Phillies Acquire Nolan Hoffman From Rangers
The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired righty Nolan Hoffman from the Rangers in exchange for cash. Hoffman was not on the 40-man roster with Texas but has been selected to Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He won’t immediately join the Phillies’ bullpen, but the instant addition to the 40-man clearly puts him in position to potentially make his major league debut in the near future.
Hoffman, 27, was originally a fifth-round pick by the 2018 Mariners and landed with the Orioles by way of the minor league phase of the 2021 Rule 5 Draft. He became a minor league free agent following the 2024 season, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and is now on the doorstep of a big league opportunity in Philadelphia.
The submarining Hoffman brings an uncommon arm slot to the Phillies’ bullpen mix, but he’s had a rough stretch with the Rangers’ Triple-A club in 2025. He’s punched out 29% of his opponents in 35 innings, but Hoffman also has a bloated 13.2% walk rate that has contributed to an ugly 5.91 earned run average. He’s been plagued by a .321 average on balls in play despite awful batted-ball metrics from his opponents — 85.7 mph average exit velocity, 28.2% hard-hit rate — as well as a 66.8% strand rate that’s well shy of his typical levels.
Prior to this season, Hoffman enjoyed nice stretches in Double-A and Triple-A with the O’s organization. His 2023 campaign saw the righty take advantage of his deceptive arm slot in the form of a 3.05 ERA over 44 1/3 innings between Baltimore’s top two minor league affiliates. He followed that with a 3.88 ERA and what was then a career-best 28.2% strikeout rate in 58 Triple-A frames in 2024.
Hoffman has regularly generated grounders at huge rates, though this year’s 44.6% mark is only a couple percentage points north of the MLB average. That’s perhaps in part due to some tweaks made by the Rangers’ development staff. He’s still throwing his sinker more than half the time, and Hoffman has even upped the average velocity on that pitch from 91.9 to 93.3 mph. He’s also begun to incorporate a new (but still seldom-used) cutter and scaled back his usage of his curveball and changeup. Obviously, Hoffman isn’t going to step in and cure all the Phillies’ bullpen woes, but he gives them another option to evaluate in the weeks leading up to a trade deadline that figures to see Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski again focus heavily on upgrading his relief corps.
D-backs To Sign Anthony Gose
The Diamondbacks have agreed to a deal with lefty reliever Anthony Gose, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Gose has spent the season thus far with the Mets organization, but the MiLB transaction log reflects that he was quietly released yesterday. Whether that was an opt-out clause, an upward mobility clause or a straight release remains to be seen, but Gose is headed to a new organization. If it’s a big league deal, the Diamondbacks will need to make a corresponding move, as their 40-man roster is currently at capacity. The team has not yet formally announced the signing.
Gose, 34, began his career as an outfielder back in 2008, when the Phillies selected him in the second round of the draft. He quickly became one of the game’s top prospects and wound up seeing action in parts of five major league seasons as an outfielder — all between the Blue Jays and Tigers. Gose’s career looked to have stalled out, but the former two-way star in high school reinvented himself as a relief pitcher back in 2017-19 and has now pitched in parts of three MLB seasons — all with Cleveland.
Gose made his major league debut as a full-time pitcher in 2021 and has now pitched 32 MLB frames with a 4.78 ERA, a 29.7% strikeout rate and a 12.3% walk rate. Injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, have limited his time on the mound and impacted him when healthy. He’s also missed time with a triceps strain, a calf strain and shoulder soreness since moving to the mound.
Between those injuries and the fact that he’s now approaching his 35th birthday, perhaps it shouldn’t be all that surprising that Gose’s heater has lost some life. When he first moved to the mound, he was brandishing a blazing four-seamer that averaged better than 99 mph and reached triple digits at times. He sat 95.7 mph in both Triple-A and the big leagues last year, and he’s dipped further to an average of 94.6 mph in 2025.
Gose has pitched 23 innings with the Mets’ affiliate in Syracuse and logged a 4.30 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 13.7% walk rate and 30.6% ground-ball rate. He started the season pitching quite well, yielding a 3.31 ERA through his first 16 1/3 innings, but he’s been hit hard over the past few weeks; dating back to May 17, Gose pitched in six games and was rocked for seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.
The D-backs are starved for arms, having recently lost Justin Martinez to Tommy John surgery, Christian Montes De Oca to back surgery and Kendall Graveman to a hip injury. Lefty A.J. Puk has been out since early April due to elbow troubles. Over in the rotation, Corbin Burnes recently suffered a UCL tear that necessitated Tommy John surgery as well. The D-backs have added righties Anthony DeSclafani and Tayler Scott in recent weeks, and Gose will now add another left-handed option to the depth chart.
Mariners Claim Jacob Hurtubise
The Mariners announced that they have claimed outfielder Jacob Hurtubise off waivers from the Reds. The latter club designated him for assignment a few days ago. The M’s already had a 40-man vacancy. They announced that Hurtubise will report to Triple-A Tacoma, so no corresponding active roster move will be required.
Hurtubise, 27, has seen brief big league work in each of the past two seasons with Cincinnati. He’s totaled 83 major league plate appearances and batted .167/.291/.212 in that tiny sample. He’s been far better in Triple-A, where his speed, plate discipline and hit-over-power approach have been evident in parts of three seasons. Hurtubise has amassed 502 plate appearances with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in Louisville, slashing .270/.416/.337 with just three homers but a 30-for-34 showing in stolen base attempts.
That excellent speed has allowed Hurtubise to capably slot into all three outfield positions, despite lacking the prototypical arm strength needed to play right field. He’s a rangy, versatile defender who recorded a 45-steal season in the minors as recently as 2023. Hurtubise is in the second of three minor league option years.
The Mariners actually drafted Hurtubise in the 39th round back in 2019, but he opted to return to school and instead headed back to West Point for his senior year. As Baseball America points out in their scouting report on him, a rule change in 2020 allowed athletes at military academies to delay their service until after their playing careers had been completed. He signed with the Reds as an undrafted free agent — the 2020 draft was shortened to only five rounds — and has now, in rather circuitous fashion, landed with the first team that originally tried to draft him.
Seattle’s outfield depth has been stretched thin by injuries to Victor Robles and Luke Raley. Hurtubise is the latest in a growing line of outfield alternatives the M’s have explored since those injuries. Dominic Canzone is currently getting a look, but the Mariners have also tried Leody Taveras, Rhylan Thomas, Miles Mastrobuoni and others as they look to hold things down until either Raley/Robles can return or until additional reinforcements can be acquired (likely closer to the trade deadline).
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Astros Notes: Melton, Rotation, McCullers
The Astros placed top prospect and rookie outfielder Jacob Melton on the 10-day injured list due to a right ankle sprain over the weekend, but he’ll apparently be out a fair bit longer than the 10-day minimum. General manager Dana Brown has said since Melton’s IL placement that he expects the 24-year-old to require around four weeks to recover from the sprain (link via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). That could keep Melton out through the All-Star break.
Houston’s second-round pick in 2022, Melton has appeared in 11 big league games so far and batted .241/.290/.310 with a strikeout rate just under 39%. It’s not a good start to what the Astros hope will be a lengthy big league career, but it’s hardly uncommon to see even well-regarded prospects struggle like this in their first exposure to major league pitching. Melton missed some time with a back injury early in the season but played in 17 Triple-A games prior to his promotion, hitting .254/.371/.508 with a huge 15.5% walk rate against a 21.1% strikeout rate (11 walks, 15 punchouts in 71 plate appearances).
With Melton now joining Zach Dezenzo and Yordan Alvarez on the injured list, Houston’s outfield depth is again being tested. The ‘Stros have Jose Altuve in left, Jake Meyers in center and Cam Smith in right. Altuve has hit well but struggled with the defensive transition from second base to left field, logging ugly grades from metrics like Outs Above Average (-3) and Defensive Runs Saved (-8). Smith has held his own, producing league-average offense overall (despite a recent slump) and taking nicely to his own move from the infield to the outfield (4 OAA, 9 DRS). Meyers, always a quality defender, is once again playing well in center field while also enjoying a career year at the plate.
So long as that trio holds up, the Astros should be able to weather the injury storm, but the depth options at this point are thin. Cooper Hummel is back in the big leagues in a reserve capacity. Pedro León, Chas McCormick and Taylor Trammell are all on the injured list at the moment. Trammell is currently on a rehab stint in Triple-A and could soon be an option, but León was pulled from his own rehab stint earlier this month due to a knee issue. McCormick landed on the IL at the end of May due to an oblique strain and has not yet been cleared to play in rehab games.
Shay Whitcomb and Kenedy Corona are the only two position players in the minors who are on Houston’s 40-man roster. Both can play in the outfield, but Whitcomb has spent more time in the infield this season and Corona isn’t hitting well at all in Triple-A.
The outfield isn’t the only area of Houston’s roster being put to the test, of course. The Astros’ rotation still has its two stars atop the staff, Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez, but the rest of the group isn’t nearly as accomplished. Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski have already undergone Tommy John surgery. Spencer Arrighetti is working back from a broken thumb on his pitching hand. Cristian Javier (2024 Tommy John surgery), Luis Garcia (2023 Tommy John surgery, plus multiple setbacks) and J.P. France (2024 shoulder surgery) are all still months from being factors.
Lance McCullers Jr.‘s return has been a boon. Outside of one awful start, he’s been a steadying presence to held patch things over, but now he’s sidelined by a foot sprain. The Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara writes that manager Joe Espada has expressed hope that McCullers can return after the 15-day minimum, but Kawahara characterized that as nothing more than “initial optimism.” The Astros are notoriously opaque when it comes to health updates on their injured players, so it’s hard to get a clear sense for when McCullers might come back.
In the meantime, rookie Ryan Gusto stepped up with a nice effort yesterday, and (per Kawahara) recently recalled righty Jason Alexander will start today’s game. Alexander is a journeyman waiver claim, but he’s pitched well in Triple-A since the Astros claimed him from the Athletics. If he handles himself well against his former A’s teammates, he could stick around a bit longer, particularly given the lack of healthy depth options. Righty AJ Blubaugh is on the 40-man roster but is sitting on a 7.66 ERA in Triple-A. No other starters are on the Astros’ 40-man in the upper minors; they have several relief arms on the 40-man and could add prospect Miguel Ullola, although his sharp 3.33 ERA in Triple-A belies a more problematic 15.2% walk rate.
The Astros, unsurprisingly, plan to target starting pitching ahead of next month’s trade deadline. For now, they’ll proceed with Valdez, Brown, Gusto, Colton Gordon and Brandon Walter. The latter three are all rookies. Neither Gusto nor Gordon had pitched in the majors prior to 2025. Walter, who’ll turn 29 in September, is a former Red Sox prospect who signed a minor league deal this past offseason and has looked excellent through his first three starts.
A’s Sign Scott McGough To Minor League Deal
The Athletics signed righty Scott McGough to a minor league pact over the weekend. McGough, a Wasserman client, has been assigned to Triple-A for the time being. The team never formally announced the deal, but McGough made his debut with the organization already, tossing a scoreless two-thirds of an inning with Las Vegas. The D-backs outrighted him earlier this month, but he opted for free agency and a change of scenery after two-plus years in the Diamondbacks organization.
McGough, 35, signed a two-year deal with the Snakes back in the 2022-23 offseason. At that time, he carried scant big league experience but had just produced a terrific four-year run in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He posted a grisly 4.73 ERA in his first season with the D-backs but logged a more encouraging 28.6% strikeout rate. His 2024 campaign was worse across the board. McGough was rocked for a 7.44 ERA in 32 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate plummeted to 16.7%, and his walk rate spiked from 10% to 14%. Arizona unsurprisingly declined a 2025 club option they’d held over the veteran reliever, but he eventually returned on a new minor league contract.
McGough pitched well enough in Triple-A to earn another look in the majors this year, but he was roughed up for five runs on in seven innings while tallying more walks than strikeouts. He’ll head to the Athletics’ Triple-A club now and try to build on his strong run in Reno earlier this season, in hopes of getting a look in a fresh big league setting. The A’s are short on experienced relievers; Mason Miller, T.J. McFarland and Sean Newcomb are the only three members of the current bullpen with even two years of major league service time. They looked to bring in another veteran over the winter when signing José Leclerc, but he’s been out since late April due to a lat strain.
In 116 2/3 major league frames, McGough has a 5.86 ERA, but he’s notched a career 4.50 ERA in Triple-A (3.38 since returning from Japan) and a 2.94 mark in NPB. He’s fanned 28.6% of his Triple-A opponents this year, versus a 6.3% walk rate.
Rockies Activate Austin Gomber
TODAY: Colorado officially activated Gomber from the 60-day IL. In corresponding moves, right-hander Zach Agnos was optioned to Triple-A, and Ryan Feltner was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Feltner was initially placed on the injured list on April 29 due to back spasms, and since he wasn’t expected back until late June anyway, the shift to the 60-day IL only formalizes that timeline.
JUNE 12: The Rockies will reinstate lefty Austin Gomber from the 60-day injured list this weekend, reports Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. He’ll start Sunday’s game in Atlanta, where he’ll take on reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale. The Rox announced that Carson Palmquist, who’d been in line to start that game, was optioned to Triple-A today. Righty Anthony Molina was recalled from Triple-A, adding another arm to the ‘pen in the meantime. Colorado will need to make a 40-man roster move to reinstate Gomber prior to Sunday’s start.
Gomber, 31, will make his season debut when he takes the mound Sunday. He’s been out all year due to a left shoulder injury but has looked sharp in four Triple-A rehab starts, tossing a dozen innings with three runs allowed on six hits and five walks. He’s fanned 13 of 48 opponents along the way.
In 2024, Gomber tossed a career-high 165 innings over the course of 30 starts, working to a 4.75 ERA. His 16.7% strikeout rate was well shy of the 22% league average, but his 5.5% walk rate was quite strong. Gomber struggled with home runs, as one would expect for a fly-ball pitcher who’s prone to hard contact and plays his home games at Coors Field; he yielded an average of nearly two homers per nine frames at home and a total of 1.64 HR/9 on the season overall.
It’s a fifth starter’s profile, but the pitching-starved Rockies valued his durability and tendered Gomber a contract that pays him $6.35MM in his final year of club control. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end and, if he can get out to a decent start to his 2025 campaign, could end up as a trade chip for the Rox ahead of next month’s deadline as well. Colorado traditionally tends to avoid trading away too many veterans even in non-contending seasons, but at 12-55 with a -202 run differential, there are no delusions of a second-half run. Shipping out Gomber won’t bring much of a return, prospect-wise, but at the very least they’d trim some payroll and add some depth to the minor league ranks.
Yankees’ Jake Cousins Weighing Elbow Surgery
June 14: Boone said Saturday that while no decision has been finalized, Cousins appears to be trending towards Tommy John surgery (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).
June 12: Yankees reliever Jake Cousins has yet to pitch in the majors this season due to a flexor strain. He’d recently set out on a minor league rehab assignment in hopes of a return in the near future but was pulled from his most recent appearance in High-A with a setback. It’s the second setback in his rehab — he also dealt with a pectoral issue last month — and manager Aaron Boone revealed yesterday that Cousins is now dealing with what “seems to be a UCL injury” (link via Jackson Stone of MLB.com).
The Yankees and Cousins are still in the process of gathering opinions, but it’s an unwelcome development. At the time of the 30-year-old right-hander’s initial forearm/flexor injury in early spring training, imaging showed that Cousins’ ligament was intact (as noted by the New York Post’s Greg Joyce back in February). The pitcher himself told the Yankees beat back then that doctors had said his ulnar collateral ligament “looked great” in the MRIs he’d undergone.
Cousins was quietly excellent for New York in 2024 after coming over from the White Sox in a spring trade that sent cash to Chicago. He wound up pitching 37 games for the Yanks and logged a 2.37 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but an unsightly 12.9% walk rate across 38 innings. Cousins had previously seen time in parts of three big league seasons with Milwaukee but bounced from the Brewers to the Astros via waivers before becoming a minor league free agent, signing a minor league deal with the South Siders, and finally making his way back to the majors in the Bronx.
When healthy, Cousins has regularly looked the part of a useful bullpen arm — he just hasn’t been healthy all that often in recent years. Dating back to the 2021 season, the former Nationals draftee has missed time with a biceps strain, elbow effusion/bursitis, shoulder inflammation and a pectoral strain, among other maladies. He’s pitched to a 2.78 ERA in 90 2/3 innings and fanned just shy of one-third of the batters he’s faced since making his MLB debut as a Brewer back in 2021. However, he’s pitched only 169 2/3 innings — majors and minor leagues combined — over the past four-plus seasons because of frequent trips to the injured list.
Most of Cousins’ injuries have occurred while on the major league roster, so despite his limited innings tally in the big leagues, he’ll cross three years of major league service in 2025. That’ll qualify him for arbitration in the coming offseason, although if he’s unable to get on a big league mound this year, his price tag would still be close to the minimum. For now, the hope will obviously be that Cousins can avoid surgery, as a Tommy John procedure or internal brace operation could cost him a year or more. Presumably, the Yankees will have more information on the extent of Cousins’ injury and a treatment plan in the coming days, but it seems unlikely he’ll be able to return to a major league mound anytime soon.
Brewers’ Aaron Civale Requests Trade
The Brewers moved right-hander Aaron Civale to the bullpen yesterday in order to accommodate the promotion of top prospect Jacob Misiorowski. At the time, skipper Pat Murphy openly acknowledged that Civale — an impending free agent who’s never made a relief appearance in the majors or minors — was “not happy” about the role change. Less than 24 hours later, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that Civale has requested a trade.
Civale’s agent, Jack Toffey, tells Rosenthal and Sammon that the conversation he had with the Brewers baseball operations staff was “very professional” and that Civale would prefer to continue his career as a starter, especially with free agency on the horizon. It’s an understandable position, particularly since Civale has generally been pitching well out of the rotation recently. The 30-year-old righty landed on the injured list due to a hamstring strain after one start this season but has returned with 19 innings of 3.32 ERA ball. He’s fanned 21.3% of his opponents against a 7.5% walk rate in that time and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of those four appearances.
The Brewers bought low on Civale in an early-July trade with the Rays last year. He’d gotten out to a rocky start to the 2024 campaign with Tampa Bay but righted the ship upon his trade to Milwaukee. In 14 starts over the season’s final three months, Civale logged a 3.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. Coupled with this year’s five starts, he’s pitched 96 innings as a Brewer and turned in a 3.84 earned run average with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate — all solid numbers for any team’s fourth or fifth starter.
Civale has generally averaged five innings per start, but that’s due in large part to the Brewers’ own tendency to hook their pitchers quickly. Milwaukee lets pitchers face opponents a third time in a game less often than all but one other team in baseball (Miami), and Civale’s career splits the second and third trip through a batting order are nearly identical; opponents hit him at a .257/.307/.451 clip their second time facing him in a game and .255/.310/.451 the third time. He’s markedly better facing opponents the first time in a game, but that’s true of virtually any starting pitcher. During Civale’s four-plus seasons in Cleveland — the club that originally selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft — he averaged 5 2/3 frames per start and more regularly worked into or completed six innings.
Two months ago, the Brewers having a glut of starting pitching — so much so that one of their veterans requested a trade — would have seemed laughable. Milwaukee was hit hard enough by injuries early in the year that they swung an extremely rare early-April trade to bring in some rotation help, picking up righty Quinn Priester from the Red Sox.
In the nine-plus weeks since that time, Milwaukee has gotten healthier and has seen several young arms emerge — Priester among them. Righty Chad Patrick is one of the front-runners for NL Rookie of the Year honors. Logan Henderson was brilliant in his first four MLB starts but was already optioned back to Triple-A Nashville because of Milwaukee’s depth. Misiorowski’s production in Nashville (2.13 ERA, 31.6 K%) has forced his way into the big league picture. Meanwhile, veterans like Jose Quintana and Civale himself have gotten healthy. Young lefties DL Hall and Aaron Ashby are also back from the IL and are working in multi-inning relief roles. (Hall has also had a pair of three-inning “starts” as an opener ahead of Priester.)
I took a look at the Brewers’ surprising wealth of pitching two weeks ago, noting that some tough decisions were likely on the horizon. Moving Civale to the bullpen falls into that category, particularly since a shift like that can come with precisely this type of ramification. Many fans will find a public trade request off-putting, which is a fair stance to take — just as is the case with Civale’s trade request. As a 2016 draftee, he’s been working nearly a decade to get to free agency and understandably does not love the idea of pitching in a new role that could impact his efficacy on the mound and/or his earning power on the market.
Civale is earning $8MM in 2025, his final year before free agency. As of this writing, there’s about $4.645MM of that sum yet to be paid out. In 122 major league starts, he’s pitched 658 1/3 innings with a 4.06 ERA, a 21.8% strikeout rate, a 6.5% walk rate and a 39.8% ground-ball rate.
Mets Receiving Trade Interest In Paul Blackburn
With several teams around the league straining to find rotation help, the Mets have been receiving early interest in righty Paul Blackburn, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. There’s no indication a trade is close, but there’s good reason to think the Mets might be amenable to an earlier-than-usual trade involving the veteran righty.
The Mets are currently six-deep in starters, with Blackburn the ostensible odd man out. Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill have all pitched well this season. All five have started at least a dozen games, and none has an ERA higher than Megill’s 3.76. Blacknburn’s most recent outing came in long relief, although Sherman notes that he could get a spot start or two with an upcoming run of 13 games in 13 days.
That said, both Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea are out on minor league rehab stints. The former has made four starts and built up to 76 pitches, while the latter tossed 46 pitches over 2 2/3 innings in his second rehab start two days ago. As such, Montas is the closer of the pair to returning and could even be ready to go next week. He’s slated to make his fifth rehab appearance tomorrow, but there’s still enough time left on his rehab clock that he could make two more starts if the team sees fit. Manaea’s rehab window extends into early July, as he only began his assignment on June 6.
One way or another, within the next two to three weeks, the Mets could find themselves with as many as seven or eight healthy rotation options. All are largely established as big league starting pitchers as well, so it’s not as though they have a young, optional arm to send back to Syracuse for a bit.
Peterson can technically still be optioned, but only for another five days. He’s on the cusp of reaching five years of MLB service time, at which point he’d have to consent to being sent down. It’s a moot point, though, given how well he’s pitching. Megill also has an option, but he’s bounced back from a run of shaky starts in early-to-mid May by rattling off 21 1/3 innings with a 3.80 ERA and 28-to-9 K/BB ratio. His season-long numbers are strong, and a depth-focused Mets front office, helmed by president David Stearns, surely doesn’t want to burn Megill’s final option year at a time when he’s pitching well.
One potential wrinkle that could impact the Mets’ rotation depth unfolded as I was writing that last paragraph: Senga exited today’s game against the Nationals with an injury. The right-hander covered first base on a grounder to the right side of the infield, made a leaping catch to corral the throw, and grabbed at his leg after coming down on the bag (video link via SNY). Senga eventually walked off the field under his own power, but he was down on the field for a couple minutes with the Mets’ training staff.
A lot will hinge on whether Senga is forced to skip a start or head to the injured list. There’s no way to know for the time being. He’s surely just in the very initial stages of evaluation. That situation will be worth watching with a close eye, but so long as he avoids a lengthy trip to the IL, that same scenario of six to eight generally established big league starters vying for five rotation spots will loom as a possibility. The Mets could move to a six-man rotation, of course, though Sherman notes that they prefer not to play one reliever short, as they’d be required to do by rolling out a permanent six-man staff.
If the Mets do end up giving serious thought to trading Blackburn, there’ll be no shortage of interested teams. He’s hardly a front-of-the-rotation piece, but the 31-year-old righty carries a 4.39 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate over his past 299 1/3 major league innings. He’s pitched in 58 games over that stretch, with all but two of them coming out of the rotation.
Blackburn is in his final season of club control. He’s being paid $4.05MM this year, with about $2.35MM of that sum yet to be paid out. He’s a free agent at the end of the season, so the Mets probably won’t get a particularly large return for him, but they could get a nominal prospect or perhaps a lower-end reliever with more team control. On top of that, trading Blackburn would actually save the Mets around $4.94MM, given that they’re deep in the top bracket of luxury tax penalization and thus subject to a 110% tax on every dollar over the top threshold.