Pirates Designate Edward Olivares For Assignment
The Pirates announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-hander Colin Holderman on the 15-day IL with a right wrist sprain, selected the contract of righty Ben Heller from Triple-A Indianapolis and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by designating outfielder Edward Olivares for assignment.
Olivares, 28, was acquired from the Royals in the offseason when Kansas City needed to open a roster spot after signing right-hander Chris Stratton. Olivares had qualified for arbitration for the first time and he agreed avoid arbitration by accepting a $1.35MM salary from the Pirates.
Unfortunately, his tenure in Pittsburgh was a bit less than what the club was expecting. He had slashed .270/.322/.439 with the Royals over 2022 and 2023 for a combined wRC+ of 106 in that time but he hit .224/.291/.333 with the Pirates this year, with that production leading to a wRC+ of 75. He was optioned to Triple-A about a month ago and is hitting .245/.305/.321 at that level for a wRC+ of just 64.
He is in his final option season and will be out of options next year. Between that and his performance, it seems he was getting pushed out of the club’s plans. They fortified their outfield mix by acquiring Bryan De La Cruz and utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa prior to the deadline.
With the trade deadline now in the past, the Pirates will have to put Olivares on waivers in the coming days. It’s possible that a club could view this year’s downturn as simply bad luck, as his batting average on balls in play is just .250 this year. That’s a drop from the .306 BABIP he had over the two prior seasons and this year’s .290 league average. His 8.2% walk rate this year was actually a noticeable increase from the 5.7% rate he had in the two preceding campaigns. His exit velocity and hard hit rate are down a bit but not drastically so. His speed and arm strength are above average but he’s received poor defensive grades overall.
If some team does put in a claim, Olivares can be optioned for the rest of this year and then retained beyond this season via arbitration. But as mentioned, he will be out of options by next year. If he clears waivers in the coming days, he will have the right to elect free agency as a player with more than three years of service time. But since he is below the five-year mark, heading to the open market would mean forfeiting what’s left of this year’s salary. With roughly $375K still to be paid out, he would likely accept an outright assignment and stick with the Bucs in a non-roster capacity.
As for Heller, this is the second time this year the Pirates have selected him to the roster. The last time resulted in him being designated for assignment and outrighted after allowing 11 earned runs in two innings. His time in the minors has gone far better as he has a 3.55 earned run average in 33 Triple-A innings pitched this year while striking out 40.7% of batters faced. He’s out of options but can be retained via arbitration beyond this season if he manages to hold onto his roster spot.
NL West Notes: Snell, Rushing, Senzatela
Blake Snell‘s free agency was one of the top — and most drawn-out — storylines of the 2023-24 offseason. After lingering on the market well into spring training despite having just won his second Cy Young Award, he inked a two-year, $62MM deal with the Giants that affords him the ability to opt out and return to the open market again this offseason (this time without a qualifying offer). Snell’s decision to eventually settle on a two-year pact with San Francisco came months after a reported overture from the Yankees, who pivoted to sign Marcus Stroman after Snell rejected a longer-term offer.
At the time, MLB.com reported that the Yankees had put forth a six-year, $150MM offer to Snell, which he purportedly spurned in hopes of landing a lengthier deal. Snell himself was asked about the reported terms in a recent appearance with hosts Scott Braun, A.J. Pierzynski and Cameron Maybin on Foul Territory (video link). While the two-time Cy Young winner declined to delve into specifics, he stated in no uncertain terms that the numbers which became public were not accurate.
“The deal that came out — that wasn’t what was offered to me,” said Snell. “I can say that. … What they offered wasn’t close to that.”
Snell understandably wasn’t keen on going into specifics, which is common practice for players and executives alike when discussing free-agent interest. (Although Teoscar Hernandez notably divulged the Red Sox’ offer to him in a recent interview.) At this point, the specifics matter little; Snell seemed like a long-shot to join the Yankees once they added Stroman and pushed themselves into the top tier of luxury-tax penalization, meaning Snell would’ve come with a 110% tax hit (thus making his current $31MM AAV an expenditure north of $65MM). He signed with the Giants, and after a disastrous and injury-marred start to his San Francisco tenure, he looks largely back to Cy Young form.
Snell’s upcoming player option will mark a fascinating decision. If he continues at his current post-IL pace or anywhere near it (33 innings, 0.55 ERA, 36.3 K%, 8.8 BB%), he’ll surely turn down that second year and look for a long-term pact. He’s recently blanked the Rockies while punching out 15 batters over six frames and, of course, threw a no-hitter against the Reds his last time out. However, if he begins to struggle or incurs further injuries, there’ll be more consideration given to the second season of the contract. Few finishes in baseball will be more intriguing to follow than that of Snell.
Some other notes from the National League West division…
- The Dodgers recently promoted catching prospect Dalton Rushing from Double-A to Triple-A and his new team seems to come with a new assignment. Oklahoma City manager Travis Barbary says Rushing will exclusively be playing left field for now, per broadcaster Alex Freedman on X. The move is likely related to the fact that the Dodgers won’t have any playing time available behind the plate for a while. Will Smith recently signed an extension that runs through 2033. He’s essentially locked into the backstop role because Shohei Ohtani will be the designated hitter through 2033 while Freddie Freeman has first base locked up through 2027. Even after trading Thayron Liranzo in the Jack Flaherty deal, the Dodgers have two top 100 catching prospects in Rushing and Diego Cartaya, but Cartaya is considered the better defender with Rushing considered better at the plate. It’s been speculated that the club might deal from this catching surplus but it also seems they’re experimenting with Rushing at other positions to improve his chances of cracking the roster. He has logged some first base time as well as 35 innings in left field in Double-A and he now seems set to add to that total at Triple-A. Before the promotion, he hit 17 home runs in 77 Double-A games and drew walks in 11.4% of his plate appearances, slashing .270/.378/.512 for a wRC+ of 147. If he can generate that kind of offense in the majors or anything close to it, his bat will play at any position.
- Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela is going to begin a rehab assignment on Thursday, per Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball on X. The righty underwent Tommy John surgery just over a year ago, in July of 2023. His return won’t have a huge impact on this season as the Rockies are 42-72, ahead of only the lowly White Sox. But getting back on the mound before the offseason would be a nice development as the club looks to have a much stronger rotation in 2025 that could consist of Senzatela, Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner. Senzatela and Márquez both underwent Tommy John surgery last year and have missed most of this season while Freeland also missed a couple of months due to a left elbow strain. Márquez was reinstated last month but went back on the IL due to elbow inflammation.
Guardians Select Anthony Gose, Designate Xzavion Curry For Assignment
The Guardians made a few roster moves today, with Mandy Bell of MLB.com among those to relay them on X. Left-hander Anthony Gose has been selected to the roster with fellow lefty Logan Allen optioned in a corresponding move. Righty Xzavion Curry was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for Gose.
Gose, 33, has had one of the more remarkable career arcs among current big leaguers. Originally a second-round pick back in 2008 and a longtime top prospect as an outfielder, he was traded several times early in his career (most notably to the Astros in exchange for Roy Oswalt) while struggling to find his footing at the plate. Gose never did establish himself as the type of top-of-the-order speedster many felt he could become — though certainly not for lack of opportunity. In 1252 plate appearances between the Blue Jays and Tigers, he batted just .240/.309/.348 with a 28.2% strikeout rate.
After years of struggles in the batter’s box, Gose — a two-way star in high school who also drew draft attention as a pitcher — moved to the mound in 2017. By 2018, he’d become a full-time pitcher in the Rangers’ minor league ranks, and he landed with Cleveland on a minor league pact heading into the 2019 season. He spent several years working with the Guards’ highly regarded pitching development program, honing his mound skills and making it back to the big leagues in 2021, this time as a reliever brandishing a sizzling triple-digit heater.
From 2021-22, Gose pitched 27 2/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, 31.9% strikeout rate and 13.8% walk rate. Command was still an issue, but Gose averaged 97.6 mph on his four-seamer, frequently topped 100mph and posted a tantalizing 15.1% swinging-strike rate in his new role. Unfortunately, he’s also become acclimated with one of the most grueling aspects of life as a pitcher: rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Gose suffered a torn UCL in 2022, had surgery, and inked a two-year minor league contract to return to the Guardians that winter.
Gose missed the entire 2023 season while recovering from surgery. He’s been healthy in 2024 though, logging 38 1/3 frames with a 3.29 ERA in Columbus. Command is still an issue for him, evidenced by a sky-high 14.3% walk rate, but Gose is also still missing bats in droves; he’s fanned 34.2% of his opponents and registered an eye-popping 17.8% swinging-strike rate. With Sam Hentges currently on the injured list, Gose will give manager Stephen Vogt a second southpaw option alongside Tim Herrin in what has been the best bullpen in Major League Baseball this year.
As for Curry, he was a 2019 seventh-rounder who pitched his way up the organization’s prospect rankings and made his way to the big leagues in 2022. While he was never touted as one of the best pitching prospects in the sport, he did climb to No. 22 within Cleveland’s system as recently as last year, per Baseball America.
However, the results in the majors haven’t been there for Curry, who recently turned 26. He’s pitched 129 MLB frames and been tagged for a 4.53 ERA overall — including an ugly 5.84 mark in 24 2/3 innings this season. He’s displayed good command (7.3% walk rate) but struggled to miss bats (15.2% strikeout rate) against more advanced hitters, which was part of the concern with how he’d fare in the big leagues. Curry’s fastball generally sits 92-93 mph, and opponents have feasted on his curveball (.321/.355/.607). He’s also struggled in Triple-A (5.59 ERA in parts of two seasons) but posted strong run-prevention and K-BB numbers up through the Double-A level.
With the trade deadline having passed, the Guardians have no choice but to place Curry on waivers or release him. He’s in the second of three minor league option years, so a club in need of some optionable depth on the starting staff or in a long relief role could place a claim and hope that a change of scenery brings out a new gear. Granted, few organizations have better track records of optimizing pitcher performance than Cleveland, so perhaps it’s not reasonable to expect another team to unlock a new tier of performance. But there’s also little to no cost in rolling the dice, particularly for one of the many deadline sellers that saw several spots on the 40-man roster open up when trading veterans for young prospects.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Yankees Release Duane Underwood Jr.
The Yankees released right-hander Duane Underwood Jr., who’d been pitching for their Triple-A affiliate after signing a minor league deal in the offseason, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s a free agent who can now sign with any club.
Underwood’s release comes despite generally solid results in Scranton. He’s pitched 38 2/3 innings for the RailRiders, logging a 3.26 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate that’s slightly north of the big league average. The Yankees never game him a look in the big leagues this season, likely due in part to an unpalatable 14% walk rate that portends some regression in that otherwise sharp earned run average.
A second-round pick by the Cubs back in 2012, the now 30-year-old Underwood has three-plus years of big league service that have been accrued over parts of six seasons split evenly between the Cubs and Pirates. Underwood found some decent success with Pittsburgh from 2021-22 and even worked his way into a leverage role with the ’22 Bucs. Over those two seasons, he tallied 130 innings of 4.36 ERA ball with a 21.1% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate, 45.7% ground-ball rate, one save and a dozen holds. He was arguably miscast as a setup man, but Underwood looked the part of a perfectly serviceable middle reliever at the very least.
The 2023 season marked a notable step back for the right-hander, however. Underwood pitched just 24 1/3 frames in the big leagues and was roughed up for a 5.18 ERA with glaring declines in his strikeout and walk rates. His average sinker fell from 95.3 mph in ’22 to 93.6 mph in ’23, and Underwood posted a career-low 14% strikeout rate against a career-worst 11% walk rate. Pittsburgh passed him through waivers last June. He became a minor league free agent at season’s end and signed with the Yankees.
On the whole, Underwood has 190 2/3 innings of 4.63 ERA ball under his belt in the majors. He’s set down 21.5% of his opponents on strikes and issued free passes at a 9% clip — both numbers right in line with the results he delivered for the 2021-22 Pirates. He’s worked mostly in short relief with the Yankees organization, although Underwood does have eight appearances in which he’s recorded between four and six outs over the past couple months. He could be an option for a team seeking some depth in the form of an experienced arm that’s comfortable working more than an inning per appearance.
Marlins Were Among Teams Interested In Brett Baty
The Marlins were the sport’s most active seller on deadline day, showing willingness to listen on virtually every short-term asset they had while also targeting controllable young players around whom they could potentially build future iterations of the club. One player sought by Miami’s front office was within their own division; the Fish showed “heavy interest” in third base prospect Brett Baty, reports Mike Puma of the New York Post, adding that Miami was one of multiple clubs interested in buying low on the former first-rounder and top-100 prospect.
Selected 12th overall back in 2019, Baty ranked on MLB.com’s top-100 prospects list every year from 2020-23. By the time the 2022-23 seasons rolled around, just about every publication of note ranked Baty among the game’s 50 or so best prospects. He and current third baseman Mark Vientos — second-round pick in 2017 — ranked highly in the Mets’ system throughout their prospect tenures, but it’s Vientos who’s taken the reins at third base and run with the opportunity. In 259 plate appearances this season, the 24-year-old Vientos owns a hearty .280/.336/.547 slash (148 wRC+) with 16 homers and 15 doubles.
The emergence of Vientos naturally led to some speculation regarding Baty in the lead-in to last month’s trade deadline. However, Vientos’ presence alone hardly means there’s no long-term fit on the roster for Baty. He’s seen minor league work at second base and also played left field in the majors. Current second baseman Jeff McNeil is no stranger to the outfield corners and could shift there. The Mets will also see both Pete Alonso and J.D. Martinez become free agents at season’s end. Baty is considered a superior defender at third to Vientos, so if Alonso and/or Martinez depart in free agency, Vientos could work in more of a first base/DH role next year (or rotate between the two infield corners and DH). That’d free up third base for Baty — if he hits enough to merit the opportunity.
To this point in his career, Baty simply hasn’t done that. He’s played in parts of three big league seasons but managed only a .215/.282/.325 batting line (73 wRC+) in 602 trips to the plate. However, he was also rushed to the majors in ’22 despite only having six games of Triple-A experience to his credit. And, of course, Baty would hardly be the first prospect to struggle at the plate in his first few MLB looks before hitting his stride in his mid-20s. Even Vientos flailed away at a .205/.255/.354 clip through his first 81 games in 2022-23 before hitting his stride in the majors this year.
It’s worth noting that while he didn’t hit in the majors this season, Baty’s still showing plenty of promise in Syracuse. He’s taken 203 turns at the plate with the Mets’ Triple-A club there and posted a sound .260/.360/.497 line (119 wRC+) with 11 homers, eight doubles, a big 12.8% walk rate and a lower-than-average 18.7% strikeout rate. Baty still has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season as well, so even if he struggles next spring or early in the season, he could still be freely sent to Triple-A for additional refinement.
Ronny Mauricio has missed the entire season due to a torn ACL but will be back in the mix next year. A top prospect himself, he has hit at least 20 home runs in each of the past three minor league seasons while playing shortstop, second base and third base. He recently underwent surgery to clean up some scar tissue in his right knee, per Will Sammon of The Athletic on X, but that isn’t expected to have a noticeable impact on his timeline. Francisco Lindor has shortstop locked up for the foreseeable future but Mauricio could eventually factor into the infield picture at third or second base, depending on other developments around the roster.
The offseason will be interesting with regard to the Mets’ corner mix. They’ll surely receive interest in Baty again while simultaneously exploring the possibility of keeping a franchise cornerstone (Alonso) and a still very productive veteran DH (Martinez). Baty could arguably be used as a trade chip to acquire help on the pitching front — Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana can all become free agents at season’s end — but there’s also a possible long-term role to be had in Queens, especially if Alonso signs elsewhere.
From the Marlins’ vantage point, targeting Baty is perfectly sensible. They don’t have a long-term solution at third base. Jake Burger has handled that spot regularly since being acquired prior to the 2023 deadline, but he’s a defensive liability whose free-swinging, low-OBP approach at the plate leads to wild fluctuations in terms of offensive output. He’s better suited at first base or at designated hitter. Deadline pickup Graham Pauley could get a long-term look at third, but he’s a versatile prospect who could bounce around the diamond in a semi-regular role.
Adding Baty and his remaining five seasons of club control surely holds some appeal, but the Mets are presumably wary of sending Baty to another NL East club and watching him blossom into a regular. Still, the Marlins will have pitching to peddle again this winter (e.g. Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett, Ryan Weathers and potentially even former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara), so they could rekindle their interest in Baty. He’ll likely draw interest from both rebuilding teams and others simply looking for a long-term option at the hot corner, but it’s far from a given that the Mets will actually move Baty this offseason.
Marlins Designate Nick Gordon For Assignment
The Marlins are designating utilityman Nick Gordon for assignment, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Miami picked up Gordon in an offseason trade sending reliever Steven Okert to the Twins. He’s out of minor league options and thus wasn’t eligible to be sent down without first passing through waivers — which is where he’ll head now that he’s been DFA’ed and the trade deadline has passed. Miami has since announced the trade and formally added weekend waiver claim Derek Hill to its active roster.
Gordon, 28, has primarily played left field for the Fish this season but has also logged 16 games in center and another six at second base. The former No. 5 overall pick has swatted eight homers — one shy of his career-high — but carries a generally tepid .227/.258/.369 batting line in 275 plate appearances. This season’s 24.4% strikeout rate is higher than the 22.7% mark he carried into the season and miles above the 11.8% mark he showed in 93 plate appearances with Minnesota during the 2023 season.
Originally drafted as a shortstop, Gordon never saw much run at the position by the time he reached the majors in 2021. The Twins only gave him 155 innings there from ’21-’23, and the Marlins haven’t played him there for even one inning. Minnesota broke Gordon in primarily as a center fielder and second baseman, giving him ample reps at the former spot during IL stints for oft-injured center fielder Byron Buxton.
Though Gordon hasn’t lived up to that draft billing, back in 2022 he looked to have carved out a nice role as a heavily used bench/utility piece for manager Rocco Baldelli in Minnesota. He hit .272/.316/.427 (111 wRC+) with nine homers, 28 doubles, four triples and six steals in 443 plate appearances — all while splitting his time between center field, left field and the three non-first-base infield spots. Gordon got out to an awful start in 2023, however, and compounded that sluggish beginning of the year with a major injury when he fractured his tibia upon fouling a ball into his leg. That proved to be a season-ender, and he’s not yet returned to form following the offseason trade that shipped him to Miami.
The Marlins gave Gordon a decent look in the outfield but are turning things over to a younger contingent following their deadline dealings. They acquired corner outfielder Kyle Stowers from the Orioles in their trade of Trevor Rogers, and Stowers will likely step into Gordon’s slot as the primary left fielder. (Infield prospect Connor Norby, acquired alongside Stowers, could also get a look in left field if the Marlins don’t view the bat-first Norby as a long-term option at second base.) Post-deadline waiver claims of center fielders Hill and Cristian Pache further squeezed Gordon out of the picture, it seems.
Both Pache and Hill are now on the active roster. Gordon will be placed on outright waivers or released in the coming days. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minors if he clears, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of this season’s $900K salary, so he’ll very likely head to Jacksonville if he’s not claimed by another club.
Padres, Austin Davis Agree To Minor League Deal
The Padres are re-signing lefty Austin Davis on a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of Fansided. The KHG Sports client was designated for assignment after the trade deadline and elected free agency over the weekend. He’ll presumably head back to Triple-A El Paso on this new deal and continue to serve as depth for the Friars.
Davis, 31, appeared in seven games with the Padres after having his contract selected to the big league roster in late June. He yielded seven runs in seven innings, though four of those runs came home in one regrettable outing against the D-backs on July 7. Davis has spent the bulk of the season in El Paso, where he’s been sharp: 29 innings, 3.10 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, 12.9% walk rate, 47.7% ground-ball rate, no home runs allowed. Certainly, the Padres and Davis would prefer a lower walk rate, and it’s not realistic to expect any pitcher to keep up such a lengthy stretch avoiding home runs. That said, Davis’ blend of strikeouts and grounders has been quite strong in Triple-A this year.
This brief run with the Padres was Davis’ first big league action since 2022. He’s now pitched in parts off six big league seasons. A 5.77 ERA over the life of 151 1/3 innings isn’t going to stand out (at least not for the right reasons), but Davis has continually shown an ability to miss bats, keep the ball in the yard at a respectable clip, and avoid hard contact. He’s fanned 23.7% of his career opponents, held batters to 1.18 HR/9 and yielded an average 87 mph exit velocity with just a 33.5% hard-hit rate in his MLB career.
San Diego’s aggressive deadline added Tanner Scott, Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing to what was already a deep and talented big league bullpen. Scott joins Adrian Morejon and Yuki Matsui as lefties in Mike Shildt’s bullpen, giving the Friars’ skipper a trio of southpaw options in the majors (to say nothing of the currently injured Wandy Peralta). Davis will add an experienced lefty to the El Paso roster, one who could be among the first in line for a call should the Padres need another lefty or simply a fresh arm at some point.
Reds Made Offer For Trevor Rogers Before Deadline
It was a relatively quiet trade deadline in Cincinnati, with the Reds dealing away veteran righties Frankie Montas and Lucas Sims while acquiring Jakob Junis (in the Montas deal), young outfielder Joey Wiemer (also for Montas), veteran first baseman Ty France (for minor league catcher Andruw Salcedo) and pitching prospect Ovis Portes (for Sims). President of baseball ops Nick Krall and his staff generally dealt from the fringes of a contending roster and brought in some complementary veterans. Via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Krall said after the deadline that he didn’t want to sell “just to put younger players on the roster” and cited the team’s run differential and looming returns (e.g. Matt McLain, Emilio Pagan) as reasons to be optimistic of a run down the stretch.
That said, it seems Krall & Co. took at least one more substantial buy-side swing. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Reds, Mets and Orioles all made offers that the Marlins liked in exchange for left-hander Trevor Rogers. The Mets’ interest in Rogers was already known, and the Orioles of course acquired the lefty in exchange for what many considered a surprisingly strong package of second baseman Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers. Jackson and Mish report that the Reds offered “one of their top pitching prospects” to the Marlins, but Baltimore ultimately topped that offer by agreeing to part with a pair of MLB-ready position players. The Mets also made a formal offer, per the report.
The level of interest in Rogers is reflective of the lack of pitching that was available on this summer’s market. Though the 26-year-old southpaw finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting back in 2021, he’s since dealt with shoulder and biceps injuries that have greatly reduced his arsenal and his effectiveness. Rogers’ fastball has dropped about two miles per hour since that rookie showing, while his slider has flattened out and misses far fewer bats than it did in ’21.
After finishing the ’21 season with a 2.64 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate in 133 innings, Rogers has combined for a 5.02 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate in 234 2/3 innings. He was sitting on a 4.53 ERA with a career-low 18% strikeout rate at the time of the trade and has since been tagged for five runs through 4 1/3 innings in his lone Orioles start.
Cincinnati’s reported interest in Rogers comes at a time when in-house arms like Graham Ashcraft and Brandon Williamson are facing notable injury concerns. The former has been out since early July with an elbow strain. The latter hasn’t pitched in the big leagues this season and only has 10 2/3 minor league innings on the year. He last pitched on June 2 and has been down since due to a shoulder strain. Both are on the 60-day injured list.
The Reds aren’t lacking when it comes to high-end pitching prospects — particularly not after selecting Wake Forest righty Chase Burns with the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft. Burns isn’t eligible to be traded until the offseason, and fellow top prospect Rhett Lowder (last year’s first-round pick and a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport) surely was off limits. Prospects Connor Phillips, Lyon Richardson and Chase Petty have all struggled to varying extents in the upper minors this season, but all are still generally well-regarded even if their respective values are down from peak levels. Righty Julian Aguiar has notably upped his stock this season as well and likely isn’t too far from a big league look.
Rogers is controlled by the Orioles for another two seasons, so this isn’t a case where their deadline interest could portend offseason free-agent interest (although Cincinnati could certainly take a run at prying Rogers from the O’s this winter if the interest remains strong and/or the Orioles sour on the lefty). But it’s still a relevant footnote to keep in mind, both when Rogers is next available via trade/free agency and because it could foreshadow a Reds pursuit of some controllable arms this offseason.
Right-hander Hunter Greene and lefties Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott are all generally locked into long-term rotation spots. Twenty-six-year-old righty Carson Spiers is attempting to solidify his own rotation status down the stretch. Even with a decent stock of upper-level arms, the Reds could look to deepen that group via the trade or free-agent markets this winter.
Giants Release Ryan McKenna
The Giants released outfielder Ryan McKenna, who’d been with their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s now a free agent.
McKenna joined San Francisco on a waiver claim earlier this season, coming over from the Orioles — the only organization he’d previously known. Baltimore selected McKenna with its fourth-round pick (No. 133 overall) back in 2015. He’s appeared in parts of four big league seasons, tallying 523 plate appearances with a disappointing .221/.298/.323 slash in that time. The Giants passed him through waivers late in May.
On the whole McKenna has better production in parts of four Triple-A seasons, but much of his production there came several years ago. The righty-swinging outfielder ripped Triple-A opposition apart in his first run there back in 2021, hitting .307/.423/.683 with 11 homers in only 123 plate appearances. He followed that with a strong 2022 showing in only 38 plate appearances there but spent most of the ’22 campaign as a bench player in the big leagues. He’s posted below-average numbers in Triple-A over the past two seasons as he’s frequently shuttled between the minors and the majors. Overall, McKenna is a career .253/.348/.510 hitter in 80 games at the top minor league level.
Now 27 years old, McKenna can play all three outfield spots. He’s drawn solid ratings across the board but graded out particularly well in left field. The elite speed he showed as a rookie has slipped a bit, but even though he’s no longer sitting near the top of the MLB scale, McKenna slots into the 74th percentile of runners in the big leagues, per Statcast, averaging 28.1 feet per second. He’s also displayed above-average arm strength in each of his big league seasons.
That profile should get McKenna a look elsewhere, albeit on a minor league deal. He’s out of minor league options, so if he’s added back to a new club’s 40-man roster at any point, he’d need to pass through waivers before he’d be eligible to be sent down.