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Orioles Designate Vimael Machin, Transfer Brandon Young To 60-Day IL

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2025 at 1:16pm CDT

The Orioles announced a series of roster moves Wednesday, designating infielder Vimael Machin for assignment and transferring right-hander Brandon Young to the 60-day injured list (thereby ending his season). Their 40-man roster spots will go to infielder Emmanuel Rivera and right-hander Roansy Contreras — the latter of whom was already known to be on his way to the majors. Their contracts have been formally selected from Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore also optioned right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo to Norfolk.

Machin, 31, played his first four big league games since 2022 earlier this month after the O’s summoned him from Norfolk. He went  just 1-for-12 but made the most of that lone knock, depositing it over the right field wall for the second home run of his brief MLB career. He’s now played in parts of four seasons — the other three all coming with the A’s — and posted a .204/.286/.264 batting line in 373 trips to the plate.

Though he’s never fared well in the big leagues, Machin is a lifetime .289/.371/.449 hitter in just under 1400 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He’s a lefty hitter with a good eye at the plate, experience at all four infield positions and a pair of minor league options remaining, so it’s at least feasible that another club plucks him off waivers as a depth option. If not, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment from the Orioles upon clearing waivers, should he prefer to explore other opportunities.

Young, 27, made his big league debut with the O’s earlier this season. He’s made a dozen starts despite rocky results — a testament to the depleted status of the Baltimore rotation this year. An undrafted free agent in the shortened (five-round) 2020 draft, Young has pitched 57 2/3 innings in 2025. He’s been tagged for an ugly 6.24 ERA despite passable rate stats (18.4% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate). The long ball has been his primary undoing, as he’s served up 12 homers in his relatively small sample of work (1.87 HR/9).

A hamstring strain sent Young to the 15-day IL last week. At the time, interim manager Tony Mansolino acknowledged that the right-hander would miss more than the minimum, but it wasn’t clear until today’s move to the 60-day IL that Young’s season is formally over; there simply aren’t enough days left on the calendar for him to fulfill that 60-day minimum.

Young can be controlled for six more seasons and has two minor league option years remaining beyond the current campaign. He’ll likely stick around as a depth option for a rotation that figures to be a focal point of the Orioles’ forthcoming offseason dealings.

Rivera, 29, came to the O’s late last season and went on a tear in 27 games down the stretch. He played well enough to be tendered a contract and sign for $1MM in spite of lack of track record. His 2025 season hasn’t gone as hoped. In the same number of games as last year, Rivera has slashed .229/.299/.271. The O’s passed him through waivers earlier in the summer, and he’s hit fairly well in Norfolk, slashing .297/.362/.356 in 246 turns at the plate.

Contreras, 25, is a former top prospect who looked like a potential long-term piece in the Pirates’ rotation following a strong 2022 big league debut. He’s struggled in every subsequent campaign, however, logging a 5.47 ERA over his past 136 2/3 big league frames. He landed with the Orioles via waivers late in the offseason, and Baltimore was able to pass him through waivers themselves, removing him from the 40-man roster. He’s now been added back after tossing 91 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball for the Tides. Mansolino indicated yesterday that Contreras would either start today’s game or pitch several innings of bulk relief.

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Baltimore Orioles Transactions Brandon Young Emmanuel Rivera Roansy Contreras Vimael Machin Yaramil Hiraldo

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Cubs’ Brandon Birdsell To Undergo Elbow Surgery

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2025 at 11:17am CDT

Cubs prospect Brandon Birdsell, one of the top young arms in the system, will undergo surgery on his right elbow this week, assistant general manager Jared Banner announced yesterday (link via Janie McCauley of the Associated Press). Banner didn’t provide specifics regarding the injury, noting only that the procedure will be performed by Dr. Keith Meister — one of the industry’s most prominent orthopedic surgeons — and that more information will be known following the procedure.

Banner made no mention of Birdsell’s ulnar collateral ligament, though that’s obviously the fear in situations like this. It’s relatively common with UCL injuries for medical experts to determine that the ligament needs repair but hold off on making the call between an internal brace and full replacement (i.e. Tommy John surgery) until the operation is underway and the surgeon can get a first-hand look at the extent of the damage. The obvious hope, of course, is that Birdsell is dealing with a less severe injury, but the team won’t divulge that information until after the operation is performed.

Regardless of the nature of the surgery, it’s a setback in the development of Birdsell, a former Texas Tech standout whom the Cubs selected with their fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft. The 6’2″, 240-pound righty put himself on the prospect map with a 2.77 ERA in 107 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A in his first professional season in 2023, and he followed up with 135 2/3 frames of 3.91 ERA ball split between Double-A and Triple-A last year. Along the way, he made notable improvements in both his strikeout and walk rates, finishing out the ’24 campaign at 23.5% and 5.4%, respectively. That 2024 season propelled him up the organization’s prospect rankings, landing him eighth at FanGraphs, ninth at MLB.com and 12th at Baseball America.

Birdsell opened the 2025 season on the injured list with an elbow issue but returned to the mound in mid-June and looked effective for much of the summer. The Cubs eased him back into things with two- and four-inning starts in the low minors before stretching him back out in Triple-A. Birdsell posted a 2.48 ERA, 23.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate in his first seven appearances before being rocked for six runs (three earned) across 4 2/3 innings on Aug. 7 in what will now go down as his final start of the 2025 season.

There’s little left to prove for Birdsell in the minors. He entered the year widely regarded as a nearly MLB-ready back-of-the-rotation arm with a reputation for filling up the strike zone. He’ll be Rule 5-eligible this offseason, presenting the Cubs with an interesting decision if his surgery will knock him out for most or all of the 2026 campaign.

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Chicago Cubs Brandon Birdsell

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Marlins Select Seth Martinez

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2025 at 9:15am CDT

The Marlins announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Seth Martinez from Triple-A Jacksonville and placed fellow righty Janson Junk on the 15-day injured list due to ulnar nerve irritation in his right arm. Miami also recalled right-hander Freddy Tarnok from Jacksonville and optioned lefty Josh Simpson to Triple-A in his place. The Fish already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding 40-man move for Martinez wasn’t necessary.

The call back to the big leagues is a nice early birthday present for Martinez, who’ll turn 31 on Friday. The Arizona State product has pitched in parts of four major league seasons, all with the Astros, for whom he suited up in 2021-24. Martinez has 137 1/3 innings at the big league level in his career, during which he’s produced a 3.93 ERA (4.24 FIP, 4.19 SIERA) with a 20.7% strikeout rate, a 9.2% walk rate and a 39.6% ground-ball rate.

Martinez came to the Marlins via waivers at the end of a tumultuous offseason. Houston placed him on waivers back in November, setting off a string of transactions that sent him from the D-backs, to the Marlins, to the Mariners and back to Miami over a span of four months. The Fish finally succeeded at passing Martinez through waivers at the end of spring training, and he’s spent the entire year with their top affiliate in Jacksonville, where he’s pitched well.

In 43 2/3 innings with the Jumbo Shrimp, Martinez has a 3.71 earned run average. He’s fanned a strong 28.9% of his opponents against a 9.6% walk rate that’s just barely north of the 9.3% MLB average for relievers. He’s sitting 89-90 mph with both his four-seamer and sinker, but Martinez is using his slider more than at any point in his career; his 46.7% usage rate actually makes the slider his primary offering. It’s worked well thus far, evidenced not only by the previously mentioned rate stats but also a sharp 13.1% swinging-strike rate and poor batted-ball metrics from his opponents (87.5 mph average exit velocity, 33.9% hard-hit rate).

This could prove to be little more than a cup of coffee for Martinez, but he’s pitched well enough in Triple-A and has enough track record that it wouldn’t be too surprising if he pitched his way into some staying power. Martinez is out of minor league options, so he can’t simply be sent back to Triple-A. He’d need to pass through waivers, and his prior outright assignment means he’d have the right to elect free agency even in that scenario. If he does stick around on Miami’s roster, he can be controlled for four additional seasons.

As for Junk, it’s an ill-timed injury for a journeyman righty who’d created some staying power of his own. Miami is Junk’s sixth organization since 2021, and he came to the Fish with a 6.75 ERA in 40 career big league innings. He’s unlocked something in South Florida, however, tossing 88 innings with a 4.09 ERA. Janson’s 17.2% strikeout rate could charitably be described as pedestrian, but he’s shown some of the best command in the majors this year, issuing a walk to only 2.8% of his opponents. The 29-year-old had solidified himself in the Marlins’ rotation with that performance.

Time will tell whether Junk makes it back to the mound this year, but with only a month left on the regular season calendar, even minor injuries can prove to be season enders. If his season is finished, it’ll easily be the most successful of his career. Miami can control Junk for another five seasons if they choose, and he won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason.

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Miami Marlins Transactions Janson Junk Seth Martinez

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Guardians Place Carlos Santana On Outright Waivers

By Steve Adams | August 26, 2025 at 11:59pm CDT

The Guardians have placed veteran first baseman Carlos Santana on outright waivers, Ken Rosenthal and Zack Meisel of The Athletic report. The 39-year-old switch-hitter is playing on a one-year, $12MM contract and still has about $2.13MM of that sum yet to be paid out.

Any team that claims Santana would need to take on the entirety of that remaining sum. Santana has not been designated for assignment, meaning he can continue to play while he is on waivers. If he goes unclaimed, the Guardians do not need to assign him to a minor league affiliate or remove him from the 40-man roster (though they could choose to do so). If he is claimed, the waivers are irrevocable, and Santana will head to the claiming club. In 455 plate appearances this season, Santana is hitting .225/.316/.333 with his typical brand of elite defense at first base.

Though his defense remains excellent and Santana is still drawing walks at a premium 11.4% rate, his overall offensive output has been about 14% worse than average, by measure of wRC+. This season’s 18.9% strikeout rate is the second-highest of his career and his worst since way back in 2011. Santana is averaging a career-low 87.5 mph off the bat and has struggled particularly from the left side of the plate, hitting just .220/.311/.325 against right-handed pitching.

The Guardians have fallen down the standings with a recent 1-9 skid. Cleveland now sits six games back in the American League Wild Card chase (plus an even more daunting 12.5 games out in the division).

With that swoon and the placement of Santana on waivers, they’ll turn the page on the 2025 season and give more playing time to younger, controllable first base/designated hitter options like Kyle Manzardo and recently promoted top prospect C.J. Kayfus. The 25-year-old Manzardo has popped 21 homers while hitting .231/.313/.453 in 415 plate appearances this season, while the 23-year-old Kayfus is hitting .220/.281/.424 in his first 63 turns at the plate as a big leaguer.

If another club does claim Santana and his remaining salary, he’d be postseason-eligible by virtue of that fact that he’s in his new organization prior to Sept. 1. If he goes unclaimed, Cleveland could release the well-respected veteran in hopes that he’ll catch on elsewhere and be able to participate in another postseason run.

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Cleveland Guardians Newsstand Transactions Carlos Santana

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Orioles To Select Roansy Contreras

By Steve Adams | August 26, 2025 at 4:18pm CDT

The Orioles will select the contract of right-hander Roansy Contreras prior to tomorrow’s game, interim skipper Tony Mansolino told the team’s beat today (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Baltimore hasn’t yet decided whether Contreras will start the game or pitch in a bulk role following an opener, but Mansolino indicated that Contreras will pitch “a good amount” of tomorrow’s game.

Contreras, 25, was a well-regarded prospect in both the Yankees and Pirates systems, going from New York to Pittsburgh as part of the Bucs’ return in the Jameson Taillon swap. He enjoyed a nice debut campaign in 2022, pitching 95 innings of 3.79 ERA ball with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate for Pittsburgh, but Contreras has yet to replicate that success. In 136 2/3 innings from 2023-24, he logged a combined 5.47 earned run average with just an 18.5% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate.

The Pirates jettisoned Contreras from the 40-man roster last May, and he’s bounced around the league in journeyman fashion since. The Angels acquired him for cash following that DFA, but Contreras went to the Rangers via waivers at the beginning of the offseason. That set the stage for a tumultuous winter. Contreras was waived five times last winter and went from Texas, to Cincinnati, to Baltimore, back to the Bronx and back to the Orioles before finally clearing waivers at the end of spring training.

That marked Contreras’ first time clearing waivers, which meant the O’s were able to stash him as a minor league depth piece. He’s spent all season in Triple-A, where he’s pitched 91 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball with a 17.8% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. Contreras is out of minor league options, so if this proves to be just a one-off appearance, the Orioles will need to designate him for assignment yet again. If he passes through waivers unclaimed this time around, Contreras would be able to reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues in favor of free agency.

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Baltimore Orioles Transactions Roansy Contreras

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Phillies Release Joe Ross, Place Jordan Romano On Injured List

By Steve Adams and Darragh McDonald | August 26, 2025 at 3:50pm CDT

The Phillies announced that they have recalled right-hander Daniel Robert and selected the contract of fellow righty Lou Trivino. In corresponding moves, righty Joe Ross has been released and Jordan Romano has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right middle finger inflammation. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported many of these details prior to the official announcement.

The Phils signed Ross to a one-year, $4MM deal in the offseason. He had missed the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to injuries but had bounced back with a solid 2024 campaign. He tossed 74 innings for the Brewers as a swingman with a 3.77 earned run average.

He has been in the Philadelphia bullpen all year, apart from a brief IL stint due to back spasms, often providing the club with more than a single frame. On the whole, he has thrown 51 innings over 37 appearances with a 5.12 ERA. His 7.9% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate are decent figures but his 17.1% strikeout rate has been subpar.

The length provided by Ross has occasionally been useful in sparing the rest of the bullpen from greater wear and tear but that should be less of a concern going forward. On September 1st, rosters expand from 26 to 28, which will allow teams to carry 14 pitchers instead of the usual maximum of 13.

By cutting Ross today, the Phils are giving him a chance to land somewhere else. Given his salary and unimpressive results this year, he will likely clear waivers, if he hasn’t already. That will leave the Phils on the hook for the majority of what is still to be paid out. Any other club could sign Ross and would only owe him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. If he signs somewhere else before September 1st, even on a minor league deal, he would be postseason eligible with that club.

Romano was also signed to a one-year deal this offseason, his coming with an $8.5MM guarantee. His results have been far worse than Ross’s, as he has an 8.23 ERA in 42 2/3 innings. That has many Philly fans clamoring for him to be cut but there’s more reason for optimism under the hood with Romano, despite the awful ERA.

His 25.1% strikeout rate this year isn’t as good as his previous benchmark but is still above average, while his 9.1% walk rate is near par. He’s been undercut by an extremely unfortunate 49% strand rate. ERA estimators such as his 3.62 SIERA suggest he has deserved far better than his ERA. Perhaps he will get a chance to course correct, depending on how long this finger issue lasts.

As part of these moves, Trivino gets back to the big leagues. He was released by the Dodgers about a month ago and then landed a minor league deal with the Phils. Since then, he has tossed seven scoreless Triple-A innings.

His big league work hasn’t been amazing this year. Between the Giants and Dodgers, he has thrown 38 2/3 innings with a 4.42 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 35.6% ground ball rate. His larger body of work is better but he missed the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to injury and hasn’t fully bounced back. He came into this year with a 3.86 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 47.4% ground ball rate in 284 2/3 career innings.

Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images

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Philadelphia Phillies Transactions Daniel Robert Joe Ross Jordan Romano Lou Trivino

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Mets To Promote Jonah Tong

By Steve Adams | August 26, 2025 at 3:03pm CDT

3:03pm: Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed that Tong will be promoted and make his major league debut against the Marlins this Friday, per ESPN’s Jorge Castillo.

2:46pm: The Mets are set to promote top pitching prospect Jonah Tong for his major league debut, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. They’ll need to clear space on both the 40-man and 26-man rosters in order to formally select his contract from Triple-A Syracuse. Tong will be used as a starter, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Tong, 22, has been one of the best pitchers in all of Minor League Baseball in 2025. His stock has soared accordingly, and he’s leapfrogged Syracuse teammate Brandon Sproat as the top yet-to-debut pitching prospect in the Mets organization. He’ll join another ballyhooed young righty, Nolan McLean, in what amounts to a late-season youth movement for a Mets club that has seen veteran starters like Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn and Griffin Canning struggle and/or miss significant time due to injury.

A seventh-round pick back in 2022, Tong opened the current season in Double-A and posted a video-game-esque 1.59 ERA and 40.8% strikeout rate in 102 innings there. That earned him a bump to Triple-A, where he’s some improved. Tong has tossed 11 2/3 scoreless innings with the Mets’ top affiliate, allowing only eight hits and three walks (6.7%) while punching out 17 of 45 opponents (37.8%).

Tong’s dominant season has catapulted him toward the top of the Mets’ prospect rankings and into the elite tier of leaguewide prospects. Baseball America ranks the 6’1″, 180-pound righty as the sport’s No. 42 overall prospect, and Tong sits 44th at MLB.com. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has Tong up at No. 21 on the updated top-100 list he released earlier this week.

That slight frame, Tong’s arm slot and his usage of a plus changeup invoke some comparisons to former Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, though his overall delivery isn’t nearly as violent. Scouting reports on Tong typically cite him sitting 92-94 mph with elite induced vertical break, but he’s averaged 95.7 mph in his pair of Triple-A outings thus far. That previously mentioned changeup, which sits in the mid-80s, has been Tong’s go-to secondary offering and misses bats in droves. He also mixes in a curveball in the upper 70s and a slider that sits 87 mph.

Since he was called up after Aug. 15, Tong cannot accrue 45 days of service time this year and will thus retain his rookie eligibility heading into the 2026 campaign. That will qualify him for MLB’s Prospect Promotion Incentive program, meaning he could net the Mets a compensatory pick if he breaks camp with next year’s team and wins NL Rookie of the Year — or if he finishes top-three in Cy Young or MVP voting in any of his first three full MLB seasons. In terms of club control, the Mets can keep Tong all the way through the 2031 season, and he wouldn’t qualify for arbitration until the 2028-29 offseason.

While Tong is very arguably already one of the best 13 pitchers in the Mets system and thus deserving of a chance to help the team push into the postseason, the late promotion also offers Mets faithful a glimpse at the future. Tong and McLean will have the opportunity to join Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Manaea as rotation arms moving forward. Sproat and former top prospect Christian Scott, who’s on the mend from last summer’s Tommy John surgery, only further add to that impressive crop of pitching.

It’s not yet clear exactly how New York will work all of those arms onto the staff, but that’s an issue for a future day. For the time being, the focus will be on Tong stepping into the heat of a playoff race, looking to continue his meteoric ascent and, ideally, impressing enough to position himself as a core piece in Queens.

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New York Mets Newsstand Top Prospect Promotions Transactions Jonah Tong

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MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Steve Adams | August 26, 2025 at 12:46pm CDT

Steve Adams

  • Good morning! I need to get the chat wrapped up a bit before 2pm today, so moving the start time up ever so slightly, from the usual 1pm CT to 12:45pm. As always, feel free to ask questions in advance if you prefer.
  • Greetings! Let’s get rolling

Cincinnati kid.

  • If the reds fail to make the playoffs I see McLain and Stephenson as trade bait. Would you consider dealing DeLaCruz to someone like the Yankees or dodgers since management will never give him the contract he’s expecting to get

Steve Adams

  • Stephenson for sure, if not a non-tender candidate. The Reds extended Trevino and have Alfredo Duno climbing the minor league ladder. Stephenson is controlled only one more year and due a raise that’ll take him north of $6MM in a season where he’s taken huge steps back at the plate and spent significant time on the IL. I don’t think there’d be a ton of surplus value, but I do think he’s a viable change-of-scenery candidate.As for McLain, it’s hard for me to imagine them selling so low on him, but I suppose if they could move him for a genuine upgrade in the outfield (with much lesser team control), maybe you entertain that thought.I generally don’t think it’s wise to just staunchly say any individual player is off limits — always listen — but it’d be hard to move Elly, who’s still controlled four more years.

Guest

  • Is Kyle Tucker still the biggest Free Agent this winter ?

Steve Adams

  • Yeah. If anything, I think the previously hush-hush fracture in his finger kind of quells some concern about why he’d struggled so much. Of course his numbers are going to take a hit. But he’s still a 29-year-old with plus power who at his best walks more than he strikes out and plays a fine right field. No one on the market can match his earning power.

FP

  • Will we see Jonah Tong in MLB this season?

Steve Adams

  • I think there’s enough smoke there that we should expect it, yeah.

Tigers

  • Tigers should trade skubal this offseason #1 to get as much value as possible and #2 because a 10 yr+ deal could kill you in the later years

Read more

Steve Adams

  • Not the first Tigers fan I’ve seen suggest this, but I couldn’t disagree more with trading Skubal. This is their window to win a World Series. If he walks and you “only” get a draft pick next winter, so be it, but Skubal is one of the two best pitchers in the game. Trading him in the midst of a win-now window because you want to make sure the 2028 team is better for it … I don’t see it. At least not for the Tigers. If you’re the Rays or Brewers and know you’re never going to get anything close to even a league-average payroll from ownership, perhaps that’s another story, but that’s not the case for Detroit.

Baltimore Fan

  • What is Adley’s future? Could he be traded this offseason? To where?

Steve Adams

  • I don’t think it’s completely off the table, but I also don’t think they’ll shop him or anything. With Basallo up/extended and Adley down to two years of club control, there’ll be teams calling, however, and Elias is going to listen since that’s his job.Padres, Guardians, Rays, Rangers, Astros, Cubs, Reds, Phillies all make varying degrees of sense as teams that could look into the possibility

“Cracker” Ray Schalk

  • Chisox catcher in 2026 will be…………

Steve Adams

  • I imagine they’ll just split reps between Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, probably mixing in some DH and 1B work at times. Korey Lee could factor in as a third catcher since he’ll be out of options, but they could also just trade him to a team looking for a cheap option behind the plate.

Chris

  • What do you think Ben Rice’s role is next year? 1B only, lead C, backup C? Its tricky bc he needs a righty caddy and their other primary C is a lefty too.

Steve Adams

  • I’d say it’s likelier that Rice’s role hinges on what other opportunities present themselves this winter than it is that they have a set role for Rice that’ll drive their offseason pursuits. Ultimately, he’ll probably see time at both spots and mix in at DH, since you pretty much have to bake in some downtime for Stanton to any expectations/projections.

Tommy

  • What do you think the Orioles need to do for the rotation in the offseason? I could see Elias talking himself into a staring group of Bradish, Rogers, GRod, Kremer, Wells with Povich/Saurez/Young behind them. But there’s injury concerns galore. Does an ace complete the work or do they need multiple additions? Who do you think is reasonably available to improve them?

Steve Adams

  • I don’t see how they can just run it back with this group. They’ve been pretty timid in adding to the rotation under Elias, with the exception of the Corbin Burnes acquisition — and even that was just for one year.They’ll have major questions on the workloads for Bradish, Rodriguez and Wells. Povich/Young haven’t proven anything. Rogers is a free agent after 2026. Kremer after 2027.They should be looking to add multiple arms, at least one of whom can be controlled multiple seasons. Could be via trade or free agency, but you can’t carry that group into 2026 and hope for better results, and this past offseason’s barrage of low-upside one-year deals proved to be a notable misstep that played a big role in sinking their season.

Carlos Mendoza

  • Am I in over my head? Will I be back next season?

Steve Adams

  • He’s signed through next year with a 2027 option. I don’t really think this is a question, but I guess Mets fans have been frustrated enough that David Stearns felt it necessary to publicly state this morning that Mendoza will be back… I saw his quote and thought, “Well… yeah.”

Free Agency

  • Who’s giving up a draft pick to sign Gallen, Cease, King, Woodruff, Mahle?

Steve Adams

  • I don’t think Mahle gets a QO, and if he does, I would imagine he accepts it. The others are all pretty clear cases to reject QOs, for me. I suppose maybe Gallen would consider it, but he’s on a nice run right now and I think he’ll get the two-year/opt-out treatment at least.

RookTaker23

  • How much do home/road splits impact FA offers? Cody Bellinger (predictably) has some extreme ones.

Steve Adams

  • I doubt Bellinger’s home/road splits are going to be a prominent factor in his free agency. Most players hit better at home, even if they don’t necessarily play in a hitters’ paradise. Bellinger’s career-long home/road splits skew heavily toward his home performance, for instance, and he’s only spent four-plus months with Yankee Stadium’s short porch.

Cool Mama Bell

  • What does a long-term extension of Winn look like? 10 years, $300M?

Steve Adams

  • Nowhere close to that. He still has one pre-arb year where he’ll make basically the league minimum. Even if you project him to make $30MM in arbitration (just using an arbitrary round number), you’d be talking six free agent years at around $270MM, or $45MM per year. No way he’s getting that.Fernando Tatis Jr. is the only position player in this service bracket to ever clear $300MM, and he did it over 14 years (and with a much better offensive profile than Winn has put together). I doubt Winn would get even $150MM, which isn’t to disrespect him as a player, but here are the top three extensions for 2+ years of service position players:Tatis: 14 years, $340MM
    Witt Jr.: 11 years, $288.7MM
    Yordan Alvarez: 6 years, $115MM

    (All of which you can quickly look up in our handy Contract Tracker)

Rick Camp

  • Think Volpe might be available next season and if so would the Braves be interested?

Steve Adams

  • I do think there will be some talk about the Yankees looking for a better option at shortstop, and I have wondered whether Volpe is someone the Braves would look into, yeah.

Richard

  • Would 250 over 7 with a player opt out after 3 years be about right for Bichette? Adds a lot of risk for the team but gives him a chance to hit the market one last time in his career.

Steve Adams

  • I think that’s steep, despite the strong rebound. I like Bichette and all, but him being a year younger than Willy Adames doesn’t justify him shattering Adames’ $182MM by $68MM. I have him somewhere around $175-200MM. We’ll see how he finishes.

Reds GM

  • It seems this year that there are a lot more players who may qualify for Super 2 and reach arbitration a year early. Does everyone who reaches the cutoff and has 86 days of service time qualify? Or is there a limit on how many players can qualify for Super 2 every year?

Steve Adams

  • The Reds have several of those guys (McLain, Elly, Abbott, Brandon Williamson). But it seems like there’s some fundamental misunderstanding of what the cutoff is. Super Two status is given to the top 22% of players (in terms of total service time) between two and three years of MLB service. By definition, only 22% of all players between two and three years of service can be Super 2 newcomers.The number could vary year to year, simply because the volume of players between 2 and 3 years of service changes somewhat each season, but on a rate basis, it’ll always be the same proportion of the service class.Cincinnati just happens to have quite a few guys in that boat this year, so perhaps it seems to you like there are more.
  • For what it’s worth, EDLC and Abbott will probably be right around the bubble.
  • McLain and Williamson are locks, though Williamson isn’t going to get a salary of note after missing the season due to injury. Probably like $800K. If he’s tendered.

Champdo

  • Does Riley Greene’s rising k rate and plummeting walk rate limit the amount of money he’ll get in an extension or in FA

Steve Adams

  • I don’t think it matters a ton just yet. He’s traded out some extra K’s for the best power output of his career, both in terms of volume and on a rate basis.I wouldn’t want to see the strikeouts climb any higher, though, and I’d already like to see some of the walks creep back in. He’s clearly working with a bit of a different approach this year, swinging far more often than at any point in the past. If he can maintain some of the power gains and restore a bit of his former selectivity, there could be a sweet spot where he really dials in.
  • Whatever concerns the less-exciting plate discipline profile create would also be offset by him inching closer to free agency (and topping 30 homers). He’d probably clear $100MM on an extension if they pursue it.

Free Agency

  • How robust is Gleyber Torres’ market going to be? I’m a little surprised not see him on the monthly power rankings of impending free agents, given his youth and performance

Steve Adams

  • I had him 14th and wrote him up on the Power Rankings follow-up (Nos. 11-15) we did for subscribers.Broadly speaking, the market doesn’t pay pure second basemen. Marcus Semien is the only one who’s gotten the huge payday, and he did it coming off a 6-WAR, 45-homer season with plus defense and baserunning (and from a Rangers team that was willing to splash around some silly money).Torres has had a nice year, but he’s been a more good than great hitter with minimal defensive/baserunning value. To me, he feels like someone who’ll come in comfortably under $100MM, age notwithstanding.

Gashouse Gorilla

  • I’m interesting in the decision on Nathaniel Lowe. I realize he was having a poor year, but it seems strange with his past history he was just let go.  Nationals have a reason other than (some) money?

Steve Adams

  • They’d have non-tendered him in the offseason. No one was going to give up a prospect of any value to acquire one year of Lowe when he’d have gotten a raise north of $12MM. They cut him loose to open at-bats for younger players and probably held out a small bit of hope that maybe someone would claim the contract, which they unsurprisingly did not.

Charleston Chew

  • Will Cal be MVP?

Steve Adams

  • 76% of our readers now think so!
    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/american-league-mvp-cal-raleigh…
  • I tend to agree, though it’s hardly a sure thing just yet.

King Tuck

  • O/U 75% chance the Cubs re-sign Tucker? If they do would a Cody Bellinger contract be possible? 3-4 years with an opt out after 2 and 3 years. 150mil over 4 years. 37.5 mil aav is a hefty pay raise from this year.

Steve Adams

  • Way under on the percentage the Cubs re-sign him, and no way he’s taking a three- or four-year deal.

$ for a question?

  • Only way a question can be fielded is if I pay a subscription?……..poor people like baseball too!

Steve Adams

  • This chat is hosted on third-party software. I have no idea who in here is a subscriber or not. But there are 448 people participating/asking questions, and that constitutes a (very) lightly attended chat. Which is par for the course this time of year, as opposed to the deadline or offseason.

anxious jays fan

  • whats our plan if bichette walks? start clement full time? kick gimenez over?

Steve Adams

  • Gimenez to shortstop and go outside the organization at 2B, I would think.But I thought the Guardians should’ve moved Gimenez to SS years ago and they chose not to. So we shall see. I think the Jays will make a genuine effort to re-sign Bichette, too, so it’s not a foregone conclusion that he leaves.

Pete

  • Now that a little more time has passed, does the White Sox handling of the Louis Robert situation make any more sense to you?

Steve Adams

  • Robert could stay healthy and hit .300/.375/.530 from the deadline on, and I would still say it was a risk I wouldn’t have taken, even if it pans out perfectly like that.
  • I understood the risk they were taking, I just didn’t agree with it and still don’t. But teams and players take risks all the time where I say “Woof, I don’t like that at all” and it still works out. Part of the game/business.

BTinVT

  • Can you see Gorman turning into Muncy? Thank you

Steve Adams

  • Gorman doesn’t walk like Muncy, and Muncy has never struck out as much as Gorman. I guess he could be a poor man’s version of Muncy, but I don’t think he has that same sort of offensive ceiling as Muncy

PhilsPhansince1965

  • Should we unload either Castellanos or Taijuan over the winter to save some $$?

Steve Adams

  • Far easier said than done. No one’s going to take much (any?) of Castellanos’ contract. I guess maybe you could pay Walker down to like $5-8MM and dump him for little to no return.

Even year

  • What will need to happen for the Giants to contend in 26?

Steve Adams

  • If they add one more legitimate bat, get Devers healthy, and bring in some rotation support for Webb/Ray, I don’t think it’s far-fetched that they contend. I’d like to see two bats (one in RF, one at 2B), but you can’t just expect them to go sign Tucker, Gleyber, Cease and a couple relievers, so trying to traffic somewhat in reality here.

rusty

  • Will Jakob Marsee go 20/20 in ’26?

Steve Adams

  • At this rate he might do it in 2025!
  • Kidding, obviously. I think it’s a pretty easy yes on the steals. Bit more skeptical on the power, but it’s not outside the realm of plausibility.

Guest

  • Do you see any big ticket free agents heading to San Francisco in the near future?

Steve Adams

  • They’re among the more obvious suitors for Kyle Tucker and Gleyber Torres, sure. I imagine Bichette is going to state early on that he’ll play any position (a la Story and Adames) to increase his market viability as well, even if he wants to stay at shortstop. Giants pursuing him as a 2B option wouldn’t surprise me.
  • Ok, I’ve got to wrap up for the week.I’m on X @Adams_Steve or Bluesky @adams-steve.bsky.social if you have more questions. If you want more opinions from the MLBTR team, you can learn about our Front Office subscription package and sign up here. In addition to ad-free viewing on the site and in the app, you’ll get weekly analysis/opinion columns from Anthony Franco and myself, a weekly mailbag column from Tim Dierkes, weekly fantasy baseball chats and columns with Nicklaus Gaut, two weekly subscriber-only chats (one with me, one with Anthony) where your odds of getting a question answered are much higher, direct Q&A opportunities with Darragh McDonald, access to our Contract Tracker, our GM Tracker and our Agency Database, and more.Have a great week, everyone!

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Francisco Alvarez To Begin Rehab Assignment

By Steve Adams | August 26, 2025 at 11:54am CDT

Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez has resumed swinging a bat and is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment this week, writes MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. It’d be a remarkably quick return for the 23-year-old, who suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb earlier this month. Manager Carlos Mendoza expressed shock when he was sent video of Alvarez already swinging a bat this past Sunday. “When I was looking at it, I was like, ’There’s no way this guy is swinging the bat,'” said Mendoza.

Alvarez will require surgery after the season, but he’ll gut out the injury to the extent that he’s able to tolerate the pain it causes. DiComo notes that the Mets would prefer to use him behind the plate rather than at designated hitter, where Starling Marte has been swinging a blistering hot bat for the past few weeks, but the team won’t rule out the possibility of Alvarez mixing in at DH.

The mere notion of Alvarez returning in short order seemed outlandish at the time of his IL placement and the revelation that he’d require eventual surgery. However, given the production he’d turned in prior to suffering that injury on a slide into second base, it’s not a surprise that the Mets are looking at an aggressive timetable. Alvarez struggled enough early this season to find himself demoted to Triple-A in late June, but he returned a month later and exploded with a .323/.408/.645 batting line in 71 plate appearances before incurring his ill-timed injury.

Certainly, it’d be a lot to expect Alvarez to replicate or even approximate that level of play. That said, there’s a fairly low bar to clear behind the plate — at least from an offensive standpoint. Luis Torrens is hitting just .221/.282/.324 in 241 plate appearances this season, while rookie Hayden Senger has slashed .172/.210/.190 in his first 63 big league plate appearances.

A quick turnaround for Alvarez isn’t the only aggressive move being pondered by the Mets, who are also reportedly mulling a promotion for touted pitching prospect Jonah Tong. The 2022 seventh-rounder could feasibly join fellow rookie and top pitching prospect Nolan McLean in the rotation down the stretch. The Mets have sustained multiple rotation injuries to their starting staff (Frankie Montas, Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill) and are scrambling to hold onto a Wild Card spot in the National League. New York is 15-19 since the All-Star break and just 8-14 in August.

The Mets entered the All-Star break in possession of the second Wild Card spot and just a half game behind the Phillies in the NL East. They’re now six games behind Philadelphia in the division and 3.5 games behind San Diego for the second Wild Card spot. The Mets are still 2.5 games up on the Reds for that final spot, but New York has the slightly tougher schedule the rest of the way — including a pivotal three-game set in Cincinnati from Sept. 5-7. The Mets have just a .431 winning percentage on the road, whereas the Reds have won at a .554 clip at home.

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New York Mets Francisco Alvarez

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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

By Steve Adams | August 25, 2025 at 1:55pm CDT

Steve Adams

  • Good afternoon! I'll get going at 2pm CT, but feel free to ask a question ahead of time if you like.
  • Hello! Let's get underway

small mouth bass

  • For 2026, could the Jays opt for slick middle infield - Gimenez + Clement - and go hard after Bregman to play 3rd (with Barger going to RF)?

Steve Adams

  • I don't see any reason the Jays wouldn't be on Bregman this offseason. He's a good fit for the roster, they have plenty of cash coming off the books, they'll be firmly in win-now mode, the cost won't be beyond their comfort level, etc.That said, I don't think that means you need to resign yourself to Gimenez/Clement up the middle. Second basemen generally aren't paid that richly in free agency. Gleyber Torres is probably going to be the top earner among this year's group, but I don't think he's going to get nine figures or anything. They could look for a bounceback from Luis Rengifo or look into trading for Brandon Lowe or Ozzie Albies. There are lots of paths to consider.

Unqualified Reds GM

  • Nick Lodolo for Jarren Duran. What/who else needs to be tossed in for this to happen?

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