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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Steve Adams

  • Good afternoon! Sorry for the shorter-than-usual notice and slightly moved-up chat time. My kids are home from daycare today so kind of playing this by ear and hoping to be able to get through a full hour while they're napping, ha. Fingers crossed!
  • As always, feel free to submit questions in advance, but we'll get going around 1:30pm CT.
  • Hello! Let's get underway

Dave

  • Duran to LAD for Sheehan, B Miller and Copen to Red Sox Who says no? Thanks

Steve Adams

  • Assuming that's Jarren -- I think Sheehan is a fine starting point, but Miller's value is about as low as it's ever been, and Copen is a middle-of-the-road prospect with subpar command. I don't think that package moves the needle for Boston when you're talking about three years of Jarren Duran.

Keeping Tabs on Our Rivals

  • What is the benefit of a club option for a player?

Steve Adams

  • There really isn't one, just like there's no value to a team when it's conceding to a player option or opt-out clause. Sometimes you agree to a term or provision that you don't necessarily love just to push the other side up/down to a certain point and to get the deal across the finish line.

Ben Cherrington

  • Do I hold onto Cruz? If I do where do I play him. If I trade him can I get much for him? So much potential, so little actual production

 

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The Reds Could Have Starting Pitching To Trade This Offseason

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Not long ago, the Reds found themselves in possession of what looked to be a borderline surplus of infielders. Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Jonathan India, Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all had varying levels big league experience even before Cincinnati signed Jeimer Candelario to a three-year contract. A wide range of opinions on how to best divide the playing time persisted, but the Reds had the makings of a formidable collection of young bats.

Fast forward a few years, and none of that has really panned out. As MLBTR's Anthony Franco explored last month, that group has turned over a fair bit. Marte now patrols the outfield more than the infield. India is in Kansas City, traded last winter in exchange for right-hander Brady Singer. Candelario was released halfway through what has turned out to be a significant misstep of a signing. Encarnacion-Strand has been beset by injury. Steer has bounced all around the diamond, including in the outfield, but he's settled in more at first base. De La Cruz is entrenched at shortstop. McLain, who's struggled in the wake of 2024 shoulder surgery, remains an ongoing question mark. Top prospect Sal Stewart was recently promoted to the majors for his first look, giving them yet another high-upside infield piece to consider.

Even with that prior glut of infielders, the Reds felt compelled to trade for Ke'Bryan Hayes at this year's deadline and infielder/outfielder Gavin Lux last offseason. The overall offense in Cincinnati has been tepid, at best. The Reds, despite playing in perhaps the most homer-friendly park in the sport, rank 23rd in MLB with 146 home runs. They're 13th in runs scored, 16th in batting average and on-base percentage, and 21st in slugging percentage. The offense is ... fine. It's not a glaring deficiency, but it's also not going to turn any heads.

On the other side of the game, however, the Reds have enjoyed a more significant boom. Cincinnati's pitching staff is virtually teeming with enticing young options. Even with Nick Martinez and deadline pickup Zack Littell slated to become free agents, the Reds are deep in rotation arms. The aforementioned Singer is the priciest of the bunch heading into 2026, as he'll be due a raise on his $8.75MM salary, presumably pushing him past $12MM. The rest of the group is generally affordable, if not making at or very near the league minimum.

It's a fine line to walk, of course, as any "surplus" in baseball can dry out in a hurry, but this version of the Reds seems well positioned to flip some of that pitching talent in exchange for some offensive firepower when the offseason rolls around.

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The Opener: Trout, Senga, Wild Card Chase

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Here are three things to keep an eye on around baseball this weekend…

1. Trout chasing 400:

Mike Trout belted the 399th home run of his illustrious career last night, placing him just one round-tripper shy of becoming the 59th player in MLB history to reach the 400 milestone. Trout, currently in a three-way tie with Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline on the all-time leaderboard, is hitting .235/.368/.426 (119 wRC+) and has already secured the tenth 20-homer season of his career (plus 17 homers during the shortened 2020 season). He’ll square off against Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo and George Kirby this weekend as he looks to add another accolade to what’s already a surefire Cooperstown résumé.

2. Senga on the mound for Syracuse:

The Mets optioned Kodai Senga to Triple-A Syracuse last week upon calling up top prospect Brandon Sproat, hoping to get the former Cy Young runner-up back on track. Senga posted a 6.56 ERA over eight starts after returning from a monthlong IL stint due to a hamstring strain. His season ERA still sits at 3.02, but his mounting struggles at a time when the Mets are fighting for their postseason life became too severe for the team to ignore. Senga will make the first of what’ll be multiple Triple-A starts (barring an injury in the big league rotation) later today when he takes on the Red Sox’ Worcester affiliate in a game slated to begin at 6:35pm ET. Home runs (2.02 HR/9) and walks (12.9%) have been particularly problematic for Senga during this poor stretch, so it’ll be worth keeping a close eye on how the right-hander commands the ball during what the Mets hope will be a swift Triple-A reset.

3. Key Wild Card series abound:

The Mets have lost six in a row, shrinking their Wild Card lead to a mere 1.5 games over both the Giants and Reds. Things won’t get easier for the Mets, as they’ll be tasked with stopping their September swoon in a matchup with old friend Jacob deGrom, who’s pitched to a resurgent 2.78 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate in 155 2/3 innings this year. The Rangers are in Queens for a three-game set that also has major implications in the AL Wild Card hunt as well; Texas sits just two games back of an also-reeling Astros club that is now tied with the Mariners for first place in the AL West.

Elsewhere in the NL Wild Card scramble, the Giants have a tough task keeping their hopes alive, as they’ll host the Dodgers for a three-game set pitting them against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow, each of whom has an ERA south of 3.30 on the season. The Reds, meanwhile, travel to West Sacramento to take on the A’s in a three-game series where they’ll face righties J.T. Ginn, Luis Severino and Luis Morales.

Both the D-backs and Guardians can keep their faint playoff hopes alive with series wins over retooling AL Central clubs; Arizona hosts the Twins for a three-game set, while Cleveland hosts the White Sox. The Diamondbacks have pulled to within three games of the Mets (though they’d also need to leapfrog the Giants and Reds). The Guards are 3.5 games back in the American League. The Cardinals are still within four games of an NL spot, but they’d likely need to sweep the Brewers in Milwaukee this weekend to truly stay afloat.

Anthony Rizzo Retires

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The Cubs have announced that Anthony Rizzo will retire as a Cub and will be honored this Saturday at Wrigley Field as the club hosts the Rays. He will also serve as an ambassador for the organization. Jesse Rogers of ESPN was among those to relay the news.

Rizzo, now 36, was part of a few different organizations in his career but will always be primarily known as a Cub. He spent the bulk of his career, including essentially all of his prime, in Chicago. That stretch saw him emerge as a core piece as the team became a regular contender in the last half of the previous decade. The highlight came in 2016, when the Cubs finally won the World Series, breaking a 108-year drought.

There was talk of a potential dynasty on Chicago’s north side after that year, as that young core of Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras and Jorge Soler was controllable, affordable and formidable. The top of the rotation appeared set for years, with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks all squarely in their primes and signed/controlled long-term. The Cubs indeed were competitive on a yearly basis for the remainder of the decade, but they fell to the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS and haven’t advanced beyond the Wild Card round of postseason play since.

Before that legendary run, Rizzo had to pass through a few other places first. He was drafted by the Red Sox out of high school back in 2007. After a few years in Boston’s minor league system, he was flipped to the Padres as one of the players in the December 2010 deal that sent Adrián González to the Sox.

Rizzo got to make his big league debut with the Friars in 2011 but didn’t hit the ground running. He stepped to the plate 153 times over 49 games but struck out 30.1% of the time and produced a .141/.281/.242 line.

Going into 2012, the Padres decided to go in a different direction. They sent Mat Latos to the Reds for four players, one of whom was Yonder Alonso. With Alonso set to cover first base in San Diego, they then sent Rizzo and right-hander Zach Cates to the Cubs for righty Andrew Cashner and outfielder Kyung-Min Na.

That gambit clearly didn’t pan out for  San Diego. While Cashner had some modest success with the Padres, Alonso never found his power stroke at Petco Park and wound up delivering average offense over parts of four seasons. Yasmani Grandal, also acquired in that swap, struggled in San Diego before being sent to the Dodgers as part of the Matt Kemp trade.

Meanwhile, as all that played out, Rizzo broke out as one of the top first basemen in Major League Baseball. In parts of 10 seasons with the Cubs from 2012-21, Rizzo batted a combined .272/.372/.489 with 242 home runs. He made three All-Star teams, won four Gold Gloves, won a Silver Slugger and garnered MVP votes in five consecutive seasons — including a pair of consecutive fourth-place finishes in 2015-16, when he posted a combined .285/.386/.528 batting line (145 wRC+) and belted 63 home runs (31 in ’15, 32 in ’16). Rizzo struggled in the 2016 NLDS but erupted in both the NLCS and World Series, belting three homers and five doubles with an OPS north of 1.000 between those two series.

As that Cubs core continued to stall out over the years, however, the front office eventually determined there was a need for change. Rizzo, Bryant and Baez were all traded in the summer of 2021 — Baez to the Mets, Bryant to the Giants and Rizzo to the Yankees. Rizzo hit well for the Yankees down the stretch and stepped into a key leadership role, all of which convinced the team to re-sign him to a two-year deal with an option for a third season.

Rizzo went on to spend the final three full seasons of his career in the Bronx, hitting well in 2022 before slipping to about average in 2023 and struggling through injuries in 2024. His time in New York wasn’t nearly as productive, but he logged an overall .234/.326/.409 line as a Yankee and popped 32 home runs in his first full season in pinstripes.

All told, Rizzo’s excellent career will wrap up with a lifetime .261/.361/.467 batting line. He hit 303 home runs in the majors, scored 922 runs, plated 965 runs and even swiped 72 bases. Rizzo is one of just 164 players in major league history to reach 300 career home runs. His 338 doubles rank 352nd all-time, tied with Brady Anderson, Matt Williams, Robin Ventura and the aforementioned Kemp.

Rizzo also tallied 241 postseason plate appearances, and while his .225/.328/.397 line doesn’t stand up to his regular-season excellence, that’s skewed by a brutal showing in the 2015 playoffs. Starting with that NLCS breakout in ’16, Rizzo hit .260/.367/.455 in his final 180 turns at the plate in the playoffs.

Through an early-career extension with the Cubs and a free-agent deal to re-sign with the Yankees in the 2021-22 offseason, Rizzo earned more than $127MM in salary over parts of 14 seasons. FanGraphs valued his career at 35.9 wins above replacement, while Baseball-Reference is even more bullish at 40.4 WAR. Rizzo isn’t likely to be Cooperstown-bound, but he’ll be remembered as a cornerstone piece in an iconic era of Cubs franchise lore and a solid veteran pickup who helped drive some competitive Yankees clubs. Best wishes to Rizzo and his family in whatever the next chapter holds.

Red Sox Promote Connelly Early, Place Dustin May On Injured List

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5:50pm: Early’s promotion is official. May lands on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 6, with elbow neuritis. Boston created the necessary 40-man spot by recalling infielder Vaughn Grissom from Triple-A and placing him on the 60-day injured list. Grissom’s season is over due to plantar fasciitis.

10:46 am: The Red Sox will promote pitching prospect Connelly Early to make his major league debut tonight versus the A’s, as first reported by Foul Territory. Katie Morrison-O’Day of MassLive.com noted earlier in this week that Early, a 2023 fifth-round pick, was scratched from his start at Triple-A Worcester because the Sox wanted him to be ready if the big league club had a need this week. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo wrote yesterday that Early was “very much in play” to make his MLB debut within the next couple of days.

Early isn’t on the 40-man roster, so Boston will need to make corresponding transactions to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters. Righty Dustin May will head to the injured list to open an active roster spot, per Foul Territory and Cotillo.

The 23-year-old Early has thrived in both Double-A and Triple-A this season, combining for 100 1/3 innings with a 2.60 earned run average, a huge 31.9% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate. The 6’3″, 195-pound lefty is sitting 93.4 mph on his four-seamer, complementing the pitch with a deep variety of secondary offerings including a slider, changeup, sinker, cutter and curveball (listed in descending order of usage rate). He’s kept the ball on the ground at a strong 50% clip and has thus far posted an excellent 14.3% swinging-strike between Double-A and Triple-A.

Early entered the season ranked tenth among Boston prospects at Baseball America but has climbed to sixth, even after the draft added several new entrants to the top tiers of every system in the sport. Scouting reports at BA, FanGraphs and MLB.com tout Early’s changeup as a plus offering. There’s a wider range of opinions on his slider, but the general consensus is that it at least has the potential to be an above-average, if not plus offering. The Virginia product will join fellow rookie Payton Tolle as a fairly high-profile September addition who could not only help into and throughout the postseason but could very well be auditioning for a 2026 rotation spot.

Although Early wasn’t on the 40-man roster on Sept. 1, he’ll still be eligible for postseason play. Players only need to be in the organization to have eligibility. The Sox will technically need to petition to have Early added to their postseason roster as an injury replacement, but teams do that every year. Depending on May’s timetable, he could simply be added as a replacement for the same pitcher he’s replacing on the active roster today.

There was at least one scenario where the Red Sox wouldn’t have had Early as an option to call up. When speaking with the Diamondbacks about Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen prior to the trade deadline, Early was of interest to Arizona’s front office, Alex Speier and Tim Healey of the Boston Globe report. The Sox were willing to discuss lefty Brandon Clarke but deemed Early too steep a price to pay in those talks, per the Globe duo. Kelly went to the Rangers for a package of three pitching prospects. Gallen stayed in Arizona and will likely receive a qualifying offer.

As for May, it’s not yet clear exactly what type of injury he’s facing. Boston acquired him from the Dodgers at the trade deadline, sending 2024 first-round pick James Tibbs III (whom they’d acquired from the Giants for Rafael Devers) back to Los Angeles in return.

That trade hasn’t gone at all as the Red Sox hoped. May has made six appearances, five of them starts, and pitched to an ugly 5.40 ERA with a lower strikeout rate (19.5%) and higher walk rate (9.8%) than he’d logged in what was already a shaky season with Los Angeles (4.85 ERA). He’s a free agent at season’s end and doesn’t necessarily have a spot on the postseason roster set in stone, so if May needs even three weeks on the injured list, it’s at least feasible that his Red Sox tenure is effectively over. Certainly, both he and the organization will hope he can get back in minimal time and pitch his way into postseason consideration, but time will tell whether that’s plausible.

Astros’ Brandon Walter, John Rooney To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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Astros left-handers Brandon Walter and John Rooney will undergo season-ending elbow surgery this week, the team announced. Houston did not specify the sort of procedure either pitcher will require. Walter landed on the injured list due to elbow inflammation back in late July. Rooney also hit the IL due to inflammation, though his original placement was just a couple weeks ago.

In an additional bit of ominous news, the Astros announced that right-hander Spencer Arrighetti is slated to receive a second opinion on his elbow this week. Arrighetti, like Walter and Rooney, was originally placed on the IL due to inflammation in his elbow. (It’s common for elbow injuries to be originally diagnosed as inflammation and for a more specific diagnosis to become apparent once the swelling/inflammation dies down and a better look at the joint’s structural integrity is available.) A second opinion will conjure up fears of a worst-case scenario, though Houston has not yet suggested that surgery is on the table.

Walter’s injury is particularly deflating. The left-hander missed all of the 2024 season due to a strained rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He wound up being cut loose by the Red Sox, signing with the Astros on a minor league deal, and emerging as a key member of the 2025 staff.

In nine starts, the 29-year-old Walter pitched 53 2/3 innings and logged a 3.35 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and immaculate 1.9% walk rate. That breakout performance, even if truncated by this elbow injury, proved pivotal at a time when the Astros were reeling from injuries to Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Arrighetti (who, at that point, was still on the mend from a fractured thumb rather than his current elbow concern).

Rooney, 28, made his big league debut with Houston last month. He tossed 1 1/3 innings, allowed a run, and seemingly suffered an elbow injury in the middle of that debut effort. It’s unfortunate for any player to incur an injury, though if there’s a silver lining it’s that Rooney will pick up major league service time and pay for the final four-plus weeks of the season, dating back to his Aug. 24 promotion. Had he not sustained the injury, he might’ve been optioned back to Triple-A Sugar Land at any point.

That’s probably not much consolation to Rooney, a former Dodgers third-rounder who grinded through the better part of eight professional seasons before finally getting to the majors with his third organization. He’s split the 2025 season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Marlins and Astros, pitching to a combined 2.56 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but a clunky 14.9% walk rate.

As for Arrighetti, it’s a most unwelcome development for a pitcher who hasn’t seemed to catch any luck this year. The 25-year-old’s previously referenced fractured thumb occurred when he was playing catch in the outfield during batting practice early in the season and was struck by a line drive from a teammate. He returned from that injury in early August and made five starts, struggling through the first three before appearing to turn a corner in the fourth. In his final two starts before going back to the IL, he logged 12 innings and held opponents to three runs on seven hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts.

Manager Joe Espada had already conceded that Arrighetti’s injury might cost him the remainder of the season. Word of a second opinion from an external source only serves to increase that likelihood.

In the meantime, the Astros will turn to righty J.P. France to help deepen the staff. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that France is with the club in Toronto and is expected to pitch out of the bullpen. The 30-year-old France had shoulder surgery last summer and missed much of the current season rehabbing. He’s been pitching as a multi-inning reliever in Triple-A recently, though his last outing was a start: five innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers’ top affiliate.

France has an unsightly 6.59 ERA in 27 1/3 innings of Triple-A work overall this season, but he’s pitched better of late, including a pair of five-inning appearances with one combined run in his past four trips to the mound. He’ll give Espada some length at a time when Houston has eight pitchers on the big league injured list.

Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On Injured List

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3:15pm: There’s no immediate timetable for Bichette’s return. Manager John Schneider tells the Jays beat that Bichette, who first felt discomfort in his shin and knee on Sunday, will rest for the remainder of the week and be reevaluated early next week (link via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet).

2:07pm: The Blue Jays announced Tuesday that shortstop Bo Bichette is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a left knee sprain. The IL placement is retroactive to Sept. 7. Bichette will be eligible to return in eight days, though the team hasn’t provided any sort of timetable just yet. Outfielder Joey Loperfido has been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to take Bichette’s spot on the active roster.

Losing the 27-year-old Bichette for any period of time is a potential gut-punch to the first-place Jays, who hold a two-game lead over the Yankees and a three-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East. Bichette has not only bounced back from last year’s injury-ruined season — he’s enjoyed one of the most productive seasons of his career. In 628 plate appearances, he’s slashing .311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs, 44 doubles, a triple, a 6.4% walk rate (well shy of league average but one of his best marks) and a tiny 14.6% strikeout rate.

Bichette has been particularly hot over the past two months, posting a ridiculous .380/.431/.580 batting line (182 wRC+) with six homers, 23 doubles, an 8% walk rate and an 11.6% strikeout rate in a span of 225 plate appearances.

With Bichette sidelined for at least the next eight games, Ernie Clement and/or Isiah Kiner-Falefa will likely step up and fill the void at shortstop. Clement gets the first shortstop nod tonight, and while he can’t match Bichette’s offense, he’s a superior defender at the position. That’ll free up Addison Barger to play third base more, while Loperfido joins Kiner-Falefa, Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho, George Springer, Davis Schneider and Myles Straw among the team’s outfield options. It’ll be Loperfido, Varsho and Lukes tonight (left field to right field, respectively). Springer is hitting leadof in the designated hitter slot.

Beyond the immediate roster and postseason ramifications, the injury is particularly ill-timed for Bichette from a personal standpoint. He’d surely say this talk takes a backseat to team needs and postseason hopes, but Bichette is a free agent at season’s end. His bounceback effort has positioned him as one of the top free agents on the upcoming market. If he’s able to return following a relatively brief stay, this isn’t likely to have any real impact on his earning power at all. But if Bichette requires a notable absence or struggles in his return while dealing with lingering effects from the injury, his health will be a far more prominent question when looking at his free agent market this winter.

Mets Activate Jose Siri, Designate Wander Suero

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The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve reinstated outfielder Jose Siri from the 60-day injured list. Reliever Wander Suero was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot, and outfielder Jared Young has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets also announced that righty Justin Garza, whom they’d previously designated for assignment, cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Syracuse.

Siri, 30, appeared in just 10 games with the Mets before suffering a fractured tibia that wound up sidelining him close to five months. New York acquired him from the Rays in an offseason deal sending reliever Eric Orze back to Tampa Bay.

Though Siri strikes out far too often (career 35.8%) and posts poor batting averages and on-base percentages as a result, he’s an elite runner and defender with considerably above-average power. Last year, Statcast pegged Siri’s sprint speed (99th), outfield range (99th) and outfield arm strength (97th) in at least the 97th percentile of MLB players. He popped 43 home runs and stole 26 bags in just 812 plate appearances with the Rays from 2023-24 but did so with a grim .203/.260/.424 batting line overall (91 wRC+).

The Mets placed Tyrone Taylor on the injured list a couple weeks ago and are already expecting to be without Jesse Winker for the balance of the regular season. Siri steps back into an outfield mix that includes Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto in the corners, with deadline pickup Cedric Mullins in center field. Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil and Luisangel Acuña are all options on the grass as well.

Siri’s right-handed bat is a natural complement for the lefty-swinging Mullins in center field — or so it would seem. However, Siri’s career .194/.251/.378 slash against lefties is markedly worse than his career .211/.269/.411 batting line in right-on-right situations. Neither is a strong mark, however, and Mullins is a better hitter in left-on-left situations than Siri is in right-on-left situations — historically speaking, anyhow. For now, Siri seems like he’ll operate as a fourth outfielder and late-game option off the bench, be that in a pinch-running, defensive upgrade or pinch-hitting scenario.

As for the 33-year-old Suero, he was only just claimed off waivers five days ago and only reported to the team four days ago. He didn’t appear in a game during his brief time with the Mets. His only big league work in 2025 has come with the Braves, for whom he yielded eight runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Ugly Atlanta stint aside, Suero was a frequently used bullpen arm for the Nationals from 2018-20, when he pitched 142 2/3 innings of 4.10 ERA ball. He picked up a save and 27 holds along the way. Suero’s production has taken a nosedive since; he’s pitched in each of the past four MLB seasons but has a 7.11 ERA in 57 innings thanks to an alarming susceptibility to home runs. After yielding just 0.63 homers per nine frames in his first three MLB seasons, Suero has surrendered an average of 2.53 big flies per nine innings since 2021.

To his credit, Suero has been outstanding in Triple-A this season. He’s pitched 46 2/3 innings with the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett and recorded a 1.35 ERA with a dozen saves, a 31.2% strikeout rate and a 6.9% walk rate. Now that he’s been designated for assignment, he’ll head to outright waivers and again be made available to all 29 other clubs.

Rays Claim Caleb Boushley

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The Rays have claimed right-hander Caleb Boushley off waivers from the Rangers, per a team announcement. Fellow righty Brian Van Belle was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to make roster space.

Boushley, 32 next month, has pitched a career-high 43 1/3 innings with Texas in 2025 but has been tagged for an unsightly 6.02 earned run average in that time. However, he’s posted respectable strikeout and walk rates of 21.2% and 7.3% in that time, and he’s done a nice job keeping the ball in the park (1.04 HR/9). Boushley has been plagued by a sky-high .374 average on balls in play, which has surely contributed to his struggles in terms of stranding baserunners (just 58.7%).

Tampa Bay has placed two relievers — Van Belle and Mason Englert — on the injured list within the past five days. Boushley adds a fresh arm to the bunch, bringing those decent rate stats and the ability to be optioned to his new organization. He’ll give the club some flexible depth that is stretched out enough to throw multiple innings, if need be. Boushley has just one outing greater than an inning so far this month, but he tossed three innings of long relief with the Rangers as recently as Aug. 20.

Boushley didn’t make his big league debut until he was already 29 years old (with the Brewers in 2023). As such, despite being on the cusp of his 32nd birthday, he can be controlled for a full six seasons. Given his minimal track record, it’s unlikely that’s a prominent consideration right now, but if he impresses the Rays enough to stick on the 40-man roster this winter (or to re-sign as a minor league free agent in the event that he is cut loose), it could become part of the thinking in 2026.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

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Steve Adams

  • Good morning! We’ll get going at 1pm CT, but as always, feel free to send in questions ahead of time.
  • Happy Tuesday all — let’s get rolling

Bo Bichette

  • The Blue Jays cant really sign me if my price tag reaches $250-300 million right?  I mean you can barely call me a shortstop.  Any predictions?

Steve Adams

  • I don’t think anyone is going to sign Bichette at that price point. I suppose it’s always possible someone loses their mind and goes to Xander Bogaerts levels, but Bogaerts is the only prominently paid infield free agent who hit the market as a shortstop but with clear long-term doubts about his viability at the position. I have Bichette around $200MM flat, give or take $10-15MM either way, depending on market context, how he finishes, hits in the postseason, etc.I do think the Jays can afford to sign him long-term.

87 champs

  • Why are the Twins collecting left-handed hitting outfielders, including their top prospects?  Are Larnach and Walbeck gone during the off season?

Steve Adams

  • I’d be surprised if Larnach is back next year. They’ve had him for in the majors for parts of five seasons now, and he just kind of is what he is … defensively limited, big power, can’t hit lefties, good-not-great against righties.I don’t really understand why they acquired James Outman, particularly since he’s out of options next year, but I suppose he’ll be a fourth OF in 2026 with Buxton and two of Wallner/Jenkins/Rodriguez rounding things out (pending any offseason additions via trade or free agency — the former seemingly likelier than the latter)

PhilsPhansince1965

  • Low and high projections for a Ranger Suarez deal this winter?

Read more

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