Pirates Sign Manager Don Kelly To Extension
The Pirates announced Monday morning that manager Don Kelly has been signed to a contract extension. He was named manager back in May, after the team fired Derek Shelton, but there was never any commitment beyond the current season (despite Kelly not having an “interim” label included in his title). Today’s announcement makes it official that he’ll continue managing the team beyond the current season. Pittsburgh did not specify the length of Kelly’s new contract.
“Donnie has earned the respect of the players, front office, and our fans –- and he has certainly earned mine,” chairman/majority owner Bob Nutting said in this morning’s press release. “Donnie took over the team at a true low point. Since then, we’ve seen meaningful progress, not just in the clubhouse culture, but on the field. His connection to the community and passion for the franchise make him more than just a manager. He is a Pittsburgher; he is part of our community. He’s the right fit, at the right time, and is the right person to lead us forward.”
“I’m proud to continue leading the Pirates,” said Kelly himself in the press release. “Our clubhouse is full of players who care deeply about each other, about winning, and about representing Pittsburgh the right way. I was a Pirates fan first. I know our fans deserve a team that delivers on the field, and it’s on me to make sure we reach that standard.”
“Donnie is an elite communicator. He is deeply trusted by our players because he’s credible, consistent, and unafraid of tough conversations,” said general manager Ben Cherington in the press release. “His background as both a scout and a coach gives him a rare perspective: patience when it’s needed, and an unwavering belief in players’ ability to improve. Above all, he values people and winning. His ability to adjust, lead, and do the hard work makes him the right leader.”
The Pirates have been mired in mediocrity for a long time now. They last made the postseason in 2015. They have only finished above .500 once since then, which was back in 2018. They lost at least 100 games in 2021 and 2022. They showed a bit of promise in 2023 and 2024, flirting with contention at times, but finished both of those seasons with 76 wins.
Ideally, they would have taken another step forward in 2025, but they got out to an awful start. They were 12-26 when Shelton was fired in May. Kelly took over from there and the club fared better the rest of the way, though their 59-65 record under the new skipper was still subpar.
Going into 2026, there will be pressure for the club to finally get to another level. The Bucs have graduated a large number of pitching prospects to the majors. That’s obviously a good thing but it’s also a bit of a ticking clock. They have four remaining years with Paul Skenes. The Mitch Keller contract runs another three seasons.
In the past, the Bucs have traded some of their most prominent pitchers before they have reached free agency, a consequence of their consistently low payrolls. Pitchers like Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon are a few of the notable examples. As such, it’s common for people in the baseball world to speculate about Skenes being traded before those four years are up. Keller was in plenty of trade rumors this past summer but ultimately stayed put.
On the offensive side, the club has had far less success. They didn’t have a qualified hitter post an above-average season in 2025, by measure of wRC+. Spencer Horwitz did finish the season with a 119 wRC+, though his offseason wrist surgery limited him to just 411 plate appearances. Joey Bart got just over the line with a 101 wRC+ but in just 332 trips to the plate. The team-wide wRC+ came in at 82, behind all MLB teams apart from the Rockies. Improvement will obviously be required there for the club to be a real threat.
As the skipper, Kelly can only work with the players he is given. While the club still lost more games than they won with him at the helm, the organization seems to feel he did a good job regardless. A lot of a manager’s duties occur in the clubhouse, communicating with players on things like preparation, usage, strategy and the like. The Bucs are presumably pleased enough with Kelly’s work in those areas to keep him around as they try to find a new gear in 2026 and beyond.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Jake Burger To Undergo Wrist Surgery
Rangers first baseman Jake Burger will undergo surgery to repair a tendon sheath in his left wrist later this week, he tells Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The injury originally occurred in mid-August. There’s no firm timetable on the recovery process, though Grant likens the forthcoming procedure to the surgery Josh Jung had following the 2024 season, and Jung was ready for spring training.
Burger, 29, joined the Rangers via trade after president of baseball Chris Young brought him over from the Marlins during last offseason’s winter meetings — a swap that sent infielder Maximo Acosta, infielder Echedry Vargas and left-hander Brayan Mendoza back to Miami. The acquisition of Burger, much like the signing of Joc Pederson, was intended to improve the Rangers’ teamwide production against fastballs after a down year in that regard in 2024. That didn’t pan out, however, despite the slugger’s prior excellence against four-seamers.
Though Burger had a terrific track record against velocity, headlined by hitting .302 and slugging .651 against four-seam fastballs with Miami in 2024, he hit just .195 and slugged only .416 against four-seam fastballs in his first season with Texas. Overall, Burger’s .236/.269/.419 batting line was the worst of his career and about 11% worse than that of a league-average offensive player, per wRC+. His 90.4 mph average exit velocity was a career-low, as was his 13.6% homer-to-flyball ratio.
That August wrist injury surely played some role in his offensive downturn, but it’s not the lone culprit. Burger tells Grant that he received a cortisone injection at the time of the injury, which helped for a few weeks before he began feeling his tendon “popping” in his wrist for the season’s final few weeks. Unsurprisingly, Burger finished the year in a pronounced slump. He also dealt with injuries prior to that wrist issue, however. Burger missed time with a strained left oblique back in June and was sidelined by a quadriceps strain the following month.
Even before his injuries, Burger’s struggles were glaring enough that Texas optioned him to Triple-A at the beginning of May. He’d opened the season in a .190/.231/.330 swoon and fanned in nearly 30% of his plate appearances. A .254/.284/.453 slash and 22.4% strikeout rate in 268 plate appearances following his recall was an obvious improvement but still not up to Burger’s prior standards. He’s never been a disciplined hitter, but Burger’s walk rate cratered to 3.2% in 2025. That was the third-lowest mark among the 277 players who reached 300 plate appearances. Burger also had the ninth-highest chase rate on pitches off the plate and the 16th-highest overall swing rate in that set of hitters, per Statcast.
Ideally, better health and a fresh slate in 2026 will bring about better results. The Rangers will certainly be hoping as much. Burger is controlled for three more seasons and is slated to reach arbitration for the first time this winter after falling five days shy of Super Two status last offseason. For now, he projects to be back atop the team’s depth chart at first base in 2026 as well, though a further shakeup of the team’s offense is possible after another playoff miss.
Brewers Outright Bruce Zimmermann
Sept. 27: Zimmermann went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A, per the transaction log at MLB.com. He can become a minor league free agent once the season is over.
Sept. 24: The Brewers have designated left-hander Bruce Zimmermann for assignment, per a team announcement. Righty Carlos Rodriguez has been recalled from Triple-A Nashville to take his spot on the active roster. Milwaukee’s 40-man roster is now at 39 players.
Zimmermann pitched in just one game for Milwaukee, giving the club six innings in a spot start against the Padres yesterday. The former Orioles southpaw was tagged for five earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks with only one punchout, but he gave the Milwaukee bullpen a breather after a day in which they’d burned through six relievers in an 11-inning game against San Diego. Despite the rocky results, Zimmermann drew praise from manager Pat Murphy for pitching relatively deep into the game on a day when the team’s relief corps was a bit depleted (via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).
It was always likely to be a one-off appearance for Zimmermann. The lefty is out of minor league options and wouldn’t be available to pitch until the season finale at the earliest. The Brewers will shuffle him off the roster and bring up Rodriguez to provide some extra length in the ‘pen. It may sound cold or callous on the surface, but teams are generally upfront with this type of plan when bringing a journeyman pitcher like Zimmermann to the majors for a short period of time. He’ll get a few days of big league service time and salary for the effort. (Players receive MLB service time and pay even while they’re on outright waivers and/or in DFA limbo.)
This was Zimmermann’s first big league appearance since 2023. He’s pitched in parts of four other seasons, all with Baltimore from 2020-23. Zimmermann carries a career 5.64 ERA in 164 1/3 MLB frames, but he’s been far better in Triple-A — including this season. In 138 frames with the Brewers’ Nashville affiliate, the 30-year-old Zimmermann has pitched to a 4.11 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate.
Zimmermann will be available to all 29 other clubs on outright waivers. Assuming he clears, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues in favor of free agency. Either way, he’ll be a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Mets To Select Dylan Ross
10:21pm: New York is indeed calling Ross up, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. They already have three open spots on the 40-man but will need to make an active roster move. Huascar Brazobán and Kevin Herget are the two pitchers in the MLB bullpen who have options remaining. They each pitched an inning of mop-up work in tonight’s 6-2 loss in Miami, so one of them will probably be sent out.
11:43am: The Mets are mulling a promotion for pitching prospect Dylan Ross and could bring him up for his big league debut as soon as tomorrow, Mika Puma of the New York Post reports. SNY’s Andy Martino reported last week that Ross was in consideration for a big league look before season’s end.
The 25-year-old Ross was New York’s 13th-round pick in 2022. He’s elevated his prospect status considerably in 2025 with a dominant showing out of the bullpen across three minor league levels. The former Georgia Bulldog has tossed a combined 54 innings with a 2.17 ERA — including a 1.69 mark in 32 frames at the Triple-A level. Ross has fanned just under 36% of his opponents this season and kept nearly 55% of the batted balls against him on the ground. Command, or lack thereof, is his most notable flaw. He’s walked an ugly 14.7% of his opponents (17.3% in Triple-A).
Listed at 6’5″ and 251 pounds, Ross is a prototypical flamethrowing reliever. He’s averaged 96.8 mph on his four-seamer this season and can run the pitch up into triple digits. He complements that fiery heater with a splitter and cutter that both sit just under 90 mph, a slider that sits 87.5 mph and a seldom-used curveball in the low-80s. MLB.com ranks Ross 20th among Mets farmhands.
Ross underwent Tommy John surgery during his draft season at Georgia and needed a revision of that procedure in 2023. He only pitched one inning in the minors in 2024 and has all of 55 professional innings under his belt to date. However, due to his status as a college draftee who’s now been in professional ball for three full seasons, he’d be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft this winter. Given his outstanding season in the minors and the power nature of his repertoire, it’s likely the Mets would add him to the 40-man roster in November to protect him from being selected anyhow — which only strengthens his case for a call to the majors late in the season.
New York’s bullpen has slipped over the past couple months. Mets relievers have a combined 4.18 ERA since the trade deadline, ranking 18th in the majors. Edwin Diaz, Tyler Rogers and Brooks Raley have all been excellent, but the acquisition of Ryan Helsley (7.58 ERA as a Met) has backfired and Ryne Stanek (7.50 ERA since Aug. 1) has struggled considerably. The Mets lost lefties A.J. Minter and Danny Young to lat surgery and Tommy John surgery, respectively, back in May. Setup man Reed Garrett was recommended for Tommy John surgery earlier this month.
That string of struggles and injuries has created plenty of uncertainty in the bullpen. There’d obviously be risk in carrying a 25-year-old rookie with subpar command on the team’s postseason roster — should they qualify — but the many of the more veteran options currently in the mix don’t exactly ooze confidence at the moment themselves.
Cubs Activate Kyle Tucker, Option Carlos Santana
11:49am: The Cubs have officially activated Tucker from the injured list. He’s hitting cleanup and serving as the designated hitter today. In a corresponding move, veteran first baseman Carlos Santana has consented to be optioned. He’ll be on the team’s taxi squad for the playoffs next week, per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Santana is a free agent at season’s end.
10:16am: After spending more than three weeks on the injured list due to a calf strain, Kyle Tucker is back for the final regular season series of the year. The Cubs outfielder himself tells ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that he’s in the lineup today — his first game since Sept. 2. The team hasn’t formally announced the move or a corresponding transaction yet.
The Cubs have already clinched a postseason berth, but these final three games will give Tucker a tune-up for their return to October baseball. The impending free agent has had a terrific season overall but will end up playing in, at most, 136 of the team’s 162 games due primarily to this calf strain. He’s hitting .270/.381/.472 (139 wRC+) with 22 home runs, 25 doubles, four triples, 25 steals and a matching 14.7% walk rate and 14.7% strikeout rate.
Tucker’s offensive numbers would likely be even more impressive had he not suffered a hairline fracture in his hand back in June. He gutted it out and played through the injury, which only came to light nearly three months later, after it had healed. Tucker hit well in June but saw his numbers drop precipitously in July. There’s no definitive way to know how much the small fracture impacted him, but he surely wasn’t playing at 100% throughout the entirety of the summer.
While Tucker was on the shelf, the Cubs went with a regular outfield of Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki, the latter of whom had most frequently served as the team’s designated hitter. That alignment opened the door for top catching prospect Moisés Ballesteros to step into the designated hitter spot on a regular basis, and he’s stepped up as one of the team’s most productive hitters this month. The 21-year-old slugger has taken 42 plate appearances since Tucker went down and turned in a stout .314/.429/.571 batting line. Ballesteros has been so productive, in fact, that he may have hit his way onto Chicago’s postseason roster.
“Moisés is playing at a really high level,” manager Craig Counsell tells Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. “Where he’s hitting in the lineup should tell you a lot. He’s contributing offensively significantly. That’s real. That matters. Absolutely, we’re taking note of it.”
Ballesteros has batted fourth or fifth in each of his past ten games and hasn’t hit lower than sixth since being recalled from the minors prior to the team’s game on Sept. 12. The Cubs have shielded him from left-handed pitching, giving him only three plate appearances versus fellow southpaws. Presumably, if he were indeed to secure a spot on the playoff roster, he’d be utilized in a platoon capacity. With a full complement of Happ, Crow-Armstrong, Tucker and Suzuki ticketed for outfield/designated hitter work and Carson Kelly standing as the everyday catcher, Ballesteros probably wouldn’t be in the starting lineup much, but he could provide a potent left-handed bat off the bench.
Nationals, Orelvis Martinez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals and former top prospect Orelvis Martinez have agreed to a minor league deal that’ll carry into the 2026 season, reports Andrew Golden of the Washington Post. Martinez was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays and subsequently released earlier in the month.
Still just 23 years old (24 in November), Martinez ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects at Baseball America for four years from 2021-24. The slugging infielder posted huge numbers, belting a combined 86 home runs in 1481 plate appearances from 2021-23. His defensive home was always something of a question mark — he’s spent time at shortstop, third base and second base — but Martinez’s plus power and consistent production seemed to be setting the stage for a possible long-term role in the Toronto infield.
Things changed dramatically early in 2024, however, when Martinez received an 80-game ban for PED usage. He hit well down the stretch in a small sample after returning late last season in Triple-A (.304/.360/.522 in 50 plate appearances), but the 2025 season has been a disaster.
Martinez spent the entire season in Triple-A this year and looked like a shell of his former self. In 99 games, he took 394 plate appearances and mustered only a .176/.288/.348 batting line (73 wRC+). His 28.4% strikeout rate tied the highest mark of his career, and he averaged just 86.8 mph off the bat with a tepid 36.8% hard-hit rate. Though the Jays had given him plenty of run at shortstop and third base earlier in his career, he slid further down the defensive spectrum in ’25 and spent the vast majority of his time at second base (79 games) and designated hitter (14) with only a handful of appearances at the hot corner.
The Nats will provide Martinez with a fresh start next season. He’s a lottery ticket for Washington, but there’s no harm in bringing him aboard on a non-guaranteed deal to see what he looks like next spring. The Nats have Luis Garcia Jr. at second base, but he’s a non-tender candidate this offseason. Former first-rounder Brady House made his big league debut at the hot corner in 2025 but has yet to establish himself as a firm option there. Martinez’s shortstop days are seemingly behind him, but the Nats have CJ Abrams entrenched there anyhow. Martinez will compete for an opportunity next spring, and if he doesn’t break camp with the club he’ll head to Triple-A Rochester and give Washington some additional infield depth.
Athletics, General Manager David Forst Discussing New Contract
Athletics general manager David Forst has overseen baseball operations for the club since the 2022-23 offseason, when longtime GM Billy Beane moved into an advisory role. Details surrounding Forst’s contract never went public, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Forst’s current deal is expiring at the end of the season. Forst and owner John Fisher have been discussing his future, Rosenthal adds. It’s not clear whether an agreement is close, but at the very least, talks on a new contract suggest that Fisher isn’t pursuing a change outright and is amenable to keeping Forst aboard.
The 49-year-old Forst has been with the A’s organization since 2000. He told the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea in 2024 that there was “not a thought that I wouldn’t be in this for the long run,” referencing the team’s pending move to Las Vegas, which they hope will come to fruition in 2028. Two more years playing their home games in West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park — home of the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate — remain before that possibility can come to pass.
Prior to serving as general manager, Forst was an assistant general manager and, prior to that, the team’s coordinator of pro scouting. He’s a Harvard grad who played four years in college and another two years in the independent Frontier League before pursuing a career in scouting and baseball operations.
For years, Forst was Beane’s top lieutenant. Since taking the reins in the baseball operations department, the A’s have been limited in terms of free agent acquisitions. They’ve trafficked exclusively in low-cost, one- and two-year contracts with the notable exception of Luis Severino‘s franchise-record (at the time) $67MM contract. The first season of that three-year pact didn’t go as hoped, though the weighty nature of the contract was at least in part due to ownership’s need to spend heavily enough to retain its status as a revenue-sharing recipient. Fisher already had that status revoked once in the past and was only reinstated as a recipient at the beginning of the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement. The A’s reportedly made a run at bringing Sean Manaea back prior to signing Severino.
The A’s have been far more active on waivers and the trade market under Forst. His ascension to head of baseball operations was surely set on Nov. 17 when the A’s claimed Brent Rooker, for instance, though the front office shuffle wasn’t formally announced until the following day. Forst was in the GM chair for acquisitions of outfielder JJ Bleday (for A.J. Puk), left-handers Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez (for Joe Boyle, minor leaguers and a Competitive Balance draft pick), and righty Mitch Spence (in the Rule 5 Draft). He’s had some success with low-cost bullpen pickups as well, including Justin Sterner, Michael Kelly and Elvis Alvarado — each claimed off waivers.
More recently, Forst oversaw a pair of deadline deals: a minor trade sending outfielder Miguel Andujar to Cincinnati and a blockbuster deal sending star closer Mason Miller to the Padres in a package that netted young shortstop Leo De Vries — widely considered one of the five to ten best prospects in all of baseball. That swap also netted rotation prospects Braden Nett and Henry Baez, as well as reliever Eduarniel Nunez.
Of course, Forst was surely heavily involved in prior roster decisions even when Beane had final say over baseball operations. He’s been an integral part of the Athletics’ front office for more than two decades.
Some fans may want to see the club go outside the organization to bring in fresh voices, but Forst deserves credit for the team’s promising core of young hitters. He signed Rooker to an extension this past spring and did the same with 25-year-old outfielder Lawrence Butler, who’s enjoyed a 20-20 season in 2025. Forst was general manager when the A’s selected likely AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz with the fourth pick in the 2024 draft and took breakout shortstop Jacob Wilson with their 2023 first-rounder. He was a prominent front office figure when the club acquired Shea Langeliers in the Matt Olson trade. With Kurtz, Rooker, Butler, Langeliers, Wilson and 2020 first-rounder Tyler Soderstrom (who’s had his own 2025 breakout), the lineup for the A’s looks quite formidable — particularly if Bleday can rebound to his 2024 levels.
The A’s have clearly had their share of missteps along the course of their current rebuild, and while Forst didn’t have final say on all of the trades that haven’t panned out (e.g. Matt Chapman, Manaea, Chris Bassitt) he was a key figure in those decisions all the same. The Severino deal is probably one the A’s would like back, too, just as they’d surely prefer to undo the trade sending righty Chad Patrick to the Brewers for Abraham Toro (which occurred with Forst at the helm).
No front office leader is without deals and decisions on which they’d prefer a mulligan, though. Forst has nearly three decades of rapport established with Fisher and other key A’s figures, and though there’s still a clear need for pitching help, the young bats do give the A’s some reason for optimism. Add in that the A’s are 40-31 dating back to July 1, and Forst has plenty going for him as he looks to secure a new contract — possibly one that extends into the team’s relocation to Nevada.
Sonny Gray Will Consider Waiving No-Trade Clause This Offseason
As the Cardinals embarked on a self-proclaimed youth movement that commenced last offseason, veterans like Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado had control over their futures by virtue of their contracts’ no-trade provisions. Arenado ultimately wound up considering trade possibilities anyhow, but Gray and Contreras quickly made their intentions to remain in St. Louis clear to the club. That won’t be the case for Gray in the coming offseason, however. Asked following last night’s game whether he feels he has to consider greenlighting a trade this winter, the former All-Star was candid in acknowledging a change in tune (link via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch):
“I think I do, just to be frank and to be honest. I definitely think I do. Whether I do decide that I want to go somewhere – whether that actually happens – I don’t have complete control of that. Obviously, I have control of where I can’t go or don’t go. I’m going to be 36. It’s going to be my 14th season. Last year of my contract for this. I don’t know what the future holds for me.”
Gray, 36 in November, has enjoyed another solid season in 2025, pitching to a 4.28 ERA with a 26.7% strikeout rate, a 5% walk rate and a 43.9% ground-ball rate in 180 2/3 innings. Metrics like FIP (3.39) and SIERA (3.29) feel he’s been far better than that more rudimentary earned run average would indicate. Since signing with the Cards in the 2023-24 offseason, Gray has made 60 starts and turned in a 4.07 ERA (3.27 FIP, 3.16 SIERA) in 347 innings.
On the surface, that performance and Gray’s broader track record would seem to create plenty of trade value — but the right-hander’s contract complicates matters. Even beyond the full no-trade protection, the backloaded nature of the contract will make it difficult for new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom (who was announced as current president John Mozeliak’s successor last October) to extract real value in return for the former Cy Young runner-up.
Gray is entering the final season of a three-year, $75MM contract. However, he earned just $10MM of that sum in year one of the contract and $25MM in 2025. He’s owed a massive $35MM salary for the 2026 season and at least a $5MM buyout on a $30MM club option for the 2027 season. The 2022-26 CBA stipulates that for traded players, their luxury tax hit is recalculated to match the remainder of their contract. As such, Gray comes with a $40MM CBT number. To a team that isn’t paying the luxury tax, that’s perhaps not a dealbreaker. But for third-time payors in the top penalty tier (e.g. Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Yankees), Gray would come with a 110% tax; he’d effectively cost them a staggering $84MM.
No team is going to that length for one year of Gray, Plus, the Cards can’t even pitch the ’27 club option as a potential benefit. Gray’s contract stipulates that if his 2027 option is exercised, he can simply void the option and elect free agency. If Gray pitches well enough next year to merit a $30MM salary in 2027, he’ll probably just opt out once that option is exercised. That’d spare the new team $5MM in guaranteed money (plus any associated taxes), but that’s not really a selling point for the Cardinals when negotiating.
While we’ve seen a select few pitchers secure an annual value exceeding the effective one year and $40MM remaining on Gray’s contract, MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that it’s been reserved only for clear Cy Young-caliber arms coming off peak seasons. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer both secured $43.333MM annual values when they were even older than Gray, but Verlander was coming off an AL Cy Young win in 2022 and Scherzer had just posted a 2.46 ERA and finished third in NL Cy Young balloting the year prior. Zack Wheeler‘s three-year extension with the Phillies pays him $42MM annually but was signed when Wheeler was a year younger and had turned in a combined 3.06 ERA in his previous 629 1/3 innings.
Gray, of course, is a decorated pitcher himself — a former first-round pick and three-time All-Star who has twice finished in the top-three of American Cy Young voting. That includes a second-place Cy Young finish with Minnesota as recently as 2023. His work with the Cardinals has been a few steps below those other $40MM-per-year aces, however.
There’s little doubt that Gray would be an in-demand commodity, in a vacuum. He’s 13th among all major league pitchers in terms of innings pitched since the 2019 season and carries a strong 3.51 ERA in that time. He misses bats, boasts plus command and keeps the ball on the ground at a slightly above-average clip. If Gray were a free agent and were to declare that he would only sign a one-year deal, it’s feasible that he could command close to $30MM, or perhaps even a slight bit more. Teams — especially big-market, high-payroll clubs — are often willing to pay a premium in terms of AAV to limit the long-term risk on free-agent contracts.
Even if there are teams who value him in that range though, the Cardinals would need to eat around $10MM just to pay Gray down to market value. If they wanted to actually create the type of surplus value that would net them a notable return in terms of prospects, they’d probably need to eat closer to $20-25MM of the contract. That probably wouldn’t net them a premium prospect, but at that price point they could justify asking for a solid minor leaguer or two to add to the middle tiers of their farm system.
It’s not yet clear how comfortable Cards ownership will be with paying substantial money to net a prospect return. If simply clearing salary is the goal, the Cards could probably eat $8-10MM and find a taker with little to no return — similar to the Cubs’ trade of Cody Bellinger to the Yankees last winter. The strength of any potential return will be contingent upon how much of the contract the DeWitt family is willing to pay down. Those are conversations that Bloom and ownership will have in the weeks ahead.
What’s clear at this point is both Gray’s intention to consider the possibility of waiving that full no-trade clause and the type of offseason that looms on the horizon for the Cardinals.
“I know the deal,” Gray last night said after noting that he and Bloom have spoken at length about the upcoming offseason. “I know the direction. …I came here to win. I signed here two years ago with the expectation of winning and trying to win, and that hasn’t played out that way. I want to win. I want to win, and I expect to win.”
Based on everything Gray said last night, there’s a very real chance that yesterday’s outing — six innings, two runs, seven hits, two walks, seven strikeouts — represents the final appearance of his Cardinals tenure.
David Fry Out Six To Eight Weeks Due To Facial Fractures, Won’t Require Surgery
The Guardians announced Wednesday that designated hitter David Fry, who was hit in the face by a 99 mph fastball from Tarik Skubal last night, will not require surgery. He’ll still be out six to eight weeks, but the 29-year-old has thankfully avoided any catastrophic injuries. The team’s statement reads as follows:
“Imaging and clinical examination have confirmed that David Fry sustained multiple, minimally displaced, left-sided facial and nasal fractures. While the injury will require close monitoring, including serial assessments, David is expected to fully recover over the next 6-8 weeks without the need for surgery. David was recently discharged from the Cleveland Clinic and is resting comfortably.
The Cleveland Guardians would like to express gratitude to several groups who were intimately involved in the emergent care and treatment of David during last night’s game: Physician’s Ambulance, caregivers at Lutheran Hospital and Cleveland Clinic emergency departments, and the nurses and physicians at CCF working in the ENT and plastic surgery departments. Thank you all for your professionalism, expertise, and compassion.”
Fry came to the plate with runners on the corners and no outs against Skubal in the bottom of the sixth. Attempting to bunt on a 2-1 pitch, Fry was unable to avoid that blistering heater and immediately dropped to his back with his hands covering his face. Skubal was visibly distraught after throwing the pitch. Fry was eventually helped to his feet and carted off the field.
That frightening scene overshadowed what has become an unexpectedly heated race for an AL Central division that looked to be a foregone conclusion not long ago. Cleveland went on to win the game, though the thoughts of everyone on the club were surely with their teammate even as they drew to a first-place tie with the Tigers. Not only has Cleveland incredibly won 17 of its past 20 games — they’ve done so as Detroit has dropped seven in a row and 10 of its past 11 contests. What was a 9.5-game division lead as recently as Sept. 10 has completely gone up in smoke.
The bigger takeaway, of course, is that Fry won’t need surgery and somehow managed to avoid a calamitous injury despite the impact of that pitch. The injury will still end what has been a frustrating season for the late-blooming slugger. After breaking out with a .263/.356/.448 slash and 14 homers in 392 plate appearances as a 28-year-old in just his second big league season last year, Fry underwent offseason elbow surgery that kept him shelved into early June.
Cleveland controls Fry through the 2029 season, and he’ll be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two player for the first time this winter. For the time being, Fry has obviously been placed on the 10-day injured list. Outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Columbus to take his spot on the active roster.
Reid Detmers Won’t Require Elbow Surgery, Hopes To Return To Rotation In 2026
Angels lefty Reid Detmers hit the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation 13 days ago but was transferred to the 60-day IL the following day, formally ending his season. There was some ominous uncertainty surrounding his status, as he underwent an MRI shortly after the IL placement but there was no update from the team. The southpaw himself gave some good news to the Angels beat yesterday, revealing that the MRI showed no structural damage (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). Detmers is planning to have a normal offseason.
Perhaps more interestingly, the 26-year-old Detmers indicated that while he’ll pitch in whatever role the team envisions for him, his personal preference would be to return to the rotation after spending the 2025 season in the bullpen for the first time.
“All I’ve ever known is starting,” said Detmers when asked about his role. “I would like to start again. I think taking from what I learned this year about my mentality and stuff like that, I think I can transfer that over to starting and have a good year starting. But at the same time, it’s up to them. I’m willing to do whatever they want me to do, like I said at the beginning of the year. Anything that helps the team win.”
Detmers, the No. 10 pick in the 2020 draft, spent the 2022-24 seasons in the Halos’ rotation, generally pitching well in ’22-’23 before struggling mightily in ’24. During those first two full seasons as a starter, the Louisville product posted a combined 4.15 earned run average with a 24.5% strikeout rate, a 9% walk rate, a 36.4% ground-ball rate and an average of 1.04 homers per nine frames.
The 2024 season was a nightmare, however. Detmers made just 17 starts in the majors and was rocked for a 6.70 ERA. Though his strikeout rate actually improved (27.9%) and his walk rate held close to prior levels (9.7%), Detmers couldn’t escape the long ball. He averaged a whopping 1.85 homers per nine innings. After seeing just 10.3% of the fly-balls he allowed become home runs in 2022-23, that number exploded to 17.1% in 2024.
Detmers’ batted-ball metrics didn’t change much; his average exit velocity held at the same level as the previous season and his opponents’ hard-hit rate even dropped a couple percentage points. But when Detmers misfired in 2024, he often missed badly. A poor Angels defense didn’t do him any favors — he had a career-worst .357 average on balls in play last year — but Detmers’ primary flaw was being far too susceptible to maximum-damage contact on pitches that missed over the heart of the plate. His changeup, in particular, was hit hard. He struggled enough that the Halos even optioned him to Triple-A, but home runs were an even larger issue there (2.08 HR/9) as he pitched to a 5.54 ERA with the Angels’ Salt Lake affiliate.
A move to the ‘pen in 2025 seemed to revitalize Detmers. The 6’2″ lefty has worked exclusively in relief this season and turned in a solid 3.96 ERA in 63 2/3 innings. Detmers’ average fastball unsurprisingly jumped when working in short relief, climbing from 93.8 mph in 2024 to 95.8 mph this year. His already strong 13% swinging-strike rate spiked to 14.6%, which helped fuel a career-best 30.1% strikeout rate. Most critically, the home run troubles that plagued Detmers in 2024 abated. He saw a roughly league-average 12.2% of his fly-balls leave the yard, but thanks to a big uptick in grounders (44.6%), that only translated to 0.85 homers per nine frames.
On the one hand, the move to relief producing nearly career-best results is a strong point in favor of keeping Detmers in the bullpen. On the other, he was an effective starter in 2022-23, and this year’s improved results could be attributable to more than just the role change. Detmers shelved his changeup, narrowing his repertoire to three pitches: four-seamer, slider, curveball. He threw the four-seamer at the same levels as in the past but leaned more heavily on that pair of breaking balls (and very occasionally tinkered with a two-seamer).
Opponents absolutely teed off on Detmers’ changeup in 2024, batting .351 and slugging .544 against the pitch. For the Angels, it’s probably hard not to wonder whether a return to the rotation with this altered plan of attack could bring about the best of both worlds. Detmers’ heater would surely drop a mile or two if he stretched back out, but perhaps ditching that changeup and working with a tighter arsenal could avoid some of last year’s alarming home run woes.
The Angels aren’t exactly deep in starting pitching. Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano give them a solid starting point in the rotation, but veterans Tyler Anderson and Kyle Hendricks are free agents. Young arms like Jack Kochanowicz, Caden Dana, Mitch Farris and Sam Aldegheri have all gotten looks in the majors this year but haven’t cemented themselves in the rotation mix moving forward. In the case of Kochanowicz, the opposite may even be true; he was torched for a 6.81 ERA in 111 innings while working with one of the game’s lowest strikeout rates.
Presumably, the Angels will again be in the rotation market this winter, as they were last offseason when signing Kikuchi and Hendricks. If Halos brass thinks a shift back to the rotation for Detmers could pan out, however, that’d lessen some of the urgency and general need for starting pitching this winter. Of course, it’d also only enhance the need to bolster a bullpen that’ll see Kenley Jansen, Luis García, Andrew Chafin and Hunter Strickland become free agents at season’s end.