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Twins Select Scott Blewett, Designate Darren McCaughan For Assignment

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Scott Blewett. To make room for him on both the active and 40-man rosters, fellow righty Darren McCaughan has been designated for assignment.

McCaughan, 29, is a swingman who was selected to the Minnesota roster a week ago. On March 30, starter Bailey Ober only lasted 2 2/3 innings as he pitched through an illness, which led to Randy Dobnak covering 5 1/3 frames in relief. After that yeoman’s work, Dobnak was going to be unavailable for a few days, so the Twins swapped in McCaughan and designated Dobnak for assignment.

This move also seems to be motivated by notable innings going to the bullpen. In this case, it wasn’t just one guy. The Twins lost a heartbreaker yesterday, falling 9-7 to the Astros in ten innings, a game in which they were leading from the bottom of the first to the top of the ninth. Starter Chris Paddack had only gone four innings, so the club used seven relievers the rest of the way, including McCaughan. They also used five relievers on Saturday, leaving the overall group fairly taxed.

That has all led to McCaughan getting bumped off the 40-man. He performed well in his brief stint on the roster, tossing 5 1/3 innings over three appearances. He allowed one earned run while striking out six batters and issuing just one walk.

That’s obviously a small sample and the overall body of work is less impressive. He has a 6.02 ERA in 61 1/3 innings in his big league career. He is out of options, so his grip on a roster spot was likely tenuous even before the Minnesota pitching staff was ground into dust over the weekend. The Twins will now have to trade him or put him on waivers in the coming days. He has a previous career outright, so he will have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through waivers unclaimed.

The Twins don’t have another off-day until the 17th, so keeping the bullpen healthy enough to survive is going to be a challenge. For now, they’ve added one fresh arm in Blewett. A few days from his 29th birthday, Blewett has 28 1/3 innings of major league experience, most of that coming with the Twins last year. His 2.22 ERA looks quite nice in that small sample but his 21.3% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate are both subpar numbers. He’s been helped by an 86.4% strand rate, a very fortunate number, which is likely why his 3.84 FIP and 4.43 SIERA are far higher.

He was outrighted off the Twins’ roster at the end of last year and elected free agency but re-signed on a minor league deal. He had a 2.79 ERA in Spring Training but was sent to Triple-A to start the year. He allowed three earned runs in 2 1/3 innings for the Saints to open the campaign.

Blewett has mostly been working in relief this year but has done plenty of starting and long relief work in his minor league career. Given that he’s out of options and the Twins don’t have another off-day for more than a week, it’s possible they will lean on him for a few innings in what could be a short stay on the roster.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Rockies Promote Chase Dollander

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TODAY: The Rockies officially selected Dollander’s contract, and optioned Bradley Blalock to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

APRIL 4: The Rockies are going to promote their top pitching prospect, reports Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball. Right-hander Chase Dollander will make his major league debut when he starts for the club on Sunday. There’s already an opening on the 40-man roster, so the club will only need to make a corresponding active roster move.

Dollander, now 23, has been a hyped-up name for a while now. He put up big numbers for Tennessee and was ranked as one of the top players available in the 2023 draft. The Rockies selected him with the ninth overall pick and then signed him to a slot-value bonus of $5,716,900.

He made his professional debut last year in impressive fashion. He tossed 118 innings over 23 starts, going from High-A to Double-A in the process. He allowed just 2.59 earned runs per nine, striking out 33.9% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 9.4% clip.

Going into 2025, the industry consensus is that he’s one of the top prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him #7 overall and MLB Pipeline #24. FanGraphs had him at #12 to start the season, but with the now-graduated Dylan Crews as one of the guys ahead of him. ESPN had Dollander at #14, though also behind Crews. Keith Law of The Athletic was more bearish, putting Dollander down at #75, with concerns about some of his results in Tennessee.

The Rockies reportedly gave some consideration to having Dollander in the season-opening rotation. They sent him to Triple-A Albuquerque instead, where he made one start, allowing one earned run over four innings. The big league club started the season with just four games before their first off-day, having Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Ryan Feltner and Germán Márquez start those.

Austin Gomber likely would have had a fifth spot but he started the season on the 15-day injured list with shoulder soreness. He made a rehab start for Albuquerque but was scratched from making a second due to inflammation in that shoulder, per Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Perhaps due to Gomber’s setback, Dollander will get an early-season call-up.

The big unknown will be how Dollander handles the challenges of pitching at Coors Field, the most hitter-friendly venue in the big leagues. Geoff Pontes of Baseball America believes Dollander is well-positioned to succeed, even though plenty of other talented arms have struggled there. Pontes points out that pitchers with low release heights, such as Dollander, have previously fared well at Coors. The piece also cites the spin efficiency of Dollander’s fastball, which sits between 96 and 98 miles per hour, as a factor that could work in his favor. In addition that fastball, he throws a  changeup, a curveball and another breaking ball that is characterized as either a slider or a cutter by various sources.

If Dollander can thrive at Coors, he could become the most important arm in the rotation for their next competitive window. The club has been losing for a long time now but have seen some young players come up and establish themselves as building blocks, such as Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop and Brenton Doyle in center field.

In the rotation, there’s little long-term certainty. Márquez and Gomber are impending free agents while the contracts for Senzatela and Freeland are only guaranteed through 2026, with options for 2027. It’s possible the Rockies sign new deals with those pitchers but they’re all in their 30s now regardless. At 23 years old, Dollander could potentially be the rock of the group for many years to come, if everything breaks right.

Though he wasn’t on the Opening Day roster, he is getting called up early enough to potentially earn a full service year in 2025. A baseball season is 187 days long but a player needs only 172 days on the active roster or injured list to get a full year. If he’s not optioned down to the minors at any point, he would be on track to qualify for free agency after the 2030 campaign, though a notable optional assignment would push that trajectory by one year.

If he does stay up, the Rockies would be eligible to potentially receive an extra draft pick. The current collective bargaining agreement introduced measures to combat service time manipulation. One such measure is that a team can earn an extra draft if they promote a top prospect early enough to earn a full service year. To qualify, a player must be on two of the three Top 100 lists of BA, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. The player must then win Rookie of the Year or place in the top three of MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration seasons.

Those will perhaps be factors later in the year. For now, one of the best young pitchers in the game is coming up to the majors. Facing big league hitters for the first time is always a fascinating challenge for any pitching prospect but the interest level is arguably even higher in this case, given the unique circumstances of Coors Field and Dollander’s potential importance to the franchise.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri and Steven Branscombe, Imagn Images

Richard Lovelady Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Lovelady has opted to reject the outright assignment and become a free agent, according to his MLB.com profile page.

APRIL 4: The Blue Jays have sent left-hander Richard Lovelady outright to Triple-A Buffalo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago.

Lovelady, 29, has the right to elect free agency but it’s unclear if he will do so. Players with at least three years of major league service time, such as Lovelady, have that right. However, a player needs at least five years of service in order to both elect free agency and retain whatever money is still owed to him on his contract. Lovelady is just barely over the three-year line, meaning he’d have to walk away from his current contract if he heads to the open market.

It’s unclear what sort of financial decision he’s weighing. He signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and was added to the 40-man prior to Opening Day. His major league salary on that deal hasn’t been publicly reported.

If he reports to Buffalo, he’ll give the Jays some non-roster depth. His brief time on their major league roster didn’t go well, as he allowed four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. But his career track record is better than that. Overall, he has 101 innings in the majors with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. Both of those numbers are close to league averages but his 50.2% ground ball rate is a few ticks better than par.

This has all resulted in a 5.26 earned run average but perhaps with some bad luck in there. His .301 batting average on balls in play and 65% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side of normal. That’s perhaps why his 4.32 FIP and 4.04 SIERA look far nicer than his ERA.

The Jays currently have Brendon Little and Mason Fluharty as the lefties in their bullpen. Josh Walker is on the 40-man but on optional assignment. As the season rolls along, injuries will pop up or the bullpen will get taxed during busy parts of the schedule. If Lovelady accepts his assignment and he performs well in Buffalo, the Jays could call him back up at some point. If he decides to head to free agency, he will likely be limited to minor league offers from other clubs.

Braves Re-Sign Jesse Chavez To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have re-signed right-hander Jesse Chavez to a fresh minor league deal, as reflected in his transaction tracker at MLB.com. The Apex Baseball client has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.

The news is not surprising in the least. Chavez is a 41-year-old veteran who has bounced around to various teams in the league, but in recent years, he always seems to wind up back in Atlanta. Going into the 2021 season, he signed a minor league deal with the Angels. When he didn’t make that club’s Opening Day roster, he was released and signed with Atlanta. Going into 2022, he signed with the Cubs but was traded to Atlanta before the end of April. He was flipped to the Angels in early August as part of the Raisel Iglesias trade but was released and back in Atlanta before September. He re-signed with Atlanta for 2023. Going into 2024, he signed a minors deal with the White Sox but didn’t make the Opening Day roster and was with Atlanta before the end of March. The same thing happened this spring, only with the Rangers instead of the White Sox.

Chavez was added to Atlanta’s roster earlier this week and tossed two mop-up innings in Monday’s game. With the pitching staff fairly taxed and Chavez likely unavailable for a day or two, they designated him for assignment. He cleared waivers and elected free agency but is now back with the club on a new deal.

Despite his age, he has managed to stay very effective in recent years. Dating back to the start of the 2021 season, he has thrown 203 major league innings with a 2.93 earned run average, 24.3% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 42.4% ground ball rate.

He got squeezed off Atlanta’s roster but is now back to provide them with some non-roster depth. Given recent patterns, he should be back in the big leagues as soon as the bullpen is gassed again and they need a fresh arm.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.

Mariners Designate Hagen Danner For Assignment

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Hagen Danner has been designated for assignment. That opens a 40-man spot for Luis F. Castillo. It was reported yesterday that Castillo would be coming up to start today’s game, making for an odd bit of trivia as the other Luis Castillo started the prior game for the M’s. An active roster spot was already opened by optioning left-hander Jhonathan Díaz yesterday.

Danner, 26, hasn’t been with the Mariners for long. He was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays in January. He then tossed 3 1/3 innings in the Cactus League, allowing five earned runs. He was then sent to Triple-A Tacoma and started his season with 2 2/3 scoreless innings there.

His overall track record as a pitcher isn’t terribly long. The Jays drafted him as a catcher and tried him at that spot for a few years, but his bat didn’t pan out and they moved him to the mound. He has since put up some decent numbers on a rate basis but with occasional injury absences. Due to those health issues, he still hasn’t thrown 40 innings in any one season.

He has one third of an inning in the majors, which was back in 2023, and then 116 2/3 minor league innings from 2021 to the present. In that minor league work, he has a 2.93 earned run average, 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate.

The M’s will now have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade interest would have to be gauged in the next five days. Danner still has an option, so he could be stashed in the minors by any club willing to give him a 40-man spot. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, the Mariners could hold onto him as some non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Nationals Place Michael Soroka On Injured List Due To Biceps Strain

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The Nationals announced that right-hander Michael Soroka has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 1st, due to a right arm biceps strain. Fellow righty Jackson Rutledge has been recalled in a corresponding active roster move.

At this point, it’s unclear how serious Soroka’s injury is. He tossed five innings against the Blue Jays on Monday but departed with an apparent injury. After the game, manager Dave Martinez told reporters that Soroka had bicep cramps and framed the move as precautionary. Andrew Golden of The Washington Post was among those to relay the update.

Golden relays today that Soroka threw on the field before Wednesday’s game and the club wanted to see how he felt after that session before making a decision. It seems they have decided to put him on the shelf for at least another 12 days, since they backdated the IL move by three, the maximum allowed.

Whether this proves to be a notable injury or not, health issues have been a big part of the Soroka narrative. Back in 2019, he posted a 2.68 earned run average over 29 starts for Atlanta, finishing second to Pete Alonso in National League Rookie of the Year voting. But staying healthy has been a big challenge since then. Most significantly, he tore his right Achilles on two separate occasions. He wasn’t able to pitch much over the 2020 to 2023 seasons, missing 2021 and 2022 entirely.

He was flipped to the White Sox ahead of 2024 and had mixed results in Chicago. He started in the rotation but had a 6.39 ERA through nine starts and got moved to the bullpen. His first few relief appearances weren’t great but he finished strong. He logged 24 1/3 innings over his last 11 appearances with a 1.48 ERA, 42.7% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. However, he was on the IL for about two months, with a shoulder strain putting him out of action from mid-July to mid-September.

He hit free agency with a bit of positive momentum, generating interest both as a starter and a reliever. He landed with the Nats on a one-year, $9MM deal with the plan being to give him another shot at a starting gig.

That plan is now on pause at least for a little while. Presumably, the Nats will put him back in the rotation if he only missed a short amount of time. They aren’t expecting to be competitive this year and likely have an eye on trading Soroka in July. He would have more value as a successful starter than as a reliever. Though given his injury history, there may come a point where they decide it’s better to keep him in short stints if they think he will have a better shot at staying healthy that way.

In the meantime, a rotation opportunity will be open for someone else, alongside MacKenzie Gore, Trevor Williams, Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker. They were off yesterday and start a six-game homestand tonight before another off-day on Thursday. After that, they have a ten-game road trip. Rutledge has starting experience but began this season working out of the bullpen in Triple-A. DJ Herz, Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray are all on the injured list. Shinnosuke Ogasawara and Andry Lara are on the 40-man roster but currently on optional assignment. Each has already made a Triple-A start and could be recalled in the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images

Astros’ Luis Garcia To Be Shut Down Four More Weeks

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The Astros provided reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic, with an update on injured right-hander Luis Garcia. His second opinion revealed “inflammation in his right elbow.” He will be shut down for another four weeks before being reevaluated.

The elbow has been an ongoing issue for almost two years now. Garcia’s last major league appearance was May 1st of 2023. He departed that game with some elbow soreness and it was quickly determined that he would require Tommy John surgery. Given that it usually takes 14 months or more to recover from such a procedure, a return late in 2024 was possible. He started a rehab assignment in June but was quickly shut down due to ongoing soreness and didn’t return to the mound in the later months of the season.

Despite that frustrating setback, it seemed fair to expect him to get 100% healthy in the offseason and be ready for 2025. But he was again shut down two weeks ago due to renewed discomfort in his elbow. He was sent for further examinations and is now facing another shutdown period.

On the one hand, today’s update could have been worse. A four-week shutdown isn’t quite as bad as another season-ending surgery. On the other hand, it’s surely frustrating for Garcia and the club that he can’t seem to get over the hump. Even if he’s healthy in four weeks, he will need the equivalent of a full spring ramp-up, which will probably add another six weeks or so. That means he’s probably not going to be back with the Astros until June even in the best-case scenario. By that point, it will have been more than two years since his last big league game.

Prior to all these problems, he was a solid piece of the Houston rotation. He logged 155 1/3 innings over 30 appearances in 2021, posting a 3.48 earned run average. He made another five starts in the playoffs. In 2022, he made 28 more regular season starts with a 3.72 ERA.

Getting him back into the mix would be ideal but that will have to wait at least another few months. The Astros will likely transfer him to the 60-day injured list once they need a 40-man roster spot. For now, their rotation consists of Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, Spencer Arrighetti and Hayden Wesneski.

Garcia is one of several injured starters, as Lance McCullers Jr., J.P. France and Cristian Javier are also on the IL. Until someone in that group gets healthy, the top depth starter is perhaps Colton Gordon. He has no major league experience but is on the 40-man roster and throwing in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Padres Select Oscar González, Outright Eguy Rosario

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The Padres announced that outfielder Oscar González has been selected to the 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A El Paso. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Jhony Brito was transferred to the 60-day injured list. The Friars also announced that infielder Eguy Rosario, who was designated for assignment a week ago, cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A El Paso.

González, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Padres in the offseason. When he didn’t make the Opening Day roster, it was reported that he had an in-season opt-out at some point. That’s presumably why he is being added to the roster but kept in El Paso today. The club doesn’t have a spot on the active roster for him but also doesn’t want him to get away. He’ll give them some optionable depth for now.

He has shown a bit of pop but also with pretty rough plate discipline. He made a splash with the Guardians in 2022, hitting 11 home runs in just 382 plate appearances, plus another clutch home run in the playoffs. But his 3.9% walk rate was very low and dropped to 2.8% the following year. He has also only drawn walks in 4.7% of his minor league plate appearances since the cancelled 2020 season.

When his results tapered off in 2023, the Guardians optioned him to the minors several times and put him on waivers at season’s end. He was claimed by the Yankees but passed through waivers shortly thereafter. He spent 2024 in the Yankees’ minor league system, hitting eight home runs in 78 Triple-A games. He didn’t get called to the majors and was able to elect free agency at the end of the year, which led him to the Friars.

He had a huge .400/.431/.564 showing in the spring but with a .500 batting average on balls in play in that small sample. In four games with El Paso thus far, he has two home runs but a .167 batting average and no walks. It’s a flawed profile but the Padres are perhaps intrigued by the power potential, at least enough to give him a 40-man spot for now.

They have Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. locked into the center and right field positions respectively. The left field and designated hitter spots are more open, currently featuring a rotating cast that includes Jason Heyward, Brandon Lockridge, Gavin Sheets and Yuli Gurriel. Lockridge isn’t fully established as a big leaguer while the other three have been fairly inconsistent in recent years. If any of them struggle or get hurt, the Padres could turn to Tirso Ornelas, Connor Joe or González, who are each on the 40-man.

The reason they had a 40-man spot to work with is that they evidently don’t expect Brito back anytime soon. He started the year on the 15-day IL due to a right forearm strain. The club hasn’t provided any updates on his status but this transfer means he can’t be reinstated until late May at the earliest.

As for Rosario, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him go unclaimed. He is out of options, meaning he would have needed an active roster spot with any claiming club, but his numbers have been decent. His major league work comes in a sample of just 100 plate appearances but he has a solid .245/.283/.500 line in those. He has slashed .279/.363/.493 for a 115 wRC+ in the minor leagues since the cancelled 2020 season. Defensively, he has experience at all four infield spots and right field.

President of baseball operations suggested recently that the Padres would find a trade partner for Rosario. “Eguy’s a big league player,” Preller said. “…He’s going to get an opportunity to go elsewhere and play in the big leagues I would think immediately, and we’ll try to add some value through a trade here in the next week.” But not only did the Padres not line up a trade. No club was even willing to grab Rosario off the wire.

He’ll therefore stick with the Padres as non-roster depth. Since this is his first career outright assignment and he has less than three years of big league service time, he does not have the right to elect free agency.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Cooper Hummel Elects Free Agency

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The Astros announced that utility player Cooper Hummel has cleared waivers and elected free agency. Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 relayed the news prior to the official announcement. Houston had designated Hummel for assignment a week ago as they set their Opening Day roster. Since he had a previous career outright, he had the right to reject another such assignment and has exercised that right.

Hummel, 30, will now head to the open market and assess his options. The fact that he cleared waivers means that no club was willing to give him a 40-man roster spot, perhaps a reflection of his out-of-options status.

He should be able to find offers on minor league deals. He has only hit .159/.255/.275 in his major league career, though in a fairly small sample of 235 plate appearances spread across three seasons. His minor league work has been greater in quality and quantity. Since the start of 2021, he has stepped to the plate 1,419 times at the Triple-A level. He drew a walk in 17.5% of those appearances while only striking out 20.9% of the time. His .285/.419/.480 combined line translates to a 130 wRC+. He hit .316/.435/.447 in spring action before the Astros cut him loose.

In addition to those interesting offensive numbers, he provides value on the basepaths and defensively versatility. He racked up double-digit stolen base totals in each of the past two years. In terms of his glovework, he has done plenty of work behind the plate and also lined up at the four corner spots.

He didn’t crouch behind the plate last year and hasn’t played third since 2021, but the overall package is still intriguing. The offense has always been strong in the minors and he looked good in camp recently. He can play first base and the outfield corners and perhaps there’s a club willing to put him back in the catcher position. If he clicks somewhere and gets back to the majors, he is out of options but his service time count is barely over the one-year line, meaning he can be cheaply retained beyond this season if he earns and holds a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

White Sox To Sign Joshua Palacios To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox are signing outfielder Joshua Palacios to a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Ballengee Group client elected free agency earlier this week after being outrighted by the Pirates.

Palacios, 29, has bounced around the majors in the past few years. He has suited up for the Blue Jays, Nationals and Pirates in the four most recent big league seasons. Broadly speaking, he has hit well in the minors without finding success in the majors.

He has been sent to the plate 433 times thus far in his big league career, with a .230/.286/.364 line in those. That translates to a wRC+ of 75, indicating he’s been 25% below league average overall. He also took 781 minor league plate appearances in that 2021-24 span with a .303/.387/.484 line and 131 wRC+.

The gap between his major and minor league numbers has led to him frequently being sent to the farm and back. He exhausted his final option year in 2024 and is now out of options, which got him squeezed off Pittsburgh’s 40-man.

If he puts together another good minor league showing with the White Sox, they should be able to give him some big league playing time later in the year. Their outfield mix currently consists of Luis Robert Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Travis Jankowski, Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor. All of those players should be available in midseason trade talks, as they all have fairly narrow windows of control on a White Sox team that isn’t expecting to compete in the near term.

Assuming some of those players do indeed get traded in the coming months, the White Sox have a bunch of guys who could pick up some of the playing time. Greg Jones is on the 40-man roster but currently on optional assignment. Guys like Dominic Fletcher, Corey Julks, Oscar Colás and Zach DeLoach have been bumped from the 40-man but are still in the system as non-roster depth. Palacios will join that latter group of guys and will try to earn his way back to the majors.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

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