Endy Rodríguez Undergoes Ulnar Nerve Transposition Surgery
The Pirates informed reporters today, including Alex Stumpf of MLB.com, that catcher/first baseman Endy Rodríguez has undergone ulnar nerve transposition surgery. Stumpf says Rodríguez is expected to be ready for spring training, so he seems to be done for 2025.
It’s another unfortunate twist for Rodríguez’s career. He was one of the top prospects in baseball ahead of his debut. When he got up to the show in 2023, he didn’t hit much but his defensive grades were strong. Since he had been a good hitter throughout his minor league career, it was hoped he could be the club’s long-term catcher.
But going into 2024, he required surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon, which wiped out that entire season. He got back on the field here in 2025 but this season has also been significantly marred by injuries. A laceration on his right index finger put him on the injured list in mid-April. He was reinstated from the IL in late May but was back on the shelf again about a week later due to elbow inflammation. He was pretty quickly transferred to the 60-day IL, suggesting the Pirates knew he was in for a long absence. Today’s news confirms that. Due to all those injury issues, Rodríguez only played 18 big league games this year. Since he missed all of 2024, it’s been close to two lost years.
That’s less than ideal for Rodríguez personally but it also means the Bucs will go into 2026 with question marks behind the plate again. As of a few years ago, they had two of the top catching prospects in baseball. In addition to Rodríguez, they also had Henry Davis, taken first overall in 2021.
While Rodríguez has been mostly out of action, Davis hasn’t delivered on his promise. Davis currently has a .183/.271/.298 batting line in 579 big league plate appearances, including a .169/.247/.281 showing here in 2025. With Rodríguez out last year, the Bucs acquired Joey Bart in April. That looked like a masterstroke when Bart hit 13 home runs in just 282 plate appearances last year. But here in 2025, he has just two homers in 256 trips to the plate. His glovework isn’t highly rated, so the offensive drop-off hurts his value.
The Pirates have a great pitching staff but the lineup is lacking, with clear issues on the infield and behind the plate. Ideally, Rodríguez would have taken over the job this year and cemented himself as the man for the job. Instead, it’s more time rehabbing from surgery and more question marks.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Release Jeff Brigham
The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Jeff Brigham, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on Monday, so this doesn’t impact the club’s 40-man roster count.
Brigham, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster at the end of May but only made four appearances for the big league club before being optioned back down to Triple-A Reno. After rejoining the Aces, he bounced on and off the minor league injured list. He was on the shelf from June 17th to July 25th, then landed back on the IL July 29th.
At the time of his DFA this week, he was still on the IL. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. Since the trade deadline has passed, that left release waivers as the only option for the Diamondbacks.
It’s unclear what Brigham’s current health status is. He now has a 4.85 earned run average in 120 2/3 career big league innings. He has struck out 23.8% of batters faced while giving out walks to 10.7% of opponents.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Baek-Ho Kang Planning To Pursue MLB Opportunities
Korean utility player Baek-Ho Kang has hired Paragon Sports to represent him as he plans to pursue major league opportunities, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman adds that Kang will be a full free agent, not subject to the posting system.
Kang just turned 26 at the end of July. Despite his young age, he is currently in his eighth season with the KT Wiz of Korea’s KBO League. Kang debuted way back in 2018 when he was just 18 years old.
He has some good seasons under his belt, though his earlier campaigns were stronger than his more recent ones. From 2018 to 2021, he got into at least 116 games each season and stepped to the plate at least 505 times. He hit 81 home runs over that span while producing a combined .325/.408/.521 line and 145 wRC+. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 and was an All-Star from 2018 to 2020.
Since then, his work has declined in both quality and quantity. Per his scouting report on The Board at FanGraphs, he “broke his toe falling down a flight of stairs before the 2022 season started, then partially tore his hamstring just a few weeks after he returned. A bout with anxiety shelved him for a month in 2023, and his season ended with an oblique tear.”
In 2022, he only got into 62 games and slashed .245/.312/.371 for a wRC+ of 86. Since then, he’s been an above-average hitter but not to his previous level. Over the 2023-25 seasons, he has a combined .276/.353/.456 line and 114 wRC+. He only got into 71 contests in 2023. He got that up to 144 last year but has only appeared in 62 games so far this year. He hit 26 home runs last year but his .289 batting average and .360 on-base percentage weren’t up to his previous level.
Perhaps MLB clubs will have differing opinions on whether Kang can get back to that higher level or not. Earlier in his career, when he was showing 20-30 home run power along with strong on-base numbers, his production was somewhat analogous to Ha-Seong Kim‘s KBO years. Kim hit between 19 and 30 home runs in his final six KBO seasons. In his last two, 2019 and 2020, he slashed .307/.393/.507 for a 142 wRC+.
Kim was able to parlay that into a four-year, $28MM deal and become an effective big leaguer. He didn’t do much in 2021 but was a solid player for the next three years. From 2022 to 2024, he slashed .250/.336/.385 for a 106 wRC+ while stealing 72 bases and providing strong glovework at multiple positions. He hasn’t been in good form in 2025, though he may still be getting into game shape after recovering from shoulder surgery.
Kang won’t be as appealing as Kim in terms of his glovework, though he does provide some defensive versatility. Kang has played first base, the outfield corners and a bit at the catcher position as well.
Interest from affiliated clubs likely depends on whether they think his bat can play against MLB pitching. In October of last year, it was reported that a status check was tendered on Kang. An MLB club is required to tender a status check when interested in a KBO player, so that means at least one club was curious about Kang last winter. It was reported at that time that Kang was not interested in making an MLB move but that has apparently changed now that he’s approaching free agency.
Royals Move Bailey Falter To Bullpen
The Royals are going to be reinstating Michael Lorenzen from the 15-day injured list on Saturday, which will bump left-hander Bailey Falter to the bullpen. Manager Matt Quatraro relayed the news to Anne Rogers of MLB.com.
It’s an unfortunate development for Falter, who has been having a good season overall. He logged 113 1/3 innings over 22 starts with the Pirates, allowing 3.73 earned runs per nine. He was traded to the Royals ahead of the deadline but his first two starts with Kansas City did not go well. At Boston on August 4th, he allowed seven earned runs in four innings. His second start, hosting the Nationals on Monday, was a bit better. He only allowed two earned runs but only lasted four innings again.
In the weeks leading up to the deadline, the Royals lost Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic and Lorenzen to the IL. There was some speculation that the club would look to sell at the deadline, perhaps trading Seth Lugo, but they went in the other direction. They extended Lugo, then added Falter, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek and others at the deadline.
In the past few weeks, they have had a rotation of Lugo, Michael Wacha, Noah Cameron, Bergert and Falter. While Falter’s two starts since the deadline have been subpar, Bergert’s have been quite strong. In each, he allowed two earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.
The decision to move Falter to the ‘pen surely goes beyond the two most recent starts for each guy. Even when things were going good for Falter with the Bucs earlier in the year, he was probably a bit lucky. He struck out just 15.3% of batters faced with the Pirates before the trade. His .236 batting average on balls in play and 73.7% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. His 4.88 FIP and 5.13 SIERA were both more than a run higher than his ERA.
Bergert, on the other hand, has some more encouraging metrics. Between the Padres and Royals this year, he has a 2.87 ERA. There’s also some luck in there and his 11% walk rate is too high but he is punching out 23% of batters faced. Bergert has options and could have been sent down to Triple-A but it seems the Royals want to keep him in the majors as they try to push for a playoff spot.
Falter is out of options, so he can’t be easily sent to the minors. He’ll get kicked to the bullpen for now, likely in a long relief role. He can be retained for next year via arbitration, so the Royals likely want to keep him around for next year’s rotation depth.
Even next year, Falter won’t have a clear path to a rotation job. Lorenzen is an impending free agent but the Royals can pencil in Lugo, Wacha, Ragans and Bubic into four spots, with Cameron, Bergert and Kolek possibilities for the fifth slot. However, pitching injuries are fairly inevitable and the Royals might welcome the possibility of having another arm around. Falter is making $2.222MM this year, his first of four arb seasons as a Super Two player, and can be retained through 2028.
Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images
MLBTR Podcast: Walk-Year Performances, Roman Anthony’s Extension, And More!
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 August Edition of MLBTR’s 2025-26 Free Agent Power Rankings (1:05)
- The upcoming free agency of Dylan Cease (2:15)
- The upcoming free agency of Brandon Woodruff (5:35)
- The upcoming opt-out of Lucas Giolito (12:50)
- The upcoming opt-out of Edwin Díaz (18:40)
- The upcoming free agency of Bo Bichette (24:25)
- The Red Sox signing Roman Anthony to an extension (31:55)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Should Tigers fans be nervous? Is the club worse off going into next year? Should they trade Tarik Skubal this winter? (38:55)
- The Mets didn’t trade Mark Vientos at the deadline and Pete Alonso is trending towards opting out. Will the Mets move on from Alonso this time? (51:05)
- The teams that are considering six-man rotations, should they piggyback two of them in one game? (57:20)
Check out our past episodes!
- Sifting Through The Trade Deadline Deals – listen here
- Megapod Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
- David Robertson, Trade Chips For The O’s and A’s, And What The Rangers Could Do – 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 Eric Hartline, Imagn Images
Royals Place Hunter Harvey On Injured List
Today: Manager Matt Quatraro tells MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that Harvey’s injury is a Grade 2 strain, and thus, the righty will miss “significant” time. However, the Royals remain “hopeful” that he can return before the end of the season.
August 11: The Royals announced today that right-hander Hunter Harvey has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right adductor strain. Fellow righty Luinder Avila has been recalled in the corresponding move and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Harvey’s IL stint is another frustrating development in his tenure as a Royal. He was acquired from the Nationals in July of 2024. He was still a year and a half away from free agency at that time, so the Royals were presumably hoping to get a decent amount of good innings from him.
Unfortunately, he’s been injured for a large chunk of the time since that trade. He made six appearances after the trade before mid-back tightness sent him to the IL in August. He wasn’t able to return to the club down the stretch. This year, a teres major strain put him on the shelf in mid-April. He was reinstated from the IL on July 25th but is now back there yet again.
Around the IL stints, Harvey has still been good. He has thrown 10 2/3 scoreless innings this year. He has punched out 28.2% of batters faced while only giving out walks to 2.6% of opponents. It’s unclear how long the club expects him to be out of action but they will have to proceed without Harvey for at least another couple of weeks. That’s less than ideal with the club hanging onto a slim chance of competing. They are currently four games back in the American League Wild Card picture, needing to leapfrog three teams to get a spot.
Avila, 23, will try to pick up some of the slack. An international signing out of Venezuela, the Royals added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, but this will be his first time on the active roster of the big league club.
He has largely been a starter in his minor league career but has been working shorter stints lately. He landed on the minor league IL in late May due to a shoulder impingement, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He only began a rehab assignment a couple of weeks back. He has made four appearances in that recent span, working on a starter’s schedule but not having eclipsed three innings in any of those outings. He could perhaps make his major league debut in a long relief capacity.
On the season as a whole, he has tossed 50 1/3 innings with a 4.47 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 10.4% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate. Baseball America currently ranks him as the #23 prospect in the system, noting that he could have a future as a back-end starter, though an eventual move to relief role is also a long-term possibility.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Angels Designate Shaun Anderson For Assignment
The Angels announced that they have recalled infielder Niko Kavadas and right-hander Víctor Mederos from Triple-A Salt Lake. In corresponding moves, they have placed outfielder Gustavo Campero on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle sprain and designated right-hander Shaun Anderson for assignment.
Anderson was just selected to the roster yesterday. On Sunday, starter Jack Kochanowicz had lasted just three innings. Carson Fulmer came in from the bullpen to mop up five innings of long relief. With Fulmer likely unavailable for a few days, the Halos optioned out Kochanowicz and selected Anderson to give them a fresh arm.
In last night’s game against the Dodgers, the Angels had a 7-0 lead through seven. Starter José Soriano had put up six zeroes and then Luis García put up one more. They tried to spare their high-leverage arms by putting Anderson in to pitch the eighth. Unfortunately, he only recorded two outs, allowing four earned runs along the way. That included a solo home run to Shohei Ohtani and a three-run shot to Max Muncy.
That performance has led to Anderson getting bumped off the roster approximately 24 hours after being added. He is out of options, so the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man entirely. With the trade deadline having passed, he’ll be on waivers shortly. He cleared waivers a couple of months back and could do so again. If that comes to pass, he’ll have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. He has 163 1/3 big league innings under his belt with a 6.39 earned run average.
Mederos is starting for the Halos tonight. As mentioned, Kochanowicz was optioned out. Also, Tyler Anderson has back stiffness, per Sam Blum of The Athletic. It’s unclear if this is just a spot start or if Mederos will having a rotation role for a while. Mederos will be pitching on just three days rest, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Interim manager Ray Montgomery says he thinks Mederos can still take on a fairly normal workload since he only tossed 52 pitches last time out.
The 24-year-old Mederos has a limited major league track record but is having a decent season in Triple-A. He has tossed 87 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.39 ERA, 18.6% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 40.2% ground ball rate.
Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images
Twins Sign Génesis Cabrera To Minor League Deal
The Twins announced that they have signed left-hander Génesis Cabrera to a minor league deal, per Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune. The southpaw will report to Triple-A St. Paul.
Cabrera, 28, has had an up-and-down career. He has good velocity, hitting mid-90s with both of his fastballs, as well as throwing a cutter and a curveball. He previously threw a changeup but seems to have swapped that out for a splitter this year.
Broadly speaking, he has not had great control. He has been able to get some strikeouts, but has been inconsistent in that regard. Overall, he has 303 2/3 innings in the big leagues with a 4.06 earned run average. His 10.9% walk rate is a couple of ticks above par. His 22.1% strikeout rate is close to average but, as mentioned, has oscillated. He struck out a third of opponents in the shortened 2020 season but that dropped to 26% and then to 16.5% in the next two seasons. He got that back up to 24.3% in 2023 but has been below 19% since then.
He has been in journeyman mode this year, likely a result of both his inconsistent results and the fact that he has at least five years of service time, meaning he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent. He has had brief stints with the Mets, Cubs and Pirates this year, tossing between 7 and 11 innings with each. Put together, he has a 5.79 ERA and 18.8% strikeout rate in 28 frames. His 6.6% walk rate has been a nice improvement relative to his previous work.
The Twins traded away all their best relievers prior to the deadline. Jhoan Durán, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe were all sent packing in the 24 hours prior to the deadline. Since then, the club has called up various pitchers from the minors, in addition to claiming Thomas Hatch and Brooks Kriske off waivers.
Cabrera will give them another experienced arm without taking up a roster spot. The fact that he’s left-handed makes sense. Currently, Kody Funderburk is the only healthy southpaw on the 40-man roster. There’s not enough time left in the year for Cabrera to get to six years of service time. If he happens to be holding a roster spot at season’s end, he can be retained for 2026 via arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images
Cardinals Notes: Romero, King
Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero was a logical trade candidate this summer but wasn’t moved. In a chat with readers this week, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that “at least one team” was in touch with the Cardinals, looking for a lefty reliever. However, Goold relays that the Cards let that team know they would be willing to listen to offers on John King, seemingly preferring to make him available as opposed to Romero.
The interest in Romero is understandable. His career strikeout and walk rates of 23% and 8.3%, respectively, are both pretty close to league average. His 53.1% ground ball rate is quite strong. He has a 3.70 earned run average in his career and that number is down to 1.98 here in 2025. He is making just $2.26MM this year and can be retained via arbitration for 2026. The Padres were connected to Romero prior to the deadline but there were likely plenty of other clubs interested without that interest being made public.
It seems the Cards didn’t have much interest in making him available, as they tried to put King out there as an alternative. King is somewhat akin to Romero as a lefty grounder specialist, but his numbers aren’t quite as strong. His 62.2% ground ball rate is better than Romero’s but he has only punched out 15.1% of opponents. That’s a notable difference, especially in the modern era where front offices love strikeouts. King has a 3.87 ERA in his career but is at 5.18 this year. He is making $1.605MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration for two more seasons. That’s one extra year compared to Romero but King is two years older, about to turn 31 while Romero is almost 29. King landed on the IL with a strained oblique just before the deadline.
Ultimately, neither player moved, so the Cardinals presumably didn’t get an offer they considered compelling enough in either case. What will be interesting to monitor going forward is if there will be a shift once their regime change takes the next step.
It was almost a year ago, in late September of 2024, that the impending front office change was announced. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak would stay through 2025 before handing the reins over the Chaim Bloom. In the interim, Bloom would be focusing on the club’s player development systems, occasionally advising on front office moves as well.
The Cards were also open about 2025 being a transition year where they would be less focused on investing in the big league roster, with more of an emphasis on those player development elements. It was widely expected that they would make veteran players available last offseason, particularly the expensive ones. However, guys like Willson Contreras, Miles Mikolas and Sonny Gray showed little to no interest in waiving their respective no-trade clauses. Nolan Arenado was more open to trade possibilities but blocked a deal to the Astros and ultimately wasn’t moved.
The club could have then pivoted to trading other guys in the offseason, such as Erick Fedde or Ryan Helsley, but ended up mostly staying pat. Their most notable move of the winter was signing Phil Maton for one year and $2MM.
Their deadline, too, was modest. They made a few trades but only moved impending free agents like Fedde, Helsley, Maton and Steven Matz. They reportedly got interest in controllable guys like Romero, Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan but held all of them.
What remains to be seen is if those decisions were a function of the weird limbo year. Perhaps Mozeliak preferred to leave the decisions on those controllable guys to his successor. If so, then maybe it’s possible those guys will be more available this winter once the keys are handed over to Bloom.
It also depends on various other factors. What sort of payroll parameters will Bloom get from ownership? Will the club wait for expensive contracts to expire before spending on the team again? How does Bloom feel about the system he’s been monitoring for the past year? Does the club still want to keep giving playing time to players like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman despite lackluster results in 2025?
The decisions to not move Fedde and Helsley in the winter seemed to backfire. Both players posted worse results in 2025 than in 2024, which presumably led to lesser trade returns this summer than if they had been moved a few months earlier. Perhaps Bloom will look to avoid the same path with guys like Romero this winter, though his decisions should be impacted by the answers to the questions surrounding the franchise.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images
Blue Jays To Designate Buddy Kennedy For Assignment
The Blue Jays are activating infielder Andrés Giménez from the 10-day injured list, reports Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet. In a corresponding move, infielder Buddy Kennedy will be designated for assignment.
Kennedy was selected to Toronto’s roster a week ago. It seemed likely to be a short stay. He was hitting just .207/.309/.259 for Triple-A Buffalo at the time he was called up. His selection was less about his performance and more about the specific roster needs.
The Jays went with a temporary three-catcher setup. Ali Sánchez was selected to the roster when Alejandro Kirk landed on the concussion injured list. When Kirk was ready to return, Tyler Heineman was also banged up after taking a foul ball to the mask. They decided to keep all three for a few days, just to be safe, which meant bench infielder Leo Jiménez had to be optioned out as the corresponding move for Kirk’s activation.
A few days later, the Jays were comfortable enough with the health of Kirk and Heineman to bring back another bench infielder. Jiménez had not yet been optioned for the 10-day minimum, so he couldn’t be recalled. Giménez was still not ready to come off the IL but was beginning a rehab assignment. Kennedy got the roster spot while Giménez got into game shape. The Jays sent Kennedy to the plate 6 times and he got a hit and a walk, but he’s now been squeezed out.
Since Kennedy is out of options, he had to be removed from the 40-man. With the trade deadline having passed, the Jays will have to put him on waivers. He was passed through waivers unclaimed just over a month ago, after being designated for assignment by the Phillies, and could do so again.
He now has a .193/.288/.300 line in 163 big league appearances. His Triple-A work is better, with a .284/.395/.443 line and 118 wRC+ dating back to the start of 2023. However, his out-of-options status makes it hard for him to hold a roster spot for very long. If he clears waivers again, he’ll have to right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright.
Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images