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Diamondbacks Notes: Gurriel, Kelly, Gallen

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The D-backs may have lost one of their regulars last night. Outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was carted off the field after a non-contact injury in left-center. Both he and Blaze Alexander — who was making his first career appearance in center field — were tracking a drive to the left-center gap off the bat of Rowdy Tellez. Alexander laid out to make an exceptional diving grab, but Gurriel only pulled up and pivoted in the final second or so before a potential collision. Though the two avoided impact, Gurriel dropped after pivoting and had to be helped to a cart (video link).

The team didn’t have an initial diagnosis on Gurriel last night. Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters after the game that they’d scheduled an MRI for today and would know more after the fact (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Presumably, he’ll have an update before tonight’s game against the Rangers — assuming there’s a confirmed diagnosis after one wave of imaging, anyhow. We should know more about Gurriel’s status before too long, but there aren’t many instances where a player has to be carted off the field but returns to the lineup in short order.

With the D-backs 6.5 games out of a Wild Card spot and 11 back in the division, it’s likely they’ll proceed with caution if there’s an injury of even modest note. Arizona’s playoff odds are down around 1% at this point, and if Gurriel was fortunate enough to avoid any major damage, there’s little sense rushing back and risking something more severe by playing at less than 100%.

The 31-year-old Gurriel has had perhaps the least-productive season of his lengthy MLB tenure. He was well on his way to his fourth career 20-homer season, with 19 big flies under his belt already, but Gurriel’s .248/.295/.418 slash is about 6% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. If last night’s incident led to an injury that cuts his season short, that would be the first below-average season of his career at the plate. Gurriel entered the season as a .279/.324/.461 hitter in 3009 big league plate appearances.

There are contractual aspects to consider as well. Gurriel is playing on a three-year, $42MM contract but has the right to opt out of his deal at the end of the current season. Given the slightly below-average rate stats, it seems unlikely he’d have walked away from the remaining year and $18MM ($13MM salary in 2026, plus a $5MM buyout on a $14MM club option for 2027).

However, Gurriel had been hitting quite well of late, with a .273/.315/.530 slash over the past three weeks. If he’d kept mashing like that in the final four weeks, he’d have pulled his season-long batting line back above average. That’s plausible, given his track record, and in that scenario he might’ve been tempted to return to the market and see what free agency had to offer ahead of his age-32 season.

Speaking of the D-backs and free agency, Arizona fans will be encouraged to hear now-former D-backs starter Merrill Kelly express a strong openness to re-signing in the offseason. Arizona traded Kelly to the Rangers prior to the trade deadline, netting three pitching prospects in return (Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake, David Hagaman). With the Rangers visiting the D-backs at the moment, Kelly told Jake Garcia of 12 News that a return in free agency is something he’d absolutely consider (video link).

“I’ve voiced my love for this place,” Kelly said. “I’ve talked to the front office tirelessly about being a D-back for life. That was really my plan. That was real. That was genuine. … So it’s never off the table. Coming home is very attractive, not only for me but also for the family aspect of it. But at the same time, I’ve put myself in a position to have what I hope to be a decent market, so I’m going to have to make a hard decision, business-wise, but coming back and being a D-back is never off the table.”

Arizona is going to need arms for the upcoming season, so a return would make sense for both parties. Corbin Burnes will miss most or all of next year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Zac Gallen is a free agent. Left-handers Blake Walston (March) and Tommy Henry (June) also had Tommy John surgery this year. Prospects Yilber Diaz and Cristian Mena have both struggled and/or been injured. Next year’s rotation currently projects to include Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson, with little else in the way of certainty.

Bringing Kelly back would obviously go a long way toward stabilizing the group, and it could very likely be done without making a long-term commitment. He’ll turn 37 in October, so anything beyond two years would register as a surprise. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Max Scherzer (three years, $130MM in 2021) and Rich Hill (three years, $48MM in 2016) are the only free agent starting pitchers in the past decade to command a deal greater than two years at 37 or older.

As for Kelly’s longtime rotation-mate, Gallen, it remains to be seen how seriously the Snakes will pursue a reunion. However, Gallen is doing his best to flip the script on a disappointing season in the run-up to free agency. It’s too little, too late to salvage the team’s season in all likelihood, but Gallen fired six shutout innings with eight punchouts against the Dodgers in L.A. on Aug. 29 and, in doing so, dipped his ERA back under 5.00. A 4.94 earned run average still isn’t going to stand out, but Gallen has been pitching well for two months now.

Dating back to July 1, the former All-Star touts a 3.74 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate in 65 innings. He was particularly sharp in August, with a 2.57 ERA in 35 innings. Gallen started six games last month and delivered five quality starts.

Once the Diamondbacks opted not to trade Gallen, it seemed likely that they would make him a qualifying offer at season’s end — struggles notwithstanding. However, a prolonged stretch of quality results on the mound should only make that decision easier for the team. A big September performance will also make it easier for Gallen, who from 2019-24 logged a combined 3.29 ERA in 815 1/3 innings, to turn down a one-year offer in the $22MM range. His recent hot streak makes his results in the season’s final four weeks worth monitoring extra closely; Gallen will take the mound tomorrow against the Rangers and look for his eighth quality start in his last 12 trips to the mound.

Nationals Sign Jorge Alfaro

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2:00pm: The Nationals have announced the signing. Alfaro jumps right onto the big league roster, and Stubbs has been optioned to Triple-A Rochester to create a 26-man roster spot. Millas was transferred to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man roster spot. Unsurprisingly, that indicates that the fractured finger Millas suffered last week will end his season.

12:45pm: The Nationals have agreed to a major league deal with veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro, reports Andrew Golden of the Washington Post. The CAA client had been playing with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate but opted out of his minor league contract yesterday to become a free agent.

The 32-year-old Alfaro hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2023. He appeared in 82 games and tallied 326 plate appearances with the Brewers’ Nashville affiliate in 2025, hitting .244/.285/.430 with 15 home runs and a dozen steals. Alfaro walked in only 3.4% of his plate appearances with Milwaukee’s Triple-A club and also fanned at an alarming 36.5% clip.

Despite those troubling rate stats, Alfaro will get the opportunity to return to the big leagues with the Nats. Washington has lost both Keibert Ruiz (concussion) and Drew Millas (fractured finger) to the injured list in recent weeks. Riley Adams and CJ Stubbs are currently handling catching duty in D.C.

In parts of eight major league seasons, Alfaro is a .253/.302/.393 hitter (86 wRC+) through 1710 trips to the plate. He’s drawn negative framing and blocking grades in that time but has controlled the running game well, as evidenced by a career 27.5% caught-stealing rate.

Alfaro has spent most of his big league time with the Marlins, who acquired him alongside Sixto Sanchez in the trade sending J.T. Realmuto to the division-rival Phillies. Miami hoped that in Alfaro — a consensus top-100 prospect at the time of the swap — they’d secured a long-term answer behind the plate. He was indeed a regular in Miami for three seasons, but Alfaro’s bat never lived up to his prospect billing, and he’s since bounced around the league on a series of minor league contracts.

There’s little enough time left in the current season that Alfaro, who has 5.133 years of major league service, can’t reach six years before the calendar runs out. As such, he’ll technically remain controllable into 2026 via arbitration, although barring an unexpectedly productive September, it seems likelier that he’ll be outrighted at season’s end and again become a minor league free agent.

Braves Select Hayden Harris, Designate Wander Suero

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The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of left-handed pitching prospect Hayden Harris from Triple-A Gwinnett. Righty Hunter Stratton was optioned and righty Wander Suero was designated for assignment in a pair of corresponding moves. Atlanta also added infielder Ha-Seong Kim, whom they claimed off waivers from the Rays, to the active roster. Jurickson Profar heads to the paternity list to clear an active roster spot for Kim.

An undrafted free agent out of Georgia Southern in 2022, Harris is a Georgia native who has gone from off the prospect radar entirely to a dominant bullpen arm in the upper minors. He posted mid-4.00 ERAs in 2023 and 2024, his first two full professional seasons, but has erupted with a 0.56 ERA in 48 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season. In 48 innings, he’s fanned an outrageous 41% of his opponents against a manageable 9% walk rate.

Harris doesn’t have eye-popping velocity, averaging just 91.7 mph on his four-seamer in Triple-A. He’s still posted a huge 14% swinging-strike rate in the minors this year. MLB.com ranks him 27th among Braves prospects, noting that he’s a pure relief prospect without overpowering stuff but nevertheless misses bats with his heater due to a deceptive delivery and plus carry on the pitch.

This is Harris’ first addition to the big league roster. He’ll have a full slate of options heading into the 2026 season and can be controlled for at least six full years. He’ll give Atlanta another intriguing left-handed option to pair with Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee and Dylan Dodd, all of whom have pitched to sub-4.00 ERAs this season when healthy. (Bummer is currently on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation.)

Suero, 33, has spent the bulk of his career with the division-rival Nationals but began to bounce around in journeyman fashion in recent years. He gave the Nats 142 2/3 innings of 4.10 ERA ball (3.73 SIERA) from 2018-20 but has struggled since, tossing a combined 57 MLB frames with a 7.11 ERA between the Nats, Dodgers, Astros and now Braves. He’s also had a minor league stint with the Angels along the way.

Suero has had a terrific season in Gwinnett, posting a 1.35 ERA, 31.2% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 46 2/3 innings. That won’t be enough to keep him on the 40-man roster, however, and he’ll now head to outright waivers in the coming days. Any team that claims Suero would be able to control him for two additional seasons in arbitration, as the 15 days of big league service Atlanta has given him this season was exactly enough to push him up to four years of service time. Suero is optionable for the remainder of this season but will be out of minor league options in 2026.

Shelby Miller Undergoing Testing After Feeling “Pop” In Elbow

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Brewers reliever Shelby Miller is headed for imaging after an ominous exit from yesterday’s game, writes Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Milwaukee skipper Pat Murphy said the 34-year-old Miller told the training staff he felt a “pop” in his elbow during yesterday’s outing.

The veteran Miller was a key bullpen pickup for the Brew Crew at last month’s trade deadline, though he came with some health risk, given that he was on the injured list due to a forearm strain at the time of the trade. The cost of acquisition perhaps reflected that. Rather than send any prospects to the D-backs, Milwaukee instead took on Miller’s contract and ate a reported $2MM of the roughly $7MM left on Jordan Montgomery’s contract. Montgomery underwent Tommy John surgery back in March; the Brewers essentially purchased Miller from the Diamondbacks.

It looked like a nice move for Milwaukee at the time. Miller was excellent in a rebound effort with Arizona, tossing 36 1/3 innings of 1.98 ERA ball with a big 28% strikeout rate and a strong 7.7% walk rate. He picked up eight holds and ten saves prior to being flipped to the NL Central leaders.

Miller has pitched 9 2/3 innings with the Brewers and sports an unsightly 5.59 ERA, though that’s a bit misleading. Prior to yesterday’s outing, when he seemingly sustained this injury, he’d pitched in 10 games with the Brewers and held opponents scoreless in eight of them. The main blemish was a three-run hiccup against the Bucs on Aug. 13, but generally, Miller had been strong: a 3.72 ERA with a 14-to-4 K/BB ratio in those 9 2/3 frames. He was tagged for two runs without recording an out yesterday, however.

Bullpen depth has once again been a strength for the Brewers in 2025, but Miller was expected to fill a key role nonetheless. However, Milwaukee also lost closer Trevor Megill (2.54 ERA in 46 innings) and righty Grant Anderson (2.87 ERA in 62 2/3 innings) to the injured list within the past week — the former due to a flexor strain and the latter due to tendinitis in his ankle. Each of Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig, Nick Mears and Aaron Ashby has pitched at least 49 innings with a 3.42 ERA or better, but the relief corps has now lost three notable arms in a span of under two weeks.

Megill suggested at the time of the IL placement that it was more precautionary than concerning — a means of making sure he didn’t push through something minor and jeopardize his availability for the postseason. It’s less clear when or whether Anderson will be able to return, and Miller’s description of his injury is obviously quite concerning. We’ll presumably have more information on Miller sooner than later, but it seems doubtful that all three of Megill, Anderson and Miller will be 100% by the time postseason play begins. Miller, it should be noted, missed the majority of the 2017-18 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Mariners Promote Harry Ford, Release Donovan Solano

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With rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, the Mariners announced that they have selected catcher Harry Ford and right-hander Luke Jackson. They also recalled infielder Leo Rivas. In corresponding moves, they designated right-hander Sauryn Lao for assignment and released infielder Donovan Solano.

Ford, 22, is widely considered one of the top catching prospects — and top 100 overall prospects — in the industry. The former first-rounder has spent the whole season in Triple-A Tacoma, where he’s done nothing to dissuade that line of thinking. In his first 97 games and 458 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, Ford has turned in a terrific .283/.408/.460 batting line (125 wRC+). He’s homered 16 times, swiped seven bags and walked nearly as often (16.2%) as he’s struck out (19.2%).

There are natural questions about Ford’s long-term fit on a roster that also includes 2025 AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh. The Mariners’ franchise catcher signed a six-year extension last offseason and has obviously substantially elevated his profile since putting pen to paper on that contract. The M’s could roster both catchers and rotate them between the catching and designated hitter spot. Having two catchers with that type of offensive potential would be a clear advantage, though there’ll likely be plenty of offseason attempts to pry Ford from the Mariners’ grasp. Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto is never one to shy away from bold trades, so he’ll presumably at least consider dealing from strength, if it addresses other areas of need.

For the time being, however, Ford will get his feet wet and bolster the Mariners’ catching depth while they chase down what looks like a very, very likely playoff berth. The Mariners currently trail the Astros by two games in the American League West but have a 2.5-game lead over the Rangers for the final Wild Card spot. Both the Houston and Texas rosters have recently been hit with several key injuries, while Seattle has remained generally healthy and also added some key lineup upgrades at the July trade deadline (Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, most notably).

Jackson, 34, has spent the bulk of the season with the Rangers but also tossed 4 2/3 innings for the Tigers. He’s pitched to a 4.54 ERA in 39 2/3 innings overall. Once a key member of the Atlanta bullpen, Jackson was a rock in manager Brian Snitker’s 2021 bullpen as the Braves won the World Series. He tossed 63 2/3 innings with a 1.98 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate and 31 holds. His elbow gave way the following spring, however, and Jackson missed all of 2022 following Tommy John surgery.

In three years since returning from surgery, Jackson’s results haven’t matched his pre-injury levels. He’s logged a combined 126 innings of 4.36 ERA ball. His strikeout rate is down to 23.6% in that time (and just 16.1% this year), while his walk rate climbed to nearly 12% (13.8% in 2025). Jackson’s average fastball is also down more than a mile per hour from his pre-surgery form.

Even with those red flags, he’ll get a look in the Seattle bullpen down the stretch. Jackson has plenty of experience in postseason races and high-leverage settings. That experience and his overall track record could prove beneficial for the M’s if he can get his command back on track. Jackson isn’t going to be thrust into ultra high-leverage spots anyhow, so he really only needs to function as a serviceable middle reliever.

Solano signed a one-year, $3.5MM deal over the winter. He had a dreadful start but heated up in the summer. However, Solano was signed due to his typically strong production against lefties — but struggled uncharacteristically versus southpaws (.181/.212/.245). He hit .348/.403/.478 in 77 plate appearances versus righties, but that was buoyed by a .407 BABIP he’s not likely to sustain. And, with the addition of Naylor as an everyday option at first base, the need for a short-side platoon bat at first base (who was unexpectedly struggling versus the lefties he was signed to help with) apparently ran out.

Lao, 26, made his big league debut this season but has only pitched 3 1/3 innings in the majors. He’s been tagged for three runs with a 4-to-1 K/BB ratio in that short sample. The rest of his season has been spent in Tacoma, where he’s pitched to a 3.13 ERA with a 25.9% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate in 69 innings of relief.

Lao, a former Dodger farmhand who signed as a minor league free agent last offseason, has averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seamer and 92.9 mph on his sinker in Triple-A. He’s also mixed in a mid-80s slider and upper-80s changeup. He has multiple minor league option years remaining and will now hit the waiver wire, where he’ll be made available to all 29 other clubs.

Dodgers Sign Andrew Heaney

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The Dodgers and left-hander Andrew Heaney have agreed to a deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The southpaw had recently been released by the Pirates. Heyman notes that Heaney signed in time to be eligible for the playoffs, so the deal must have been signed late last night. Heyman also says Heaney will initially report to Triple-A Oklahoma City, which suggests this is a minor league deal. Chris Cotillo of MassLive had previously reported that Heaney would be signing with a National League team.

It’s a reunion between the two parties, as Heaney spent the 2022 season with the Dodgers and enjoyed some of the best success of his career. He logged an excellent 3.10 ERA with L.A. and fanned a career-best 35.5% of his opponents against a tidy 6.1% walk rate (second-lowest of his career). Shoulder problems limited Heaney to just 14 starts and 72 2/3 innings that season, however.

His relatively small-sample dominance was still enough to earn him a two-year deal with an opt-out in Texas. Though he wasn’t nearly as dominant on a rate basis with the Rangers, Heaney did pile up 307 1/3 innings over 59 starts, pitching to a 4.22 ERA with a quality 23.2% strikeout rate and a better-than-average 7.6% walk rate. It was at least mildly surprising that he lingered on the free-agent market into February this past offseason, and his one-year, $5.25MM deal with the Bucs looked like a bargain early in the season.

Through mid-June, Heaney sported a 3.33 ERA with an 18.5% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. The 34-year-old lefty’s average velocity had dipped slightly under 90 mph, and his strikeout rate declined accordingly, but Heaney continued to post solid results, even while ERA alternatives like SIERA (4.53) remained skeptical of those run-prevention numbers.

Regression indeed reared its ugly head. Heaney was trounced for seven runs in back-to-back starts in mid-June and hasn’t been able to right the ship. In 42 innings since mid-June (nine starts, three relief appearances), Heaney has been throttled for 43 earned runs in 42 innings. He’s continued to limit walks nicely (7.3%), but his strikeout rate has plummeted to 12% and he’s averaged A staggering 2.79 homers per nine innings pitched.

For now, Heaney will look to get back on track in Oklahoma City. The Dodgers are quite familiar with Heaney and have gotten strong results from him in the past, so they’ll hope to turn the clock back a few years. Heaney has experience both in the rotation and bullpen, so he can be depth for a variety of roles in his return to the Dodger organization.

Astros Designate Logan Davidson For Assignment

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With active rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, the Astros made a few moves, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Outfielder Taylor Trammell has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and right-hander Luis Garcia from the 60-day IL. The Garcia move was previously reported. To open a 40-man spot for him, infielder Logan Davidson has been designated for assignment.

Davidson, 27, joined the Astros via waiver claim a few days prior to the trade deadline. The former first-round pick out of Clemson had been designated for assignment by the A’s, his original organization. He didn’t appear in the majors with Houston, spending his entire Astros stint in Triple-A Sugar Land, where he hit .207/.290/.390 in 93 plate appearances.

That’s Davidson’s third run at the Triple-A level. He’s a career .271/.367/.441  hitter in just 1002 plate appearances there. Davidson has primarily been a shortstop in his pro career but has at least 500 innings at all four infield positions and another 350 innings of outfield work under his belt.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Davidson will head back to waivers. He’ll be available to all 29 other clubs, based on the reverse order of the leaguewide standings (starting with the Rockies). The switch-hitting Davidson has multiple minor league option years remaining beyond the current season and could be a depth option for rebuilding clubs looking to fill out their infield depth with rosters having expanded.

The Nationals Need To Lean Further Into Their Rebuild

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This wasn't how the Nationals hoped their rebuild would play out. When now-former GM Mike Rizzo traded Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers back in 2021, the hope was that dismantling a stacked roster could lead to an accelerated turnaround. In the span of just over a calendar year, Washington traded Scherzer, Turner and Juan Soto, in addition to short-term veterans like Kyle Schwarber, Jon Lester, Brad Hand, Yan Gomes, Daniel Hudson, Josh Harrison, Josh Bell, Jeimer Candelario, Dylan Floro and Hunter Harvey.

It obviously takes years to fully evaluate the extent of any given trade, but it's more than fair to say the slate of moves largely hasn't panned out. Rizzo's return for Soto/Bell has been terrific, with the Nats netting James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana. The first four are current big leaguers -- the first three are stars or close to it -- and Susana is now a consensus top-100 pitching prospect. The trade of Lester brought back Lane Thomas, who was a solid regular for a few years before being traded to Cleveland last summer in a deal that netted the Nats current big league infielder Jose Tena and left-hander Alex Clemmey -- currently their No. 3 prospect at Baseball America. It's a nice return for one-plus seasons of Thomas.

The rest of the Nationals' haul, however, hasn't really panned out. Washington doesn't have any above-average regulars to show for the rest of that slate of trades. If they'd focused squarely on low-level minor leaguers who were still bubbling up to the top of a stacked farm system, that'd be one thing .... but it's not the case. Washington's farm system ranks 21st in the majors, per Baseball America, and that's after benefiting from the No. 1 pick in this summer's draft. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranks their farm 22nd. The MLB.com team ranks them 23rd. For a last place team that's been rebuilding for more than four years, that's not sufficient.

Let's dive into what the Nats received from that group of trades, what critical decisions lie ahead in the offseason, and how boldly they could act in order to turn things around.

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Pirates Place Isiah Kiner-Falefa On Outright Waivers

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The Pirates have placed veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on outright waivers, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. He’ll be available to all 29 other clubs, with waiver priority determined based on the reverse order of the MLB-wide standings. (Outright waiver priority is not league-specific like the now-defunct revocable August trade waivers were.)

Because he has not been designated for assignment, Kiner-Falefa can continue to play while on waivers. If another team claims him, which seems plausible, he’d be postseason-eligible because he’d join that club before Sept. 1. (Waivers are a 48-hour process.) He’s being paid $7.5MM this season, with about $1.21MM of that sum yet to be paid out.

The Pirates do not have to assign him outright to a minor league affiliate if he goes unclaimed. They could do so if they choose, but Kiner-Falefa would have the right to then elect free agency and retain the remainder of his guaranteed money. They could also opt to simply release Kiner-Falefa if he goes unclaimed, as the Guardians did with veteran first baseman Carlos Santana, which would give him one more chance to jump into a playoff hunt between now and season’s end.

In 419 plate appearances, Kiner-Falefa is batting .268/.304/.337. It’s a light batting line (78 wRC+), but he’s gone 15-for-19 in stolen base attempts and played a respectable shortstop this season. Kiner-Falefa is a versatile defender with experience at short, second base, third base and all three outfield spots.

The Pirates somewhat surprisingly didn’t trade Kiner-Falefa at the deadline. Presumably, his middling offensive contributions didn’t garner strong interest. However, as teams gear up for the stretch run and look to deepen their benches, Kiner-Falefa’s brand of speed, contact (15.5% strikeout rate) and defensive versatility could hold appeal. He’s struggling quite a bit against lefties this year, despite being a right-handed bat, but he entered the season with more or less neutral platoon splits in his career.

For the Bucs, the waiver route presents an opportunity to trim some payroll and to afford a veteran player the opportunity to join a postseason chase in the season’s final month. By waiting until the end of the month to make the move, they made it as affordable as possible for teams with interest in claiming him. Kiner-Falefa’s contract does contain $250K bonuses for reaching 500 and 550 plate appearances, but he’s 81 shy of that mark right now thanks largely to a monthlong stay on the IL for a hamstring strain back in April/May.

If another club claims Kiner-Falefa, it’d open more at-bats for younger infield options. There’s no way the Bucs would call up 19-year-old Konnor Griffin, currently ranked as MLB’s top prospect, when he has just eight games above A-ball to his credit right now, but they could give some reps to former trade acquisitions like Nick Yorke or Cam Devanney in the season’s final month.

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.

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