Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

D-backs Notes: Lawlar, Bullpen, Bench

By | at

The D-backs have already been getting top prospect Jordan Lawlar some reps in center field, and general manager Mike Hazen confirmed to D-backs host Jody Jackson that Lawlar will see the bulk of his playing time in the outfield rather than on the infield in 2026.

Lawlar, drafted as a shortstop, was pushed to third base early in his big league tenure after Geraldo Perdomo’s breakout at shortstop. Defensive metrics and a glut of errors quickly made clear that he wasn’t going to be a quality option at the hot corner, and the team seemingly acknowledged that with last month’s acquisition of Nolan Arenado. With Arenado at third base, Perdomo at shortstop and star Ketel Marte entrenched at second base, Arizona’s infield doesn’t look to have much room for the former No. 6 overall pick.

The outfield, however, provides more opportunity. Corbin Carroll is locked into right field, but the other spots are largely up for grabs. Alek Thomas is a solid defender in center but hasn’t hit at all in parts of four major league seasons. Jake McCarthy was traded to the Rockies earlier this winter. Pavin Smith has some outfield experience but will probably see the lion’s share of time at first base with switch-hitting veteran Carlos Santana providing a righty complement to Smith’s left-handed bat. Yesterday’s trade of Blaze Alexander to the Orioles removed another occasional option from the equation; Alexander played seven games in the outfield last season.

Lawlar has only taken 108 plate appearances in the majors, and he’s posted a bleak .165/.241/.237 slash in that time while striking out at a dismal 34.3% clip. However, he’s still just 23 years old (24 in July) and has absolutely torched Triple-A pitching in parts of three seasons: .328/.414/.576 with 18 homers, 25 doubles, seven triples, 24 steals, an 11.9% walk rate and a 22.6% strikeout rate. Based on that production alone, the D-backs are going to do their best to find a spot in the lineup for his bat.

The trade of Alexander opens a clearer path for Lawlar to get at-bats in the outfield, and it also helped fortify Arizona’s bullpen. The Diamondbacks picked up righty Kade Strowd in that deal, who posted a 1.71 ERA in his first 26 1/3 innings of big league work in 2025. The 28-year-old’s 22.9% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate don’t support that level of run prevention, but Hazen told reporters after the trade that the D-backs felt Strowd took a step forward late in the year and is someone who’ll “compete in the bullpen for us right away” in 2026 (link via Steve Gilbert of MLB.com).

Strowd indeed seemed to find another gear in the season’s final month. He walked 11 of the first 71 batters he faced in 2025, but over his final nine innings he issued only two free passes to 34 hitters while punching out 15 (44.1%). His swinging-strike rate in that time nearly doubled, from 8.9% to 16.2%. It’s always dangerous to read too much into small samples, but in this instance, that drastic shift coincided with a huge uptick in Strowd’s four-seam fastball usage and a significant downturn in his curveball and sinker usage. Time will tell whether he can sustain those gains in a larger sample, but it’s a understandable that Hazen & Co. are intrigued to see what he can do with more four-seamers, cutters and sliders with fewer sinkers and hooks.

Gilbert notes that the D-backs are still on the lookout for more pitching help, which is only natural — particularly in the bullpen. Arizona has added Strowd and signed Taylor Clarke and Jonathan Loaisiga as free agents (the latter on a minor league deal), but that won’t be enough to make up for the losses of Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk, who’ll open the season on the injured list after undergoing elbow surgery last summer.

The D-backs, Gilbert adds, are also poking around for bench help in the outfield and the infield. Losing Alexander subtracted from that mix, of course, though they acquired six years of Strowd (and a pair of prospects) to offset that loss. At present, backup catcher James McCann is the only true lock for the bench. Infielder/outfielder Tim Tawa offers versatility but didn’t hit at all in his first taste of the majors last year (.201/.274/.347, 225 plate appearances). Switch-hitting outfielder Jorge Barrosa is out of minor league options but is a .148/.170/.239 hitter in 95 MLB plate appearances.

The Diamondbacks’ 40-man roster is extremely pitcher-heavy, with catcher Adrian Del Castillo and 22-year-old infielder Jose Fernandez (who hasn’t played above Double-A) standing as the only other position players on the 40-man roster. It’s only natural that the Snakes will look for some insurance around the infield and outfield, given the thin depth they have at present.

Marlins Trade Victor Mesa Jr. To Rays

By | at

Major League Baseball’s two Florida clubs made a small trade Friday, with Miami sending outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league infielder Angel Brachi. The Marlins had designated Mesa for assignment earlier in the week. Both teams have announced the swap.

Mesa and his older brother, Victor Victor Mesa, are the sons of Cuban baseball legend Victor Mesa, who had a 19-year career in Cuba’s top league and who has previously managed Team Cuba in the World Baseball Classic. Both, particularly the older Mesa brother, were high-profile international prospects back in the 2018-19 offseason, but neither panned out after signing together with Miami. Victor Victor never reached the majors, and Mesa Jr. was designated for assignment after just 38 plate appearances in The Show.

All of those plate appearances for the younger Mesa brother came in 2025. He appeared in 16 games and hit .188/.297/.344 with a homer, two doubles and as many walks as strikeouts (five apiece). He had a nice showing in 171 Triple-A plate appearances (.286/.352/.460), but that was the first time Mesa Jr. has hit at even an average level in the minors.

The 24-year-old Mesa Jr. is regarded as a solid defensive outfielder and has shown more pop than some expected him to at the time of his signing. He ripped 18 homers in 123 games during the 2023 season, popped 13 round-trippers in just 83 games in ’24 and added another seven in 42 Triple-A contests last season (plus the one home run in 38 MLB plate appearances).

Mesa Jr. still has a minor league option remaining. He’ll give the Rays another candidate to take some at-bats in a somewhat patchwork outfield. The Rays signed Cedric Mullins and Jake Fraley to one-year deals this winter and figure to plug them into center field and right field, respectively, at least against right-handed pitching. Left fielder Chandler Simpson is baseball’s fastest player and most prominent base-stealing threat, but he’s not a good defender, rarely walks and has no power of which to speak. Jonny DeLuca, Justyn-Henry Malloy, Richie Palacios, Ryan Vilade and top prospect Jacob Melton are the other outfield options on the 40-man roster.

Brachi is something of a lottery ticket — a 19-year-old former high-profile international signee who has spent the past two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. He did not rank among Tampa Bay’s top 30 prospects on Baseball America’s recent update on their sytem.

The Rays signed Brachi for an $800K bonus out of his native Dominican Republic. He struggled badly there as a 17-year-old in ’24 (.247/.348/.276 with no homers, three doubles and one triple in 206 plate appearances). Brachi had a breakout at the plate repeating that level in 2025, however, erupting for a .337/.453/.408 batting line in a larger sample of 228 turns at the plate.

Brachi has virtually no power at the moment and isn’t projected to grow into much. His immense Summer League OBP is a bit misleading, as he’s only walked in 8.7% of his plate appearances but has somewhat incredibly been plunked 30 times in 434 overall plate appearances. Brachi is a plus runner who’s still a bit inefficient on the basepaths (35 steals in 48 tries) but could develop into a big running threat. He’s played shortstop, second base and third base in pro ball.

Francys Romero first reported that Mesa was headed to Tampa Bay. Kevin Barral of Fish On First reported that it was a trade (not a waiver claim) and that Miami was receiving one prospect in return.

Red Sox Claim Tsung-Che Cheng

By | at

The Red Sox have claimed infielder Tsung-Che Cheng off waivers from the Nationals, the team announced. The Sox had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, which is now full. They’ll need to open a spot to finalize this week’s reported agreement with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Cheng, 24, made his big league debut with the Pirates in 2025 but went hitless in seven plate appearances. He didn’t fare all that well in Triple-A last year either, hitting just .207/.305/.267 with one homer, 12 doubles and three triples in 410 turns at the plate. However, Cheng is a plus runner who swiped 20 bags despite that paltry OBP, and he’s also a capable defender at shortstop, second base and third base. The 5’8″ lefty swinger also has an excellent eye at the plate, evidenced by a career 12.5% walk rate in the minors.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has been vocal about his desire to improve the club’s infield defense. Cheng isn’t going to secure a starting spot in the infield and may not even crack the Opening Day roster if he sticks with the Sox that long, as he has a minor league option remaining and can be sent to Triple-A without needing to be exposed to waivers. He’s a viable backup at any of shortstop, second base or third base who can work counts and run well, which makes him a potential bench option if he can improve his offense to some degree.

Then again, it’s far from certain Cheng will even be with the Red Sox at the end of camp. He’s been one of the most frequent riders of this offseason’s DFA carousel, bouncing from the Pirates, to the Rays, to the Mets, to the Nationals and now the Red Sox — all in the past month alone. The Red Sox are on the lookout for both a righty-swinging outfielder and another infielder (even after agreeing to terms with Kiner-Falefa), and if they bring in a veteran at either spot, Cheng could again find himself jettisoned into DFA limbo.

Angels Sign Brent Suter

By | at

February 6th: The Angels officially announced their signing of Suter today. It’s a $1.25MM deal, according to a report from The Associated Press.

February 5th: The Angels are closing in on a major league deal with free agent left-hander Brent Suter, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The Diamond Sports Management client would be the fourth veteran bullpen signing of the offseason for the Halos.

The 36-year-old Suter is a throwback in many ways — a soft-tossing, rubber-armed lefty who relies more on command and soft contact while often pitching multiple innings per outing. Last year’s 87.3 mph was the second-highest average velocity he’s posted on his four-seamer in any of his 10 big league seasons. His 89.1 mph average sinker was a career-high.

Obviously, Suter isn’t going to blow any hitters away with power stuff. However, he’s walked only 6.1% of his career opponents (6.2% in 2025) and perennially posts some of the league’s lowest exit velocity and hard-hit rates. Suter can still pick up some punchouts, but last year’s 18.2% mark was four percentage points shy of average. He hasn’t posted a league-average strikeout rate since 2021 and has an overall 18.8% mark in the four seasons since.

That hasn’t stopped Suter from being a generally effective relief option. Last year’s 4.52 ERA was a career-worst mark but was in part inflated by an abnormally low 69% strand rate. Playing his home games at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park didn’t help, as the 1.42 HR/9 he’s averaged over the past two seasons with the Reds is substantially higher than the 1.07 mark he carried into the 2024 season. That was surely a worthwhile trade-off for the Cincinnati native, who reportedly turned down some better offers to pitch for his hometown club the past couple seasons, but a move to Angel Stadium should bode well for the southpaw in terms of getting his home run rate back down.

Over the past seasons, Suter ranks 12th among all relief pitchers in innings pitched. He’s had just two IL stints along the way — three weeks for an oblique strain in ’23 and six weeks for a teres major strain in ’24 — and has logged a collective 3.76 ERA in that time. He’s typically been more of a long man or middle reliever but does have three saves and 24 holds in his career. He worked more than one inning in 22 of his 48 appearances with the Reds in 2025, topping out at 3 2/3 innings for his longest appearance of the season.

Despite restructuring the final season of Anthony Rendon’s contract such that it’ll defer his remaining salary over a five-year period, it’s been a quiet offseason for the Angels. They’ve added four relievers — Suter, Jordan Romano, Drew Pomeranz, Kirby Yates — on low-cost, one-year contracts. Yates ($5MM), Pomeranz ($4MM) and Romano ($2MM) will earn a combined $11MM. Suter’s deal is even cheaper than those already affordable pacts. The team’s other moves include a buy-low trade of Rays outfielder Josh Lowe and re-signing Yoan Moncada for a year and $4MM.

That Lowe trade cost the Angels southpaw reliever Brock Burke. Signing Suter again gives the Angels a second lefty to pair with Pomeranz in a patchwork bullpen where the average reliever within is now about 33 and a half years old. Suter, Pomeranz, Yates and Romano will be joined by Robert Stephenson, Ryan Zeferjahn and out-of-options righty Chase Silseth. Recent waiver claim Kaleb Ort is out of options as well, so he’ll be in the Opening Day group unless he’s designated for assignment before that point; the Angels, notably, will need a 40-man move for Suter unless they wait until camp opens so they can move the aforementioned Rendon to the 60-day IL.

Graham Ashcraft Wins Arbitration Hearing

By | at

Reds right-hander Graham Ashcraft won his arbitration hearing against the team, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. He and his reps at the Bledsoe Agency filed for a $1.75MM salary, while the team filed at $1.25MM. Ashcraft will receive the larger of those two figures in 2026. Players have won all five arbitration hearings that have been decided thus far in 2026.

Ashcraft, 28 next week, had a breakout season in the bullpen for Cincinnati. The former starter took to his new relief role, logging 65 1/3 innings with a 3.99 ERA. A forearm strain late in the season may have helped beef that ERA up a bit; he missed two weeks in late August/early September and was immediately tagged for five runs in his first two innings back on the mound, though he righted the ship thereafter, rattling off 5 1/3 shutout innings to end the year.

The 6’2″, 245-pound Ashcraft already threw hard as a starter, but his heater jumped to an average of 97.1 mph in relief. He paired that offering with a slider sitting 89.8 mph and showed more bat-missing ability than his 22.5% strikeout rate would otherwise indicate. That mark is right in line with league average, but Ashcraft’s 13.2% swinging-strike rate is more than two percentage points north of par. He also posted a solid 8.8% walk rate and a huge 55.9% ground-ball rate.

Ashcraft began the season working in lower-leverage spots but was one of manager Terry Francona’s top options in tight situations by season’s end. By measure of leverage index, Tony Santillan worked in the most pressure-packed spots, but Ashcraft was only a bit behind him, ranking slightly ahead of closer Emilio Pagan, who was more typically reserved for more traditional ninth-inning work.

The Reds re-signed Pagan to a two-year deal this winter, the second season of which is a player option. Ashcraft, alongside Santillan, will reprise his role as one of Pagan’s top setup men. If Pagan opts out after the season and signs elsewhere, Ashcraft could be in the mix for closing opportunities in 2027. This was his first trip through arbitration. Ashcraft is controllable through 2028 and is owed two more raises in arbitration over the next couple offseasons.

Edwin Uceta Wins Arbitration Hearing

By | at

Right-hander Edwin Uceta won his arbitration hearing against the Rays, Ari Alexander of 7News reports. He’ll be paid the $1.525MM salary figure he and his agent at Nova Sports submitted rather than the $1.2MM sum submitted by the team. Players have now won the first four arbitration hearings of the 2026 season.

The 28-year-old Uceta is the latest success story for Tampa Bay’s pitch lab. The Rays were the journeyman right-hander’s fifth organization in three years when they got their hands on him in 2024. He came to the Rays organization with a career 5.80 ERA in 40 1/3 frames across parts of three seasons.

Tampa Bay near immediately unlocked something in the hard-throwing righty. Uceta exploded for 41 2/3 innings of 1.51 ERA ball with a mammoth 35.8% strikeout rate against a minuscule 5% walk rate in 2024. He followed that by tossing a team-leading 76 innings out of the ’pen in 2025. His 3.79 ERA was up from the year prior but still plenty serviceable. His rate stats trended in the wrong direction — 32.1 K%, 8.4 BB% — but were still strong marks overall, particularly the strikeout rate.

Overall, Uceta has a 2.98 ERA with terrific strikeout and walk rates in 113 2/3 innings with the Rays. His breakout has quickly thrust him into a high-leverage role. He’s saved six games and picked up 28 holds in his two years as a Ray, and with longtime closer Pete Fairbanks out the door, Uceta could find himself stepping into Tampa Bay’s ninth-inning vacancy before long. That role, coupled with this week’s arbitration win, would position him nicely for future raises moving forward.

This is Uceta’s first trip through the arbitration process. He’s a Super Two player (2.150 years of service), meaning he’s controllable through 2029 and will be arb-eligible four times instead of the standard three.

Braves, Kyle Farmer Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Kyle Farmer, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The BHSC client will be in camp as a non-roster player this spring, where he’ll compete for a bench job.

Farmer, 35, was the Reds’ starting shortstop in 2021-22 and had a nice 2023 showing with the Twins. Across those three seasons, he slashed a collective .258/.316/.402 (94 wRC+) while playing solid defense at shortstop, third base and second base (the latter two more so in Minnesota than in Cincinnati). He’s never been great against right-handed pitching but sports a career .279/.341/.464 batting line (117 wRC+) in 792 plate appearances against lefties.

The past two seasons haven’t gone nearly as well for Farmer. He hit .214/.293/.353 during his second season with Minnesota in 2024, prompting the Twins to decline an option and make him a free agent. Farmer signed a big league deal with the Rockies last offsseason but slashed just .227/.280/.365 despite the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field.

Even coming off a pair of down seasons, he’s a sensible pickup for a Braves club that thought it had its shortstop situation settled when re-signing Ha-Seong Kim on a one-year, $20MM contract. Kim suffered a freak injury last month when he slipped on some ice, landed on his hand and suffered a torn tendon, however. That injury required surgery that could keep him out for the first couple months of the season. Atlanta quickly pivoted to bring Jorge Mateo in on a one-year deal, and Farmer now joins the infield group on as a non-roster invitee.

The Braves have Mauricio Dubon lined up to start at shortstop in Kim’s absence, though the versatile Dubon can play all over the diamond and could spell free agent signee Mike Yastrzemski in the outfield against lefties. On those days — or when Yastrzemski is lifted for a pinch-hitter — Farmer could step into shortstop as Dubon slides to the outfield.

Of course, Farmer will have to play well enough this spring to break camp with the club. The presence of Mateo already gives Atlanta at least one shortstop alternative to Dubon, Mateo can play multiple positions, including the outfield, but like Farmer he’s a righty-swinging veteran who can’t be optioned, so the two of them could be seen as redundant when the Braves are making their final roster decisions. For now anyway, Farmer provides some depth and would seem to have a real chance to make the club.

Athletics Claim Andy Ibañez

By | at

The A’s have claimed infielder/outfielder Andy Ibañez off waivers from the Dodgers, Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reports. Los Angeles signed Ibañez to a one-year, $1.2MM deal last month and then tried to pass him through waivers in order to stash him in Triple-A as a depth option. Instead, the A’s will pick up that $1.2MM bill and add the versatile lefty masher to their infield mix.

Ibañez, 32, is out of minor league options, so when the Dodgers signed him to a low-cost deal despite a crowded infield/bench group, it always seemed possible that they could try to sneak him through outright waivers to keep him as non-roster depth. Ibañez doesn’t have the service time needed to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and retain any guaranteed money on his contract, so if he’d passed through waivers he would surely have accepted the assignment.

That won’t be the case. He’ll now head north to West Sacramento and call the Athletics’ hitter-friendly temporary digs at Sutter Health Park his home park. The A’s don’t have a clear answer at third base, so Ibañez will compete for at-bats there while also providing a credible backup around the diamond.

In parts of five major league seasons, Ibañez is a .254/.304/.389 hitter. That includes sub-par work in right-on-right situations, but he’s feasted on lefties, hitting them at a .280/.372/.452 clip. He’ll compete with Darell Hernaiz, Brett Harris, Max Schuemann and (the other) Max Muncy for time at third base, but Ibañez has 5300 professional innings at second base, 724 at first base, 242 at shortstop and 186 in the outfield corners. He’s also the only member of that group of infield candidates who is out of minor league options, so he’s very likely to crack the Athletics’ Opening Day roster.

It’s still possible the A’s will make another move to bring in a third baseman. They had an agreement in place to acquire Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals, but Arenado (who had a full no-trade clause) preferred to go to the D-backs, with whom St. Louis had also been negotiating. There aren’t many third base options left on the market, but someone like Luis Rengifo might feel Sutter Health Park is a good place to try to rebound. The trade market also still has a few viable options (e.g. Mark Vientos, Alec Bohm), and any number of less-proven names could find themselves on waivers this spring as teams make final tweaks to their rosters.

Ibañez has 3.133 years of major league service time, making him controllable via arbitration for another three seasons. He’ll need to rebound from last year’s down showing at the plate for the A’s to keep him around long term, but he’s landed in a better hitters’ environment with a club that has a clearer path to playing time than he’d have had in Los Angeles.

Rangers, Ryan Brasier Finalizing Minor League Deal

By | at

11:46am: It’ll be a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to spring training once the deal is complete, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

10:47am: The Rangers are finalizing a deal with right-hander Ryan Brasier, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. It’d be a homecoming for the ALIGND Sports client, who was born in Wichita Falls, Texas and attended college in Weatherford, just 40 miles west of Arlington.

Brasier spent the 2025 season with the Cubs but was limited to just 26 innings thanks to a pair of groin injuries — one which kept him out of action for nearly two months. He logged a 4.50 earned run average when healthy and set down 19% of his opponents on strikes while recording a tiny 4.8% walk rate. A .321 average on balls in play — 30 points higher than average and 40 north of Brasier’s career mark — at least partially inflated his ERA. Metrics like SIERA (3.74) and FIP (3.17) were more bullish.

Injuries have hampered the now-38-year-old righty in each of the past two seasons. In 2024, Brasier tossed 28 innings with the Dodgers, missing considerable time due a right calf strain. He was generally effective that season as well, logging a 3.54 ERA with a 22.7% strikeout rate and another excellent walk rate (4.5%).

Overall, Brasier’s last three seasons have been solid — at least when he’s been healthy enough to take the mound. He’s put a nightmare 2022 season (5.78 ERA in 62 1/3 inning) in the rearview mirror, bouncing back with a combined 3.48 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate, two saves and 20 holds in a total of 113 2/3 frames. That said, it’s worth noting that last year’s 94 mph average four-seam velocity was down substantially from the 95.7 mph he averaged as recently as 2023. Perhaps accordingly, his 9.7% swinging-strike rate was a career-low — and the first time in his career that he’s posted a mark decidedly south of the league average (11%).

Whether a healthier Brasier will be able to regain some of the lost velocity and strikeouts in his age-38 season remains to be seen, but the right-hander still possesses excellent command. He keeps the ball on the ground at a roughly average rate and has managed to avoid home runs over the past three seasons (0.63 HR/9).

If he makes the roster, Brasier will be the latest low-cost addition to a Rangers bullpen that has given out one-year deals to veterans Chris Martin, Alexis Diaz, Tyler Alexander and Jakob Junis this season. It’s the second straight year that Texas brass has cobbled together its relief corps primarily by way of low-cost free agent deals. It worked out quite well in 2025, as the Rangers got strong results from Martin, Hoby Milner, Jacob Webb and Shawn Armstrong.

Finding success on that many one-year pickups of relievers — perennially MLB’s most volatile performers — isn’t a sustainable way to put together a bullpen, but reductions in payroll in recent seasons have pushed president of baseball operations Chris Young to take this sort of piecemeal approach. Ideally, the Rangers would see some of their younger arms step up to fill some of the spots, just as Cole Winn did in 2025. Winn will be one of the primary setup options for closer Robert Garcia, whom Texas acquired in the trade sending Nathaniel Lowe to Washington last winter.

Cubs Agree To Minor League Deals With Vince Velasquez, Owen Miller

By | at

The Cubs have added another pair of veterans on minor league deals, agreeing to terms with righty Vince Velasquez and infielder Owen Miller, according to the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. They’ll likely be in camp as non-roster players. Velasquez is a CAA client, while Miller is represented by ALIGND Sports.

Velasquez, 33, has pitched in parts of nine major league seasons in addition to some time with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants in 2025. The 2010 second-round pick (Astros) was a well-regarded prospect prior to his 2015 debut and has at times shown the ability to pitch at the back of a big league rotation but has lacked consistency. In 763 2/3 innings in the majors, he carries a 4.88 earned run average, a 24.9% strikeout rate, a 9.3% walk rate and a 35.4% ground-ball rate.

Home runs have been Velasquez’s primary undoing in the big leagues. He’s served up an average of 1.48 homers per nine frames and seen just over 14% of the fly-balls he’s allowed in his career leave the yard. That susceptibility has offset his otherwise decent rate stats.

Velasquez’s most recent MLB work came with the Pirates in 2023. He logged a solid 3.86 ERA in eight starts, the final two of which lasted only a combined five innings. The righty hit the injured list with elbow troubles shortly thereafter, and the Bucs announced in early June that he’d require elbow surgery which would sideline him for around 11 months. Velasquez didn’t pitch at all in 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Guardians last offseason and was selected to the major league roster at the end of April, but Cleveland designated him for assignment just two days later, before he’d pitched in a game. He was outrighted to Triple-A and eventually given his release so he could finish out the season in the KBO.

The 29-year-old Miller has suited up in parts of five big league seasons, primarily with Cleveland and Milwaukee. He briefly appeared in nine games for Colorado last season but tallied only 17 plate appearances.

In 1032 plate appearances at the MLB level, Miller is a .238/.287/.342 hitter with 15 homers, 52 doubles, a triple, a 5.8% walk rate and a 21.3% strikeout rate. He’s a right-handed hitter who’s hit right-handed pitchers better than he has lefties throughout his time in the majors.

Miller doesn’t have a great track record in the majors, but he’s posted a respectable .281/.346/.432 line in 1144 trips to the plate as a Triple-A player. He’s also capable of playing all over the infield. Since being selected by the Padres in the third round of the 2018 draft, he’s logged 1839 innings at second base, 1545 innings at shortstop, 1445 innings at first base and 942 innings at third base between the minors and majors. He’s played all three outfield spots as well, albeit more sparingly, and even tossed two innings of mop-up relief for the ’24 Brewers.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top