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White Sox To Promote Grant Taylor

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The White Sox are promoting pitching prospect Grant Taylor, reports James Fox of FutureSox. The club will have to make a corresponding move or moves to make space for him on both the active and 40-man rosters.

Taylor, 23, will be getting the call for the first time. The Sox selected him with a second-round pick in 2023, 51st overall, even though he had undergone Tommy John surgery earlier that year. Prior to that surgery, there were some who considered him the top pitcher for LSU, ahead of Paul Skenes. But Skenes obviously took off from there while Taylor has largely been on the shelf.

Taylor did make his professional debut last year, though in somewhat limited fashion. He tossed 19 1/3 innings between the Complex League and Single-A last year, allowing 2.33 earned runs per nine innings. He had a massive 44.4% strikeout rate and 2.8% walk rate in that small sample. Those outings took place in May and June. His last appearance was June 7th but he suffered a lat strain at that time, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. He did get healthy enough in time for some Arizona Fall League action, tossing 7 2/3 innings there, allowing eight earned runs but striking out 15 batters.

Despite the limited workload, he’s been generating some prospect hype. Baseball Prospectus gave him the #90 spot on their top 101 list coming into the year. FanGraphs gave him the #94 spot, hyping up his arsenal from the AFL. The FanGraphs report noted that he flashed “four average or better pitches,” noting that his fastball velocity was in the mid-to-upper 90s. He also throws a curveball, a slider and a changeup, the latter apparently being a new pitch that he didn’t have in college.

This year, it seems the Sox have been focusing on a relief role for Taylor. He started the year with six starts, though none of those went longer than three innings. Since then, he has largely been kept in a single-inning relief role. It’s hard to argue with the numbers on a rate basis. Taylor has logged 26 2/3 Double-A innings this year with a 1.01 ERA, 36.6% strikeout rate, 10.9% walk rate and 56.9% ground ball rate.

The Sox are apparently excited enough that they are going to skip Taylor over Triple-A and let him face some major league hitters, presumably in the same bullpen role he’s been in recently. It’s unclear if the Sox view that as a permanent move or just a temporary situation while he builds up a foundation of innings to build from.

Taylor hasn’t built up to a huge workload but there clearly lots of potential in the arm. Though he may be a work in progress, the Sox are in a position to experiment. Their 22-44 record is the worst in the American League and ahead of just the Rockies overall.

Though Taylor was on a few top 100 lists coming into the year, the prospect promotion incentive doesn’t apply here. To qualify for PPI, a player must be on two of the three lists between Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN. Taylor wasn’t on any of those three.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

The Orioles’ Long-Term Catching Situation

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Things aren’t going well for the Orioles, to state the obvious. They currently have a record of 26-38. They are 8.5 games back of the final American League Wild Card spot. They are behind every A.L. team apart from the White Sox and Athletics. FanGraphs puts Baltimore’s playoff odds at 3.1%. Baseball Prospectus is slightly more optimistic at 9.7%.

Barring a surge in the next few weeks, they will go into the trade deadline as sellers. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the club is viewing things that way, unsurprisingly. That’s a disappointing outcome but it also presents opportunities.

Teams on the fringes of contention often have to answer tough questions about how aggressively to attack the deadline. Diving in headfirst as a buyer has short-term appeal but runs the risk of investing in a flawed team while hampering the club in the future. Trying to walk a fine line between buying and selling can sometimes end up as a half measure that doesn’t fully work in either direction.

The O’s should have a more straightforward approach. While they will be sellers, there is still a lot of young talent in the system and on the big league roster. The general strategy should be to move guys with dwindling control while keeping the long-term pieces with an eye towards contending again in 2026. Ramón Urías and/or Ryan O’Hearn could be traded, making more room for Coby Mayo at the infield corners. Cedric Mullins should be flipped, opening playing time for the club’s many young outfielders such as Jud Fabian or Enrique Bradfield.

Another interesting name who should be in the mix is Samuel Basallo. An international signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, he got a healthy $1.3MM bonus. Since then, he has continued to climb prospect rankings with his excellent work in the minors. In 364 games on the farm to this point, Basallo has a combined .282/.364/.489 batting line and 134 wRC+. That includes a .252/.365/.595 line and 148 wRC+ at Triple-A this year. He has 13 home runs in just 39 games. His 25% strikeout rate is a bit high, but his 14.7% walk rate is almost double the league average.

There have been some question marks about his defense over the years, but prospect evaluators feel he has improved as he has aged. He is still only 20 years old and won’t turn 21 until August. Baseball America currently lists him as the #17 prospect in baseball. MLB Pipeline has him at #16. Keith Law of The Athletic just did a midseason update and had Basallo at #4. Coming into the year, ESPN had him at #17 and FanGraphs at #5.

The Orioles have one of the most talented catchers in baseball in Adley Rutschman, though he’s has been in a slump for almost a year now. The first overall pick of the 2019 draft, Rutschman was doing everything according to plan in his first few years in the big leagues.

From 2022-23, Rutschman hit 33 home runs, drew walks at a 13.6% clip and only struck out 16.2% of the time. His .268/.369/.439 line lead to a 130 wRC+, indicating he was 30% better than league average at the plate. The defense also received strong reviews. FanGraphs credited him with 11.3 wins above replacement over those two seasons, tops among all big league catchers in that time. That number doesn’t even account for intangibles, with Rutschman often complimented for his clubhouse leadership and work with a pitching staff.

For the first half of 2024, Rutschman continued on that pace. Through June 26th, he had a .297/.350/.470 line and 135 wRC+. On June 27th, he was hit on his right hand by a foul tip and had that hand wrapped up after the game, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (video clip of the play from MLB.com, though the announcer accidentally refers to Rutschman as James McCann). Maybe the timing is a coincidence, but Rutschman hasn’t been the same since. He sat out the club’s game on June 28th but was back in there on the 29th. He slashed .189/.279/.280 for a 63 wRC+ in the rest of the season.

Here in 2025, the two-time All-Star been better but not back to his previous self. Rutschman has a .227/.321/.374 line and 103 wRC+ this year. Some of that may be luck. He has a .250 batting average on balls in play this season, which is well below his previous level and this year’s .290 league average. His 90.8 miles per hour average exit velocity is actually a career high. His 9.4% barrel rate and 40.9% hard-hit rate are also personal bests.

His batted ball metrics were down in the second half of 2024. Perhaps the most logical explanation is that Rutschman wasn’t 100% healthy after taking that foul tip last year, whereas he’s been mostly healthy but unlucky so far in 2025. He’s had a few knocks this year but has avoided the injured list. Maybe his results will even out in the long run and this dip will eventually look like a footnote. For what it’s worth, I personally think that’s the best and most likely explanation.

Even if Rutschman’s slump was just a blip and he’s back to his old self, the Orioles will still likely have to make some decisions about their plans behind the plate.  Rutschman is now just over two years away from free agency, as he’s slated to hit the open market after the 2027 season. Despite a late-May call up in 2022, he earned a full year of service by finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting. There hasn’t been any indication that an extension is especially likely. With 2025 trending toward being a lost cause, the O’s may only have two more real bites of the apple with Rutschman.

There’s also Basallo’s health to consider. Though he continues mashing the ball, he has dealt with some injuries, including a hamstring issue and some elbow inflammation. Those issues, particularly the latter, have cut into his ability to get work behind the plate. In order to get him regular plate appearances, the O’s have put him at first base and in the designated hitter slot with some frequency. This year, he has 17 starts as a DH, nine at first and 11 behind the plate. He only has 90 innings in the catcher position this year. Last year, he had 35 starts as the DH, 32 at first base and 56 as the catcher.

That means it’s not a strict either/or situation. It’s entirely possible to imagine a scenario wherein Rutschman and Basallo share the catching duties and the DH slot while Basallo also gets some time at first base. Gary Sánchez was the planned backup to Rutschman this year, but he’s largely been hurt and is an impending free agent regardless. O’Hearn is an impending free agent as well. Ryan Mountcastle can be controlled through 2026 but looks like a non-tender candidate since he was having a poor year and is now going to be on the IL for months. Mayo could take over at first next year with Jordan Westburg at third base. Urias might still be on the roster next year, but the likely departures of O’Hearn and Mountcastle will free up some plate appearances.

Basallo’s bat will seemingly be good enough to play anywhere, but his offensive contributions will be more valuable if he can be a regular catcher. The Orioles might prefer to use the first base and DH spots for Mayo and their many young outfielders. If the O’s wanted to open the catcher position for Basallo, there might be some temptation to consider trading Rutschman.

Doing so this summer is not likely. Trading catchers midseason can be difficult because the backstop would have to learn an entirely new pitching staff on the fly. There’s also the fact that Rutschman’s value is likely down, on account of last year’s struggles and this year’s slow start. As referenced earlier, better days may be ahead, so waiting may be the smart play. With Basallo still a work in progress, there shouldn’t be short-term urgency to get a deal done.

But over the next few years, it’s possible that the pressure builds. Basallo coming up to the majors this year is totally viable, especially if the O’s sell off some pieces at the deadline and open up playing time. If he can hit big league pitching and continues maturing defensively, his viability as a major league catcher will grow. All the while, Rutschman’s window of control will be narrowing. As mentioned, he’s now about two and a half seasons from the open market. He’s making $5.5MM this year and will be due two more raises in arbitration.

As the window of control shrinks and his salary grows, his trade value will drop. That’s a tricky balance the O’s will have to consider. They have long had a big collection of position player talent but have struggled to have enough starting pitching. They have increased spending a bit in the past year but still haven’t made massive investments in the rotation, which has contributed to their unraveling this year.

Trading Rutschman and handing the catching duties to Basallo would certainly be a massive risk right now. But over time, perhaps it starts to look less risky, depending on how Basallo dives into the major league waters.

For other clubs, Rutschman would certainly hold appeal. Free agency usually isn’t a great place to find catching solutions. Backstops tend to show their age a bit more quickly than other players, due to the demands of the position. By the time players get to free agency, they are usually around 30 years old. Rutschman is now 27 and will be 28 and 29 in his final two arbitration seasons.

It’s practically a given that there would be teams willing to surrender controllable starting pitching to acquire Rutschman down the road. If so, the O’s will have to think about the perfect time to make that strike. Zach Eflin, Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton are all slated for free agency this winter, so the rotation should be the club’s primary target again in the coming offseason, even with Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish coming back from injuries.

There are no easy answers here and there are still many different ways it could go. But whenever Basallo does come up, he will start to get tested and the O’s will gradually get more clarity on who he can be. As that is happening, the window will be slowly shutting on the Rutschman era, barring a surprise extension. As those strings unravel simultaneously, decisions will have to be made.

Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Kim Klement Neitzel, and D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

Angels Select Shaun Anderson, Designate Garrett McDaniels For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Shaun Anderson.  Fellow righty José Fermín has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake as the corresponding active roster move.  To open a 40-man spot, left-hander Garrett McDaniels has been reinstated from the injured list and designated for assignment.

Anderson has a 6.30 ERA over 10 relief innings for the Halos this season, with most of that damage caused by three home runs allowed during that small sample of work. Los Angeles signed Anderson to a minors contract in February and selected him to the active roster for the first time a month ago, but designated the righty for assignment in the wake of his struggles.

The home run ball has long been an issue for Anderson, who has a 6.11 career ERA in the majors over 162 innings with eight different teams. Despite his lack of production at the big league level, Anderson has consistently kept drawing interest due to his ability to work as a swingman, though he hasn’t gotten much consistent work as a starter since the 2019 season when he pitched for the Giants. There is also a bit of a “quad-A” air to the righty’s career, as Anderson has pitched decently well at the Triple-A level and during a brief stint overseas in the KBO League in 2023.

Anderson will now get a chance to cover some innings and see if he can stick in the L.A. bullpen, with McDaniels the odd man out on the 40-man roster.  McDaniels was a Rule 5 Draft pick out of the Dodgers organization back in December, and his debut season in the majors saw the southpaw post a 5.91 ERA over 10 2/3 relief innings, with more walks allowed (eight) than strikeouts (six).  In fairness to McDaniels, he had only two games of Double-A experience on his resume before being exposed to MLB hitters this season, and he didn’t make his Triple-A debut until this year, while rehabbing from biceps tendinitis.

McDaniels’ Rule 5 status would carry over if another team acquired him via claim or trade during the DFA period, so this new club would also have to carry McDaniels on its active roster for the entire roster in order to fully obtain his rights.  If McDaniels clears waivers, the Angels would have to offer him back to the Dodgers for $50K (i.e. half of the original $100K fee the Angels paid the Dodgers for making the Rule 5 selection).

Red Sox Designate Robert Stock For Assignment, Select Brian Van Belle

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The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Brian Van Belle. He will take the roster spot of fellow righty Robert Stock, who has been designated for assignment.

Stock, 35, was just added to the roster a couple of days ago. Facing the Yankees on Friday, starter Walker Buehler only lasted two innings, in a game that finished in a 9-6 loss. Zack Kelly and Brennan Bernardino came in after Buehler before Cooper Criswell mopped up the final three frames.

Criswell likely wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so the Sox optioned him down and brought up Stock to give the bullpen a fresh arm. In last night’s 11-7 victory over the Yanks, the Sox used eight pitchers to get the necessary 27 outs, leaving them in a somewhat taxed position going into tonight’s contest against the Rays.

Stock was one of those eight pitchers and he wasn’t terribly efficient. He was put into the game in the bottom of the ninth with an 11-5 lead. He faced six batters, only retiring two of them, while throwing 30 pitches. Closer Aroldis Chapman had to come in and get the final out.

That’ll get Stock bumped off the roster for the second time this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the winter and was also called up in April, under somewhat similar circumstances. Boston had just played a doubleheader and wanted a fresh arm. Stock made one appearance and was designated for assignment right after. He cleared waivers and stuck with the club, which allowed him to come back up in recent days. It’s possible that the same sequence of events plays out in the coming days. Stock has a 10.13 earned run average in those two big league outings this year but a solid 3.09 ERA in Triple-A.

Van Belle, 28, has never been a huge name among prospect evaluators but is having a good season. An undrafted free agent in 2020, he has climbed the minor league ladder and been in Triple-A since 2023. This year, he has logged 51 innings over eight starts and four relief appearances with a 2.29 ERA. His 20% strikeout rate isn’t strong but his 3.4% walk rate is tiny and he’s been getting ground balls on 51.7% of balls in play.

As mentioned, the pitching staff got a lot of work yesterday. Van Belle will replace Stock and give the club a fresh arm capable of tossing multiple innings. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Rich Hill Has June 15 Opt-Out In Royals Deal

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Veteran left-hander Rich Hill signed a minor league deal last month. It appears the club will soon have to make a decision on whether or not to call him up. Robert Murray of FanSided reports that there’s a June 15th opt-out in that deal.

Since signing that pact, Hill has made four minor league starts, two in the Complex League and then two more for Triple-A Omaha. He went four scoreless in the first outing but allowed four earned runs in four frames in the next one. In his first Triple-A start, he allowed three earned runs in five innings. Most recently, he went six innings without allowing an earned run.

Put it together and Hill has a 3.32 earned run average in 19 innings. He struck out 31.5% of batters faced and only walked 4.1%, though those numbers were far better in the two Complex League outings, striking out 41.9% of batters faced with no walks there compared to a 23.8% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in the Triple-A starts.

However you cut it up, it’s a small sample of work. Hill is 45 years old and it’s hard to guess how effective he can be against major league hitters at this point. He had a decent stretch as recently as the first half of 2023, posting a 4.23 ERA through his first 13 starts with the Pirates. However, he faded from there, with a 6.57 ERA in the remainder of the season. The Bucs flipped him to the Padres but San Diego ended up bumping him to the bullpen and he finished the year with a 5.41 ERA overall.

He tried to get creative last year, with a plan of not signing until midway through the season. The idea was to spend more time with his family and also save his bullets for a second-half playoff push. It didn’t play out as he imagined, however. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the middle of August and got called up for four relief outings before being released.

Hill has a lot of big league success under his belt, including solid seasons with ERAs near 4.00 in both 2021 and 2022. But given his age and the less consistent results of late, he’s more of a gamble now.

The Royals also don’t have a strong starting pitching need. In fact, they have one of the best rotations in baseball. Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo were on the injured list not too long ago but both are now active again. Noah Cameron got some starts to cover for those injuries and has been great, with a 0.85 ERA through five appearances now. He won’t be able to keep that up forever, especially with a subpar 16% strikeout rate. Still, even if he’s the club’s #6 behind Lugo, Ragans, Kris Bubic, Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen, that’s a great setup for the club.

The club is off today and also has off-days on the next two Mondays. Cameron is listed as tomorrow’s probable starter but it’s possible he’ll get optioned after that, now that Lugo and Ragans are back. He could then be recalled towards the end of the month if the club wants a sixth starter when they start a stretch of 16 games in a row. Kyle Wright is also on a rehab assignment and building up his workload at the moment.

There’s not an amazing path for Hill, unless the Royals want to add some long relief to the bullpen. It’s possible the situation changes in the coming days. Perhaps Lugo or Ragans will re-aggravate their respective injuries, or someone else could get hurt. Though other clubs around the league are already dealing with plenty of injury absences, so perhaps there are better opportunities for Hill elsewhere.

Hill should have a chance to make one more Triple-A start before his opt-out decision but it’s possible he’ll be a free agent again soon. If he makes it to the majors, with the Royals or any other club, he’ll be easily the oldest player in the league. Justin Verlander is currently the oldest at 42 years old, born in February of 1983. Hill was born in March of 1980, almost three years earlier.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images

Mets Select Justin Garza

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The Mets announced that they have selected right-hander Justin Garza to their major league roster. Left-hander Brandon Waddell was optioned in a corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had two vacancies, so their count climbs from 38 to 39.

Garza, 31, started the season on a minor league contract with the Giants. This past weekend, the Mets acquired him, sending some cash considerations to San Francisco in return. He has tossed 17 2/3 innings over 19 Triple-A appearances this year. His 6.11 earned run average in that time is obviously not great but there are other metrics that the Mets are presumably more interested in.

The righty has been averaging over 96 miles per hour on his fastballs this year. When he was last in the majors, he was in the 93-95 mph range. His 26% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate this year are both strong numbers. However, he has allowed a .340 batting average on balls in play. His 68.6% strand rate is a bit low. He has also allowed four home runs, a rate of 22.2% per fly ball. That work has come in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, so perhaps the Mets are hoping that Garza’s skills will play better in a different setting. Citi Field is generally pitcher-friendly but can be close to neutral when it comes to home runs.

Garza does have some major league experience, with a 5.74 ERA, 21% strikeout rate and 13.7% walk rate in 47 innings. That poor control has also been a feature of his minor league work. From 2021 to 2023, he logged 102 2/3 innings on the farm with 3.94 ERA and 27.4% strikeout rate but a 12.4% walk rate. Last year, he only walked 8% of Triple-A batters he faced and has stayed in that range in 2025.

Though his major league track record isn’t great, adding velocity while improving control is an intriguing step forward, so the Mets will give him a fresh chance. He has a couple of option years remaining, which surely adds to the appeal, as he can be sent to Syracuse and back fairly freely if he holds down a 40-man roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images

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.

Blue Jays Outright Ali Sánchez

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TODAY: Sanchez has re-signed with the Blue Jays on a new minor league contract, as his MLB.com profile page indicates that he did indeed opt for free agency before quickly rejoining the club.  Sanchez has been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.

JUNE 5: Catcher Ali Sánchez has been sent outright to Triple-A Buffalo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not currently clear if he will exercise that right.

Sánchez, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the offseason. He started the year with 28 Triple-A games, hitting five home runs to produce a solid .253/.324/.440 line and 104 wRC+ in those contests.

The Blue Jays have had Alejandro Kirk and Tyler Heineman as their big league catching duo for most of the year, with no other backstops on the 40-man roster. Heineman required a stint on the concussion-related injured list late last month, so Sánchez was called up. He was on the roster for just over a week, getting into five games and receiving 11 plate appearances. He struck out three times and got two hits, one of them being a double. Since he is out of options, he essentially had to be designated for assignment when Heineman was reinstated.

Now that he has cleared waivers, he has the right to elect free agency since he has previously been outrighted in his career. The Jays are probably hoping he will stick around, either by accepting the assignment or signing a new minor league deal after electing free agency. The Jays are once again down to just two catchers on the 40-man roster, so having non-roster depth will be important. They also have Christian Bethancourt at the Triple-A level but he just spent a few weeks on the minor league IL. Phil Clarke is putting up decent numbers for the Bisons but has no major league experience.

Sánchez has generally produced decent offensive numbers in the minors, with a .269/.348/.423 line and 96 wRC+ dating back to the start of 2022. He hasn’t hit well in the majors, with a .176/.217/.222 line, but has only received 121 plate appearances scattered across multiple seasons dating back to 2020. Baseball Prospectus has generally given him strong grades for his Triple-A defense.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

Corbin Burnes To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo has informed members of the media that right-hander Corbin Burnes will undergo Tommy John surgery. Burnes will therefore miss the remainder of this season and possibly the entire 2026 campaign as well. Radio broadcaster Chris Garagiola was among those to pass the info along. Burnes is already on the 15-day injured list but will be transferred to the 60-day as soon as the club needs a roster spot.

The news is devastating but unsurprising. Burnes was pitching on Sunday when he called the training staff out from the dugout. He departed that game and the club later announced that he was experiencing elbow discomfort. He went for various medical opinions in the following days but it seems the worst-case scenario could not be avoided, so he’ll go under the knife. Given that Tommy John surgery usually requires 14 to 18 months of recovery time, Burnes is definitely out for the rest of 2025. A return in late in 2026 is possible but can’t be guaranteed.

Burnes is well known as one of the best pitchers in the sport. He won a Cy Young Award while pitching with the Brewers in 2021. He posted a 2.43 earned run average in 167 innings that year. He struck out 35.6% of opponents, only gave out walks at a 5.2% clip and got grounders on 48.8% of balls in play.

His results have backed up a bit since then but he’s still been excellent. Over the next three years, his strikeout rate continued to fall but it didn’t prevent his overall run prevention much. His ERA finished around 3.00 in each season from 2022 to 2024, even though his strikeout rate fell to 30.5%, 25.5% and 23.1% in those seasons.

He was one of the top free agents in the most recent offseason. MLBTR placed him second in the class, behind only Juan Soto, predicting Burnes could land a $200MM contract over seven years. He naturally fielded a lot of interest, with clubs such as the Orioles, Blue Jays and Giants among those who were connected to him most often.

In late December, he finally picked a new team. Arizona was a surprising destination since the club already had a number of rotation options and wasn’t heavily connected to the starting pitching market. But Burnes is an Arizona native and reportedly wanted to be close to his family, so the two sides made it work. The six-year deal guarantees Burnes $210MM, though with $64MM of that deferred into the next decade. It also affords him the opportunity to opt out after the 2026 season.

The Diamondbacks had made a number of investments in their rotation in recent years but this was the largest by far. Going into 2024, they gave Eduardo Rodríguez a four-year, $80MM deal and Jordan Montgomery also got a one-year, $25MM guarantee plus an easily-attainable vesting option.

Despite the heavy amount of investment in starting pitching, the Arizona rotation hasn’t been a strength. That was true even before this Burnes news, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a look at in a post for Front Office subscribers.

Losing Burnes for the rest of the year will only compound the problem. Montgomery himself required Tommy John surgery before the season started, so he’s already been out of action all year. Rodríguez has a 7.05 ERA in nine starts. He went on the IL in mid-May due to shoulder inflammation and was reinstated today.

Despite having one of the best lineups in baseball, the Arizona pitching has contributed to a fairly disappointing season so far. A recent four-game win streak has got them back to .500, but their 31-31 record still has them 3.5 games out of a playoff spot at the moment. They will have to try to climb back into the race without Burnes. Their current rotation consists of Rodríguez, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Kelly is having a good year but Gallen, Pfaadt and Rodríguez are all struggling. Nelson has been in a swing role and is only now taking up a rotation spot in the wake of the injuries.

With the club hovering around contention, decisions will have to be made about the club’s deadline plans. If they fall back in the standings, they have a number of impending free agents and could have a lot to sell. That includes Gallen, Kelly, Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor. Montgomery is also an impending free agent but naturally has no trade value since he’s out for the year. Though if the Snakes can hang in there, adding at the deadline could obviously be the move.

Those impending free agencies and the Burnes surgery will also lead to questions about the 2026 rotation. As of now, it consists of Pfaadt, Rodríguez and Nelson. There are some prospects who could potentially take up roles but it’s clearly a very different picture to the imperfect group they have now.

Turning to the Burnes opt-out, it now seems incredibly unlikely that he triggers it. Though he could come back late next year, that will likely be for a handful of starts at most. It would be hard for him to build up enough of a platform to turn down the four years and $140MM (with deferrals) left on the deal.

That’s a largely moot point for the future. For today, the takeaway is that it’s real bad news for the Diamondbacks. Subtracting Burnes blows a big hole in their rotation right now, while the club is trying to salvage the season, and into the long-term as well.

Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas and Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Guardians Select Dom Nuñez

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The Guardians announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Dom Nuñez. Fellow backstop Austin Hedges has been placed on the seven-day concussion-related injured list. Right-hander Andrew Walters has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt spoke on the Hedges situation today, with video relayed by Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. Vogt says that Hedges was hit in the head by a backswing from Jazz Chisholm Jr. on Wednesday night (video of the incident from MLB.com). Vogt says that Hedges was experiencing some “low-level concussion symptoms” yesterday which have not gone away. Vogt adds that the club wants to be cautious due to previous concussions suffered by Hedges. According to his MLB.com transaction tracker, Hedges has previously gone on the IL for a concussion in 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Concussions tend to get more dangerous with each subsequent incident, so the caution is understandable.

Hedges has been backing up Bo Naylor at the catcher position this year but Nuñez will now tag in and take over that job while Hedges recovers. Calling up Nuñez was necessary because the Guards previously had just Hedges and Naylor as the two catchers on their 40-man roster. David Fry has catching experience but is limited to designated hitter duties this year due to undergoing elbow surgery in November.

The 30-year-old Nuñez signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the offseason. He has been playing at the Triple-A level since then, putting up a line of .136/.266/.369 in 32 games. That’s not a pretty slash but it’s held back by a .131 batting average on balls in play. Nuñez has six home runs and has been drawing walks at a 13.6% clip, though he’s also been striking out 30.4% of the time.

His major league track record consists of 111 games with the Rockies over the 2019-22 period. He hit just .180/.280/.373 in that time but generally received solid marks for his defense. Nuñez still has one option remaining and could be easily sent back down to Triple-A when Hedges gets healthy.

As for Walters, he landed on the 15-day IL a week ago due to a lat strain. His current status is unclear but it appears that the Guardians don’t expect him back anytime soon. With this transfer, he can’t be reinstated until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which means late July.

Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images

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