Astros’ Brandon Walter, John Rooney To Undergo Elbow Surgery
Astros left-handers Brandon Walter and John Rooney will undergo season-ending elbow surgery this week, the team announced. Houston did not specify the sort of procedure either pitcher will require. Walter landed on the injured list due to elbow inflammation back in late July. Rooney also hit the IL due to inflammation, though his original placement was just a couple weeks ago.
In an additional bit of ominous news, the Astros announced that right-hander Spencer Arrighetti is slated to receive a second opinion on his elbow this week. Arrighetti, like Walter and Rooney, was originally placed on the IL due to inflammation in his elbow. (It’s common for elbow injuries to be originally diagnosed as inflammation and for a more specific diagnosis to become apparent once the swelling/inflammation dies down and a better look at the joint’s structural integrity is available.) A second opinion will conjure up fears of a worst-case scenario, though Houston has not yet suggested that surgery is on the table.
Walter’s injury is particularly deflating. The left-hander missed all of the 2024 season due to a strained rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He wound up being cut loose by the Red Sox, signing with the Astros on a minor league deal, and emerging as a key member of the 2025 staff.
In nine starts, the 29-year-old Walter pitched 53 2/3 innings and logged a 3.35 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and immaculate 1.9% walk rate. That breakout performance, even if truncated by this elbow injury, proved pivotal at a time when the Astros were reeling from injuries to Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Arrighetti (who, at that point, was still on the mend from a fractured thumb rather than his current elbow concern).
Rooney, 28, made his big league debut with Houston last month. He tossed 1 1/3 innings, allowed a run, and seemingly suffered an elbow injury in the middle of that debut effort. It’s unfortunate for any player to incur an injury, though if there’s a silver lining it’s that Rooney will pick up major league service time and pay for the final four-plus weeks of the season, dating back to his Aug. 24 promotion. Had he not sustained the injury, he might’ve been optioned back to Triple-A Sugar Land at any point.
That’s probably not much consolation to Rooney, a former Dodgers third-rounder who grinded through the better part of eight professional seasons before finally getting to the majors with his third organization. He’s split the 2025 season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Marlins and Astros, pitching to a combined 2.56 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but a clunky 14.9% walk rate.
As for Arrighetti, it’s a most unwelcome development for a pitcher who hasn’t seemed to catch any luck this year. The 25-year-old’s previously referenced fractured thumb occurred when he was playing catch in the outfield during batting practice early in the season and was struck by a line drive from a teammate. He returned from that injury in early August and made five starts, struggling through the first three before appearing to turn a corner in the fourth. In his final two starts before going back to the IL, he logged 12 innings and held opponents to three runs on seven hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts.
Manager Joe Espada had already conceded that Arrighetti’s injury might cost him the remainder of the season. Word of a second opinion from an external source only serves to increase that likelihood.
In the meantime, the Astros will turn to righty J.P. France to help deepen the staff. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that France is with the club in Toronto and is expected to pitch out of the bullpen. The 30-year-old France had shoulder surgery last summer and missed much of the current season rehabbing. He’s been pitching as a multi-inning reliever in Triple-A recently, though his last outing was a start: five innings of one-run ball against the Dodgers’ top affiliate.
France has an unsightly 6.59 ERA in 27 1/3 innings of Triple-A work overall this season, but he’s pitched better of late, including a pair of five-inning appearances with one combined run in his past four trips to the mound. He’ll give Espada some length at a time when Houston has eight pitchers on the big league injured list.
Blue Jays Place Bo Bichette On Injured List
3:15pm: There’s no immediate timetable for Bichette’s return. Manager John Schneider tells the Jays beat that Bichette, who first felt discomfort in his shin and knee on Sunday, will rest for the remainder of the week and be reevaluated early next week (link via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet).
2:07pm: The Blue Jays announced Tuesday that shortstop Bo Bichette is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a left knee sprain. The IL placement is retroactive to Sept. 7. Bichette will be eligible to return in eight days, though the team hasn’t provided any sort of timetable just yet. Outfielder Joey Loperfido has been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to take Bichette’s spot on the active roster.
Losing the 27-year-old Bichette for any period of time is a potential gut-punch to the first-place Jays, who hold a two-game lead over the Yankees and a three-game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East. Bichette has not only bounced back from last year’s injury-ruined season — he’s enjoyed one of the most productive seasons of his career. In 628 plate appearances, he’s slashing .311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs, 44 doubles, a triple, a 6.4% walk rate (well shy of league average but one of his best marks) and a tiny 14.6% strikeout rate.
Bichette has been particularly hot over the past two months, posting a ridiculous .380/.431/.580 batting line (182 wRC+) with six homers, 23 doubles, an 8% walk rate and an 11.6% strikeout rate in a span of 225 plate appearances.
With Bichette sidelined for at least the next eight games, Ernie Clement and/or Isiah Kiner-Falefa will likely step up and fill the void at shortstop. Clement gets the first shortstop nod tonight, and while he can’t match Bichette’s offense, he’s a superior defender at the position. That’ll free up Addison Barger to play third base more, while Loperfido joins Kiner-Falefa, Nathan Lukes, Daulton Varsho, George Springer, Davis Schneider and Myles Straw among the team’s outfield options. It’ll be Loperfido, Varsho and Lukes tonight (left field to right field, respectively). Springer is hitting leadof in the designated hitter slot.
Beyond the immediate roster and postseason ramifications, the injury is particularly ill-timed for Bichette from a personal standpoint. He’d surely say this talk takes a backseat to team needs and postseason hopes, but Bichette is a free agent at season’s end. His bounceback effort has positioned him as one of the top free agents on the upcoming market. If he’s able to return following a relatively brief stay, this isn’t likely to have any real impact on his earning power at all. But if Bichette requires a notable absence or struggles in his return while dealing with lingering effects from the injury, his health will be a far more prominent question when looking at his free agent market this winter.
Mets Activate Jose Siri, Designate Wander Suero
The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve reinstated outfielder Jose Siri from the 60-day injured list. Reliever Wander Suero was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot, and outfielder Jared Young has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets also announced that righty Justin Garza, whom they’d previously designated for assignment, cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Syracuse.
Siri, 30, appeared in just 10 games with the Mets before suffering a fractured tibia that wound up sidelining him close to five months. New York acquired him from the Rays in an offseason deal sending reliever Eric Orze back to Tampa Bay.
Though Siri strikes out far too often (career 35.8%) and posts poor batting averages and on-base percentages as a result, he’s an elite runner and defender with considerably above-average power. Last year, Statcast pegged Siri’s sprint speed (99th), outfield range (99th) and outfield arm strength (97th) in at least the 97th percentile of MLB players. He popped 43 home runs and stole 26 bags in just 812 plate appearances with the Rays from 2023-24 but did so with a grim .203/.260/.424 batting line overall (91 wRC+).
The Mets placed Tyrone Taylor on the injured list a couple weeks ago and are already expecting to be without Jesse Winker for the balance of the regular season. Siri steps back into an outfield mix that includes Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto in the corners, with deadline pickup Cedric Mullins in center field. Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil and Luisangel Acuña are all options on the grass as well.
Siri’s right-handed bat is a natural complement for the lefty-swinging Mullins in center field — or so it would seem. However, Siri’s career .194/.251/.378 slash against lefties is markedly worse than his career .211/.269/.411 batting line in right-on-right situations. Neither is a strong mark, however, and Mullins is a better hitter in left-on-left situations than Siri is in right-on-left situations — historically speaking, anyhow. For now, Siri seems like he’ll operate as a fourth outfielder and late-game option off the bench, be that in a pinch-running, defensive upgrade or pinch-hitting scenario.
As for the 33-year-old Suero, he was only just claimed off waivers five days ago and only reported to the team four days ago. He didn’t appear in a game during his brief time with the Mets. His only big league work in 2025 has come with the Braves, for whom he yielded eight runs in 6 1/3 innings.
Ugly Atlanta stint aside, Suero was a frequently used bullpen arm for the Nationals from 2018-20, when he pitched 142 2/3 innings of 4.10 ERA ball. He picked up a save and 27 holds along the way. Suero’s production has taken a nosedive since; he’s pitched in each of the past four MLB seasons but has a 7.11 ERA in 57 innings thanks to an alarming susceptibility to home runs. After yielding just 0.63 homers per nine frames in his first three MLB seasons, Suero has surrendered an average of 2.53 big flies per nine innings since 2021.
To his credit, Suero has been outstanding in Triple-A this season. He’s pitched 46 2/3 innings with the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett and recorded a 1.35 ERA with a dozen saves, a 31.2% strikeout rate and a 6.9% walk rate. Now that he’s been designated for assignment, he’ll head to outright waivers and again be made available to all 29 other clubs.
Rays Claim Caleb Boushley
The Rays have claimed right-hander Caleb Boushley off waivers from the Rangers, per a team announcement. Fellow righty Brian Van Belle was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to make roster space.
Boushley, 32 next month, has pitched a career-high 43 1/3 innings with Texas in 2025 but has been tagged for an unsightly 6.02 earned run average in that time. However, he’s posted respectable strikeout and walk rates of 21.2% and 7.3% in that time, and he’s done a nice job keeping the ball in the park (1.04 HR/9). Boushley has been plagued by a sky-high .374 average on balls in play, which has surely contributed to his struggles in terms of stranding baserunners (just 58.7%).
Tampa Bay has placed two relievers — Van Belle and Mason Englert — on the injured list within the past five days. Boushley adds a fresh arm to the bunch, bringing those decent rate stats and the ability to be optioned to his new organization. He’ll give the club some flexible depth that is stretched out enough to throw multiple innings, if need be. Boushley has just one outing greater than an inning so far this month, but he tossed three innings of long relief with the Rangers as recently as Aug. 20.
Boushley didn’t make his big league debut until he was already 29 years old (with the Brewers in 2023). As such, despite being on the cusp of his 32nd birthday, he can be controlled for a full six seasons. Given his minimal track record, it’s unlikely that’s a prominent consideration right now, but if he impresses the Rays enough to stick on the 40-man roster this winter (or to re-sign as a minor league free agent in the event that he is cut loose), it could become part of the thinking in 2026.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! We’ll get going at 1pm CT, but as always, feel free to send in questions ahead of time.
- Happy Tuesday all — let’s get rolling
Bo Bichette
- The Blue Jays cant really sign me if my price tag reaches $250-300 million right? I mean you can barely call me a shortstop. Any predictions?
Steve Adams
- I don’t think anyone is going to sign Bichette at that price point. I suppose it’s always possible someone loses their mind and goes to Xander Bogaerts levels, but Bogaerts is the only prominently paid infield free agent who hit the market as a shortstop but with clear long-term doubts about his viability at the position. I have Bichette around $200MM flat, give or take $10-15MM either way, depending on market context, how he finishes, hits in the postseason, etc.I do think the Jays can afford to sign him long-term.
87 champs
- Why are the Twins collecting left-handed hitting outfielders, including their top prospects? Are Larnach and Walbeck gone during the off season?
Steve Adams
- I’d be surprised if Larnach is back next year. They’ve had him for in the majors for parts of five seasons now, and he just kind of is what he is … defensively limited, big power, can’t hit lefties, good-not-great against righties.I don’t really understand why they acquired James Outman, particularly since he’s out of options next year, but I suppose he’ll be a fourth OF in 2026 with Buxton and two of Wallner/Jenkins/Rodriguez rounding things out (pending any offseason additions via trade or free agency — the former seemingly likelier than the latter)
PhilsPhansince1965
- Low and high projections for a Ranger Suarez deal this winter?
Braves Notes: Murphy, Kim, Snitker
Catcher Sean Murphy has been playing through hip discomfort for the past three years, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos told the Braves beat last night (link via Mark Bowman of MLB.com). While Murphy had been playing through pain that “would come and go,” per Anthopoulos, the issue reached a tipping point recently and prompted an MRI to take a look at how severe the issue had become. That revealed a torn labrum in Murphy’s hip, which will require season-ending surgery. The procedure will be performed Thursday.
“…in talking to [Dr. Thomas Byrd, who’ll perform the surgery] today, he was stunned [Murphy] had been playing the last three years with a significant tear,” said Anthopoulos.
Murphy hit .233/.332/.491 (126 wRC+) with 16 homers and a dozen doubles in 271 plate appearances through the end of July this season, but his offensive production cratered beginning in August. From Aug. 1 through what’ll now go down as his final plate appearance of the season on Saturday, he went 4-for-59 with a 34.8% strikeout rate. The resulting .068/.167/.085 batting line served as a screaming indicator that something clearly wasn’t right with Murphy.
Anthopoulos also touched on the topic of recently claimed shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who has a $16MM player option for the 2026 season (link via David O’Brien of The Athletic). Atlanta’s longtime president of baseball ops acknowledged talking with the Rays about Kim at the deadline as well, and while no deal came together, the organization is glad to have nabbed Kim off waivers and hopes the 29-year-old (30 next month) will opt into the second season of his contract.
“[G]etting him in our clubhouse, him getting to know us, us getting to know him — whether he doesn’t opt out or does, we’re both in a better position,” Anthopoulos said of Kim. “We know more about each other. Had he been in Tampa and opted out (of the option), and now we’re coming to the table to talk to him, I can’t tell you we separate ourselves from any other team that he hasn’t played for.”
It’s been a lost season overall for Kim. The former Padres standout had shoulder surgery last October and inked a two-year, $29MM deal with Tampa Bay — the second season of which is a player option. Kim returned in early July but has twice been on the injured list since that time due to lower back troubles. Kim is hitting just .231/.302/.346 overall this season (81 wRC+), but he’s been good in six games with Atlanta: 6-for-20 with a home run, a walk and only three strikeouts in 23 plate appearances.
At his best, Kim is a plus defensive shortstop and plus runner with nearly average power. He’ll draw walks at an above-average clip and put the ball in play more often than the standard big leaguer. He hasn’t been at his best in 2025, but given the thin market for free-agent shortstops and the lack of in-house alternatives to defensive standout but light-hitting Nick Allen, it makes sense that Atlanta proactively jumped to bring Kim into the fold. There’s no firm guarantee he’ll pick up his $16MM player option, but his struggles this year make that a real possibility, at which point the Braves are effectively bringing him into the ’26 fold on a one-year pillow contract.
Of course, one of the biggest questions on the minds of Braves fans is who’ll manage the club next season. Brian Snitker just notched his 800th managerial win this week, but the 69-year-old Braves lifer was noncommittal when asked about continuing on beyond the current season when asked back in March.
Asked about his manager’s future, Anthopoulos said (via O’Brien) that Snitker would be “in this organization forever” but declined to discuss whether that means Snitker will continue managing the team. Anthopoulos did reveal that the team has “absolutely not” begun doing background work on a potential replacement, adding that it would be “completely disrespectful” to Snitker to do so.
Snitker, second to only Bobby Cox in Braves managerial wins, has been in the organization for nearly 50 years — the past nine as the major league manager. He’s previously managed at nearly every minor league level in the system, spent more than a decade on the major league coaching staff (bullpen coach, third base coach) and has worked in a variety of instructional capacities in the Braves’ minor league ranks.
Fans — Braves fans in particular — will want to check out O’Brien’s piece for a full slate of quotes on Murphy, Kim, Snitker, Drake Baldwin‘s Rookie of the Year candidacy, the struggles (and recent turnarounds) from Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II, and a good bit more.
Padres Expected To Activate Michael King
The Padres are expected to reinstate right-hander Michael King from the injured list to start tomorrow’s game versus the Reds, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He’s been out since early Aug. 9 due to knee troubles. That August start stands as King’s only appearance since mid-May, as he’d previously missed more than two months with a nerve issue in his right shoulder.
King hasn’t pitched in a minor league rehab game, though skipper Mike Shildt said in a radio appearance late last week that he’d tossed five innings in a scrimmage setting at the team’s Arizona Complex League facility. That put him on turn to take the ball Tuesday, which would’ve been Nestor Cortes‘ spot in the rotation had he not gone down with a biceps strain this past Friday.
Those shoulder and knee injuries have limited King to just 11 starts this season, though he’s been every bit as excellent in that slate of appearances as he was with the Padres in 2024 and with the Yankees’ rotation late in 2023. King has pitched 57 2/3 frames on the season and carries a terrific 2.81 ERA with a 27.5% strikeout rate, an 8.1% walk rate, a 38.3% ground-ball rate and 0.94 homers per nine innings. Since moving into a starting role full-time, the former swingman has started 49 games and pitched to a 2.77 ERA. He’s punched out 28.2% of his opponents against an 8.2% walk rate.
King will step back into a San Diego rotation that’s been anchored by offseason signee Nick Pivetta, in terms of both workload and quality. Pivetta’s 164 1/3 innings lead the Friars, and his 2.85 ERA is tops among Padres starters (with the exception of King’s 2.81 in about one-third as many innings). The ultra-durable Dylan Cease has been healthy all season but has continued to struggle to strand runners, leaving him with a 4.71 ERA despite a premium 30% strikeout rate and passable (albeit somewhat elevated) 10% walk rate. Veteran righty Yu Darvish has a 5.75 ERA in his 11 starts, though he’s trimmed that considerably over his past seven trips to the bump (4.11 ERA). Randy Vasquez has kept his ERA under 4.00 despite walking a tightrope with nearly as many walks (9.7%) as strikeouts (12.3%). There’s likely some regression in store for him.
All of that makes getting King back into the mix all the more critical. The Padres added lefties Cortes and JP Sears at the deadline but didn’t deepen their staff overall, given that they sent out starters Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek in the trade that brought catcher Freddy Fermin to Petco Park. Getting King back could be pivotal, particularly since it’ll give him three to four starts to ramp up and get back into form ahead of the Padres’ looming postseason berth.
It’ll also give him a bit more time to build up his case ahead of what’ll be his first trip to the free-agent market. A swift return to form would bode well for the talented righty’s earning power on the open market. If healthy, King should be among the more coveted starting pitchers in free agency this offseason.
King’s return is likely an unwelcome development for the Reds and their fans. Cincinnati sits four games behind the Mets in the National League Wild Card race, tied with the Giants in that regard. A series loss or a sweep at the hands of the Padres could be a backbreaker for their season. From the Padres’ vantage point, winning even two of three would further pad their standing in the Wild Card mix. And, with just a one-game deficit standing between the Friars and the division-leading archrival Dodgers, King could be a pivotal part of a late push for the division.
Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good afternoon! Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. I'll get going at 3pm CT, but as always, feel free to send in some questions ahead of time.
- Hey all! Sorry for the delay
- Lot of news happening right now as well.
Tony
- If Sonny Gray agreed to waive his NTC, what could the Cardinals expect to get in return? How underwater is his contract? Thanks!
Steve Adams
- I don't really think there's any surplus value there. You can say there's no such thing as a bad one-year deal, but Gray is being paid $35MM next year and has a $5MM buyout on a 2027 option. Is he getting $40MM if he goes to the open market and says he'll only sign a one-year deal? I doubt that. Even if you think it's not that much of an overpay, there's no excess value. I think they'd probably have to cover part of the salary to get anything of real note.
thebeatlesshow
- OK, Steve, you're the Astros. Next year, do you put Issac Parades at 2nd and move Altuve to Left Field? Move Parades to left field? Move Parades to DH and play Yordan to left...or just trade Parades? What would you do?
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Sean Murphy To Undergo Hip Surgery
2:37pm: Murphy will undergo surgery that requires about four months of rehab, David O’Brien of The Athletic reports. He’s expected to be ready for spring training.
2:24pm: The Braves announced Monday that catcher Sean Murphy has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a torn labrum in his right hip. Veteran catcher Sandy Leon‘s contract was selected from Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move. Atlanta also recalled righty Dane Dunning from Gwinnett and optioned lefty Hayden Harris. Obviously, the hip injury ends Murphy’s 2025 season.
This will be the second straight season with a notable injury for the veteran Murphy. He missed significant time with an oblique issue early in 2024. He began this season on the injured list after suffering a ribcage fracture but was back by the second week of April. He hit well for much of the summer — until falling into a deep slump recently. That downturn in production now seems attributable to injury. His season will now draw to a close with a .199/.300/.409 slash and 16 homers in 337 trips to the plate. Murphy has just four hits in his past 66 plate appearances.
Murphy drew plenty of walks, hit for power and played premium defense behind the plate, but it seems obvious that he was physically compromised down the stretch. He’ll take the offseason to mend and presumably return to a catching timeshare with Rookie of the Year candidate Drake Baldwin next year. Atlanta has Murphy signed for three more years at a total of $45MM, and there’s been speculation about a potential trade from that catching tandem, but this injury seems likely to curb interest from potential buyers.
Baldwin and Murphy operated in a catcher/designated hitter tandem down the stretch. If Murphy is healthy next year, it’s easy enough to see the Braves operating with a similar setup, perhaps carrying a third catcher in the mold of Leon on the roster (though not necessarily Leon himself). It’s a dynamic pair of catchers, as Baldwin’s .276/.349/.447 line and Murphy’s pre-injury line both point to a pair of highly productive backstops with solid to plus defensive tools, positioning Atlanta to have a strong core behind the dish for the foreseeable future.
This post has been updated to correct that Murphy’s oblique injury occurred in 2024.
Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast
On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set to release Thursday this week, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.
Under three weeks remain in the 2025 regular season. Do you have a question about the stretch run? A move made at the deadline? The upcoming offseason? If you have a question on those topics or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.
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