Nationals Have Interviewed Red Sox’ AGM Eddie Romero
The Nationals are continuing to their attempts to get a front office in place before the offseason. Per a report from Ken Rosenthal and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic, the Nats recently interviewed Eddie Romero, assistant general manager of the Red Sox. In a tweet, Ghiroli also mentions Royals assistant general manager Scott Sharp, though it’s unclear if Sharp has interviewed for the job.
Romero was been with the Red Sox a long time, having been hired in a scouting role back in 2006. He has since risen through the ranks, getting the assistant GM and executive vice-president titles in 2018. His work in Boston is clearly respected within the Red Sox franchise. In the fall of 2023, after the Sox had fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, Romero interviewed to be his replacement. That job ultimately went to Craig Breslow.
Romero is the second Boston assistant GM to be connected to the opening in Washington. It was reported last week that Paul Toboni is also a candidate. Today’s reporting confirms that Toboni did indeed interview for the job. However, Breslow is planning to a hire a GM to work as his second-in-command and Tim Healey of The Boston Globe writes that Toboni is a strong candidate for that position. If Toboni ultimately gets tapped for the GM role in Boston, that takes him off the table in Washington and could also lead to increased speculation about someone like Romero leaving.
Like Romero, Sharp has been with his club for many years, having been hired by the Royals in 2006. The Kansas City front office is currently headed by general manager J.J. Picollo. Sharp has been connected to a number of vacancies over the years, including the Mets’ GM search back in 2018, the Angels’ GM search in 2020 and the Giants’ GM search last year.
Sharp withdrew himself from the Giants’ GM search about a year ago, per Rosenthal. That was reportedly due to family considerations, though Rosenthal noted at that time that Sharp had an interest in running a front office at some point in the future.
The Nationals have been rebuilding for years now but the lack of progress led to president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo, and manager Dave Martinez, getting fired in July. Assistant GM Mike DeBartolo was given the GM title on an interim basis. He is a candidate to run the front office beyond the 2025 season, though the Nats have also considered a number of external candidates.
In addition to Romero, Toboni and Sharp, Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman, Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes and D-Backs AGM Amiel Sawdaye have been tied to the Nats. Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins was also in the mix but is reportedly no longer in the running.
Per Rosenthal and Ghiroli, the Nats are considering hiring both a president of baseball operations and a general manager. It’s therefore possible they hire two of these aforementioned executives, though there are perhaps others in the mix who haven’t been publicly connected to the club.
The Nats want to have those decisions made by the end of the regular season so that they can then pivot to the managerial search. Miguel Cairo has been in the interim skipper since Martinez was fired. Whether or not Cairo is a candidate to stick around is presumably dependent on who is eventually picked to run the front office and how that person wants to go about the managerial search.
Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage
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 of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Mets moving Sean Manaea to the bullpen and optioning Kodai Senga (1:50)
- The Diamondbacks, Reds and Giants, who are trying to chase down the Mets (13:40)
- The Giants promoting Bryce Eldridge (19:40)
- The Blue Jays promoting Trey Yesavage (25:30)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Will the Astros trade Christian Walker in the offseason and move Isaac Paredes over to first base? (38:45)
- Will the Braves make any shocking trades of their core this offseason? (47:40)
- Will the Red Sox nab a postseason spot and can they make a deep postseason run? (55:00)
Check out our past episodes!
- Talking Mariners With Jerry Dipoto – listen here
- A Conversation With Pirates GM Ben Cherington — Also The O’s, Zack Wheeler, And The Rangers – listen here
- The Pohlads Aren’t Selling The Twins, Nathaniel Lowe, And Service Time Manipulation – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Brewers Place Jose Quintana On IL Due To Calf Strain
The Brewers announced that left-hander Jose Quintana has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 15th, due to a left calf strain. Right-hander Nick Mears has been reinstated from the 15-day IL as the corresponding move.
Quintana started Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. He was pulled after throwing 67 pitches over four innings, having allowed three earned runs. After the game, manager Pat Murphy told members of the media that Quintana had been pulled due to a calf injury, adding that the lefty was in a walking boot and would require an MRI.
The Brewers took a few days to see how Quintana’s calf responded but have evidently decided that he’ll need to sit out a while longer. Even with the backdating, his regular season is over. He finishes the year with a 3.96 earned run average in 131 2/3 innings, though his underlying numbers are a bit less impressive than that ERA. His 9% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate are close to average but he only struck out 16% of batters faced. A low .259 batting average on balls in play seemed to help him, which is why his 4.83 FIP and 5.05 SIERA are both about a run higher than his ERA.
Even before the injury, Quintana wasn’t especially likely to be playing a meaningful role for Milwaukee in October. With the off-days in the postseason, teams are able to rely on just three or four starters instead of the usual five or six. Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester and Jacob Misiorowski are all having better seasons than Quintana.
In the short term, the Brewers are still in a good position. They have already clinched a playoff spot and seem highly likely to get a bye through the first round. They are currently 4.5 games up on the Cubs in the Central. The Brewers are eight games clear of the Dodgers, who lead the West division at the moment, in addition to being a game and a half clear of the East-leading Phillies.
To finish the job, they will need to replace Quintana in the rotation for the near term. They have Woodruff, Priester and Misiorowski taking the ball in the next three games. Peralta started yesterday and won’t be available on normal rest by Saturday. Milwaukee doesn’t have an off-day until the 25th, next Thursday.
Chad Patrick has had success as a starter this year but he is currently in the bullpen. His two most recent appearances have been of the single-inning variety but he did pitch 4 1/3 innings as recently as September 9th, so perhaps he could cover multiple innings. It’s a somewhat similar situation with guys like Erick Fedde and Tobias Myers, who have done some starting but have been in shorter stints more recently.
Another option to help out fairly soon is Robert Gasser, who is nearing a return from last summer’s Tommy John surgery. He was reinstated from the IL at the end of August but was optioned to the minors. Most of his recent minor league outings have been around three innings, at intervals of three days or so. He won’t be available for a traditional start but could cover a few frames in some capacity. “I think you’ll see him soon,” Murphy said today, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Turning back to Quintana, he will presumably be trying to get healthy for the postseason. Assuming the Brewers eventually do secure a bye through the Wild Card round, he’ll have over two weeks until the Division Series begins. As mentioned, the Brewers probably don’t need him in their postseason rotation, though an injury to one of the other arms could always change that. Even if he’s not needed to make a start, he could perhaps work out of the Milwaukee bullpen.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Rays Acquire Marshall Toole As PTBNL From José Caballero Trade
Outfield prospect Marshall Toole is heading from the Yankees to the Rays, according to announcements from both clubs. He is the player to be named later from the deadline deal which sent José Caballero to the Yankees and Everson Pereira to the Rays. Toole wasn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man roster and therefore doesn’t need to take up a spot with the Rays.
Toole, 22, was a 15th-round pick of the Yankees in last year’s draft. Since that selection, he has played in 113 Single-A games, stepping to the plate 441 times. His 20.6% strikeout rate thus far is decent while his 15.2% walk rate is quite strong. His .298/.413/.462 batting line translates to a 148 wRC+. He has also stolen 52 bases in 60 tries.
Those are obviously some nice numbers but there are some caveats. That offensive production includes just six home runs and is being propped up by a massive .380 batting average on balls in play. Toole is also a bit old for his level and will face stiffer competition as he moves up the ladder. He’s not currently listed as one of the top 30 prospect in the Yankee system by Baseball America nor MLB Pipeline.
Put all together and it feels like a very Rays-style pickup, a player without a huge profile but one with some interesting tools. The club has turned a few such players into decent big league contributors over the years. Perhaps the same could be true of Toole but he’s likely a few years away since he still has to climb a few more rungs of the minor league ladder. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until December of 2027.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Pirates Select Rafael Flores
The Pirates announced that they have selected the contract of catcher/first baseman Rafael Flores. In a corresponding active roster move, infielder Liover Peguero has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full.
Flores, 24, was just acquired from the Yankees as part of the deadline deal sending David Bednar to the Bronx. He was going to be available in the upcoming Rule 5 draft if not added to Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster. They were surely planning to give him a roster spot in order to him from that draft. Doing so a few months early allows them to get a look at him in the big leagues before the offseason arrives.
The youngster took an unusual path to being a notable prospect. He attended Rio Honda, a community college outside Los Angeles, and was playing summer ball for the Alaska Goldpanners when the Yanks found him and signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He was roughly league average at the plate in 2023 while playing at the High-A level.
Flores seemed to take a big step forward last year, both offensively and defensively. He stepped to the plate 506 times between High-A and Double-A, producing a combined .279/.379/.495 line and 152 wRC+. FanGraphs ranked him 34th in the system prior to that campaign, noting that his work behind the plate was improving. Baseball America ranked him tenth among New York farmhands heading into the current season.
The 2025 season has seen Flores boost his stock even further. The righty-swinging 24-year-old clobbered Double-A pitching at a .287/.346/.496 pace (145 wRC+) in 370 plate appearances and has hit .281/.363/.459 (119 wRC+) in 157 Triple-A plate appearances with the Pirates following the trade. He’s not great when it comes to controlling the running game, but Baseball Prospectus gives him above-average framing and blocking grades in the minors this year. At the very least, he has the makings of a bat-first option behind the plate — an area of dire need for the Pirates for the past several years.
Catcher has been a revolving door in Pittsburgh ever since the Bucs traded Jacob Stallings to the Marlins after the 2021 season. They’ve since used a combination of Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez, Joey Bart, Jason Delay, Yasmani Grandal, Tyler Heineman, Austin Hedges, Michael Perez, Andrew Knapp and Roberto Perez — among others — and received disastrous results with the bat. Only the Guardians have received less offensive output from their catchers than Pittsburgh’s combined .208/.285/.314 since Opening Day 2022.
The hope moving forward will be that Flores can turn that tide — or at least play a meaningful role in a catching committee that begins to right the ship. The Pirates’ offense, in general, is among the most anemic in baseball on an annual basis. If Flores can provide even average offense (or slightly above), he ought to receive plenty of looks moving forward, given the difficulty the Bucs have had when it comes to scoring runs year over year.
Angels Outright Niko Kavadas
The Angels have sent first baseman/outfielder Niko Kavadas outright to Triple-A Salt Lake, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Kavadas, 26, was acquired from the Red Sox as part of the July 2024 trade which sent Luis García to Boston. The Halos added Kavadas to their 40-man roster a few weeks later. He has largely been on optional assignment since then. His major league work consists of just 40 games with 129 plate appearances. He has produced a rough .168/.271/.292 line in that small sample.
His minor league work has generally been that of a three-true-outcomes guy, as he usually hits lots of home runs and draws lots of walks while also striking out a bunch. That has continued to be the case in 2025, though the overall production has taken a step backwards. He has 23 Triple-A homers this year while walking at a 14.7% clip and striking out 30.8% of the time. In the hitter-friendly context of the Pacific Coast League, his .231/.363/.449 line translates to a wRC+ of 100. Last year, he slashed .264/.399/.521 in Triple-A for a 138 wRC+.
He’s not a burner on the basepaths nor is he an especially strong defender, so that lesser offensive production is notable and likely helped him get through waivers unclaimed. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of big league service time, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. That allows the Halos to keep him as non-roster depth. He won’t be eligible for seven-year minor league free agency at season’s end either, since he was drafted in 2021 and has therefore only played parts of five minor league campaigns.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, 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.
Only two weeks remain in the 2025 regular season. Do you have a question about the stretch run? A move made at the deadline? The upcoming offseason? 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.
The Opener: Rangers, Astros, Phillies, Dodgers, Strahm
Just two weeks left to go in the regular season! Here are three things we’re monitoring around baseball today…
1. Silver Boot series kicks off with huge implications:
The American League west is the tightest division in the majors. The Mariners took over the top spot this weekend and currently sit one game clear of the Astros. That leaves Houston in possession of the final A.L. Wild Card spot but the Rangers are just two games behind them. The Rangers are in Houston for three games starting tonight for a series that should play a huge role in the A.L. playoff picture.
It begins tonight with Jack Leiter taking the ball for Texas against Jason Alexander. The Rangers will turn to Merrill Kelly and Jacob deGrom in the next two games. The Astros don’t have starters listed beyond Alexander but Cristian Javier will likely start one of those contests. They might have to do a bullpen game in the other, with Luis Garcia recently hitting the injured list. Guys like AJ Blubaugh, Jayden Murray, Colton Gordon or J.P. France could cover multiple innings.
2. Division leaders face off in Los Angeles:
Over in the National League, a couple of division leaders are squaring off as the Phillies open a three-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers tonight. The Phils have the East division locked down with the Mets 12 games back. The Dodgers have more of a fight in the West, as they are only 2.5 games up on the Padres. The Phils are in a good spot to earn a bye through the first round as they are behind the Brewers but 4.5 games ahead of the Dodgers, though Los Angeles can tighten things up with a sweep in the coming days.
The Phils are going with Ranger Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo while the Dodgers counter with Emmet Sheehan, Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell. The Padres are off tonight but will be watching and rooting for the Phils, before they start their own important series against the Mets tomorrow.
3. Strahm on verge of vesting:
Circling back to the Phillies for one note of interest, left-hander Matt Strahm is on the verge of being locked up for 2026. His contract originally contained a $4.5MM club option for 2026 but he already bumped that up to $5.5MM when he reached 40 innings pitched this year and then $6.5MM when he got to 50 frames. If he gets to 60, it jumps another million to $7.5MM and becomes guaranteed, pending the result of a postseason physical examination. Strahm is up to 59 1/3 innings on the year now, meaning he’s two outs away from vesting that option.
Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images
Giants To Promote Bryce Eldridge
The Giants are calling up top prospect Bryce Eldridge, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The club will need to make corresponding moves to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters.
Just over two weeks ago, it was reported that the Giants were unlikely to call up Eldridge this year, but a few things have changed since then. In late August, it seemed like the Giants were playing out the string on a lost season. They had sold at the deadline and were about seven games back of a playoff spot as August was winding down.
Eldridge was putting up good-not-great numbers in Triple-A. They could have called him up for a few big league at-bats, but he hasn’t even turned 21 years old yet and wasn’t really forcing the issue. If they had added him, they would have had to keep him on the roster through the winter. Keeping him in Triple-A would have afforded the club an extra roster spot through the offseason, since he wasn’t going to be Rule 5 eligible until December 2027.
But as mentioned, the picture has shifted. The Giants have played better of late as the Mets have fallen apart. That leaves San Francisco just 1.5 games back of a playoff spot now, with two weeks left in the regular season. A couple of days ago, they lost first baseman Dominic Smith to a hamstring strain, which pushed him onto the injured list.
Eldridge has also been in pretty good form lately. Since the reporting that he was likely not going to be called up, he has taken 78 more plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He hit four home runs in that span and drew walks at a 10.3% clip. His 28.2% strikeout rate in that stretch is still high but his .294/.372/.559 line translates to a 132 wRC+, even in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League.
Put it all together and it’s easy to see the appeal for the Giants. They have somehow found themselves with a real shot at cracking the postseason. Eldridge has long been one of their top prospects for a while and could help them make a push. The injury to Smith opened a path for him. Promoting Eldridge now will mean the club has one less roster spot to use in the winter, but that’s a small price to pay for the potential short-term benefits.
In the weeks prior to Smith’s injury, the Giants had a three-man rotation for the first base and designated hitter spots. Rafael Devers was playing everyday, alternating between DH and first base. It’s been less than two months that he’s been a first baseman, so it seems the Giants have been gradually getting him accustomed to that spot. Smith and Wilmer Flores were essentially platooning in the other slot, with the lefty-hitting Smith in there against righties and the righty-swinging Flores against lefties. One of them would be at first or DH, depending on where Devers was.
Eldridge hits from the left side and could perhaps take up the role that Smith was in previously. Eldridge doesn’t have huge splits here in 2025, with a .258/.333/.515 line against righties and .270/.330/.494 against lefties, but there was a stark difference in 2024. Last year, he had a .319/.406/.584 line with the platoon advantage but a .211/.272/.316 line otherwise. The improvements this year are very encouraging but the Giants might still shield him from lefties as they play competitive games for the next two weeks.
On the other hand, Flores had oddly reverse splits this year. He has a .223/.277/.362 line and 79 wRC+ against southpaws but a .248/.322/.383 line and 102 wRC+ otherwise. His career splits are more tilted towards the norm, as he has been slightly better against lefties, but he hasn’t been crushing them lately.
One way or another, Eldridge should be in there somewhere. It would be odd for the Giants to call him up just for a bench role, so they presumably plan on him getting somewhat regular playing time. He does have some right field experience in the minors but not since 2023. He has been exclusively a first baseman since the start of 2024. In the long run, he and Devers will presumably be sharing first base and the DH spot in some form. Devers is signed through 2033 while Eldridge will still have six seasons of club control beyond this one.
Since he only plays first base, Eldridge has a slightly lesser ceiling than a player who can cover a premium defensive spot, but he’s so good at the plate that he’s still a consensus top 30 prospect in the league. There’s not enough time remaining in the 2025 season for him to exhaust rookie eligibility, so he will still populate those prospect lists going into 2026, even if he is eventually part of a deep postseason run this year. By maintaining rookie status going into 2026, he will be eligible for the prospect promotion incentive. That means he could earn the Giants an extra draft pick if he cracks next year’s Opening Day roster and then meets certain awards voting criteria.
Photos courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images
Tarik Skubal Day-To-Day After Leaving Game Due To Side Tightness
TODAY: Tests revealed no serious issue, Hinch told The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen and other reporters today. Skubal may even be able to make his next start, though the club will continue to monitor his status on a daily basis.
SEPTEMBER 12: Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal was removed from tonight’s contest in the fourth inning. He motioned to the dugout to call someone out to the mound. Manager A.J. Hinch and a member of the training staff visited him and the lefty was quickly lifted. Per Chris McCosky of Detroit News, he is experiencing tightness in his left side and is being evaluated. ESPN’s Jeff Passan describes the injury as “discomfort near his left rib cage,” noting that Skubal will undergo imaging on Saturday.
More details will be revealed in time. Any injury at all is potentially a massive development, given the calendar and Skubal’s importance. There are just over two weeks remaining in the regular season, so even a minimal IL stint at this point runs to the final days of the schedule. Anything longer than that would push into the postseason.
Skubal is the last player the Tigers want to lose to an injury. Arguably, his absence would be more notable than any other player in the majors. He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in recent years, if not the very best. Last year, he made 31 starts with a 2.39 earned run average, 30.3% strikeout rate, 4.6% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate. He was the unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young award. He made another three starts for Detroit in last year’s playoffs. He has continued that pace here in 2025. He came into tonight with 180 innings, a 2.10 ERA, 32.6% strikeout rate, 4.1% walk rate and 40.7% grounder rate.
The Tigers are in a comfortable spot in terms of qualifying for the playoffs. Entering play tonight, they have a lead of 8.5 games on the Guardians in the Central division. They are also five games clear of the Mariners/Astros for the second bye through the first round. However, in the postseason, teams lean more heavily on their best pitchers. With more off-days in the playoffs, the top dogs can take on a larger percentage of the innings pitched.
If healthy, Skubal would be the clear top of the Detroit rotation, with Casey Mize, Jack Flaherty and Charlie Morton behind him. If Skubal needs to miss some time in October, then those three would each bump up a slot.
For the rest of the regular season, though the Tigers are in a decent spot, they may still have to scramble a bit if Skubal is unavailable. They put Sawyer Gipson-Long on the injured list earlier today, dropping their rotation from five to four members. Morton is scheduled to go tomorrow, followed by a bullpen game on Sunday. After an off-day Monday, the club plans to have Mize and Flaherty pitch on Tuesday and Wednesday. Skubal was lined up for Thursday. Morton could perhaps pitch that game on regular rest or the Tigers could do another bullpen game. They have guys like Keider Montero, José Urquidy and Chris Paddack in the bullpen, each capable of covering multiple innings.
That will be a secondary concern to October. As mentioned, the Tigers are in a good spot in the standings and highly likely to make the playoffs, with a strong chance at a first-round bye as well. The games in October are far more important than anything in the next two weeks. Perhaps Skubal will be given a bit of rest with the hope of having him ready for the playoffs, though everything naturally hinges on the nature and severity of his injury.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images