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Diamondbacks Release Kolten Wong
The D-backs have released veteran infielder Kolten Wong, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Wong had been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno after signing a minor league contract. He’s now a free agent.
A two-time Gold Glove winner at second base, the now-33-year-old Wong entered the 2024 campaign in hopes of rebounding from a disastrous 2023 season that saw him bat just .183/.256/.263 in 250 plate appearances between the Mariners and Dodgers. Wong signed a minor league deal with Baltimore and spent spring training with the Orioles but opted out of that pact when he didn’t make the team. He subsequently signed with the D-backs, putting pen to paper on a second minor league deal back on April 10.
Through 31 games, Wong has turned in a .271/.339/.383 batting line that looks respectable enough relative to MLB batting lines but is about 18% worse than average (by measure of wRC+) in the supercharged offensive environment of Triple-A’s Pacific Coast League. He’s homered twice, swiped a pair of bags and collected six doubles. Wong has also shown modest improvements in his strikeout and walk rates, which sat at 21.2% and 7.2% in the big leagues last year but are at 18.2% and 8.3% in Reno.
Miserable as Wong’s 2023 season was, the veteran infielder is still just one season removed from a .251/.339/.430 performance with the 2022 Brewers — a season that saw him swipe 17 bases and club a career-best 15 home runs with a strong 9.3% walk rate and considerably lower-than-average 17.7% strikeout rate. From 2017-22, Wong was an above-average regular at second base between St. Louis and Milwaukee, hitting a combined .269/.349/.414 with 54 homers, 72 steals, a roughly average walk rate, strong bat-to-ball skills and plus defense.
The D-backs haven’t needed any help at second base with Ketel Marte logging a .275/.322/.493 slash in his first 233 trips to the plate this season, and there are other second base options on the 40-man roster ahead of Wong on the depth chart as well. But there are plenty of teams around the game — Red Sox, White Sox and Angels, to name a few — that have struggled to get much of anything out of their second basemen this season. Wong could make sense as a depth option with any of those clubs or even an immediate big league replacement in some spots, if a team wants to send a struggling young player back to Triple-A for some more seasoning.
Reds Outright Bubba Thompson
TODAY: Thompson has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Double-A Chattanooga, the Reds announced.
MAY 23: The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve designated outfielder Bubba Thompson for assignment in order to create 40-man roster space for righty Brett Kennedy, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Louisville. Kennedy will take the 26-man roster spot of reliever Emilio Pagan, who’s being placed on the 15-day injured list due to tightness in his right triceps.
Thompson appeared in 17 games for the Reds but received only 18 plate appearances. He’s among the fastest players in MLB — if not the fastest — but has long had struggles at the plate, thus relegating him to a defensive replacement and pinch-running role. He went 2-for-18 with a double and five steals in his small handful of plate appearances but also punched out a glaring 11 times (61.1%).
A first-round pick by the Rangers in 2017, Thompson was a multi-sport star and legitimate football prospect as well prior to his selection and the signing of a $2.1MM bonus out of the draft. He’s now seen time in parts of three MLB seasons but is just a .232/.273/.295 hitter (58 wRC+) with a huge 32% strikeout rate and just a 4.2% walk rate. Thompson’s speed is off the charts, and he showed a bit of pop with 16 minor league big flies in 2021 and another 14 homers in 2022.
However, Thompson has still struggled to refine his approach at the plate even in the upper minors. He’d been playing with Cincinnati’s Double-A affiliate at the time of his DFA and, in 37 trips to the plate, carried a .200/.243/.314 slash. Thompson does have a .284/.347/.440 output in 145 Triple-A games, but that comes out to around league-average when adjusting for the electric run-scoring environment in the Pacific Coast League.
This is Thompson’s fifth DFA since last August. He’s yet to make it through waivers. The Royals claimed him off waivers from Texas but subsequently lost him to the Reds in October. When Cincinnati designated Thompson for assignment in late December, the Yankees put in a claim — only to DFA him again just weeks later. The Twins claimed Thompson but, like the Yankees, designated him for assignment after only a couple weeks, at which point the Reds claimed him a second time. He’s been with Cincinnati since that point but will now be traded or placed on waivers yet again within the next five days.
Kennedy, 29, has pitched in parts of two big league seasons: 2018 with the Padres and 2023 with the Reds. He’ll now get a second stint in Cincinnati and hope for better results than he turned in last year, when he was tagged for 13 runs in 18 innings. Kennedy has spent the 2024 season in the Louisville rotation but been roughed up for a 6.86 ERA in 40 2/3 frames (eight starts). His 18.9% strikeout is below-average by around five percentage points, but his excellent 4.7% walk rate is nearly half the league-average rate.
Kennedy will add some length to the bullpen in place of Pagan, who inked a surprising two-year, $16MM deal with the Reds this offseason — one that allows him the opportunity to opt out at season’s end. It was a surprise fit, given Cincinnati’s homer-happy stadium and Pagan’s longstanding penchant for big home run totals but also big strikeout rates. True to form, Pagan has already served up four taters in 19 1/3 innings of work (1.86 HR/9) but also punched out a substantial 30.5% of his opponents. He’s sitting on a 4.19 ERA to begin his Reds tenure, but his season will now be paused for at least the next couple weeks as he lets that ailing triceps mend.
What’s Mason Miller Worth On The Trade Market?
To say Mason Miller's start to the season has the baseball world buzzing would be an understatement. The second-year A's hurler, whom Oakland selected with the No. 97 overall pick in 2021, has emphatically asserted himself into the conversation for baseball's top reliever. Standing at 6'5" and averaging a comical 101.3 mph on his heater, Miller is the quintessential power pitcher. He's burst out of the gates with a 2.05 ERA in 22 innings, going 9-for-9 in save opportunities and striking out an outrageous 51.9% of his opponents on the year. Eighty-one hitters have had the misfortune of facing Miller. Forty-two of them have gone down on strikes.
Miller allowed two runs in his first outing of the season and was just finally scored upon again yesterday, yielding three earned runs in 1 2/3 frames. Between those two appearances? The right-hander pitched 19 1/3 shutout innings with a 40-to-4 K/BB ratio, fanning an impossible 60.6% of his opponents.
Unsurprisingly, between his dominant performance and the current state of the Athletics, he was quickly speculated upon as a trade candidate -- despite entering the year with six full seasons of club control remaining. As one would expect, teams have inquired. And as you'd also imagine, the asking price is reported to be stratospheric. Miller is going to generate considerable buzz between now and the July 30 trade deadline. Given the massive amount of club control he has remaining, it's a stretch to call him a "likely" trade candidate, but it's a guarantee that teams are going to try. The big question will be how much Oakland will need to be offered to genuinely consider moving him.
Before we dive too far in, let's be clear: this is an exercise without a clear answer. There's no precedent for a pitcher -- or a player -- with this level of early-career dominance and a nearly full slate of six years of control even being available. That we're even talking about it underscores the current state of the A's: a rebuilding team in the midst of relocation whose rebuild has stalled because of nearly universal misses on returns for their top stars. If Oakland were competitive right now or at least seeing enough encouraging returns in the rebuild to think they could be a Wild Card club in 2025-26, this wouldn't even be as serious a topic of discussion.
That's not the world we live in, though. The A's have MLB's fourth-worst run differential and fifth-worst winning percentage. Their farm system ranks near the bottom of the league even after trading Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Frankie Montas, Sean Murphy, Sean Manaea, Chris Bassitt, Lou Trivino, Sam Moll and more. The A's have painted themselves into a corner that's problematic enough that their juggernaut closer is already being floated as a trade candidate despite barely having a year of service time.
So maybe this is indeed an exercise in futility, but let's take a look at some of the most recent trades for big-name relievers and see what we can glean.
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John Means Sent For Second Opinion On Forearm Strain
May 24: Means is headed for a second opinion, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters on Friday (X link via the Baltimore Sun’s Matt Weyrich). Hyde didn’t specify if that indicates another surgery is potentially on the table.
May 23: The Orioles announced Thursday that left-hander John Means has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left forearm strain. Righty Jonathan Heasley has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to take his spot on the 26-man roster. Means exited last night’s start after reporting elbow discomfort and seeing a notable dip in his fastball velocity. The team has not yet commented on the potential length of his absence.
Ominously, the 31-year-old Means missed a significant portion of the 2023 season owing to this same injury. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in the 2022 season and was limited to just 23 2/3 innings last year in his return from that ligament reconstruction, in large part became of complications in his forearm. He’s pitched a near-identical slate of 20 2/3 innings this season with uncannily similar results. After logging a 2.66 ERA last season, he’s at 2.61 in 2024. Means has fanned a below-average 20% of opponents this season but logged an outstanding 2.5% walk rate as well.
There’s little doubting Means’ talent on the mound. Since cementing his place in the Baltimore rotation early in 2019, he’s pitched to a 3.60 ERA with below-average strikeout tendencies (20.9%) but terrific command of the strike zone (4.9% walk rate). Unfortunately, persistent health troubles have severely limited his time on the mound. Over that span of what’s now five-plus seasons, he’s totaled just 397 2/3 innings of work in the majors.
Means, despite having worked as a starter for virtually his entire big league career, has just 401 innings in the majors in a season where he’s slated to reach free agency. He’s at five years of big league service already — much of it spent on the injured list — and will hit the open market for the first time when the 2024 season draws to a close.
With Means again sidelined for a yet-to-be-determined period, the Orioles will likely scrap the six-man rotation they’d been planning. Fellow lefty Cole Irvin — who’d been slated to be included in that sextet — stepped up in long relief for Means last night. As such, his rest schedule will now align with what would’ve been Means’ spot in the rotation, meaning he can start on full rest the next time Means would’ve been slated to take the hill.
Irvin will join Corbin Burnes, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer on the starting staff for the time being, with Heasley presumably available for long relief and/or a spot start if eventually needed. He’s been working as a multi-inning reliever in Norfolk but pitched five innings in a start his last time out. That brought him to a total of 20 innings over seven appearances.
MLB Announces Host Venues For 2026 World Baseball Classic
Major League Baseball announced the four venues for the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Thursday, revealing that Miami’s loanDepot Park will host games in all three rounds of the tournament for a second straight season. Japan’s Tokyo Dome, which has been a part of all five previous WBCs, will host first-round games in 2026. Puerto Rico’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium will host first-round games as well — the first time games have been host in Puerto Rico since 2013. And, for the first time, Houston’s Minute Maid Park will host WBC games — making the Astros the eighth MLB team to see their home venue host a portion of the event.
“We are excited and honored to be hosting World Baseball Classic matchups for the first time,” Astros owner Jim Crane said in a statement within today’s press release. “Houston is a global city with the best baseball fans, and we are proud to welcome fans from across the globe to watch international competition at Minute Maid Park. Thank you to MLB, the MLBPA, and the City of Houston for their support – we are looking forward to an exciting tournament in 2026.”
Each of the four venues will play host to one of four pools in the first round of play. Minute Maid Park and loanDepot Park will then host the quarterfinals, with the final stages of the tournament playing out at loanDepot Park in Miami.
The 2023 World Baseball Classic, which saw Japan topple the United States in the finals, was the first in which the field of teams expanded from 16 to 20. The 16 that finished top-four in their 2023 pools will return to participate in the 2026 WBC. Four additional teams will join the field by way of a series of qualifying events scheduled to take place in 2025.
Cardinals Outright Alfonso Rivas
May 23: Rivas cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced. He’ll remain with the organization.
May 20: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve designated first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Ryan Loutos, whose previously reported selection to the MLB roster has now been confirmed by the club. Righty Chris Roycroft was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to open space for Loutos on the active roster.
Rivas was claimed off waivers out of the Angels organization back in January. The 27-year-old has continued to show his typical keen eye at the plate in Memphis this season, walking at a hearty 12.8% rate, but he hasn’t hit for his usual average or power. Overall, he’s batting just .246/.364/.323 in 158 plate appearances with the Redbirds.
The well-traveled Rivas played sparingly in the majors each year from 2021-23, spending time with the Cubs, Pirates and Padres. He’s a .243/.324/.349 hitter in 459 big league plate appearances to this point in his career.
Tepid as his output in Memphis has been, Rivas entered the season with a lifetime .313/.424/.492 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s walked in nearly 15% of his plate appearances across five campaigns at the Triple-A level, and while he’s more of a gap hitter than true slugger — 48 doubles to just 15 homers in nearly 800 Triple-A plate appearances — he’s nevertheless been quite productive there outside this season.
Rivas has primarily been a first baseman in the minors but has a few hundred innings of corner outfield experience as a professional. He’s in the final of three minor league option seasons and is still two seasons shy of even reaching arbitration eligibility. A club looking for a left-handed bat with strong on-base skills could potentially take a look. Rivas has been designated for assignment three prior times in his career but has never made it through waivers, so MLB clubs are clearly intrigued by his bat — even if he hasn’t yet been all that productive in the majors.
The Cardinals will have a week to trade Rivas or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they can succeed in getting him through waivers, they can keep him in the organization without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. Rivas has neither the MLB service time nor the prior outright assignment required to reject an outright to the minors after going unclaimed on waivers.
Pirates Option Jack Suwinski
The Pirates announced Thursday that they’ve optioned struggling outfielder Jack Suwinski to Triple-A Indianapolis. Left-hander Jose Hernandez has been recalled from Indy in his place.
It’s a notable turn of events for the Pirates and Suwinski, who looked to have emerged as a potential core piece for the Bucs just last season. Suwinski mashed his way into an everyday outfield role, clubbing 26 home runs and drawing plenty of walks en route to a .224/.339/.454 slash (112 wRC+). Everything’s gone in the wrong direction for the slugger this season, however. In his first 157 trips to the plate, Suwinski has posted an anemic .174/.268/.297 batting line.
The decline at the plate hasn’t followed the typical pattern. Suwinski has actually greatly improved on last year’s problematic 32.2% strikeout rate, punching out in a more palatable (albeit still higher-than-average) 25.5% of his plate appearances. He’s making contact at a much higher rate both on pitches within the strike zone (88% in ’24, 81.3% in ’23) and off the plate (60.2% in ’24, 52.7% in ’23).
Counter-intuitive as it may seem, that improved plate coverage has resulted in some ugly trends that have tamped down his production. For starters, Suwinski is swinging more in general. His 28.9% chase rate is lower than average but still up considerably from last year’s excellent 22% mark. That’s likely contributed to a dip in walk rate, which sat at a huge 14% a year ago but is down to 11.5% in 2023 (still about three percentage points north of average). It seems there’s been a conscious effort to be more assertive at the plate. Only eight qualified hitters swung less often than Suwinski in 2023, but this year there are 79 qualified bats swinging less often.
Suwinski’s more aggressive approach hasn’t generated quality contact, however. His ground-ball rate has spiked from 27.9% all the way to 44.4%. His line-drive rate is down two percentage points, while his fly-ball rate has plummeted by 14.2% percentage points (from 53.6% to 39.4%). He’s no longer elevating the ball at a strong rate, and when he does make contact, it’s been weaker in nature. He’s lost 2.4 mph off his average exit velocity and seen his hard-hit rate fall from 43.4% to 36.4%. After barreling up 15.7% of his batted balls last year (as measured by Statcast), he’s at just 6.1% in 2024.
Whether the more aggressive approach was intended to take advantage of Suwinski’s clearly plus power, to improve his batting average, some combination of the two or perhaps has simply been borne of frustration at his slow start, the results aren’t there. He’ll head to Indianapolis for now in an effort to get back on track and hopefully recapture some of the form that made him the Bucs’ top power threat just last season.
From a service time vantage point, the demotion won’t alter Suwinski’s path to free agency. He entered the season with 1.118 years of MLB service, meaning he only needed 54 days on the active roster or injured list to reach two years of service and remain on pace for free agency following the 2028 season. He reached that number earlier this week, so even in the unlikely event that he stays in the minors all year, he’d still have stayed on his prior free-agent trajectory. It’s at least possible this could cost him Super Two designation, as he’d have been on the Super Two bubble with 2.118 years of service this coming offseason, but he could remain on that bubble if his optional assignment is short enough. He’ll have to spend at least 10 days in the minors, unless he’s recalled sooner as a replacement for someone who’s being placed on the injured list.
With Suwinski no longer in the outfield fold, the Pirates figure to use a rotation of Bryan Reynolds, Michael A. Taylor, Ji Hwan Bae, Connor Joe and Edward Olivares. Taylor and Bae are likeliest to see time in center. Reynolds has split his time between the two corners this season but will be on the lineup on a near everyday basis. Olivares and Joe can rotate through the free corner spot, with Joe also an option at first base and either a candidate to stand in as the designated hitter (should Andrew McCutchen need a day off).
Rangers Place Jon Gray On 15-Day Injured List
The Rangers are placing right-hander Jon Gray on the injured list due to a groin strain, manager Bruce Bochy announced this morning (X link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). The team is terming it a “mild” strain, but it’ll nevertheless be enough to sit Gray down for at least the next 15 days. In a corresponding move, Texas will select the contract of right-hander Jesus Tinoco from Triple-A Round Rock. Left-hander Cody Bradford is being transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to accommodate Tinoco’s addition. Bradford has already missed six weeks with a back strain and stress fracture in his ribs.
Gray joins an an entire rotation’s worth of starters on the injured list in Texas. The Rangers are also without Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi and the aforementioned Bradford at the moment. That’ll leave Texas with a rotation including Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning, Michael Lorenzen, Jose Ureña and a yet-to-be-determined fifth option. (Tinoco is a reliever and won’t step onto the starting staff.) The top depth options on the 40-man roster include Jack Leiter and Owen White. While Leiter has thrived pitching in Triple-A, both of those once-vaunted prospects has struggled in the big leagues this season.
Subtracting Gray from the roster would be a notable blow even without that litany of other injuries. The former No. 3 overall draft pick is out to perhaps the best start of his career, pitching to a tiny 2.21 ERA through his first 57 frames of the season. Gray’s 23.7% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 44.4% ground-ball rate are all at or slightly better than the league average. His ERA is being helped out by a microscopic 3.3% homer-to-flyball rate that’s helped him average just 0.32 homers per nine frames this season. But even metrics that normalize home run rate (e.g. his 3.68 SIERA) suggest Gray has still been a decidedly above-average hurler thanks to that strong blend of whiffs, grounders and walks (or lack thereof).
Tinoco, 29, will return for a second stint with the Rangers. He pitched in the Texas organization in 2022, famously giving up Aaron Judge’s record-breaking 62nd home run late in the season. That’s a down note in what was otherwise a strong year. In 20 2/3 frames with the Rangers he logged a 2.18 ERA — albeit with lackluster strikeout and walk rates of 21.4% and 11.9%, respectively.
Tinoco spent the 2023 season with the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and handled himself well for the most part, but he returned stateside on a minor league pact with the Rangers over the winter. He’s gotten out to a decent start in Round Rock, pitching to a 3.80 earned run average and fanning just over 30% of his opponents in 21 1/3 innings. Overall, Tinoco has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons and compiled 66 2/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 13.9% walk rate and 44% grounder rate. Command has clearly been an issue for him throughout his professional career, and that’s been the case again in 2024, evidenced by an 11.2% walk rate in Round Rock.
Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay Shut Down For At Least Two More Weeks
Cubs righty Adbert Alzolay has been on the injured list since May 13 due to a flexor strain, and it seems a return in the near future isn’t likely. Manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat yesterday that Alzolay, who recently received a second opinion on the injury, will be shut down entirely for at least two more weeks (X link via Meaghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). A lengthier shutdown is possible, but he’ll be reevaluated in 14 days to gauge any progress. For the time being, surgery is not a consideration.
The 29-year-old Alzolay was easily the Cubs’ top reliever in 2023, pacing the team with 22 saves and leading their qualified relievers with a 2.67 earned run average. The former top prospect punched out 26.5% of his opponents against a sharp 5.1% walk rate. Alzolay got out to a much rockier start in 2024, logging a 4.67 ERA in 17 1/3 innings as his strikeout and walk rates swung dramatically in the wrong direction (17.3% and 8%, respectively).
Given those struggles and what increasingly looks like a lengthy stay on the injured list, it’s fair to presume Alzolay wasn’t pitching at full strength prior to his IL placement. His sinker lost a full mile per hour from last year (95.3 mph to 94.3 mph), and his four-seamer is down just over a half mile as well, checking in at 94.7 mph in ’24 after sitting 95.3 mph in ’23, per Statcast.
It’s tough for any team to lose its top reliever, of course, but it’s particularly troublesome for a Cubs bullpen that has ranked in the bottom half of MLB in most categories. Chicago relievers are 20th in baseball with a 4.15 ERA, and fielding-independent metrics grade them similarly (17th in FIP at 3.92, 15th in SIERA at 3.63). The bullpen does collectively have the eighth-best strikeout rate of any relief corps in MLB (24.4%) … but also the eighth-highest walk rate (10.3%).
Further complicating matters is the fact that righty Julian Merryweather, one of the team’s top setup men and top strikeout arms last season, is already on the 60-day injured list due to a stress fracture in his ribcage. Counsell indicated this week that Merryweather has been cleared to resume throwing but also noted that his IL stint will exceed the 60-day minimum (X link via Ryan Herrera of CHGO Sports). That’ll push him into mid-June in a best-case scenario. However, with Merryweather only just starting a throwing program and needing to build toward facing live hitters before an eventual minor league rehab assignment, it’s feasible his IL stint could stretch to late June or even into July.
With Alzolay and Merryweather shelved, Hector Neris and Mark Leiter Jr. are the only two members of the Cubs’ bullpen with any late-inning experience of note in the majors. Neris signed a one-year, $9MM deal over the winter and currently sports a 2.50 ERA but also a career-worst 17% walk rate. Leiter has been excellent, continuing to make good on the jackpot the Cubs hit in minor league free agency a few years back. Beyond that pairing, things get far murkier.
The only other member of the Cubs’ bullpen with even two years of MLB service is Kyle Hendricks, who was just dropped to a relief role after struggling immensely in the rotation. Righties Hayden Wesneski and Jose Cuas are the next-most “senior” members of the unit. Each entered the season with just over a year of service time, and both have been optioned at least once this season. The Cubs are hopeful that recently reacquired Tyson Miller can fill a late-inning role, and they’re giving looks to homegrown rookies like Porter Hodge and Luke Little as well. But the bullpen as a whole is quite light on established arms, exacerbating the impact of losing two of last year’s top relievers.
The Cubs still find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Brewers from the division lead. They’re 3.5 games up on a surging Cardinals club, with Pittsburgh only a half-game behind St. Louis. The Reds sit eight games back of the division lead — a notable but also hardly insurmountable deficit with so much of the season yet to play out. Given Chicago’s active offseason — bringing in Shota Imanaga, re-signing Cody Bellinger, signing Neris, trading for Michael Busch — the front office will likely be looking to add to the roster so long as the team remains within striking distance in what’s currently a wide-open division. Every postseason hopeful tends to be on the lookout for relief pitching come deadline season, but the Cubs’ need is shaping up to be more acute than most contenders.