasn’t much reason to expect Vásquez to separate himself from the rest of the pack. He did post a 3.84 ERA in 2025, but not in any kind of sustainable way. He only struck out 13.7% of batters faced last year, which isn’t just well shy of average — it was one of the worst marks in baseball. Among pitchers with 130 innings pitched last year, only Antonio Senzatela and Erick Fedde were lower than Vásquez in that category. Both of those pitchers had ERAs well north of 5.00 and lost their rotation jobs last year.
The same likely would have happened to Vásquez if not for good luck. For one thing, he still had options, meaning the Padres could send him to the minors. Though his ERA was good, he did get optioned a few times last year, suggesting the Padres weren’t overly confident in his results. His .261 batting average on balls in play and 77.4% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. Measures like his 4.85 FIP and his 5.43 SIERA suggested his respectable ERA was a mirage.
It would not have been a surprise if Vásquez came out and posted an ERA around 5.00 or 6.00 this year. Since he’s now out of options, his roster spot might have even been in jeopardy. Instead, he’s gone completely in the other direction.
Vásquez has a 2.94 ERA through six starts. Not only that, but this feels more real. His strikeout rate is way up to 24.8% so far this year, almost double where he was at last year. His walk rate and ground ball rate have held around league average. There is still a bit of good luck, as Vásquez currently has an 81.5% strand rate, but his 3.44 FIP and 3.71 SIERA suggest he would be getting solid results even with more neutral luck.
This is still a fairly small sample of work but it’s encouraging that it corresponds to a change in his arsenal, led by improvements with his four-seam fastball. Vásquez is throwing the pitch 31.2% of the time so far this year, a notable jump from last year’s 21% usage. The pitch is averaging 94.8 miles per hour, more than a full mile higher than last year’s 93.5 mph. His spin rate on the pitch is up, and he’s getting more movement on it as well. He has also thrown more cutters, curveballs, changeups and sliders, at the expense of his sinker and sweeper.
Time will tell if Vásquez can keep this going over a larger sample. For now, it has cemented him in the rotation. Griffin Canning just returned from the injured list over the weekend and there was never a question about Vásquez being bumped out, as he and King are seen as the two locks of the rotation for now. Rather, speculation circled around the Buehler, Waldron and Márquez trio, with Márquez eventually placed on the IL as the move for Canning. Lucas Giolito will be in the mix soon as well, but Vásquez won’t be at risk of losing his spot at that point either.
In the longer term, it would also be tremendous for the Padres if Vásquez can be a viable big league starter, even a back-end one. He can still be controlled for four seasons after the current campaign. It’s possible he’ll be a Super Two guy, as his service count of 1.129 will put him right in the middle of previous cutoffs. But even as his salary creeps up via arbitration, it’ll be solid value if he’s got an ERA somewhere in the 3.00s.
The long-term San Diego rotation will still have question marks. King is signed through 2028 but has opt-outs after each season in his deal. If he pitches well, he’ll head to free agency. If he is hurt or not performing and decides not to opt out, that means he’ll be paid above his market value. It’s a similar situation for Pivetta, who is also signed through 2028 with opt-outs after this year and next. Musgrove is currently a question mark. Even if he is able to come back and be his old self, he is only signed through 2027. Giolito, Canning, Buehler and Márquez are all impending free agents. Three of those guys have mutual options for 2027 but it’s been over a decade since one of those provisions was triggered by both sides. Waldron has the same window of club control as Vásquez but he’s out of options and not putting up good numbers, so he may not even last much longer on the roster.
The farm isn’t likely to provide solutions in the near term, as the Friars have been aggressively trading from their pipeline to keep the major league roster in good shape. They now have one of the worst farm systems in the league. Sears is on the 40-man but he had an ERA over 5.00 in the majors last year and is at 7.00 in Triple-A so far in 2026. He’ll be out of options next year. The club’s top starting pitching prospects are Kash Mayfield, Miguel Mendez and Kruz Schoolcraft. Mendez hasn’t yet reached Triple-A and has only made ten Double-A starts so far. Mayfield is in High-A, Schoolcraft in Low-A.
It seems fair to expect the Padres to be looking for free agent starting pitching in future offseasons. Perhaps the incoming ownership group will greenlight some extra spending to bolster the staff, but there are no guarantees about how they’ll spend. Having Vásquez securely in a rotation spot, even if it’s not at the front end, will make the front office’s job much easier as they steer the club into the future.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast
On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.
The 2026 season is humming along. Do you have a question about a hot or cold start in the early going? The upcoming trade deadline? Next winter’s potential labor showdown? If you have a question on those topics or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.
Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.
In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Eloy Jiménez Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Jiménez has cleared waivers and elected free agency, according to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.
April 29: The Blue Jays have reinstated outfielder/designated hitter George Springer from the 10-day injured list. In a corresponding move, designated hitter Eloy Jiménez has been designated for assignment. Hazel Mae of Sportsnet was first to report the moves.
It’s the inverse of a transaction from a couple of weeks ago. Springer fractured a bone in his left big toe when he fouled a ball off of his foot. On April 12th, he was placed on the IL, with Jiménez selected to take his place on the roster. Now that Springer is healthy enough to return, Jiménez has been bumped off.
In the meantime, Jiménez wasn’t able to do much to secure a longer look. He didn’t play the field, continuing a recent trend of his. He only played eight innings in the outfield in 2024 and none in 2025. As a bat-only player, he needs to hit to provide value, but he wasn’t able to do much of that. His .290 batting average looks nice but he didn’t produce an extra-base hit, leading to a .290/.343/.290 slash line and 82 wRC+, indicating he was 18% worse than league average at the plate overall.
That’s a small sample size of 35 plate appearances but continues a trend that began a few years ago. Though Jiménez was potent slugger for much of the 2019 to 2023 window, he hasn’t been in good form since. In 2024, he hit just six home runs in 98 games, leading to a .238/.289/.336 line and 78 wRC+. He didn’t play in the majors last year, spending the season in the minors, where he hit a combined .247/.326/.347 between the Triple-A teams of the Rays and the Jays.
There was a bit of optimism among some Jays fans when Jiménez put up a decent .286/.333/.524 line in spring training this year, followed by a .257/.372/.371 line in 11 Triple-A games. But as mentioned, his big league numbers were uninspiring. With Springer now back and likely to be in the DH spot most of the time, there wasn’t going to be much use for Jiménez.
Jiménez now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays could take as long as five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner if they so choose. Given his recent track record, it’s likely he will clear waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and instead elect free agency. It’s possible the Jays will skip that step and just release him.
For the Jays, their hope is that greater health can steady the ship for them. They are out to a shaky 13-16 start as they have been battling a large number of injuries. They just got Trey Yesavage back in the mix yesterday and now Springer has rejoined the roster as well. José Berríos and Addison Barger could be next, with guys like Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk ideally returning to the club in the not-too-distant future as well.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Randal Grichuk Elects Free Agency
The Yankees announced that outfielder Randal Grichuk has elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.
Grichuk, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason. That deal came with a $2.5MM salary if he got added to the roster, which he did, cracking the Opening Day squad. He is a right-handed hitter and has traditionally been better against lefties. The Yanks were hoping he could be a nice complement to their lefty-heavy lineup. Unfortunately, he has hit just .227/.261/.364 against southpaws this year. That line leads to a 71 wRC+, indicating he has been 29% below average in that split. He hit .194/.212/.323 overall.
That performance got him bumped into DFA limbo and none of the 29 other teams wanted to claim his contract off waivers. Players with at least five years of big league service time can reject outright assignments while keeping their salary commitments in tact. The Yankees will remain on the hook for the remainder of that $2.5MM. Another club could now sign Grichuk and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the $780K league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Yankees pay.
Grichuk’s recent form isn’t much to garner interest. Last year’s .228/.273/.401 line was better than this year’s but still subpar, translating to a wRC+ of 82. Defensively, Grichuk is essentially a corner-only guy now. He has lots of center field experience but has just two innings at that position since the end of the 2023 season.
He’s not too far removed from being a useful complementary player. With the Diamondbacks in 2024, he slashed .291/.348/.528 for a 139 wRC+. Roughly two thirds of his plate appearances were against southpaws but he had above-average results against pitchers of either handedness. That led to him securing a $5MM guarantee for 2025 but, as mentioned, his results weren’t as good. He had to settle for a minor league deal for 2026. Even when he got called up, his base salary was half of the year prior.
Though 29 teams just passed on the chance to get him off waivers, signing him now would be much cheaper. On a prorated basis, the league minimum would be less than a third of his salary and it would also come with no commitment, as teams could cut bait at any time.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Orioles Place Ryan Helsley On IL With Elbow Inflammation
The Orioles announced that right-hander Ryan Helsley has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 29th, with right elbow inflammation. Fellow righty Albert Suárez has been selected to take Helsley’s place on the active roster. The 40-man roster had a couple of vacancies and the addition of Suárez brings the O’s up to 39 players on there.
It’s an out-of-nowhere IL stint for Helsley, as there wasn’t any previous indication that anything was wrong. He last pitched on Tuesday, recording a clean inning and earning a save as the O’s beat the Astros 5-3. His fastball averaged 99.3 miles per hour, right around his season average and a slight increase over his previous two outings. He didn’t pitch in the past two days but Baltimore didn’t have save chances in the interim. The game on Wednesday was postponed. The two games in yesterday’s doubleheader were not close, one being decided by six runs and the other by seven.
The club will presumably have more information later but it’s always a bit ominous when a pitcher’s throwing elbow is involved in an injury. For the O’s, they will have to figure out how to proceed with yet another hit to their bullpen. Their previous closer, Félix Bautista, underwent shoulder surgery in August of last year. That procedure came with a timeline of about a year. He could perhaps be back late in 2026 but it’s also possible he misses the entire season, which is why Helsley was signed to fill the closer’s role.
The O’s also have Dietrich Enns and Yaramil Hiraldo on the IL, meaning Helsey is now the fourth reliever on the shelf. Guys like Andrew Kittredge, Rico Garcia, Anthony Nunez or Grant Wolfram could step up to absorb some higher-leverage roles.
For Helsley personally, it could be a rough development as well. Not so long ago, he was one of the top relievers in the game and was trending towards cashing in as a free agent. Unfortunately, he had an ill-timed dip in performance in 2025, his walk year. His earned run average shot up to 4.50 after being around 2.00 in the previous three seasons.
He signed a two-year, $28MM deal with the Orioles, a pact which contained an opt-out halfway through. That would give Baltimore a replacement for Bautista in the closer’s role. For Helsley, ideally, he would return to form and then go back to free agency in search of a longer deal and a bigger guarantee.
The results have been mostly good so far, through 10 2/3 innings. His 15.2% walk rate is way too high but his 32.6% strikeout rate is a nice bounceback after it dropped to 25% last year. Obviously, a major elbow injury would kill that plan, so this will hopefully be just a minor issue and eventual footnote in his season.
Suárez, 36, began the season with the O’s on a minor league deal. His contract was selected a few days into the season. He spent close to a month in the bullpen as a long reliever, tossing 13 innings over five appearances with a 3.46 ERA.
Despite those pretty solid results, he was squeezed off the roster a few days ago. He cleared waivers and then elected free agency on Wednesday. It was reported at that time that he and the O’s would likely work out a new minor league deal. According to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, his new minor league deal was approved just a few hours ago. He was initially going to join the Norfolk Tides in Nashville before being rerouted to be added to the big league roster as a replacement for Helsley.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
Ryan Pepiot To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery
Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot will undergo hip surgery and miss the rest of the season, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Pepiot is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the campaign.
It’s obviously an unfortunate blow for Pepiot and the Rays. The right-hander was healthy in spring training but some inflammation in his right hip sent him to the 15-day IL to start the season. It initially appeared as though that would be a minimal IL stint. As of April 4th, Pepiot had thrown a bullpen session and was in line to rejoin the Rays a little over a week later.
The tides shifted a couple of weeks ago. On April 14th, around the time Pepiot was supposed to be activated, the Rays instead transferred him to the 60-day injured list when they signed Michael Grove. Few details were available at that time but that at least signalled that Pepiot wasn’t going to return before late May. This latest update is even more ominous than that, with Pepiot now set to go under the knife and miss the whole season.
Acquired from the Dodgers as part of the Tyler Glasnow trade in December of 2023, Pepiot was largely a mainstay of the Tampa rotation in the past two seasons. He made 26 starts in 2024 and 31 last year. Between the two seasons, he gave the Rays 297 2/3 innings with a 3.75 earned run average, 25.4% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate.
So far, the Rays have done well this year, despite getting no contributions from Pepiot. They are 18-12 and in second place in the American League East. The rotation has been a key part of that, as the club’s starters have a combined 3.45 ERA, fifth-best in the majors.
Still, it’s less than ideal that Pepiot won’t be coming back to join the group at any point. They traded away Taj Bradley at last year’s deadline and then Shane Baz in the offseason, thinning out the rotation depth. This year, they’ve gotten multiple starts from Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Steven Matz, Nick Martinez and Joe Boyle. The Rays put Boyle on the IL a few weeks ago due to a right elbow strain. Jesse Scholtens has effectively taken his place in the rotation, largely working behind an opener.
It’s not a sturdy group on the whole. McClanahan is pitching well but it’s fair to wonder if he’ll hit some kind of wall since he missed the previous two seasons. Rasmussen has a spotty health history with multiple surgeries on his chart. Martinez and Matz are mid-30s guys who were in swing roles as of last year. Scholtens was a waiver claim towards the end of last season.
At some point, the Rays will have to turn to other arms in the system, with Pepiot no longer part of the calculus. Joe Rock is on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment but he’s walking everyone in Triple-A. Prospect Brody Hopkins is in Triple-A but he only has six starts at that level and is also showing significant control issues. Yoendrys Gómez is working as a long reliever in the big leagues but he has a 6.23 ERA and is out of options.
For now, the Rays will do their best to keep making it work, though any further injuries could really hurt them. If they manage to stay in contention until the deadline, they will presumably look for reinforcements.
Turning back to Pepiot, he got his service clock just over three years in 2025, therefore qualifying for arbitration for the first time for 2026. He is making $3.025MM this season and can be controlled via arbitration through 2028. When arb-eligible players miss an entire season, they usually end up making the same salary in the following campaign. The Rays surely aren’t happy to be losing Pepiot but the one benefit for them is that they should be able to have him back in 2027 without giving him a raise.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images