Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

White Sox Release Oscar Colas

By | at

The White Sox have released outfielder Oscar Colas, according to an announcement from the club’s Triple-A affiliate Charlotte Knights. Colas was previously outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster back in March, so the move has no impact on Chicago’s major league roster.

It’s an unfortunate end to Colas’s time in the organization. The 26-year-old was a fairly high-profile player in Cuba and Japan before he came over to affiliated ball by signing with Chicago for a $2.7MM bonus in early 2022. He crushed minor league pitching that year and put himself on the map as a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport headed into the 2023 season. He broke camp with the team after a strong spring training, but ultimately struggled badly across 75 games with the White Sox that year. He hit just .216/.257/.314 in 263 trips to the plate, with an elevated 27.0% strikeout rate against a lackluster 4.6% walk rate.

Those numbers weren’t enough for the White Sox to continue riding with Colas even amid a disastrous 101-loss season, and he was shipped back to the minors. Once back in Triple-A, Colas regained his hitting prowess somewhat and slashed .272/.345/.465 with the Knights in 54 games down the stretch. As the White Sox dove headfirst into a rebuilding phase in 2024, many expected that Colas would receive another opportunity to come up and try to establish himself in the majors with the club. That never came to pass, however, as reps in right field were instead primarily split between Dominic Fletcher, Gavin Sheets, and Tommy Pham.

Relegated to Triple-A for almost the entirety of 2024, Colas hit .273/.368/.273 with a 26.3% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate in the 13 games he did play in the majors last year but recorded no extra-base hits in the majors and saw his performance in the minors take a noticeable step back as he slashed just .246/.332/.400 across 400 trips to the plate. Colas did not factor into the club’s plans for the outfield this year either, as team brass added players like Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater to the mix rather than give Colas another opportunity. This year, he posted a brutal .163/.245/.255 slash line across the Double- and Triple-A levels in 29 games (110 plate appearances) before the White Sox decided it was time to pull the plug.

Now that the White Sox and Colas have parted ways, the outfielder is free to sign with any of the league’s 29 other teams. The outfielder won’t turn 27 until September and is not terribly far removed from sensational numbers in the upper minors, so it wouldn’t be a shock if an outfield needy club gave him a call to serve as a depth option or injury replacement. Another possible option would be to explore the possibility of playing overseas, building on his stint with NPB’s Fukuoka Softbank Hawks during the 2019 season. If Colas is unable to find an attractive stateside opportunity, he’s certainly young enough to find success overseas before attempting to make an MLB comeback as a handful of other players have done over the years.

Red Sox Promote Marcelo Mayer; Alex Bregman To IL With “Significant” Quad Strain

By | at

4:27pm: The Red Sox have officially announced the selection of Mayer’s contract. Bregman was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right quad strain to create room for Mayer on the active roster, while Casas was placed on the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot. Cora told reporters (including Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic) this afternoon that Bregman’s injury is “significant” and compared it to a quad strain Bregman suffered in 2021 that ultimately caused him to miss around two months.

1:39pm: The Red Sox are promoting top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Katie Morrison-O’Day of MassLive observed that Mayer was being congratulated by his teammates in the clubhouse at Triple-A Worcester. Her MassLive colleague Christopher Smith first reported that the former first-round pick is headed to Fenway Park.

The promotion comes as Alex Bregman navigates a right quad injury that seems likely to send him to the 10-day injured list. Bregman came out of yesterday’s blowout win over the Orioles in the fifth inning. He came up a bit gimpy after making an aggressive turn around the first base bag on a single off the Green Monster. He immediately exited in favor of Abraham Toro. The team is still awaiting MRI results from this morning. Manager Alex Cora told reporters (including WEEI’s Rob Bradford) that the star third baseman woke up with more soreness than he’d expected today.

Boston did not place Bregman on the IL before the first game of today’s doubleheader. There’s a good chance that’ll come between games tonight. They’ll also need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Mayer, but that can easily be achieved by transferring Triston Casas to the 60-day injured list.

Cora has already shot down the idea that Rafael Devers could see any third base time in Bregman’s absence. He’ll remain a full-time designated hitter. That means the 22-year-old Mayer should be in the lineup on a near everyday basis at third base. He obviously can’t be expected to replace the production they’re losing with Bregman’s absence. The two-time All-Star takes a .299/.385/.553 batting line to his likely stint on the injured list.

Mayer has very little experience at the hot corner. He started one game there in Double-A in each of the 2023 and ’24 seasons. He’s added four appearances in Triple-A this year. Mayer has taken the vast majority of his professional reps as a shortstop. He’d moved more frequently to second base over the past few days. That wasn’t because of any question about whether he can hold up at shortstop. It was instead in preparation for what seemed to be his best path to an MLB debut — playing second base with Kristian Campbell preparing to slide to first base after the Casas injury.

While there may be some growing pains given Mayer’s lack of experience at the hot corner, it’s common for shortstops to move to other infield positions. He has the plus arm for the position and is generally regarded as a sure-handed infielder. At 6’3″, Mayer is on the bigger side for a shortstop. His range, while adequate, has never been the strongest point of his defensive profile. That’s less of a concern at third base.

Mayer certainly brings a higher offensive ceiling than the utility options (Toro and David Hamilton) who may otherwise have replaced Bregman. The fourth overall pick in 2021, Mayer has been a feature on top prospect lists throughout his professional career. The left-handed hitter has moved a little more slowly than anticipated, largely because of injuries to his left shoulder and right wrist that affected him in 2022-23. Scouts have remained enamored with his power, polished strike zone discipline and overall natural athleticism.

That has been on display over the past two minor league seasons. Mayer hit .307/.370/.480 in Double-A a year ago. He’s out to a solid .271/.347/.471 slash with nine homers in 43 games during his first Triple-A action. He’s drawing walks at a strong 10.4% clip compared to a 19.7% strikeout rate that matches last year’s mark for the lowest of his career.

While the Bregman injury is the immediate impetus for Mayer’s promotion, there should be opportunity to stick past Bregman’s return if he performs well. The Sox may feel comfortable using Campbell at first base by that point, potentially opening second base. Mayer could also eventually supplant Trevor Story as the starting shortstop. Story began the season with a power barrage but has done almost nothing offensively for the better part of six weeks. He’s hitting .159 with one home run and 38 strikeouts in 122 plate appearances since his two-homer game on April 18.

Mayer will not reach a full year of service time unless he triggers the Prospect Promotion Inventive by finishing in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. The Sox would not receive an extra draft choice under the PPI because they did not carry Mayer on the big league roster for at least 172 days. He would be on track to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason if he’s in big leagues for good, though future optional assignments could certainly change that timeline.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Guardians Promote Nic Enright

By | at

The Guardians are recalling right-hander Nic Enright to the roster today, as noted by MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. He’ll take the place of right-hander Hunter Gaddis, who is going on the bereavement list. Should Enright make it into a game during this coming stint in the majors, it would be his big league debut.

Enright, 28, was drafted by Cleveland during the 20th round of the 2019 draft. Having mostly worked in relief during his college days, he was used out of the bullpen right away in his professional debut, when he allowed just one earned run in 18 dominant innings at the rookie league level. He struck out 36.1% of his opponents while walking 11.1%, and was clearly ready for a larger challenge. The cancelled minor league season in 2020 stalled Enright’s promotion somewhat, but he nonetheless reached Double-A by the end of the 2021 season. After scuffling to a 4.31 ERA in his first taste of action at the level, he enjoyed a fantastic season in the upper minors in 2022 with a 2.88 ERA in 65 2/3 innings of work between the Double- and Triple-A levels.

That’s the sort of performance that puts a player on the radar for a call-up to the majors. The Marlins clearly saw him as potentially ready for the show, as they plucked him from Cleveland in the Rule 5 draft that December. As Stebbins wrote about back in March, however, Enright was diagnosed with Hodgkins’ Lymphoma just a couple of weeks after being drafted by Miami. MLBTR readers are encourage to read Stebbins’s story about Enright’s battle with cancer in full.

The righty continued to pitch while undergoing treatment and made a handful of rehab appearances in the minors with the Marlins before eventually being returned to the Guardians organization in late May. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the fact that Enright was simultaneously changing organizations and battling cancer while trying to continue his development as a pitcher, 2023 was a bit of a down season for him as he struggled to a 5.09 ERA in 46 innings of work at the Triple-A level.

Despite those difficulties, Enright continued to persevere and turned things around last year, when he dominated to the tune of a 1.06 ERA and a 49.2% strikeout rate at Triple-A. That phenomenal performance came in just 17 innings of work, however, as the right-hander missed most of last year due to a strain in his throwing shoulder. Enright has been able to avoid further injury this year through nine appearances and has a 2.00 ERA at Triple-A, albeit with identical 18.9% strikeout and walk rates that are clear cause for concern. Regardless of that potential red flag, however, the 28-year-old is now on the precipice of making his big league debut despite the substantial off-the-field hurdles he’s faced in recent years.

If Enright does make his debut with the Guardians this evening, he’ll be tasked with facing a tough Tigers lineup in Detroit. As for Gaddis, his absence from the Cleveland bullpen will surely be felt given that he’s he’s pitched to a brilliant 1.41 ERA and 2.82 FIP with a 26.1% strikeout rate across 95 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2024 season. Fortunately, the Guardians will still have Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith to handle the late innings in Gaddis’s absence.

Mets Designate Genesis Cabrera, Jose Azocar For Assignment

By | at

The Mets designated lefty reliever Génesis Cabrera and outfielder José Azocar for assignment. That clears a pair of active roster spots for Brandon Waddell and Jared Young, each of whom were recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Cabrera and Azocar are both out of options, so the Mets needed to DFA them to take them off the big league roster. Their 40-man roster count drops to 38.

Cabrera and Azocar had each been selected onto the MLB team in recent weeks. The former was called up after the team lost A.J. Minter and Danny Young to season-ending surgeries. The 28-year-old Cabrera made six appearances, allowing three runs across 7 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked three while averaging around 96 MPH on his fastball. It wasn’t a bad showing altogether.

Unfortunately for Cabrera, he’s a victim of circumstance. The Mets and Dodgers played 13 innings last night. Cabrera went two of them on 20 pitches and probably wouldn’t have been available today. In addition to the four extra frames, that game featured a lengthy third-inning rain delay that forced the Mets to lift starter Griffin Canning rather than try to ramp him back up after the layoff. As a result, all eight members of New York’s bullpen pitched in the eventual 7-5 loss. Waddell hasn’t pitched in six days at Triple-A and is all but certain to get some work behind David Peterson tonight.

Azocar is a more straightforward roster cut. He has been the clear fifth outfielder since the Mets selected his contract on April 17. He has only started five games in as many weeks. Azocar made an appearance as a pinch-runner last night, the first time he’d played in any capacity since May 14. They’ll swap him out for Young, who signed a split deal over the offseason and will be making his team debut. A lefty-swinging corner outfielder/first baseman, Young is hitting .259/.371/.506 with five homers over 22 games in Syracuse. He’ll provide more of a bat-first profile off Carlos Mendoza’s bench.

The Mets have five days to trade Cabrera and Azocar or place them on waivers. There’s a chance they’ll find minor trade interest in Cabrera, though Azocar seems likelier to hit waivers and go unclaimed (as he did during Spring Training). Both players have a previous career outright, meaning they’d each be able to decline a minor league assignment and elect free agency if they clear waivers.

Cubs Designate Julian Merryweather For Assignment

By | at

The Cubs announced they’ve designated reliever Julian Merryweather for assignment. He’ll be replaced on the active and 40-man rosters by Brooks Kriske, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.

Merryweather, 33, loses his roster spot thanks to a rough start to the season. The hard-throwing righty has given up 13 runs (12 earned) through his first 18 2/3 innings. He has fanned 15 while issuing 11 walks and surrendering a couple home runs. He’d fallen down the bullpen hierarchy and was working in mostly low-leverage spots. The Cubs called upon him down by two runs in the fifth inning against Cincinnati yesterday. He retired only two of six batters faced and gave up a pair of runs while struggling through 32 pitches.

The Cubs erased the four-run deficit and went on to a fairly comfortable 13-6 win, but Merryweather likely would not have been available for a couple days. His performance didn’t make all that compelling a case to retain his middle relief spot anyhow. Merryweather has allowed 6.15 earned runs per nine in 36 appearances since the start of the 2024 season — a marked dip from a ’23 campaign in which he posted a 3.38 ERA across a career-high 72 innings.

Chicago has five days to explore trade possibilities before they’ll need to place him on waivers. Merryweather is playing this season on a $1.225MM arbitration contract. Any team that claims him would assume the remainder of that salary. If he clears waivers, he’d quite likely accept a minor league assignment to Triple-A Iowa. Merryweather has the requisite three years of service to decline an outright assignment, but he’s a handful of days shy of the five-year service cutoff. That’s the point at which he could elect free agency while still collecting the rest of his salary.

The 31-year-old Kriske could make an MLB appearance for the first time since 2023. He signed an offseason minor league deal that’ll pay him a prorated $900K for his time in the majors. Kriske had spent time on the 40-man rosters of the Reds and Orioles last year but did not make it into a big league game. He’d combined for a 3.39 ERA across 58 1/3 Triple-A innings, though, making him a solid depth addition on a minor league deal.

Kriske is out to a similar start this year in Iowa. The righty sports a 3.38 ERA with a massive 36% strikeout rate through 18 1/3 frames. He has walked over 10% of opponents, but he’s missing plenty of bats behind a three-pitch mix (fastball, splitter, slider). Kriske has a long history of big strikeout and walk tallies in his minor league career. He was hit hard in scattered MLB stints between 2020-23 for the Yankees, Orioles and Royals. He carries an 11.22 earned run average over 20 career big league outings.

Orioles Select Terrin Vavra

By | at

The Orioles announced that they’ve selected Terrin Vavra onto the big league roster. Ramón Laureano lands on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 21, with a left ankle sprain. Baltimore also brought up Trevor Rogers as their extra man for today’s doubleheader at Fenway Park. The O’s had two openings on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 39.

Vavra joins the roster just before the start of Game 1. If he makes it into a game, it’ll be his first big league action in two seasons. He made 67 appearances for Baltimore between 2022-23. Vavra hit .254 with a solid .331 on-base percentage, but he managed just one home run with an underwhelming .304 slugging mark. The O’s dropped him from the 40-man roster after the ’23 season.

Baltimore reselected Vavra’s contract last summer on the day of the trade deadline. He was only on the active roster for a day and did not make an appearance. The O’s briefly lost him on waivers to Seattle. Vavra’s tenure with the Mariners comprised three Triple-A games before they also placed him on waivers. He went unclaimed and has since circled back to the Orioles on a pair of minor league contracts.

The Minnesota product provides a left-handed bat and some multi-positional flexibility off the bench for interim skipper Tony Mansolino. Vavra has played more second base than any other position in his career, but he has started games at all four infield spots and in both corner outfield places this year with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s having a nice year offensively, hitting .317 across 22 minor league games. He’s out of options, so the O’s would need to expose him to waivers if they try to send him back to Norfolk.

Rangers Trade Jonathan Ornelas To Braves

By | at

The Rangers announced the trade of infielder Jonathan Ornelas to the Braves for cash considerations. Texas had designated him for assignment earlier this week when they claimed Michael Helman off waivers from Pittsburgh. Atlanta already had an opening on the 40-man roster after yesterday’s DFA of Orlando Arcia. They optioned Ornelas to Triple-A Gwinnett, so no further move is necessary.

Ornelas changes organizations for the first time. Texas drafted him out of high school in the third round in 2018. He has never been a great minor league hitter, but he’s a versatile defender with enough athleticism and arm strength to play on the left side of the infield. Texas added him to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft after the 2022 season. That followed a career-best .299/.360/.425 showing as a 22-year-old in Double-A.

The right-handed hitter hasn’t matched that production since moving up to Triple-A. He’s a career .247/.348/.333 hitter in more than 1000 plate appearances over three seasons at the top minor league level. That includes a .204/.339/.235 start through 30 games this year. He has appeared in 30 MLB contests over a handful of stints going back to 2023. Ornelas has hit .184 without a home run while striking out 20 times in 54 big league plate appearances.

Atlanta has limited roster flexibility on the position player side. The only hitters on the active roster who have minor league options are Michael Harris II and rookie catcher Drake Baldwin, neither of whom is in danger of getting sent down. Luke Williams projects as the backup infielder now that they’ve moved on from Arcia.

Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relayed yesterday that Eli White will take pregame infield reps to offer more flexibility off the bench. Ornelas, who is in his final option year, can spend the remainder of the season in Gwinnett as an alternative to the out-of-options Williams and White if the Braves decide to make any changes.

Cooper Hummel Granted Release By Yankees

By | at

May 24: The Yankees opted not to promote Hummel and granted him his release, reports Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. He’s again a free agent.

May 22: Utility player Cooper Hummel has triggered a release clause in his minor league deal with the Yankees, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. Triggering the clause gives the Yanks 72 hours to decide on whether to add Hummel to their roster, trade him or release him. Since he triggered the clause yesterday (Wednesday), the team will need to make their decision by some time on Saturday.

Hummel, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in April. He started the season on the Astros’ roster but came into this year out of options. He hit .316/.435/.447 during spring training but the Astros decided not to carry him on the Opening Day roster. He was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and elected free agency. That freed up him to sign with the Yankees.

He played in just three Triple-A games before landing on the minor league injured list with an unknown issue. He was reinstated from the IL on May 10th and has since appeared in seven more contests.

That doesn’t give the Yanks much to go on but Hummel has an impressive minor league track record on the whole. He has stepped to the plate 1,460 times at the Triple-A level from 2021 to the present with a 17.6% walk rate and 20.8% strikeout rate. His combined line of .284/.419/.475 translates to a 132 wRC+. He has done that while bouncing around the diamond, suiting up at catcher and the four corner positions. He also notched double-digit steal totals in both 2023 and 2024.

Despite doing all that fun stuff in the minors, he has only 235 major league plate appearances, most of which were with the Diamondbacks back in 2022. His .159/.255/.275 line in the majors is obviously far less enticing than his work on the farm.

The next few days will provide some clarity on whether the Yankees or any other club are willing to give Hummel some major league time. As mentioned, he is out of options but he also has just one year and three days of service time at the moment. That means he wouldn’t get to the two-year mark even if he were called up today. The Yanks or some other club could therefore keep him in the majors for the rest of this season and still have five seasons of club control after that.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Tigers Outright Tomas Nido

By | at

The Tigers announced that catcher Tomás Nido cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Toledo. The veteran backstop has the right to decline the assignment in favor of free agency, though the team did not provide any indication that he’d do that.

Nido spent six weeks on Detroit’s big league roster while Jake Rogers was down with a left oblique strain. The 31-year-old backed up Dillon Dingler and was mostly productive in a tiny sample. Nido collected 12 hits in 10 games, batting .343 in the process. That came in just 35 at-bats, though, and Nido’s much bigger MLB track record is that of a well below-average hitter. He has a lifetime .215/.249/.310 slash in nearly 1000 big league plate appearances. He was hitting .160 in six Triple-A games before the Tigers called him up.

Teams clearly remained skeptical about Nido’s hitting ability, this year’s small-sample success notwithstanding. He’s out of options, so any team that claimed him would have needed to carry him on the MLB roster themselves. The Tigers would surely be happy to retain him as non-roster depth in Toledo. Nido has a positive defensive reputation and plenty of upper minors experience. Rogers and Dingler are the only catchers on the 40-man roster, so Nido would probably be the first one back up if either of the big league catchers suffered a future injury.

Royals Acquire Diego Castillo

By | at

The Royals have acquired infielder Diego Castillo from the Mets, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Omaha. The log doesn’t specify what the Mets are receiving in return but it seems likely to be a cash deal.

Castillo is a 27-year-old infielder and not to be confused with the 31-year-old pitcher of the same name, who is in the Rockies’ system on a minor league deal. The infielder signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason and has appeared in 13 Triple-A games so far this season. He has a rough .167/.217/.262 line, though it’s a tiny sample of 46 plate appearances and he has been held back by a .188 batting average in balls in play.

That performance probably didn’t help his standing with the Mets. Additionally, the club’s infield picture is far stronger than it was to start the year. Jeff McNeil started the season on the injured list but has been back for a few weeks now. Brett Baty has been heating up after a cold start. Luisangel Acuña is performing well enough as a bench piece. Ronny Mauricio is also back on the field and playing minor league games after missing 2024 due to a torn ACL.

For the Royals, both Michael Massey and Jonathan India are having rough years, so the second base production hasn’t been great. The Royals have received a collective .217/.251/.280 line from the keystone this year, with Massey taking most of the playing time. That results in a wRC+ of 44, which puts the Royals ahead of just the Rockies in terms of offensive production from that position. They just recalled Nick Loftin as the corresponding move for outfielder Hunter Renfroe being designated for assignment, so Castillo will perhaps take up Loftin’s spot on the Omaha roster.

Though Castillo is out to a slow start this year, his minor league track record is solid. From the start of 2021 to the present, he has stepped to the plate 1,663 times on the farm with a 13.3% walk rate, 14.9% strikeout rate, .278/.377/.418 line and 108 wRC+. Defensively, he has spent time at all four infield spots and the outfield corners. His major league batting line is only .208/.257/.383, but that’s in a fairly small sample size of 292 plate appearances, most of which came with the 2022 Pirates.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

Show all

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