Phillies Acquire Steward Berroa, Designate Yoniel Curet For Assignment
The Phillies announced that they have acquired outfielder Steward Berroa from the Brewers in exchange for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Milwaukee has designated Berroa for assignment last week. In order to open a 40-man spot for Berroa, the Phillies have designated right-hander Yoniel Curet for assignment.
Berroa, 27 in June, has a fairly limited track record in the big leagues. He appeared in 28 games for the Blue Jays in 2024 and then two for the Brewers last year. He has a rough .167/.314/.190 line in 51 plate appearances.
But he has a decent floor as a speed-and-defense guy. In the minors, he’s generally good for 40-plus steals per season. He was limited to 34 bags in both 2024 and 2025 but played in only 79 games in the former and 86 games in the latter. Put those two together and it’s basically a 60-steal pace for a full season. In only 120 big league innings in the outfield, he’s been credited with five Defensive Runs Saved and three Outs Above Average. It’s also possible there’s a bit more in the bat than what he has shown in the big leagues, as he has a .255/.353/.373 line in 673 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Outfield depth is an area of concern for the Phillies. They are trying out rookie Justin Crawford in center field. He has a strong .324/.361/.382 line so far but in just 36 plate appearances and with a .407 batting average on balls in play. He has always had high BABIPs in the minors thanks to his speed but staying at that level is impossible. For instance, Aaron Judge led the majors with a .376 BABIP in 2025.
If a time comes where Crawford needs to be sent back down to the minors, or an injury pops up, then Johan Rojas would have been a fallback plan. However, he received an 80-game PED suspension prior to the season. The Phils have started the year with utility guys Dylan Moore and Otto Kemp as their backup outfielders behind Crawford, Adolis García and Brandon Marsh.
Berroa still has one option season remaining, so he can be kept in Triple-A. If the Phils need to dip into their outfield depth at some point, he’ll be a candidate to get the call. They also have Pedro León and Gabriel Rincones Jr. on the roster.
Curet, 23, was a Rays prospect for a long time. Tampa designated him for assignment in December and the Phils then acquired him, sending Tommy McCollum the other way. He hasn’t yet appeared in a minor league game this year. The Phils optioned him to Double-A Reading to start the year but his transactions tracker at MLB.com says he was reassigned to Single-A Clearwater a week ago.
He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Phils could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Curet does still have an option season and can be kept in the minors. In his minor league work, he has shown big strikeout potential but with control problems. Overall, he has thrown 371 1/3 innings on the farm with a 3.10 earned run average. He has punched out 30.7% of batters faced but given out free passes at a 13.8% pace.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
Robert Stephenson Undergoes Season-Ending Elbow Surgery
Angels right-hander Robert Stephenson has undergone elbow surgery and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Manager Kurt Suzuki gave the bad news to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. It was a ligament and flexor repair surgery, per Bollinger.
The Halos took a gamble on Stephenson by signing him to a three-year, $33MM deal ahead of the 2024 season. Unfortunately, that bet has not paid off at all due to Stephenson’s injury woes. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2024 campaign. He returned to the mound by the end of May 2025 but some biceps inflammation put him back on the shelf after just two appearances. He came off the injured list in August and made eight more appearances but finished the season back on the IL due to elbow inflammation.
As of about a month ago, he was throwing and seemed on a path to being healthy in 2026. But about three weeks ago, he suffered a setback and relayed that he had apparently suffered damage to his ulnar collateral ligament and flexor muscle. Yet another surgery means that he’s going to miss a full season for the second time in three years. He’ll have given the Angels just ten innings for their $33MM investment.
The contract does contain a conditional option for 2027. It’s valued at $2.5MM and was to be unlocked if Stephenson spent 130 consecutive days on the IL at any point due to an elbow ligament injury. That option was therefore already triggered when Stephenson missed the 2024 campaign. That means there is technically still a chance for the Halos to get some value out of Stephenson but they would have to cough up a bit more money. Given how the past three years have gone, that’s hard to see right now.
At the time of the signing, Stephenson wasn’t really proven but it felt like perhaps he was about to break out. He was once a first-round pick and a top prospect. His major league track record was mixed but it seemed as though the Rays may have unlocked something. He finished 2023 with Tampa and posted a 2.35 earned run average in 38 1/3 innings. He paired a massive 42.9% strikeout rate with a tiny 5.7% walk rate.
The Angels thought there was a potential lights-out closer in there but that didn’t come to fruition as he has been bit hard by the injury bug. He just turned 33 years old and will turn 34 in February of next year. It’s not exactly clear if he underwent full Tommy John surgery or some kind of internal brace alternative. In either case, it seems likely he’ll still be recovering by the time the 2027 season gets underway.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
Johan Oviedo Diagnosed With Flexor Strain
Red Sox manager Alex Cora informed reporters today that right-hander Johan Oviedo has been diagnosed with a flexor strain. He has avoided surgery but will be shut down from throwing for six weeks. Chris Cotillo of MassLive was among those to relay the details of the situation.
“Thankfully, (the ligament) is really strong right now,” Oviedo said of his own arm. “It’s just the things that are around it, all the little muscles are what’s getting damaged right now. Still, it’s not what you want. You don’t want anything to get to this, but it’s just the case right now. No one wants to get hurt but it’s better to get rest and heal from it than actually going through a surgery or anything like it. We’re positive about it.”
As Oviedo himself outlined, it is good news, in a sense. He required Tommy John surgery in the fall of 2023 and missed the following season, in addition to part of the 2025 campaign. He started this season with diminished velocity and then landed on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain. If his ulnar collateral ligament had required another operation, it would have put him on the shelf for another year-plus.
Relative to that scenario, this is a welcome development, though it’s still quite notable. Even if he is fully recovered after six weeks of not throwing, he’ll then have to ramp back up, effectively starting spring training from scratch. Even in a best-case scenario, he’s probably looking at something in the range of a three-month recovery timeline.
In the short term, the Red Sox have a good on-paper rotation without him. They currently have Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suárez, Connelly Early and Brayan Bello taking the ball every five days. Both Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford are making rehab starts this week and should be back in the mix soon. Prospect Payton Tolle is pitching in Triple-A. The rotation numbers haven’t been great so far, contributing to the club’s grim 3-8 start, but the results should be better going forward.
Still, it’s a less than ideal outcome. The Sox made Oviedo a key piece of their offseason. They traded a couple of prospects, including Jhostynxon García, for a three-player package headlined by Oviedo. At the time, Oviedo had just come off his surgery absence but showed some promise by posting a 3.57 earned run average with the Pirates in 2025. The Sox decided to jump on him, with Oviedo having two years of club control at the time of that deal. He will now miss a decent chunk of the first of those two years.
Turning to another part of the roster, Triston Casas appears to have hit another unfortunate speed bump. Casas recently tried swinging and Cora said it “didn’t go well,” per Cotillo. Casas began the season on the injured list, still recovering from last year’s knee surgery. About a week ago, a strained left intercostal muscle added to his woes. Thanks to those injuries and some torn cartilage in his ribcage in 2024, Casas has only played in 92 games since the end of the 2023 campaign.
The Sox don’t really need Casas for now, as they have Willson Contreras at first base. The designated hitter spot is being used to spread playing time between outfielders Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida. But getting Casas back to full health would give the Sox some coverage for the event of someone else getting injured, or perhaps allow them to make a midseason trade.
Casas hit 24 homers in 2023 and slashed .263/.367/.490 for a 131 wRC+. He is under club control through 2028. He’s in wait-and-see mode until he gets back into game action and it’s unclear when that will be.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Cade Horton To Undergo Season-Ending UCL Surgery
Cubs right-hander Cade Horton will undergo elbow surgery and miss the remainder of the 2026 season, manager Craig Counsell tells Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Horton has a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Whether he requires full Tommy John surgery or some sort of alternative won’t be known until the procedure is taking place. He is already on the 15-day injured list and will be transferred to the 60-day IL whenever the Cubs need to open a 40-man roster spot.
It’s a painful but unsurprising development for Horton. He started for the Cubs on Friday but threw a pitch that was about two miles per hour below his average. He summoned the trainer and was removed from the game, with the Cubs announcing his ailment as forearm discomfort. He was quickly placed on the IL and is now destined to stay there.
Horton entered the 2025 season as one of the top pitching prospects in the league. He delivered on that hype by giving the Cubs 118 innings with a 2.67 earned run average. He had big breakout potential here in 2026 but it will instead go down as a mostly lost season. The eventual details of his surgery will determine his path back to the mound. A full TJS usually has a timeline of 14 months or more, whereas an alternative such as the internal brace variety could allow a pitcher to return slightly quicker.
The young righty wasn’t called up until mid-May last year but pitched well enough to finish second in National League Rookie of the Year voting. As part of the Prospect Promotion Incentive, that gave him a full year of service time retroactively. He’ll continue to collect service time while on the IL this year and will get to the two-year mark. Along the way, he will turn 25 years old in August.
For the Cubs, they will have to proceed without Horton in their rotation plans for this year. They also lost Matthew Boyd to the IL in recent days, though his bicep strain seems fairly minor. From their season-opening rotation, they are down to the trio of Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon and Shota Imanaga. They began the campaign with Javier Assad optioned to the minors but he has quickly been recalled and will start today’s game. It seems likely that swingman Colin Rea will start tomorrow, though the Cubs haven’t made that official.
As mentioned, Boyd’s situation isn’t considered serious, so he could be back in a couple of weeks. There’s also Justin Steele, who is working his way back from his UCL surgery, which was performed around this time last year. He is on the 60-day IL and won’t be eligible for a return until late May.
In the short term, their depth is a bit questionable. Jaxon Wiggins is one the top pitching prospects in the league and he is pitching at Triple-A but he still needs to rein in his command. He walked 11.5% of batters faced last year and is up to 13.9% so far in 2026. Kyle Wright and Vince Velasquez are non-roster guys with big league experience but neither has been in the majors since 2023 and Wright is currently on the minor league IL.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
Cody Ponce To Undergo Knee Surgery
Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters, including Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, that right-hander Cody Ponce will have surgery to address the sprained anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The estimated return to play timeline is six months, so it’s highly likely his season is over. He is already on the 60-day injured list.
It’s an unsurprising but devastating blow for Ponce. He was making his team debut last week when he obviously injured himself trying to field a grounder. He collapsed on the ground in pain and had to be carted off the field. The next day, he was diagnosed with an ACL sprain, though he had avoided a full tear and surgery wasn’t definite.
The Jays did place him on the 60-day IL a few days later, so he was going to miss a few months regardless. Today’s news that he will indeed undergo surgery effectively wipes out any hopes of Ponce returning later in the year, unless he beats his expected timeline or the Jays play deep into October again.
It’s a sad outcome for Ponce, who was shaping up to be a nice comeback story. He pitched in the majors back in 2020 and 2021 but didn’t find success and wound up heading overseas. He pitched in Japan for three years and then had a dominant showing in South Korea last year. He gave the Hanwha Eagles 180 2/3 innings with a 1.89 earned run average, 36.2% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate. He garnered a lot of interest as a free agent this offseason and secured a three-year, $30MM deal from the Jays.
The Jays and Ponce were hoping he could return to Major League Baseball as a much better pitcher than he was a few years ago but that dream has quickly been dashed, or at least put on hold. Ponce will now turn his attention to rehabbing this injury, likely with an eye on realizing that comeback story in 2027, when it will have an extra layer.
For the Jays, their rotation has been severely tested this year. Bowden Francis required Tommy John surgery and is out for the season. Trey Yesavage, José Berríos and Shane Bieber are on the IL with less significant injuries. At the moment, the rotation consists of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Patrick Corbin, Eric Lauer and Max Scherzer, with some question marks in there as well. Lauer has been battling the flu and only lasted two innings last time out. Scherzer also only managed two innings last night due to some right forearm tendinitis, though the Jays are hoping he can make his next start.
Yesavage is already on a rehab assignment, so he shouldn’t be too far off from joining the group. Berríos and Bieber are throwing but haven’t yet begun official rehab outings. If those guys can get stretched out, then some rotation shuffling may be in order, depending on how things play out in the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Designate Josh Fleming For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves today. Left-hander Patrick Corbin and infielder Tyler Fitzgerald have been recalled to the active roster. Infielder/outfielder Addison Barger has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 6th, due to a left ankle sprain. That opened a spot for Fitzgerald, while Corbin takes the spot of left-hander Josh Fleming, who has been designated for assignment.
The Jays have recently been cycling through pitchers due to a few notable setbacks. Cody Ponce sprained the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last week, opening a hole in their rotation. Eric Lauer has also been battling the flu lately, which pushed his Saturday start to Sunday.
The Jays recalled Lazaro Estrada when Ponce landed on the IL. He covered four innings as part of a bullpen game on Saturday but then got optioned right after that, alongside lefty Brendon Little. The Jays added Joe Mantiply and Austin Voth to replace those two. Lauer tried to gut through his illness on Sunday but could only stomach two innings, forcing Voth to absorb 2 2/3.
Prior to yesterday’s game, Fleming was added to the roster with Voth designated for assignment. Max Scherzer started yesterday but was held back by some right forearm tendinitis. It’s possible he may be fine enough to make his next start, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, but he was pulled after just two innings last night. Fleming was called in to soak up three innings, allowing four earned runs as the Jays were eventually trounced by the Dodgers 14-2.
It’s presumably not the return to the majors that Fleming hoped for. After being stuck in the minors in 2025, he got back to the show last night and was thrown into the proverbial lion’s den, having to face Shohei Ohtani and the dangerous Dodger lineup. The Jays surely appreciate the nine outs he gave them but it took him 77 pitches and he wasn’t going to be available for a few days. Since he’s out of options, he’s been bumped into DFA limbo. The Jays will likely place him on waivers in the coming days. If he clears, he’ll have the right to elect free agency.
The Jays only signed Corbin a few days ago, as he lingered unsigned in free agency beyond Opening Day. Though he missed spring training, he had been getting stretched out privately. He agreed to be optioned to Low-A Dunedin and tossed five innings at that level on Saturday. Per Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet, Corbin will join the Jays tomorrow and will start Friday’s game.
The Jays have Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease lined up to pitch the final two games of the series against the Dodgers. The Jays are off on Thursday and then start a series against the Twins, with Corbin taking the ball the first time through. Assuming Lauer and Scherzer are healthy, they could follow Corbin.
That may be the rotation plan, at least for the short term. Trey Yesavage is on a rehab assignment, working his way back from his shoulder impingement, and should be back in the mix in the coming weeks. José Berríos and Shane Bieber are also on the mend from their injuries, though they are a bit behind Yesavage. Eventually, someone may get pushed to the bullpen or off the roster, depending on health outcomes in the near future.
The injury bug hasn’t just bit the Toronto pitching staff. Outfielder Anthony Santander required shoulder surgery and will miss several months. Catcher Alejandro Kirk required thumb surgery and is slated to miss the next six weeks. Now Barger is also on the shelf, though this issue seems far more minor. Per Zwelling, the Jays are hoping it could be a minimal stint and he might not even need a rehab assignment.
Barger has mostly been playing right field this year. With him now subtracted from the outfield mix, the corners should be covered by some combination of Jesús Sánchez, Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider and Myles Straw. It’s possible platoon matchups will be the plan, as Sánchez and Lukes are lefties while Schneider and Straw are righties. Fitzgerald, acquired in a cash deal a few days ago, has experience at every spot on the diamond except catcher, so he’ll give them some extra depth all over.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Select Luken Baker
The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected the contract of first baseman Luken Baker. He’ll take the active roster spot of fellow first baseman Carlos Santana. Santana has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 6th, with a strained right adductor. To open a 40-man spot for Baker, outfielder Jordan Lawlar has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic previously reported that Baker had a locker in the Arizona clubhouse.
Baker, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. His profile is limited, since he only plays first base and isn’t a burner on the basepaths. His time in the minors has shown that he can hit, however. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has taken 1,284 Triple-A plate appearances with 84 home runs. His 23.5% strikeout rate in that time is pretty close to average while his 15% walk rate is huge. For that span, he has a combined line of .259/.371/.555 and a 131 wRC+.
The Cardinals gave him minimal big league playing time over the past three years. In 189 plate appearances, he produced an underwhelming .206/.317/.338 line and 87 wRC+. He was put on waivers in August. The Dodgers claimed him and quickly outrighted him. He became a free agent at season’s end, which led to his deal with the Diamondbacks.
Arizona has a large number of players on the injured list already, with their first base depth having been hit particularly hard. Tyler Locklear injured his left elbow and shoulder late last year and is still recovering from surgery performed in October. Pavin Smith hit the IL a few days into the season due to left elbow inflammation. A couple of days ago, Santana was removed from a game with groin discomfort, which led to today’s IL placement.
Utility guys José Fernández and Ildemaro Vargas have each picked up starts at first base in recent days, while catcher Adrian Del Castillo has picked up some starts in the designated hitter slot. Baker gives the club a more straightforward first baseman, which could allow Fernández and/or Vargas to play elsewhere. Baker’s right-handed bat could also be a nice complement for the lefty-swinging Del Castillo. Baker’s big league numbers aren’t impressive overall but he has a .244/.357/.390 line and 113 wRC+ against lefties.
Baker is out of options, which could lead to a squeeze in the future. Santana, Smith, Locklear and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. will be coming off the injured list in the future, meaning other guys will have to make room.
As for Lawlar, he landed on the 10-day IL a few days ago after he was hit by a pitch and suffered a right wrist fracture. Manager Torey Lovullo said Lawlar would miss six to eight weeks. This 60-day IL placement will extend that timeline slightly. If he is healthy before the 60 days are up, he can go on a minor league rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
What’s Next For Sandy Alcantara?
For the past few years, the Marlins have been shopping pitching almost constantly, even guys with multiple years of club control. Despite persistent rumors, Sandy Alcantara has usually been off the table, for different reasons at different times. As time goes on and we move closer to the end of his contract, the Marlins will have to make a decision, with still several ways for the situation to play out.
The Marlins and Alcantara agreed to an extension in November of 2021, a five-year deal covering the 2022 through 2026 seasons. It guaranteed him $56MM and also came with a $21MM club option for 2027, with a $2MM buyout.
That deal was well-timed from the team perspective, as Alcantara went on to have the best season of his career in 2022. He logged 228 2/3 innings, allowing 2.28 earned runs per nine. He wasn't the most dominant pitcher in terms of strikeouts, but thanks to his strong ground ball rate, no one was more likely to just carve through a lineup for an entire contest. He tossed six complete games that year. From 2018 to the present, no other pitcher has tossed more than three complete games in a season. Alcantara was given the National League Cy Young award for that dominant campaign.
Despite Alcantara's efforts, the Fish were still rebuilding, as they went 69-93 that year. Going into 2023, they were willing to listen to trade offers regarding their pitchers, but Alcantara was reportedly not available. That made plenty of sense at the time. Though the club wasn't in great shape, Alcantara was still under club control for five more seasons and was just coming off that dominant showing.
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Brewers Sign Top Prospect Cooper Pratt To Eight-Year Extension
April 6: The Associated Press reports the full breakdown of the Pratt deal. He receives a $3MM signing bonus and $2.5MM salary this season. He’ll make $3.5MM next year, $4MM annually from 2028-29, $5MM each in 2030-31, $10.75MM in 2032, and $13MM in 2033. The options are each valued at $15MM and don’t come with a buyout. Pratt can escalate the option values with top 10 finishes in MVP voting and earns $200K bonus for every Gold Glove win and All-Star selection.
April 3: The Brewers announced Friday that Pratt has signed his eight-year extension. He’s been selected to the 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A Nashville. Outfielder Steward Berroa was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
March 30: The Brewers and prospect Cooper Pratt are reportedly on the verge of finalizing an eight-year contract worth $50.75MM. There will also be two club options worth about $15MM per year, though the value of those options can increase via escalators. The Brewers will need to make a corresponding move to add the Boras Corporation client to their 40-man roster.
It’s a surprising, out-of-nowhere extension. Pratt is 21 years old and hasn’t made it to the majors yet. He only just made his Triple-A debut a few days ago. He wasn’t even going to be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until December of 2027.
Extensions for players with no major league experience are becoming more common but this one feels even a bit more extreme than some of the others. Most pre-debut extensions have been for guys very close to cracking the big leagues. The Brewers themselves did one with Jackson Chourio just over two years ago, an $82MM guarantee, though that one was a bit less surprising. Chourio had finished the prior season at the Triple-A level and seemed highly likely to break camp with Milwaukee in 2024 as he was one of the top three prospects in the sport.
Pratt, on the other hand, mostly features on the back of top 100 prospect lists. Baseball America is the high outlet, putting him at #50. MLB Pipeline has him at #62, ESPN at #70, The Athletic at #99 and he’s not even on the FanGraphs list. He had an okay season at Double-A last year, with a .238/.343/.348 line and 107 wRC+, and only just cracked the Triple-A level to start this season.
Perhaps it speaks to the Brewers being quite high on Pratt’s future. Though his offense was middling last year, the plate discipline was clearly good. His 12.7% walk rate and 15.2% strikeout rate were both strong figures. He only hit eight home runs but could perhaps add more power in time. He stole 31 bags last year and is considered a solid defender at shortstop.
If the Brewers have faith in Pratt’s long-term future, there’s sense in locking him up now. That’s especially true with him being a Boras client. That agency isn’t quite as extension-averse as its reputation but the extensions they have done have almost always been for guys who have reached their arbitration years. According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, which has data going back to 2006, the Carlos González deal from back in 2011 is the only pre-arbitration extension for a Boras client.
In that context, perhaps the Brewers felt it was worth it to take a gamble on Pratt, even though he is still so early in his career. If they waited until he had been in the big leagues for a few years, the price would go up if he had any kind of success. From the perspective of Pratt, this is a chance for him to lock up some notable earnings and stave off any chance of a bust. Perhaps he will find himself underpaid if he becomes a star, but he’s not the level of surefire, can’t-miss prospect that Chourio was. He could play out this contract, including the options, and still reach free agency after his age-30 season.
What remains to be seen is how this impacts Milwaukee’s short-term plans. Even if Pratt is signed to a big league deal, he doesn’t need to be on the active roster, as he could still be kept in the minors on optional assignment. Joey Ortiz was their everyday shortstop last year. He put up a rough .230/.276/.317 line at the plate but stole 14 bases and was credited with 12 Outs Above Average. He is still in that job and has a massive .455/.500/.455 line so far this year but in a tiny sample of 12 plate appearances.
Ortiz is still under club control for many years but the club may pivot away from him at some point if he can’t post better offense over a sustained stretch of time. He does have options and could be sent to the minors, or perhaps be moved into a utility role since he has experience at second and third base. Pratt has fairly limited experience off the shortstop position but could presumably handle second or third if the Brewers asked him to. For now, Brice Turang is a strong option at the keystone. Third base is a bit more open, with David Hamilton and Luis Rengifo in the mix at the moment.
Looking further down the road, most of those guys still have lots of club control. Rengifo is on a one-year deal but Ortiz, Turang and Hamilton aren’t slated for free agency until after 2029. Prospects Jett Williams, Jesús Made and Luis Peña are generally considered top 100 guys who will be in the mix at some point. Williams has already played at the Triple-A level, Made at Double-A and Pena at High-A. At some point over the horizon, the infield could feel quite crowded, which could perhaps lead to a trade.
In the near term, the deal could have other notable impacts. With the deal in place, the Brewers may not worry about Pratt’s service time, since he would be under club control for the ten years regardless. The Prospect Promotion Incentive could also be interesting here. Pratt would be PPI eligible since he is on the aforementioned prospect lists. Even though he missed the first few games of the season, it’s still early enough for the Brewers to call him up for a full year of service time.
However, a player who signs an extension prior to his major league debut is not eligible to earn PPI picks for his team. Unless the two sides agree to the deal in principle and then don’t officially sign it until after Pratt’s debut, then PPI is off the table.
Altogether, it’s a surprising and curious extension, one that seemingly leads to more questions than it answers. Perhaps the coming days will provide some more clarity on the deal and what it means for all the other moving pieces in Milwaukee.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported that the two sides were working on an eight-year deal worth more than $50MM, including those club options. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported the specific guarantee. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that there are escalators on the options. Photos courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images.
Astros Place Roddery Muñoz On Waivers
4 pm: Muñoz has been designated for assignment, the team announced. Reliever Enyel De Los Santos was activated from the IL to take Muñoz’s spot on the roster. Infielder Isaac Paredes is also back from the bereavement list. Shay Whitcomb was optioned to Triple-A.
1:45 pm: The Astros have placed Rule 5 pick Roddery Muñoz on outright waivers, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Players can be placed on waivers while remaining on the 40-man roster but it seems likely that the Astros plan to cut the right-hander. If any club claims him, they would also be bound by the Rule 5 parameters. If he clears waivers, he would have to be offered back to the Reds, who could assign him to the minors without putting him on the 40-man roster.
Muñoz was an unusual Rule 5 selection. Most guys taken in that draft have been in the minors for a few years without getting a big league shot. Muñoz had already seen a notable amount of time in the majors, having tossed 93 2/3 for the Marlins and Cardinals. He didn’t have much success, however, with a 6.73 earned run average in that time. He exhausted his option years over the 2023 to 2025 seasons.
The Cards put him on waivers in November. The Reds claimed him, non-tendered him and re-signed him to a minor league deal. Shortly thereafter, the Astros grabbed him in the Rule 5. He had a good spring, striking out 16 opponents in ten innings. He did allow five earned runs but the punchouts were enough to get him an Opening Day roster spot. Unfortunately, he has been lit up to start the season. Through four innings, he has allowed seven earned runs. He racked up six strikeouts but also gave out six walks and threw two wild pitches.
Even if Muñoz weren’t out of options, he couldn’t be sent to the minors as a Rule 5 guy. It seems the Astros have run out of patience and will make a move. As mentioned, teams are allowed to place players on waivers while keeping them on the active roster, so it’s possible Muñoz could still be with the club tonight. However, it’s also possible he gets designated for assignment before game time to make way for someone else.
Rule 5 guys can be traded or claimed off waivers. If any other team takes a shot on Muñoz, they would be bound by the same Rule 5 parameters. If he clears waivers, he’ll be offered back to the Reds. That club could send him to the minors as non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images