The Opener: Rendon, Diaz, Meadows
On the heels of an overnight trade, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Rendon to be activated:
The Angels are poised to return one of their highest-paid players from the injured list today… although it’s not the one fans are surely pining to see back in the lineup. Manager Ron Washington told reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) yesterday that veteran third baseman Anthony Rendon “could” be activated from the 60-day injured list today. Anaheim plans to give the 34-year-old veteran alternating starts at third base and DH until he’s healthy enough to resume third base duties on a full-time basis. The Angels will need to clear space for Rendon on the active and 40-man rosters prior to activating him from the IL.
Rendon was a perennial candidate for MVP votes during his time with the Nationals, but frequent trips to the shelf in recent years have limited him to just 219 total games since he signed a seven-year deal with the Halos during the 2019-20 offseason. After a healthy inaugural campaign in an Angels uniform where he slashed an impressive .286/.418/.497 (152 wRC+) during the shortened 2020 season, Rendon has hovered around league average offensively when healthy enough to take the field for Anaheim with a .239/.336/.356 line (95 wRC+). After going hitless in his first five games of the 2024 season, Rendon heated up with a .357/.413/.411 slash for two weeks until he landed on the IL with a partially torn hamstring. The Angels are currently using Willie Calhoun at DH and a platoon of Luis Guillorme and Miguel Sano at the hot corner.
2. D-backs to select pitching prospect:
As was first reported on Friday, the Diamondbacks will call up right-hander Yilber Diaz for a start against the Braves in Arizona this evening. Diaz figures to take the 40-man roster spot vacated by Tucker Barnhart, who was designated for assignment last week, but the club will still need to clear space for the righty on their active roster before tonight’s game.
Diaz, 24 in August, has enjoyed a breakout season. He’s struck out a whopping 33.2% of batters faced in 76 innings of work across the Double- and Triple-A levels this season. The power pitcher’s high strikeout totals have been mitigated somewhat by his elevated 12% walk rate, but he nonetheless has been a generally valuable rotation arm for the club’s upper-level affiliates with a combined 4.03 ERA and a FIP below 4.00 at both levels. The righty’s first assignment in the majors will be a tough one. He’s slated to take the mound opposite veteran lefty Chris Sale, who is in the midst of a resurgent season with Atlanta and sports a 2.71 ERA in 16 starts.
3. Meadows headed to the IL?
Tigers outfielder Parker Meadows suffered a hamstring injury while sliding into second base during last night’s game against the Reds. Manager A.J. Hinch told reporters after the game that the club planned to evaluate Meadows further before making any sort of decision on his status, though he seemed to hint that a trip to the IL was possible when he told reporters (per MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) that he “didn’t love” what he had heard to that point in conversations with Meadows and the club’s medical staff.
Meadows, 24, just returned to the big leagues last week after spending the past two months in Triple-A. His return has been going quite well, as he’s gone 4-for-11 with a double, a home run, and a walk in 12 trips to the plate since being recalled. If Meadows requires a trip to the IL, the club could turn to fellow lefty outfielder Akil Baddoo to take the youngster’s spot on the roster.
Reds Acquire Austin Slater
The Reds and Giants have swung a late night deal with just over three weeks to go until the trade deadline. Per an announcement from both clubs, the Reds have acquired outfielder Austin Slater from San Francisco in exchange for left-hander Alex Young. Cincinnati is also receiving cash considerations as part of the deal. The Giants optioned Young to Triple-A following the transaction.
Slater, 31, has been in the Giants organization for more than a decade. His professional career began when he was selected by the club out of Stanford in the eighth round of the 2014 draft, though he wouldn’t make his big league debut with the club until his age-24 season in 2017. Slater was largely a part-time player during his first few years in San Francisco, and he amassed just 544 plate appearances in the majors between 2017 and 2019. In that limited playing time, he posted a decent .254/.335/.368 slash line that was good for a 92 wRC+ while splitting time between all three outfield spots, first base, and even making brief cameos at both second and third base.
The shortened 2020 season saw Slater break out in a big way, as he posted an excellent 150 wRC+ for the Giants while appearing in 31 of the club’s 60 games that year while playing mostly right field and DH for the club. That offensive explosion earned Slater a larger role in the following years, and while most of his playing time still came against left-handed pitching he fashioned more of a proper platoon role for himself as opposed to the reserve outfield role he had been utilized in previously. Slater took to the increased responsibilities quite well, and between the 2020 and 2023 seasons the lefty masher hit a solid .259/.352/.421 (118 wRC+).
That line goes from solid to sensational when looking exclusively at his production against southpaws, against whom he mashed to the tune of a .285/.380/.486 line with a wRC+ of 141. That production against left-handed pitching was good for 17th-best in baseball during that four year period, on par with star hitters such as Jose Altuve and Xander Bogaerts.
While the Giants leaned heavily on Slater as a platoon partner for a primarily left-handed outfield featuring sluggers such as Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto, and Joc Pederson during those years, Slater’s playing time was further cut down by injury woes. Since the start of the 2020 campaign, Slater has made seven trips to the injured list for groin, hamstring, wrist, and hand issues as well as multiple concussions. Slater also required elbow surgery last offseason to remove a bone spur and relieve nerve pain.
It’s possible that lengthy list of injury issues has helped to contribute to what has been a difficult 2024 season for the 31-year-old, as he’s hit just .200/.330/.244 in 112 trips to the plate this season surrounding a month-long stay on the IL due to a concussion earlier this year. Those struggles ultimately paved the way for youngsters Heliot Ramos and Luis Matos to squeeze Slater out of playing time in the Giants outfield, as Ramos has stepped up to become a regular fixture in center field while Matos serves as a righty complement off the bench for Yastrzemski and Conforto.
In acquiring Slater, the Reds are surely hoping they can coax some of that lefty-mashing ability he flashed in previous years out of him in order to make him a quality platoon partner for the club’s many left-handed hitting outfielders. Slater’s main competition for playing time in that role figures to be Stuart Fairchild, who has slashed a lackluster .224/.298/.347 (81 wRC+) in 189 trips to the plate this year. In the short term, however, both Fairchild and Slater figure to get plenty of reps alongside Will Benson and Spencer Steer in the club’s outfield mix thanks to the absences of Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, and Nick Martini. Fraley is currently on the family medical emergency list and will likely return within a few days, but both Friedl and Martini are on the injured list and are facing potentially lengthy absences.
In exchange for parting ways with Slater, the Giants are receiving some left-handed bullpen help in the form of Young. Once a second-round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2015 draft, the lefty made his big league debut back in 2019 and generally struggled at the major league level in a swing role with Arizona and Cleveland. That changed in 2022, when Young was acquired by San Francisco in a cash deal with the Guardians and began pitching in a short relief role full-time. The lefty performed quite well during his first stint with the Giants and posted a 2.39 ERA and 2.96 FIP across 26 1/3 innings of work before being non-tendered by San Francisco the following November.
Young eventually caught on with the Reds on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season and has remained with the club ever since. He posted solid results in middle relief with the club last year, pitching to a 3.86 ERA despite a lackluster 4.99 FIP. While Young’s 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate were both perfectly solid, he allowed a whopping ten homers during his 53 2/3 innings of work with the Reds last year.
Young has spent most of the 2024 season at the Triple-A level for the Reds, although he’s posted impressive numbers both in his two scoreless innings at the big league level and in his larger body of work in the minors. In 23 appearances with the club’s affiliate in Louisville this year, Young has posted a sparkling 1.19 ERA while striking out a solid 25.3% of batters faced. Unfortunately, the lefty hasn’t been able to get much playing time in the majors with the Reds this year thanks to the club’s deep bullpen, which features each of Justin Wilson, Sam Moll, and Brent Suter as quality left-handed options.
That made Young expendable enough that the Reds were willing to part ways with him, and it’s easy to see how the lefty could impact a Giants bullpen that has leaned heavily on Erik Miller to act as a secondary lefty reliever behind high-leverage arm Taylor Rogers. Miller, a 26-year-old rookie with a 3.51 ERA and 4.49 FIP in 41 innings of work this year, features a much more pronounced platoon split than Young has in recent years, and the spacious outfield of Oracle Park should be a great fit for Young that helps to curtail his proclivity for giving up homers.
San Francisco is also sending cash to Cincinnati in the deal alongside Slater, a fact that could factor into the club’s final luxury tax calculation later this year. Prior to the swap, RosterResource indicated that the Giants have a luxury tax payroll of just under $254MM, or just over $3MM below the second threshold of the luxury tax. Slater is making $4MM this year, while Young is earning a salary of $1.16MM. Depending on the amount of cash the Giants are including in the deal, it’s possible that the trade provides the additional benefit of offering the club additional financial wiggle room below the second luxury tax threshold.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Phillies Reportedly Interested In Brent Rooker
The Phillies are “keeping a close eye on” A’s outfielder Brent Rooker ahead of the trade deadline, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested last month that the club may look to add only modestly ahead of the trade deadline on July 30, and highlighted the bullpen as an area where the team could stand to improve. That’s not to say the Phillies won’t make any additions outside of relief help this summer, however. The club’s 58-31 record entering play today affords them the best winning percentage in baseball, leaving them well-positioned to push for the club’s first World Series championship since 2008 this October.
That doesn’t mean the club lacks holes, however, and outfield production is arguably one of the biggest. With Bryce Harper having moved to first base on a full-time basis and Kyle Schwarber now in an everyday DH role, the lefty sluggers that have worked the outfield corners for the Phillies in recent years have now vacated the outfield grass. Brandon Marsh has performed well when healthy, slashing .265/.346/.414 with a 116 wRC+ while splitting time between all three outfield spots, and veteran slugger Nick Castellanos has begun to heat up in recent weeks and figures to continue acting as the club’s everyday right fielder.
With that being said, each of Johan Rojas, Cristian Pache, and Whit Merrifield have all disappointed offensively this season. While Rojas and Pache both offer valuable defensive in center field and Merrifield’s versatility makes him a useful bench player, none have posted a wRC+ higher than 60 this year despite taking nearly 500 combined at-bats for the Phillies. That’s led the club to resort to using journeyman David Dahl as a left-handed complement to the trio of righties, but while he got off to a hot start in a Phillies uniform earlier this year he’s fallen back to Earth and now sports a meager .207/.242/.397 (75 wRC+) slash line in 19 games with Philadelphia.
It’s easy to see how Rooker would be a perfect fit for the club’s outfield mix. The 29-year-old first broke out with the A’s last year with a 127 wRC+ in 137 games, but he’s taken his offense to another level so far in the 2024 campaign. In 313 trips to the plate with the club this year, Rooker has slashed a fantastic .277/.351/.540 with a wRC+ of 153. While that production has come with a troublesome 32.9% strikeout rate, Rooker has made up for it with a strong 9.9% walk rate and the seventh-highest isolated slugging percentage in the majors.
While .371 BABIP this season is likely too high to be entirely sustainable, advanced metrics are generally buying in on his overall production as his .378 xwOBA is a near match for his .380 wOBA, suggesting that any regression in BABIP should be made up for by his eye-popping 16.4% barrel rate so long as he manages to keep his elite contact quality up going forward. That’s particularly important for Rooker given that the breakout journeyman entered the year with just over two years of service time under his belt. He’s making just over the league minimum this year and would come with three more seasons of team control after this one before becoming a free agent following the 2027 season.
That’s a timeline that lines up nicely with the current window in Philadelphia. Veteran ace Zack Wheeler just signed an extension that will also end following the 2027 season, and youngsters Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott are both also slated to hit free agency following that campaign. Meanwhile stars Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola, and Trea Turner will all be entering this mid-30’s at that point and complementary pieces of the current core like Schwarber, Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto will have seen their contracts expire. That Rooker’s years of control line up so cleanly with Philadelphia’s current window of contention could make him all the more attractive to the Phillies.
With that being said, it’s worth pointing out that the club may have other prioritizes ahead of the trade deadline this year. As previously mentioned, Dombrowski has highlighted a desire to improve the club’s bullpen this summer in the past, and he also cautioned last month that the club wasn’t likely to pursue the sort of blockbuster trade where the club would have to “trade three top prospects” to acquire a player.
Relief help isn’t the only other need the club may look to address this summer, either. The club entered the summer with something of an embarrassment of riches in the rotation that forced Spencer Turnbull into a bullpen role despite a 1.67 ERA in six starts back in April, but since then both Taijuan Walker and Turnbull have hit the injured list, leaving the club to rely on rookie Michael Mercado to fill out the club’s rotation behind Wheeler, Nola, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez. With Turnbull not expected back until late August at the earliest and Walker lacking a specific timeline for return, it’s possible the Phillies could look to add a pitcher capable of helping the club either out of the rotation or bullpen depending on their needs at that moment.
Rooker also isn’t the only outfielder expected to be available at the deadline this year, with White Sox veteran Tommy Pham standing out as a rental option who would likely prove cheaper to acquire than Rooker if the Phillies are concerned with the prospect cost involved in acquiring the A’s outfielder. Kevin Pillar of the Angels, Mark Canha of the Tigers, and Jesse Winker of the Nationals are among the other rental veterans playing for teams who could consider selling this summer and would likely cost the Phillies less than a controllable asset like Rooker.
Marlins Claim Darren McCaughan
The Marlins announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed right-hander Darren McCaughan off waivers from the Guardians and optioned him to Triple-A. Left-hander Ryan Weathers was transferred to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move to make room for McCaughan on the 40-man roster.
McCaughan, 28, was a 12th-round pick by the Mariners back in 2017 and has pitched in parts of three big league seasons since making his debut in Seattle back in 2021. He hasn’t found much success in the majors to this point with a 9.12 ERA and nearly matching 9.02 FIP across 24 2/3 innings of work in the big leagues, and his minor league numbers (including a 5.25 career ERA at the Triple-A level) do little to inspire confidence in the righty’s abilities either. While many of those innings of work were pitched in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, McCaughan’s struggles continued with Cleveland’s International League affiliate as he posted a 5.06 ERA in 32 innings at the level with the club this year.
The move actually marks McCaughan’s second stint in the Marlins organization. The righty was acquired by the club in a cash deal with the Mariners back in February and spent the early part of the season with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville before the club dealt him to Cleveland in a second cash trade in early May. McCaughan even made an appearance at the big league level with the Marlins during his brief stint with the club, allowing eight runs in 4 2/3 innings of work in one appearance for the club. He’ll likely serve in a similar depth role for the Marlins going forward, acting an innings-eating spot starter or multi-inning reliever as necessary.
As for Weathers, the southpaw has been on the injured list since early June due to a strained index finger. Manager Skip Schumaker told reporters (including those at MLB.com) that Weathers’s placement on the 60-day IL wasn’t a setback, exactly, but that the lefty was still dealing with swelling and figured to be another four to six weeks away from a return to action. That makes the transaction more procedural than anything else, although the news is surely still frustrating for fans in Miami. After all, Weathers has emerged as perhaps the club’s most reliable arm this year before going down with injury, as MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald discussed back in June. In 13 starts with the Marlins this year, Weathers has posted a 3.55 ERA with a 3.93 FIP.
Kevin Pillar Likely To Retire Following 2024 Season
Veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar is planning to retire following the 2024 campaign, he told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale in a recent interview. The 35-year-old veteran has played in parts of 12 big league seasons, including seven seasons with the Blue Jays. Pillar previously suited up for the Mets, Rockies, Giants, White Sox, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Braves throughout his lengthy MLB career and currently plays for the Angels.
Pillar’s professional career began in 2011 when he was drafted in the 32nd round of that year’s draft by the Blue Jays out of California State. Despite that relatively unimpressive draft stock, Pillar rocketed through the minor leagues to make his big league debut in 2013 at the age of 24, just over two years after he was drafted. His 36-game cup of coffee in the majors that year did not go well, as he hit just .206/.250/.333 (57 wRC+) in 110 trips to the plate. He showed improvement the following year, however, and by 2015 had taken on an everyday role in Toronto. In 601 games with the club from 2015 to 2018, Pillar slashed a respectable .263/.301/.401 (88 wRC+) while playing excellent defense in center field and swiping 68 bases.
Pillar parted ways with Toronto early in the 2019 season, shipping him to the Giants in a rare spring trade. Then 30 years old, Pillar took to San Francisco fairly well and picked up right where he left off in Toronto, slashing a roughly league average .264/.293/.442 with a career-high 21 homers and his typical strong defense in center field. Pillar became a free agent for the first time in his career following the 2019 campaign, and split the abbreviated 2020 season between the Red Sox and Rockies.
Although he began to spend more time in the outfield corners during his time with Boston, Pillar nonetheless was a valuable piece for both clubs, slashing .288/.336/.462 with a 105 wRC+ while playing in 54 of 60 games that year. The veteran moved on to the Mets following the 2020 season and acted as a fourth outfielder for the club that season, signaling the start of his transition out of an everyday role. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, Pillar has appeared in 267 games between the Mets, Dodgers, Braves, White Sox, and Angels. In that time, he’s slashed a decent .238/.282/.427 with 31 homers in 736 trips to the plate while splitting time between all three outfield spots.
The 35-year-old veteran is currently in the midst of perhaps the best offensive stretch of his career with Anaheim, as he’s batted an impressive .299/.355/.512 (143 wRC+) in 41 games with the club this year as a part-time player. That success could make Pillar a viable trade candidate this summer as teams scramble for offensive help ahead of the trade deadline on July 30. While it may not be clear who Pillar is going to play for down the stretch this year, the veteran seems to feel good about the 2024 campaign bringing his 12-year MLB career to a close.
“I watched some of my good friends and teammates, who were much better players than me, maybe go a year too long,” Pillar told Nightengale. “I think it would be kind of cool to go out playing really well, and people being curious to why you don’t want to play anymore, and not that the game kicked you out.”
Pressed if he was certain that he would retire at year’s end, Pillar responded by saying that he’s “98% sure” that the 2024 campaign will be his last. The veteran explained that he doesn’t want himself and his family to have to go through “another offseason of the unknown,” though he did leave the door open to discussing a return in 2025 with his family should he be “fortunate enough to get a phone call early in the offseason.”
Julio Rodriguez’s MRI Comes Back Clean
TODAY: Rodriguez’s testing came back clean, Servais told reporters (including Jude) this afternoon. Rodriguez isn’t in todays lineup but Servais nonetheless noted that Rodriguez will be fine and is “just a little sore” after the minor issues he’s dealt with in recent days.
July 6: Mariners youngster Julio Rodriguez exited this evening’s game against the Blue Jays in the first inning due to a quad injury. As noted by Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, Rodriguez “felt something” in his lower right quad during pregame warm-ups and was pulled from the game before taking his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. The severity of the issue is not currently known, but manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Jude) that Rodriguez is set to undergo an MRI exam later this evening. Rodriguez himself indicated to reporters (including Daniel Kramer of MLB.com) after the game that he “should be” okay despite the issue, but declined to comment further.
It’s not the first injury scare Rodriguez has had in recent days. Rodriguez fouled a ball off his knee during yesterday’s game against Toronto and was tended to by the team’s trainer after jamming his thumb while making a diving catch on Thursday. Given those recent bumps and bruises, it would have been understandable for the Mariners to decide on giving Rodriguez a day off, but the fact that he began the game in the lineup and exited before even taking an at-bat is surely worrisome for Mariners fans.
The 23-year-old phenom burst onto the scene with a dominant rookie campaign that earned him a top-10 finish in AL MVP voting, the AL Rookie of the Year award, and a massive contract extension back in 2022. He followed that performance up with a strong 2023 campaign where he started slow but started to heat up in the second half of the season, earning himself a fourth-place finish in AL MVP voting behind Shohei Ohtani, Corey Seager, and Marcus Semien. Overall, the youngster entered the 2024 season with an excellent .279/.338/.495 slash line for his career in the big leagues, made all the more impressive when combined with his strong defense in center field and his 62-for-79 record on the basepaths.
The 2024 season has been a difficult one for Rodriguez, however. While he got off to a slow start in 2024, he generally kept his overall slash line in the vicinity of league average throughout those struggles. One year ago today, the youngster was hitting .251/.312/.416 with a 104 wRC+. Even that performance would be a substantial improvement over the numbers Rodriguez has posted in his age-23 season. Through 89 games this season, Rodriguez has hit just .247/.295/.355 with a wRC+ of 85, 15% worse than league average. While his strong baserunning (18-for-20 on the bases) and defense at a premium position have helped to make up for that lack of production on offense, the 23-year-old has been closer to a quality regular than a perennial MVP candidate this year.
Now it seems possible that any attempt by Rodriguez to recreate his otherworldly second half from last year, when he slashed an incredible .321/.366/.615 in his final 61 games, could be put on hold if the youngster ends up requiring a trip to the IL. That would be a crushing development for a Mariners club that is holding onto a tenuous lead over the Astros, who are trailing Seattle by just two games, in the AL West. The club has won just five of its last 16 games thanks in part to an anemic offense that has slashed just .190/.273/.310 with a 72 wRC+ over that time, hitting better than only the lowly Marlins among all MLB clubs.
If the Mariners were to lose Rodriguez for a significant period, it would only serve to further escalate the pressure on the club to add offense in advance of the trade deadline at the end of the month. Multiple reports in recent weeks have indicated that the club plans to be aggressive in revamping its offense this summer, and that need would only become more pronounced if Rodriguez were to require a stay of any notable length on the injured list. Should the Mariners end up needing to explore options for help in center field, players such as White Sox star Luis Robert Jr. and Marlins youngster Jazz Chisholm Jr. figure to be available this summer, though players of that caliber with multiple years of team control typically come with a hefty price tag.
Mets Acquire Matt Gage
The Mets announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired left-hander Matt Gage from the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. Gage was subsequently optioned to Triple-A. The Mets transferred right-hander Drew Smith to the 60-day injured list to make room for Gage on the 40-man roster.
Gage, 31, was a tenth-round pick by the Giants back in 2014 but didn’t make his big league debut until 2022 as a member of the Blue Jays. Since then, he’s appeared in 16 games between the 2022 and 2023 campaigns at the big league level with Toronto and Houston. He’s performed quite well in that time, with a fantastic 1.83 ERA and a solid 3.97 FIP in 19 2/3 innings of work. He sports an impressive 26% strikeout rate across his time in the majors but has walked an elevated 11.7% of opponents as well, raising questions about his control.
Gage arrived in L.A. as part of the Caleb Ferguson trade with the Yankees over the winter and re-signed with the club on a minor league deal back in April shortly after being released from his big league contract. He’s pitched for the club at the Triple-A level since then, posting a decent 4.29 ERA in 21 innings with ratios reminiscent of the ones he flashed during his time in the majors. He struck out an impressive 29.3% of batters faced with L.A.’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City but paired that high-octane stuff with a 13% walk rate. The Dodgers opted to select Gage to the 40-man roster last week after he triggered an opt-out clause in his contract, but he remained at the Triple-A level for the remainder of his time in the organization.
Now with the Mets, Gage figures to serve as optionable bullpen depth for a club that has seen its relievers struggle in recent months. Since the start of May, Mets relievers have struggled to a 4.62 ERA that bests only the Pirates and Rockies among NL clubs, and their 4.50 FIP during that same timeframe ranks fourth from the bottom in the majors. In particular, the Mets have struggled to find production from the left side in the bullpen this year. Veteran southpaw Jake Diekman has posted a 5.06 ERA and 5.61 FIP in 26 2/3 innings of work during his age-37 season for the club this year, while depth options Tyler Jay (7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings) and Josh Walker (5.11 ERA in 12 1/3 innings) have performed even worse in small sample sizes. The struggles of the club’s internal options should provide Gage with a relatively clear path to a role at the big league level for the Mets, so long as he can produce at a level anywhere near what he’s done in the past for the Blue Jays and Astros.
As for Smith, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise given recent reporting that the righty is likely to require Tommy John surgery due to significant damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. He was already ticketed for an extended absence prior to his placement on the IL, and the transfer should not impact his timeline with the remainder of his 2024 campaign already in doubt.
Rockies Designate Dakota Hudson For Assignment
The Rockies announced this morning that they’ve designated right-hander Dakota Hudson for assignment. The move clears a space on the active roster for right-hander Tanner Gordon, whose contract selection was previously reported ahead of his start against the Royals this afternoon. Colorado’s 40-man roster stands at 39.
Hudson, 30 in September, was non-tendered by the Cardinals back in November but signed with the Rockies on a one-year deal in early January. A first-round pick by St. Louis back in 2016, he made his big league debut with the club in 2018 and looked to be an impressive young arm and enjoyed notable success early in his career with a 3.17 ERA that was 31% better than league average in 241 innings of work during his first three years in the majors. Despite that success, there were some red flags evident in Hudson’s profile has he struck out just 18.1% of batters faced and walked 11.6%, leaving him with a lackluster 4.74 FIP. Hudson’s ability to generate grounders was his most valuable tool, and his 57.3% groundball rate during that period led all qualified major league hurlers.
Tommy John surgery wiped out almost all of Hudson’s 2021 campaign, and upon his return Hudson was unable to garner the same impressive results he had posted earlier in his career. In 221 innings of work with the Cardinals during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Hudson struggled to a below-average 4.64 ERA with a nearly matching 4.60 FIP. He walked 10% of batters while striking out a meager 12.9% of his opponents, and with the results now matching the peripherals St. Louis opted to part ways with the righty rather than tender him a contract this year.
That led him to Colorado, and Hudson ultimately made 17 starts for the Rockies this year, pitching 86 1/3 innings. The results of those outings were nothing short of brutal. The right-hander’s ERA ballooned to 5.84 this year as he walked (11.8%) nearly as many batters has he struck out (12.3%) in 86 1/3 innings of work. While Hudson’s 52.4% grounder rate this year was still elite, that figure is a far cry from the aforementioned 57.3% rate that he posted prior to his surgery. Given the ghastly results and his overall diminished profile, it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Rockies have decided to pull the plug on Hudson’s tenure with the club. They’ll now have one week to either attempt to work out a trade for Hudson’s services or pass him through waivers, although the righty has enough service time that he would have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment should he clear waivers.
Pirates Place Bailey Falter On 15-Day IL, Select Brent Honeywell Jr.
The Pirates announced a series of roster moves this morning, headlined by the club placing left-hander Bailey Falter on the 15-day Injured List. The club selected right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. to take Falter’s spot on the active roster, and designated left-hander Justin Bruihl for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster for Honeywell. The club also activated catcher Henry Davis from the IL and optioned him to Triple-A.
Falter, 27, was removed from his start against the Mets yesterday after just two innings of work. As noted by Alex Stumpf of MLB.com, the club announced that lefty had been removed from the game due to left posterior arm discomfort. Falter was considered day-to-day after the game and received treatment from the club’s medical staff. The hurler seemed unfazed by the injury following the game, telling reporters (including Stumpf) that he wasn’t concerned and that they’d know more about the issue today.
It’s still not entirely clear how serious the injury is or how long Falter will be out, but the club will at least be without the southpaw for the next 15 days. That’s a significant blow to the Pirates’ rotation as Falter has provided steady back-of-the-rotation production for the club this year with a 4.08 ERA (100 ERA+) and 4.48 FIP in 90 1/3 innings of work this year. That loss becomes all the more significant given the club’s placement of right-hander Jared Jones on the shelf earlier this week due to a right lat strain, leaving the Pirates with just Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, and Martin Perez as healthy members of their regular starting rotation.
Right-hander Luis Ortiz is scheduled to make his second start of the year later today in Jones’s stead, but to replace Falter in the rotation it seems likely the club would have to dip into their minor league depth. Right-hander Braxton Ashcraft is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and is already on the 40-man roster, but only just recently came off the minor league IL and may not be ready for a promotion to the majors. That could leave Pittsburgh to turn to a non-roster veteran such as Jake Woodford or Domingo German in search of innings.
In the meantime, the club will turn to Honeywell in order to deepen their bullpen mix. The 29-year-old righty signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh back in February and is best known for his time in the Rays system as a top prospect. A lengthy series of injuries that included Tommy John surgery and multiple elbow fractures left Honeywell to pitch just 103 1/3 innings in professional games from 2018 to 2022, but the righty nonetheless managed to make to the majors last year with the Padres. He posted a decent 4.05 ERA in 46 2/3 innings of work with the club but was pushed off the roster down the stretch last summer and ended up with the White Sox, with whom he was lit up for seven runs in just 5 2/3 innings of work.
In Triple-A with the Pirates this year, Honeywell has a 4.85 ERA in 39 innings of work with a 19.6% strikeout rate and a 10.1% walk rate. Making room for Honeywell on the 40-man roster is Bruihl, who the club signed to a major league deal last month. The lefty enjoyed some success with the Dodgers early in his career, pitching to a 3.65 ERA and 4.47 FIP in 65 appearances for the club from 2021 to 2023. Bruihl found himself shipped to Colorado at the trade deadline last year, however, and was lit up for seven runs (six earned) in 3 2/3 innings of work for the Rockies. The lefty struggled similarly during his time with Pittsburgh, posting a 9.53 ERA across seven appearances in a Pirates uniform.
Meanwhile, Davis is set to head back to the minors after being placed on the concussion IL last month. Joey Bart returned from the injured list at the end of June and reclaimed his spot alongside veteran Yasmani Grandal in the club’s catching tandem, leaving no room for the first overall selection of the 2021 draft in Pittsburgh’s catching mix. He’ll look to get regular reps behind the plate in Triple-A, although he clearly has nothing left to prove offensively in the minors given his career .336/.472/.629 slash line at the level.
Cubs To Select Hunter Bigge
TODAY: Right-hander Colten Brewer is being placed on the 60-day injured list with a left hand fracture after punching a wall in frustration following his outing against the Angels yesterday, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. The move clears space on the club’s 40-man and active rosters for the promotion of Bigge. Brewer, 31, has a 5.66 ERA in 20 2/3 innings with the Cubs this year despite a solid 3.12 FIP and a 23.2% strikeout rate.
July 6: The Cubs are poised to select the contract of right-hander Hunter Bigge, according to a report from MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. Chicago will need to make corresponding moves to clear space on both the active and 40-man rosters to accommodate Bigge’s selection prior to tomorrow’s game against the Angels.
Bigge, 26, was a 12th-round pick by the Cubs in the 2019 draft out of Harvard. He impressed in 16 innings of work between the rookie and Low-A levels of the minors the year he was drafted with a 1.13 ERA and a 34.4% strikeout rate in that cameo, but his developmental trajectory was thrown off course somewhat by the cancelled minor league season in 2020. The righty was assigned to the High-A level when minor league play resumed in 2021 but struggled with that assignment, posting a 5.66 ERA in 17 1/3 innings, and he struggled similarly in a 2022 campaign split between the High-A and Double-A levels.
Fortunately for Bigge, he started to turn things back around in Double-A last year. The right-hander posted a solid 3.50 ERA in 43 2/3 innings of multi-inning relief work at the level during the 2023 campaign, and he backed those numbers up with strong peripherals. His 28.8% strikeout rate was impressive and while his 11.4% walk rate was certainly elevated, he helped to make up for it by generating grounders at a strong 44.7% clip and allowing just three home runs. The 25-year-old’s performance was enough to earn him a call-up to the Triple-A level late last year, although he struggled badly in that assignment with an ugly 8.71 ERA in 10 1/3 innings that saw him allow more walks (13) than strikeouts (12).
Bigge’s return to Triple-A was slowed this year by an oblique injury that has cost him much of the season to this point, but after returning to the level on June 4 he’s done nothing but dominate. In 11 2/3 innings of work at the highest level of the minors this year, the righty has allowed just one run on a solo homer while striking out 44.2% of opponents. Walks are still a concern for Bigge, who has allowed free passes to 14% of opponents this year, but the Cubs clearly believe the 26-year-old is ready for his first taste of big league action and want to see how his high-octane arsenal led by an upper-90s fastball will play in the major leagues.
The bullpen has been something of an Achilles’ heel for the Cubs this year as they’ve scuffled to a 41-49 record despite the eighth-best rotation in baseball by ERA. The club’s top three leverage relievers from last season’s bullpen—Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather, and Mark Leiter Jr.— are all currently on the injured list and have been joined by key offseason addition Yency Almonte. Meanwhile, top offseason relief signing Hector Neris has struggled badly with a 4.11 ERA and 5.02 FIP in 30 2/3 innings this year, leaving the club with very few reliable relief arms to lean on this year. That’s led the club to lean increasingly heavily on unproven youngsters like Luke Little and Porter Hodge to carry the load in the majors, and now Bigge figures to get a similar opportunity to prove himself capable of contributing to a big league relief corps low on quality options.