Blue Jays Sign Patrick Corbin
The Blue Jays announced that they have signed left-hander Patrick Corbin to a one-year deal and optioned him to Low-A Dunedin. It’s worth $1MM, per Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. There are also incentives worth $1MM, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Jays had 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move. Corbin has enough service time where he can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has presumably agreed to be sent down to get built up.
The signing is a response to the injury woes that have befallen the Toronto rotation in recent weeks. Shane Bieber is being built up slowly due to some offseason forearm fatigue. Trey Yesavage was slowed by a shoulder impingement. José Berríos was diagnosed with some elbow inflammation late in camp.
Those three started the season on the injured list, which left the Jays with a season-opening rotation of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Eric Lauer, Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer. Unfortunately, Ponce sprained the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in his first start. His timeline isn’t exactly clear but he seems to be slated for a lengthy absence.
Though Corbin missed spring training, he may be able to help the Jays relatively soon. Per Nicholson-Smith, he has been working out while unsigned and has gotten himself up to 80 pitches. He has agreed to head to Dunedin but it’s possible he may not need a full spring-style ramp-up of six weeks or so.
Corbin is a few years removed from his peak but is coming off a solid season with the Rangers. He made 30 starts and one relief appearance, logging 155 1/3 innings with a 4.40 earned run average. His 19.8% strikeout rate and 39.6% ground ball rate were both a couple of ticks below average but his 7.7% walk rate was a bit better than par.
At some point in the near future, Corbin could give the Jays a veteran back-end guy or could perhaps work as a long reliever. His role will presumably depend on how things develop with the other arms in the mix. Yesavage is making a rehab appearance in Dunedin tonight and doesn’t seem to be too far off. Berríos and Bieber are both throwing and could be back in the mix a bit later.
That could lead to some awkward decisions for the Jays, with perhaps Corbin or Lauer eventually getting pushed to the bullpen, but that’s a scenario they would presumably welcome at this point. They are planning a bullpen game started by Mason Fluharty tomorrow. Lauer was originally scheduled to take the ball for that game but he was pushed to Sunday by an illness. They then face the Dodgers for three, with Scherzer, Gausman and Cease likely to start those.
They may be able to breathe a bit easier after that, with off-days on both April 9th and 13th. But they then play nine straight followed by an off-day and then 13 straight, meaning they play 22 times in 23 days from April 14th to May 6th. Getting through that with a four-man rotation would put a strain on the staff so perhaps they could get Corbin and/or Yesavage into the mix by then.
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Jordan Lawlar To Miss Six To Eight Weeks With Broken Wrist
Diamondbacks outfielder Jordan Lawlar has a right wrist fracture, manager Torey Lovullo tells reporters, including Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. He will miss six to eight weeks. The Diamondbacks have placed him on the 10-day injured list. Catcher Adrian Del Castillo was reinstated from the 10-day IL in a corresponding move. Arizona also made a move on the pitching side. They selected the contract of right-hander Taylor Rashi and designated fellow righty Joe Ross for assignment. Prior to the official announcement, Piecoro noted that Rashi had the locker previously occupied by Ross.
It’s yet another unfortunate chapter in the Lawlar story. The youngster has been one of Arizona’s top prospects for years but hasn’t been able to cement himself in the big leagues. He has often been blocked by more established players. When an opening would appear, Lawlar would himself be hurt or would struggle. He finished 2025 with a .165/.241/.237 line in 108 big league appearances.
The club grew impatient with his infield defense and moved him to the outfield for 2026. He earned an Opening Day spot and was hitting well. He hit his first major league home run last night, pushing his season-long batting line to .333/.400/.556 by the end of the game. Unfortunately, he was hit on his wrist by a pitch in the seventh inning. He stayed in the game to run the bases but was replaced defensively in the top of the eighth. Now Lawlar is slated for another notable absence, once again delaying his path to becoming an established big leaguer.
For the Snakes, their outfield takes a hit. They still have Corbin Carroll in right and Alek Thomas in center but Lawlar’s injury means they will have to figure out what to do in left. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Pavin Smith could be part of the solution down the road but both are currently on the IL. Del Castillo is unlikely to help, as his outfield experience consists of two Triple-A innings back in 2023. He was likely only called up because the Diamondbacks have no one else to turn to. Every position player on the 40-man roster is either on the active roster or injured list.
For now, they will likely use some combination of Jorge Barrosa, Tim Tawa and Ildemaro Vargas. Piecoro says they decided against calling up prospect Ryan Waldschmidt because that would require a 40-man spot and Gurriel is expected back soon.
Turning to the pitching staff, the Diamondbacks signed Ross to a minor league deal in the offseason. The veteran swingman cracked the Opening Day roster but has been lit up so far. He has allowed eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, giving him an unsightly 19.64 earned run average. That’s obviously a small sample size but Ross also issued four walks compared to just two strikeouts.
Arizona was crushed last night, losing 17-2 to Atlanta. Ross did what he could to spare the staff, tossing two innings, but he threw 52 pitches in the process and likely wasn’t going to be available for a few days. He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Arizona could spend as long as five days exploring trade interest. If Ross clears waivers, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
Rashi, 30, got to make his major league debut with the Diamondbacks last year. He posted a 4.41 ERA in 16 1/3 innings. His 11.1% walk rate was high but he struck out 30.6% of batters faced and induced grounders on 42.9% of balls in play. He was non-tendered at the end of the season but then was re-signed via a minor league deal. He began the season at Triple-A Reno and made one scoreless appearance of an inning and two thirds.
Photo courtesy of Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images
Braves Acquire Víctor Mederos
The Angels have traded right-hander Víctor Mederos to the Braves in exchange for international bonus pool space, according to announcements from both clubs. The righty was designated for assignment a few days ago when the Angels added Shaun Anderson to their roster. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR says the pool space changing hands is $250K. By rule, pool space can only be traded in $250K increments. Atlanta transferred righty AJ Smith-Shawver to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Mederos was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Mederos, 25 in June, has a small and unimpressive major league track record to this point. He has tossed 25 1/3 innings over the previous three seasons with an 8.53 earned run average. Atlanta is presumably more interested in his minor league work. Last year, he made 16 starts at the Triple-A level, posting a 3.39 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He got some help from a 78.4% strand rate and only struck out 18.6% of batters faced but he features mid-90s velocity and a five-pitch mix.
The Halos nudged him off the roster but found enough interest on the trade block to net some international pool space in return. Atlanta gave up that pool space because they could use some extra pitching depth. In the past few weeks, they have lost Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, Joey Wentz and Spencer Strider to injuries.
They currently have a rotation featuring Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez. Sale has a lengthy injury history and is now 37 years old. López only made one start last year due to shoulder surgery. Holmes was diagnosed with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament last year and is healthy now but it wouldn’t be a shock for that injury to flare up again. Elder had a 5.30 ERA last year. Pérez is a soft-tossing veteran.
Atlanta does have Didier Fuentes and JR Ritchie in Triple-A but those two are fairly lacking in experience. Ritchie still hasn’t cracked the majors. Fuentes has made it to the show but has allowed 21 earned runs in 17 innings. Mederos will give them some extra Triple-A depth and could be called up to the big leagues at some point, if needed.
As for Smith-Shawver, his transfer to the 60-day IL was inevitable. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of last year. He could return at some point in 2026 but presumably not until after the All-Star break.
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Twins Acquire Garrett Acton
The Marlins announced that they have traded right-hander Garrett Acton to the Twins for minor league righty Logan Whitaker. Acton was designated for assignment by Miami a few days ago when they acquired infielder Leo Jiménez. Minnesota transferred righty David Festa to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding 40-man roster move.
Acton, 28 in June, has a very limited major league track record. He made six appearances for the Athletics in 2023 and then one more with the Rays last year, with Tommy John surgery wiping out his 2024. He has allowed eight earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. In the offseason, he went to the Rockies and then Marlins via waivers.
The Twins are surely more focused on his minor league track record, where he has shown intriguing strikeout stuff, though home run troubles have led to lot of runs crossing the plate. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has thrown 160 minor league innings, mostly at the Triple-A level. In that time, he has a 4.56 earned run average. His 10% walk rate was a bit high but he managed to strike out 29.5% of batters faced.
Acton still has a pair of options, meaning the Twins can send him to the minors for some extra bullpen depth or add him immediately to the active roster. In either case, he may shuttle between the majors and minors throughout the season whenever the Twins need to freshen up the relief corps.
For the Marlins, they just claimed Acton off waivers two months ago. They are presumably happy with that sequence of events, which has netted them Whitaker. Minnesota took Whitaker with a 19th-round pick in 2024. Last year, he tossed 38 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A. His 2.11 ERA in 2025 looks good but he only punched out a pedestrian 21% of batters faced. His 6.4% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were a bit better than average. He seemed to get some help from a 78.9% strand rate. He doesn’t really show up on prospect lists but, as mentioned, Miami should be pleased to get a lottery ticket prospect for a guy they just grabbed from the waiver wire two months ago.
As for Festa, he was injured in February and began the season on the 15-day injured list. The Twins listed his injury as a triceps strain and shoulder impingement. His current timeline is unclear but this transaction indicates the Twins don’t expect him back before late May, which would be 60 days from his initial IL placement.
That doesn’t necessarily indicate bad news about his recovery. Even if he were declared healthy today, since he missed all of spring training, he would effectively have to start ramping up from scratch. The Twins should provide more details about his status in the future.
Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images
Tigers Release Phil Bickford, Colin Poche
The Tigers have released right-hander Phil Bickford and left-hander Colin Poche, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com. Both pitchers signed minor league deals with Detroit this offseason. They will now head back to the open market to search for their next opportunities.
Bickford, 30, was invited to big league camp but wasn’t able to pitch in any official spring action. He was diagnosed with a triceps strain in late February. He was reassigned to minor league camp a few days later. His current health status is not known.
He has 189 innings of big league experience under his belt, split between the Brewers, Dodgers, Mets and Yankees. Overall, he has allowed 4.62 earned runs per nine frames with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.
His last big league appearance was in 2024. He spent 2025 in Triple-A, signing minor league deals with the Cubs and Phillies. Between those two organizations, he had a 3.52 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate in 46 Triple-A innings. That wasn’t enough to get him to the big leagues last year. He did get a camp invite with the Tigers a few months ago but the injury scuttle any chance of him making the team.
Poche, 32, has a better overall track record but has fallen on hard times lately. At the end of 2023, he had 171 career innings pitched with a 3.58 ERA. His 9.3% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 28.2% of batters faced. In 2024, his strikeout rate fell to 21.6%. His ERA didn’t suffer greatly, as he finished that year with a 3.86 mark, but the Rays non-tendered him.
He signed a minor league deal with the Nationals for 2025 and made the Opening Day roster but was designated for assignment on May 1st after 13 appearances. He had allowed 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings while giving out walks to 12 of the 46 batters he faced, an awful 26.1% clip. He spent most of the rest of the year with the Mets at the Triple-A level, where he walked 17.3% of opponents.
The Tigers gave Poche a minor league deal but didn’t invite him to big league camp. His transaction tracker at MLB.com says he was placed on the Triple-A Toledo injured list last week, without specifying the issue.
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Mariners Notes: Crawford, Emerson, Shortstop
The Mariners recently signed a record extension with infield prospect Colt Emerson. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke to members of the media in the wake of that deal. Per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Dipoto said that J.P. Crawford will remain the club’s shortstop this year. If Emerson is recalled to the active roster at some point, he will likely play third base, which will bump Brendan Donovan into a utility role.
Though the Mariners signed Emerson to that long-term deal, they immediately optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma. That’s an unprecedented sequence of events but it also has some logic to it. Emerson is 20 years old and only has ten Triple-A games under his belt so far. The Mariners clearly believe in his long-term future but he is still a prospect and they will have to make the choices that they feel are in the best interest of his development.
They also have a fairly crowded infield at the moment. Crawford started the season in the injured list due to some shoulder inflammation but he was reinstated today. Fellow infielder Ryan Bliss was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma as the corresponding move. Crawford will retake his shortstop position with Cole Young at second and Donovan at third.
Perhaps Emerson will force his way onto the roster at some point via his bat, since his offense is his true calling card. He went from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A last year, slashing .285/.383/.458 along the way. His 11.8% walk rate and 17.5% strikeout rate were both a few ticks better than average and he hit 16 home runs, despite being very young for each level.
His defense has generally been considered a bit behind his offense. He has made strides in recent years and many evaluators think he has a chance to be a serviceable shortstop, but it’s understandable that the Mariners would opt for Crawford for now. Crawford’s defensive reviews are mixed, with Outs Above Average putting him at minus-29 for his career while he’s been credited with five Defensive Runs Saved. Despite that imbalance, he has almost 8,000 big league innings at the position, while Emerson has none and is questionable at the spot for now.
Crawford is slated for free agency after 2026, so perhaps Emerson will get a crack at the shortstop job next year. That is perhaps another reason to keep him in Triple-A for now, as he will have greater ability to continue getting reps at shortstop in the minors. His third base experience is also still fairly limited, so he’ll need to keep working at that spot as well, if that’s his current path to a big league job.
As for Donovan, his potential move is another illustration of why he was such a perfect fit for the Mariners this offseason. His versatility means that he can be moved around the diamond depending on what happens with other guys. Young only hit .211/.302/.305 last year and therefore wasn’t a sure thing at second base, while Emerson seemingly had some small chance to break camp at third.
Young went on to hit .281/.349/.667 in spring and seize the job at the keystone. He has carried that over in the season so far, as he’s currently sporting a .320/.346/.520 line. That pushed Donovan to third base for now, though his outfield experience means Emerson could push him to the grass at some point. That could take playing time away from the Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, Rob Refsnyder, Víctor Robles group, depending on how things go between now and then.
Dipoto also expressed broad openness to doing more extensions. “I can’t tell you that there’s any likelihood we’ll get anything else done in this season, but it won’t be because we’re not interested,” Dipoto said, per Adam Jude of The Seattle Times. “It’s always an open door.” It was recently reported that the Mariners have broached the subject of contract extensions with both Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo, though it doesn’t appear the club got close to an agreement with either pitcher.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian, Imagn Images
Latest On MLBPA’s Funds
The Major League Baseball Players Association is putting aside money in anticipation of the end of the collective bargaining agreement, as it routinely does. Jorge Castillo of ESPN and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that the union has about $519MM in total assets, as of the start of this year.
It is standard practice for both MLB and the MLBPA to set aside money in a CBA year, as having a war chest could be needed for a work stoppage or for leverage in negotiations. Back in February, it was reported that the league had set aside about $2 billion. No details on the MLBPA’s funds were available until this week.
As both Castillo and Drellich point out, the MLBPA war chest has more than doubled relative to the last round of CBA talks. In 2021, just after the COVID-impacted 2020 season, the union had under $200MM on hand. Castillo reports they had $171MM ahead of the last round of negotiations, though Drellich puts them slightly higher at $192MM. Both reports note that the players have allowed the union to withhold licensing checks since 2024, in order to bolster the available funds.
After more than 25 years without a work stoppage, the league locked out the players in December of 2021. That lockout lasted 99 days until a new agreement was reached in early March, just in time to still play a full 162-game season, with some creative scheduling.
Many in the industry are expecting yet another lockout after the CBA expires on December 1st this year, with the bargaining perhaps becoming even more contentious. The game’s economic imbalances have seemingly widened. Clubs like the Dodgers and Mets continue to ramp up spending to record highs. Other clubs have been clutching the purse strings tightly, pointing to the decreased broadcast revenues as many fans cut cable cords and pivot to streaming.
The owners are expected to push for a salary cap, as they have done in the past. The players are opposed to a salary cap and will likely push for alternatives involving greater revenue sharing between clubs. Any salary cap proposal would be accompanied by a salary floor, which would likely require the smaller clubs to receive more money from the bigger clubs, in order to meet that floor. A notable shake-up of baseball’s finances seems inevitable, though the league and union will have different ideas about which changes are acceptable.
If the two sides can’t reach consensus on an acceptable framework, the possibility of losing games in 2027 would grow. Such an outcome would have negative consequences for baseball at a time when its popularity is on the upswing. Ratings and attendance have been increasing in recent years, with Game Seven of the 2025 World Series the most-watched game since 1991. The recent World Baseball Classic had TV ratings comparable with the most recent NBA finals. Cutting into that popularity could be costly since a large number of the league’s broadcast deals expire after the 2028 season.
Even if the two sides can avoid cancelling games in 2027, a lockout is still widely expected. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has spoken positively about how a lockout affects negotiations. In the wake of those comments, then-executive director of the MLBPA Tony Clark said the union expects to be locked out. Clark recently resigned under the shroud of scandal with deputy director Bruce Meyer taking over on an interim basis.
Speaking of Clark, during his tenure, concerns were raised about an MLBPA-owned company called Players Way. The company came under federal investigation as the union seemed to be diverting millions of dollars to it without the company doing much with that money. The union hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation in response to those concerns, as well as the investigation of OneTeam Partners, a joint venture with the NFLPA. That internal probe reportedly uncovered messages between Clark and his sister-in-law, an MLBPA employee, which led the union to seek his resignation. This week, both Castillo and Drellich report that Players Way has now been shut down.
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Pirates, Konnor Griffin Reportedly Working On Extension
April 2nd: Olney now reports that the sides are working on a nine-year deal worth $140MM, though he cautions that the deal isn’t done as they are still working on some things.
April 1st: The Pirates and prospect Konnor Griffin are reportedly deep into extension negotiations, per Buster Olney of ESPN.
It doesn’t appear that anything is done or agreed to yet but it seems the two sides aren’t too far apart. Olney’s report frames Pittsburgh as hoping to get something done that is comparable to Corbin Carroll‘s $111MM eight-year deal with Arizona while Griffin’s camp is targeting Roman Anthony‘s $130MM eight-year pact with Boston. Given that the gap is less than $20MM, perhaps something can get done. A couple of weeks ago, Jon Heyman of The New York Post suggested the Pirates could be willing to get to the $110MM range. Last week, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the two sides had indeed discussed an eight-year deal worth $110MM.
Griffin is not yet 20 years old and hasn’t played in the majors yet but he is the top prospect in the game right now and many consider him the best prospect seen in years. Last year, he slashed .333/.415/.527 while hitting 21 home runs and stealing 65 bases.
He topped out at Double-A yet seemed to have a chance at breaking camp with the club here in 2026. He hit four home runs in spring training but his other numbers were not great, as he slashed .171/.261/.488. Part of that was a .125 batting average on balls in play but Griffin also struck out at a 28.3% clip and only drew a walk in 4.3% of his plate appearances.
That surely didn’t do anything to dampen the club’s long-term hopes for Griffin but the Pirates decided to start the season with him at the Triple-A level. He has a .462/.588/.692 slash in four games to start the season.
Extensions for players with little or no major league experience have become far more common in recent years. Earlier this week, Colt Emerson and the Mariners set a new benchmark for pre-debut guys, signing an eight-year deal with a $92MM guarantee.
Emerson is one of the 10 to 15 top prospects in the league but, as mentioned, Griffin is the clear #1 and is perhaps the best prospect in quite some time. With that in mind, he should sail past Emerson’s guarantee and it seems like the talks are already past that point.
For extensions signed quite early in a player’s career, Carroll and Anthony are some of the most notable. Carroll and Anthony each signed within two months of their respective debuts. Julio Rodríguez has the record for a deal for a player with less than a year of service time. Towards the end of his rookie season, he and the Mariners signed a convoluted deal with a $210MM guarantee and multiple club/player options.
The largest contract in Pittsburgh’s franchise history is the $100MM deal they signed with Bryan Reynolds a few years back. It seems they are willing and hoping to break that record to lock up Griffin as part of their core. The longer they wait, the harder that will become. Young players generally gain earning power as they push further into their careers and closer to free agency, as the Rodríguez deal shows. For guys with two years of service time, Bobby Witt Jr. got a $288.8MM guarantee while Fernando Tatis Jr. got $340MM. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got $500MM when he was just a few months from free agency.
It’s been over a decade since the Pirates last made the playoffs but it’s possible better days are ahead. They have already graduated a number of exciting young players onto their major league roster in recent years, headlined by Paul Skenes. Their farm system is currently ranked by many outlets as the best in the majors. That’s in large part due to Griffin but they also have Edward Florentino, Seth Hernandez and other exciting young prospects on the way. They had a busy offseason, adding Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and others as they try to take a step forward.
Griffin will be a key part of the competitive window that appears to be opening but the Bucs would naturally love to extend the relationship if they can. From Griffin’s perspective, he would have to be willing to delay his path to free agency. Going year to year could potentially mean hitting the open market after his age-25 or -26 season. Signing a deal now would lock in an upfront guarantee while perhaps still giving him a chance to become a free agent before his 30th birthday.
Without a deal officially signed, there’s a notable ticking clock with Griffin’s service time. A major league season is 187 days long but a player only needs 172 days in the majors to be credited with a full year of service time. That means Griffin can still hit that one-year mark if called up in the next week. If he does so without an extension in place, he would be eligible to earn the Pirates an extra draft pick via the Prospect Promotion Incentive, though players who sign pre-debut extensions are not PPI eligible. If Griffin is still in the minors by the end of next week, he wouldn’t be able to get a full year of service the old-fashioned way but would be credited with one year retroactively if he is eventually called up and places in the top two in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
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MLBTR Podcast: Lots Of Extensions And Big-Picture Topics
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 Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Mariners signing an extension with Colt Emerson (1:20)
- The Brewers agreeing to an extension with Cooper Pratt (19:05)
- The Orioles signing an extension with Shane Baz (28:40)
- The Cubs signing extensions with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner (38:00)
- Free agents coming from Japan getting less than expected this offseason (53:35)
- The Tarik Skubal arbitration decision potentially being a paradigm shift (59:15)
- The economics of the game with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in less than a year (1:05:50)
- Did the short-term deals for Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette signal a new trend? (1:22:45)
- Dealing with high-spending clubs with draft pick penalties instead of financial penalties (1:31:00)
- Can the Brewers continue to win after trading away some valuable guys? (1:38:10)
- The exciting crop of 2026 rookies (1:41:15)
- Can the Pirates push into contention in a crowded NL Central? (1:43:40)
- The excitement around the introduction of the ABS system (1:44:50)
Check out our past episodes!
- The PCA and Sanchez Extensions, And Prospect Promotions And Reassignments – listen here
- Banged-Up Reds And Braves, Kevin McGonigle, And Spring Breakouts – listen here
- Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
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Royals Place Carlos Estévez On Injured List
The Royals announced that right-hander Carlos Estévez has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 29th, with a left foot contusion. Right-hander Steven Cruz has been recalled as the corresponding move.
Estévez has made one appearance in the season so far and it was painful, in more ways than one. He was hit by a comebacker off the bat of Michael Harris II, as seen in this video from MLB.com. He stayed in the game and then gave up a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith. The next day, the righty had his foot in a boot, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
After a few days of evaluating the injury, the Royals have decided to put him on the shelf. They have backdated the IL move by the three-day maximum, which is allowed since Estévez didn’t pitch in the interim.
The IL placement might be about giving Estévez a reset, as much as anything. In the wake of that unfortunate outing against Atlanta, the Royals were considering moving Estévez out of the closer’s role. His velocity has been worryingly low this year. As of 2024, he was averaging almost 97 miles per hour with his four-seamer. That dropped below 96 mph last year as his strikeout rate also dipped by a few points. During spring training, he was below 90 mph. He ticked up in the game against Atlanta but only to 91.2.
Now that he’s on the IL, Estévez can heal up his foot and then spend some time trying to figure out a solution to his diminished stuff. A benefit of the IL placement is that he could do some tinkering in the minors. As a veteran with at least five years of service time, he can’t be optioned without his consent. But he can be sent on a minor league rehab assignment, which can last as long as 30 days. While Estévez is out, the Royals will likely give the save opportunities to Lucas Erceg, while guys like Matt Strahm and John Schreiber pitch in setup situations.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images