Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

A’s To Give Tyler Soderstrom Reps In Left Field

By | at

The Athletics’ promotion of first base prospect Nick Kurtz, the No. 4 overall pick from last year’s draft, gives the team three middle-of-the-order but defensively limited sluggers: Kurtz, first baseman Tyler Soderstrom and designated hitter Brent Rooker. Soderstrom and Rooker have primarily handled first base and DH, respectively, in 2025, but GM David Forst tells reporters that Soderstrom is now expected to see some time in left field (link via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Rooker could also see occasional corner outfield time; he’s briefly appeared in both left field and right field already this season.

Kurtz, listed at 6’5″ and 240 pounds, is unlikely to see any time on the grass. He was a bat-first selection by the A’s last year, and his performance in Triple-A this season has largely mirrored that of Soderstrom on the big league roster. Through 97 plate appearances, he’s slashing .321/.385/.655 with seven homers and seven doubles. Kurtz has fanned in 26.8% of his plate appearances but also walked at a 10.3% clip.

Though he’s not likely to see time in the outfield, that doesn’t mean Kurtz is without defensive value. Baseball America tabs him as a potential plus defender at first base, noting that he moves better than one might expect given his size and that he has reliable hands. MLB.com agrees, calling him an “excellent” first base defender despite lacking the speed or range necessary to play other positions.

With Kurtz seemingly ticketed for regular work at first base or designated hitter, Soderstrom and Rooker will be forced to see more regular time in the outfield. Soderstrom has slightly above-average sprint speed, per Statcast, and scouting reports have long credited him with an above-average arm — as one would expect from a former catcher. He probably won’t be a plus defender in the outfield, but he also hasn’t graded well at first base anyhow. If he can continue at even 75% of his current .298/.362/.643 pace, the A’s probably won’t care much about the defense — regardless of which position he’s manning.

It’s a similar story with Rooker. He’s played first base and the outfield corners in the past, never drawing positive grades at any spot. For a player who’s sporting a .268/.343/.523 batting line and 75 home runs over his past 1240 plate appearances, however, that’s a secondary consideration.

If all three of Rooker, Soderstrom and Kurtz are hitting anywhere close to their full capabilities, the A’s suddenly look like one of the most formidable lineups in the American League. Leadoff man Lawrence Butler, who signed an extension prior to the season, is out to a terrific start after a big finish last year. He’s batting .289/.340/.534 (150 wRC+) in 424 plate appearances dating back to last June. JJ Bleday, who hit .243/.324/.437 with 20 homers last year, has begun to heat up after a cold start. Shortstop Jacob Wilson, the No. 6 overall pick in 2023, doesn’t have much power but has some of the league’s best contact skills and has hit .299/.332/.402 in his first 185 plate appearances. Catcher Shea Langeliers isn’t likely to hit for a high average, but he popped 29 homers last season and already has five in 2025.

White Sox, Juan Carela Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The White Sox re-signed righty Juan Carela to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Chicago designated Carela for assignment and released him earlier this month, though that was only done because of the fact that Carela was injured and on the 40-man roster. Injured players cannot be passed through outright waivers, by rule, so Carela was released and will now return on a non-roster pact with an eye toward contributing in 2026, when he’s hopefully recovered from last month’s Tommy John surgery.

Carela, 23, came to the White Sox in the 2023 deadline trade that sent reliever Keynan Middleton to the Yankees. He pitched well for Chicago’s High-A club down the stretch that year and delivered a strong performance — 3.71 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 9.9% walk rate, 43.2% grounder rate — in 106 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A in 2024. That performance netted Carela a spot on the White Sox’ 40-man roster as they sought to protect him from being selected by another organization in December’s annual Rule 5 Draft.

Heading into the season, Carela looked primed to make his big league debut at some point in 2025. He’d pitched well in more than 100 innings of High-A work and handled himself well in a late-2024 bump to Double-A. A healthy Carela could’ve opened the season either with Double-A Birmingham or Triple-A Charlotte and pushed for a roster spot this summer or later in the season. Unfortunately, both he and fellow righty Prelander Berroa were diagnosed with torn ulnar collateral ligaments in their pitching elbows this spring and will now be out until midway through the 2026 campaign.

Braves Select Nathan Wiles, Release Amos Willingham

By | at

The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Nathan Wiles from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta opened a 40-man roster spot by releasing righty Amos Willingham. Fellow right-hander Michael Petersen was optioned to Gwinnett to clear space on the active roster. The Braves acquired Wiles from the Rays in exchange for cash late in spring training. Willingham was placed on the minor league injured list earlier this month, and injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers — hence the decision to release him rather than try to outright him.

Wiles, 26, will give the Braves some length in the bullpen after Spencer Strider was unexpectedly placed back on the injured list yesterday following a hamstring injury. Atlanta has been planning to use an opener in tonight’s game, David O’Brien of The Athletic reports that’ll still be the case. However, since Wiles has been working as a starter in Gwinnett, he could give the Braves a much-needed long relief appearance. He’s stretched out fully; his last Triple-A start lasted six innings.

An eighth-round pick by Tampa Bay back in 2019, Wiles pitched to an ERA north of 5.00 in three partial seasons at the Triple-A level while in the Rays organization but has had a terrific start with the Stripers. He’s pitched 14 innings across three starts and held opponents to a lone earned run on nine hits and five walks with 15 strikeouts (27.8 K%, 9.3 BB%). He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a hearty 52.9% clip.

The Braves have several rotation depth options already on the 40-man roster, but Strider’s injury was particularly ill-timed. All three of Hurston Waldrep, AJ Smith-Shawver and Davis Daniel made their starts in the past three days. Righty Zach Thompson and lefty Dylan Dodd are both on the 40-man roster and have experience starting in the majors, but both are working as relievers in 2025 and both pitched as recently as Sunday (two innings, in Thompson’s case). Wiles would’ve been in line to start today for Gwinnett, but he’ll instead join the Braves ahead of what seems likely to be his major league debut behind tonight’s opener.

Willingham, 26, was a waiver claim out of the Nationals organization back in January. He’s yet to pitch a big league inning for the Braves, his hometown club, but he did tally 25 1/3 innings with the Nats from 2023-24. The results weren’t pretty, as he was tagged for a bleak 7.11 earned run average in that time. However, Willingham has a solid minor league track record. He’s pitched to a 3.67 ERA in parts of six minor league seasons, including a 3.40 mark in 98 frames of Triple-A ball.

As a Georgia Tech product and a native of Rome, Ga., Willingham was surely thrilled to be claimed by the Braves back in the offseason. Today’s release ends his tenure with the club for at least the time being, though it’s common for injured players who released under similar circumstances to re-sign a minor league deal with their current organization. That doesn’t guarantee that Willingham will follow that path, as he can now talk with 29 other clubs in free agency, but there’s ample precedent a quick reunion.

Guardians Designate Triston McKenzie For Assignment

By | at

The Guardians announced that right-hander Triston McKenzie has been designated for assignment. They’ve selected the contract of righty Zak Kent from Triple-A Columbus in his place. The DFA marks the culmination of a lengthy period of struggle that dates back to 2023 for McKenzie, who once looked like a potential building block in Cleveland’s rotation.

McKenzie missed significant time in 2023 with a UCL injury that never wound up requiring surgery. He struggled before and after a pair of lengthy IL stints that season and has yet to regain his footing. He’s also out of minor league options, so the Guards couldn’t send him to Triple-A. McKenzie was one of a handful of notable out-of-options players we highlighted as a potential change-of-scenery candidate this spring. Given his pre-injury track record, it seems likely that another club will take a chance on him, presumably via a minor trade but at the very least via waivers.

Back in 2022, a then-24-year-old McKenzie broke out with 191 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball. He punched out 25.6% of his opponents against a terrific 5.9% walk rate. That ostensible breakout came on the heels of a four-year run in which McKenzie ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects. He didn’t throw hard, sitting 92.5 mph with his four-seamer, but he generated swinging strikes and chases on pitches off the plate at rates well north of the average pitcher. Given the right-hander’s prospect status and Cleveland’s penchant for churning out quality pitchers on a near-annual basis, McKenzie looked like the next in a long line of homegrown rotation arms to call Progressive Field home.

The previously mentioned UCL injury limited McKenzie to only four starts in 2023, however, and he looked like a completely different pitcher in 2024. The lanky 6’5″, 175-pound righty saw his average fastball freefall to 91.1 mph last year. His once-plus command was gone. He walked 14.4% of his opponents in 75 2/3 innings after having dished out free passes at a grisly 17.8% clip during that injury-ruined 2023 season. He allowed an average of 1.18 homers per nine innings during his standout 2022 season but saw that mark skyrocket to 2.26 per nine frames in ’24.

No longer able to entrust McKenzie with a rotation spot, the Guardians looked elsewhere to fill in the starting staff this winter. They acquired righty Luis Ortiz from the Pirates and re-signed Shane Bieber to a two-year deal (with an opt-out) while he mends from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

McKenzie opened the 2025 season in the bullpen. The Guards surely hoped that he could either find his footing as a reliever or pitch his way back into consideration for a starting role. Neither has happened. While McKenzie’s velocity is back up to an average of 93.7 mph on his heater, that’s likely due to him working in short-relief stints as opposed to being asked to face a lineup two to three times per outing. He’s pitched only 5 2/3 innings this season and been clobbered for seven runs. Command is still a glaring issue; he’s served up seven hits (including a homer), walked seven of his 30 opponents (23.3%) and already been charged with three wild pitches. McKenzie has only set down four batters on strikes.

Any team to claim McKenzie or acquire him via trade will at this point be rolling the dice on a reclamation project. McKenzie hasn’t worked more than 1 2/3 innings in a single appearance this season, so he’s also not presently stretched out enough to join someone’s rotation even if they want to take a look at him as a starter. He could be built back up on the fly, but that’s a tough task when already asking a player to switch teams and go through all the inherent, associated changes (learning new coaches and catchers, making tweaks to delivery and pitch selection, etc.).

The Guardians can trade McKenzie or place him on outright waivers at any point in the next five days. Waivers themselves are a 48-hour process, meaning his DFA will be resolved within a week’s time at most. He’s earning $1.95MM this season. An acquiring club would be on the hook for about $1.69MM as of this writing (or a bit less depending on when he’s claimed/traded). He’s controllable for two additional seasons beyond the current campaign.

Turning to Kent, he’s a former Rangers farmhand whom Cleveland acquired in a March 2024 trade that sent international bonus pool space back to Texas. He missed the majority of the 2024 season due to an elbow strain, however. The Guards designated Kent for assignment last summer, released him and quickly re-signed him on a new minor league pact. (Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers.)

Today’s promotion puts Kent in line for his MLB debut. He’s healthy again and pitching well in Columbus, where he’s tossed 7 2/3 frames of relief and held opponents to a pair of runs. Kent has allowed three hits and fanned 10, though his four walks are higher than he or the team would prefer, and he’s also plunked a batter.

Kent ranked in the Rangers’ top 30 prospects from 2022-24, per Baseball America, and he’ll head to MLB with a solid track record at the top minor league level. Kent carries a lifetime 4.00 ERA in 92 innings across parts of four seasons there, although that number is skewed a bit by last year’s injury-marred season. Kent was rocked for an ERA north of 7.00 in 23 innings there, though it seems fair to suggest his elbow injury contributed to those struggles. He’s posted strong numbers in each of his other partial Triple-A seasons. Subtracting the injury-plagued ’24 campaign, Kent has a 2.88 ERA in 68 2/3 Triple-A frames.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

By | at

MLBTR's Steve Adams hosted a live chat today at 2pm CT, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

 

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

Brewers Acquire Cesar Espinal To Complete Mark Canha Trade

By | at

The Royals announced Monday that minor league righty Cesar Espinal has been traded to the Brewers. He’s the player to be named later from the swap that sent Mark Canha from Milwaukee to K.C. late in spring training.

Espinal is just 19 years old, but this is already the second time in his career that he’s been traded. He originally signed with the Orioles out of his native Dominican Republic, but Baltimore flipped him to Kansas City in a December 2023 deal that sent right-hander Jonathan Heasley over to the O’s.

The 19-year-old Espinal has spent his entire pro career pitching in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League. He’s totaled just 73 innings and worked to a 3.95 ERA with 22.7% strikeout rate and 13.7% walk rate. He’s kept the ball on the ground at a 43.8% clip. Espinal wasn’t a high-profile prospect when signing as a 16-year-old in 2022 and hasn’t appeared among the top-30 prospects for either Baltimore or Kansas City to this point.

That sort of return is to be expected, given the nature of the trade. Canha signed as a non-roster invitee with the Brewers and looked like a long shot to make the roster this spring. Milwaukee adding any kind of lottery-ticket arm in exchange for a spring NRI who could’ve opted out of his contract if he didn’t make the roster is a nice bit of business.

Of course, it should be mentioned that the Royals likely don’t have any buyer’s remorse. Canha missed 10 days with an adductor strain but has started out 7-for-18 with a pair of doubles, two walks and three strikeouts in 21 plate appearances with Kansas CIty. It’s a nice start for a typically productive veteran whose offense last year was about league-average and who hasn’t posted a below-average offensive output since establishing himself as a big leaguer back in 2018.

Omar Narvaez Elects Free Agency

By | at

Veteran catcher Omar Narvaez, who was designated for assignment by the White Sox last week, passed through waivers unclaimed. He was assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte but has rejected that assignment in favor of free agency, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.

The 33-year-old Narvaez appeared in four games in his return to the White Sox — with whom he originally made his MLB debut — going 2-for-7 with a pair of walks in 10 plate appearances. It was a tiny sample as the Sox looked for a short-term stopgap to pair with Matt Thaiss in the wake of an injury to catcher Korey Lee. Chicago quickly pivoted, turning Narvaez’s roster spot over to top prospect Edgar Quero, who’d had a big start in Charlotte and has been excellent through his first four MLB games.

Narvaez was a solid regular behind the plate from 2017-21, when he tallied 1670 plate appearances and batted .266/.351/.403 between the White Sox, Mariners and Brewers. He improved his defensive reputation, particularly his framing grades, along the way and even earned an All-Star nod with the 2021 Brewers.

His output since that terrific 2021 season has faded, however. He’s taken 521 plate appearances between the Brewers, Mets and this brief ChiSox return, posting a collective .201/.278/.286 line that checks in nearly 40% below average at the plate, by measure of wRC+.

Narvaez could simply return to the organization on a new minor league contract, but although the White Sox have the second-worst winning percentage in MLB, catcher is an area of depth for them. In Quero, Lee, Thais and top prospect Kyle Teel — the headliner from the Garrett Crochet trade with Boston — the Sox have a quartet of younger catchers who’d land ahead of Narvaez on the depth chart. Quero and Teel, in particular, are viewed as potential building blocks for the organization and should get prominent opportunities this season. The veteran Narvaez could likely find a less-crowded path back to big league playing time with another organization.

White Sox Transfer Martin Perez To 60-Day IL, Select Bobby Dalbec

By | at

The White Sox selected the contract of infielder Bobby Dalbec from Triple-A Charlotte, per a team announcement. Fellow infielder Chase Meidroth heads to the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his right thumb, while veteran lefty Martin Perez is moving from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Perez exited his most recent start due to forearm soreness and was placed on the 15-day injured list over the weekend due to inflammation in his left elbow.

The Sox haven’t provided further word on Perez’s injury, but the move to the 60-day IL was not expected based on the information that’s been made publicly available. A move to the 60-day IL takes him out until at least late June. That’s a tough blow for the ChiSox, both because Perez has had a nice start to the season and because it clouds his potential outlook as a trade candidate prior to July’s deadline.

Perez, 34, signed a one-year deal worth $5MM over the winter. Through his first three starts with the South Siders, he posted a 1.59 ERA with a 26.9% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in 17 frames. History tells us that Perez is highly unlikely to keep inducing strikeouts at that level but also that his walk rate should be expected to drop substantially; over the past four seasons, Perez fanned just 18.4% of his opponents but also limited his walk rate to a solid 8% mark.

However, Perez was roughed up for four runs in three innings against the Red Sox his last time out. He yielded five hits, including a homer, walked two batters and didn’t record a strikeout. There was no major velocity drop, but Statcast did measure Perez’s cutter at a season-low 84.9 mph on average, down from his 85.5 mph average in his first start. His sinker had a similar dip. That’s not stark enough to prompt major concern, but it’s of some mild note in the wake of his 60-day placement. Presumably, White Sox skipper Will Venable will have more information on Perez’s status prior to today’s series finale at Fenway Park.

Fenway was long the home park for Dalbec, 29. The former Red Sox fourth-rounder (2016) ranked among the team’s best prospects for much of his minor league tenure and posted a solid .243/.308/.511 batting line with 33 home runs through his first 545 major league plate appearances from 2020-21. It’s been a sharp decline ever since. Dating back to the 2022 season, Dalbec has appeared in 175 big league games and tallied 499 plate appearances, but he has just a .198/.269/.330 slash to show for it. He’s fanned in 38% of his plate appearances along the way and nearly 37% of his overall plate appearances in the majors.

Through his first 12 games in Triple-A this season, Dalbec has been on a tear. He’s hitting .326/.354/.696 with four homers, three doubles, a triple and a stolen base in only 48 trips to the plate. He’s still punched out in exactly one-third of those turns at the dish, but he’s stinging the ball when he makes contact.

It seems likely to be a short-term stint on the 40-man roster for Dalbec. He’s out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent back down without first being designated for assignment and passed through waivers.

Meidroth tells MLB.com’s Scott Merkin that x-rays on his thumb were negative. He first felt the issue in Charlotte, prior to his original promotion to the majors. He rested a few days and returned to the Triple-A lineup pain-free. It’s resurfaced recently, and after trying to play through it for the past week or so, he’ll now sit down for a longer spell to try to get the issue cleared up once and for all.

Acquired from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, the 23-year-old Meidroth was Boston’s 2022 fourth-round pick. He opened the year with a .267/.450/.600 slash through 40 Triple-A plate appearances before being summoned for his MLB debut, and he’s batted .269/.387/.269 in his first 31 trips to the plate as a big leaguer.

MLB Announces Suspensions Following Nationals-Pirates Incident

By | at

TODAY: Lopez had his suspension reduced to two games after his appeal, and he’ll start serving that suspension today.  (MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman was among those to report the news.)

APRIL 17: Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Nationals reliever Jorge Lopez and manager Davey Martinez have received suspensions after a Lopez fastball to Andrew McCutchen sailed high-and-tight, nearly hitting McCutchen in the head. Lopez has received a three-game suspension, which he will appeal. Martinez was suspended for one game and will serve that punishment today. (Managers cannot appeal suspensions of this nature.) Bench coach Miguel Cairo will manage in his place.

The errant pitch to McCutchen eventually prompted both benches to clear. Tensions had already been high. Mitch Keller had hit Nats infielder Paul DeJong in the face a day prior, breaking his nose and sending him to the injured list. Lopez had first hit Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds with a pitch before losing the handle on another offering to McCutchen, the very next batter. Lopez was ejected from the game.

The league’s announcement indicates they believe Lopez to have been “intentionally throwing” at McCutchen. Lopez has denied that, and even McCutchen himself suggested after the game that he didn’t believe there was intent behind the pitch.

“It’s just the nature of the situation,” McCutchen replied when asked postgame about the incident (video link via MLB.com). “Take it as is, even if it wasn’t on purpose, which I don’t think it was. I think the height of the moment just got to him, maybe. One got away from him, similar to [Keller]. … Just thankful I was able to move out of the way.”

Command troubles aren’t exactly new for Lopez. He’s walked 10.5% of his opponents this season, hit another pair of batters, and has been charged with a wild pitch. That all comes in just 7 2/3 innings of work. Dating back to 2021, Lopez has pitched 312 1/3 big league innings and walked nearly 10% of the batters he’s faced. He’s also hit another 29 batters — 2.1% of his opponents, well north of league-average — and been charged with 22 wild pitches.

Signed to a one-year, $3MM contract over the winter, Lopez got out to a nice start with the Nats before stumbling in his past two outings. Through his first six frames, he held opponents to a pair of runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. He’s since been tagged for seven runs in a total of just 1 2/3 innings, ballooning his earned run average to 10.57 on the young season.

Lopez logged a 2.89 ERA, 23% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 51% grounder rate in 53 innings between the Mets and Cubs last season. He collected 10 holds and four saves along the way. In 183 innings from 2022-24, he recorded a 3.74 earned run average with 30 saves and 21 holds.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top