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Pirates Release Andrew Heaney

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August 29: Heaney has officially been released, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker.

August 26: The Pirates announced Tuesday that veteran left-hander Andrew Heaney has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to center fielder Oneil Cruz, who has been reinstated from the injured list. Pittsburgh also optioned infielder Ronny Simon to Triple-A Indianapolis and recalled right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta from Triple-A.

Heaney, who turned 34 in June, signed a one-year deal in the offseason, guaranteeing him $5.25MM. Early in the 2025 campaign, it looked like one of the best low-cost pickups of the winter by any team. The veteran southpaw raced out to a strong start, tossing 78 1/3 innings of 3.33 ERA ball in his first 14 trips to the bump. Heaney posted a sharp 7.5% walk rate in that time, and while a pedestrian 18.5% strikeout rate and somewhat elevated 1.26 HR/9 mark pointed to some degree of regression — he had a 4.47 FIP and 4.51 SIERA in that time — the reckoning was more emphatic than anyone could’ve reasonably anticipated.

A pair of consecutive seven-run drubbings in mid-June proved to be the beginning of a two-month spiral from which Heaney simply hasn’t been able to recover. Over his past 42 innings, he’s been trounced for 43 earned runs (9.21 ERA) with just a 12.1% strikeout rate. Opponents have averaged a staggering 2.79 home runs per nine innings pitched during that span.

The Pirates recently demoted Heaney to the bullpen, but the change in roles didn’t prove beneficial. He’s surrendered six runs in 1 1/3 innings across his two most recent relief outings, including five runs in just two-thirds of an inning last night.

Some onlookers might cynically liken Heaney’s DFA to the Pirates’ much-maligned 2024 decision to designate Rowdy Tellez for assignment when he was just four plate appearances shy of a $200K bonus. Given the prolonged nature of Heaney’s struggles, this looks to be a much different scenario. In fact, last night’s two-thirds of an inning proved to be just enough to push Heaney over 120 innings on the season (120 1/3 overall), which unlocked a $50K bonus.

Had the Pirates kept trotting him out there, Heaney could’ve unlocked further incentives. (He’d have taken home another $100K at 130 innings and $150K at 140 innings pitched.) However, based on his past two months, there’s no incentive for the team to keep giving him opportunities. Heaney had ample opportunity to pull himself out of the slump and wasn’t able to do so. In the end, he’ll wind up earning $5.3MM this contract, and the innings that would’ve gone to him will instead go to younger arms whom the Bucs can control beyond the current season.

Pittsburgh surely tried to find a trade partner prior to the deadline, but even then, Heaney was riding a streak of 28 runs surrendered in his past 28 2/3 innings. He’d been tagged for 15 home runs in his past 50 innings. It’s easy to imagine most teams seeking pitching felt they could get comparable or better results simply sticking in house.

With Heaney now off the 40-man roster, he’ll be placed on waivers. It’s largely irrelevant whether that’ll be outright waivers or release waivers, as it’s unlikely anyone will claim the remaining $932K on his contract after struggles of this magnitude, and he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency while retaining the remainder of his guaranteed salary. Barring what would be a very surprising claim, he’ll be a free agent within the next few days. He could latch on with a new club as pitching depth for the final month of the season and could technically be postseason-eligible if he signs with a new team prior to Sept. 1 — though he’d obviously have to turn things around in a hurry to be considered for a spot on anyone’s October rosters.

Cardinals To Promote Jimmy Crooks

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12:41pm: Pozo is indeed being placed on the 7-day concussion list, per Woo.

12:13pm: The Cardinals are promoting catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder César Prieto, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Prieto news was reported yesterday. The Cardinals have two 40-man openings and won’t need to make corresponding moves to select either player’s contract from Triple-A Memphis. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that first baseman/outfielder Alec Burleson will be placed on the 10-day injured list as one of the corresponding active roster moves. Goold suggests that catcher Yohel Pozo could also be IL bound after getting struck by a foul ball yesterday.

It’ll be the big league debut for both Crooks and Prieto. Crooks, in particular, holds appeal as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. He currently sits sixth at MLB.com and fifth at FanGraphs, where Crooks cracked the back half of their top-100 list.

Crooks, who turned 24 in July, is regarded as a plus defensive catcher, but he’s also posted at least average offensive numbers at every minor league stop he’s made. He’s spent the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he’s batting .274/.337/.441 with 14 home runs. He’s nabbed a strong 29.4% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him with Memphis, and Baseball Prospectus gives him excellent framing grades in his career (though he hasn’t been as sharp in that regard in 2025 specifically).

A fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma back in 2022, Crooks doesn’t have huge power but has reached double-digit homers in every full professional season thus far. His walk rate typically lands around 11%, though that’s down to 8.4% this season. He’s fanned at a 26.5% clip as well, but strikeouts generally haven’t been a major issue for him.

With the Cardinals moving Willson Contreras to first base and Ivan Herrera to the outfield, there’s a clear long-term opportunity for Crooks behind the plate. Pedro Pagés and the aforementioned Pozo have been shouldering the catching workload in St. Louis since Herrera was shifted off the position, but Pagés profiles more as a defensive-minded backup and Pozo is a 28-year-old journeyman who signed a minor league deal last offseason.

The Cardinals entered the year intent on taking a look at some younger players in larger opportunities. Following the position changes for Contreras and Herrera, the final month of the season can serve as a proving grounds for Crooks. One month of playing time isn’t going to decisively answer whether Crooks can handle the role in the long-term, but it’ll give the Cards some additional data to consider when weighing how heavily (if at all) to pursue catching help in the offseason.

Presumably, with Pagés standing as a plus defender who can at least provide modest pop, the Cards feel comfortable with Pagés and Crooks getting the first crack at playing time in 2026. Pozo can be controlled for six more years, won’t be arbitration-eligible this winter and has multiple minor league option years remaining, so the Cards could also keep him around if they’re satisfied with his performance to date.

As for Crooks, he’ll be controllable for at least six full seasons, all the way through 2031. The earliest he’ll be able to qualify for arbitration is in the 2028-29 offseason, although both that timeline and his free agent timetable can be pushed back if he’s optioned in the future.

Diamondbacks Release Rene Pinto

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The D-backs have released catcher Rene Pinto, who’d been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, per the MiLB.com transaction log. He’s a free agent and can field interest from any teams seeking to bolster their catching depth in the season’s final month.

Pinto, 28, hasn’t played in the majors this season but saw big league time with the Rays in each of the past three seasons. He’s drawn solid framing grades in the majors but has struggled to control the running game and has drawn poor marks from Statcast for his ability to block pitches in the dirt. Pinto is a career .231/.263/.404 hitter with 10 homers but a 36.7% strikeout rate in 237 major league plate appearances.

While his big league numbers aren’t much to look at, Pinto has been far better in Triple-A. He batted .268/.324/.517 with 11 round-trippers in 225 plate appearances with Reno this season and carries a career .256/.307/.493 slash with 57 homers in 1132 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue in Triple-A as well, however. He’s fanned in 29.9% of his career plate appearances there.

There’s not much on the market for catching depth right now, so teams that have recently incurred injuries behind the dish could take a flier on the former Rays backstop. The Reds (Tyler Stephenson), Mets (Francisco Alvarez) and Nationals (Keibert Ruiz) all have catchers on the injured list at the moment, for instance. With rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it’s also possible that another club will look to use one of those extra spots to carry a third catcher, which could create further opportunities.

Braves Select John Brebbia

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The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander John Brebbia from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also recalled righty Nathan Wiles from Gwinnett, while lefty Austin Cox and righty Wander Suero were optioned to Triple-A. The Braves already had a pair of 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need a corresponding 40-man move to accommodate Brebbia’s addition

The pair of promotions will provide manager Brian Snitker with some fresh arms after yesterday’s blowout loss to the division-rival Phillies, wherein Kyle Schwarber belted four home runs to lead Philadelphia to a 19-4 victory. Cox (68 pitches) and Suero (31 pitches) weren’t going to be available today anyhow after logging heavy workloads in yesterday’s game. (Suero also tossed 24 pitches Tuesday.)

Brebbia, 35, opened the 2025 season with the Tigers but struggled in 18 2/3 innings before being released. The veteran righty was tagged for 16 earned runs (7.71 ERA) on 22 hits and 11 walks with 20 strikeouts during his brief run with Detroit. He also plunked three batters and was charged with two wild pitches. Three of those 22 hits were home runs.

It’s a second straight disappointing year for the well-traveled reliever. Brebbia pitched pretty well for the first half of the 2024 season with the White Sox before melting down after the All-Star break and eventually being released. He went on to sign with Atlanta last year as well but finished out the ’24 season with an overall 5.86 ERA thanks to 18 runs in 18 1/3 second-half innings.

Though last year’s second half and the 2025 season haven’t been pretty, Brebbia had a nice track record up until that point. The right-hander was a generally reliable bullpen option with the Cardinals and Giants from 2017-23. He carried a career 3.53 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate (336 2/3 innings) into last year’s All-Star break. Things have obviously gone south since that time, but it’s a solid track record on the whole. Brebbia has also been excellent with Atlanta’s Triple-A club this season, tossing 19 innings with a 1.89 earned run average, a 26.9% strikeout rate and a 3.8% walk rate.

Blue Jays, Eloy Jimenez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays and outfielder/designated hitter Eloy Jimenez are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. The Klutch Sports client was with the Rays organization earlier this season but was cut loose around the All-Star break.

Jimenez, 28, was a top prospect with the Cubs and White Sox and looked to be emerging as a core piece for the latter when he debuted with a 31-homer rookie campaign back in 2019. The slugger signed a six-year, $43MM contract before ever taking a single at-bat in the majors, and that impressive rookie effort made the contract look like a potential bargain. Unfortunately for Jimenez and the South Siders, injuries derailed his trajectory. Jimenez was again excellent in 2020, hitting .296/.332/.559 with 14 homers in the pandemic-shortened season, but he’s struggled to stay on the field since.

From 2021-24, Jimenez played in just 357 games — only 55% of his teams’ contests. A ruptured pectoral tendon cost him more than four months of the 2021 season. He missed nearly three months of the 2022 season due to a torn hamstring. In 2023, he strained his other hamstring muscle and also missed more than a month due to an appendectomy. Jimenez’s 2024 season was cut short by an adductor strain and a third hamstring strain.

Beyond limiting Jimenez’s time on the field, the series of health issues clearly had an impact on his offensive output. He was terrific in 84 games in 2022 but posted roughly league-average offense in both 2021 and 2023. His 2024 season was well below average, with the formerly imposing slugger turning in a meek .238/.289/.336 slash in 349 plate appearances between the White Sox and the Orioles, who acquired him at last summer’s trade deadline.

Jimenez appeared in 40 Triple-A games with the Rays this season, hitting .278/.335/.397 with three home runs. He continued to show quality contact skills (17.4% strikeout rate), but his batted-ball metrics were well shy of his career marks in the majors. Jimenez averaged 89.6 mph off the bat in Triple-A Durham and logged a 43.5% hard-hit rate. He’s averaged 91.5 mph with a 49.3% hard-hit rate as a big leaguer.

Though Jimenez is something of a long shot to contribute at this point, there’s no harm in the Jays taking a no-risk look at a formerly prominent slugger on a non-guaranteed pact. He might need a quick tune-up in the low minors before jumping into the fray at Triple-A Buffalo, having been out of action for seven-plus weeks, but Jimenez will be a depth option for Toronto in the final month of the season. And, since he’s signing before Sept. 1, he’ll be postseason-eligible should he show enough to be selected to the big league roster at some point. If not, he’ll play out the season in Buffalo and head back to the offseason free agent market in search of what would surely be another minor league contract ahead of his age-29 campaign in 2026.

Guardians Release Carlos Santana

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The Guardians have released first baseman Carlos Santana, per a team announcement. He’d been placed on outright waivers earlier in the week and clearly went unclaimed. Infielder Daniel Schneemann has been reinstated from the paternity list and will take Santana’s spot on the active roster. Santana is now a free agent and can sign with any team for the prorated league minimum for the remainder of the season. So long as he signs prior to Sept. 1, he would be postseason-eligible with a new team.

Santana’s third stint in Cleveland will conclude with a lackluster .225/.316/.333 batting line and 11 home runs in 455 plate appearances. The 39-year-old remains an elite defender at first base, but his bat has wilted from both sides of the plate. The veteran switch-hitter is slashing just .220/.311/.325 against right-handed pitching and .235/.328/.353 versus lefties. That said, Santana was a thunderous force against left-handed pitching as recently as last season, when he raked at a .286/.356/.578 pace in 163 chances from the right-handed batter’s box.

Through the trade deadline, Santana’s bat was at least within arm’s reach of league average, but virtually all of his production this year came in a torrid month of May. He’s been below average at the plate in every other month and has cratered in August, hitting .186/.271/.233 through 48 plate appearances.

His recent poor play, coupled with the presence of young Kyle Manzardo and the recent promotion of top prospect C.J. Kayfus, left Santana without a clear role on a Guardians club that has fallen out of postseason contention. Cleveland will take the final month of the season to get regular reps for the 25-year-old Manzardo and the 23-year-old Kayfus. They’d surely hoped that another club would claim Santana and take on the remainder of his $12MM salary, but that was always a long shot. The Guards will remain on the hook for what’s left of that sum (minus the prorated minimum for any time he spends on another club’s major league roster).

Giants Unlikely To Call Up Bryce Eldridge This Year

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Giants fans have spent much of the season wondering whether slugging top prospect Bryce Eldridge might make his MLB debut at some point this summer. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote earlier in the week that it’s “more likely” the 20-year-old will finish out the season in Triple-A and hope for his first call to the majors in 2026. President of baseball operations Buster Posey removed further doubt the following day when telling John Shea of the San Francisco Standard that his team would “most likely not” promote Eldridge for his big league debut before season’s end.

That may be disappointing for San Francisco fans who’ve been hoping that an Eldridge promotion would give them extra incentive to stay tuned in to a season that has largely slipped away. There are justifiable reasons to hold off, however. The Giants have been breaking June acquisition Rafael Devers in at first base, and Eldridge has been slumping recently in Sacramento.

Eldridge, a 2023 first-rounder, is widely regarded as one of the sport’s top 25 or so prospects. He hit .280/.350/.512 with seven homers in 140 Double-A plate appearances but has cooled after a hot start in Triple-A. He’s still slashing a respectable .241/.311/.513 with 15 homers in 219 plate appearances since moving to the top minor league level, but Eldridge is hitting .203/.280/.419 over the past three weeks. He’s also struck out in 32% of his Triple-A plate appearances.

Beyond Devers’ transition to first base and Eldridge’s recent struggles, there are other elements to consider. The Giants aren’t contending for a postseason spot at this point — barring a miracle Wild Card run — and Eldridge wouldn’t be eligible to be poached by another club in the Rule 5 Draft until 2027. He’ll be added well before then — early next year, in all likelihood — but delaying his promotion until 2026 effectively gives the Giants an extra 40-man roster spot they can utilize in the offseason. He can then be selected to the roster next year when the Giants have the 60-day IL available to open roster space, whether that be in spring training or early in the year. (There’s no 60-day injured list in the offseason.)

The Devers acquisition and his subsequent move to first base clearly placed a roadblock to Eldridge eventually becoming the everyday first baseman at Oracle Park. However, Eldridge told Slusser that vice president of player development Randy Winn called him quickly after the trade to reassure him that he’s still a big part of the team’s long-term plans.

“Natural human instinct is going to be, ‘Well, that’s my position,’ but they’re paying that guy a lot of money,” Eldridge said. “But Randy reassured me that they like me and they like the progress I’ve made, they see me in their plans, playing first or DH, wherever it may be. It doesn’t necessarily matter to me too much where I’m at, I just want to be a part of helping that team win.”

Red Sox Reinstate Justin Slaten From 60-Day IL

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The Red Sox made a series of roster moves Thursday morning, most notably reinstating right-handed reliever Justin Slaten from the 60-day IL. That move brings Boston’s 40-man roster to capacity. They’d previously had a vacancy after outrighting infielder Abraham Toro. The Red Sox also activated outfielder Rob Refsnyder from the 10-day injured list. To open active roster spots for Slaten and Refsnyder, they optioned southpaw Jovani Moran to Triple-A Worcester and placed first baseman Nathaniel Lowe on the paternity list (where he can spend up to three days).

Slaten, 27, is in his second season with the Red Sox after coming to Boston via the Rule 5 Draft in 2023. He was outstanding as a rookie in 2024, tossing 55 1/3 innings with a 2.93 ERA, a 25.9% strikeout rate, a tiny 4% walk rate and a strong 50% ground-ball rate. He’s had good results in 2025 as well, logging a 3.47 ERA in 23 1/3 frames, albeit with lesser rate stats. He’s been on the injured list since late May due to shoulder inflammation.

Slaten’s strikeout rate dipped to 17.8%, perhaps in part due to a significant drop in his slider usage. He threw nearly 25% sliders in ’24 but is down to 8% in ’25, instead favoring his curveball far more heavily (8.4% in ’24, 21.6% in ’25). Slaten’s walk rate has nearly doubled, up to 7.8%, but that’s still comfortably better than average. Sustaining a 4% walk rate was always going to be tough — it would be for any pitcher — particularly considering Slaten’s 8.5% walk rate in his final minor league season.

Even with some modest steps back this year, Slaten is a big arm who’ll provide a notable boost to Alex Cora’s bullpen. He’s been effective since day one in the majors, quickly pitching his way into a high-leverage role last year, and actually saw a bump in velocity prior to his IL placement, with his average four-seamer rising from 96.4 mph last year to 97 mph in 2025. He’ll join Garrett Whitlock, Justin Wilson and Greg Weissert as one of the primary setup options to closer Aroldis Chapman, who is enjoying perhaps the most dominant season of his 16-year major league career.

Orioles Designate Roansy Contreras For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Thursday morning that right-hander Roansy Contreras has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster goes to righty Shawn Dubin, who has now been added to the roster after being claimed off waivers out of the Astros organization.

It’ll be a one-and-done stop on the big league roster for Contreras, a former top prospect with the Yankees and Pirates who landed in Baltimore by way of the waiver wire this past offseason. He’s pitched well in Triple-A this season and gave the O’s 4 1/3 innings of scoreless long relief yesterday in his team debut. That lengthy appearance obviously renders him unavailable for the next few days, however, and Contreras is out of minor league options and thus couldn’t be sent down without first passing through waivers.

Some fans will bristle at the notion of a pitcher being called up, pitching as well as Contreras did, and then being removed from the 40-man roster. This type of transaction is common among today’s baseball operations departments, however, and Contreras’ camp likely knew it’d be a one-off appearance due to his lack of minor league options. The O’s could have subtracted Dietrich Enns instead, as he’s also out of options and unavailable for a few days after tossing 34 pitches yesterday, but Enns has pitched well overall in nine total outings with strong rate stats.

Designating Contreras leaves the Orioles with a mostly full slate of relief options, and based on his minimal MLB track record, there’s a good chance he’ll clear waivers and could thus stick around as a depth option despite the DFA. Contreras, after all, was on waivers five times this past offseason before the Orioles succeeded in passing him through at the end of spring training.

In 239 big league innings, Contreras has a 4.63 earned run average. He’s fanned 19.6% of his opponents against a 10% walk rate. He was effective in Triple-A Norfolk this year, tossing 91 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball with a sub-par 17.8% strikeout rate but a solid 8.4% walk rate. That generally aligns with his career numbers in Triple-A (3.83 ERA in parts of four seasons). The O’s can hope to pass Contreras through waivers within the next couple of days, though he’ll be available to the other 29 teams and would have the right to reject an outright assignment even if he does clear.

White Sox Place Luis Robert Jr. On Injured List

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3:10pm: Getz tells James Fegan of Sox Machine that Robert has a Grade 2 strain and could be done for the year. When asked about the injury impacting the decision to pick up his option, Getz said “We’re committed to Luis.”

2:16pm: The White Sox announced Wednesday that outfielder Luis Robert Jr. is headed to the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring. Fellow outfielder Will Robertson has been recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take his spot on the active roster. The team has not yet provided a timetable for Robert’s potential return.

Chicago surprised many by opting to hold onto Robert prior to last month’s trade deadline. The former top prospect had tanked much of the value he’d built up in a brilliant 2023 campaign by floundering through a miserable 2024 season and failing to turn things around through the current season’s first two months. Robert began hitting well in early June after being benched for a few days, and that led to the general expectation that he’d be traded after all.

Instead, the Sox hung onto Robert and signaled that they might be willing to pick up the first of a pair of $20MM club options on his contract. There was plenty of risk in that approach, as a downturn at the plate or significant injury could create some reluctance to do so. There’s no indication that the current injury is expected to necessitate a long-term absence, but it’s another knock on the oft-injured Robert, who has now been placed on the major league injured list seven times since midway through the 2021 season. He’s played 521 of 780 possible games since 2021 (66.7%).

As for the questions regarding his offensive production, Robert has fared better since the trade deadline than he did in 2024 or the first two months of the current season, but his production hasn’t been as strong as it was in late June or throughout all of July. He’s hitting .256/.287/.402 this month, bringing him to a collective .274/.335/.458 in 198 plate appearances since June 10.

Perhaps that production — and any that he can muster if he returns from the IL prior to season’s end — will indeed be enough for the White Sox to roll the dice on his club option. While it’s a steep price to pay for a rebound candidate, Robert’s 2023 season provided a glimpse at his stratospheric ceiling, and picking up the option keeps an identically priced 2027 club option in play.

The rebuilding White Sox have virtually nothing on next year’s books. Andrew Benintendi is the only player on a guaranteed contract, and their only three arbitration-eligible players are Mike Tauchman, Dan Altavilla and Steven Wilson. There’s ample payroll space available to take a chance on Robert at a net $18MM price point. (The option has a $2MM buyout.) If Robert’s first half of 2026 looks more like his midsummer production from 2025, then the Sox could yet salvage some trade value from their former star. At the same time, it’s also plausible that injuries and/or deteriorated offensive skills continue to dog Robert — but that increasingly seems like a chance GM Chris Getz and his staff are comfortable taking.

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