NPB’s Seibu Lions Likely To Post Kona Takahashi For MLB Teams This Offseason
The Seibu Lions have agreed to post right-hander Kona Takahashi for Major League teams this winter, according to a report from Nikkai Sports. Takahashi turns 29 in February, and he has a 2.95 ERA, 13.8% strikeout rate, and 6.9% walk rate over 116 innings and 19 starts for the Lions this season, which is his 11th campaign in Nippon Professional Baseball.
The numbers reflect something of a bounce-back for Takahashi, who had a 3.87 ERA over 81 1/3 frames in 2024 and a rather glaring 0-11 record. Even with the caveat that win-loss records aren’t the best indicator of performance, it was a far cry from the form that saw Takahashi deliver a 2.20 ERA during the 2022-23 seasons, as his tough year included a drop in velocity and even some time in the Japanese minor leagues.
Takahashi first expressed an interest in coming to MLB after his big 2022 campaign, and though he has appeared in each of the last 11 NPB seasons, he still hasn’t amassed the full nine years of service time necessary for full free agency. The Lions have nevertheless agreed to let Takahashi search for a Major League team a bit early, and landing a contract would allow the Lions to gain some money via a posting fee.
Once an NPB player is posted, he has 45 days to work out a deal with a Major League club. If no deal is reached, the player returns to his Nippon Professional Baseball club for the next season and can’t be posted again until the following winter. If a deal is reached, the player’s original NPB club earns a posting fee depending on the size of his MLB contract. Should the player sign a big league deal worth $25MM or less in guaranteed money, the NPB team will receive 20 percent of the total guarantee. If the player signs a minor league deal, the NPB team will get 25 percent of the signing bonus, plus a later supplemental free if the player is added to the MLB team’s active roster.
It seems likely that any contract Takahashi lands will be within the lower ranges of the posting system, as the Yakyu Cosmopolitan writes that Takahashi’s “market will be similar to” that of Shinnosuke Ogasawara or Naoyuki Uwasawa. Ogasawara signed a two-year, $3.5MM contract with the Nationals last January after being posted by the Chunichi Dragons, and Uwasawa signed a non-guaranteed split contract with the Rays in January 2024 after the Nippon Ham Fighters posted the right-hander.
Takahashi has solid control but isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher, as his 20% strikeout rate from the 2020 season (over 120 1/3 innings) is his career high in Japan. MLB teams may be looking at him more as reliever or a swingman than as a rotation candidate, but the ever-present need for pitching means that Takahashi has a solid chance of landing some kind of a deal to get to the majors in 2026. The Nikkai report indicates that evaluators from the Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mariners, and Rangers recently scouted one of Takahashi’s starts, so the right-hander is getting at least some due-diligence interest from a range of teams.
Tigers Shut Down Beau Brieske Due To Elbow Soreness
Right-hander Beau Brieske has been on Triple-A Toledo’s injured list since July 10 due to elbow soreness, and Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg told reporters (including the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky) yesterday that the reliever had a setback during a recent bullpen session. As a result, Brieske will be shut down for the next 4-6 weeks, meaning that his 2025 season is all but officially over, barring both a deep Tigers postseason run and a rather improbable activation to a playoff roster.
The extent of Brieske’s elbow problems aren’t yet known, as Greenberg only said that surgery was “not yet” an option. Brieske has missed time due to forearm issues in the past but hasn’t undergone a major arm procedure during his career.
A 27th-round pick for the Tigers in the 2019 draft, Brieske made his MLB debut as a starter in 2022, and was then shifted into a multi-inning relief role in 2023. This usage continued into last season, as Brieske made 12 pseudo-starts as an opener, mostly late in the year. Brieske’s flexibility out of the pen was a key part of the “pitching chaos” strategy that the Tigers used down the stretch to help fuel their late-season surge into a playoff spot.
Brieske delivered a 3.86 ERA over 184 1/3 innings and 86 games from 2022-24, with steadily increasing strikeout rates across those three seasons. In 2025, however, Brieske posted only a 6.55 ERA across 22 innings and appearances, as his season was impacted by injuries even before his elbow soreness — ankle problems hampered Brieske in Spring Training and led to an early-season IL placement. The bottom fell out when Brieske was charged for five runs in just a third of an inning on June 11, and he was optioned to Triple-A the next day.
Brieske is arbitration-controlled through the 2028 season and is due only a minimal raise on his $1.025MM salary from 2025, though his health status may hinge on whether or not Detroit tenders him a contract. If his elbow heals up without the need for surgery, the Tigers could well bring him back given his modest price tag, and the hope that Brieske will return to his old form with better health in 2026.
Rockies’ Dugan Darnell To Undergo Hip Surgery
The Rockies placed Dugan Darnell on the 15-day injured list on August 22 and then moved him to the 60-day IL two days later, officially ending the right-hander’s first Major League season. Darnell was initially sidelined due to left hip inflammation, but he told the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders and other reporters that tests revealed a torn left hip labrum, and surgery will be required. The procedure is expected to take place closer to the end of September, and Darnell is facing a recovery period of roughly eight months.
An Alex Call line drive struck Darnell in the hip on August 21, during the Rockies’ 9-5 loss to the Dodgers. That fateful plate appearance may have been the last straw in forcing the surgery, as Colorado interim manager Warren Schaffer suggested last week that Darnell had been dealing with lingering hip soreness even before Call’s liner.
Regardless, it’s a tough setback for Darnell’s career so soon after he’d finally completed a long journey to the majors. Darnell signed as an undrafted free agent with Colorado in February 2021, following two years of playing independent ball. The righty then posted a 3.74 ERA over 255 1/3 innings in the Rockies’ farm system, working out of the bullpen in all but two of his 200 appearances.
After some rough numbers at the Triple-A level in 2023 and 2024, Darnell posted a 3.19 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate over 53 2/3 innings in Albuquerque in 2025. This was enough for Darnell to earn a trip to the Show at the start of August, and he delivered a 3.86 ERA over 11 2/3 innings and nine relief outings for Colorado. The 28-year-old benefited from some good luck in the form of a 76.9% strand rate and a .257 BABIP, as Darnell had more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five) during his brief time with the Rockies.
In the best-case scenario, Darnell will be available by June 2026, so he’ll start next season on Colorado’s 60-day injured list. If there’s any silver lining to this situation, Darnell will continue to amass Major League service time while on the IL.
BBWAA To Institute Relief Pitcher Of The Year Award In 2026
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced the creation of a new award, as starting in 2026, the writers will now be voting on a Relief Pitcher Of The Year in both the American and National League. The RPOY will join the MVP Awards, the Cy Young Awards, the Rookie of the Year Awards, and the Manager of the Year Awards as the most prominent year-end honors voted on by the BBWAA.
This isn’t the first time relievers have gotten their own trophy. The old “Rolaids Relief Man Award” existed from 1976-2012, with winners determined by a points system rather than a voting system. Since 2014, Major League Baseball has a Reliever Of The Year trophy that has been decided by a panel of former relief pitchers, with the AL version of the award named after Mariano Rivera and the NL version named for Trevor Hoffman. The Rivera and Hoffman Awards are expected to continue, as per The Athletic’s Steve Berman, though it seems possible the league could retire their awards if the BBWAA’s trophy becomes the most public standard for relief pitching achievement.
Jayson Stark was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Relief Pitcher of the Year Award, and Stark outlined the BBWAA’s thought process in a piece for The Athletic. Simply put, “relief pitching now dominates this sport — how it’s played, how it’s managed, who sprays champagne every fall — in a way it never has before,” Stark writes, and thus relievers deserve their own dedicated award to reflect their specific role.
While relievers are naturally eligible for other awards, a relief pitcher hasn’t won a Cy Young Award since Eric Gagne in 2003. Stark notes that it is increasingly rare to see relievers receive any first-place votes in Cy Young or MVP races, and even the Rivera/Hoffman Awards usually focus on closers (as one ex-player on the voting committee admitted to Stark). The creation of a prominent award for relievers also adds some historical weight to their careers, which helps in future Hall of Fame voting and for a fuller appreciation of just how good a particular relief pitcher was in any given year or any given era.
It’s probably safe to assume closers will still win Relief Pitcher Of The Year Award the majority of the time, yet the broader scope allows the BBWAA voters to consider all types of relievers, who are arguably even more overlooked in terms of recognition. Pitchers like Abner Uribe, Garrett Whitlock, Randy Rodriguez, Bryan Abreu, or (from the Padres alone) Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, or Adrian Morejon are examples from 2025 of pitchers who have been dominant out of the pen in set-up or fireman roles.
From a transactional standpoint, a high finish in a RPOY vote may not necessarily mean much for a relief pitcher in free agency, as teams will still prioritize statistics and projections even if a RPOY Award gives a player a bit more acclaim. The creation of this award could mean a few extra dollars for relievers in terms of contractual bonuses, in the same way that hitters and starting pitchers often receive incentive bonuses attached to any top-3, top-5, etc. finishes in MVP or Cy Young Award balloting.
Astros Promote John Rooney
The Astros optioned right-hander AJ Blubaugh to Triple-A prior to today’s game against the Orioles, and called up left-hander John Rooney to provide the bullpen with a fresh arm. Rooney was already on Houston’s 40-man roster, so the Blubaugh demotion was the only corresponding move necessary.
Rooney is on the mound at the time of this post, and thus the 28-year-old is now officially a Major League player. A third-round pick for the Dodgers back in the 2018 draft, Rooney spent his whole pro career in the Los Angeles farm system until 2025, when he joined the Marlins as a minor league free agent.
Miami then dealt Rooney to Houston earlier this month, and he has a 2.56 ERA and a 34.2% strikeout rate over 38 2/3 combined innings with the Marlins’ and Astros’ Triple-A affiliates. Those impressive numbers came with the downside of a 14.9% walk rate. Rooney has been prone to issuing free passes for most of his career, and a move to full-time bullpen work in 2023 only briefly solved his control issues.
It remains to be seen if Rooney will get anything more than a cup of coffee in the Show, as the Astros have Steven Okert and Bryan King as the primary left-handers in their bullpen. However, the relief corps lost a pair of very prominent southpaws (Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa) to the injured list, and starter Colton Gordon is the only other Triple-A lefty on the 40-man roster. This could open the door for Rooney to get more of an extended look on the active roster if he can produce against MLB hitters.
Mets Notes: Tong, Duran, Siri
There is some feeling within the Mets organization that right-handed pitching prospect Jonah Tong could make his MLB debut before the 2025 season is up, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports. Tong only just made his debut with Triple-A Syracuse on August 16 and hadn’t been projected as “a consideration for the Major League roster this year,” Puma writes, but “that stance has changed in recent days.”
The shift is due to both the Mets’ rotation needs, and Tong’s continued excellence in his third pro season. A seventh-round pick for New York in the 2022 draft, Tong has emerged as a top-100 prospect — Baseball America has the right-hander 42nd on their midseason top 100 list, and MLB Pipeline has Tong in their 44nd spot. It is easy to see why, as Tong has an absurd 1.43 ERA and 40.5% strikeout rate over 113 2/3 combined innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2025. That includes 11 2/3 scoreless innings during his brief time in Syracuse.
Naturally there’s some risk in bringing the 22-year-old up to the Show in such relatively rapid fashion, and Tong’s 10.6% walk rate stands out as a potential weakness to be exploited by big league hitters. That said, Tong’s unusual delivery could also leave some hitters baffled, not to mention his plus fastball that has a ton of break if relatively little velocity (in the 91-94mph range).
Promoting Tong doesn’t necessarily mean he’d be in the majors for the rest of the season, of course, as the Mets could potentially use him for a spot start during a crowded stretch of the schedule. New York is six games into a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, with September 4 as the only off-day during that stretch. This puts even more pressure on a rotation that hasn’t provided much in the way of length or results lately, and the Mets already turned to another rookie in Nolan McLean to take Frankie Montas‘ rotation spot earlier this month.
At this point it wouldn’t be a shock to see McLean, Tong, and another top prospect in Brandon Sproat all get onto the mound before the Mets’ season is over. This need for help from the farm (in addition to any club’s natural reticence about moving top prospects) may have been a reason why the Amazins didn’t make much progress in trade talks with the Twins about Jhoan Duran.
The Mets were loosely linked to Duran’s market just prior to the trade deadline, and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported that the Mets weren’t willing to move any of McLean, Tong, Sproat, Jett Williams, or Carson Benge. This quintet are the consensus top prospects within New York’s farm system, and Baseball America has all five players within their league-wide top-100 prospects list. Minnesota was known to be seeking at least one top-100 type for Duran’s services, and found such an offer from another NL East club in the Phillies, who landed Duran for Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel.
Duran has looked excellent in Philadelphia, while the Mets have gotten mixed result from their deadline bullpen acquisitions. Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto have both pitched well since coming to Queens, but Ryan Helsley has struggled badly. Shaky pitching on both the bullpen and rotation has contributed to the Mets’ 7-13 record in August, and the Phillies have pulled out to a six-game lead over New York in the NL East.
In other Mets news, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) on Wednesday that Jose Siri is expected to start a minor league rehab assignment this week. Siri fractured his left tibia after fouling a ball off his leg back in April, and what was expected to be an absence of 8-10 weeks has now lasted well over four months. Since he played in only 10 games with the Mets before the injury, Siri figures to need at least a week of minor league action to get fully ramped up for a return to the active roster.
This makes him a candidate for an IL activation once rosters expand on September 1, though Siri will be returning to a more crowded outfield picture. New York went into the season planning to use Siri and Tyrone Taylor in a center field timeshare, but the deadline acquisition of Cedric Mullins has now created a more traditional lefty-righty platoon up the middle with Taylor. A player with Siri’s elite glove always has value on a roster, of course, so the Mets could use him as something of a defensive specialist if nothing else.
Angels Place Victor Mederos, Carson Fulmer On 15-Day IL
The Angels announced that right-handers Victor Mederos and Carson Fulmer have been placed on the 15-day injured list. Fulmer is dealing with inflammation in his throwing elbow, while Mederos has right shoulder inflammation. Righty Chase Silseth was called up from Triple-A to take one roster spot, and right-hander Jose Soriano was activated from the team’s restricted list in the other corresponding move. (Soriano was already on the paternity list and was moved to the restricted list for an additional day off.)
Both Mederos and Fulmer were roughed up during yesterday’s 12-1 loss to the Cubs, as each pitcher was charged with six earned runs. Mederos started the game and allowed four hits and two walks in his four-inning outing, plus his fastball lost four miles of velocity from his first inning to his last.
Beyond the damage on the scoresheet, Mederos said he felt some shoulder fatigue after the game, and the result is today’s IL placement. Mederos told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he’ll be underdoing an MRI to determine the extent of the problem.
Now in his third MLB season, Mederos has yet to find much consistency, as he has an 8.53 ERA in 25 1/3 innings and 12 appearances (all with the Angels). His last three outings have been his first three big league starts, as the Halos gave him a look as a starter after posting some solid numbers with Triple-A Salt Lake. Somewhat curiously, Mederos has struggled in the majors and at the lower minor league levels but he has a 3.43 ERA in 97 career innings in Salt Lake, even pitching within the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
The MRI results will determine Mederos’ immediate fate, yet even if the scans come back clean, the timing of the IL placement could mean that Mederos’ 2025 season is over. Any lingering shoulder soreness might lead the Angels to simply shut Mederos down, and the same is true of Fulmer and his elbow issue.
Fulmer had a 3.06 ERA in his first 17 2/3 innings for Los Angeles this season, but things have gone south in the form of a 10.03 ERA over Fulmer’s last 11 2/3 frames. That tough stretch includes a nightmarish performance yesterday, as Fulmer gave up six runs on seven hits and a walk in just 1 1/3 IP against the Cubs. Fulmer said his elbow started bothering him during the appearance, and he’ll undergo testing today.
Beginning the season on a minor league deal with the Pirates, Fulmer was cut loose in June and rejoined the Angels on a minors contract, with a selection to the active roster coming in July. All of Fulmer’s MLB time in the last three seasons has come in a Halos uniform, with a 4.43 ERA to show for his 126 career innings in Anaheim.
Rubenstein: Orioles Hoping For More Extensions With Young Players
The Orioles officially announced Samuel Basallo‘s contract extension at a press conference yesterday, with several players in attendance along with Basallo, GM Mike Elias, and team chairman/CEO David Rubenstein. Among the many topics addressed was Rubenstein’s desire to make such events a fairly regular occurrence, as the owner showed interest in extending more members of the Orioles’ young core.
“The Orioles’ ownership group is really well capitalized and we have the resources to do these kind of deals,” Rubenstein told Steve Melewski and other reporters. “It takes two to do deals, but we thought this was a perfect one, for the first one of this type….We have a lot of other talented people on the team who we hope will ultimately want to spend their entire career here or want to spend long-term arrangements with us. We’re committed to doing more of these as soon as we can.”
Basallo’s deal represents an intriguing turning point for an organization that more or less eschewed long-term extensions for years under previous owner Peter Angelos. As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker indicates, Adam Jones‘ six-year extension from May 2012 was the last long-term extension signed by the Orioles. Other multi-year deals within the last 13 years were short-term pacts to cover arbitration years, plus there was the unusual circumstance of the three-year extension signed by J.J. Hardy just a few weeks before he was set to hit free agency in the 2014-15 offseason.
Even as the Orioles amassed a wealth of young talent in their recent rebuild, extensions didn’t follow. This naturally could’ve been a product of the ownership turmoil the organization was going through for much of that period, and Rubenstein’s group only bought the team in early 2024. It should also be noted that such O’s building blocks as Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, and Jackson Holliday are all represented by Scott Boras, whose clients have traditionally passed on signing early-career extensions.
Still, it was noteworthy that the Orioles didn’t lock up even any of the non-Boras clients until Basallo (who is repped by CAA) this week. The fact that the O’s didn’t spend much overall during the first full offseason of Rubenstein’s tenure also created concern amongst Baltimore fans that things weren’t going to change under the new regime, and the discontent only grew when the Orioles stumbled to a losing record after two seasons in the playoffs.
Management can now point to Basallo’s extension as proof that the club is willing to both keep its cornerstone players in place, and to spend the money necessary to make those deals happen. The catcher’s deal is also an example of how quickly contract talks can escalate, as Elias said negotiations began exactly a week ago, on the same day Basallo was called up from Triple-A to make his MLB debut.
Could more extensions be coming soon? Henderson didn’t comment on whether or not his camp had already had any talks with the O’s, but expressed a willingness to consider any offer and stated that “the No. 1 thing for me is being on winning teams.”
Henderson’s price tag is about to jump considerably, as the shortstop will enter the first of three arbitration years this coming offseason. His pro career has already seen Henderson bank a little over $8MM, counting his MLB minimum salaries, his $2.3MM signing bonus from the draft, and roughly $3.4MM from the pre-arbitration bonus pool. Between this bit of financial security already and escalating arb salaries, Henderson may have already made enough to feel comfortable in betting on himself all the way to free agency, like so many Boras clients. While the three years of remaining control mean that the Orioles aren’t exactly under the gun to extend Henderson, he’ll only get more expensive the closer he gets to the open market.
Adley Rutschman also declined to comment on any extension talks between his reps at Wasserman and the Orioles, simply telling the Baltimore Banner’s Danielle Allentuck and other reporters today that he was happy to see Basallo rewarded. The fact that the O’s made such a hefty commitment to a young catcher like Basallo naturally led to speculation about Rutschman’s future, and whether or not Basallo has now supplanted Rutschman as the team’s long-term choice behind the plate.
As one might expect, right now the Orioles believe there’s plenty of room for Rutschman and Basallo to operate in tandem. Yesterday, interim manager Tony Mansolino told reporters (including Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun) that the O’s could have both players in the lineup in a catcher/DH capacity, or Basallo could play first base. “The fact that Sammy is so versatile, that’s going to help that a lot…Any time you have two guys that can catch at a high level, on a big league team, you have a massive advantage over teams that don’t,” Mansolino noted.
Rutschman has two arbitration years remaining before he is scheduled to hit free agency following the 2027 season. As Weyrich notes, extending a player who has had some Major League success is much trickier than extending a player like Basallo right at the start of his career, so locking up Rutschman would represent another spending frontier for the Rubenstein ownership group. There’s also the question of whether or not the Orioles still view Rutschman as worthy of a long-term investment, considering how his numbers have declined at the plate over the last two seasons.
Braves Release Erick Fedde, Place Aaron Bummer On 15-Day IL
The Braves announced that right-hander Erick Fedde has been released, and that left-hander Aaron Bummer was placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. Right-handers Wander Suero and Hunter Stratton were called up from Triple-A in corresponding roster moves.
It was just under a month ago that Fedde came to Atlanta in a trade with the Cardinals, with St. Louis covering Fedde’s remaining salary (roughly $2.7MM) for the slight return of cash considerations or a player to be named later. The Cards wanted to move an impending free agent in order to create more room in their rotation for younger pitchers, while the Braves just needed a fresh arm to cover innings in the wake of a swath of injuries to their starting pitching.
Unfortunately for Fedde and the Braves, the move didn’t work out. Fedde posted an 8.10 ERA over 23 1/3 innings in Atlanta, with an equal number (13) of walks and strikeouts over his five appearances. This gives Fedde a 5.76 ERA over 125 combined innings with St. Louis and Atlanta during the 2025 season, and a particularly glaring 10.32 ERA in his last 41 innings of work.
Cal Quantrill was claimed off waivers from the Marlins earlier this week in the Braves’ latest attempt at finding rotation help, which took Fedde out of a starting role. Though Atlanta could have designated Fedde for assignment, the straight release probably just streamlines the process and allows Fedde to reach the open market in a bit quicker fashion.
As extreme as Fedde’s recent struggles have been, it is possible he lands elsewhere before the 2025 season is over just because teams are forever in need of pitching depth. It was just a season ago, of course, that Fedde returned from a one-season sojourn in the KBO League to post a very solid 3.30 ERA over 177 1/3 innings with the White Sox and Cardinals in 2024. Another team might be interested in seeing if Fedde can recapture any of that form, and Fedde would surely love to end his season on some kind of a high note.
The seriousness of Bummer’s shoulder issue isn’t known, but since the Braves are out of the race, it is possible the southpaw could be shut down for the remainder of the season. Bummer has a 3.81 ERA, a solid 7.6% walk rate, and a below-average 21.6% strikeout rate over 54 1/3 relief innings for Atlanta this season, with that K% a marked step down from the 29.3% rate Bummer posted from 2020-24. Bummer’s 53.9% groundball rate is also a career low but still elite in relation to the rest of the league, which speaks to the left-hander’s prominence as one of the baseball’s top grounder specialists.
Twins Promote Taj Bradley, Designate Erasmo Ramirez
The Twins announced that right-hander Taj Bradley has been called up from Triple-A St. Paul, and will start today’s game against the White Sox. In the corresponding roster move, Minnesota designated right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for assignment.
Though many of the Twins’ trade deadline moves were about cutting salary or moving impending free agents, the one-for-one deal that sent Griffin Jax to the Rays for Bradley was more of a pure baseball move. Tampa Bay wanted to upgrade its bullpen with a controllable reliever, and Bradley (once a highly-touted pitching prospect) has yet to much deliver on that promise over three Major League seasons. This made Bradley expendable in the Rays’ eyes, and the Twins jumped in to land a 24-year-old starter that may well benefit from a change of scenery.
Bradley has a 4.70 ERA over 354 career innings in the Show, along with an 8.6% walk rate and a 25% strikeout rate. That latter number is a concern since Bradley’s K% this season is only 20.2% over 111 1/3 innings, which contributed to his 4.61 ERA. Home runs have been an issue for Bradley during his brief career, and while he has improved on that front overall in 2025, the Rays’ temporary move to Steinbrenner Field didn’t help — Bradley had a 5.43 ERA and nine homers allowed in 56 1/3 innings at the Stein, as opposed a much more palatable 3.76 ERA and four homers allowed in 55 away innings.
Minnesota’s plan with both Bradley and fellow deadline acquisition Mick Abel was to start both pitchers in Triple-A for tune-up purposes, rather than immediately insert them into the big league rotation. In Abel’s case, he looked really sharp in St. Paul but then struggled in his Twins debut yesterday, allowing six runs in a three-inning start against Chicago. Bradley has a 7.53 ERA in 14 1/3 innings for St. Paul, as he pitched really well in his first two outings before being hit hard in his latter two starts. With the Twins out of the playoff race, Bradley and Abel figure to get regular starts the rest of the way as the team evaluates them as rotation pieces for 2026 and beyond.
Ramirez signed a minor league deal with Minnesota last winter, but shoulder problems kept him from any game action until June 20, as part of a rehab assignment with the Twins’ rookie ball affiliate. He went on to post a 6.55 ERA in 11 Triple-A innings before his contract was selected to the Twins’ active roster on August 1, as Minnesota had tons of roster spots to fill in the wake of its deadline fire sale.
This return to the Show made it seven different teams over 14 Major League seasons for Ramirez, who posted an impressive 2.45 ERA in 11 innings and nine appearances with the Twins. Within the small sample size, Ramirez delivered his usual strong walk rate, though an 11.9% strikeout rate was low even by the righty’s standards of not missing many bats, and a .242 BABIP helped Ramirez limit the damage.
Bottom-line ERA notwithstanding, it always seemed like Ramirez was a spare part on the Twins’ pitching staff, and he’ll now return to DFA limbo. Another team might consider claiming Ramirez if they need to cover some innings in the bullpen, but assuming he clears waivers, Ramirez can elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A. The 35-year-old might well choose to move on in search of another late-season deal elsewhere, or play out the string in the Twins organization.