Diamondbacks Outright Aramis Garcia, Jesus Valdez
The Diamondbacks announced that they have outrighted catcher Aramis Garcia to Triple-A Reno and infielder Jesus Valdez to Double-A Amarillo. Garcia had been designated for assignment last week when Gabriel Moreno was activated from the 10-day injured list. There wasn’t any previous indication that Valdez had been removed from the 40-man roster. Arizona’s count on that 40-man is now down to 38.
Garcia, 33, is a veteran depth catcher who is out of options. He is a competent defender but is has hit just .210/.245/.321 in his career. That has put him in position to bounce on and off the Arizona roster with regularity. He signed a minor league deal with the Snakes ahead of the 2025 season. Last year, he was twice added to the big league roster. In both cases, he was designated for assignment a few days later and sent back to Reno after passing through waivers.
It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out this year. Garcia was called up to the big leagues to cover for Moreno’s injury and then was bumped off when Moreno was reinstated. Garcia has the right to elect free agency but might be comfortable sticking with the Aces and waiting for the next catching injury to pop up.
The Valdez outright might be a more unique situation. The 28-year-old was just added to the club’s roster a little over a week ago. The Diamondbacks and Padres were playing in Mexico City and were allowed a 27th man on the roster. Valdez was added to fill that extra bench spot for the Diamondbacks, getting called up from Double-A Amarillo. He didn’t appear in either of the Mexico City games and was optioned back to the Sod Poodles right after that series.
It appears that the Diamondbacks quietly put him on waivers and no one claimed him. That’s not especially surprising since Valdez hasn’t really been a notable prospect in his career and is a 28-year-old playing in Double-A, though he does have some Triple-A experience. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a combined .241/.292/.401 line and 76 wRC+ in the minor leagues.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Tigers Designate Zack Short For Assignment
The Tigers announced that infielder Zach McKinstry has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Fellow infielder Zack Short has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Short is a glove-first infielder who was just brought into the mix by Detroit to address their recent injuries. He was acquired from the Nationals in a cash deal last week and then was added to the roster two days ago. He went hitless in three plate appearances and has now been quickly bumped off.
Though he’s competent in the field at multiple positions, Short is a .171/.269/.295 hitter in his career. The Tigers only really turned to him because they had a trio of infielders on the IL at the same time. McKinstry hit the IL over two weeks ago due to left hip/abdominal inflammation. Trey Sweeney has been on the shelf all year due to a shoulder strain and was moved to the 60-day IL in April. Javier Báez suffered a right ankle sprain about a week ago and hit the 10-day IL.
Short was used as an emergency tourniquet to stop the bleeding but he’s no longer needed with McKinstry’s return. Short now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Tigers could take five days to explore trade interest, but they could also place him on waivers at any point before that. Given his light hitting, Short would likely clear waivers, as he has done before.
If he does clear waivers again, he would have the right to elect free agency, but perhaps he would stay. He is plenty familiar with the organization and the Detroit infield depth is still a bit light due to injuries, though they did add Paul DeJong via a minor league deal earlier today.
Now that McKinstry is back, he can return to the multi-positional role that he was in before. He has experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base and in the outfield as well. He’s at third base tonight with Colt Keith heading to the bench. Second base is mostly covered by Gleyber Torres but he has missed a few recent games due to side tightness, which has led to more playing time for Hao-Yu Lee. Shortstop was being shared by Kevin McGonigle and Báez but the IL stint for the latter has largely left that spot to McGonigle. With Parker Meadows on the IL, the outfield mix includes Matt Vierling, Wenceel Pérez, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Jahmai Jones.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
Rays Place Steven Matz On IL With Elbow Inflammation
The Rays announced that left-hander Steven Matz has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 4th, with left elbow inflammation. Right-hander Chase Solesky has been selected to take his place on the active roster. The 40-man roster had a vacancy due to righty Yoendrys Gómez being designated for assignment a few days ago, so Solesky can take that vacated spot without a corresponding move.
Matz’s status is unclear. He has been having a good season so far, with a 3.86 earned run average through seven starts. He last took the ball on Sunday and pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Giants. Apparently, something has popped up between that start and today. The severity isn’t publicly known but it’s enough that the Rays are going to put him on the shelf for at least a couple of weeks.
The Tampa rotation has been good this year and has been a key part of their early-season success. The Rays are 22-12 and have gotten a 3.16 ERA from their starters. That includes some openers and is therefore skewed a bit but it’s third-best ERA in the majors, behind only the Yankees and Dodgers.
Despite the good results, there are some concerns. Ryan Pepiot is going to miss the whole season due to hip surgery. Joe Boyle is on the IL with an elbow strain. Even in the healthy rotation, there are questions. Shane McClanahan missed the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons and may face load management questions at some point. Drew Rasmussen has plenty of injuries on his track record. Nick Martinez has a 1.71 ERA but is a 35-year-old swingman who has often been pushed to the bullpen in recent years. Jesse Scholtens is a pretty inexperienced guy who was just claimed off waivers last year.
Top prospect Brody Hopkins is in Triple-A but probably isn’t going to be called up anytime soon because he has a massive 20.2% walk rate so far this year. The depth is enough of a concern that the club is planning to stretch out both Griffin Jax and Mason Englert.
The Rays will have to juggle things for at least a couple of weeks or perhaps longer, depending on the timeline with Matz. Their next off-day isn’t until next Thursday. Martinez started last night. Rasmussen and McClanahan are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow, respectively. Thursday could be a Jax/Scholtens combo, which is what the Rays have done the past two times through the rotation. That would leave Friday open for a bullpen game or a spot start, before going back to Martinez on Saturday.
Solesky, 28, gets called up for now. This is his first time on a major league roster. A 21st-round pick of the White Sox from 2019, he has never really been on the radar of prospect evaluators. He was in the Nationals’ system last year and had a 5.17 ERA in Triple-A. He signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason and has a 6.57 ERA in Triple-A so far this year.
Most likely, he is just on the roster temporarily to absorb some innings, if needed. He has been pitching as a starter and went 5 1/3 innings on Thursday. The results haven’t been good but he could take on some mop-up work and spare the rest of the bullpen, if the situation calls for it. Even if it ultimately proves to be a brief stint in the show, it’s likely a thrill for a guy who has been grinding for a while and turns 29 in a few months.
Photo courtesy of Pablo Robles, Imagn Images
Angel Zerpa To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Brewers left-hander Angel Zerpa will undergo Tommy John surgery on Monday, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The left-hander will miss the remainder of this season and part of 2027 as well. He is on the 15-day injured list but will be transferred to the 60-day IL whenever Milwaukee needs to open a roster spot.
The news is awful but not surprising. Zerpa hit the IL about a week ago due to forearm tightness. Manager Pat Murphy said the injury was fairly concerning and that Zerpa would be going for further testing. In the following days, it was revealed that Tommy John surgery was a possibility. It now seems that no alternative was available, so Zerpa will go under the knife and face the standard recovery timeline of 14-plus months.
The Brewers clearly felt good about Zerpa’s chances of taking a step forward. He gave the Royals 177 innings from 2021 to 2025, allowing 3.97 earned runs per nine. His 19.7% strikeout rate was subpar but he had a strong 7% walk rate and excellent 57.1% ground ball rate. Milwaukee has a good reputation when it comes to helping players get the best of their talents. With Zerpa featuring upper-90s velocity, perhaps they could have found a way to have him miss more bats. Or maybe his ground ball tendencies could lead to him getting stretched out as a starter.
Milwaukee sent outfielder Isaac Collins and right-hander Nick Mears to Kansas City this past offseason in a two-for-one deal to get Zerpa. Whatever the Brewers had in mind for that deal is not going to pan out in the short term. Zerpa posted a rough 6.39 ERA in 12 appearances to start this year and will now be out of action until next summer.
Zerpa hit three years of big league service in 2025 and qualified for arbitration for the first time going into 2026. He and the Brewers agreed to a $1.095MM salary. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again for 2027 and 2028.
The Brewers will have to decide if they want to tender him a contract for next year when he might miss half of it. Since he is going to miss most of 2026, he won’t be able to secure much of a raise. Assuming the Brewers still feel good about Zerpa’s talent, giving him a bit over a million won’t be too much, since that is barely above this year’s league $780K minimum salary. It’s also possible that the next collective bargaining agreement pushes the minimum even higher. If Zerpa can get healthy and produce good results in the second half of 2027, the Brewers could retain him at a relatively affordable rate in 2028.
Despite having a number of injured lefties, the Brewers still have a balanced bullpen. Zerpa, Jared Koenig and Rob Zastryzny are all on the IL but they still have Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Shane Drohan and Brian Fitzpatrick taking up four of their eight relief spots. Injuries and underperformance will surely lead to changes throughout the season. Zerpa won’t be able to help out but perhaps Koenig or Zastryzny will.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Cubs Outright Ben Cowles
The Cubs have sent infielder Ben Cowles outright to Triple-A Iowa, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Cowles, 26, has been on waivers a lot in the past eight months. The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2024, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He was designated for assignment in September of 2025, getting claimed by the White Sox. This offseason, he went back to the Cubs, then to the Blue Jays and back to the Cubs again via a series of claims.
Those transactions speak to the fact that he has been an attractive player but with some downward trends. He generally hit well on his way up the minor league ladder. In 2024, the Cubs acquired him from the Yankees as part of the Mark Leiter Jr. trade. Between the two clubs, he slashed .286/.372/.457 at Double-A that year for a 141 wRC+. He also stole 14 bases while bouncing between shortstop, second base and third base.
That was a nice mix of qualities but his results haven’t been as strong lately. He got promoted to Triple-A to start 2025 and hasn’t done anything at that level yet. He now has 611 total plate appearances at Triple-A dating back to the start of last year with a .234/.303/.370 line and 72 wRC+. That performance has pushed him to a fringe roster position but he kept getting claimed, until this week.
This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, still not having made his major league debut. He therefore does not have the right to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the Cubs as non-roster depth and will try to play his way back onto the roster.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Giants Designate Jerar Encarnacion For Assignment
The Giants announced that outfielder Jerar Encarnacion has been designated for assignment and fellow outfielder Will Brennan has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. Those are the corresponding moves for the recalls of Bryce Eldridge and Jesús Rodríguez, moves that were reported yesterday. The Giants also recalled right-hander Trevor McDonald and placed left-hander Erik Miller on the 15-day injured list with a low back strain, retroactive to May 1st.
Encarnacion signed a minor league deal with the Giants in May of 2024. At that time, he had just come off a massive .366/.439/.989 showing in 26 Mexican League games. That’s a hitter-friendly league but that line was impressive regardless. He then put up a .352/.438/.616 showing in Triple-A and got added to the big league roster in August.
He has been on the 40-man ever since. Due to him being out of options, he has also been on the active roster that whole time, apart from IL stints. He spent a lot of 2025 on the IL, with stints due to a hand fracture, an oblique strain and a hamstring strain.
His numbers against major league hitting haven’t been nearly as impressive as his work in the minors or in Mexico. He has stepped to the plate 210 times as a Giant. His 3.3% walk rate and 27.1% strikeout rate in that time are both poor numbers. His .223/.248/.371 line in the sample leads to a wRC+ of 71, indicating he’s been 29% below league average overall. That includes a dismal .176/.200/.206 line here in 2026.
The San Francisco offense as a whole has been underwhelming. Encarnacion has been just a small part of that but he is the casualty for the club trying to shake things up. Since he’s out of options, he’s been bumped into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants could take five days to field trade interest, but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.
Based on how much he’s been struggling, it seems fair to expect him to clear waivers. He has flashed talent in the past but not in the majors. Even the exciting numbers he put up in Mexico and in the minors are two years old at this point. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again in the coming days.
Turning to the pitching moves, it’s unclear how long Miller will need to be shelved, but the Giants lose one of their more interesting relievers. Miller walks too many batters but has high-90s velocity and can get guys out. His 35.4% strikeout rate and 56% ground ball rate this year are both huge, though he has given free passes to 12.5% of opponents. With Miller out, the Giants are down to Matt Gage and Ryan Borucki as their southpaw relievers.
McDonald is starting tonight’s game and it appears to be a spot start. The Giants had to play a doubleheader on Thursday, with Logan Webb and Adrian Houser starting the two contests. Then Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp and Tyler Mahle started the three subsequent games. No one in that quintet would be available on regular rest tonight. After McDonald starts tonight’s game, it’s possible he gets sent back down to the minors, with a fresh arm coming up to join the bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Justine Willard, Imagn Images
Orioles To Sign Lou Trivino To Major League Deal
4:15pm: Right-hander Trey Gibson has been optioned to make room on the active roster for Trivino, per Jake Rill of MLB.com.
3:35pm: The Orioles have signed right-hander Lou Trivino to a major league deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Pro Edge Sports Management client just opted out of a minor league deal with the Phillies a few days ago. Baltimore has an open 40-man spot and doesn’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard. They will have to open an active roster spot.
Trivino, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in the offseason. The veteran finished the 2025 season on Philly’s big league roster and became an an Article XX(B) free agent, which essentially means he was a standard free agent, one who has at least six years of service time and wasn’t signed for the following season. When those players sign minor league deals, they come with automatic opt-outs five days before Opening Day, May 1st and June 1st.
The Phils didn’t break camp with Trivino on the roster but he skipped his first opt-out chance and reported to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He put up excellent numbers for the IronPigs, giving them 13 innings with a 2.77 earned run average. His 35.7% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate were all above-average numbers. He triggered the second opt-out in his deal and the Phillies let him go.
The Orioles will take advantage and scoop Trivino up from the open market. Trivino’s recent Triple-A work is a small sample but the veteran also has a solid track record. In 332 1/3 big league innings, he has a 3.87 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, 10.4% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate. He has 37 saves and 57 holds in his career.
Injuries prevented him from appearing in the majors in 2023 or 2024. He was back in the bigs last year, though with slightly diminished results. His 3.97 ERA was fine but his 17.9% strikeout rate and 33.8% ground ball rate were both below league average and shy of his previous career numbers. His results so far in 2026, though in a small sample in the minor leagues, are an encouraging sign that he can get back to his previous form now that he’s further removed from his injury woes.
The Orioles have been hit hard by injuries this year, with 11 players currently on the injured list. That includes four relievers. They have known since last year that Félix Bautista would miss most or all of the 2026 campaign due to shoulder surgery. They signed Ryan Helsley to take over the closer’s job but now he’s on the IL with elbow inflammation. Yaramil Hiraldo and Colin Selby are also on the shelf.
It’s a fairly wide open bullpen mix. Hopefully, Trivino can provide a stabilizing veteran presence. If the O’s want to bump him off the roster in the future, he has enough service time where he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline, Imagn Images
Astros Designate Daniel Johnson For Assignment
The Astros announced that outfielder Daniel Johnson has been designated for assignment. His roster spot goes to fellow outfielder Zach Cole, who has been recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding move. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to pass along the news.
Johnson, 30, was added to Houston’s roster a couple of weeks ago amid a flurry of outfield injuries. Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido and Taylor Trammell all hit the injured list in the middle of April, sapping the Astros of many of their best center field options. Cole was on the minor league injured list at the same time and wasn’t an option to help out.
Unfortunately, Johnson wasn’t much of a help. He got sent to the plate 17 times and produced a tepid .143/.294/.143 slash line. Brice Matthews, meanwhile, has largely taken over the center field job. Matthews’ .221/.289/.412 line isn’t amazing but it’s much better than what Johnson has been providing. Matthews has been receiving solid grades for his defense and speed as well. Now that Cole is healthy again, he’s been called up with Johnson bumped off.
Since Johnson is out of options, he had to be removed from the 40-man roster. He’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours so Astros could take five days to explore trade interest but they could also place him on waivers sooner if they so choose. He has been previously outrighted in his career and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again. His speed and defense give him some appeal but a career batting line of .191/.249/.306 is obviously unattractive.
Cole was called up last year and flashed some fun upside, hitting four home runs in just 15 games. However, he also struck out in 38.5% of his plate appearances. He started this year on optional assignment and suffered a broken toe after just a few games. Now that he’s recovered and there are opportunities in the outfield, he will try to earn some playing time, ideally with fewer punchouts.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Randy Vásquez’s Hot Start Could Be Huge For The Padres
Rotation depth has been an issue for the Padres for years and the most recent offseason didn’t do much to inspire confidence that 2026 would be an exception. So far, the starting group has been passable, with Randy Vásquez stepping up to play a big role. That has helped the Friars start 20-13 and it could help in future seasons as well if Vásquez can keep rolling.
In 2025, the San Diego rotation was middling. Overall, their starters had a 4.07 earned run average, putting them 16th out of the 30 major league clubs. At the trade deadline, they sent out some depth. They flipped Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert to the Royals in the Freddy Fermin trade. Braden Nett and Henry Baez went to the Athletics in the Mason Miller deal. At the end of the season, they lost Dylan Cease and Michael King to free agency. Yu Darvish required elbow surgery in November, wiping out his 2026 season.
They were able to re-sign King but Cease departed for the Blue Jays. The hope was that King, Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove could be a solid trio at the front of the 2026 rotation. That would leave two spots open for guys like Vásquez, Walker Buehler, Germán Márquez, Matt Waldron and JP Sears.
That latter group has been leaned on harder than the Padres would have liked. Musgrove hasn’t yet made an appearance this season. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2024 and missed the entire 2025 campaign. Getting back in the mix for the start of 2026 was a reasonable expectation but he has hit some setbacks and his timeline is unclear. Pivetta made four starts before he joined Musgrove on the IL. Pivetta has a flexor strain and will probably miss a few months.
As of a few weeks ago, there wasn’t much reason to expect Vásquez to separate himself from the rest of the pack. He did post a 3.84 ERA in 2025, but not in any kind of sustainable way. He only struck out 13.7% of batters faced last year, which isn’t just well shy of average — it was one of the worst marks in baseball. Among pitchers with 130 innings pitched last year, only Antonio Senzatela and Erick Fedde were lower than Vásquez in that category. Both of those pitchers had ERAs well north of 5.00 and lost their rotation jobs last year.
The same likely would have happened to Vásquez if not for good luck. For one thing, he still had options, meaning the Padres could send him to the minors. Though his ERA was good, he did get optioned a few times last year, suggesting the Padres weren’t overly confident in his results. His .261 batting average on balls in play and 77.4% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. Measures like his 4.85 FIP and his 5.43 SIERA suggested his respectable ERA was a mirage.
It would not have been a surprise if Vásquez came out and posted an ERA around 5.00 or 6.00 this year. Since he’s now out of options, his roster spot might have even been in jeopardy. Instead, he’s gone completely in the other direction.
Vásquez has a 2.94 ERA through six starts. Not only that, but this feels more real. His strikeout rate is way up to 24.8% so far this year, almost double where he was at last year. His walk rate and ground ball rate have held around league average. There is still a bit of good luck, as Vásquez currently has an 81.5% strand rate, but his 3.44 FIP and 3.71 SIERA suggest he would be getting solid results even with more neutral luck.
This is still a fairly small sample of work but it’s encouraging that it corresponds to a change in his arsenal, led by improvements with his four-seam fastball. Vásquez is throwing the pitch 31.2% of the time so far this year, a notable jump from last year’s 21% usage. The pitch is averaging 94.8 miles per hour, more than a full mile higher than last year’s 93.5 mph. His spin rate on the pitch is up, and he’s getting more movement on it as well. He has also thrown more cutters, curveballs, changeups and sliders, at the expense of his sinker and sweeper.
Time will tell if Vásquez can keep this going over a larger sample. For now, it has cemented him in the rotation. Griffin Canning just returned from the injured list over the weekend and there was never a question about Vásquez being bumped out, as he and King are seen as the two locks of the rotation for now. Rather, speculation circled around the Buehler, Waldron and Márquez trio, with Márquez eventually placed on the IL as the move for Canning. Lucas Giolito will be in the mix soon as well, but Vásquez won’t be at risk of losing his spot at that point either.
In the longer term, it would also be tremendous for the Padres if Vásquez can be a viable big league starter, even a back-end one. He can still be controlled for four seasons after the current campaign. It’s possible he’ll be a Super Two guy, as his service count of 1.129 will put him right in the middle of previous cutoffs. But even as his salary creeps up via arbitration, it’ll be solid value if he’s got an ERA somewhere in the 3.00s.
The long-term San Diego rotation will still have question marks. King is signed through 2028 but has opt-outs after each season in his deal. If he pitches well, he’ll head to free agency. If he is hurt or not performing and decides not to opt out, that means he’ll be paid above his market value. It’s a similar situation for Pivetta, who is also signed through 2028 with opt-outs after this year and next. Musgrove is currently a question mark. Even if he is able to come back and be his old self, he is only signed through 2027. Giolito, Canning, Buehler and Márquez are all impending free agents. Three of those guys have mutual options for 2027 but it’s been over a decade since one of those provisions was triggered by both sides. Waldron has the same window of club control as Vásquez but he’s out of options and not putting up good numbers, so he may not even last much longer on the roster.
The farm isn’t likely to provide solutions in the near term, as the Friars have been aggressively trading from their pipeline to keep the major league roster in good shape. They now have one of the worst farm systems in the league. Sears is on the 40-man but he had an ERA over 5.00 in the majors last year and is at 7.00 in Triple-A so far in 2026. He’ll be out of options next year. The club’s top starting pitching prospects are Kash Mayfield, Miguel Mendez and Kruz Schoolcraft. Mendez hasn’t yet reached Triple-A and has only made ten Double-A starts so far. Mayfield is in High-A, Schoolcraft in Low-A.
It seems fair to expect the Padres to be looking for free agent starting pitching in future offseasons. Perhaps the incoming ownership group will greenlight some extra spending to bolster the staff, but there are no guarantees about how they’ll spend. Having Vásquez securely in a rotation spot, even if it’s not at the front end, will make the front office’s job much easier as they steer the club into the future.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast
On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.
The 2026 season is humming along. Do you have a question about a hot or cold start in the early going? The upcoming trade deadline? Next winter’s potential labor showdown? If you have a question on those topics or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.
Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.
In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.