Red Sox Add Interim Coaches To Staff
8:10pm: The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey writes that John Soteropoulos, who had been on Cora’s staff as assistant hitting coach, will technically be a lead hitting coach. It’ll nevertheless be mostly a collaborative group that includes Simonetty and Hetzler. Tracy indicated they’re also planning to promote Low-A hitting coach Nelson Paulino to work with the MLB group. The 53-year-old Paulino has coached minor league hitters in the Boston system for nearly three decades.
1:10pm: The Red Sox announced that they have added three new coaches to their staff today. José David Flores is now the interim bench coach. Pablo Cabrera is the interim first base coach/outfield instructor. Jack Simonetty has been hired as an interim hitting assistant. Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported the news on Flores and Simonetty while Alex Speier of The Boston Globe was first on Cabrera.
The moves are in response to the stunning Red Wedding-style massacre that occurred in Baltimore this weekend. The Sox fired manager Alex Cora as well as his hitting coach Peter Fatse, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, third base/outfield coach Kyle Hudson, and major league hitting strategist Joe Cronin. Also, run prevention coach Jason Varitek is being reassigned to a different role within the organization.
Some of those positions were quickly filled, at least on an interim basis. Chad Tracy was called up from the minors to take over as interim manager. Chad Epperson became interim third base coach. Collin Hetzler was added to the hitting staff. That still left the overall coaching group far lighter than before, but today’s additions effectively get the staff back to previous levels.
Flores, 55, has a decent amount of previous MLB coaching experience. He was infield coordinator for the Cubs from 2012 to 2017. He was the first base coach for the Phillies in 2018, then served as third base coach in Baltimore for the next two seasons. The Sox hired him to work as bench coach for Triple-A Worcester, a job he held from 2022 to 2024. He was promoted to the big league staff as first base coach going into last season.
The other two hirees are far less experienced and are joining a big league staff for the first time. Cabrera, 28, was hired by the Red Sox in 2023 to work as a coach for Double-A Portland. He then worked as defensive coach in the club’s Fort Myers complex, before getting promoted to infield/outfield defensive coordinator for this season.
Simonetty, 26, was hired as a video and technology associate for Worcester in 2023. His title was player development associate in 2024. Last year, he served as assistant hitting coach for Single-A Salem. He began this year as hitting coach for the Florida Complex League Red Sox.
The Sox will now play the majority of the 2026 season with a big chunk of the staff being hired mid-season for interim roles. Whether any of them can stick around depends on what happens in the coming months and who is in charge in 2027.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
The Marlins Should Make A Change Behind The Plate
Agustín Ramírez was the worst defensive catcher in the majors last year. The Marlins haven’t yet given up on him but perhaps they should. They have one of the top catching prospects knocking on the door and there’s an open path for them to surge into contention this year.
31 different catchers caught at least 600 innings in 2025. J.T. Realmuto led the way with 1151 1/3, almost double the 605 2/3 caught by Ramírez. Despite catching notably fewer innings than most of the catchers in this sample, Ramírez led the pack with ten errors. He allowed 19 passed balls, which was more than twice as much as the next person on that list, as no one else allowed more than nine. He was also behind the plate for 36 wild pitches, which are technically the fault of pitchers, but a good catcher can occasionally save his teammates from those. Four of those 31 catchers allowed a few more wild pitches but all in larger sample sizes. In short, if Ramírez was catching, the ball was at the backstop a lot.
Those traditional stats aligned with more advanced ones. Ramírez was credited with minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved. Only Salvador Perez, at minus-15, was worse than him in that column. The Fielding Run Value stat at FanGraphs had him last at minus-12. Statcast credited him with minus-13 catching runs, ahead of only Edgar Quero. Baseball Prospectus was less down on him overall, having him merely as one of the 13 worst catchers, but they were the one outlet that didn’t like his framing work.
Presumably, the Marlins have been willing to tolerate this in the hopes that there’s a path to improvement. Ramírez has been a very strong hitter in the minors and could be an asset if his defense got to more passable levels. He put up a combined line of .268/.357/.473 at various rungs of the minors from 2023 to 2025, leading to a 128 wRC+. His 11.5% walk rate and 18.4% strikeout rate were both strong figures and he hit 46 home runs in 1,120 plate appearances.
But his bat hasn’t quite clicked in the majors yet, perhaps due to him focusing so much on trying to improve his defense. Ramírez did hit 21 home runs last year but with a low batting average and poor walk rate, leading to a lopsided line of .231/.287/.413. That resulted in a 91 wRC+, indicating he was nine percent below league average. That’s not bad for a catcher since backstops tend to be about ten points below par, but it’s not great when considering his glovework.
Going into 2026, there was an argument for moving Ramírez to a role as a first baseman and designated hitter. Moving to first would require some work but Ramírez did play the position some in the minors. Though Ron Washington will tell you moving to first is not easy, catching is considered the most rigorous position on the field and playing anywhere else would afford Ramírez more ability to focus on his hitting.
All of that is especially true when considering the presence of Joe Mack, who is one of the top catching prospects in the league. He is considered to be a very strong defender behind the plate. He reached the Triple-A level in 2025, getting into 99 games. His offense is considered more questionable than his defense but he slashed .250/.320/.459 for a 107 wRC+ with the Jumbo Shrimp last year. He was added to the 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
The Fish could have gone with Mack and bumped Ramírez to first base, a position that was fairly open. They didn’t go that way. They have continued to stick with Liam Hicks and Ramírez as their catching duo, splitting the time almost equally. Ramírez has been behind the plate for 122 innings, compared to 123 for Hicks. Hicks is doing fine, pairing adequate defense with a .314/.354/.523 line in the early going this year, though he’s not great with the running game.
Ramírez, on the other hand, hasn’t shown many signs of improvement. His 122 innings caught this year are about a fifth of last year’s 605 2/3. He already has four errors, almost half the ten he had last year. That’s tied with Quero for the league lead. He has allowed three passed balls, a better pace than last year but not by much. Francisco Alvarez is the only guy with more, at four. Ramírez has been behind the plate for nine wild pitches already, a worse pace than last year. Only Logan O’Hoppe and Drew Millas have allowed more. FanGraphs and Statcast have soured on his framing a bit, though in a very small sample.
The Ramírez/Hicks pairing impacts their pitchers in other ways as well, as neither is great as controlling the running game. The Fish allowed 191 stolen bases last year, easily the most in the majors. The Astros were a distant second on that list with 157. Miami only caught 24 attempted steals on the year. Technically, that was higher than the 23 that the Royals nabbed, but that was because K.C.’s catchers were run on far less, only allowing 47 steals. So far in 2026, the Marlins have allowed 37 steals, again the most in the majors. They’ve only caught three.
Catchers can sometimes provide value in other ways which are difficult to measure, such as working with a pitching staff. Even there, it’s hard to give the Ramírez and Hicks much credit. Starting last year, the Marlins began calling pitches from the dugout. Ramírez and Hicks might still be doing something in terms of communication and providing confidence but it’s fair to say they’re impacting intangibles less than catchers on other teams.
The offense from Ramírez also continues to lag, as he is currently sporting a .235/.303/.367 line and 84 wRC+ this year. It’s a small sample but he’s now up to 694 career plate appearances with a .231/.290/.406 line and 90 wRC+.
Mack, meanwhile, continues to do well in Jacksonville. In his first 83 plate appearances for the Jumbo Shrimp this year, he has three home runs and a huge 19.3% walk rate. Even with a subpar .267 batting average on balls in play, he has a .224/.373/.388 line and 115 wRC+ this year.
Perhaps there are service time considerations at play. Mack is a consensus top 100 prospect in the league. The Fish could have put him on the Opening Day roster and made him eligible to earn the club a bonus draft pick as part of the prospect promotion incentive. They opted not to do that. At this point, they probably are thinking about the flip side of the PPI. Eligible players who are not promoted in the first few weeks of the season can be awarded a full year of service retroactively if they finish in the top two of rookie of the year voting.
If that were to happen, it would be the worst of both worlds for the Marlins, in a sense. They would not get a bonus pick and their window of club control over Mack would be a standard six, as opposed to being juiced to six-plus. From the team’s perspective, you’d ideally not be in that middle spot.
But the downside of keeping Mack down is that the major league club is likely worse off. With prospects, there are no guarantees of immediate success, so it can’t just be assumed that Mack will boost the big league squad. But since a big part of his appeal is his defense, he should be a lock to at least be an upgrade over Ramírez in that regard. On offense, perhaps he would struggle with the promotion, but it’s not as though Ramírez is crushing the ball so far this year.
The Marlins have received a combined .192/.248/.279 line from the DH spot this year, resulting in a 47 wRC+ which places them ahead of just the Pirates and Rockies. Putting Ramírez in there, and having him focus less on catching, could theoretically be good for the lineup.
And turning back to the PPI situation, there’s also some space opening up. Sal Stewart has nine home runs, a .291/.385/.602 line and 1.2 wins above replacement, in the eyes of FanGraphs. JJ Wetherholt is at 1.1 fWAR and Moises Ballesteros at 0.9. On the pitching side, Nolan McLean is at 1.3 fWAR and Rhett Lowder 1.0. It’s theoretically possible for Mack to come up and have a monster finish while some of those other guys struggle, but getting into the top two of voting is going to be tough when those guys already have a decent head-start.
On top of all that, there’s a window for the Marlins to have a special season. On paper, they came into the year as the fourth-best team in the division, in the eyes of most evaluators. But the Phillies and Mets are both out to awful starts. It’s still early, and the Marlins are only four games clear of those two clubs. But since the Mets and Phillies are 9-19 right now, there’s a real chance they can’t climb back into contention and end up selling at the deadline. In that situation, the Marlins would still have to battle the other N.L. clubs for a wild card spot, since it feels like Atlanta will run away with the division, but Miami’s chances feel a bit better than a few weeks ago even if they’re only 13-15.
Even putting aside the early-season standings, which could change in a hurry, this feels like a move the Marlins should make. All signs point to Mack being the long-term answer behind the plate. Ramírez, meanwhile, would seemingly be better served as a bat-first player. Perhaps the Marlins are hoping that another club will take a chance on Ramírez as a catching project, which would allow them to use him in a deadline deal, but it’s hard to envision that when progress isn’t really being made.
Photo courtesy of Mady Mertens, Isaiah J. Downing, Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Cardinals Claim Luis Peralta
The Cardinals have claimed left-hander Luis Peralta off waivers from the Rockies, according to announcements from both clubs. Colorado designated him for assignment last week. The Cards had an open 40-man spot and have optioned Peralta to Triple-A Memphis, so no corresponding moves are necessary.
Peralta, 25, is the younger brother of Freddy Peralta. The younger sibling was a starter earlier in his career but got moved to a relief role when he was a minor leaguer with the Pirates. He showed tremendous promise in that role in 2024, the year he was traded to the Rockies in a one-for-one swap for Jalen Beeks.
Between the two clubs, he tossed 47 2/3 minor league innings that year, allowing only 0.94 earned runs per nine. He did give out walks at a high rate of 11.2% but his 40.1% strikeout rate was massive and his 48.8% ground ball rate above average as well. He also got to make his big league debut and put up a 0.73 ERA in 12 1/3 innings.
Things have been going downhill since then, however. He had a 9.47 ERA in the majors last year and a 9.09 ERA at the Triple-A level. For Albuquerque, his 28% strikeout rate was still pretty good but his 15.4% walk rate way too high. In the majors, things were even worse, as his ghastly 17.8% walk rate was higher than his 15.8% strikeout rate. He began 2026 back at Triple-A but but allowed 14 earned runs in 7 1/3 innings while walking 13 opponents.
His velocity is down a bit as well. His four-seamer averaged 95 miles per hour in 2024 but dropped about half a tick last year and is now down to 93.5 miles per hour so far in 2026. His curveball and changeup have had similar drops.
The Rockies eventually gave up. Perhaps that’s because the new front office is less enamored of Peralta but it’s hard to fault them when looking at Peralta’s recent numbers. For the Cards, despite a 14-13 record at the moment, they have long planned for 2026 to be an evaluation year. They are less focused on immediate contention and more worried about long-term development.
They’ve had an open roster spot since Jared Shuster was designated for assignment two weeks ago. They are using that today to grab Peralta. Obviously, Peralta’s stock is down at the moment, but the Cards will see if there’s a path to getting him back to that 2024 form. Peralta can be optioned for the remainder of this year and one additional season as well. If things click, he has less than a year of service time, meaning he could be affordably controlled for years into the future.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
The White Sox Have Decisions To Make With Munetaka Murakami
Slugger Munetaka Murakami had to settle for a two-year “prove-it” deal with the White Sox this past offseason. It’s still early in the major league career but he is quickly proving it, which means the Sox have to decide on the path forward.
Murakami’s power was never in doubt. His time in Japan had yielded dozens of massive moonshots. The strikeouts were more concerning. He struck out almost 30% of the time in his final NPB seasons. Coming over to North America to face a greater caliber of pitching would probably lead to even more strikeouts. There were particular concerns around his lack of success against high velocity, which he would certainly see more of in MLB.
It’s hard to be a valuable hitter with that many punchouts, though it can be done. In 2025, Mike Trout and James Wood were good hitters despite striking out at least 32% of the time. Ryan McMahon and Oneil Cruz were also in that range and produced below-average results.
Many evaluators thought some team would bite the bullet and invest in Murakami regardless. It’s very rare to have a chance to sign this level of hitter for his age-26 season. There’s risk he could be like Joey Gallo but the upside play is that he resembles Kyle Schwarber. MLBTR predicted he would secure an eight-year deal worth $180MM. Other outlets were not far behind. FanGraphs predicted $154MM over seven years. The Athletic was at $158.5MM over eight years.
Murakami did not get anything close to that. Whether it was due to the strikeouts or his lack of defensive value, teams didn’t want to make a long-term commitment. He signed a two-year, $34MM deal with the White Sox.
We don’t know what other offers Murakami got. Maybe some teams floated three- or four-year arrangements. But from his perspective, if he didn’t get the real long-term offer, going short makes sense. As mentioned, he is still quite young. This deal gives him a chance to spend two years proving himself against big league pitching. He’ll be 26 and 27 in those seasons and will have another chance to seek a long-term deal ahead of his age-28 campaign.
It was thought that maybe there would be an adjustment period for Murakami, but so far he’s doing just fine. The strikeouts are certainly high, as he’s at 32.1% through 109 plate appearances. But he also has ten home runs and a massive 19.3% walk rate. He has a .253/.394/.598 line and a 170 wRC+.
The production is not exactly Schwarber-esque but is pretty close. Schwarber has a 28.5% strikeout rate in his career and hasn’t finished a full season above 31%. He has drawn walks at a 14.2% clip and has been in that range for most of his career. He used to be good for 30ish homers annually but it’s been more like 50ish in recent years. It’s still really early, but Murakami is striking out more often while showing even more power and greater on-base abilities.
Time will tell how it plays out over a larger sample. It’s possible that pitchers find a way to attack him and reduce his effectiveness. Despite the concerns about velocity, he’s doing most of his damage against fastballs. Statcast gives him a .286 batting average and .786 slugging percentage on fastballs, compared to .200 and .400 against breaking pitches and .267 and .467 against offspeed stuff. It’s also possible he continues to get more acclimated to MLB pitching and shaves off some punchouts.
If he continues to be an effective hitter for another few months, it will put the White Sox in an interesting position. It doesn’t feel like Murakami is going to be part of their long-term plans. They are currently rebuilding and aren’t expected to contend this year. The Sox are getting better relative to recent years but are 10-15 and should be on the outside of the playoff race this summer. 2027 could be more viable, but contending next year is no guarantee.
The White Sox could try to sign Murakami to an extension, giving him the nine-figure deal he didn’t get in free agency, but it would be out of character for them to do so. The Sox are one of just two teams, along with the Athletics, who have never given out a nine-figure contract. The largest contract in White Sox franchise history is the five-year, $75MM deal they gave to Andrew Benintendi. If he continues performing anywhere close to this level, he could reasonably ask for twice that much (if not more) on a new long-term deal.
If the Sox are going to break precedent, it should probably be for someone safer, an elite shortstop or center fielder perhaps. A strikeout-prone first baseman is a risky bet, even if it’s someone as exciting as Murakami. If the deal turned into an albatross, it would handcuff the team just as they are looking to put this latest rebuild in the rearview mirror.
This situation would lead to an obvious solution in most cases. If you’re a rebuilding club and you have an attractive player with a short window of club control, you trade him for prospects or other younger players who can contribute to the next competitive window. Trading Murakami this summer would yield a greater trade return than next year. The acquiring club would get Murakami for two playoff races instead of one, which adds to the appeal and the price they would be willing to pay.
But Murakami’s situation is a bit more complex than that. For a team signing a star Japanese player, part of the appeal is on the business side. In addition to whatever Murakami is providing on the field, he is presumably adding to the club’s ratings and merchandise sales in Japan. Given his strong start, he might be adding to those revenue streams on this side of the Pacific Ocean as well.
That could make the calculus more complicated. Trading Murakami this summer would be the best time to maximize his value in terms of a trade return, but it would also surely lead to a reduction in those revenue streams and frustrate the fan base. It’s also possible it could complicate discussions with Japanese free agents in the future, who may not love the prospect of a likely sign-and-trade scenario.
If the Sox decide to hold Murakami, they can keep those revenues flowing for longer. They could then see if contention in 2027 looks more viable. If not, they could still trade him that summer for a notable return, even if it’s less than trading him now. Should they contend and hold him all the way through 2027, they could give him a qualifying offer, which would net them a draft pick if he ends up signing elsewhere. That pick would be nice, but the Sox should be able to get something more attractive via trade. There’s also the risk of Murakami tanking his value by next summer, either due to injury or a decline in production.
It’s an interesting position for the Sox, who are in a transitional phase. In addition to rebuilding, they are on an unusual road to an ownership change. Jerry Reinsdorf has agreed to a succession plan with minority owner Justin Ishbia. For now, Ishbia is investing in the club and has a somewhat open-ended path to majority ownership. From 2029 to 2033, Reinsdorf can decide to finalize the sale of a majority stake to Ishbia. If not within that window, Ishbia gains the right to purchase the majority stake beginning in 2034.
As mentioned, the possibility of a Murakami extension doesn’t seem likely, based on the club’s past spending patterns. While the club is in flux, does that make them even less likely to sign a big deal? It’s also possible the next collective bargaining agreement features some sort of salary floor beginning in 2027, so the Sox may need to spend more money regardless. Perhaps they would want some clarity on that before committing to Murakami or anyone else.
Put it all together and Murakami could be one of the more intriguing players to watch in the coming months. The Sox can make various different choices about how to proceed. They could try to lock him down with a long-term deal but would likely have to shatter their franchise record to do so. A trade this summer would net a big return but would hurt them on the business side. Holding him for a trade in the winter or at next year’s deadline, or even all the way through 2027, could be a better short-term business decision but perhaps worse long-term baseball decision.
Photos courtesy of Ed Szczepanski, Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Acquire Willie MacIver, Designate Tyler Fitzgerald For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A. The Rangers, who designated him for assignment yesterday, get cash considerations in return. To open a 40-man spot for MacIver, the Jays have designated Tyler Fitzgerald for assignment.
MacIver, 29, has a limited major league track record. With the Athletics in 2025, he got into 33 games but put up a meager .186/.252/.324 batting line in those. His minor league production has generally been better. During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he put up a huge .323/.399/.534 line at Triple-A. That production came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but was nonetheless good for a 123 wRC+, indicating he was 23% better than the average hitter in that league.
He got squeezed off the Athletics’ roster at the end of last year. The Rangers claimed him off waivers and sent him to Triple-A but he got out to a slow start this year, slashing .170/.333/.255 for Round Rock. The Rangers bumped him off their roster when making some pitching moves yesterday.
For the Jays, they are in need of some extra catching depth. They lost Alejandro Kirk to thumb surgery a couple of weeks ago. They’ve since been using the duo of Tyler Heineman and Brandon Valenzuela. The depth beyond those two was thin, with no other backstop on the 40-man. CJ Stubbs was the only other catcher in the system with major league experience. That experience was just one game with the Nationals last year. He’s also on the minor league injured list now, having not played in a couple of weeks.
The Jays will continue with the Heineman-Valenzuela pairing in the big leagues for now. Should an injury arise before Kirk comes back, then they can turn to MacIver. Valenzuela also has options and currently sports a .161/.188/.258 line in 32 big league plate appearances, so it’s possible they could swap in MacIver for Valenzuela at some point.
Fitzgerald, 28, was acquired in a similar DFA cash deal three weeks ago. The Jays had just lost Leo Jiménez since he was out of options and didn’t crack the Opening Day roster. He was flipped to the Marlins and then the Jays acquired Fitzgerald to replace some of that lost infield depth, with Fitzgerald getting optioned to the minors. A few days later, Addison Barger hit the IL and Fitzgerald was called up.
A few days after that, the Jays acquired Lenyn Sosa from the White Sox and bumped Fitzgerald back down to the minors. George Springer also hit the IL and the Jays have been using Sosa both on the infield and in the designated hitter spot.
It appears the Jays felt that catching depth was a greater need than infield depth at this point. Springer and Barger seem likely to return soon, well before Kirk will be back in the mix, so Sosa could be bumped down the depth chart in the coming weeks.
Fitzgerald can be in DFA limbo for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays can take five days to field trade interest. It seems likely that Fitzgerald will garner interest from someone. He still has options and can play anywhere on the diamond except catcher, meaning a lot of teams could use him somewhere.
His offense is more of a question. He burst onto the scene with the Giants in 2024 by putting up a .280/.334/.497 line. There were some yellow flags there, as Fitzgerald struck out at a 31.7% clip and benefited from a .380 batting average on balls in play. The inevitable regression was a bit more extreme than expected, as Fitzgerald had a grisly .217/.278/.327 line in 2025. Around his transactions, he has an awful .094/.147/.125 line at Triple-A this year. Despite the offensive struggles, clubs will probably like the idea of stashing Fitzgerald in the minors and hoping for a bounceback, even if getting to his 2024 level would be a tall ask.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Brewers Designate Luis Matos For Assignment
The Brewers announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Tyler Black and left-hander Shane Drohan. In corresponding moves, they have optioned right-hander Carlos Rodriguez and designated outfielder Luis Matos for assignment.
Matos, 24, was once a top prospect with the Giants. However, he struggled to click in the majors and exhausted his option years. Coming into 2026 out of options, the Giants couldn’t fit him onto their Opening Day roster, so he was designated for assignment.
The Brewers took a shot on him, sending cash considerations to San Francisco in exchange. Matos has been on their bench so far this year. He has stepped to the plate 21 times in nine games, producing a .200/.238/.200 line in those. He has now been squeezed into DFA limbo yet again, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Brewers could take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest.
The major league track record doesn’t provide much optimism, as Matos now has a .230/.279/.363 line in 614 plate appearances spread across four seasons. Any interest would be based on his past prospect pedigree and minor league production. He was a notable international signing and was considered a top 100 guy a few years ago. He’s been a better hitter in the minors but he’s been more good than great lately. He slashed .268/.329/.469 on the farm over 2024 and 2025 for a 104 wRC+.
If Matos lands somewhere else, he will need to be on the active roster, due to his out-of-options status. He has between one and two years of service time. If he does click on another roster, he can be controlled for four seasons after this one. If he were to clear waivers, the Brewers could keep him as non-roster depth.
Parting with Matos allows the Brewers to call up Black. He has also been a notable prospect in recent years but hasn’t been able to carve out much big league playing time. He was sent to the plate 70 times over the 2024 and 2025 seasons and was only able to produce a .211/.357/.263 line in that small sample.
He’s been much better in the minors. Dating back to the start of 2023, the first year he reached the Triple-A level, he has a combined .270/.395/.453 line and 128 wRC+. His 15% walk rate and 19.7% strikeout rate in that span are both a few ticks better than average.
His future defensive home has been more of a question. He has some experience at the non-shortstop infield positions and the outfield. The Brewers haven’t had him at second base since 2022 and he hasn’t played third since 2024. Even though they’re not getting much production from the left side of the infield right now, Black apparently won’t help in that regard.
He’s been playing the outfield corners more than first base this year, so perhaps the Brewers will have him in the outfield mix, since Jake Bauers is doing okay at first. They currently have Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and Akil Baddoo on the injured list. That leaves them with Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Brandon Lockridge getting the playing time in the outfield, with Greg Jones and Blake Perkins on the bench. Mitchell is the only guy in that healthy group with a wRC+ above 95 at the moment, so perhaps Black can charge in ahead of the other guys. There’s also the designated hitter spot to consider, though the Brewers are largely using that to split playing time between catchers William Contreras and Gary Sánchez.
Photo courtesy of Mark Hoffman, Imagn Images
Mariners Trade Casey Legumina To Rays
2:08pm: The teams have announced the swap. Tampa Bay opened a spot on the 40-man roster by transferring Uceta from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
12:55pm: The Rays are going to acquire right-hander Casey Legumina from the Mariners, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Mariners, who designated Legumina for assignment last week, will receive minor leaguer Ty Cummings in return, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make the deal official. Legumina is also out of options and will need an active roster spot when he reports to the team.
Legumina, 29 in June, is in his fourth major league season. He got limited looks with the Reds in 2023 and 2024. He was designated for assignment before the 2025 season and flipped to the Mariners. Seattle gave him a decent amount of time in the big leagues last year but he didn’t do much with the opportunity. He tossed 49 2/3 innings, allowing 5.62 earned runs per nine. His 25.1% strikeout rate was pretty good but he also gave out walks at a high clip of 11.4%.
As he struggled to produce decent results, the Mariners optioned him to the minors a few times. That burned his final option and left him out of options here in 2026. He held his roster spot to begin the year but couldn’t turn a corner. In 11 2/3 innings, his 4.63 ERA was an improvement compared to last year but with less impressive underlying numbers. He showed better control by only walking 5.7% of opponents but also saw his strikeout rate drop to 17%.
Maintaining that ERA was going to be tough, as a big factor is that he hasn’t allowed a home run yet. Also, his velocity is noticeably down. His four-seamer averaged 94.3 miles per hour last year but is down to 93.5 so far this year. His sinker has gone from 93.8 to 93 mph while his slider has dropped from 81.1 to 79.7 mph.
That got him bumped off the Seattle roster but the Rays will take a shot on him. Tampa is out to a strong 13-11 start but it’s no thanks to their bullpen. Their relief pitchers have a collective 5.64 ERA, worse than every team in the majors apart from the Astros and Royals. Injuries have taken a toll on the depth. They lost Manuel Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery last year. Both Steven Wilson and Edwin Uceta began the season on the injured list due to spring injuries. Since the regular season started, they have lost Garrett Cleavinger and Mason Englert to the IL.
The healthy guys haven’t stepped up. Yoendrys Gómez, Ian Seymour and Griffin Jax have each thrown at least nine innings and no one in that trio has an ERA below 7.00. Bryan Baker, Hunter Bigge, Kevin Kelly and Cole Sulser have been a bit better but each member of that quarter has an ERA above 4.00. There’s room in there for Legumina to earn some innings, especially if he can regain some of last year’s strikeouts and velocity.
To get Legumina on their big league club, the Rays are subtracting from their farm system. Cummings, now 24, was acquired as the player to be named later in the 2024 trade which sent Randy Arozarena to Seattle. Now the Mariners get Cummings back a little over a year later.
The right-hander has mostly worked as a starter in his minor league career. Prior to the first trade, he tossed 116 1/3 High-A innings in 2024 with a 4.17 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate. In 2025, he pitched in Double-A and Triple-A, logging 123 innings. His ERA improved to 3.29 but with a reduced 17.6% strikeout rate and 47.1% ground ball rate. So far in 2026, he’s been pitching in relief in Double-A. He tossed 5 1/3 innings over three appearances with a 1.69 ERA, 33.3% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate.
Perhaps the Mariners are intrigued by that recent bullpen move or maybe they will want to stretch him back out. Either way, they are probably happy to get back a guy they drafted, while giving up a guy they had already cut from their roster. Cummings will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December if not added to the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Phillies Recall Alex McFarlane For MLB Debut
The Phillies announced that they have recalled right-hander Alex McFarlane from Double-A Reading. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The Phils had an open roster spot due to yesterday’s moves, where they released Taijuan Walker and optioned Alan Rangel while recalling Nolan Hoffman.
McFarlane, 25 in June, was a fourth-round pick in 2022. The Phils tried him as a starter in the lower levels without much success. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2023 and missed all of 2024. Back on the mound in 2025, the Phils tried stretching him out again for a while, but moved him to a relief role late in the year. His final ten appearances were out of the bullpen. He wasn’t particularly impressive in those, with a 4.50 earned run average, 22.4% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate.
The Phils still believed in McFarlane th the point that they didn’t want him to get scooped in the Rule 5, so they added him to their 40-man roster in November. Baseball America ranked him the club’s #19 prospect coming into the year. FanGraphs put him at #14, highlighting the huge spin on his slider. He threw a splitter as a starter but both BA and FG suggest he would likely move to be more of a fastball/slider guy as a reliever.
He has started this year back at Double-A with some intriguing results. It’s only 6 1/3 innings but McFarlane has only allowed one earned run while striking out ten. However, there is some wildness, as he has walked four and thrown two wild pitches.
The Phils have been pushing their pitching staff a bit lately. Today will be the eighth game in a stretch of ten without an off-day. In the past five, their starter/bulk guy hasn’t gone more than 5 1/3 innings. That has left the relief group to pitch a lot, including five relievers in yesterday’s ten-inning loss to the Cubs.
McFarlane will give the club a fresh arm for tonight’s game. It’s possible he’ll be optioned back down right after. The Phils are planning to reinstate Zack Wheeler from the injured list to start Saturday’s game, so someone will have to be sent out for him. Since it could just be a short assignment, the Phils are going with McFarlane since he’s on the 40-man roster, skipping him over Triple-A. After the game, perhaps he will be sent back to Double-A Reading but heading to Triple-A Lehigh Valley is also a possibility.
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Nationals To Recall Riley Cornelio For MLB Debut
April 24th: This is now official, as the Nats announced they have recalled Cornelio and optioned Fernández.
April 23rd: The Nationals are going to recall right-hander Riley Cornelio, reports Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic. The Nats announced that righty Julian Fernández was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after today’s game, so Cornelio is presumably the corresponding move.
Cornelio, 26 in June, was a seventh-round pick of the Nats in 2022. As a minor leaguer, he has been working primarily as a starter. In 2025, he climbed from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A. Across those three levels, he threw 134 1/3 innings, allowing 3.28 earned runs per nine. His 10.1% walk rate was a tad high but he struck out 24.8% of batters faced.
The Nats didn’t want him to be exposed in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November. He came into big league camp but made just two official appearances before being optioned to the minors. He has started his season with four Triple-A starts, posting a 2.45 ERA in 18 1/3 innings. His four-seamer and sinker are both averaging around 95 miles per hour, as he also mixes in a mid-80s slider and changeup.
Presumably, Washington wants Cornelio to potentially provide length out of the bullpen. Fernández pitched the past two games, including two innings this afternoon, so he may not have been available tomorrow. Miles Mikolas is the scheduled starter tomorrow and he hasn’t been able to go deep into games. His five starts this year have ranged from five innings on the high end to three innings on the low end. Being short-handed in the bullpen would be less than ideal if Mikolas ends up getting another quick hook, so Cornelio replacing Fernández makes sense.
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Royals Release Plans For New Stadium
The Royals announced plans for a new ballpark in downtown Kansas City, specifically in the Crown Center neighborhood. A joint venture with Hallmark Cards, the project will also featured mixed-use elements, including new headquarters for both the club and the company. It is expected to cost about $3 billion in total with the stadium itself accounting for about two thirds of that. It will be funded with a mix of private and public sources. Kacen Bayless and Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star and Dave Skretta of the Associated Press were among those to provide further details.
John Sherman purchased the Royals in 2019 and has been focused on getting funding for a new stadium for much of the interim. Kauffman Stadium opened in 1973 and is one of the five oldest ballparks in the league, with only Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium being older.
The path to a new stadium hit a setback a few years ago. The Royals and the NFL’s Chiefs were hoping to get public funding for new stadiums from Jackson County, where Kansas City, Missouri is located. However, voters rejected a sales tax measure in April of 2024. That seemingly played a part in the Chiefs leaving the state, as they plan to play in Kansas City, Kansas starting in 2031.
Unlike the Chiefs, the Royals are going to stay in Missouri. It’s still not clear if Jackson County will provide any of the funding but the project has money coming from other sources. The Royals announced that they would be the primary funders, with over $2 billion in private funding in total. The state of Missouri and the city of Kansas City are also providing some. Missouri passed a law last year which allows the state to fund up to 50% of major stadium construction projects. Last week, the city passed an ordinance authorizing the city manager to negotiate a deal with the Royals worth up to $600MM.
Some details are still not clear. The specific timing of the planned moved hasn’t been announced. The team’s lease at Kauffman runs through 2031, so they have time in that regard. As mentioned, it’s unclear if Jackson County will provide any funds. The exact amount contributed by the state of Missouri hasn’t been reported. Kansas City council still has to give final approval and it’s possible the council could push for a public vote.
“We are so far away from a done deal,” councilman Johnathan Duncan said to the Star this week. “We still need a development agreement. We need a TIF (tax increment financing) plan. We need a CID. And we need some type of actual plan from the Royals that says this is what we’re going to be using the $600 million of bonds for.”
A formal club announcement doesn’t necessarily mean everything will proceed as planned. For instance, the Rays previously announced plans for a new stadium in St. Petersburg on the same site as Tropicana Field. But hurricane damage to the Trop led to fighting about repairs and ultimately squashed the deal. That’s a rare example and it’s unlikely something like that will happen in Kansas City but it illustrates that they still have to dot some i’s and cross some t’s.
Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images