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Orioles Notes: Kittredge, Cowser, Reilly

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Back in January, the O’s signed reliever Andrew Kittredge to a one-year, $10MM deal. They haven’t yet received any return on that investment but that may soon change, since he’s currently on a rehab assignment.

“All good news with how he’s throwing the baseball and how he feels,” said manager Brandon Hyde, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. “I think he throws again this weekend and then he’ll do a back-to-back and maybe another one. We’ll see how it goes.”

Kittredge required a left knee debridement procedure in March and has been on the 15-day injured list all year so far. He’s now made four rehab appearances, the last three being scoreless Triple-A outings. Based on Hyde’s comments, it seems he’ll get into a few more games and should join the Baltimore bullpen after that.

The righty had a 2.80 earned run average in 70 2/3 innings with the Cardinals last year. His 23% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 45.2% ground ball rate were all solid figures. If he can get back to that level of performance, he’ll be a nice upgrade to the relief corps. However, it might require a tough decision on who goes out. The only members of the bullpen who are optionable are the high-leverage arms: Félix Bautista, Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin. That could put pressure on a struggling pitcher like Cionel Pérez or Charlie Morton, who both have ERAs north of 8.00.

Regardless of that decision, it’s possible that Kittredge could eventually emerge as a trade candidate this summer, if he performs well after being reinstated from the IL. The O’s are now 15-27 and will have to engineer a big winning streak to avoid being deadline sellers. Kittredge’s deal contains a $9MM club option for 2026 with a $1MM buyout.

Kubatko also relayed a minor update on outfielder Colton Cowser, saying that he did some “light outfield work” yesterday. He suffered a broken thumb just a few days into the season, an injury which came with a timeline of six to eight weeks.

He was subsequently transferred to the 60-day IL, so he’s not eligible to return until late May, though that doesn’t seem likely even though it’s been over six weeks now. He will presumably need to ramp up his activities further before even beginning a rehab assignment. Kubatko notes that the injured thumb is still wrapped in a brace. For now, the Orioles will continue with the outfield mix consisting largely of Cedric Mullins, Ramón Laureano, Tyler O’Neill and Heston Kjerstad.

The club also announced to reporters, including Kubatko, that pitching prospect Patrick Reilly had UCL surgery yesterday. The O’s didn’t provide a timeline for Reilly but he’ll surely be sidelined into the middle of the 2026 season.

Acquired from the Pirates last summer in a deal which sent Billy Cook the other way, Reilly has been with Double-A Bowie since the deal. He has logged 41 innings for the Baysox with a 3.29 ERA. For his entire minor league career, he now has 139 2/3 innings with a 3.54 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 12.3% walk rate.

Coming into 2025, Baseball America ranked him the #16 prospect in the Orioles’ system while FanGraphs had him at #25. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December of 2026 if not protected before then, but he’ll spend most of the intervening time rehabbing from this surgery.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Huascar Ynoa Signs With Mexican League’s Leones De Yucatán

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The Mexican League’s Leones De Yucatán announced that they have signed right-hander Huascar Ynoa. He had signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins in the offseason but he was released last month, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

Ynoa, turning 27 this month, didn’t have a good tenure with the Twins. He made five Triple-A appearance but allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He issued seven walks and hit a batter while only recording one strikeout. That poor performance seemingly led to his release. Now that he’s signing in Mexico, it seems he didn’t get much interest from the other affiliated clubs.

However, he is still relatively young and put up some good numbers a few years ago. With Atlanta in 2021, he tossed 91 innings with a 4.05 earned run average. His 26.9% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 47.3% ground ball rate were all better than average.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build off that solid season in subsequent years. In 2022, he had two bad starts to begin the year and spent most of the season in Triple-A, putting up a 5.68 ERA at Gwinnett. He required Tommy John surgery in September of that year, which wiped out his entire 2023. Last year, he missed more time due to a stress reaction in his elbow. He logged only 29 2/3 innings in the minors with a 6.37 ERA. He was non-tendered by Atlanta, which led to his minor league deal with the Twins.

After missing most of the 2023-24 seasons, it’s perhaps not shocking that Ynoa showed some rust to start this year. Ideally, the Leones can give him some time to get back into a groove and rediscover his previous form. If that comes to pass, he would likely have MLB clubs calling him up again.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

White Sox Claim Vinny Capra

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The White Sox announced that they have claimed infielder/outfielder Vinny Capra off waivers from the Brewers. He had been designated for assignment by Milwaukee last week. The Sox opened a 40-man spot recently by designating Gage Workman for assignment, so no corresponding move will be necessary there. Capra is out of options, so the Sox will need to open active roster space once he reports to the club.

Capra, 28, has been a good minor league performer in his career but hasn’t really had a chance to carve out a major league career. He has appeared in each of the four most recent major league seasons but has only been sent up to the plate 96 times over those campaigns. He has produced a dismal .105/.170/.163 line in those.

But on the farm, he received 1,287 plate appearances from 2021 to 2024. He drew walks in 11.4% of those while limiting strikeouts to an 18.6% clip. He had a combined .287/.376/.431 line and 118 wRC+ over those seasons. He also stole 25 bases while bouncing around the diamond. He has played every position except first base, though that includes just one inning as a catcher and just a third of an inning on the mound.

The Brewers apparently thought there was a chance of Capra being a useful big league player. They claimed him off waivers from the Pirates in 2023. Coming into 2025, he had exhausted his option years but earned an Opening Day roster spot by hitting .292/.358/.729 in spring training. However, he didn’t carry it over into the regular season, which nudged him off the roster and onto the waiver wire.

The Chicago roster is a bit of a motley crew right now. After losing 121 games last year, they are giving playing time to guys like Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn, with the club hoping those guys can build trade value in the coming months. Meanwhile, guys like Miguel Vargas and Chase Meidroth are attempting to establish themselves as bonafide major leaguers and form part of the next core. Capra will jump in there and can bounce around to multiple spots. If he can get some plate appearances and produce some offense like he has in the minors, he’ll be a nice pickup for the Sox.

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Devers Drama, Managerial Firings, And Jordan Lawlar

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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 Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should the Orioles try to extend Cedric Mullins or Tomoyuki Sugano (35:05)
  • How real are the Twins and the Tigers? (39:00)
  • What should the Cardinals do in right field if Jordan Walker doesn’t get going? (44:50)
  • Why do the Mets seemingly do better with external pitching additions than their homegrown arms? (49:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Ben Joyce Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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The Angels announced today that right-hander Ben Joyce underwent surgery on his right shoulder this morning and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Joyce is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the campaign.

It’s a tough break for the Halos and one of baseball’s fastest throwers. Joyce, 24, has thrown 49 innings with the Halos to this point in his career. His fastball has averaged 101.6 miles per hour, while he’s also mixed in a cutter, sinker, slider and changeup. Despite that huge velocity, he’s more of a ground-ball pitcher, with a 53.7% rate in that department. His 21% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are subpar, but he’s still managed to post a 3.12 earned run average.

He landed on the 15-day IL about two weeks into the season due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Joyce and the Angels seemed to initially think it was a minor issue. He framed the IL stint as precautionary at the time, saying that he “just kind of thought it was normal soreness, and ended up getting reevaluated and just a little more inflamed than we wanted it to be. So [we’re] just trying to get ahead of it.”

But last week, the Halos transferred him to the 60-day IL, indicating that the prognosis had changed. Now it seems to have gotten far worse, with Joyce going under the knife. The announcement was lacking in specifics about the procedure but the main takeaway is that 2025 will essentially be a lost season for Joyce.

The Halos have one of the worst bullpens in the league this year. Their relievers have a collective ERA of 7.07, tied with the Nationals for worst in the majors. Both clubs are almost two runs clear of their competition, as the Diamondbacks are the next-worst bullpen with a 5.18 ERA. That’s part of the reason the Angels are 17-24 so far. Getting Joyce back could have helped but that won’t happen now.

Joyce came into this year with one year and 75 days of big league service time. He’ll continue adding to that while on the IL and will therefore finish this year at 2.075. He’s slated to qualify for arbitration after 2026 and free agency after 2029.

Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images

Astros Designate Tayler Scott For Assignment

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The Astros have designated right-hander Tayler Scott for assignment, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. That’s the corresponding move for lefty Colton Gordon, whose promotion was reported earlier this week. Gordon was already on the 40-man, so this drops the club’s count to 39.

Scott, 33 next month, seemed to have a bit of a breakout with the Astros in 2024. After years of bouncing around to various major league clubs, minor league clubs, indy ball teams and a stint in Japan, he signed a minor league pact with Houston in December of 2023.

He made the Opening Day roster last year and went on to log 68 2/3 innings on the season, allowing just 2.23 earned runs per nine. His 12.4% walk rate was certainly on the high side but his 42.4% ground ball rate was around league average, while his 25.2% strikeout rate was a few ticks above par. He likely got a bit of help from his .230 batting average on balls in play and 84.9% strand rate, but even ERA estimators like his 4.13 FIP and 4.04 SIERA suggested he could be a useful bullpen arm even with a bit less luck.

Unfortunately, almost everything has gone in the wrong direction this year. Through 16 2/3 innings, he has a 5.40 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate, 15.4% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate. That has clearly worn out Houston’s patience. Scott is out of options, so they had little choice but to bump him off the 40-man entirely.

Scott will now be in DFA limbo for a maximum of one week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Astros could take five days to explore trade possibilities. Perhaps some club in need of bullpen help could be interested, if they feel there’s a way for Scott to get back to last year’s results.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea,Imagn Images

Tigers Select Akil Baddoo, Option Jace Jung

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The Tigers announced that they have selected outfielder Akil Baddoo to the 40-man roster. Infielder Jace Jung has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster already had a couple of vacancies, due to recently cutting Kenta Maeda and Manuel Margot, so no move was required to open a spot in that regard. Chris McCosky of Detroit News first reported that Baddoo was at the ballpark today and that Jung would be optioned for him.

Jung, 24, is a former first-round pick and top 100 prospect but the Tigers are still waiting for him to click at the big league level. He was promoted late last year and put up a serviceable .241/.362/.304 line in his first 34 big league games, though he did that while striking out at a 30.9% pace. The Tigers clearly weren’t fully convinced by that performance, as they made a strong push to sign Alex Bregman in the offseason, though he went to Boston instead.

Coming into this year, Jung struggled in the spring, hitting .121/.216/.273. He was optioned down to the minors prior to Opening Day but crushed it in Triple-A, slashing .239/.409/.463. That got him recalled three weeks into April but he hasn’t done much with the opportunity. His 28.3% strikeout rate is a slight improvement relative to last year but he has no extra-base hits, leading to a .111/.245/.111 line.

The Tigers apparently want him to work things out with more time on the farm, though he doesn’t have much left to prove there. He slashed .257/.377/.454 for a 123 wRC+ at the Triple-A level last year and, as mentioned, was good at that level for a spell this year. Still, it’s understandable that the club considers his current performance unacceptable for a competitive big league club.

The length of this optional assignment could be significant for Jung. He came into this year with 45 days of major league service time, putting him 127 shy of the one-year mark. He added another 23 days with this recent stretch in the majors but will need to come back up fairly quickly in order to have a shot at getting over that line. There are 137 days left in the regular season at this point.

Jung has been the club’s regular third baseman for past few weeks, so the club will need to come up with a new solution there. Javier Báez, Zach McKinstry, Andy Ibáñez and Trey Sweeney have also started games at third base this year. McKinstry and Báez have also been drawn into the outfield in order to cover for Detroit’s many injuries there, but Baddoo’s promotion will perhaps allow the club to shift some of those utility guys from the grass to the dirt.

Baddoo, now 26, seemingly had a breakout season in 2021. A Rule 5 pick, he hit 13 home runs, stole 18 bases and provided passable outfield defense. However, his bat cratered over the next three seasons. He hit .203/.292/.328 over the 2022 through 2024 campaigns.

That dropped his stock enough that the Tigers were able to pass him through waivers unclaimed in the offseason. He then required hamate surgery in February, putting him on ice during the spring. He has since recovered and has been performing well in Triple-A. He has a .245/.336/.471 line for a 123 wRC+ in 116 plate appearances, with six stolen bases to boot.

The Detroit outfield currently consists of Báez, McKinstry, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and Justyn-Henry Malloy. Carpenter is often in the designated hitter slot while Báez and McKinstry could move to the infield a bit more now, as mentioned, which could open outfield playing time for Baddoo.

Matt Vierling is on a rehab assignment and could factor into the mix soon as well, either at third base or in the outfield picture. Baddoo still has an option and could be sent back down to the minors when Vierling is reinstated.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images.

Pirates Claim Michael Helman

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The Pirates have claimed infielder/outfielder Michael Helman off waivers from the Cardinals, according to announcements from both clubs. There was no previous indication that the Cards had removed Helman from their 40-man roster, so their count drops to 39. The Bucs opened a 40-man spot by transferring infielder Enmanuel Valdéz to the 60-day injured list.

Helman, 29 this month, has a tiny amount of big league experience. He got 10 plate appearances with the Twins last year, collecting three hits while also striking out three times. He was traded to the Cardinals in February for cash.

His 2025 season is out to a rough start. In 73 Triple-A plate appearances, he has a .185/.260/.292 batting line and 50 wRC+, indicating he’s been 50% worse than league average. Perhaps the Cardinals felt that those poor numbers would help Helman sneak through waivers, so they quietly put him on the wire.

However, the Bucs have swooped in and grabbed him, presumably overlooking his 2025 numbers and focusing on his other seasons. Over 2023 and 2024, Helman took 480 minor league plate appearances, hitting 21 home runs and slashing .282/.356/.507 for a 121 wRC+. He still has a full slate of options, so the Pirates can keep him in the minors and see if he bounces back. If he does, he could be a versatile utility piece. He has played every position outside the battery in his minor league career.

As for Valdéz, he landed on the 10-day IL a few days ago due to left shoulder inflammation. His status is unclear but the fact that he has been quickly moved to the 60-day IL doesn’t bode well. He’s now ineligible to return until July.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Dodgers Promote Dalton Rushing, Designate Austin Barnes For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced that they have selected catching prospect Dalton Rushing to their roster. Fellow catcher Austin Barnes has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported the Rushing promotion prior to the official announcement while Robert Murray of FanSided relayed the Barnes DFA.

Rushing, now 24, was selected by the Dodgers in the 2022 draft. It was technically a second-round pick, 40th overall, though that was the club’s top selection that year. It was moved back ten spots due to the Dodgers going over the third tier of the Competitive Balance Tax in 2021. The club gave him a signing bonus of just under $2MM, right around slot value.

Since then, Rushing has done nothing but mash at the plate. He has stepped to the dish 1,150 times in total, for various minor league clubs. He has been struck out at a reasonable 21.5% pace in that time, while drawing walks at an excellent 15.6% clip. He has 54 home runs and a .277/.412/.519 batting line, which translates to a 154 wRC+.

That production would be excellent from any position but especially for a catcher, a spot that generally comes with lower offensive expectations. He’s also considered a good defender behind the plate, only adding to his prospect stock. The combination makes Rushing a consensus top 50 prospect. Baseball America currently lists him at #31 with MLB Pipeline having him at #15. In the preseason, FanGraphs gave him the #8 spot, ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic both had him at #16.

Despite Rushing’s obvious talents, it was unclear how the Dodgers would fit him in. Will Smith has been the club’s regular catcher for years and is signed through 2033. Teams with two good catchers will sometimes use the designated hitter spot to distribute more at-bats but the Dodgers can’t do that. They have Shohei Ohtani in the DH spot every day and he’s also signed through 2033.

That led the Dodgers to have Rushing dabble at other positions. He has played a bit of first base and left field in the minors, though he’s still been behind the plate more often than he’s been in those spots.

With Barnes being the corresponding move, it seems Rushing will slot into the catching mix alongside Smith. Perhaps his ability to play other positions will help both backstops get into the lineup. Freddie Freeman has first base locked down, but there’s a path for Rushing to get some outfield playing time.

Both Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman are currently on the injured list. That leaves the club with an outfield alignment consisting of Andy Pages, Michael Conforto and James Outman, with utility guys Hyeseong Kim and Chris Taylor contributing on occasion as well. Pages is the only guy in that group currently hitting well, so perhaps Rushing will be able to take some playing time from the others.

It’s too late in the season for Rushing to earn a full year of service time, at least the traditional way. As a top prospect, he technically has a path to earning a full year of service by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, though that will be a challenge. No one is currently running away with the NL ROY race but Rushing is still weeks behind others who have been up all year. Even the best prospects will sometimes struggle when first promoted to the majors, so there’s no guarantee that Rushing can just storm through the rest of the season.

Regardless, it seems the club plans for Rushing to be up for good, since they are moving on from Barnes. If Rushing struggles and they want to send him back down, Hunter Feduccia is also on the 40-man roster. Assuming Rushing finishes 2025 shy of the one-year service line, he’ll be under club control through 2031, so he and Smith can theoretically be the catching duo for years to come.

As for Barnes, he has been serving as a glove-first backup catcher for over a decade now. He has appeared in 612 games for the Dodgers, dating back to his 2015 debut. He has a combined .223/.322/.338 line in that time, which translates to an 85 wRC+. That indicates he’s been about 15% worse than the league average hitter, but catchers are generally about 10% worse than league-wide par, so that’s not bad output for a backup catcher.

Since he also provided good work behind the plate in that time, he has been a fairly solid member of the roster, leading the Dodgers to sign him to a modest extension in 2022. They were satisfied enough with his performance to pick up a $2.5MM club option for the 2025 season.

However, his offense seems to have a hit new low this year. He is striking out at a 31.8% clip, easily the highest of his career, while his 2.3% walk rate is a personal worst by a notable amount. He currently has a .214/.233/.286 slash and 44 wRC+.

Given that Barnes is now 35 years old, the club may not have much hope of a turnaround. The combination of his struggles and Rushing’s ascendance has pushed Barnes off the roster. The Dodgers will now technically have a week of DFA limbo to work out what’s next. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks would have to come together in the next five days.

There’s not likely to be much interest, based on his salary and recent performance. If he clears waivers, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping his entire salary coming to him. If he ends up on the open market, another club could sign him and pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Dodgers pay.

Photos courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Bryan Terry and Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Cardinals’ Sem Robberse Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Cardinals placed pitching prospect Sem Robberse on the full-season injured list in the minor leagues today. The club announced to reporters, including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat, that the righty has undergone Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the remainder of this season and part of 2026 as well.

Robberse, now 23, was one of two young pitchers the Cardinals acquired from the Blue Jays in the 2023 deadline deal which sent Jordan Hicks to Toronto. Robberse was set to be eligible in the Rule 5 draft a few months later, but the Cards protected him by adding him to their 40-man roster that November.

The young Netherlands-born righty has generally been a serviceable starter in the minors. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 414 1/3 innings, allowing 4.04 earned runs per nine. His 22.5% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate in that span were both fairly average numbers. He also got ground balls on close to half of the balls in play he allowed.

This year, he got out to a rough start, posting a 7.36 ERA over four Triple-A outings. However, that seems to have been mostly bad luck. His .447 batting average on balls in play and 61.6% strand rate in that small sample were both to the unfortunate side. Meanwhile, his 24.7% strikeout rate and 46.8% ground ball rate were both strong numbers. His 10.4% walk rate was on the high side but not egregiously so.

Regardless, Robberse is not going to get a chance to correct those numbers, an unfortunate blow for him and the team. It’s not a huge deal in the short term. The St. Louis rotation is so healthy right now that Steven Matz has been bumped to the bullpen multiple times, despite strong results. Michael McGreevy is stuck in Triple-A even though he’s putting up good numbers there.

Still, depth can disappear fast and this is the second hit the Cards have taken in that department. Cooper Hjerpe, one of the club’s top pitching prospects, required his own Tommy John surgery last month.

In the longer term, this will cloud Robberse’s path to making it to the majors. The Cards are slated to lose Matz, Miles Mikolas and Erick Fedde to free agency this winter. That would leave them with a projected 2026 rotation of Sonny Gray, Andre Pallante and Matthew Liberatore, with two potential rotation spots open.

Instead of competing for a role in the starting mix, Robberse will be rehabbing from his surgery. He’s currently in his second of three option years. That means 2026 could be his final option year, if he sticks on the 40-man roster through the upcoming offseason. He probably won’t be fully healthy until midway through that 2026 season. The Cards could call him up and put him on the major league 60-day IL at some point, if they so choose. Doing so would open a 40-man roster spot but it would also involve Robberse earning major league pay and service time.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

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