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Giants Place Erik Miller On IL, Select Scott Alexander

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The Giants announced a pair of roster moves this evening after announcing the return of Matt Chapman earlier in the day. The club placed left-hander Erik Miller on the 15-day injured list due to a left elbow sprain and selected the contract of left-hander Scott Alexander to replace him on the active roster. A 40-man roster spot was already open after the club’s DFA of Sergio Alcantara earlier today.

The loss of Miller is a significant one, as he’s served as San Francisco’s primary late-inning lefty this season. The southpaw has been utterly dominant this season with a sterling 1.50 ERA across 36 appearances, though his 17.2% strikeout rate and 3.92 FIP both suggest there’s plenty of good luck baked into that run prevention number. A look under the hood reveals Miller has managed to strand 89.4% of the baserunners he’s allowed this year, has floated a 15.6% walk rate that would raise eyebrows even with a higher strikeout rate, and that he’s managed to go all season without allowing a home run. None of that feels especially sustainable, and the cracks have begun to show in recent weeks as he’s actually walked more batters than he’s struck out over his last 18 appearances.

Despite all those red flags, the run prevention Miller has provided has been undeniable and will be nearly impossible to replace. Tyler Rogers, Randy Rodriguez, and Camilo Doval have formed a solid late-inning nucleus, but now the Giants will turn to Joey Lucchesi and Alexander as their lefty arms in the bullpen. Lucchesi has a 4.50 ERA in six innings of work, though his six strikeouts in that time are somewhat encouraging. As for Alexander, he pitched to a 6.06 ERA with a 7.01 FIP for the Rockies earlier this year but is now back in the Bay Area after spending two seasons with the Giants and one season in Oakland between 2022 and ’24.

He posted a 3.28 ERA and a 3.43 FIP in 117 appearances during that three-year stretch, and if he can unlock anything close to that production for the Giants this year he’ll be a worthy replacement for Miller in the bullpen who might even end up with more sustainable peripherals. Alexander’s production is carried primarily by high ground ball rates. His career rate entering this year stood at 67.4% and it’s never fallen below 60% in a season. That has changed this year, however, as he’s generated grounders on just 53.4% of batted balls. The Giants are surely hoping that pitching half of his games at Coors Field had an impact on his ability to keep the ball on the ground and that he’ll be able to rediscover his worm-burning ways now that he’s part of their relief corps again.

Yankees Sign Jeimer Candelario To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have signed infielder Jeimer Candelario to a minor league deal, as announced by the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (h/t to Conor Foley of YES Network). Yancen Pujols reports that Candelario is expected to report to Triple-A on Monday and that Candelario had multiple offers before he settled on the Yankees.

Candelario, 31, was recently released by the Reds while in the midst of year two of his three-year pact with the organization. It’s not hard to see why Cincinnati pulled the plug, as he has battled injuries all throughout his tenure with the club and hit just .207/.265/.394 across 134 games with the club over the past two seasons. Almost all of that production came in year one of the contract, as Candelario made it into just 22 games this year and hit a paltry .113/.198/.213 in 91 trips to the plate before being designated for assignment.

Despite that lackluster work in recent years, Candelario is not far removed from a four-year run from 2020 to 2023 where he slashed a strong .254/.329/.437 in 465 games for the Tigers, Nationals, and Cubs. That production wound up being good for a wRC+ of 111, and he enjoyed three-win campaigns in both 2021 and ’23. A resurgence to that sort of level would be a godsend for the scuffling Yankees. A recent skid where they’ve lost 16 of their last 22 games has seen them drop from the heavy favorites in the AL East to three games back of the Blue Jays and tied with the Rays in the division.

That consistent stretch of losing has led to plenty of attention on the club’s hole on the infield. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a solid player who can handle either second or third base as necessary, but a supporting cast of DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza to hold down the other position just hasn’t cut it. If Candelario can prove he’s healthy and effective again, it’s not hard to imagine him being an upgrade over the Yankees’ current options to partner with Chisholm. With that being said, trade season is already upon us and some intriguing infielders like Eugenio Suarez, Luis Urias, Ryan McMahon, and Amed Rosario could be available this summer.

Any of those players would be a more reliable addition than Candelario at this point, and it’s not hard to imagine the Yankees feeling as though they can’t afford to roll the dice on a player who hasn’t been healthy and effective in nearly two years now. Still, he’d at the very least represent a more robust depth option for the Yankees than the likes of Nicky Lopez and Andrew Velazquez who were already in the organization on minor league deals.

Giants Activate Matt Chapman, DFA Sergio Alcantara

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves this evening, headlined by the return of third baseman Matt Chapman from the injured list. Infielder Sergio Alcantara was designated for assignment to make room for Chapman on the active roster. Additionally, the Giants optioned right-hander Mason Black to Triple-A and recalled right-hander Tristan Beck.

Chapman, 32, has been sidelined for almost a month by a hand injury that left him with sprains in three fingers and bone bruises on each of those fingers. Prior to that injury the infielder was in the midst of a brilliant season at third base for the Giants with a .243/.360/.452 slash line across 65 games. The loss of Chapman’s bat from the lineup hurt for San Francisco, as they went on to lose 14 of the 23 games they played while he was injured. That’s left them buried in an NL West race that was quite close just a month ago while also putting them on the outside looking in when it comes to the NL Wild Card race. Fortunately, the return of Chapman to the lineup should be a huge boost to a Giants club that has not yet had the opportunity to bat him and Rafael Devers alongside each other in the same lineup.

Making room for Chapman on the roster is Alcantara, who made it into just one game with the Giants. He was selected to the roster just a couple of days ago to provide cover while Chapman, Casey Schmitt, and Christian Koss were all on the shelf while Tyler Fitzgerald battled a minor back issue. Though he went hitless during his lone game with the Giants, Alcantara’s value has never stemmed from his bat. He’s hitting just .206/.319/.252 even in the heightened offensive environment of Triple-A’s Pacific Coast League this year, and sports a career 70 wRC+ during his major league career. Despite that weak offensive production, the 28-year-old has gotten 193 games in the majors with the Tigers, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Padres, and Giants thanks to his slick work with the glove and any ability to cover needs anywhere on the infield. The Giants will have one week to either trade Alcantara or pass him through waivers, where he would have the choice to either accept an outright assignment or elect free agency if he goes unclaimed.

As for Black, he too made just one appearance in the majors with the Giants this year, throwing four innings of relief yesterday where he surrendered five runs (three earned) while striking out five in and walking none in a 11-2 loss to the Athletics. He’ll head back to Triple-A, where he has a 4.75 ERA in 15 appearances this year, as a depth option for the rotation or potential long man for the bullpen as needed. Returning to the bullpen in his place is Beck, who has generally impressed over the years with a 3.66 ERA and 4.16 FIP in 113 career MLB innings. His work this season has been less impressive, though it’s come in a sample of just 12 innings across six appearances.

Nationals Reinstate Mason Thompson From 60-Day IL

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The Nationals announced this afternoon that they’ve activated right-hander Mason Thompson from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Zach Brzykcy was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Thompson on the active roster, while right-hander Derek Law was transferred to the 60-day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for Thompson.

Thompson, 27, last pitched in the majors back in 2023. A third-round pick by the Padres back in 2016, he made his big league debut in San Diego during the 2021 season but made just four appearances with the team before being traded to the Nationals in exchange for veteran righty Daniel Hudson at the 2021 trade deadline. Since then, he’s pitched parts of three seasons in a Nationals uniform. He’s generally been a league average reliever during his time with Washington, posting a 4.57 ERA (91 ERA+) with a 4.43 FIP in his 100 1/3 innings of work for the club.

The righty was at his best in 2022, when he posted a sterling 2.92 ERA in 24 2/3 innings of work. With that being said, that dominant performance came across a sample of just 24 2/3 innings of work and saw him post a strikeout rate of just 14.9%. 2023 saw his strikeout rate creep back up to 18.3%, but his ground ball rate dropped from 53.3% to 50.6% as his ERA ballooned up to 5.50. He figured to once again be part of the Nationals bullpen mix last year despite those lackluster numbers, but he underwent Tommy John surgery last March and has been sidelined ever since. He began rehabbing in mid-June and was promoted to Triple-A earlier this week, where he made two scoreless appearances before rejoining the Nats.

Kyle Finnegan is locked in as the club’s closer, but the team has few other solid bullpen options and a strong performance from Thompson could allow him to work his way into the club’s late-inning mix going forward. Departing the roster to make room for Thompson is Brzykcy, who made his MLB debut last year and has a 7.40 ERA in 20 2/3 innings of work this year. He’ll remain as optionable depth at Triple-A for the Nats going forward. As for Law, the right-hander has been sidelined all season due to forearm inflammation. Things may have taken a turn for the worse recently, however, as MASN’s Mark Zuckerman writes that Law has been dogged by frequent setbacks throughout his rehab and is headed for an MRI exam to make sure the injury hasn’t worsened since he was initially placed on the shelf. Even if the MRI doesn’t reveal structural damage, Zuckerman writes that Law could still be sidelined for quite some time due to the issue.

Bobby Jenks Passes Away

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Two-time All-Star and 2005 World Series champion Bobby Jenks passed away yesterday, per an announcement from the White Sox. Chicago also released a tribute video alongside the announcement. Jenks passed after a battle with adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer. He was just 44 years old.

Jenks was a fifth-round pick by the Angels in the 2000 draft but was designated for assignment by the Halos before he even made it to the big leagues. He was claimed off the waiver wire by the White Sox and joined the big league bullpen in July of 2005. He scuffled a bit early on, with four runs allowed across his first five appearances in the big leagues, but settled in not long after that and notched his first career save on August 25 when he closed out a ten-inning game against the Twins.

He continued in a late-inning role for those White Sox down the stretch, and finished the regular season with a 2.75 ERA, six saves, and a 29.8% strikeout rate. Jenks’s dominance carried over into the postseason with a 2.25 ERA, four saves, and eight strikeouts in eight playoff innings. The right-hander was on the mound to finish off the club’s four-game sweep of the Astros in the Fall Classic, closing out a 1-0 victory by inducing a groundout from Orlando Palmeiro to emerge from his rookie season as a World Series champion.

He followed up that performance in his first season by pitching his way into an All-Star berth in both 2006 and 2007. He fully settled into the White Sox closer role by that point, with 81 saves across those two campaigns. That dominant 2007 season in particular saw him retire 41 consecutive batters, which was good for an MLB record at the time. By the end of the 2008 campaign, Jenks had a career 3.21 ERA with a 3.27 FIP with 146 saves collected over his time with the Sox. His numbers took a nosedive in 2009, however, as he surrendered a 4.44 ERA in 52 2/3 innings of work. Underlying analytics suggest that Jenks had pitched better than that ERA would suggest given his 2.59 FIP and 26.4% strikeout rate that year, but that wasn’t enough to stop the White Sox from deciding to part ways with him after the season.

Jenks went on to sign with the Red Sox on a two-year, $12MM contract not long after that, but the deal proved to be ill-fated. He struggled with injuries throughout the 2011 season, and posted a 6.32 ERA across the 19 appearances he was healthy enough to get on the mound for. The injuries worsened, and an MRI eventually revealed bone spurs on his spine. He underwent surgery on his back in December of 2011, but complications from that surgery arose after his surgeon left a serrated edge in his back. The effects of that mistake left Jenks bedridden and he ultimately was released by the Red Sox in June of 2012 and retired from baseball at just 31 years old.

Jenks retired from baseball with a career 3.53 ERA, 351 strikeouts, and 173 saves despite having his career cut short after just seven seasons. He returned to baseball as a coach in 2021, serving as pitching coach for the independent Pioneer League’s Grand Junction Rockies that year. He was promoted to manager for 2022 and later served as a coach in the Appalachian League and a manager in the Frontier League, though a cancer diagnosis he announced in February of 2025 forced him to bring his coaching career to a close.

In the wake of today’s news, former teammate A.J. Pierzynski remembered Jenks in a post on social media, while longtime MLB.com White Sox beat writer Scott Merkin shared a conversation he had with Jenks back in February, shortly after his diagnosis. We at MLB Trade Rumors join them and the rest of the baseball world in extending our condolences to Jenks’s family, friends, loved ones, and all of those whose lives he touched during his time in the game.

Blue Jays Select Lazaro Estrada, Transfer Anthony Santander To 60-Day IL

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2:53 PM: The Blue Jays have made it official and selected Estrada’s contract from Triple-A Buffalo. To free up room on the 26 and 40-man rosters, the team optioned left-hander Justin Bruihl to Triple-A and transferred outfielder/DH Anthony Santander from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Santander will now not be eligible to return until late July.

7:10 AM: The Blue Jays are set to select the contract of right-hander Lazaro Estrada today, according to a report from Yordano Carmona of Pelota Cubana USA. Toronto’s 40-man roster is full, so a corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Estrada on both the active and 40-man rosters. Should Estrada make an appearance while on the roster, it would be his big league debut.

Estrada, 26, was born in La Habana, Cuba and made his pro debut with the Blue Jays back in 2018. After losing a season of development to 2020’s cancelled minor league season, Estrada managed just 39 1/3 innings of work total between 2021 and ’22 due to injuries. That slowed his ascent up the minor league ladder considerably, and he only cracked the Double-A level just last year. Despite that slow-going path to the majors, however, Estrada posted a 3.29 ERA across three levels of the minors last year and has followed that up by more or less holding his own at the Triple-A level this year. He has a 4.75 ERA through 15 starts, but his 24.8% strikeout rate is quite strong for a starter while his 7.8% walk rate is roughly average.

It’s not entirely clear what role Estrada will play now that he’s headed to the majors. The Blue Jays have a full rotation for the first time in a while, with Max Scherzer back from the injured list and southpaw Eric Lauer having more than earned a spot in the starting five after posting a 2.60 ERA on the season, including a 3.32 ERA in four starts since moving to the rotation last month. That duo is joined by Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, and Jose Berrios. While each of those three is having somewhat middling seasons overall, none of them should be expected to move out of the rotation  barring a trip to the injured list.

That makes the most likely outcome for Estrada a move to the bullpen. The right-hander could serve as a solid complement to Lauer, who for all his effectiveness has capped out around 85 pitches this year. That could make having a multi-inning righty able to piggyback off of Lauer an attractive option, and Estrada would also be able to more generally provide length to a bullpen that has been leaned on heavily in recent days.

Nationals Place Trevor Williams On Injured List With Elbow Sprain

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The Nationals announced a series of roster moves this morning, headlined by their placement of right-hander Trevor Williams on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow sprain. Right-hander Ryan Loutos was recalled to the MLB roster to replace Williams. In an additional move, Washington has activated catcher Keibert Ruiz from the 7-day concussion-related injured list and optioned catcher Drew Millas to Triple-A.

Williams, 33, has been part of the Nationals’ rotation all year but struggled badly with his results. The righty is sporting a 6.21 ERA across 17 starts and 82 2/3 innings this year. That’s the third-worst figure in baseball among pitchers with at least 80 innings of work this year. Brutal as the results have been, it’s perhaps worth noting that Williams has gotten quite unlucky according to the underlying metrics. His .347 BABIP allowed is nearly fifty points higher than his career mark, and a 61.6% strand rate suggests he’s been the victim of poor sequencing as well. Williams’s 4.08 FIP and 4.45 FIP paint him as a roughly average fifth starter based on his performance this year, despite the rough run prevention numbers.

In terms of strikeout and walk rate, Williams hasn’t been all that different than 2024. Last year saw him pitch to a dazzling 2.03 ERA in 66 2/3 innings, but his results then were much better than the metrics suggested they should have been. Taken together, Williams’s strong but abbreviated 2024 and his brutal first half this year paint a picture of a mid-to-back of the rotation arm: 30 starts, a 4.34 ERA, a 3.51 FIP, and a 4.23 SIERA. Perhaps there would’ve been a pitching-needy club or two who would have viewed Williams as a decent innings-eating arm to bet on for a low-cost flier this summer, but today’s injury news will throw a wrench into that possibility.

The exact details surrounding Williams’s injury are not yet known, but any injury involving a pitcher’s elbow is concerning and will typically be treated with an abundance of caution to avoid further damage. Williams figures to be out for several weeks at the very least and could miss much longer than that. A clearer timeline for his return to action figures to be available with time, but Mark Zuckerman of MASN reports that Williams himself suggested that the injury is “comparable” to the flexor strain that cost him more than three months last year. A similar timeline for his recovery this time around would likely put an end to his 2025 campaign.

For the time being, Williams will be replaced on the roster by Loutos. The righty was plucked off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this year but has surrendered eight runs (six earned) in just 4 1/3 innings during his time in a Nationals uniform. He’ll help eat innings for now, but the club will need to replace Williams in the rotation eventually. Cade Cavalli and Shinnosuke Ogasawara are both on the 40-man roster and could be called upon, though Cavalli has struggled at Triple-A this year while Ogasawara is currently pitching at High-A as he works his way back from an injury.

As for Ruiz, the catcher was placed on the 10-day IL after being struck by a foul ball while in the dugout on June 24, but was later moved to the concussion-related IL after experiencing headaches. He figures to resume getting the lion’s share of playing time behind the plate going forward, with Riley Adams serving as his backup. The eight-year, $50MM extension the Nats signed Ruiz to prior to the 2023 season hasn’t worked out so far, and he’s hitting just .247/.278/.320 in 66 games this year. Even so, the former top prospect is still just 26 years old and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that his numbers could improve given how common it is for catchers to be relatively late bloomers at the big league level.

The Opener: Trade Candidates, Schmidt, Montgomery

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Happy Independence Day to those who celebrate! Here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on headed into Fourth of July weekend:

1. MLBTR’s Top 40 Trade Candidates:

We’re less than a month away from the 2025 Trade Deadline, and the rumor mill has begun to heat up. That means it’s time for another addition of MLBTR’s Top Trade Candidates list. Last year, we covered the Top 50 Trade Candidates for the 2024 deadline. Nine of the top eleven names on our list wound up traded that summer, and a tenth (southpaw Garrett Crochet) was dealt over the winter. This year, we’ll be looking in-depth at this summer’s 40 biggest trade candidates, though with so many teams on the bubble of playoff relevance more than 100 plausible trade candidates are mentioned in some capacity. Our list will be published this afternoon, so be sure to check back later today!

2. Schmidt headed to the IL?

The Yankees suffered a tough loss to the Blue Jays yesterday that knocked them out of the AL East lead and things took a turn for the worse after it was revealed that right-hander Clarke Schmidt’s early exit from the game was due to an issue in his forearm. Schmidt is slated to undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the problem, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports this morning that both Scott Effross and Jayvien Sandridge are expected to be recalled by the Yankees today. The addition of Effross to the roster is hardly noteworthy given that the Yankees already optioned Clayton Beeter to the minors to open a spot in the bullpen, but Sandridge can only be recalled if he’s replacing an injured player. That would certainly seem to suggests that Schmidt, who has 3.32 ERA in 14 starts this year, is ticketed for the shelf. We’ll surely know more about his status later today, as well as the Yankees’ rotation plans without him in the fold.

3. Montgomery to debut:

It’s been a brutal few years for White Sox fans, as their once-vaunted core of the early 2020s fizzled out and was dismantled. That’s left the fans on the south side with little reason for optimism in recent years, but this season’s club has boasted encouraging performances from young players like Shane Smith and Kyle Teel. Another exciting youngster is set to debut this weekend, as Chicago is reportedly poised to promote longtime top prospect Colson Montgomery to the majors. The 23-year-old is hitting just .218/.298/.435 across 55 games at the Triple-A level this year, but was a consensus top-15 prospect in the sport as recently as last season and heated up considerably this past month. With Montgomery doing his best work of the season, the White Sox clearly feel that now is the time to get him a taste of the big leagues. His first assignment will come against the Rockies in Colorado this weekend, for whom Antonio Senzatela (6.69 ERA) will be on the mound tonight.

Poll: Will The Royals Trade Seth Lugo?

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The Royals’ 2025 season has not gone as they surely hoped it would after they surprised the baseball world with a playoff berth in 2024 and invested heavily into the team over the offseason. While they entered June over .500, a brutal 8-18 swoon last month left the team very abruptly buried in the AL playoff picture. Their 40-47 record leaves them with a 14-game deficit in the AL Central that already seems all but impossible to overcome, and even their Wild Card positioning leaves them 5.5 games back of a playoff spot. A rotator cuff strain sidelined Cole Ragans last month, and the loss of the club’s lefty ace will make it even harder for them to turn things around.

All of that has left the Royals looking like a potential deadline seller. A closer look at the club’s roster reveals very few short-term assets who would bring back a significant haul on the trade market, however. Hunter Harvey is injured, while Cavan Biggio and Mark Canha have both been well below average hitters this year. That leaves right-hander Seth Lugo as the only player on the roster who can depart for free agency this winter who could bring back a notable return for the Royals.

There’s few contenders who wouldn’t benefit from adding Lugo to their rotation. The right-hander was the runner-up for the AL Cy Young award last year with a dominant season, and he’s kept the good times rolling in 2025 with a sparkling 2.74 ERA in 15 starts. That’s the sort of front-of-the-rotation, surefire playoff starter that contenders dream of adding to their rotation mix, at least on paper. If Lugo could bring back an exciting return for the Royals, particularly an MLB-ready return, then it could make sense to sell the righty in order to maximize the 2026-30 seasons, after which point superstar Bobby Witt Jr. will have his first opportunity to opt-out of his extension and test free agency.

As clearcut as the argument for dealing Lugo may sound, however, there are real reasons to think the Royals may hesitate. For one thing, a monster return for Lugo is hardly guaranteed. As strong as his raw run prevention numbers have been this year, his peripherals tell a different story. The veteran’s strikeout rate has ticked slightly downward, his walk rate has jumped up to 8.0% after sitting at 5.6% last year, and his otherworldly ability to keep the ball in the park last year appears to have been a single-season mirage. With a 4.18 FIP and 4.10 SIERA, it’s possible rival clubs will value Lugo as more of a mid-rotation starter than a recent Cy Young candidate.

His value is further decreased by the $15MM player option he holds for the 2026 season. That’s a figure Lugo would certainly be able to beat in free agency if healthy, meaning that he’s very likely to opt out unless he suffers an injury, at which point the acquiring club would be on the hook for the full price and likely get minimal production. Similar contractual situations have caused issues in trade talks in the past. Both the Cubs and Yankees have entertained trade offers on Marcus Stroman in recent years but found difficulties getting much of a market for his services due to “poison pill” contract options, and even future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer had to waive his ability to opt out of the 2024 campaign for the Rangers to be willing to acquire him from the Mets during the summer of 2023. It’s not at all difficult to believe interested teams could have similar reservations regarding Lugo.

If the return for Lugo isn’t robust, it’s not hard to imagine the Royals just keeping the veteran. While Witt is young and under long-term control, other pieces of the club’s core like Michael Wacha, Carlos Estevez, and Salvador Perez aren’t exactly getting any younger. Even younger players like Jonathan India and Kris Bubic aren’t far from the end of their team control windows, and that could leave the Royals motivated to try to make the 2026 season count. Keeping Lugo in the fold would help that goal, and while it’s typically unlikely for a small market club to keep a star player in free agency, that may not be the case in this instance.

With Lugo eligible for the Qualifying Offer this winter, it’s not impossible to imagine him either sticking around on that one-year pact if it’s offered to him or the sides using it as a jumping off point to work out an extension. The Royals typically wouldn’t be expected to have the sort of financial muscle needed to retain a pitcher of Lugo’s caliber, but the veteran turns 36 this November and would likely be limited to short-term offers in free agency even if he isn’t attached to the Qualifying Offer. Should Kansas City extend him the QO, it could further depress his ability to land a big contract. If the Royals like their odds of keeping Lugo around after this year, it would be understandable if they decided not to trade him.

How do MLBTR readers think the Royals will ultimately handle Lugo? Will he be traded this summer, or will they hold onto him and hope to keep him around longer term? Have your say in the poll below:

The Opener: Mariners, Muncy, Jays, Yankees

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Mariners rotation shuffle:

The Mariners optioned fifth starter Emerson Hancock to the minors yesterday. While they don’t necessarily need a fifth starter for a few days, manager Dan Wilson told reporters yesterday right-hander Logan Evans will be getting the start in today’s game (via Andrew Destin of the Associated Press). That will allow the Mariners to push righty Bryan Woo and the rest of the rotation back a day to get some extra rest ahead of the All-Star break. A rookie who made his MLB debut earlier this year, Evans has a 3.38 ERA in seven MLB starts despite a 4.76 FIP. He’ll be tasked with taking on the Royals and righty Seth Lugo later today, and his performance could end up deciding whether he remains in the rotation for the remainder of the first half or if he’s replaced with another spot starter down the line.

2. Muncy to undergo MRI:

Dodgers infielder Max Muncy needed to be helped off the field yesterday after suffering a knee injury on the bases, but after the game manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including MLB.com’s Sonja Chen) that the team is “optimistic” after initial testing. Still, Muncy is being sent for an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury. Those results could be back in time for the club’s game against the White Sox tonight. An IL trip for Muncy would likely mean an opening for Hyeseong Kim to receive more frequent playing time, though losing a .252/.377/.461 hitter like Muncy from the lineup would certainly be a blow for the Dodgers.

3. Blue Jays challenge for the AL East lead:

Yesterday’s game between the Blue Jays and Yankees was a wild one. The Jays broke out to an 8-0 lead, only for the Yankees to come all the way back before Toronto ultimately won 11-9. After that exciting win, the two clubs now sit tied atop the AL East heading into the final game of the series. Veteran Chris Bassitt has a 4.29 ERA in 17 starts this year and will be on the mound for Toronto coming off a blow-up outing where he surrendered nine runs (eight earned) in just two innings against the Red Sox. He’ll try to turn things around against Yankees righty Clarke Schmidt, who has a 3.09 ERA in 13 starts this season.

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