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Diamondbacks Reportedly Planning To Be Deadline Sellers

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The Diamondbacks seem to have picked a lane. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that they are informing rival clubs that they plan to trade at least some of their veteran players, though the extent of their sell-off is still to be determined. Many of their players are impending free agents and qualifying offer candidates, so the trade returns would have to notably eclipse QO compensation for the Diamondbacks to pull the trigger on trading one of those players. It also seems they don’t want to totally wave the white flag on 2025, so they won’t just sell any theoretical candidate.

It’s a tricky spot for the club to be in. As noted by Rosenthal, the club may not want to punt the 2025 season. Back in 2023, they snuck into the playoffs with 84 wins and ended up going all the way to the World Series, eventually falling to the Rangers. But their 2025 club has been decimated by injuries, particularly on the pitching side. Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez and others have required season-ending surgeries. Notable position players like Gabriel Moreno and Pavin Smith are also on the shelf.

Despite all of that, the club has hung around the playoff race. General manager Mike Hazen has spoken about how he would like to act as a buyer at the deadline but needed the club to justify that position by winning games. They came out of the All-Star break with a sweep of the Cardinals, but then got swept by the Astros. They are currently 50-53 and 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. They’re not totally buried but it seems the club has decided this may not be their year and some decisions should be made to help the club focus on the future.

Moving more clearly into seller position will have its advantages. With the expanded postseason, many clubs are still in contention, which makes it a seller’s market. By making some attractive players available, the front office could do a lot to help the Diamondbacks in the future.

Young pitching seems likely to be a focus. The rotation is set to lose Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly to free agency. Burnes will still be recovering from his surgery for a lot of next year. The 2026 rotation projects to include Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Rodríguez and Pfaadt are struggling this year. Nelson is doing well but has only really had a rotation spot for about six weeks, having been in long relief until injuries opened a spot for him. The Snakes could improve their 2026 rotation outlook by getting some younger pitchers now.

Eugenio Suárez seems the most likely player to be traded. He’s an impending free agent and his stock is tremendously high right now, since he’s been on a heater for more than a year. Dating back to July 7th of last year, he has 60 home runs, a .277/.334/.607 batting line and 154 wRC+. He has a $15MM salary this year, which will leave about $5MM left to be paid out at the deadline.

He will be highly attractive. He’s already been connected to teams like the Cubs, Yankees, Mariners and Reds. Rosenthal mentions those teams and adds the Mets to the pile. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix says 12 teams in total have contacted the Snakes about Suárez. Bob Nightengale of USA Today says the Mariners and Yankees are the most aggressive of the suitors, though the market appears to be very crowded.

The Mets have a cluster of young infielders which includes Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio. Baty is the only one in that group having a good season, though he’s also been playing some second base, so it’s possible he could co-exist with Suárez. The Mets are also reportedly willing to trade from that infield depth, so it’s possible Suárez could be brought in as part of a bigger shake-up.

With that hot market, it’s easy to the appeal for the Snakes in cashing in. It’s also possible that it could hurt their 2025 chances less than trading some of their other veterans. Jordan Lawlar is one of the top prospects in baseball but has been blocked from getting a big league audition. He can’t be expected to come up and produce at the same level as Suárez but it’s possible he could run with the opportunity and make up some of what is lost. He is currently out with a hamstring strain but could be back in the coming weeks. Even if he doesn’t come up and immediately succeed, there would be value in the Diamondbacks giving him an extended audition before they have to make key offseason decisions about their lineup.

There are some parallels on the other side of the infield. Josh Naylor is an impending free agent and consistently above-average hitter. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has a .272/.336/.462 line and 121 wRC+. He is making $10.9MM this year, which will leave a little under $4MM to be paid out as the deadline nears. Smith has been putting up big numbers the past two years and could take over for Naylor at first, though he’s currently sidelined by an oblique strain. Naylor has been connected to the Mariners though they are reportedly more interested in Suárez.

As mentioned, Gallen and Kelly are also impending free agents. Rosenthal has previously suggested the club is unlikely to trade both as they will still need innings to get through the season. That’s a bit of an odd hedge. They could always grab cast-offs from other clubs, Erick Fedde types, to finish the year. But perhaps the Snakes are trying to walk a fine line where they sell some pieces without totally punting their 2025 campaign. Trading one of this duo but keeping the other could be a compromise along those lines.

Kelly is having the better season but Gallen has higher theoretical upside. Jesse Rogers of ESPN recently reported that teams were a bit more interested in Gallen, despite the recent results. Gallen, 29, has a 5.58 ERA and 22.2% strikeout rate this year. Some of that might be luck, as he his 65.1% strand rate and 16.7% home run to fly ball rate are both to the unfortunate side. His 4.16 SIERA suggests he might not be too far from his past self, though his hard hit rate and barrel rate are also quite high this year, so it might not be all luck.

From 2022 to 2024, Gallen tossed 542 innings with a 3.20 ERA, 26% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate, 44.4% ground ball rate, 3.20 FIP and 3.60 SIERA. FanGraphs credited him with 12.1 wins above replacement in that time, seventh among all pitchers. It’s understandable that teams looking for rotation upgrades, particularly for the postseason, would be intrigued by acquiring Gallen and getting him back to that level. He is making $13.50MM this year, which will leave about $4.5MM left to be paid out at the deadline. He’s been connected to the Blue Jays but should be of interest to several other pitching-needy teams.

Kelly, 36, doesn’t have the same ace ceiling but has been more steady. He is in his seventh season with the Snakes and has a 3.76 ERA. That figure was 3.37 in 2022 and 3.29 in 2023. Last year, injuries limited him to 13 starts and his ERA jumped a bit to 4.03. This year, it’s back down to 3.32. He has a 24.2% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 44.2% ground ball rate. He’s making $7MM this year, so he’ll have just $2.33MM left to be paid out at the deadline.

Any of those four players is a plausible candidate to receive and perhaps a reject a qualifying offer candidate at season’s end. The exact value of the QO hasn’t been set, but is likely to be somewhere around $22MM. The 2024-25 qualifying offer was $21.05MM and it usually goes up annually.

The Diamondbacks are a revenue-sharing recipient, which affects their compensation for a player rejecting a QO and signing elsewhere. If the player ultimately signs for $50MM or more, the Snakes would get an extra draft pick just after the first round. Less than $50MM and the pick would come just ahead of the third round.

While teams value draft picks, drafted players usually take a few years to reach the majors. The Diamondbacks are presumably hoping to contend again in the near future, while they still have core players like Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte putting up great numbers. By trading these impending free agents, they could garner returns of prospects who are closer to the majors than anyone they would draft next summer. That should move the needle to the trade side, though it also seems like they’re leery of totally bottoming out their chances of hanging in the race this year.

In addition to those names, the Diamondbacks could also sell other impending free agents, such as Randal Grichuk and Shelby Miller. Those players wouldn’t bring back huge returns, though they’re also less essential to the club contending down the stretch in 2025. The Snakes have also reportedly gotten some interest in Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who is signed through 2027. They have also reportedly listened to offers on controllable outfielders like Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy. Time will tell how aggressively they smash the sell button but it seems like the Diamondbacks will be one of the most interesting clubs to watch over the next week.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Padres Have Discussed Dylan Cease With Several Teams

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The Padres have spoken to several teams about the possibility of trading right-hander Dylan Cease, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney. The Cubs, Mets and multiple AL East clubs have had some talks with San Diego, per the report. Separately, Olney’s colleague Jeff Passan also suggests that Cease has come up in trade talks, though that’s framed as other clubs approaching the Padres and not expressly being turned away.

Whether the Padres have initiated talks or whether they’re simply hearing other teams out, the possibility of trading Cease speaks to multiple challenges for San Diego over the next week-plus. The Friars’ farm system is not particularly well regarded beyond its top two prospects, and the team is ostensibly reluctant to part with either Leo De Vries or Ethan Salas. That leaves the Padres with a fairly light slate of prospects from which to deal.

Talks surrounding Cease could also reflect what looked to be the case in the late stages of the offseason: the Padres’ baseball operations staff does not appear to have much financial firepower at its disposal. The new-look ownership structure hasn’t been as keen to spend as the late Peter Seidler. They’re still well north of the luxury tax threshold, but the team’s actual cash payroll is down considerably from its 2023 peak.

The Padres’ late-offseason dealings put a spotlight on that lack of resources. Nick Pivetta’s four-year, $55MM deal pays him just $4MM in the first season of the contract. Catcher Elias Diaz ($3.5MM), lefty Kyle Hart ($1.5MM) and outfielders Connor Joe ($1MM) and Jason Heyward ($1MM) signed one-year contracts valued at a combined $7MM. Their other late additions included minor league deals for Yuli Gurriel, Gavin Sheets, Jose Iglesias and Martin Maldonado. Each cracked the big league roster at the end of camp, but Iglesias’ $3MM base salary was the largest of the bunch.

Trading Cease while still aiming to contend might seem counterintuitive, but the Padres could accomplish multiple goals, in theory. He’s an impending free agent who’s earning $13.75MM this season with about $4.95MM of that sum yet to be paid out. Trimming nearly $5MM off the books would create a decent bit of money to pursue upgrades behind the plate, in left field and perhaps on the bench — all areas of need. It’d also net some prospects of note, any of whom could subsequently be flipped to another team to address various needs on the roster.

Of course, moving Cease would also further deplete a perilously thin rotation. Michael King has been out nearly two months due to shoulder inflammation, and Joe Musgrove is out all season following last year’s Tommy John surgery. With Cease out of the picture, the Padres would be left with Pivetta, Yu Darvish, Stephen Kolek, Randy Vasquez and rookie Ryan Bergert in the rotation — at least until King returns. It’s not a great group, and the depth beyond it is shaky at best.

To that end, Olney further reports that even while discussing Cease, the Padres have been in contact with the Orioles about right-hander Charlie Morton, who’s widely expected to be traded between now and July 31. Morton’s $15MM salary is even larger than that of Cease, so presumably the Padres would be interested only if the Orioles were to include cash to offset a portion of the deal (likely enough so San Diego would owe a good bit less than the $4.95MM left on Cease’s contract).

Morton got out to a terrible start this season but has posted terrific numbers over his past 12 appearances overall (even including a seven-run hiccup his last time out). Since May 10, he’s posted a 3.47 ERA with a 25.9% strikeout rate, a 7.7% walk rate and a 44.2% grounder rate. Metrics like FIP (3.30) and SIERA (3.49) generally support his resurgence. Over that span, Morton has actually outpitched Cease, though Cease’s power arsenal, track record and sustained ability to miss bats would still hold greater appeal to most clubs on the lookout for rotation upgrades.

Cease hasn’t had his best season but has been generally solid since a catastrophic nine-run drubbing in his third start of the year. Dating back to April 14, Cease has pitched 99 innings with a 4.09 ERA, a 30% strikeout rate and an 8.6% walk rate. His swinging-strike rate in that time is nearly 17% — a massive mark — and he’s averaging better than 97 mph on his heater. He’s had some struggles with runners on base this year and at least a little bit of batted-ball misfortune (.319 compared to his .290 mark entering the season), but Cease is still throwing hard, missing bats at a plus rate and limiting walks at an average clip. For any of the Cubs, Mets or any AL East contender, he’d very likely step right into a theoretical playoff rotation, barring a late injury or substantial downturn in results.

Mets Prioritizing Bullpen Help

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The Mets have several areas where they could plausibly pursue upgrades prior to next week’s trade deadline, but president of baseball operations David Stearns indicated yesterday that his primary focus is on improving the bullpen (link via ESPN’s Jorge Castillo).

Mets relievers have been a middle-of-the-pack unit overall, ranking 13th with a combined 3.87 ERA on the season. They’ve struggled to a 5.30 mark over the past month, however, due in no small part to injury. A.J. Minter’s season ended in early May when he required surgery to repair a torn lat. Fellow southpaw Danny Young had Tommy John surgery that same month. Righties Max Kranick and Dedniel Nunez both went down with season-ending arm injuries as well.

The Mets have used a staggering 30 different relief pitchers this season, including 23 over just the past 30 days. They’ve treated the final couple spots in the relief corps as a revolving door, frequently shuttling in waiver claims and minor league signees when they need a fresh arm, than designating those players for assignment in favor of the next arm that comes down the conveyor belt. It’s led to a dizzying number of Mets transactions and constant turnover among the relief corps. Many of those stopgaps have been hit hard, and mainstays Reed Garrett and especially Huascar Brazoban have struggled over the past month.

Edwin Diaz, Ryne Stanek, Garrett and Brazoban have been constants in Carlos Mendoza’s bullpen. The Mets clearly have room to add multiple arms and should likely be expected to do just that. They were in the mix to sign David Robertson before he opted to reunite with the Phillies, and they reportedly have some interest in Twins left-hander Danny Coulombe (at a time when Minnesota is said to be increasingly open to offers on rental players).

The Mets have been tied to rotation upgrades, reportedly showing interest in Pirates righty Mitch Keller and in Marlins righty Edward Cabrera. Stearns downplayed the possibility of adding to his starting staff, however, stating that he’s “comfortable” with the in-house group and its ability to navigate a postseason series. If Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, David Peterson and Frankie Montas can all remain healthy, New York’s starting five indeed looks sharp, but health is hardly a given. Each of Senga, Manaea and Montas has had a monthslong IL stint within the past 15 months. Holmes is in his first season stretching back into a rotation role after years as a high-leverage reliever.

Similarly, while Stearns acknowledged that he expects to explore the market for center fielders, an acquisition isn’t necessarily likely. The Mets have been pleased with Jeff McNeil’s increased comfort in center and Tyrone Taylor’s defensive play. “[T]he bar to improve center field has probably risen over the past, let’s say, two weeks,” Stearns said.

Stearns naturally did not decisively rule out a center field addition, but it’s a thin market in terms of options. Cedric Mullins is likely available in Baltimore, and the O’s have multiple relievers available (e.g. Gregory Soto, Seranthony Dominguez and perhaps Andrew Kittredge). Similarly, if the Mets already have interest in Minnesota’s Coulombe, they could look into both him and old friend Harrison Bader, who’s on a one-year deal and has performed well on both sides of the ball in the Twin Cities. The White Sox have both Luis Robert Jr. and Mike Tauchman available. The former has finally begun to heat up in recent weeks, while the latter has hit well for much of the season. If the Mets wanted to take a bigger swing, they could try to pry Oneil Cruz from Pittsburgh. He (reportedly) is not completely off the table, but the asking price would surely be extreme.

The Mets are willing to deal from their collection of young infielders, which includes Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña. They also have several pitching prospects on the cusp of the majors, including Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean and Blade Tidwell. Stearns noted that any of the three could be a candidate to join the bullpen down the stretch but added the Mets will be cautious with such decisions, as once a starting pitcher is ramped down to a bullpen role during the season, it’s hard to stretch him back out.

Mets Designate Chris Devenski For Assignment

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder/designated hitter Starling Marte has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Infielder Jared Young has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding move. The club also activated recent waiver claimee Rico Garcia and recalled right-hander Justin Garza. To open spots for those two arms, the club optioned right-hander Kevin Herget and designated right-hander Chris Devenski for assignment. Additionally, left-hander Brandon Waddell’s optional assignment was reversed and he has instead been placed on the major league 15-day injured list due to a right hip impingement.

Devenski, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in April. As a veteran with well over five years of major league service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. The Mets have optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse three times this year, so he presumably agreed to those transactions.

This time, instead of being optioned, he’s been designated for assignment. The Mets didn’t need to open a 40-man spot today, so it’s unclear why they’ve done so. With the deadline coming up, they are expected to pursue bullpen upgrades. Perhaps the Mets, or Devenski, realized that their relationship might not extend much farther. From Devenski’s perspective, if he’s going to get squeezed down the depth chart, perhaps now is a good time to open himself up to other clubs rather than accept another stint in Syracuse.

Whatever the reasoning, he is now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mets could take five days to explore trade interest. Around his optional assignments, Devenski has tossed 11 1/3 innings big league innings for the Mets this year, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitches while striking out nine. He has also thrown 25 Triple-A innings with a 4.32 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate, 4% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate.

Devenski’s best seasons came with the Astros almost a decade ago. More recently, his results have been up and down. He had an encouraging showing in 2023, split between the Angels and Rays. That year, he tossed 42 1/3 innings with a 4.46 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The Rays re-signed him for 2024 but Devenski posted a 6.75 ERA last year. He was released by July and was stuck in the minors the rest of the year.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Mets Willing To Trade From Infield Depth

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The Mets are willing to trade from their major league infield as they look for help elsewhere on the roster, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Obviously, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso aren’t going anywhere. Nor are they likely to trade Jeff McNeil, who is having a strong season as a multi-positional contributor. If a trade comes together, it’d involve one of their four younger big league infielders: Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos or Luisangel Acuña.

Those players have found themselves in trade rumors at least dating back to last offseason. The 25-year-old Baty has long seemed the likeliest to move, as the former top prospect has not become the offensive player that many evaluators envisioned. The lefty hitter owns a .236/.292/.419 batting line across 251 plate appearances this season. While those are the best numbers of his career, they’re essentially league average. Baty has gotten there in rather streaky fashion. He had a terrible April that led the Mets to briefly demote him back to Triple-A once McNeil returned from a season-opening injured list stint. Baty hit well upon being recalled in May, tanked in June, and is back to swinging the bat well of late.

A natural third baseman, Baty has added second base to his defensive repertoire this season. He has graded as a league average second baseman with slightly above-average marks at the hot corner in a small sample. Baty has been a useful player overall, but he still hasn’t established himself as a first-division regular. He won’t reach arbitration eligibility for another year after this one and is under club control through the 2029 season.

Vientos, also 25, seemed to establish himself as a core piece last season. He connected on 27 homers with an excellent .266/.322/.516 slash line in the regular season. Vientos hit .327 and added five more longballs in 13 playoff games. He hasn’t gotten going offensively at any point this year. The righty hitter has slumped to a .221/.275/.352 showing in 265 plate appearances. Vientos’ average exit velocity and hard contact rate aren’t much different than they were last season, but his bat speed is down a tick and his actual power production has plummeted.

That’s particularly concerning for a player who doesn’t have much in his game to fall back upon. Vientos isn’t a great athlete and he’s a well below-average defensive third baseman. He should ideally be at first base, but Alonso’s presence means that won’t happen for at least the rest of this season (and potentially beyond if the Mets re-sign Alonso in free agency again). He’s working primarily as a designated hitter while Jesse Winker is battling back problems. Vientos is controllable for another four seasons, so trading him now would be a sell-low move, but he’s out of minor league options and not providing much value at the moment.

Mauricio, a toolsy switch-hitter with a very aggressive approach, is in his first season back from an ACL tear. He’s hitting .218/.288/.376 with four homers in 31 big league contests. The 6’4″ infielder is working as the primary third baseman with Baty mostly at the keystone. The 24-year-old Mauricio would exhaust his final option year if he spends another three days in Triple-A this season. He’s controllable for at least four more seasons.

Acuña, 23, has been a light-hitting utility player. He’s hitting .240/.293/.286 without a home run in 169 trips to the plate. His .260/.303/.356 slash line in 640 career Triple-A plate appearances isn’t much better. He’s the best defender of this group who has only moved off shortstop in deference to Lindor. Maybe another team feels there’s enough defensive ability that Acuña could be a low-end regular at shortstop. He has an option remaining but — similar to Mauricio — would exhaust it if he spends another two days in Triple-A this year. That probably played into the team’s decision to recall him just before the All-Star Break. He’s only really getting opportunities against left-handed pitching, so his current usage doesn’t give him much opportunity to improve at the plate.

With the possible exception of Baty, each of these players probably has less trade value than they would have had over the winter. There’d nevertheless still be teams interested in all of them, but they’re not likely to headline a deal for an impact player. Sammon writes that the Mets are generally prioritizing bullpen upgrades, and it’d hardly be a surprise if someone from this group intrigued a team like the Pirates (David Bednar, Dennis Santana) or Rockies (Jake Bird) that is shopping relief pitching and in need of short-term offensive help.

Mets Recall Francisco Alvarez, Outright Richard Lovelady

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported claimed of right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Yankees. Righty Dedniel Núñez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Garcia. It was recently reported that Núñez will require Tommy John surgery. The Mets will need to open an active roster spot for Garcia once he reports to the club. The Mets also recalled catcher Francisco Alvarez and optioned fellow backstop Hayden Senger. Additionally, left-hander Richard Lovelady has been sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not yet clear if he has done so.

Alvarez got out to a bit of a slow start this year. The Mets optioned him to Triple-A about a month ago, as he was sitting on a .236/.319/.333 slash line at that time. He had hit just three home runs, after having missed the first month of the season due to a hamate fracture.

The optional assignment has seemingly lit a fire under him. He has 12 home runs in 29 games since being sent down, leading to a gargantuan .255/.352/.623 batting line for Syracuse. Now that he’s in a groove, the Mets have called him up and will see if he can carry that over at the major league level.

While the optional assignment ended up being relatively brief, it will be costly for Alvarez. He came into this year with two years and six days of service time, putting him on track for free agency after 2028. By spending a month in the minors, he won’t be able to push his service clock to the three-year line in 2025. That means the Mets have gained an extra year of club control over Alvarez, pushing his path to free agency until after 2029. He was going to reach free agency after his age-26 season but that will now be pushed until after his age-27 season. He is on track to qualify for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player, giving him four passes through arb instead of the usual three, but the delayed free agency is a hit to his career earning power.

As for Lovelady, he’s a veteran lefty who is out of options, which has led to him being on the fringes of a few rosters this year. He started the year with the Blue Jays but was designated for assignment after two appearances. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Twins, pitched well at Triple-A for a couple of months and then opted out of that deal. He has bounced on and off the Mets roster since then, twice getting added and then cut after a brief stint in both cases.

For the whole season, Lovelady has a 10.80 earned run average in 8 1/3 innings, though mostly due to allowing four earned runs in his second outing of the year. During his time in the Twins’ system, he tossed 20 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.31 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 60.4% ground ball rate. Every other time he has cleared waivers this year, he has elected free agency, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he does so again in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Mets Claim Rico Garcia

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The Mets have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Yankees, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The Yanks designated him for assignment last week. Garcia is out of options, so the Mets will need to open space for him on the active and 40-man rosters.

Garcia, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He reported to Triple-A Syracuse and missed a bunch of bats but also missed the plate a lot. In 30 1/3 innings, he had a 27.4% strikeout rate and 14.8% walk rate. That led to a 4.45 earned run average in that time.

It wasn’t an overwhelming performance but the Mets’ bullpen has been hit hard by injuries this year. They currently have A.J. Minter, Danny Young, Drew Smith, Dedniel Núñez, Max Kranick and José Buttó on the shelf. The mounting injuries have prompted the club to frequently cycle arms on and off their roster.

Garcia was selected to the big league roster in early July as one of those arms. Due to his aforementioned out-of-options status, he was designated for assignment about a week later. The Yankees claimed him off waivers but he lasted just a few days before another DFA. The Mets have claimed him to once again bring a fresh arm into the relief mix. Around those transactions, Garcia has pitched 7 1/3 innings over three appearances, having allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five.

It’s likely that Garcia has a tenuous grip on a roster spot again. The trade deadline is next week and the Mets will surely be adding bullpen reinforcements between now and then. For now, they’ll grab Garcia and plug him into the mix.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Mets Sign Kevin Herget

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The Mets have signed right-hander Kevin Herget to a minor league contract, and announced that the reliever has been selected to the active roster.  Left-hander Brandon Waddell was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding transaction.

Herget is back in Queens after a stint on the Braves roster that lasted a little under two months.  The Mets claimed Herget away from the Brewers during the offseason, but he was designated for assignment in mid-May and found himself changing teams again on the waiver wire when Atlanta made a claim.  Herget was DFA’ed again last weekend and elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Braves’ Triple-A club (he had the right to choose free agency since Herget had previously been outrighted in his career).  Amidst all these roster moves, Herget hasn’t spent much time on a big league mound this season, as he has made a single appearance apiece for the Mets and Braves at the MLB level.

The right-hander now has 26 appearances and 45 2/3 innings on his career resume in the majors, with a 4.53 ERA to show for his work with the Rays, Reds, and Brewers in addition to New York and Atlanta.  The 34-year-old Herget has carved out a long career in pro ball since being a 39th-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2013 draft.  Most of his career has been spent in the St. Louis farm system, and Herget has a 4.00 ERA over 505 2/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.  This includes a 3.26 ERA, 21.6% strikeout rate, and eight percent walk rate over 30 1/3 combined innings with the Mets’ and Braves’ Triple-A affiliates in 2025.

It could be that Herget’s latest stint in the Show might be another cameo, as his addition gives the Mets a fresh arm over the short term.  Waddell pitched 3 2/3 innings in yesterday’s 8-4 loss to the Reds and wouldn’t have been available for a few days anyway, so he can rest up and get some work in for Triple-A Syracuse.  New York can’t recall Waddell back to the 26-man roster for at least 10 days, barring an injury to an active player.

Mets Interested In Danny Coulombe

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The Mets are interested in Twins left-hander Danny Coulombe, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

Coulombe is a 35-year-old lefty reliever. Though he made his major league debut over a decade ago, he’s currently in the best stretch of his career. Dating back to the start of the 2023 season, he has thrown 107 2/3 innings with a 2.09 earned run average. He has struck out 28.3% of opponents, limited walks to a 5.7% clip and induced ground balls on 44.5% of balls in play he’s allowed. He has recorded five saves and 41 holds in that time.

The first two years of that span were spent with the Orioles. The O’s could have retained him for 2025 but somewhat surprisingly turned down his $4MM club option. The Twins scooped him up with a one-year deal worth $3MM.

In hindsight, that looks like a misstep for Baltimore and a win for Minnesota. Coulombe has thrown 26 2/3 innings this year with a tiny 0.68 ERA. There’s surely some luck in there, as he has a massive 92% strand rate. But his 27.9% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 41.8% ground ball rate are all good figures. His 1.69 FIP and 2.90 SIERA suggest he would be posting good numbers even with more neutral favor from the baseball gods.

His fastball velocity is only 90.2 miles per hour this year but he’s never been a flamethrower. His career high in that department was 91.8 mph in 2023. He’s also mixing in a cutter, sinker, slider and knuckle curve to keep hitters off balance. He doesn’t have massive platoon splits. In fact, lefties have a slightly better line against him this year, with a .208/.240/.229 line compared to a .163/.241/.204 slash when Coulombe is facing a righty.

That kind of performance would look good in any bullpen but it’s especially attractive for the Mets. They had planned to have A.J. Minter and Danny Young as their lefty relievers this year but both required season-ending surgeries by early May.

The Mets have subsequently been cycling through fringe roster guys like Richard Lovelady, Génesis Cabrera, José Castillo and Colin Poche. Today, they reinstated Brooks Raley from the injured list and designated Lovelady for assignment. Raley has some good work on his track record but is 37 years old and is just returning from a lengthy Tommy John surgery layoff.

Adding another lefty ahead of the deadline makes plenty of sense, particularly when considering Coulombe’s fairly modest salary. The Mets are a third-time competitive balance tax payor above the top threshold, meaning they will pay a 110% tax on any money they add to the payroll.

Though Coulombe may make sense for the Mets, that doesn’t mean they can get him. The Twins, like several teams, are hovering around contention in such a way where buying or selling is a tough decision. They are currently 47-49, which puts them four games back of a playoff spot. FanGraphs still gives them a 23.3% shot at cracking the postseason, with Baseball Prospectus slightly more optimistic at 28.3%.

It’s possible that their results in the next few weeks could determine their deadline approach. They start a series in Colorado tonight, then head to Dodger stadium. After that, they return home to host the Nationals and then Red Sox.

If they lean to the sell side, trading Coulombe would make a lot of sense. He’s an impending free agent who will celebrate his 36th birthday in a few months. Perhaps even if they are buying, they could flip Coulombe while bringing in other pieces. However, doing so would subtract the most reliable lefty from the bullpen. The Twins have also occasionally given the ball to Joey Wentz, Kody Funderburk and Anthony Misiewicz this year but no one in that trio has an ERA below 6.92.

Coulombe’s modest salary is also surely valuable to the Twins. They clearly didn’t have a ton of payroll space this winter. They spent a combined $10.25MM on one-year deals for Coulombe, Harrison Bader and Ty France. With the franchise currently for sale, they probably don’t have the ability to take on much more salary at the deadline, which could push them towards keeping an affordable guy like Coulombe for the stretch run.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Max Kranick To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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5:35pm: Per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Kranick could avoid a full Tommy John and undergo flexor tendon surgery instead. That would still be a major operation but it’s possible Kranick could come back with a slightly less severe timeline.

3:21pm: Mets reliever Max Kranick is slated to undergo Tommy John surgery, per Newsday’s Laura Albanese. It’ll be the second time he’s undergone Tommy John surgery in the past 37 months.

It’s a brutal blow for Kranick, who’s finally in the process of establishing himself as a solid big league arm after a lengthy layoff from his first UCL procedure, performed back in June of 2022. Kranick, then with the Pirates, missed nearly all of the 2023 season.

The Mets claimed Kranick off waivers in January 2024 and kept him on in the minors all last season. He got his first look with them in 2025 — his first MLB work since 2022 — and has been quite effective. In 37 innings, he’s recorded a 3.65 ERA. Kranick’s 16.9% strikeout rate is well below average, but his 3.4% walk rate is the fifth-best among the 347 big league pitchers who’ve tossed at least 30 innings in 2025.

Given the timing of the procedure and the fact that it’s his second Tommy John, Kranick could miss the entire 2026 season. At best, he’d be a candidate to return next September. He’s arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, so there’s a decent chance the Mets will decline to tender him a contract. Keeping him would mean dedicating a 40-man spot to Kranick all offseason, as there’s no 60-day injured list in the winter.

For the time being, Kranick will head to the 60-day injured list the next time the Mets need to open a 40-man roster spot. He’ll continue accruing major league service time and pay for the remainder of the current season. If the Mets opt to keep him on the roster all winter, they can immediately place him on the 60-day injured list when camp opens next spring. Kranick can be controlled through the 2028 season.

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