Twins Outright Darren McCaughan
Twins righty Darren McCaughan passed through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright to Triple-A St. Paul, per the team’s transaction log. McCaughan was designated for assignment earlier in the week when the Twins claimed righty Brooks Kriske off waivers from the Cubs.
Minnesota signed the 29-year-old McCaughan to a minor league deal over the winter. He pitched 5 1/3 solid innings in late March/early April before being passed through waivers following his first DFA of the season. He was summoned back to the big leagues not long after last week’s fire sale to add some length to the bullpen but never got into a game. He’ll still collect three additional days of big league service for his brief trip across the Mississippi River.
McCaughan has spent the bulk of his career in the Mariners organization, where he’s been a durable source of innings in their Triple-A rotation. He’s gotten some brief big league looks in Seattle, Miami and Cleveland in addition to this year’s Twins cameo. In 61 1/3 major league innings, he has a 6.02 earned run average. He’s logged an ERA just over 5.00 in parts of seven Triple-A seasons, including a 5.35 mark in 72 1/3 frames with the Twins’ top affiliate in 2025.
McCaughan has been previously outrighted in his career, which gives him the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency. He opted for free agency last time around but quickly inked a new minor league deal to remain with the Twins.
Kenley Jansen Aiming To Pitch “At Least” Four More Years
Kenley Jansen will turn 38 in September, but the Angels righty isn’t planning on calling it a career anytime soon. The big righty tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that his hope is to pitch for “at least” four additional seasons beyond the current campaign. That’d take Jansen into his early 40s and would also give him a clear runway to achieve some historic saves totals.
Jansen is currently fourth all-time with 467 saves. He’s just 11 saves behind Lee Smith for third-most in baseball history. He could theoretically reach that threshold this season, and if he finds his way into closing gigs in subsequent seasons, he’ll climb further into rarefied air. As things stand, Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman are the only two pitchers in MLB history to reach 500 and 600 saves. Jansen could realistically join the 500 club next year. A run at 600 would be unlikely but not completely implausible if he can continue pitching at his current level.
The 2025 season hasn’t been the best of Jansen’s career by any means, but he’s still an effective endgame option in Anaheim. He’s pitched 42 innings with a 2.79 ERA, 23.3% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate and gone 20-for-21 in save opportunities. Playing for a sub-.500 Angels club hasn’t afforded him the same number of closing opportunities he might expect on a winning roster, but he’s maximized the chances he’s received.
Based on his 2025 performance, there’s little reason to think Jansen can’t keep going for at least another year or two. Four-plus is ambitious, of course, but he’s shown minimal signs of slowing down. The 92.8 mph Jansen is averaging on his cutter isn’t demonstrably slower than peak levels. He sat 93 mph with the pitch from 2013-17. Jansen has given up more hard contact this season, with a career-high average exit velocity (92.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (43.7%).
Most of that hard contact came earlier in the year, though. He’s on an otherworldly run right now, with 18 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings and an 18-to-4 K/BB ratio along the way. He’s yielded only nine hits in that span, and opponents are averaging just 89.4 mph off the bat with a 39.3% hard-hit rate. His cutter isn’t moving as much as it used to, so he’s missing fewer bats, but he’s still sporting a league-average strikeout rate and swinging-strike rate. Coupled with good command and more than a decade of experience pitching the ninth inning, that’s been plenty to keep Jansen effective even if he isn’t the utterly dominant bullpen powerhouse he once was.
Jansen spoke highly of his time with the Angels when chatting with Fletcher and sounded amenable to a reunion. In a separate piece, Fletcher wrote that GM Perry Minasian lauded Jansen’s leadership and clubhouse presence when discussing the decision not to trade his closer prior to the deadline:
“He’s somebody that affects everybody, not only our pitchers in the bullpen, but our young rotation, our young position players. His pedigree, his desire to win games, I think, is more than welcomed, obviously, in this place and in this clubhouse.”
There’s no clear ninth-inning heir for the Halos — particularly not with flamethrower Ben Joyce on the shelf following May shoulder surgery — and owner Arte Moreno is loath to ever entertain the idea of going into any kind of rebuild. All of that would seem to bode well for a potential return in 2026, though Jansen should have plenty of other clubs interested if he ends up getting back to the open market. The Mets, Tigers, Cubs and Blue Jays were among the other teams that looked into him during free agency this past offseason.
Red Sox Extend Roman Anthony
The Red Sox locked up another budding star, signing outfielder Roman Anthony to an eight-year extension covering the 2026-33 seasons with a club option for 2034. The Frontline Athlete Management is reportedly guaranteed $130MM on a deal that also includes significant escalators based on Rookie of the Year, MVP and All-Star voting.
Anthony receives a $5MM signing bonus. The salary breaks down as follows:
- $2MM in 2026
- $4MM in 2027
- $8MM in 2028
- $15MM in 2029
- $19MM in 2030
- $23MM in 2031
- $25MM in 2032
- $29MM in 2033
- $30MM club option (no buyout) in 2034
The escalators apply to the 2032 and 2033 seasons. They would also apply to the 2031 season if he finishes top two in Rookie of the Year voting in 2025. Anthony’s salaries will increase by $1MM if he comes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting. The salaries would also increase by $2MM for each MVP win in any previous year, $1MM for coming second or third in MVP voting, $750K for a fourth or fifth in MVP voting, $500K for finishing sixth through tenth in MVP voting and $200K for any All-Star appearance. Those same escalators would apply to the club option except the top-two ROY finish would add $2MM instead of $1MM.
As things stand, the deal buys out all six of Anthony’s initial seasons of club control, plus two free-agent years with an option over a third free-agent season. However, if Anthony finishes top two in American League Rookie of the Year voting, he’d receive a full year of service for the current season, thus meaning the deal would lock in three free-agent years with a club option over a fourth.
Regardless of the exact number of free-agent years being bought out, the Sox now control Anthony all the way through 2034 — what will be his age-30 season. He’ll still be able to become a free agent ahead of his age-31 campaign, positioning him for another potential nine-figure contract down the road.
Anthony’s deal draws plenty of parallels to the eight-year, $111MM extension Corbin Carroll signed with the D-backs in January of 2023. Both outfielders were regarded as the top prospect in the sport when they debuted in their age-21 seasons. Both found immediate success and quickly signed eight-year deals beginning with their age-22 seasons.
As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Anthony’s contract becomes the third-largest guarantee ever given out to a player with under one year of major league service time. Julio Rodriguez’s $210MM deal with the Mariners currently tops the list, though that agreement came when Rodriguez was much further into what would eventually be a Rookie of the Year-winning campaign in 2022.
Selected with the No. 79 overall pick in the 2022 draft, Anthony stormed through the minor leagues, breaking out with a huge performance in High-A as a 19-year-old and never looking back. By measure of wRC+, he was at least 40% better than league-average with the bat at every stop from High-A through Triple-A, and he’s carried over his outstanding production through his first 46 major league games.
In 190 plate appearances as a big leaguer, Anthony is hitting .283/.400/.428 with a pair of homers, 15 doubles, a triple, two stolen bases, a 13.7% walk rate and a 24.7% strikeout rate. He’s averaged a scorching 94.1 mph off the bat and seen a whopping 58% of his batted balls exit the bat traveling at least 95 mph. His overall power output has been muted by a 55.4% ground-ball rate, but Anthony elevated the ball more in the minors and figures to do so as he continues to acclimate to big league pitching, at which point he’ll get to more of his plus-plus power. For now, the walk-heavy approach and plethora of doubles is getting the job done just fine; Anthony has been 33% better than average in the batter’s box since arriving in the big leagues.
Anthony doesn’t possess elite contact skills but does make excellent swing decisions. His 73.1% overall contact rate and 81.6% contact rate on pitches within the zone are both four points below league-average, but Anthony’s chase rate on balls off the plate (just 20.1%) is eight percentage points lower than average. Among the 292 hitters with at least 190 plate appearances in the majors this year, he’s tied for the 19th-lowest chase percentage, per Statcast.
On the defensive side of things, Anthony has split his time between the two outfield corners but spent more time in right. He’s seen time in center field in the minors, but scouting reports on Anthony typically pegged him for a long-term home in one of the corners. His arm isn’t elite but is at least average, if not a tick better. Anthony has drawn strong defensive grades for his work thus far (+5 Defensive Runs Saved, +4 Outs Above Average). He gives the Sox another talented defender to join the trio of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, all of whom are plus defenders in their own right.
That glut of outfield talent — plus Masataka Yoshida‘s presence at DH — has long prompted speculation about a potential trade from the group. Duran and Abreu have seen their names kicked around the rumor mill dating back to the offseason. Boston would surely welcome the opportunity to escape some of the final two-plus years on Yoshida’s five-year contract, which runs through 2027, but with $18.5MM salaries in each of the next two seasons, doing so is a tall order. Anthony was never going to be traded, and this new long-term arrangement only further solidifies him as a foundational piece for the Red Sox.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Red Sox and Anthony were finalizing an eight-year, $130MM deal with a club option for 2034. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the $30MM option value. Alex Speier of The Boston Globe had the specific salary and escalator structure.
Padres Notes: Payroll, Miller, Sears
The Padres’ flurry of deadline dealings brought Mason Miller, JP Sears, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano, Nestor Cortes, Will Wagner and Freddy Fermin to San Diego. The slate of new acquisitions addressed major deficiencies in left field and behind the plate to varying levels while also deepening the pitching staff. It was another frenetic deadline for the Friars — one that was complicated not only by a lack of depth in the farm but also some financial constraints. The Padres operated with minimal payroll flexibility in the winter, and it seems ownership’s budgetary crunch carried over to the deadline.
Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports that the Orioles and Brewers both sent substantial cash considerations to the Padres in the respective trades involving O’Hearn, Laureano and Cortes. Baltimore sent $3.324MM to San Diego, while Milwaukee included $2.169MM in cash. The combined $5,493,300 the Padres received in that pair of trades effectively pays the trio of O’Hearn, Laureano and Cortes down to the prorated league minimum for the remainder of the season. Each of the other four players acquired by the Padres (Miller, Sears, Wagner, Fermin) was earning scarcely more than the $760K minimum as a pre-arbitration player.
The Padres are still more than $25MM north of the luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource, so the influx of cash won’t help them stay under the tax threshold (or even out of the second penalty tier). It does, however, mean the Padres barely added anything to their actual cash payroll for the 2025 season. That’s seemingly been the bigger concern than the luxury threshold anyhow. Nick Pivetta‘s four-year contract, for instance, came with a $13.75MM average annual value but pays him just $4MM in 2025 (a $1MM salary and $3MM signing bonus).
San Diego’s actual cash payroll sits a bit above $213MM. It’s not clear what sort of payroll expectations ownership will have for the 2026 season, but there’s already more than $166MM in guaranteed money on next year’s books. That doesn’t include the $6.5MM club option on Laureano, which seems like a lock to be exercised.
That number also fails to account for arbitration raises. Each of Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and Gavin Sheets will be due raises on this year’s salaries ($4.8MM, $2MM and $1.6MM, respectively). Miller, Sears, Fermin and righty Bryan Hoeing will be arbitration-eligible for the first time. Miller, in particular, will be in line for a notable salary. Closer Robert Suarez has a two-year, $16MM player option he’s likely to decline this winter, however, which would subtract an $8MM salary from the books.
Between Laureano’s option and the slate of arbitration raises, San Diego’s payroll can be reasonably expected to climb close to $200MM before making a single addition. Assuming Suarez indeed opts out, the Padres would be looking at a payroll in the $190-192MM range. If the goal is a payroll in the same realm as this year’s $213MM mark, that doesn’t leave a ton of additional space. Then again, each of Miller, Laureano, Fermin, Wagner and Sears proactively addressed some 2026 needs, and the Padres expect to welcome Joe Musgrove back to next year’s rotation after he missed the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery.
Due to that financial situation, the Padres presumably had to include more prospect capital in their deadline trades than if they didn’t need the other club to eat significant money. That’s a notable element as the Padres have traded away a large number of prospect in previous deals, so their farm system hasn’t been considered especially strong lately. Coming into this year, MLB.com ranked their farm 25th out of the 30 teams in the league, with Baseball America putting the Friars 26th.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Padres’ lack of impact talent was initially a roadblock in the Miller talks. Rosenthal notes that Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller tried to line up a three-team deal. He asked the A’s to tell him which prospects they wanted from other clubs, with the goal of then acquiring those players to send them to the A’s for Miller. There were rumors the Padres were considering trading majors leaguers like Dylan Cease or Suarez, so perhaps Preller could have traded one of those guys for the prospects he needed to get Miller.
However, the A’s didn’t want to take that complicated route and wanted to just deal directly with one club. They got interest from clubs like the Yankees, Phillies and Mets, but those clubs weren’t willing to surrender their top prospects. Specifically, Rosenthal notes that the Phillies weren’t willing to include Andrew Painter while the Yanks wouldn’t part with Spencer Jones or George Lombard Jr.
The Padres were eventually able to get the deal done, despite their weak farm system, by including top prospect Leo De Vries. They also included pitching prospects Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Núñez but De Vries was the key piece to getting the deal done. Having now traded De Vries and several other prospects, the Friars will presumably have an even weaker farm system in next year’s rankings, but that is seemingly a price they were willing to pay in order to build a winning team here in 2025.
As for Sears, the other player who came to San Diego alongside Miller, he may be viewed more as depth than a key piece of the club’s push this year. He started for the club on Monday, allowing five earned runs in five innings against the Diamondbacks, before getting optioned to Triple-A yesterday.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune notes that Sears may not be recalled in the remainder of the season, unless someone gets hurt. Michael King is on the injured list but has begun a rehab assignment, having thrown 3 1/3 innings in his first rehab start on Sunday. Once he’s healthy, the rotation will be Cease, King, Pivetta, Cortes and Yu Darvish. That would leave Sears in a depth role alongside guys like Randy Vásquez, Kyle Hart and Matt Waldron.
Going forward, however, the path to a role opens up. Each of Cease, King and Cortes are impending free agents. Musgrove should fill one of those vacancies but that still leaves space for Sears to carve out a role in next year’s rotation.
Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images
Vince Velasquez To Sign With KBO’s Lotte Giants
The Guardians announced this morning that right-hander Vince Velasquez will sign with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization for the remainder of the season. Velasquez has been pitching with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate. His contract is being sold to the Giants, who’ll send cash back to Cleveland. Velasquez and his agents at CAA have surely negotiated a deal with the Giants that’ll pay the right-hander more than he’d have received by playing out the remainder of his minor league deal with the Guardians.
Velasquez, 33, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023. The Guardians selected his contract to the big league roster back in late April, but he was designated for assignment a few days later before ever getting into a game. He could’ve rejected the subsequent outright assignment after he cleared waivers, but he opted to remain with the organization.
In 81 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this year, Velasquez has pitched to a 3.42 ERA with a strong 26.8% strikeout rate but an ugly 14.1% walk rate. Velasquez has averaged fewer than 4 2/3 innings per start, though some of that workload was limited by design. The right-hander had elbow surgery back in June 2023 and missed all of the 2024 season as a result. Cleveland didn’t push him past 4 1/3 innings in an outing until late May. Velasquez still isn’t regularly working deep into games, but he’s pitched into the sixth inning in seven of his past 12 starts and averaged five frames per start along the way.
Selected by the Astros with the 58th overall draft pick back in 2010, Velasquez has pitched in parts of nine major league seasons. He’s totaled 763 2/3 innings with a 4.88 earned run average, 24.9% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate in that time.
In 2025, Velasquez has gotten stronger as the season has worn on (3.17 ERA over his past 12 starts). He’s sitting 92.5 mph with his fastball — down a couple miles from his peak levels — and complementing that four-seamer with a slider, knuckle curve, changeup and sinker (in order of usage rate).
To make room for Velasquez, the Giants are slated to waive left-hander Tucker Davidson, per a report from the Chosun Ilbo (a South Korean news outlet). Davidson has pitched to a 3.65 ERA on the season, including six innings of one-run ball last night in his tenth win of the season. The team had concerns about Davidson’s lack of consistency, per the report, and opted to make a change before the KBO’s Aug. 15 postseason eligibility deadline for foreign signees (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO).
Davidson, 29, has pitched in parts of five major league seasons between the Braves, Angels and Orioles. The lefty once ranked as one of the more promising arms in Atlanta’s system but has totaled 129 2/3 innings with a rocky 5.76 ERA in the majors.
Buxton: Still No Plans To Waive No-Trade Clause
With rumors of the Twins potentially operating as deadline sellers swirling amid this year’s All-Star break, star center fielder Byron Buxton publicly indicated that he had no desire to waive his full no-trade clause and looked forward to being a Twin for the rest of his career. Minnesota indeed went the route of the seller and did so with far more vigor than anyone might’ve foreseen. The Twins shipped out ten players, including shortstop Carlos Correa (signed through at least 2028) and a quartet of controllable relievers: Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland and Brock Stewart. Even after their aggressive roster purge, Buxton has doubled down on his full intention to remain in Minnesota.
“Just because we go through these tough roads … it is what it is,” Buxton told reporters two days after the trade deadline (video link via Twins.TV). “We’ll be better once we get on the other end of it and figure things out a little bit more. End of the season, we’ll talk a little bit more, but I ain’t going nowhere.”
Some may latch onto Buxton’s comment about talking “a little bit more” at season’s end, but Buxton was even more emphatic when chatting with Dan Hayes of The Athletic:
“It’s always good to be wanted. Don’t get me wrong. But the only place I want is Minnesota. All of my choices are easy. I ain’t got but one place on my mind. That’s how it’ll be.”
Hayes reports that six or more teams reached out to Buxton’s agent to gauge the outfielder’s willingness to waive his no-trade protection as Minnesota embarked on a far broader-reaching teardown than anyone anticipated heading into the deadline. Both the Braves and the Mets had particularly strong interest, per Hayes. Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets that the Padres were also among the teams to inquire, as one would expect, given president of baseball operations A.J. Preller’s tendency to check in on virtually every high-profile name that hits the market. Obviously, Buxton was uninterested in pursuing a change of scenery.
Buxton, 31, is in the fourth season of a seven-year, $100MM contract extension that covers the 2022-28 seasons. He’s being paid $15MM annually, though the contract contains up to $8MM of yearly incentives based on MVP voting and a potential $2.5MM of annual bonuses based on plate appearances. Of course, if the talented but oft-injured Buxton were ever to stay healthy for a full season and max out those incentives with an MVP win, he’d still be a bargain even at the inflated $25.5MM in that given season.
The 2025 season is among the best of Buxton’s career to date. He’s hitting .282/.343/.561 with 23 home runs, 14 doubles, four triples, 17 steals (in 17 tries), an 8% walk rate and a 26.6% strikeout rate in 364 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+, he’s been 45% better than league-average from an offensive standpoint, and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (+4) views him as a continually strong defender (though Defensive Runs Saved has a -1 mark on him — the first negative of his career). Statcast measures Buxton’s average sprint speed (30.2 ft/sec) as second best in the game, trailing only Bobby Witt Jr.‘s 30.3 ft/sec.
Perhaps down the road, Buxton will eventually soften his stance on that no-trade provision, but even in the wake of seeing nearly 40% of the major league roster traded elsewhere, he sounds intent on staying in the Twin Cities.
It’s still not clear how far the Twins’ roster teardown will span when the offseason rolls around. The Pohlad family, which has owned the team for four decades, is exploring a sale of the franchise. That clearly played a major role in the team’s deadline flurry — particularly in the move to trade away Correa (a move that trimmed more than $70MM off the long-term payroll). If there’s a new owner in place or an agreement to sell the club, perhaps the new group will be willing to spend and make a renewed push for contention next year. If the Pohlads remain in place, it seems plausible that veterans like Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Ryan Jeffers and Bailey Ober could all find themselves on the market with an eye toward further scaling back the financial commitments a new owner would be inheriting.
Red Sox Designate Jorge Alcala For Assignment
The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala for assignment. Fellow righty reliever Isaiah Campbell was recalled from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.
Boston acquired Alcala in a mid-June trade with the Twins — a deal sending minor league infielder Andy Lugo back to Minnesota. Alcala was an obvious change-of-scenery candidate at the time. The hard-throwing righty had run out of opportunities in Minnesota after allowing 24 runs in 24 1/3 innings (8.88 ERA). That marked Alcala’s second ERA north of 6.00 in a span of three seasons with the Twins. He posted solid run-prevention numbers in 2024 but was far too prone to both walks and homers.
Alcala’s time with the Red Sox looked better, at least on the surface. His 3.31 ERA is a clearly solid mark, but there were plenty of troubling trends under the hood. As was the case throughout his time in Minnesota, Alcala proved susceptible to free passes and the long ball. He walked 10.5% of the batters he faced with Boston and tossed three wild pitches. He was also tagged for four homers in just 16 1/3 frames (2.20 HR/9).
The recent results for Alcala, who turned 30 late last month, were too rough for Sox brass to overlook. He’s lasted a combined 3 1/3 innings over his past five appearances and been shelled for six runs (five earned) on eight hits (four homers) and four walks in that time. He allowed three runs, including a pair of home runs, in one-third of an inning yesterday in what proved to be his final appearance with the Sox.
Alcala will now head to either outright or release waivers within the next five days. He’s very likely to clear in either case. He’s earning $1.5MM this year and still has about $435K of that sum yet to be paid out. He’s out of minor league options, so an acquiring team would need to plug him right into the big league bullpen. Between that lack of options, his remaining salary and his recent struggles, it’s doubtful any team would claim him. Alcala has more than five years of big league service time, so even if the Red Sox outright him to Worcester, he can reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency while retaining the remainder of that guaranteed money.
Marlins Release Matt Mervis, Rob Brantly
The Marlins have released first baseman Matt Mervis and catcher Rob Brantly, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Both had been in the majors earlier this season but were playing with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville after passing through waivers unclaimed and thus being removed from the 40-man roster.
Mervis, 27, got some Miami fans excited with an early-season home run binge, but it never seemed especially sustainable. The former Cubs farmhand popped six big flies in his first 13 games of the season, hitting .275/.333/.725 along the way. That was a sample of just 45 plate appearances, however, and Mervis fanned a whopping 18 times within that stretch (40%). His power has never been in doubt, but strikeout issues have long plagued Mervis and did so again following that early hot streak. He hit just .125/.213/.213 with a 37% strikeout rate over his next 89 trips to the plate before being designated for assignment and passing through waivers.
Things have gone better for Mervis in Jacksonville, where he’s hitting .250/.310/.614 with 13 homers in 145 plate appearances. However, much of that production is buoyed by a recent hot streak over the past week, and he’s still been set down on strikes in 27% of his plate appearances. This is his fourth season with notable time spent in Triple-A, and he’s had strikeout rates well higher than average in each of the past two (including a 30% strikeout rate in 350 Triple-A plate appearances with the Cubs last year).
Brantly, 36, was briefly summoned to the majors earlier this season when Miami needed an extra catcher, but what was supposed to be a big league stint lasting just a few days wound up turning into months. Brantly incurred a lat strain during that call-up and wound up landing on the 60-day injured list and picking up more than two months of service time.
Brantly has appeared in parts of 10 big league seasons but hasn’t topped 36 MLB plate appearances in a given year since 2013. He’s a .226/.286/.323 hitter in 472 big league plate appearances and has played in parts of 13 Triple-A seasons with more than 2700 plate appearances to his credit.
Astros Re-Sign Jon Singleton To Minor League Deal
The Astros have agreed to a new minor league deal with first baseman Jon Singleton, as first reported by Michael Schwab of The Ice Box Insider. Singleton was designated for assignment shortly before the trade deadline and passed through waivers unclaimed. He briefly became a free agent after rejecting an outright assignment but will now return to the ‘Stros and presumably head to Triple-A Sugar Land for the time being.
Singleton was on the Astros’ 40-man roster heading into the season but was released after he didn’t make the club in spring training. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets and has spent the bulk of the season with their Triple-A club in Syracuse but was cut loose in June. Singleton quickly latched back on with Houston on a minor league deal and was briefly selected to the big league roster last month prior to his DFA.
That call to the bigs saw Singleton, 33, get into three games and go 1-for-9 in that tiny sample. He’s logged a combined 306 Triple-A plate appearances between the Mets and Astros organizations this year, slashing .224/.373/.451 with 16 home runs, a massive 18.4% walk rate and a 26.5% strikeout rate.
Singleton was the Astros’ primary option at first base last year, following the release of Jose Abreu. He wound up making 405 trips to the plate in 119 games and turning in a solid, if unspectacular .234/.331/.386 batting line (104 wRC+) with 13 homers. Singleton doesn’t hit lefties well and is a below-average defender at first base, but he draws plenty of walks and can hit for some modest power against right-handed pitching.
The Astros acquired lefty-swinging outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the Marlins prior to last week’s trade deadline, but they’re still very light on left-handed bats — particularly with Yordan Alvarez having missed most of the season due to a fracture in his hand. Singleton will add a lefty-swinging option to the depth chart — one who seems to be a sentimental favorite within the organization. This is the third minor league deal Singleton has signed with Houston since 2023, and he’s spent the vast majority of career in the Astros organization.
Yankees To Designate JT Brubaker For Assignment
The Yankees are designating right-hander JT Brubaker for assignment, according to a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. The corresponding move for Brubaker’s departure is not yet known.
Brubaker’s time with the Yankees has been punctuated by frequent injury. Acquired from the Pirates alongside $550K of international bonus pool space for a player to be named later (Keiner Delgado) in March of 2024, he’s only pitched 16 innings in the majors.
Brubaker was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time of the trade sending him to the Bronx, though he was nearly at the one-year mark. He was targeting a midseason return but suffered an oblique strain during his rehab stint in July. He never made it back to the mound thereafter. This spring, he was quickly placed on the injured list after a comeback liner struck him in the chest and fractured three ribs. He was finally activated for his team debut in mid-June.
The 31-year-old Brubaker held opponents to six runs in 16 innings (3.38 ERA) but did so with a paltry 15.9% strikeout rate and a massive 14.3% walk rate. He also plunked a batter, meaning nearly 16% of his opponents in his brief run reached base without putting a ball in play. On top of his command troubles in the majors, Brubaker walked 12.5% of his opponents in five rehab appearances between Double-A and Triple-A (18 1/3 innings).
Though Brubaker didn’t pitch in the majors at all in 2023-24, he was solid for the Pirates in 2022, eating up 144 innings with a pedestrian 4.69 ERA but far more encouraging rate stats. Brubaker was dogged by a .334 average on balls in play that year but fanned 22.8% of his opponents against an 8.4% walk rate while generating a 44% grounder rate. Those were effectively league-average rate stats across the board — enough for metrics like FIP (3.92) and SIERA (3.97) to view him far more favorably.
With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, Brubaker will simply head to waivers. The Yankees have up to five days before they need to place him there. Brubaker has five-plus years of major league service, meaning he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Any team that claims him would be on the hook for the remainder of this year’s $1.82MM salary (about $528K). It’s possible that a contending club looking for some long relief/rotation depth could place a claim, but given his walk issues and lengthy layoff from pitching, there’s a better chance he’ll clear. Because he has five years of big league service, he’d be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and still retain the entirety of his guaranteed salary.