Orioles Designate Jacob Stallings For Assignment
The Orioles announced a series of roster moves today. Left-hander Keegan Akin and catcher Adley Rutschman have each been reinstated from the injured list. In corresponding moves, the O’s optioned right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo to Triple-A Norfolk and designated catcher Jacob Stallings for assignment.
Stallings, 35, was released by the Rockies last month. The O’s were dealing with a few injuries to their catching corps and brought him into the fold via a minor league deal to add some veteran depth behind the plate.
They called Stallings up to the big league squad at the start of July when Chadwick Tromp hit the injured list, joining Rutschman and Maverick Handley on the shelf. Gary Sánchez also hit the IL a few days later, which got Alex Jackson onto the roster.
Stallings got into 14 games for the O’s this month and stepped to the plate 36 times but produced a .114/.139/.143 line in that time. He has a solid reputation for his defense and work with a pitching staff but hasn’t been hitting all year. He now has a combined .134/.195/.168 line in 129 plate appearances between the Rockies and O’s this season. Jackson, meanwhile, has hit three homers in 26 plate appearances for a .269/.269/.769 line. He won’t keep that going forever but he’s been better than Stallings and is several years younger as well.
Jackson will hang onto his roster spot and form the catching duo with Rutschman while Stallings heads into DFA limbo. Given his performance this year, Stallings should clear waivers and will be able to elect free agency. The Rockies signed him to a $2.5MM deal for this year and remain on the hook for the majority of that because they released him. Any other club could sign Stallings and pay him just the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, as the O’s just did.
The return of Akin is also somewhat notable as he is a theoretical trade candidate. He can be retained via arbitration for 2026 and isn’t a strict rental but the O’s could be open to trading in the next few days. Dating back to the start of 2022, Akin has thrown 222 innings for Baltimore with a 3.65 earned run average, 26.1% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. He has earned three saves and 24 holds in that span.
That performance on its own would make Akin an attractive arm. The fact that he’s left-handed, making just $1.475MM this year and controllable for another season only adds to the appeal. On the other hand, his strikeout and walk rates are down to 23.3% and 11% this year, respectively. He’s been on the IL for almost a month due to left shoulder inflammation. Perhaps that injury explains his struggles but also might tamp down trade interest. The Orioles could put him into a few games over the next few days to demonstrate his health to potential suitors.
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Joe Kelly To Throw For Dodgers
Right-hander Joe Kelly didn’t sign anywhere this offseason, despite expressing a desire to pitch this year. Per Robert Murray of FanSided, Kelly is going to throw for the Dodgers soon to see if that club is willing to give him a deal.
Kelly, 37, pitched for the Dodgers from 2019 to 2021 and then again from the 2023 deadline until the end of 2024. The first stint was more successful than the second one. From 2019 to 2021, Kelly had a 3.59 earned run average over 105 1/3 innings for the Dodgers. He struck out 26.9% of batters faced and got grounders at a 59.9% clip.
In 2023, he only tossed 10 1/3 innings for the Dodgers, spending some time on the injured list due to forearm inflammation. Last year, right shoulder injuries put him on the IL multiple times. He pitched 32 innings with a 4.78 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and 47.1% ground ball rate. That shoulder prevented him from pitching in the postseason.
Though he wants to come back this year, it doesn’t appear as though he’s given himself a lot of bargaining leverage. He told Foul Territory last month that “If I come back healthy, I’m only playing for one team, and that’s the Dodgers.”
Since he hasn’t been signed, it doesn’t appear as though the Dodgers have been especially interested, though they may be more open to it now. They have recently placed Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips on the IL. Phillips had Tommy John surgery and is done for the year. Kopech had meniscus surgery and is going to be out a while. Scott seems to just have some elbow inflammation but he’s in the early days of his IL stint. Brusdar Graterol still hasn’t pitched this year after undergoing shoulder surgery last year. Blake Treinen just returned from a lengthy IL stint due to forearm tightness.
Those injuries have put the Dodgers in the market for bullpen upgrades ahead of this year’s deadline. Kelly wouldn’t be a sure thing due to his age, recent shoulder troubles and the fact that he hasn’t pitched this year. Even if he signed, he would likely be sent for a ramp-up period in the minors. He wouldn’t solve their bullpen issues and he won’t be the only move they make in that department, but you can never have too much pitching and he wants to play for them. He should be attainable for a low-cost deal, perhaps even a minor league pact.
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Reds Seeking Middle-Of-The-Order Bat, Bullpen Upgrades
The trade deadline is now just a few days away and the Reds are looking to buy. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Cincinnati is looking for a middle-of-the-order bat as well as bullpen upgrades.
It’s understandable that the Reds would buy. They haven’t made the playoffs in a full season since 2013. They are currently 55-50, just one game back of the final Wild Card spot in the National League. That spot is currently being held by the Padres, who will face some challenges the rest of the way. As Rosenthal notes, the Friars have a tight budget and have traded away a lot of prospects in recent years, which puts that club in an awkward spot. They are apparently considering all sorts of creative solutions, including things like trading Dylan Cease while simultaneously acquiring starters from other clubs.
A few of the clubs just behind the Reds in the standings are the Cardinals and Diamondbacks. The latter club has already started a selloff, having flipped Josh Naylor to the Mariners and Randal Grichuk to the Royals. Trades of Eugenio Suárez, Zac Gallen and/or Merrill Kelly are likely in the next few days, in addition to a few others. The Cards seem to be leaning towards selling as well. In short, the Reds could have a decent shot if they’re aggressive.
A middle-of-the-order bat would be a sensible add for the Reds. The team’s offense has not been a strength this year. The team has a combined .248/.321/.395 batting line and 96 wRC+, the latter figure being in the bottom third of major league teams. No one on the team has more than 18 home runs. Elly De La Cruz, who has 18, is the only guy with more than 11. That’s despite the Reds playing in one of the most homer-friendly ballparks in the league.
Adding a bit of thump would therefore be a nice boost. They have already been connected to old friend Suárez, who has 36 homers already this year, twice as many as Cincinnati’s current team leader. There are some other sluggers who could be available.
Taylor Ward has 24 homers on the year and the Angels have fallen to 5.5 games back of a playoff spot. The Halos also have Jo Adell and his 21 long balls, though he’s cheaper than Ward and controlled for an extra year, so he should be harder to pry loose. Brandon Lowe has 19 homers in just 86 games and Yandy Díaz has 18 this year. The Rays are reportedly growing more open to the idea of flipping one or both of those two. It’s been speculated that the Athletics could be willing to part with Tyler Soderstrom, though it would surely take a haul to get him. Marcell Ozuna is available but has been in a slump for about two months. It’s a somewhat similar story for Ryan O’Hearn. Luis Robert Jr. is out there but his production and health are both mercurial. Mickey Moniak has somewhat quietly hit 16 homers this year. He’s controlled for two more seasons but the Rockies just traded Ryan McMahon, who was signed through 2027, so they should be open to flipping Moniak as well.
The Reds will have some flexibility in where they add. Gavin Lux has bounced between left field, second base and third base this year. Noelvi Marte has mostly been at the hot corner but has dabbled in right field lately. Spencer Steer is the regular at first but he can play the outfield corners. The club also doesn’t have an everyday designated hitter, giving manager Terry Francona some creative license in setting the lineup.
It’s unclear how much financial wiggle room the club will have. Their offseason moves were fairly mild. They extended a $21.05MM qualifying offer to Nick Martinez, which he accepted. The rest of the winter, they only spent a combined $7.5MM to bring in Austin Hays and Scott Barlow on one-year deals. Some of the aforementioned trade candidates still have $5MM or so to be paid on this year’s salaries. If that’s too much for the Reds, perhaps they could ask a trading partner to eat some money, though the Reds would then have to forfeit a bit more prospect capital.
The bullpen is also a logical target area for the Reds. Cincinnati relievers have a collective 3.83 earned run average this year, which puts them 13th in the majors. Emilio Pagán is the club’s closer and he has a strong 2.70 earned run average and 30.4% strikeout rate. However, he also has a .186 batting average on balls in play and 82.8% strand rate, neither of which are sustainable. His 3.83 FIP and 3.02 SIERA point to him being a solid reliever but not the ideal lock-down closer a contending club wants in the playoffs.
There are dozens of relievers available at this time of year, many of whom recently featured on MLBTR’s Top 50 list. The two top relievers on that list are David Bednar and Ryan Helsley, though those pitchers are currently rostered by Cincinnati’s division rivals. That might make it hard to line up a deal but there are lots of other options, such as Seranthony Domínguez, Danny Coulombe and old friend Raisel Iglesias.
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Yankees Acquire Ryan McMahon
The Yankees have a new third baseman. New York announced the acquisition of Ryan McMahon from the Rockies for pitching prospects Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz. The Yanks already had an opening on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary.
The Yankees are taking on the remainder of McMahon’s contract. He is making a $12MM salary this year, leaving a bit more than $4MM to be paid out, then will make $16MM in each of the next two seasons.
McMahon, 30, will join a new franchise for the first time in his career. He was drafted by the Rockies in the second round of the 2013 draft. He climbed up to the majors and eventually established himself as a regular in Colorado, playing quality defense at multiple infield positions.
It’s hard to say what the Yankees will be getting from McMahon offensively. He has generally been good for 20-25 home runs a year, though while playing his home games in the hitters’ haven of Coors Field and with some high strikeout totals. Despite some good surface-level stats, he’s generally been ranked as a subpar hitter by metrics that adjust for the Coors effect. He has a career batting line of .240/.323/.420 but a wRC+ of 89. In other words, that metric considers him 11% worse than league average at the plate.
For his career, McMahon has hit .263/.343/.476 at home and .216/.302/.362 on the road, obviously a huge difference. At first glance, that might suggest he can only hit in Denver and will fall to pieces in a new jersey. The truth is likely more nuanced than that. Pitches move differently at elevation than they do at sea level due to the differences in resistance or drag. Most notably, breaking balls move less in Denver than in other parks, so it’s tough for Colorado hitters to constantly adjust as they go on the road and back.
Over the years, many players have had big home-road splits as Rockies but then evened out after leaving Denver. One such player is DJ LeMahieu, who also moved from the Rockies to the Yankees. During his time with Colorado, LeMahieu hit .329/.386/.447 at Coors but just .267/.314/.367 on the road. When he left Denver for the Bronx, the move wasn’t difficult for him at all. He slashed .336/.386/.536 over his first two seasons with the Yankees.
In terms of the glovework, there’s little question that McMahon is strong there. He has played lots of first base and second base in his career but has settled in as Colorado’s third baseman. The Yanks will surely keep him at the hot corner. They recently moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. from third to second, both due to his personal comfort level and some shoulder soreness he was experiencing. That led to LeMahieu getting bumped off the roster and released.
They’ve been connected to various third basemen for weeks, including McMahon, Eugenio Suárez and others. In the meantime, they’ve been covering the position with Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas. Neither of those two have been hitting well this year. Vivas has a .164/.270/.255 line this year while Peraza is at .147/.208/.237.
For McMahon’s career, he has 5,550 innings at third. He’s been credited with 64 Defensive Runs Saved and 44 Outs Above Average. Dating back to the start of 2021, when he first got regular run at third, he has 54 DRS and 42 OAA. In both cases, he trails only Ke’Bryan Hayes among big league third basemen for that span.
The Yankees can bank on sure-handed defense at third. The Yankees love ground-ball pitchers, on account of their hitter-friendly park, so McMahon should be a notable upgrade in turning those grounders into outs. The offense is a bit more of a question mark, as outlined above, but it will still likely be an upgrade over the in-house options.
Due to his contract, McMahon should be able to cover the hot corner for not just this year but two more. The Rockies signed him to an extension just ahead of the 2022 season. As mentioned, that deal pays McMahon $12MM this year followed by $16MM in each of the next two years. The Yankees will be paying him at a higher rate than that. They are a third-time competitive balance tax payor and above the highest CBT tier. That means they pay a 110% tax on any new spending.
A player’s CBT hit is recalculated at the time of a trade to account for what is left on the contract. McMahon is still owed about $36.2MM over two seasons and the roughly 35% of this year’s schedule that remains. That works out to a CBT hit of about $15.4MM. Prorate that over the rest of the year and McMahon adds about $5.4MM to the 2025 CBT. 110% of that is a bit over $5.9MM in taxes. That means the Yanks are paying more than $11MM total to have McMahon for the stretch run. Taxes will likely be a factor with his 2026 and 2027 seasons as well.
In addition to the financial cost, the Yanks are also subtracting a couple of pitchers from their system. Herring, 22, was a sixth-round pick in last year’s draft. He has made 16 starts this year between Single-A and High-A, eight at each level. He has a combined 1.71 earned run average, 28.5% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate. Baseball America gives him a 45 grade on the 20-80 scale and had him listed as the #17 prospect in the Yankee system.
Grosz, 22, was an 11th-round pick in 2023. He has since pitched 208 2/3 innings in the minors with a 3.97 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. BA doesn’t list him as one of the top 30 prospects in the Yankee system.
For the Rockies, it’s a notable shift for them. They haven’t had a winning record since 2018 but haven’t always capitalized on their losing seasons by trading players at the deadline. Trevor Story wasn’t traded and ended up departing for just qualifying offer compensation. Jon Gray didn’t even get a QO, so he departed for nothing. Players like Daniel Bard and C.J. Cron got ill-advised extensions instead of being traded.
However, the team seems to be accepting that they are in a rough spot and need change. Their struggles have reached a new nadir this year. Their 26-76 record is easily the worst in baseball. In fact, they are on pace to challenge the modern-day loss record, which the White Sox set just last year.
The scope of the franchise’s struggles has opened up more willingness to try new things. Though the club has often been considered loyal to a fault, they fired manager Bud Black in May. McMahon was reportedly a favorite of owner Dick Monfort, but that’s no longer enough to keep him off the trading block. The club is also reportedly open to offers on controllable pitchers like Victor Vodnik and Seth Halvorsen.
Parting with McMahon allows them to add some young pitching prospects, which is an ongoing concern for them. They regularly struggle to put competent pitching staffs together and even some of their modest success stories are running out of steam. Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber have all had some success for the Rockies but they’re all now in their 30s and nearing free agency. Márquez and Gomber hit the open market in a few months. Senzatela and Freeland have options in their contracts but are only guaranteed through 2026.
The Rockies will ideally develop younger pitchers over time, but even their most notable prospect struggled this year, as Chase Dollander had a 6.68 ERA in 15 starts before being sent back down to the minors. Improving their long-term pitching outlook will be an ongoing project and they’ve added a couple more arms today.
The move could also have impacts on the broader market. The Yankees were one of several clubs connected to Suárez, so there is one less suitor for him now. However, he has reportedly drawn interest from a dozen different teams, so the Snakes should still be able to do well there. Even after adding McMahon, the Yankees should still be on the lookout for pitching. The Rockies, meanwhile, could make a few more trades before next week’s deadline. In addition to the aforementioned pitchers, position players like Thairo Estrada and Mickey Moniak could be available.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the Yankees had an agreement to acquire McMahon for two prospects. ESPN’s Jorge Castillo reported Herring’s inclusion. Bob Nightengale of USA Today was first with Grosz heading to Colorado. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that the Yanks were assuming McMahon’s entire salary.
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Rays Designate Jacob Waguespack For Assignment
The Rays announced today that infielder Ha-Seong Kim has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 22nd, due to a low back strain. Outfielder Jonny DeLuca has been reinstated from the 60-day IL to take Kim’s active roster spot. To open 40-man space for DeLuca, right-hander Jacob Waguespack has been designated for assignment.
Kim was removed from Monday’s game with lower back tightness and he sat out the games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Perhaps the club wanted to see how his back would respond to a bit of rest before committing to an IL stint. However, three days is the maximum amount of time an IL move can be backdated. It’s possible it didn’t improve as hoped, so they decided to just put him on the shelf.
That’s an unfortunate development but the fact that the club waited to make the decision perhaps suggests it a fairly minor issue. Due to the backdating, he can return a week from now if his back improves between now and then. Taylor Walls and José Caballero will likely take over the shortstop spot again, as they did when Kim was on the IL earlier this year.
DeLuca hit the IL a week into April with a right shoulder strain. He started a rehab assignment in late May but was shut down with continued soreness. He was able to start a new rehab assignment more recently and seems to be ready to go. He’ll jump into the outfield mix alongside Chandler Simpson, Josh Lowe, Jake Mangum and Christopher Morel.
The victim of DeLuca’s return is Waguespack. The right-hander was selected to the Rays’ roster ahead of the 2024 season. He spent most of last year either on optional assignment or battling a rotator cuff injury. He tossed just ten innings for the big league club with a 5.40 earned run average.
The Rays signed a new deal with him for 2025 but it seems this year is following a similar script to 2024. He was optioned to Triple-A Durham at the start of this season. He was placed on the minor league injured list in May with an undisclosed issue and hasn’t pitched since May 20th.
Though his health status is unclear, the Rays have decided to clear him off the 40-man. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so he’ll likely be released in the coming days. He’ll then be free to sign with any club, though the interest will depend on his injury status.
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Giants Place Landen Roupp On IL With Elbow Inflammation
The Giants announced today that right-hander Landen Roupp has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 23rd, due to right elbow inflammation. Righty Tristan Beck has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento as the corresponding move.
At this point, it’s unclear how severe Roupp’s elbow issue is. He took the ball on Tuesday against Atlanta, throwing 87 pitches over five shutout innings. Presumably, something has cropped up in the days following that start. Time will tell if it’s a minor issue or something more serious, though it’s always somewhat concerning when a pitcher’s throwing elbow is injured.
It’s a notable blow to the Giants regardless. Roupp has been a key cog in the rotation this year, having made 20 starts with a 3.11 earned run average, 21.3% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate.
The San Francisco rotation has taken a few hits in recent months. Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks were both included in the Rafael Devers deal. Hayden Birdsong hit a rough patch, posting a 10.38 ERA in his five most recent starts, which led to him getting optioned to the minors a few days ago.
Subtracting Birdsong and Roupp now leaves the Giants with a rotation of Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander. Webb and Ray still form a strong one-two punch at the front but Verlander has a 4.70 ERA on the year. Without Harrison and Hicks, there’s a bit less depth to provide cover.
The Giants are still in the race, currently just one game back of the Padres for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. President of baseball operations Buster Posey recently stated that the Giants are scouring the market for rotation additions. Perhaps he already knew about Roupp’s injury when he made those comments, but regardless, the development could increase the club’s aggressiveness on that front between now and Thursday’s deadline.
Webb is taking the ball tonight and Ray tomorrow. Verlander is slated for Monday. The Giants will have to figure out plans for Sunday and Tuesday. Perhaps they will deploy bullpen games with guys like Beck, Sean Hjelle or Carson Seymour doing some long relief work. Guys like Carson Ragsdale and Mason Black are on the 40-man roster, though Ragsdale just started yesterday and Black the day before. Prospect Carson Whisenhunt is stretched out in Triple-A but isn’t on the 40-man and the club may not want to promote him if they’re going to acquire pitchers at the deadline and have to bump him back down again.
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Red Sox Place Marcelo Mayer On IL; Ceddanne Rafaela To Play More Second Base
The Red Sox announced today that infielder Marcelo Mayer has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to July 24th, with a right wrist sprain. Infielder David Hamilton has been recalled as the corresponding move.
At this point, the severity of Mayer’s sprain is still being determined. “We’re gathering information,” Álex Cora responded when asked if surgery was a consideration, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. “We’ll get more over the weekend, during the week. Whenever we get to the point to see what’s going to happen, we’ll let you know.”
Time will tell if Mayer is facing a brief absence or an extended one. While the Sox surely don’t want Mayer to miss any time, there is a silver lining of his absence, as it seems it will help out a bit with their outfield logjam. Cora told reporters, including Chris Cotillo of MassLive, that the club will frequently have Ceddanne Rafaela at second base. That will lead to a regular outfield alignment of Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, with Masataka Yoshida as the designated hitter.
The outfield picture, and the position player group in general, has been cluttered for most of the season. The Sox signed Alex Bregman in the winter and put him at third base, moving Rafael Devers to the designated hitter spot. That left Yoshida stuck on the IL, even though he was healthy enough to hit. His shoulder hadn’t recovered enough from offseason surgery to throw, so he couldn’t play the field. Anthony was also blocked, since the club had Duran, Rafaela and Abreu in the outfield.
A lot has changed since earlier in the year. The relationship between the team and Devers soured, which led to him being traded to the Giants. That opened up the DH spot for Yoshida. Anthony came up while Abreu had an oblique strain and has quickly found big league success. Abreu eventually returned from the IL, which jammed things up a bit again. It left four outfielders and Yoshida jockeying for four lineup spots.
Rafaela has some middle infield experience but the Sox seemed reluctant to move him there, which was understandable since he’s actually an elite defensive center fielder, whereas Duran’s glovework may be better suited to left field. More recently, they have softened that stance, with Rafaela taking the keystone here and there with Duran in center.
It now seems that could be the regular alignment for as long as Mayer is out. Perhaps it’s not ideal defensively but it will get the Sox out of a situation where one of their key players is on the bench every night.
It’s also possible that the situation further decreases the chances of the Sox dealing an outfielder. Due to that logjam, it had been speculated that they might trade one of their outfielders in order to bolster another part of the roster. Duran’s name came up in rumors most often for this kind of scenario, though recent reporting has suggested the Sox weren’t particularly interested in such a plan. Perhaps Rafaela’s move to the infield makes it even less likely.
In another bit of Red Sox news, Cora also provided an ominous update on lefty Patrick Sandoval, per Cotillo and Healey. The southpaw has been progressing slower than expected and has been downgraded from bullpens to just playing catch. His return this year is now doubtful.
Sandoval underwent UCL surgery last June while with the Angels. They non-tendered him and sent him into free agency. The Sox signed him to a two-year, backloaded deal with an $18.25MM guarantee. He is making $5.5MM this year and will make $12.75MMM next year. The Sox knew that they wouldn’t get anything out of Sandoval in the first half of 2025 but likely hoped for some kind of second-half return.
That now seems less and less likely. Even if he were to continue throwing bullpens soon, he would then have to ramp up to live batting practice and/or simulated games before going out on a rehab assignment. A rehab assignment usually is capped at 30 days for a pitcher but it’s common for guys recovering from UCL surgery to push that closer to two months. Given that there’s barely two months left in the season, it’s understandable why Cora would say that the clock is running out.
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Orioles To Select Jeremiah Jackson
The Orioles are going to select infielder Jeremiah Jackson to their roster. Manager Tony Mansolino informed reporters, including Steve Melewski, that he will take the roster spot vacated by left-hander Gregory Soto. Soto was traded to the Mets earlier today.
Jackson, 25, gets called up to the majors for the first time and will be making his debut as soon as he gets into a game. He signed a minor league deal with the club in the offseason and has been putting up huge numbers in the minors this year. Split between Double-A and Triple-A, he has 351 plate appearances with 15 home runs. He’s only drawing walks at a 4% clip but is also only striking out 14.2% of the time. He has a combined line of .311/.340/.538 line and a 135 wRC+.
Prior to joining the Orioles, Jackson spent time in the systems of the Angels and Mets. The Halos flipped him to the latter club in the 2023 deadline deal which sent right-hander Dominic Leone to Los Angeles.
The lack of strikeouts this year is notable, as that was a key problem for Jackson in previous seasons. He had a 33% strikeout rate in 2021, but he has dropped that down over the years. Defensively, he’s played the three infield spots to the left of first base and all three outfield spots as well. He has some speed on the bases, regularly putting up double-digit stolen bases totals, including ten already this year.
It’s possible that this will be a short big league stint for Jackson. Putting him in for Soto gives the club 14 position players and just 12 pitchers. That’s less than ideal and they will likely look to even that back to 13 and 13 soon. On the other hand, it’s possible the Baltimore roster is set for further moves in the coming days. Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías, Ramón Laureano, Cedric Mullins, Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Trevor Rogers, Seranthony Domínguez and Andrew Kittredge are all candidates to be moved before the deadline.
It’s anyone’s guess how the roster will look in the wake of all those theoretical trades. Since Jackson can play multiple positions, perhaps he’ll find a way to still have a role once the dust settles next week.
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Mets Select José Castillo
The Mets announced today that they have selected left-hander José Castillo to the roster. Right-hander Alex Carrillo has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding active roster move. Righty Max Kranick has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. It was reported a week ago that Kranick will require season-ending elbow surgery.
The Mets have been churning arms through their bullpen for a long time, thanks to a string of injuries, particularly to left-handers. They had planned on having A.J. Minter and Danny Young as their southpaw contingent in the bullpen but both required season-ending surgeries by the middle of May. Since then, they’ve also lost Kranick and Dedniel Núñez to the scalpel.
Castillo, 29, was one of the reinforcements. He was acquired from the Diamondbacks in mid-May, shortly after Minter and Young went down. He spent a little over a month on the roster, tossing 11 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs despite giving up 16 hits, issuing six walks and hitting four opponents. He struck out 14 batters and got ground balls on 55.9% of balls in play allowed.
The Mets bumped him off the roster at the end of June and then passed him through waivers. He accepted an outright assignment and has since been pitching for Syracuse, allowing one earned run in 5 1/3 innings.
Not too long ago, the Mets activated Brooks Raley from the injured list, as he had recovered from last year’s Tommy John surgery. They acquired Gregory Soto from the Orioles earlier today. Now with Castillo coming back, they will have three lefties whenever Soto reports to the team. However, it’s also possible that Castillo gets bumped out again to make room for Soto at that point. The Mets could also make further relief additions between now and next week’s deadline.
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Twins Release Jair Camargo
The Twins have released catcher Jair Camargo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Minnesota designated him for assignment a few days ago when they claimed catcher Jhonny Pereda off waivers from the Athletics.
Camargo was placed on the minor league injured list on May 25th. He posted on Instagram about a month ago that he had undergone Tommy John surgery. The return timeline from that procedure can be shorter for position players than for pitchers, but throwing is very important for catchers as well. His timeline wasn’t explicitly laid out but he could be sidelined until the middle of next season. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, which is why Camargo has now been released.
Originally an international signing of the Dodgers, Camargo came to the Twins as part of the Kenta Maeda deal in February of 2020. The Twins added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2023 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
He got to make his major league debut last year, in very limited fashion. He got into five games and took seven plate appearances, with no hits, one walk and three strikeouts. He has been better in the minor leagues in the past but has struggled more recently. He first made it to Triple-A in 2023 and hit .259/.323/.503 for a 97 wRC+. Since then, he has a .220/.291/.389 line and 73 wRC+. Even when he has put up good minor league numbers, he has struck out around 30% of the time. Defensively, Baseball Prospectus ranks him as a decent blocker but a subpar framer.
With Camargo having had subpar results lately and now this extended surgery rehab ahead of him, it’s understandable that the Twins bumped him off the 40-man. It’s possible they will look to re-sign him on a minor league deal but Camargo will have the chance to talk to the other 29 teams as well.
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