Cubs Option Ben Brown
The Cubs announced Tuesday that they’ve optioned righty Ben Brown to Triple-A Iowa. Reliever Porter Hodge was reinstated from the injured list in a corresponding move. Brown’s demotion opens a spot in the rotation for lefty Shota Imanaga, who is set to return to start Thursday’s game for Chicago.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the 25-year-old Brown, who has at times looked the part of a potential long-term member of the Cubs’ rotation. More often than not — and especially recently — he’s struggled to work deep into games, however. Brown is sitting on a 6.13 ERA at this point, a number that’s been inflated over the past five weeks. In Brown’s past seven starts, he’s had individual outings wherein he’s yielded six runs (twice) and eight runs (twice). It’s derailed a decent start to the season for the promising young righty and has at least for now cost him his spot on the big league roster.
Imanaga’s return will bolster what’s been a reeling Cubs staff. They’ve made no secret about their plans to upgrade the rotation via the trade market. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer publicly said as much just two weeks ago. Even beyond that comment, a need for help was readily apparent. Chicago has lost ace Justin Steele for the season due to elbow surgery. Young righty Javier Assad has yet to pitch this season due to multiple oblique injuries. Colin Rea was excellent upon first moving into the rotation but has struggled over the past month, just as Brown has. Imanaga was sidelined nearly two months with a hamstring injury.
The Cubs’ need for pitching is no secret, but they’re one of just several clubs looking for immediate rotation help — and doing so at a time when there are few clubs around the league willing to engage in genuine trade conversations. Be that as it may, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score said in a radio appearance on 670’s Mully & Haugh this week (audio link) that the Cubs are being extremely aggressive and working on multiple fronts. Levine suggested a deal could come together well ahead of next month’s trade deadline and possibly even within the next week to ten days.
Levine downplayed the possibility of the Cubs acquiring former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who’s slowly turning his season around after an awful start to the year in his return from Tommy John surgery. (Alcantara has a 2.74 ERA and 19-to-5 K/BB ratio in 23 innings across his past four starts.) Rather, he suggests that the Cubs have been looking at some less-obvious trade candidates around the league.
The Marlins themselves have other, less-heralded trade candidates than Alcantara (e.g. Edward Cabrera). The Mets appeared to have some arms available before injuries to Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill thinned their depth. Clubs like the Orioles, Twins and D-backs could ultimately end up with starters on the market, but none of them seem ready to move in a sell direction with five-plus weeks before the deadline. The Rays can never be discounted as a possible trade partner at any juncture, and they’re again rich in pitching (at a time when Joe Boyle and Ian Seymour are thriving in Triple-A). Zack Littell is almost certain to be available as a rental, but an aggressive team could try to make a more substantial offer for someone like Drew Rasmussen.
Those are all speculative possibilities, of course. The Cubs have kept their rotation search generally close to the vest. With Brown and Rea struggling recently and Matthew Boyd a bit banged up — he exited his most recent start after a rough landing on his shoulder when spearing a J.P. Crawford comeback liner (video link) — the need has become more noticeable. Boyd is on track to start tomorrow’s game for the Cubs, and the team called the issue “minor,” but it’ll still be worth tracking how he gets through tomorrow’s outing.
As for Brown, he’ll head back to Triple-A and look to get back on track. Injuries to any pitching staff are an inevitability, so even if the Cubs wind up adding a starter sooner than later, as Levine suggests, additional opportunities for Brown to start games could present themselves as the summer wears on. This is his second of three option years for the right-hander, so even if he stays down longer than 20 days and formally burns a minor league option, he’ll retain one more option year and remain a flexible piece for the Cubs moving forward. If Brown spends more than two weeks in Triple-A, it’d push his path to free agency back by a year.
Cardinals Claim Garrett Hampson, Designate Jose Barrero For Assignment
The Cardinals announced that they have claimed infielder/outfielder Garrett Hampson off waivers from the Reds. Infielder/outfielder Jose Barrero has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.
Hampson, 30, joins his third team of the season and the sixth of his career. The increasingly well-traveled utilityman has taken 60 plate appearances between the D-backs and Reds but mustered only a .167/.310/.188 batting line in that time.
It’s not an impressive batting line, but Hampson has typically been known more for his speed and defensive versatility than his production in the batter’s box. Statcast pegs him in the 85th percentile of big leaguers in terms of average sprint speed, and Hampson has extensive experience at second base, shortstop and across all three outfield positions (mostly center). He’s also logged 121 big league innings at third base. In parts of eight major league seasons, Hampson is a .238/.301/.357 hitter.
It’s not the most exciting profile, but Hampson is faster and more versatile than Barrero, who has also struggled considerably at the plate in limited time with St. Louis. The former Reds top prospect has appeared in 22 games but tallied only 31 plate appearances, batting just .138/.194/.276. Barrero has played in parts of five major league seasons and batted .182/.238/.257 in 478 turns at the plate between the Reds and Cardinals.
Because he’s out of minor league options, Barrero couldn’t simply be sent down to Triple-A. He’d first need to clear waivers — which may be his ultimate destination now that he’s been designated for assignment. The Cards will have five days to find a trade partner before they have to put Barrero on waivers (a 48-hour process) in order to have his DFA resolved within the one-week maximum. He can, of course, be placed on waivers at any point between now and day five, if the team sees fit.
Barrero has had a big season in Triple-A this year, hitting .299/.396/.517 in 101 plate appearances. He’s a career .247/.324/.475 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons. Barrero has played primarily shortstop in his career but has logged more outfield time in recent years as Cincinnati and St. Louis both looked to expand his versatility.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! I’ll get going at 1pm, but feel free to send in questions sooner than that if you like.
- Greetings!
- Let’s get underway
Oz
- I don’t see any chance that the Braves can overtake 5 clubs currently ahead of them in the standings to qualify for the postseason, especially in view of the injury to Chris Sale. If they decide to be sellers at the trade deadline, who are their most marketable assets?
Steve Adams
- Marcell Ozuna, Aaron Bummer, Pierce Johnson. Raisel Iglesias if he gets right between now and July 31. President Alex Anthopoulos sure doesn’t sound like someone who’s keen on a mass sell-off, so even trading Johnson and Bummer with their affordable options might be deemed a bridge too far, but reliever performance is volatile and teams overpay for bullpen help every deadline.
Nolan Arenado
- Will Yanks, Astros, LAD, or Mets be interested in pursuing me this trade deadline? My defense is still superb, and while I had a down May, my April and June have OPS+’s of over 110
Steve Adams
- Astros won’t go over the CBT. Yankees, Mets and Dodgers would pay a 110% tax on Arenado’s continued offensive decline. He’s just not worth his current contract — especially not for a top luxury offender — and he has the full no-trade to boot.
- He’s not even an upgrade in L.A. over Muncy (raking since late April) or Paredes (great all year). Suppose you could play Paredes at 2B, but again, owner Jim Crane doesn’t want to cross the CBT line
Artie moreno
- Will we see Kyren Paris again this year. What does he need to do
Steve Adams
-
- Paris had a crazy start to the season but had terrible contact rates even when he was hot. It never felt sustainable. His contact rate since being sent to AAA is better than it was in the majors with the Angels but also worse than it was in AAA last year. I just don’t think he has the hit tool to be a big league regular, even though the power/speed combo is obviously tantalizing
A’s Release Dylan Floro
The A’s have released veteran right-handed reliever Dylan Floro, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been pitching with the Athletics’ Triple-A club in Las Vegas but is now back on the open market.
Floro, 34, has an ugly-looking 7.04 ERA in 15 1/3 innings with the top A’s affiliate, but that number is skewed by one nightmare outing where the Dodgers’ Triple-A club pummeled him for five runs without recording an out. That outing accounts for 42% of his runs allowed in 16 appearances. Floro’s 17.1% strikeout rate in Triple-A is clearly well below-average, but he’s still showing good command (7.1% walk rate).
There are red flags beyond the one poor outing. Floro’s 88.2 mph average fastball velocity is down from last year’s 89.4 mph mark and down considerably from the 92.4 mph he averaged in 2022-23. He’s also made a career out of inducing weak contact but has yielded a blazing 94.7 mph average exit velocity and surrendered a 60.4% hard-hit rate. Those are both alarming trends for the well-traveled righty.
Concerning as those numbers are, Floro has a nice track record in the majors, with a 3.49 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate, 50.6% grounder rate, 32 saves and 53 holds in parts of nine MLB seasons. He posted a 3.80 ERA with a 17.2% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate in a combined 68 2/3 big league frames between the Nationals and D-backs last year, although his 2024 campaign was a tale of two seasons; Floro posted a 2.06 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with the Nats before being clobbered for a 9.37 ERA in 16 1/3 innings with Arizona.
White Sox Outright Caleb Freeman
White Sox right-hander Caleb Freeman went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Charlotte, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. He doesn’t have either the three years of big league service time or the prior outright assignment needed to reject this assignment in favor of free agency, so Freeman will remain with the organization as a depth arm.
The 27-year-old Freeman made his big league debut with the South Siders this season, tossing 3 1/3 innings over the course of five appearances. He allowed a pair of runs on five hits (one homer) and a walk with three strikeouts. The Sox’ 15th-round pick in 2019, Freeman has pitched to a 2.93 ERA in a combined 27 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season — but has done so with an alarming 17.1% walk rate.
Command has been an issue for Freeman throughout his minor league tenure, but he’s also fanned 27% of his opponents in parts of six professional seasons. Freeman sits 95 mph with heater and pairs the pitch with an 82-83 mph curveball and a slider that sits 87-88 mph. It’s possible he’ll get another look with the Sox later this summer, particularly if the Sox wind up trading some of the more veteran members of their bullpen ahead of next month’s deadline.
Cubs Select Michael Fulmer
The Cubs announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Michael Fulmer. Fellow right-hander Nate Pearson has been optioned to Triple-A Iowa as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full.
Fulmer pitched briefly with the Red Sox earlier this year but was cut loose after yielding three runs in just 2 2/3 innings. That marked the end of what was a relatively long match between the two parties. The 2016 American League Rookie of the Year (as a starter with the Tigers) had signed a two-year minor league contract with Boston and spent the entire 2024 season and early 2025 season rehabbing with Boston’s staff. He signed with the Cubs on a minor league pact in late April.
That looks to have been a potentially nice pickup for the Cubs, who are no stranger to Fulmer after he spent the 2023 season in Chicago’s bullpen. So far in his second stint with the Cubs, Fulmer has pitched 24 1/3 Triple-A frames with a tidy 2.96 ERA. He’s fanned a gaudy 32% of his opponents but also issued walks at an inflated 11% clip. Fulmer’s heater isn’t close to the 95.5 mph it averaged at peak, but he saw a modest bump from 92.4 mph during his time with the Red Sox to 92.9 mph with the Cubs’ affiliate in Iowa.
As tends to be the case, the Cubs are patching their bullpen together on the fly this year. Porter Hodge, who had a nice rookie showing in 2024, has missed more than a month due to an oblique strain. Ryan Pressly, the Cubs’ primary offseason acquisition in the bullpen, was shaky early before being absolute torpedoed for eight earned runs without recording an out in a May 6 drubbing at the hands of the Giants. He’s still working to recover from that damage, but Pressly rattled off 15 straight scoreless innings with a 14-to-3 K/BB ratio thereafter. He served up two earned runs in his most recent appearance — his first runs allowed since that calamitous Giants appearance.
The rest of the bullpen consists of journeymen and reclamation projects. Chicago currently has Drew Pomeranz, Chris Flexen, Brad Keller, Ryan Brasier and Caleb Thielbar in the bullpen — all 30-something veterans on one-year deals. (Keller will turn 30 next month.) The lone exception is young Daniel Palencia, who’s been handling save situations recently and looks to be handling the job well. He’s picked up seven saves while posting a 1.93 ERA in 28 frames this year. That includes a 1.46 ERA and 14-to-3 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 innings since being moved into the ninth inning.
Fulmer will join that cast of 30-something veterans and hope he can find similar success to Keller, Pomeranz, Thielbar, Flexen and Brasier — all of whom improbably sport ERAs of 2.20 or better.
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat, Today At 2pm CT
Steve Adams
- Happy Monday! We'll get going in about 90 minutes, but feel free to send in questions ahead of time.
- Hello! Let's get underway
Rafael Devers
- (Sorry for the old news but it’s still hot for a lot of us.). Is my contract “under water”? Some reports say yes, the market (I.e., the Giants) apparently say no. Great hitter but not much more. Is there surplus value in the contract or not?
Steve Adams
- I wouldn't say it's underwater. Devers is an elite hitter, top-10 in the sport, who won't turn 29 until October. We just saw Guerrero get a $500MM contract and Soto $765MM. Devers is owed $238.5MM beyond this season, starting with his age-29 campaign. That's older than Soto and Vlad were when they signed their contracts, of course, but if you asked me whether Devers would clear $238.5MM as a free agent this winter, I'd say he would, yes. Maybe not by leaps and bounds, as many teams would view him as a DH, but yeah, I think he'd get more than that in the open market still.
Knock-Knock
- Are there ever thoughts about changing All Star Voting? I think the starters should be based on stat leaders at each position and then reserves should be who the fans vote for. Too many homers vote for their favorites when clearly, they aren’t the best. This year is better than past years (so far) but not totally true to who is playing the best at each spot.
Steve Adams
- I doubt there will be, but yeah, I said last week in a chat that I don't really care about the All-Star Game whatsoever, in part because I find the voting process so stupid in the internet/social media era. It's always been more popularity contest than anything else, but it's just so exacerbated now.It'd be more appropriately labeled the "Fans' Choice" game or "Fan Selection" game, but in general, I don't find much excitement in it. I'll watch it if I have nothing else going on that night, but I find the All-Star Game less exciting than just tuning into a random Pirates/Reds game to watch Skenes vs. Greene or something.But it's also probably not aimed at the hardcore fan or a baseball sicko like me who consumes as much baseball content as I do. So maybe I'm just jaded and grumpy, haha.
What about Ann?
- Tyler Fitzgerald a fit for Braves 2b?
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Twins Claim Connor Gillispie
The Twins have claimed right-hander Connor Gillispie off waivers from the Marlins, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He’s been optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Miami had designated Gillispie for assignment last week.
Gillispie, 27, was an offseason waiver claim by the Marlins (from the Braves, who’d signed him to a big league deal) back in January. He parlayed a strong spring showing into a spot in Miami’s rotation to open the season. He made six starts, the first three of which went fairly well (3.86 ERA in 14 innings), before being pummeled for 19 runs over his next dozen innings. The Marlins optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville at that point, and he hasn’t pitched in the majors since, leaving Gillispie with a bleak 8.65 ERA in 26 MLB frames this season.
Things have gone better in the minors. Gillispie has pitched 33 2/3 innings with a 4.28 ERA. His 15.7% strikeout rate is a well shy of league average average, however, and his 11.4% walk rate is quite high. The right-hander’s average 90.9 mph average fastball this year is down from the 91.5 mph he posted last year with the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate.
That 2024 season in Cleveland’s system was solid. Gillispie pitched 113 1/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, a 25% strikeout rate and a 10.1% walk rate. That led to a brief big league debut with the Guardians, wherein Gillispie tossed eight innings of relief and held opponents to two runs with an 8-to-5 K/BB ratio.
Gillispie is in the second of three minor league option years. He’ll give the Twins some depth either at the back end of the rotation or as a long reliever for a reeling pitching staff. The Twins were among the league leaders in most pitching categories for the better part of six weeks before injuries to Pablo Lopez and Zebby Matthews thinned their rotation.
The Twins have since endured a series of short starts, even from some of their more established arms, that has led to a heavily worked bullpen and prompted them to lean heavily on waiver claim Joey Wentz and utilityman Jonah Bride for mop-up work in several blowout games. Minnesota has dropped nine of its past ten games, falling below .500 and sliding considerably down the playoff standings in the American League.
Mets To Sign Richard Lovelady
The Mets and free-agent lefty Richard Lovelady are in agreement on a big league contract, reports Robert Murray of Fansided. He opted out of a minor league deal with the Twins last week.
Lovelady has pitched in parts of six different major league seasons, working 101 innings between the Royals, A’s, Cubs, Rays and Blue Jays. He’s posted an ugly 5.26 earned run average in that time despite generally solid rate stats. He’s punched out 21.2% of his opponents, issued walks at an 8.7% clip and kept 50.2% of batted balls against him on the ground.
The 29-year-old hasn’t been plagued by home runs (1.07 HR/9) or an outlandish average on balls in play (.301). However, Lovelady has struggled a fair bit to prevent the runners he does yield from crossing home plate; Lovelady’s 65% strand rate is about seven percentage points worse than average and goes a long way toward explaining the gap between his 5.26 ERA and fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.32) and SIERA (4.05).
With the Twins, Lovelady was in the midst of a strong run in Triple-A. He’d pitched 20 2/3 innings for their St. Paul affiliate, logging a pristine 1.31 ERA with a 26.5% strikeout rate, an 8.4% walk rate and a 60.4% grounder rate. He’s not a hard-thrower, sitting just 91.7 mph with his average heater, but Lovelady sports a career 2.67 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.
These types of additions often result in short stays with the big league club, but if Lovelady gets out to a nice start and solidifies a place in the Mets’ relief corps, he can be retained via arbitration this winter and controlled for an additional three seasons. The Mets have lost southpaws A.J. Minter and Danny Young to season-ending surgeries. At the moment, DFA pickup José Castillo is the lone southpaw in their bullpen. Lovelady will join him and hope for an extended opportunity not dissimilar to the one that Young parlayed into a more solid spot in Carlos Mendoza’s bullpen. However, Lovelady is out of minor league options, which could work against him in that regard.
Brown: Astros Exploring Market For Left-Handed Bats
Even as the Astros have lost 60% of their rotation to the injured list, they not only remain in contention — they hold a relatively commanding five-game lead over the second-place Mariners in the American League West. It’s shaping up to be another deadline focused on adding talent, and general manager Dana Brown candidly indicated yesterday in a radio appearance on SportsTalk 790 AM that he hopes to add a left-handed bat prior to the July 31 trade deadline (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Brown acknowledged that there are other items on his wishlist but called a left-handed bat the “big issue.”
It’s stating the obvious, in many ways. With Yordan Alvarez out indefinitely due to a small fracture in his hand — an injury originally announced as inflammation — the only left-handed bat in the Astros’ lineup is switch-hitting catcher Victor Caratini. Backup catcher César Salazar, utility infielder Luis Guillorme and switch-hitting catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel are all on the bench as left-handed options. Just minutes before this was published, the ‘Stros also reinstated outfielder Taylor Trammell from the injured list and optioned infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb, giving them another lefty bat off the bench.
Brown didn’t list a specific position at which he hopes to add a left-handed hitter. The Astros’ least-productive spots on the diamond, by measure of wRC+, have been first base, second base, left field and designated hitter. First base is being manned by Christian Walker after he signed a three-year, $60MM contract in the offseason. He’s not likely to lose his job anytime soon. The struggles at the other three positions are all intertwined.
Jose Altuve has taken up the lion’s share of playing time in left field this year and has graded as one of the game’s worst defenders there. Defensive Runs Saved has him last in the majors among left fielders. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has him “only” tied for fifth-worst, but many of the people surrounding him have played more innings. On a rate basis, he’s close to the bottom. Those struggles aren’t exactly surprising; Altuve is learning left field on the fly at 35 years of age — but the reason he’s doing so is because his glovework at second base had deteriorated so much. He’s also graded poorly at second in limited time this season. Altuve could, in theory, be moved to designated hitter — but Alvarez will return at some point. Houston could up Alvarez’s time in left field, but he’s not a great defender himself and the Astros have limited his reps in the outfield due to a history of knee troubles.
There’s not necessarily one clean spot where Houston can acquire a left-handed bat and plug said hitter into the lineup on an everyday basis at that singular position. That’s just emblematic of how teams operate these days, though. Most clubs rotate players through multiple positions as opposed to the bygone era of set starting players at every position on the diamond. There are a few players who’ll be regularly penciled into the same spot regardless of matchup on every team, of course, but not entire lineups constructed in that manner.
Broadly speaking, it might behoove the Astros to target a left-handed bat who can play both the infield and the outfield. That could mean less playing time for Altuve, Walker, utilityman Mauricio Dubon and right fielder Cam Smith, but no one from that group would see his at-bats erode entirely.
It’s still too early for many clubs around the league to make determinations on buying and selling, but someone like switch-hitting utilityman Willi Castro would be a nice fit in Houston if the Twins can’t escape their recent tailspin and wind up selling some rental players. The Rays are typically willing to engage on their more expensive veteran players, regardless of contention status, and they’re nearing the end of their commitment to Brandon Lowe (signed through 2025 with an $11.5MM club option for 2026). The Cardinals are too close to playoff contention right now to consider it, but Brendan Donovan is the type of player who could benefit the Astros. Those, to be clear, are speculative suggestions but are the sorts of players whose skill sets would gel with the Astros’ roster as currently constructed.
Any talk of Houston adding to the roster should be accompanied by a payroll caveat. Astros owner Jim Crane is reportedly loath to exceed the luxury tax for a second straight season. He’s publicly suggested that he’d do so in the right scenario — an Alex Bregman this past offseason appeared to be such a case, for instance — but the team’s actual actions and reporting from the Houston beat all strongly suggest staying under the $241MM tax threshold is a priority. The Astros, knowing a Kyle Tucker extension would stretch well beyond Crane’s comfort levels, traded him to the Cubs this past offseason. They also dumped a good portion of Ryan Pressly‘s contract in separate swap with the Cubs later in the winter — a move that dipped them back under the tax threshold.
An April trade with the Braves in which Houston surprisingly found a taker for $3MM of the remaining commitment to Rafael Montero could prove pivotal this summer. The Astros had been about $2.5MM shy of the tax threshold at that point. RosterResource now estimates them to be about $5.5MM away, giving Brown a good bit of additional leeway as he seeks to add some left-handed balance to his lineup.