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
Nationals To Recall Riley Cornelio For MLB Debut
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.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images
Rangers Select Peyton Gray, Designate Willie MacIver For Assignment
The Rangers announced that left-hander Robert Garcia has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 20th, with left shoulder inflammation. Right-hander Peyton Gray has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Gray, catcher Willie MacIver has been designated for assignment.
Garcia’s last appearance was on April 16th, a game he departed due to shoulder soreness. He and the Rangers opted not to put him on the IL immediately. It appears that a week of rest hasn’t allowed him to fully heal up, so the team has now put him on the shelf. An IL placement can be backdated if a player hasn’t been playing but there’s a three-day maximum, so the Rangers could only backdate it to Monday.
His injury will allow Gray to crack a major league roster for the first time, which is a nice story. As laid out by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in March, Gray spent time pitching in the minors and independent ball, in addition to winter ball stints in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Along the way, he worked for UPS, DoorDash and cut trees. He’s now going to the show just ahead of his 31st birthday, which will be in June.
Gray came into camp with the Rangers on a minor league deal. He turned some heads with a solid spring. He tossed 10 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs via six hits and one walk while striking out 18. He has reported to Triple-A and has continued to put up good numbers. He has thrown 12 2/3 scoreless innings over seven appearances, allowing eight hits and two walks while striking out 15. Last year, he also gave the Rangers 61 Triple-A innings with a 3.84 earned run average, 25.8% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.
This year, he’s mostly a fastball/changeup guy. His fastball, which is averaging 92.9 miles per hour, has been thrown 48.8% of the time this year. His 83.2 mile-per-hour change has made up 40.7% of his offerings. He has also mixed in a cutter and a slider. He’ll see if that recipe works on major-league hitters whenever he makes his major league debut.
MacIver, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Athletics in November. He’s been in Triple-A this year and is off to a rough start, with a .170/.333/.255 line through 60 plate appearances. He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Texas could take five days to explore trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers at any point before then.
His major league track record is limited and unimpressive. He got into 33 games for the A’s last year and hit .186/.252/.324 in those. He has shown the potential for more in the minors. Over 2024 and 2025, he slashed .323/.399/.534 in 604 Triple-A plate appearances. He is off to a much slower start this year but perhaps his track record enough to generate interest from other clubs. He still has options remaining and could be stashed in the minors as depth, as the Rangers were doing in recent weeks.
Since MacIver has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he would not have the right to elect free agency in the event he clears outright waivers. The Rangers might want that situation to come to pass since Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka are now the only two catchers on the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images
Mets Place Francisco Lindor On Injured List
3:05pm: Mendoza said reporters, including Joel Sherman of The New York Post, Lindor’s strain is worse than Soto’s and he will therefore miss a decent amount of time. Mendoza added that Mauricio will get the majority of shortstop time while Lindor is out.
2:13pm: The Mets announced that shortstop Francisco Lindor has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain. Infielder Ronny Mauricio has been recalled in a corresponding move. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reported on Mauricio’s call-up prior to the official announcement. They also announced their previously-reported recall of Christian Scott, with righty Austin Warren optioned as the corresponding move.
It’s a symbolic gut punch for the Mets. With Juan Soto on the IL for the past few weeks, they endured a 12-game losing streak. Last night, they got Soto back and finally snapped that streak with a win, but they lost Lindor in the process.
Lindor appeared to be in discomfort during the game and was removed after four innings. The team later announced that his departure was due to left calf tightness. Manager Carlos Mendoza later told reporters, including Mike Puma of The New York Post, that Lindor would undergo an MRI. Around the same time, Romero reported on Mauricio’s recall, making it seem likely that Lindor was bound for the IL.
It’s an unsurprising move given the events of last night but it’s unusual in the grander scheme of things, as Lindor has been very rarely hurt in his career. In the nine full seasons from 2016 to 2025, he played in at least 125 games in each. Only once was he below 143 and only twice did he come in under 152. This is his first trip to the IL since 2021.
Due to Lindor’s iron man nature, the Mets have been operating without a proper backup for most of this season. Third baseman Bo Bichette, who was primarily a shortstop prior to this year, has been Lindor’s emergency backstop and covered the spot after Lindor was removed last night. Brett Baty came off the bench to cover third.
Lindor is out to a slow start this year, with a .226/.314/.355 line, but in a small sample of 105 plate appearances. In that sample, his walk and strikeout rates are good but he is being held back by a .264 batting average on balls in play. His much larger career track record shows he’s an above-average hitter, defender and baserunner who is usually good for five to eight wins above replacement annually. It’s possible his somewhat slow start is due to a fractured hamate he suffered in February, which he recovered from in time to crack the Opening Day roster.
It’s unclear if the Mets plan to have Bichette cover short now. He wasn’t a great defender at that spot earlier in his career and he finished last season battling a knee injury. As a free agent in the most recent offseason, it didn’t seem as though many clubs had interest in signing him to play that spot. In the end, the Mets won the bidding and have had him at third. His third base defense appears to be about average so far in a small sample, but he’s off to a rough start at the plate, currently sporting a .220/.255/.290 line for the year.
It’s possible the club could keep him at third most of the time, since he’s still getting acclimated to the position, though that would mean playing Mauricio at short pretty much every day. Mauricio has a strong .293/.349/.638 slash in Triple-A this year but hasn’t hit in the majors yet, currently sitting on a career .234/.294/.359 line.
Playing Bichette at short would open up more line possibilities for the club, as Baty or Mark Vientos could cover third base. Neither of those two are hitting well this year but each has shown better form in the past. It’s also possible the Mets don’t firmly commit to one lane or another, as they could make in-game substitutions depending on the situation, opting for Bichette at short when hoping for more offense and moving him to third when prioritizing defense.
However the playing time gets sliced up, it’s not ideal for the Mets to lose a player of Lindor’s caliber. That’s especially true in light of their rough start. Though they snapped the losing streak last night, they are 8-16 on the year and tied with the Phillies for last in the National League. They just endured Soto’s absence and now will try to climb out of that hole without Lindor.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Dillon Dingler Keeps Getting Better
There was a time not too long ago where Dillon Dingler seemed to be on track to be a backup catcher. That’d have been a perfectly fine career, but it now seems he is so much more than that, which is great for him and the Tigers.
Dingler was a second-round pick of the Tigers in 2020. For most of his time in the minors, the book on him was that he had a great defensive skill set but his ceiling would be capped by a propensity for swinging and missing.
In 2022, Dingler spent the entire year at Double-A. He hit 14 home runs in 448 plate appearances and drew walks at a solid 10% clip, but his 31.9% strikeout rate was far too high high. For reference, the MLB average was 22.2% last year. The highest qualified hitter was Ryan McMahon at 32.3%. Players generally strike out more as they climb the minor league ladder and face tougher competition. With Dingler already whiffing at a high rate in Double-A, it would be natural to expect his rates to increase as he got to Triple-A and then the majors.
That season dimmed his stock a bit. Baseball America had him as the No. 4 prospect in the Tigers’ system going into 2022 but bumped him to No. 7 ahead of the 2023 season. Going into 2022, FanGraphs had Dingler at No. 4 in the system and even slotted him in as the game’s No. 108 prospect. Tthe following year, Dingler was off the Top 100, dropped to No. 7 in the system, and given a 45 FV (future value) on the 20-80 scale. The May 2024 scouting report from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen provides a good snapshot of how Dingler was viewed at that time:
“The athleticism and receiving to be a do-it-all defender behind the dish is here, and much of Dingler’s prospect variance is tied to whether his hit tool and medium-sized frame will enable him to be a primary catcher or just a luxury backup. He swings through a ton of in-zone fastballs and really struggles to get on top of anything in the upper third of the zone. There aren’t many catchers capable of punishing mistakes with power the way Dingler does, but his bat-to-ball ability is also comfortably worse than the typical hitter at that position. He shares quite a few similarities with Jake Rogers and should end up playing a lot, producing about 1.5 annual WAR in a low-end primary catching role.”
The 2023 season didn’t improve the way he was viewed. Injuries limited him to 89 games, including 26 at the Triple-A level. He punched out in 31.2% of his plate appearances and put up an ugly .202/.266/.384 line. Going into 2024, the Tigers gave him a 40-man spot to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, but BA knocked him down to No. 9 in the Detroit system. FanGraphs bumped him down to No. 10 and dropped his FV to 40+ (again, on the 20-80 scale).
Dingler’s 2024 was something of a mixed bag. His results at the Triple-A level were very encouraging. He took 301 trips to the plate and trimmed his strikeout rate to 20.3% — a massive improvement. His 10% walk rate was still good, and he hit 17 home runs. His .308/.379/.559 line translated to a 145 wRC+. That got some help from a .337 batting average on balls in play, but there were a lot of good signs regardless.
However, Dingler also got his first taste of the majors and delivered more worrisome results. It was a small sample size of 87 plate appearances, but his 34.5% strikeout rate was the exact kind of thing that prospect evaluators were concerned about in previous seasons. His .167/.195/.310 line was obviously unpleasant.
Last year was a breakout. An early injury to Rogers opened up some playing time, and Dingler ran with it. By the end of the year, he had appeared in 126 games. His defense received strong grades, as expected for a guy who was considered a glove-first prospect. He was credited with six Defensive Runs Saved, putting him among the top 15 catchers for that stat. FanGraphs had him as one of the game’s 10 best pitch framers. Statcast had him in the top ten in terms of framing, throwing and blocking. He won the American League Gold Glove for the catcher position.
The offense was arguably more notable, given his past reputation. Dingler’s 23.5% strikeout rate was a bit higher than average but very tolerable and certainly better than his minor league work. His 4.9% walk rate was subpar, but he hit 14 home runs and slashed .278/.327/.425 for a 109 wRC+. That was juiced by a .345 BABIP but was encouraging nonetheless.
So far in 2026, he’s been even better. It’s a tiny sample of 83 plate appearances but his walk rate has moved up a bit to 6%, still well below average but an uptick nonetheless. His strikeout rate is all the way down to 16.9%. He has a .264/.346/.528 line and 145 wRC+, despite a subpar BABIP of .264. Statcast puts his average exit velocity in the 84th percentile of qualified hitters. His hard-hit rate is 96th and barrel rate 95th.
As mentioned, that is a small sample and maybe he can’t maintain it. But at this point, Dingler has 639 career plate appearances. Even with his nightmare start in 2024, he has a combined .261/.311/.421 line, 104 wRC+, 4.9% walk rate and 24.1% strikeout rate. That walk rate may even increase, since he usually walked about twice as much in the minors.
Maybe the strikeouts will creep back up, but there are some encouraging indicators under the hood. Dingler had a decent eye, hence the walks in the minors, but he would miss when he did decide to swing. As mentioned in the pull quote above, a big problem was him missing balls in the strike zone, not so much a problem with chasing.
His contact rate in Double-A in 2022 was 67.8%. For context, the major league average last year was 76.4%. In 2023, when he was still striking out a lot in the minors, his contact rate was 70.6%. But in 2024, he got that up above 76%, both in the majors and in the minors. He was at 77% last year and is at 78.5% so far in 2026.
It’s possible that pitchers adjust how they attack Dingler. Perhaps due to his reputation, 53.8% of the pitches he saw last year were in the strike zone. That was well above the league average of 41.9%. In the early going here in 2026, only 47.8% of pitches he has seen have been in the zone. That’s still above par but a big drop from the year before. If pitchers continue to throw him fewer strikes, he may have to adjust his approach, but he’s not a free swinger right now. His 48.5% swing rate last year was above average but barely, as the league-wide mean was 47.4%. Since he was getting attacked more, it makes sense that he would swing more. He is up to 49.5% this year, despite seeing fewer pitches in the zone, though he is still getting balls over the plate a lot.
The overall package has been valuable so far. Dingler has appeared in 174 big league games. Thanks so his contributions on both sides of the ball, FanGraphs has credited him with 5.0 wins above replacement. Dating back to the start of last year, Cal Raleigh and Shea Langeliers are the only backstops with more fWAR. Baseball Reference is a bit more bearish, giving him 3.9 WAR so far. Time will tell if Dingler can hold his gains on the strikeout side of things, but the defense gives him a strong floor and he can clearly put a charge in the ball when he does connect.
Dingler’s breakout is a great development for the Tigers. They are about to lose Rogers to free agency in a few months. If Dingler were a strikeout-prone backup, as expected, Detroit would have been looking for a new catcher in the coming offseason. Instead, they should be able to just roll with Dingler.
They may have to replace Rogers, but that could also be done in house. Eduardo Valencia is already on the 40-man roster and has some helium thanks to a .319/.405/.622 showing in Triple-A last year. His numbers aren’t as strong so far in 2026, currently sporting a .182/.308/.299 line, but with an unfortunate .222 BABIP. There are questions about whether he can stick behind the plate, but the Tigers are still trying. He’s been in the catcher position for 101 innings this year, compared to 53 1/3 at first base. FanGraphs currently considers him the No. 8 prospect in the system.
Dingler is controlled through 2030, so there are also long-term questions to be answered. A couple of Detroit’s top prospects are catchers. Thayron Liranzo and Josue Briceño are consensus top five guys in the system. Briceño is generally considered a top-100 prospect. Liranzo is already on the 40-man roster but hasn’t yet reached the Triple-A level. He spent most of 2025 at Double-A and struck out at a 31.7% rate. He was slowed by an oblique strain this spring and is only now getting ramped up. Briceño also reached Double-A last year and hit better but has more questions about his ability to stick at catcher. He recently underwent wrist surgery and is likely to miss a few months of this year. Neither of these two are knocking on the door yet but could be at some point.
Even if Briceño is ultimately pushed to first base and designated hitter, the Tigers have Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter under club control through 2028. It’s possible the Tigers will get to a point where they feel someone from that group can be traded.
Even if they don’t build up enough of a surplus to trade someone, Dingler’s development is great for the long-term spine nonetheless. Kevin McGonigle is now signed through 2034 and could be the everyday shortstop for much of that span. Max Clark is one of the top prospects in all of baseball and is currently playing in Triple-A. He should be up at some point this season and could be the center fielder in Detroit through 2032.
Along with that long-term core, the Tigers have financial flexibility. Thanks to an aversion to long-term free agent contracts in recent years, their books are fairly clean. The Javier Báez deal is done after 2027. Framber Valdez is signed through 2028 but can opt out of the final year. All their other players making eight-figure salaries are slated for free agency after the current season. Pretty soon, the McGonigle and Colt Keith extensions will be the only guaranteed deals on the books, and those aren’t especially onerous.
The Tigers will probably need more pitching. Valdez can opt out after 2027. Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Justin Verlander and Casey Mize are free agents after the current season. That clean payroll outlook will give the front office space to sign guys, and as mentioned, they could also find themselves with a position player logjam that leads to a trade.
Detroit could also explore a Dingler extension if they were so inclined. He would probably be amenable to one. Catchers don’t age especially well due to the rigors of the position, which means they rarely receive big free agent deals — at least relative to other position players. J.T. Realmuto got to $115.5MM back in 2021, and he’s still the only free agent backstop to crack nine figures. That’s a big number, but dozens of infielders and outfielders have beaten that handily.
Dingler was a bit of a late bloomer, as he didn’t reach the majors until his age-25 season and didn’t break out until he was 26. His window of club control already goes through his age-31 season, meaning he would hit the open market ahead of his age-32 campaign. If the Tigers wanted to lock him up and add another year or two, it seems fair to assume he would be interested.
Extensions for catchers this early in their careers are rare. Most of the notable recent deals for catchers came when they pushed into their arbitration years. Will Smith signed his $131.5MM deal with the Dodgers when he had over four years of service time. Alejandro Kirk was also in that bucket when the Blue Jays gave him $58MM. Raleigh and Sean Murphy had between three and four years of service when they got $99.4MM and $73MM, respectively.
The one recent deal that aligns with Dingler’s current status is the eight-year $50MM deal signed by the Nationals and Keibert Ruiz. Apart from the fact that both catchers have between one and two years of service, it’s not a great comp. Ruiz hadn’t had as much success then as Dingler has now. The deal was mostly a bet on Ruiz’s prospect pedigree, which has not panned out so far. Ruiz has mostly struggled and the deal looks like an albatross. It’s safe to presume he’d top that deal by a comfortable margin.
Contract talk aside, Dingler is making the Tigers stronger now and can continue to do so for years to come. Detroit will face some challenges with none of their starters signed long-term, but the Tigers have a strong foundation on the position player side to utilize, with Dingler rapidly emerging as a key piece of that core.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: Kevin McGonigle, The Padres’ Franchise Valuation, And Edwin Díaz To Miss Time
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Tigers signing Kevin McGonigle to an eight-year extension (1:30)
- José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones reportedly having an agreement in place to buy the Padres (13:10)
- Dodgers right-hander Edwin Díaz requiring elbow surgery (27:20)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Are the Braves for real? And what do they do once their injured guys get healthy? (32:20)
- If a salary cap is theoretically implemented, how would it work with the teams currently over the cap? (40:50)
- Can Michael Wacha of the Royals keep up his dominance? (45:50)
- What are the Reds going to do with Matt McLain and TJ Friedl? (48:15)
- Can the Nationals keep up this level of offense? And if so, should they have invested more in this year’s pitching staff? (52:10)
Check out our past episodes!
- Lenyn Sosa Traded, And Injury Concerns For The Astros, Cubs And Orioles – listen here
- Previewing The 2026-27 Free-Agent Class – listen here
- Lots Of Extensions And Big-Picture Topics – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Rangers To Place Wyatt Langford On IL With Flexor Strain
The Rangers are going to place outfielder Wyatt Langford on the 10-day injured list with a flexor strain. The player himself told members of the media, including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. It’s a grade 1 strain and Langford expects it will just be a minimal stint. Fellow outfielder Alejandro Osuna will be recalled as the corresponding move.
It’s a bit of an unusual injury situation. Flexor strains are common for pitchers but not so much for position players. It also appears that Langford didn’t hurt himself throwing but rather on a swing, as he told reporters last night, including Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports. It’s possible that Langford has been banged up for a decent chunk of the season so far. He also suffered a small quad strain a couple of weeks ago but didn’t land on the IL at that time.
He has a .238/.274/.363 batting line and 78 wRC+ through his first 84 plate appearances. That’s well below his normal production, as he hit .247/.335/.423 for a 115 wRC+ over the previous two campaigns. Though it’s not good that he now has this flexor strain to deal with, perhaps some time on the shelf will be the reset he needs to get healthy and back on track.
The Rangers have primarily had an outfield trio of Langford in left, Evan Carter in center and Brandon Nimmo in right. Sam Haggerty, Ezequiel Durán and Andrew McCutchen have chipped in on occasion. Those three and Osuna are now options to cover left field while Langford is out.
McCutchen is 39 years old and has mostly been a designated hitter in recent years. The last time he played more than eight games in the outfield was 2022. He has said that was the Pirates’ preference and not his own but is still seems unlikely the Rangers would throw him out there on a regular basis.
Duran has a strong .298/.353/.447 line so far this year and could perhaps step up for more regular work, especially with Haggerty hitting .154/.214/.154 on the season. Durán’s production is helped by a .371 batting average on balls in play but he’s also showing improvement elsewhere, as this year’s walk and strikeout rates would be career highs if he could maintain them.
Osuna made his big league debut last year and slashed .212/.313/.278 in 176 trips to the plate. He’s been better in the minors but is out to a slow-ish start this year. His .262/.355/.354 line translates to a 91 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He had a much more robust .292/.493/.417 line at that level last year, though in an equally small sample of 67 plate appearances. Osuna is a lefty, so perhaps the Rangers could do some platooning, as both Durán and McCutchen are righties.
Photo courtesy of Jim Cowsert, Imagn Images
Tigers Select Burch Smith
3:45pm: The Tigers have made the move official, announcing they have selected Smith and optioned De Jesus. Left-hander Bailey Horn was transferred to the 60-day injured list as the 40-man move. Evan Woodbery of the MLive Media Group reported the Horn move prior to the official announcement. Horn began the season on the 15-day IL while recovering from left elbow arthroscopy. He began a rehab assignment earlier this month and pitched on April 7th and 11th but that rehab was shut down. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement in late May.
2:45pm: The Tigers are going to select the contract of right-hander Burch Smith. Left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding active roster move. The Tigers will need to open a 40-man spot to make it official. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic was among those to relay that Smith had a locker in the clubhouse and that De Jesus has been optioned.
Smith, 36, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the winter. He has been with Triple-A Toledo to begin the season and has been off to a hot start. Through eight appearances and ten innings, he has allowed just two earned runs via four hits, no walks and one hit batter while striking out 16. He has been throwing his changeup 12.6% of the time in that small sample, after only using that pitch about 1-3% of the time in recent years.
The Tigers will give Smith a chance to face major league hitters for the first time since 2024. Though he is in his mid-3os and debuted in the majors over a decade ago, his big league track record is still pretty limited. At the end of 2021, he had 191 major league innings with a 6.03 earned run average. He spent 2022 in NPB in Japan and 2023 in the KBO in South Korea.
He was back in the majors with the Marlins and Orioles in 2024 and posted a 4.95 ERA in 56 1/3 innings. Last year, he was stuck in the minors with the Pirates after signing a minor league deal. He bounced on and off the injured list in the minors and put up a 7.08 ERA in Triple-A before being released in July.
Though Smith didn’t sign anywhere else in the latter months of 2025, the Tigers may have been intrigued by a stint in winter ball in the Dominican Republic. Pitching for Águilas Cibaeñas, Smith logged 15 1/3 innings with a 1.76 ERA. He struck out 20 of the 63 batters he faced, a 31.7% clip. He has carried over that form so far this year, with a 29% strikeout rate in spring training and a huge 44.4% clip in Triple-A.
If he provide something close to that in the majors, it would be a nice under-the-radar find for the Tigers. If not, Smith has at least five years of service time, meaning he can’t be optioned back to the minors without his consent.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Phillies Place J.T. Realmuto On Injured List
3:20pm: The Phillies have now officially announced Realmuto’s IL placement, listing his ailment as back spasms. To open a 40-man spot for Stubbs, right-hander Max Lazar has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. Lazar began the season on the 15-day IL due to a left oblique strain. His 60-day count is retroactive to the start of the season, so he can be reinstated in late May. He hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment.
1:10pm: The Phillies are going to place catcher J.T. Realmuto on the 10-day injured list due to a lower back injury, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Fellow catcher Garrett Stubbs will be selected to take Realmuto’s place on the active roster. A corresponding move will be required to open a 40-man spot for Stubbs.
Realmuto was removed from Saturday’s game due to lower back tightness. He sat out the contests on Sunday and Monday before rejoining the lineup on Tuesday, though Gelb notes the injury was still limiting him. It seems the Phils and/or Realmuto have decided that he needs to rest up, rather than try to play through the issue.
That’s probably a sensible decision in the long term but the timing is challenging for the Phillies. They are out to a brutal 8-15 start to the season. They would be the worst team in the majors if not for the Mets struggling even more. The offense has been a particularly weak part for Philly thus far, as they have only scored 80 runs. The Mets and Giants are the only MLB teams with fewer.
Losing Realmuto won’t help. He hasn’t been on fire this year but his .259/.344/.352 line translates to a 100 wRC+, indicating he’s been exactly league average. Catchers are usually about ten points below par, so that’s actually pretty solid production for a backstop. It also has value in the context of so many other hitters in the Philadelphia lineup struggling.
For at least ten days, the Phillies will go with the pairing of Rafael Marchán and Stubbs behind the plate. Marchán has been part of Philly’s catching mix for years, debuting back in 2020, but hasn’t been able to get much playing time behind Realmuto. He has just 271 big league plate appearances spread across the years, with a .223/.283/.364 line and 77 wRC+. That includes a brutal .065/.094/.161 line so far in 2026.
Stubbs has also been in the Philly catching mix for years but both he and Marchán were out of options coming into 2026. The club dabbled with Stubbs playing other positions in spring but ultimately made the decision to go with Marchán as the backup and push Stubbs off the roster. He cleared outright waivers, allowing the Phillies to keep him around as non-roster depth.
That has led to today’s return to the big leagues. He has an excellent .289/.413/.632 line in Triple-A this year, but in a tiny sample size of ten games and 46 plate appearances. In his major league career, he has stepped to the plate 521 times and produced a .215/.293/.310 line and 70 wRC+.
Stubbs and Marchán will try their best to cover for Realmuto’s absence but his IL stint will make it a bit harder for them to pull out of this early tailspin. Ideally, he will heal up and return after a minimal absence. As mentioned, both Stubbs and Marchán are out of options, so one of them will likely be pushed off the roster when Realmuto’s IL stint is done.
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Mets Reinstate Juan Soto
April 22nd: Soto has been officially activated, as expected, with Senger optioned as the corresponding move.
April 21st: The Mets are planning to reinstate Juan Soto from the injured list on Wednesday, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He has been on the 10-day IL for a little over two weeks but will now return without a rehab assignment.
Soto, of course, is one of the best hitters in the league. He put up a huge .355/.412/.516 line in the club’s first eight games. A strain in his right calf put him out of action and sent him to the IL. Soto’s absence almost perfectly aligns with the club’s season going into a tailspin. The Mets won their first game with Soto on the IL, increasing their record to 7-4. They have since dropped 11 straight contests, dropping them to 7-15. That’s the worst record in the National League and only half a game better than the Royals for worst in the majors.
Ideally, Soto’s return will help the Mets to get back in the win column before the season slips away. They still have lots of time to make up ground but they’ve already put themselves in a hole. FanGraphs still gives the Mets a 41.4% chance of making the postseason, which doesn’t seem too bad in the current context, but that’s basically half of the 80.4% chance they had to begin the campaign.
The outfield has been a particular weak spot for the club since Soto landed on the shelf. The club has received a collective .232/.305/.322 line from their outfielders since Soto’s IL placement. That line translates to an 83 wRC+, indicating the group has been 17% below average, with only seven clubs below them in that category.
The Mets had planned on having Carson Benge in right, Luis Robert Jr. in center and Soto in left as their primary alignment. Robert is playing well but Benge has a .143/.229/.206 line on the year. That’s partially due to a rough .182 batting average on balls in play but his struggles have unfortunately coincided with Soto’s absence. Brett Baty has been largely bumped to the outfield by the Mets’ offseason infield additions but he has a .200/.206/.277 line this year. Tyrone Taylor is hitting .214/.241/.357. Tommy Pham is hitless in eight plate appearances.
Due to both Soto and Jorge Polanco being on the IL, MJ Melendez has picked up some playing time in the designated hitter spot. He has a .357/.438/.714 line but in a tiny sample of 16 plate appearances. That’s been helped by a massive .800 BABIP and has come despite him striking out eight times, half of his plate appearances. He won’t sustain this kind of production, especially since he’s a .216/.298/.391 hitter in almost 1700 career plate appearances.
The Mets will have to remove someone from the active roster when Soto is officially reinstated. They are currently carrying three catchers, so optioning Hayden Senger is probably the easiest solution. Recalling Senger for Polanco a few days ago may have been about giving the club the option of using Francisco Alvarez in the DH spot when he was getting a day off from catching, but they have been riding the hot hand of Melendez instead.
Optioning Benge is another option, since he is struggling so much. But as mentioned, some of that is due to poor batted ball luck, so the Mets might keep him around and hope his luck changes. Melendez also has options but the Mets might let him keep going until the hot streak ends. Designating Pham for assignment would be another possibility, since he’s not playing much and hasn’t hit when given the chance.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images