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Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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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 2025 season is chugging along. If you have a question about the campaign, a look ahead to the deadline 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.

Trade Deadline Outlook: Miami Marlins

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MLBTR has kicked off a new series for Front Office subscribers! Over the next few weeks, we’re going team-by-team and examining every club’s deadline outlook as trade season approaches. There are some teams that’ll be easy to categorize as buyers or sellers, but many still find themselves right on the bubble where their play over the next four to six weeks takes on extra importance.

There’s nuance even for teams that are clearly into buy or sell mode. Where are those organizations from a payroll perspective? Are the buyers all-in for 2025 or just opening a long-term competitive window? Are the sellers committed to a multi-year rebuild, or are they likely to focus only on moving rentals while hanging onto players who are controllable beyond this season? Might the baseball operations leader be on the hot seat, and if so, how could that impact their deadline decisions?

We’ll start the series with a focus on teams that have moved to the far ends of the standings, giving a bit more time for the fringe contenders to clarify their plans. This edition focuses on the Marlins, a franchise which has been undergoing a huge pivot, despite making the playoffs two years ago.

Record: 29-44 (0.0% playoff probability)

Sell Mode

Impending Free Agent: Cal Quantrill

The Marlins have already shipped out a lot of their veteran players in recent years and also made little effort to bolster their roster in the offseason. They signed two free agents this past winter. One of them was Eric Wagaman, who came into this year with 18 games of big league experience and who can be controlled until he reaches six years of service time.

The other was Cal Quantrill, who signed a one-year, $3.5MM deal. The Marlins will surely make him available this summer, though the value will surely be modest. He's a back-end guy, at best, and contending clubs won't pay a huge price for that.

A playoff-caliber starter would fetch a much larger return, but Quantrill has a 5.68 earned run average over his 14 starts this year. There's probably a bit of bad luck in there, with his FIP at 4.43 and his SIERA at 4.49, but his strikeout rate has been subpar in every full season of his career. The Pirates got a lottery-ticket prospect for Martín Pérez last summer, and that's probably what the Marlins will be looking at here.

Controllable Trade Candidates: Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Sánchez, Anthony Bender, Edward Cabrera, Ryan Weathers, Max Meyer, Otto López, Kyle Stowers, Janson Junk, Calvin Faucher, Derek Hill, Dane Myers, Xavier Edwards, Andrew Nardi, Jesús Tinoco, Ronny Henriquez, Nick Fortes

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Pirates Re-Sign Brett Sullivan To Minor League Deal

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4:38pm: Sullivan and the Pirates quickly reunited on a new minor league contract, reports MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf. He’ll head back to Triple-A Indianapolis without occupying a 40-man roster spot.

3:43pm: Catcher Brett Sullivan has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Pirates had passed him through waivers earlier this week after designating him for assignment. He had the right to head to the open market due to having a previous career outright.

Sullivan, 31, has received scattered big league playing time in recent years. He got into 33 games with the Padres in 2023 and seven more last year. He burned his final option season in 2024 and therefore came into 2025 out of options. The Friars outrighted him off the roster in March and then traded him to the Pirates a few weeks later. With Joey Bart and Endy Rodríguez battling injuries, the Bucs needed the catching depth more than the Padres. Sullivan got a brief look on the Pittsburgh roster, getting into three more games.

Heading to the open market, he doesn’t have a huge big league track record to showcase. He has a .204/.250/.291 batting line in a small sample of 112 big league plate appearances. As one would expect, his minor league work has been greater, both in terms of quality and quantity. He has stepped to the plate 1,670 times at the Triple-A level since the start of 2021 with a .268/.338/.443 line. That translates to an 88 wRC+, which is 12% below league average, but catchers usually come in about ten points below league par.

Defensively, there are pluses and minuses. For his work at the Triple-A level, Baseball Prospectus has ranked him as good in terms of pitch framing and with the running game but with his blocking a bit below par.

He’ll head out to free agency and see what kind of opportunities await him. Since he just cleared waivers, he will presumably be limited to minor league offers. The Pirates recently put Rodríguez on the 60-day IL, so they don’t have any experienced depth behind Bart and Henry Davis, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see the two sides reunite on a minor league deal.

Photo courtesy of Philip G. Pavely, Imagn Images

Tigers Release John Brebbia

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The Tigers have released right-hander John Brebbia, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That was the likely outcome after he was designated for assignment a few days ago. He’s now free to sign with any club.

Brebbia, 35, signed with the Tigers in the offseason. The one-year deal guaranteed him $2.75MM in the form of a $2.25MM base salary and a $500K buyout on a $4MM club option for 2026. The Tigers clearly didn’t get the return they were hoping for on that investment. Brebbia missed about three weeks due to a right triceps strain. Around that, he tossed 18 2/3 innings with a 7.71 earned run average, 21.5% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.

Given that performance and the money he is still owed, no club would be interested in taking on that contract. However, now that he’s been released, the Tigers remain on the hook for the money. Any other club could sign Brebbia and would only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Tigers pay.

At that price point, Brebbia may find clubs who are interested in a bounceback, as his numbers prior to this year were far better than his 2025 results. From 2017 to 2024, he tossed 355 major league innings with a 3.80 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate.

Last year, his ERA spiked to 5.86, but everything under the hood seemed normal. His 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate were still strong figures. The extra runs seemed to come from some bad luck, with a .317 batting average on balls in play and 67.1% strand rate. His 4.52 FIP and 3.29 SIERA pointed towards positive regression, which is likely why the Tigers invested in him.

The regression clearly hasn’t come to pass. Some of it may still be luck, as his .339 BABIP and 56.6% strand rate this year are worse than last year’s. His own performance is also part of it because, as mentioned, his strikeout and walk rate have moved in the wrong direction. But it’s possible the triceps injury has been impacting him for part of this year. Given the number of pitching injuries around the league, Brebbia should find interest from clubs looking for low-cost solutions.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Reds Place Wade Miley On IL With Flexor Strain

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The Reds announced today that left-hander Wade Miley has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left flexor strain, retroactive to June 17th. Right-hander Connor Phillips has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. Righty Chase Petty has also been added to the taxi squad. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on the Phillips promotion earlier today. Miley was the scheduled starter for Saturday’s game but Wittenmyer reports that Petty will now be making that start.

The club has not yet provided any information about the severity of Miley’s injury but it’s an unnerving development. It’s always concerning when a pitcher’s throwing arm is injured and that’s especially true in this case. The 38-year-old Miley underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and only recently returned to the mound with seven minor league starts and three major league appearances.

Time will tell if this injury is significant or not, but either way, the Reds rotation will take another hit for at least a few weeks. They already have Hunter Greene, Rhett Lowder and a few other arms on the IL and now Miley joins them.

Miley’s injury leaves Andrew Abbott, Nick Martinez, Brady Singer and Nick Lodolo in four rotation spots. It seems Phillips will provide an extra arm for today’s game but he may get optioned back down tomorrow to make way for Petty.

Petty, 22, is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. The Reds have called him up twice this year to make spot starts without good results. He has allowed 13 earned runs in 5 1/3 big league innings thus far. He has spent the rest of the year pitching in Triple-A with a 2.76 earned run average. His 26.9% strikeout rate is quite good but his 11.4% walk rate is on the high side.

It’s unclear if Petty is going to stick in the rotation or if this is another spot start. Prospect Chase Burns is currently dominating Triple-A hitters through two starts at that level. He’s not on the 40-man roster but could perhaps get a call soon.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Red Sox Option Kristian Campbell

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June 20: The Red Sox have now made it official, announcing they have optioned Campbell and reinstated Abreu.

June 19: The Red Sox are sending infielder/outfielder Kristian Campbell to Triple-A, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Outfielder Wilyer Abreu will likely be activated off the injured list tomorrow, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The Sox are off today but start a series in San Francisco tomorrow.

It’s been an eventful year-plus for Campbell. He tore through the minors in 2024, slashing .330/.439/.558 for a wRC+ of 178, climbing from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A in the process. That vaulted him up prospect lists coming into 2025 and put him in position to make his major league debut this year.

Not only did he crack the Opening Day roster but the Sox committed to him for the long term. Campbell and the club agreed to an eight-year, $60MM extension in early April, with the deal also containing club options for 2033 and 2034.

Campbell’s big league career got out to a strong start, at least offensively. Through April 29th, he was sitting on a line of .313/.420/.515 for a 161 wRC+. He was striking out at a 25.2% clip but also walking in 16% of his plate appearances. But since then, he’s gone ice cold, with a .154/.236/.215 line and 25 wRC+. He has been punched out in 29.2% of his plate appearances in that latter stretch while only drawing walks at a 6.9% pace.

His glovework has also been less than ideal, to put it mildly. In 471 2/3 innings at second base, he has been credited with -14 Defensive Runs Saved and -8 Outs Above Average, making him one of the worst defenders in the majors this year. He has also played some outfield and the Sox had him try some first base work in the wake of the Triston Casas injury, but he still hasn’t played there in any game action.

Despite his former prospect status and big contract, Campbell is still fairly inexperienced as a professional baseball player. He had just 137 minor league games under his belt prior to this year and has now added 67 major league contests. Even the top prospects can sometimes struggle when first exposed to major league play, so Campbell may still have a bright major league future ahead of him, despite his recent cold stretch. But the Sox are playing meaningful baseball right now, currently tied for the final American League Wild Card spot, so they’ll send him down to the minors in an attempt to get him back on track.

The Sox have had a fairly crowded roster this year, thanks to the presence of prospects such as Campbell as well as Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony. Additionally, they signed Alex Bregman to cover third base and bumped Rafael Devers into the designated hitter slot.

In recent weeks, things have become far less crowded. Bregman is now on the injured list and Devers has been traded to the Giants. David Hamilton has started the past three games at second base but is hitting .172/.206/.269 this year, so he should not be cemented into the position. Mayer is covering third but could perhaps slide over to second when Bregman is ready to come off the IL, though a return from Campbell will be a possibility down the road as well.

Abreu will join an outfield mix that also includes Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Anthony, though the open DH spot could allow all four of them to share a lineup regularly. Masataka Yoshida could further crowd that group if he can come off the IL, which could put some pressure on Anthony, who is hitting just .074/.194/.222 so far. That’s a tiny sample of nine games but he wouldn’t be immune from getting the same treatment as Campbell. The Sox are expected to buy at the deadline if they hang in the Wild Card race and their goals may be impacted by how this game of musical chairs plays out.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

White Sox Place Davis Martin On IL With Forearm Strain

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The White Sox announced a series of moves ahead of tonight’s series opener in Toronto. They have recalled right-hander Wikelman González, a move that was reported earlier. They have also selected the contract of left-hander Jake Palisch from Double-A Birmingham. Left-hander Cam Booser has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left shoulder strain. Right-hander Davis Martin also hits the 15-day IL, in his case due to a right forearm strain, retroactive to June 17th. Right-hander Caleb Freeman has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Palisch.

In the immediate short term, the Martin injury is quite unfortunate for the Sox. He was scheduled to start tonight’s game in Toronto, though that obviously won’t be happening now. It further hobbles a rotation that has taken a few hits recently. Jonathan Cannon landed on the IL due a lower back strain earlier this month. Adrian Houser is away from the club for a few days on the paternity list.

Without Martin taking the ball tonight, the Sox will perhaps have to cobble together a bullpen game, which is unfortunate timing. They just played a doubleheader yesterday and used eight different relievers to get through the day. Tyler Alexander was the one guy in the bullpen who didn’t throw yesterday, so perhaps he will soak up some innings tonight, while González and Palisch provide two fresh arms. The club also doesn’t have a starter listed for Sunday, with Aaron Civale going on Saturday. Perhaps Houser will be back by Sunday or maybe another bullpen game will be in order.

Putting the short-term concerns aside, it’s always unnerving when a pitcher’s throwing arm is injured. Martin underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2023, missing that entire season. He returned last year and logged 50 innings with a 4.32 earned run average. He’s added another 80 2/3 innings this year with a 3.91 ERA. Adding to that total will be on pause for now and the Sox will presumably provide some more information about how severe the injury is and how long they expect him to be out of action.

Martin will also need to be replaced in the rotation beyond today’s game. Once Houser is back, he’ll slot in alongside Civale, Shane Smith and Sean Burke. Mike Vasil has started his last three appearances and could perhaps take Martin’s spot.

Palisch, 26, is having a decent season but seems to be something of an emergency call. An undrafted free agent signing from 2022, he has never really popped up on the radar of prospect evaluators. He came into this year with a 4.24 ERA in 97 2/3 minor league innings.

Here in 2025, he has a 1.19 ERA in 53 Double-A innings, though that doesn’t paint the whole picture. His 7% walk rate is good but his 17.4% strikeout rate is subpar. He’s benefitted from a .225 batting average on balls in play, 79.8% strand rate and 1.7% home run to fly ball rate. Regardless of what his true skill level might be, he can help the Sox eat some innings. He has thrown either five or six frames in each of his past seven appearances.

Freeman, 27, was added to the club’s roster just last month. He has since thrown 3 1/3 innings over five appearances, allowing two earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three. He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Sox as non-roster depth. From 2021 to the present, he has thrown 166 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.89 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

White Sox To Promote Wikelman González

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The White Sox are calling up right-hander Wikelman González, reports Chase Ford of MiLB Central. The righty will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so the Sox will only need to make a corresponding active roster move in order to call him up.

González, now 23, was an international signing of the Red Sox out of Venezuela. He was one of four players who came to the White Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, alongside Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Braden Montgomery. Teel and Meidroth have already been promoted to the majors earlier this year, so Montgomery is the last piece still in the minors. Montgomery has a chance to eventually be the most impactful of the bunch but he was just drafted last summer and is still in High-A.

Throughout his minor league career, González has racked up strikeouts but has also given out a high number of walks. Prospect evaluators have long suggested that his lack of control would eventually push him to the bullpen and that seems to be happening this year.

He came into this year with a high walk rate of 12.6%, working primarily as a starter. He started 2025 in the Double-A rotation and made four starts there but he walked 18.2% of opponents. The Sox then pushed him to the Triple-A bullpen. Through 19 2/3 innings over 12 appearances, he has a 2.75 earned run average. Though that’s a nice ERA,  the underlying problem is still present. He has walked 18.1% of Triple-A batters faced. His ERA would look far worse if not for a .191 batting average on balls in play.

González’s promotion might be less about him forcing his way up to the big leagues and more about team need. The Sox played a doubleheader yesterday and used eight of their nine relievers, with Tyler Alexander the only one who didn’t get called upon. González may still be a work in progress but he will give the Sox a fresh arm going into their weekend series against the Blue Jays, with a good chance to make his major league debut north of the border.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Rockies Outright Keston Hiura

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June 19: Hiura cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Triple-A, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It’s not clear if he’ll elect free agency.

June 16: The Rockies announced that first baseman Michael Toglia has been recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque. Infielder Keston Hiura has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

This is the reversal of a transaction from a few weeks back. On May 31st, Toglia was optioned to Albuquerque, with Hiura selected to the roster to take his place. Toglia had a nice season in 2024 but got out to an awful start in 2025.

Last year, he hit 25 home runs in just 116 games and took over as the clubs’ regular first baseman. His 32.1% strikeout rate was high and his batting average was low, but he drew walks at an 11.8% clip. His .218/.311/.456 line actually translated to a subpar 98 wRC+, thanks to the hitter-friendly nature of Coors Field, but that still made him one of the better hitters on a bad team.

This year, prior to being sent down, his walk rate fell to 8.7% and his strikeout rate climbed even higher to 39.1%. He currently has a .194/.266/.349 slash and a 55 wRC+. Since getting optioned, he has played 11 Triple-A games, with numbers in line with his 2024 season. He hit three home runs with an 11.8% walk rate and 29.4% strikeout rate for a .273/.353/.568 line and 112 wRC+.

Hiura, 28, got a small amount of big league playing time and didn’t do much with it. He got 21 plate appearances over eight games. He did not draw a walk but struck out seven times. He knocked four hits, including one double. It all added up to a .222/.333/.278 line and 71 wRC+.

Presumably, Toglia will now be retaking the regular first base job after this brief reset. In his absence, Hiura got a decent chunk of the time there, with utility players like Orlando Arcia and Kyle Farmer also chipping in.

Hiura now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Rockies can technically take five days to explore trades. There’s not likely to be a ton of interest. Hiura was performing well enough in the minors prior to coming up but it’s been the case for years now that he shows pop in the minors and then strikes out too much in the majors. He now has 1,105 big league plate appearances with 50 home runs but a massive 35.9% strikeout rate.

He exhausted his final option year with the Brewers in 2022, which pushed him into journeyman status. Over the past few years, he has repeatedly cleared waivers and signed minor league deals with clubs like the Tigers, Angels and Rockies, occasionally getting brief looks in the majors. If he clears waivers again, he’ll have the choice of electing free agency or reporting back to Albuquerque.

Photo courtesy of Rhona Wise, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Sign Trevor Richards To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Trevor Richards to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Reno alongside lefty Anthony Gose, per the southpaw’s tracker. It was reported earlier this week that the Snakes would be signing Gose but it wasn’t clear if it was a major or minor league deal.

Richards, 32, has had some major league success but has been in poor form for about a year now. The Blue Jays dealt him to the Twins at last year’s deadline but Richards lasted only 13 innings with Minnesota before being outrighted off the roster. In that time, he walked 11 opponents, a rate of 18.6% of batters faced. He also hit two other batters and issued seven wild pitches.

Here in 2025, he has signed minor league deals with the Cubs and Royals, getting a brief look in the majors with the latter club. He has thrown 19 1/3 minor league innings this year with a 4.19 earned run average, 25.6% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate. In his quick major league stint with Kansas City, he allowed four earned runs in three innings.

Prior to those struggles, he had a good run in the big leagues. He tossed 201 innings over the 2021-23 seasons with a 4.61 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate. He earned one save and 25 holds in that time.

The Arizona bullpen has taken a few punches this season. The relief group was supposed to be anchored by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both are currently out of commission. Martínez recently required Tommy John surgery and will be out for the year. Puk is on the IL with a flexor strain and was recently shut down due to some renewed discomfort. In addition to those two, Kendall Graveman and Christian Montes De Oca are also on the IL.

Amid those injuries, the club’s bullpen numbers are unsurprisingly poor. Arizona relievers have a collective 5.39 ERA, which puts them ahead of only the Nationals and Athletics. If they stay in the playoff race, adding relievers will surely be a deadline focus. For now, they’ll take chances on guys like Richards and Gose while hoping for the best.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

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