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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

Notable Draft Signings: July 18-19th, 2025

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Here’s a roundup of players from the recent draft who were signed or agreed to terms in the past two days. For an arbitrary cutoff, this post will focus on players taken before the second round or any later picks who signed a bonus of $2MM or more. Pre-draft rankings and scouting reports are provided by Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

  • The Cubs have signed outfielder Ethan Conrad to a bonus of $3,563,100, per Jim Callis of MLB.com. Conrad was selected 17th overall, a pick that comes with a $4,750,800 slot. Since the Cubs are saving over a million on their first-round pick, they should have lots of leeway to lock up the remaining players in their class.
  • The Tigers have signed shortstop Jordan Yost with a $3.25MM bonus, per Callis. Yost went 24th overall, a pick that comes with a slot value of $3,726,300. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit has also agreed to terms with their second pick, catcher Michael Oliveto. Selected in the competitive balance A round, 34th overall, his $2.45MM signing bonus is below his $2,827,300 slot value. Between Yost and Oliveto, the Tigers have saved close to a million bucks, which can be redirected to the other guys they drafted.
  • The Orioles have signed catcher Caden Bodine with a $3,113,300 bonus, per Callis. Callis also relays that shortstop Wehiwa Aloy has signed for $3,042,800. Bodine and Aloy were taken 30th and 31st respectively, with the compensation picks the O’s received for Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander rejecting qualifying offers and signing elsewhere. Both bonuses were full slot value for their respective picks. The O’s also signed first-rounder Ike Irish to a bonus right around slot value, so they’ve played things pretty straight-up with their top three picks.
  • The Brewers announced that they have signed shortstop Brady Ebel, the son of Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel. The younger Ebel was selected 32nd overall, the pick the Brewers received for Willy Adames rejecting a qualifying offer and signing elsewhere. That pick comes with a $2.97MM slot value. The signing bonus has not yet been publicly reported. [UPDATE: Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reports that Ebel signed for a below-slot $2.75MM bonus.]
  • The Mariners have agreed to terms with 19 of their draft picks, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Top pick Kade Anderson’s bonus was previously reported. The M’s also gave catcher Luke Stevenson a bonus of $2.8MM and shortstop Nick Becker $2.75MM. Stevenson was taken in the competitive balance A round, 33rd overall. This bonus comes in just barely above the $2.76MM slot for that pick. Becker was selected in the second round 57th overall, a pick that comes with a slot of $1.64MM. Anderson’s bonus was about $700K under slot and it seems the M’s redirected those savings to get Becker to sign. Callis reported the Stevenson bonus earlier today.
  • The Yankees have signed shortstop Dax Kilby to a $2.8MM bonus, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. Kilby was selected 39th overall, though that was actually the club’s top pick. Their first-rounder was pushed back ten spots because they went over the third competitive balance tax threshold last year. Slot for the pick was $2,509,500, so they went a bit over to get him to sign.
  • The Rays signed outfielder Brendan Summerhill to a $1,997,500 bonus, per Callis. He was selected 42nd overall, in competitive balance round A. Slot value for that pick was $2,331,000, so the Rays saved a bit on this one. The Rays also went below-slot to sign first-round Daniel Pierce, so they have lots of extra powder for the rest of their class.
  • The Cardinals signed shortstop Ryan Mitchell to a $2.25MM bonus, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Mitchell was taken in the second round, 55th overall. The slot for that pick is $1,720,300, so the Cards went about half a million above to get this one done. They saved close to a million when signing first-rounder Liam Doyle, so it seems some of those savings were used to ink Mitchell.

Photo courtesy of Dylan Widger, Imagn Images

Yankees To Designate Rico Garcia For Assignment

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10:17pm: Winans will indeed be recalled in the corresponding move, Sherman reports.

10:03pm: The Yankees are designating reliever Rico Garcia for assignment, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. They’ll promote a fresh arm to take his spot in the bullpen tomorrow. The 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Garcia’s stint on the roster lasted a few days and one game. The Yanks had claimed him off waivers from the Mets during the All-Star Break. The 31-year-old righty tossed 2 2/3 innings during tonight’s bullpen game in Atlanta. He allowed three runs on as many hits and a pair of walks. Garcia surrendered a three-run homer to Ozzie Albies that quickly broke the game open in what would eventually be a 7-3 loss.

After throwing 53 pitches, Garcia would have been unavailable for the next few days. He’s out of options, so the Yankees couldn’t send him to the minors. As the eighth man in the bullpen, he gets bumped off so they can make a move tomorrow. Bringing up Allan Winans as a long reliever makes the most sense.

Winans and Michael Arias, who is pitching in High-A, are the only healthy pitchers on the 40-man roster who can be recalled unless someone else is going on the injured list. Clayton Beeter and Jayvien Sandridge have each been optioned within the past 15 days; Brent Headrick is on the Triple-A injured list.

Garcia had worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings over two appearances with the Mets earlier this month. He’d missed plenty of bats in Triple-A before being called up. Garcia struck out 27.4% of batters faced across 30 1/3 minor league frames, but he also walked nearly 15% of opponents. He’ll likely be placed back on waivers in the next few days.

Yankees Interested In Mitch Keller

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The Yankees have shown interest in Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller, reports Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. They’re one of several clubs in the running for the 29-year-old righty, who’s signed for three additional years beyond the current season. Both the Mets and Cubs have been tied to Keller in recent weeks. Hiles adds that the Cubs currently view Keller more of a backup option in their rotation search, while the Mets are “very” interested.

Interest in Keller is only natural for the Yankees, who’ll be prominent players in the starting pitching market over the next two weeks. GM Brian Cashman acknowledged as much recently when indicating that pitching will be his top priority this summer. New York lost Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery before the season even began. Clarke Schmidt met the same fate earlier this month. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil still hasn’t pitched this season due to a lat strain. Lefty Ryan Yarbrough has also been out nearly a month due to an oblique strain.

At the moment, the Yankees have Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and rookies Will Warren and Cam Schlittler in the rotation. The hope is that Gil, who’s already on a minor league rehab assignment, can strengthen that group soon. In theory, Yarbrough shouldn’t be far behind, but he’s yet to begin a rehab stint. That assumes no setbacks and a return to pre-injury form though — neither of which is a guarantee.

Keller has started 20 games for Pittsburgh and boasts a 3.48 ERA. He’s punched out 18.7% of his opponents and turned in a career-low 5.5% walk rate. Keller has been on a particularly strong run of late, pitching into the sixth inning or later in 13 consecutive starts and compiling a 3.04 ERA over 80 innings in that time. Ten of those appearances have been quality starts. Dating back to 2022, Keller is tied for the seventh-most starts (112) and tenth-most innings (650 1/3) in all of Major League Baseball.

Bringing Keller into the fold would make sense both to help this season and to provide some future stability. Stroman is a free agent at season’s end. Neither Warren nor Schlittler has cemented himself as a long-term rotation cog yet. Cole’s rehab will probably extend beyond Opening Day next year. Schmidt, given the timing of his surgery, won’t make it back to the mound until at least late next year — possibly not until 2027.

Keller would add durability to that group and create the possibility of a very strong midseason rotation next year. Health for all parties can’t necessarily be assumed, but there’d be a real chance that by June or so, the Yankees could deploy a rotation including Cole, Fried, Rodon, Keller and Gil, with Warren and Schlittler as the sixth and seventh arms on the depth chart. That sort of depth would rank among the best in baseball.

There are other factors to consider. Keller is midway through the second season of a five-year, $77MM contract. He’s being paid $15MM in 2025 and will earn salaries of $16.5MM, $18MM and $20MM over the next three seasons. That’s fine value for a mid-rotation arm of Keller’s caliber — particularly if you believe there’s still a bit of untapped upside in the former second-round pick and top prospect — but the Yankees would be on the hook for a good bit more than that due to their luxury tax status.

As of this writing, Keller has about $5.89MM of this year’s salary yet to be paid out. Add that to his future salaries and he’s still owed about $60.39MM over the next three-plus seasons. The Yankees would be taxed at a 110% clip on the roughly $17.8MM annual value of that remainder — assuming they remain in the top tier of luxury penalization moving forward, which seems like a good bet.

RosterResource projects the Yankees with about $187MM of luxury obligations in 2026, and that’s before factoring in arbitration raises for Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe, Fernando Cruz, Schmidt and Gil. Keller would add another $17.8MM to that number, and the Yankees will be in the market for help at third base, center field and in the bullpen this winter (depending on their trade deadline activity, of course). Each of Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver is a free agent in a few months. Even if the Yankees were able to drop down into only the third tier of penalization, they’d still pay a 90% tax on Keller’s remaining annual value.

If the Pirates do move Keller, they’ll presumably be most motivated by MLB-ready position players. Pittsburgh is deep in intriguing young arms (and just added another, Seth Hernandez, with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 draft) but hasn’t had much success in terms of developing young hitters. That’s not to say they’d have no interest in further stockpiling young pitching, but their aim over the next couple weeks is surely to add at least a few young hitters of note to help bolster a stagnant offense that ranks last in the majors in runs scored, home runs and slugging percentage.

Poll: Which Team Should Be Most Aggressive For Eugenio Suarez?

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After entering the season with big expectations, the Diamondbacks have been dogged by injuries throughout the year and seen key players like Zac Gallen and Brandon Pfaadt perform below expectations. It’s left them with a 47-50 record headed into the second half, and while the front office has not yet outright declared themselves sellers, they seemingly haven’t closed the door on the idea either.

Arizona has a number of intriguing rentals they could dangle this summer to contending clubs, but perhaps the best of them all is third baseman Eugenio Suárez. The 33-year-old is in the midst of what figures to be a career year and has already clubbed 31 homers in just 95 games. As the best bat available this summer, he should attract plenty of attention. For which teams would he make the most sense? A look at some of the top options:

New York Yankees

The Yankees entered 2025 without a solid plan for the infield, and their situation has only gotten more dire. Oswaldo Cabrera suffered an ankle injury that’s left him unlikely to return to the field this year, and the club recently cut ties with DJ LeMahieu in order to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second base. That leaves New York to rely on Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas at the hot corner, a combination that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Suárez would be the perfect addition to a Yankees lineup that has too often relied on Aaron Judge to carry the load of producing on a regular basis by himself, and Suárez’s righty bat would help to balance a lineup dominated by lefties like Chisholm, Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice, and Austin Wells. As tempting as Suárez may be, however, injuries to players like Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt leave the rotation perhaps even more in need of reinforcements than the lineup. The Yankees would also pay a 110% tax on what’s left of Suárez’s $15MM salary ($5.89MM as of this writing).

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have had a strong year so far and entered the All-Star break in first place thanks primarily to their star-studded offense. Shoring up a patchwork rotation should be the top priority for this team, but Chicago does have one of the worst third base situations in the majors. Matt Shaw entered this year as a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport and may well still be the team’s long-term solution at the hot corner, but his 61 wRC+ won’t cut it on a contender. Jon Berti and Vidal Brujan have been no better offensively, so any upgrade at third would need to be external. There aren’t many teams for whom Suárez would represent a more substantial upgrade over their internal options, and adding him to the middle of the Cubs’ order to push players like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ down the lineup would make one of the league’s best offenses even more potent.

Milwaukee Brewers

Nipping at Chicago’s heels in the NL Central race, the Brewers sit just one game back after playing extremely well the past few weeks. With Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta and Jacob Misiorowski set to front the rotation and several solid back-end options, the Brewers appear to be the rare contender mostly set on the pitching front. Where they could use upgrades is on offense — particularly on the left side of the infield. Caleb Durbin has done a solid enough job at third base, but with Joey Ortiz struggling at shortstop and no obviously impactful trade candidates at that position, perhaps adding Suárez could bolster the lineup while allowing the Brewers to occasionally shift Durbin to second base and Brice Turang to shortstop. While the position fit is perhaps imperfect, Suárez would help transform the middle of a Milwaukee lineup that has seriously missed the contributions of Willy Adames this year. It’s fair to wonder whether Suárez fits the within the budget, however.

Seattle Mariners

Perhaps the best fit for Suárez would be a homecoming of sorts. The Mariners have long needed help on offense to complement their cache of young pitching talent, and this year is no different. Rookie Ben Williamson is handling the hot corner on a regular basis as things stand and playing good defense with minimal offense (.259/.294/.321, 79 wRC+).

Bringing Suárez back into the fold would transform the lineup, giving the team a second bona fide slugger alongside Cal Raleigh who could form a strong offensive nucleus with Randy Arozarena and Julio Rodriguez. The Mariners traded Suárez to the D-backs in the first place following the 2023 season — a move necessitated by an ownership mandate to reduce payroll. There is interest in a reunion, but would Seattle submit the top bid to reacquire a rental player they traded 21 months ago when other more surefire postseason clubs are in the bidding?

Other Options

The four clubs mentioned above are arguably the strongest fit for Suárez’s services, but they’re far from the only realistic options. The Reds would represent another homecoming for Suárez and have one of the worst third base situations in the majors at the moment. The Tigers — Suárez’s original organization — have gotten solid production from All-Stars Zach McKinstry and Javier Baez at the hot corner, but both are versatile and Suárez would add some more thump to a win-now lineup. The Blue Jays have a solid offense and are enjoying a breakout season from Addison Barger at third base, but he could just as easily be moved to right field to clear the deck for Suárez. The Mets have moved Mark Vientos off third base amid a difficult season, and Suárez would be a clear upgrade over Ronny Mauricio and Brett Baty on the infield.

Suárez’s elite power and ability to play a solid third base make him an attractive target for any club hoping to add a little thump to the lineup. Which team should push hardest to acquire him? Have your say in the poll below:

Mets, Yankees Among Teams To Show Recent Interest In David Robertson

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Free agent reliever David Robertson has been throwing for interested clubs recently, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Two of his former clubs, the Mets and Yankees, have at least looked into the possibility of signing Robertson, per the report. Several other clubs are expected to scout a throwing session for Robertson over the next week or so.

Robertson, who turned 40 in April, hasn’t signed with a team since the 2024 season concluded. The right-hander was one of several notable older veterans who didn’t find offers to his liking in free agency. Lance Lynn encountered a similar situation and opted to retire. J.D. Martinez is unsigned as well and recently received some interest from the Rangers. Robertson’s recent and upcoming showcases for interested teams serve as a notable update on his status, signaling both an intent to play and at least some level of readiness to take the mound.

The lack of a compelling offer for Robertson wasn’t due to any downturn in results. The former All-Star and 16-year MLB veteran was terrific for Texas in 2024, pitching 72 innings of 3.00 ERA ball. Robertson picked up 34 holds and two saves while fanning a huge 33.4% of opponents against a 9.1% walk rate. He averaged 93.3 mph on his go-to cutter, which tied his 2023 mark for the highest of any single season in his career. Robertson’s 11.7% swinging-strike rate was a dip from his 2022-23 levels (13.3%) but right in line with his career 11.8% mark.

Back in April, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that Robertson had been seeking a $10MM annual salary in free agency over the winter. He earned $11.5MM with the Rangers last year ($5MM of it deferred). The Phillies also showed some interest in Robertson early in the season, even before Jose Alvarado was hit with an 80-game PED suspension, and they’re known to be on the lookout for bullpen help. It would stand to reason that they’re still interested in a reunion with Robertson themselves.

Presumably, Robertson will be prioritizing a deal with probable contenders. The Yankees, Mets and Phillies all fit that billing and are all among the top eight teams in terms of current playoff odds, per FanGraphs. The Tigers, Cubs, Astros, Blue Jays, Brewers and Mariners are all in extremely favorable postseason position as well, holding at least an 80% postseason chance per the odds at FanGraphs and/or Baseball Prospectus.

Yankees Claim Rico Garcia

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The Yankees have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Mets, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets designated Garcia for assignment last week. The Yankees had an open 40-man spot. Garcia is out of options, so they will need to open an active roster spot for him.

Garcia, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He then tossed 30 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 4.45 earned run average. He struck out 27.4% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a 14.8% clip.

The Mets lost a number of pitchers to the injured list in recent weeks and called Garcia up to the big leagues at the start of July. He got into two games and gave them 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He averaged over 96 miles per hour on his fastball while also throwing a slider, curveball and changeup. The Mets bumped him off the roster when Kodai Senga was reinstated from the IL.

The Yankee bullpen has recently taken a number of hits. Mark Leiter Jr., Fernando Cruz and Yerry De los Santos all hit the IL in the past few weeks. Jake Cousins has been on the IL all year but recently required Tommy John surgery.

Garcia was a freely-available arm who has posted some intriguing strikeout numbers this year, so the Yanks have grabbed him off the wire. Since he’s out of options, his grip on a roster spot may be tenuous. The Yanks, like all contenders, will surely be looking to make bullpen additions before the deadline.

The righty has also pitched for the Rockies, Giants, Orioles, Athletics and Nationals, but always in fairly limited stints. He has appeared in five major league seasons but has just 40 1/3 innings under his belt, posting a 6.47 ERA in that time. From 2022 to the present, he has 165 minor league innings with a 3.33 ERA, 31.7% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Alcantara, Cabrera, Fried, Gil, Garcia, Rodriguez

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A ten-game winning streak has launched the Red Sox back into the playoff race, and all but confirmed that the club will be looking to buy before the trade deadline.  Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has stated that the Sox are looking at pitching options, and MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam opines that the Red Sox would likely prefer controllable pitchers in particular, so this new hurler could help support the club’s talent core for more than just the remainder of 2025.  However, as of two days ago, McAdam noted that Boston hadn’t yet spoken with the Marlins about two controllable potential trade candidates — Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera.

While there’s still plenty of time before the July 31 deadline for the Sox to inquire about either pitcher, the lack of interest to date might indicate that Breslow simply might have other pitchers on his target list.  Alcantara’s past Cy Young Award-winning form makes him perhaps the summer’s likeliest trade candidate, yet the right-hander has struggled badly in his return from Tommy John surgery.  Cabrera is arbitration-controlled through 2028 so the rebuilding Marlins might not see a reason to move him just yet, and certainly not for anything less than a massive trade return.  Health is also a concern with Cabrera, as he left Friday’s start early due to elbow discomfort but might be able to avoid the injured list after a precautionary MRI came back clean.

More from around the AL East….

  • Yankees ace Max Fried left Saturday’s start after three innings due to a blister on the index finger of his throwing hand, and he told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner and other reporters today that it was too soon to tell whether or not Fried would be healed and ready to make his first start after the All-Star break.  Fried is no stranger to blister problems, and the unpredictable nature of the injury means that it could be at least a few days before the southpaw or the club has any clarity on the situation.  Despite some shaky results in his last three starts, Fried still finished the first half with tremendous numbers, including a 2.43 ERA over 122 innings in his debut season in New York.
  • Speaking of Yankees pitchers, Luis Gil has been sidelined all season by a lat strain, but the reigning AL Rookie of the Year began a minor league rehab assignment today with Double-A Somerset.  Gil threw 36 strikes during the 50-pitch outing, recording six strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work while allowing a run on two hits and a walk.  This sharp performance is a good sign for Gil as he gets back to full readiness, and his long layoff means that his rehab stint will probably stretch into August.  An in-form Gil would be a massive boon for the Yankees’ rotation for the remainder of the season, and the team’s trust in Gil’s health could inform how much of a push New York makes for pitching help at the deadline.
  • Yimi Garcia may not need a rehab assignment for his sprained ankle, and he could rejoin the Blue Jays’ bullpen when first eligible to be activated from the 15-day injured list.  (Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling was among the members of the Toronto beat to report the news.)  Garcia has pitched just once in the majors since May 22, as he was first sidelined by a shoulder impingement and then quickly picked up his ankle sprain that necessitated a return to the 15-day IL on July 5.  The reliever threw a bullpen session on Friday and is slated to throw another soon, and his recovery from those sessions should determine the Jays’ next step.
  • Rays right-hander Manuel Rodriguez will probably visit with doctors on Monday after experiencing elbow soreness during his most recent rehab outing, manager Kevin Cash told the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other reporters.  A forearm strain sent Rodriguez to the 15-day IL just over a month ago, and Friday was supposed to be his final rehab outing, except the reliever’s elbow started acting up and his velocity dropped noticeably.  Rodriguez has been an underrated bullpen weapon over his two-plus seasons in Tampa, delivering a 2.12 ERA over 68 relief innings since the start of the 2024 season.  This isn’t the first time Rodriguez has dealt with a major arm problem, as an elbow strain cost him the majority of the 2022 campaign when Rodriguez was still a member of the Cubs organization.

J.C. Escarra Drawing Trade Attention

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30-year-old backstop J.C. Escarra has been a pleasant surprise for the Yankees this year since emerging as the club’s primary backup to Austin Wells. In 36 games this year, the journeyman who spent the 2022 and ’23 seasons outside of affiliate ball has slashed a respectable .215/.312/.354 (89 wRC+) with elite pitch framing numbers. While Escarra has been a below-average hitter overall, he’s sporting impressive plate discipline numbers with a strikeout rate of just 14.0% against a phenomenal 11.8% walk rate. Escarra’s 36-game showing in the majors has been enough to grab the attention of some rival clubs, according to a report from the New York Post’s Joel Sherman.

Sherman writes that Yankees GM Brian Cashman was receiving calls regarding Escarra dating all the way back to last year’s trade deadline, a time when the journeyman backstop had spent less than a season back in affiliated ball and had been at the Triple-A level in the Yankees’ system for less than two weeks. That combination of interest and the possibility the fact that the Yankees have begun giving Ben Rice reps behind the plate in games was enough to lead Sherman to suggest the Yankees could consider listening to offers on Escarra this summer, though that appears to be largely speculative on Sherman’s part.

Regardless of whether New York is interested in parting with their backup this summer, the fact that teams have interest in his services is interesting. Given the fact that Escarra made his big league debut earlier this year, he has five years of team control remaining after this season and wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2028 campaign. That could make him a strong fit for a number of catching-needy clubs, both those in contention and those with longer playoff timelines.

The Padres could certainly stand to get more out of their catching tandem and are known to be looking for upgrades in the middle of a win-now season, but on the other end of the spectrum the Nationals have the worst catching tandem in the majors and could view a gifted framer like Escarra as a perfect complement to Keibert Ruiz long-term. The Twins stand out as a team on the bubble of playoff contention that could be a speculative fit for Escarra’s services, as well. Christian Vazquez has not only been among the worst hitters in baseball this year but is ticketed for free agency following the 2025 campaign, meaning that a controllable catcher like Escarra could not only improve Minnesota for 2025 but also fill a long-term need for the club.

It’s hard to say exactly how much the Yankees could expect to get in return for Escarra, but given the club’s many needs this summer it’s not hard to imagine them finding some sort of match. A third baseman figures to be a priority, and options like Willi Castro and Amed Rosario could theoretically be had from the Twins and Nationals respectively. Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan could bolster the club’s flagging bullpen down the stretch, and while it could be difficult for a pair of contenders like the Yankees and Padres to match up on the trade market perhaps the Padres have a depth starter like Matt Waldron or Kyle Hart who could interest the Yankees.

Of course, all of this speculation is predicated on the idea that the Yankees would be open to carrying Rice as their primary backup behind the plate for the stretch run. Rice has enjoyed a proper breakout season at the dish this year with a 122 wRC+ and even stronger underlying batted ball data, but he’s made just 11 appearances behind the plate this year, including only four starts and two complete games. Without much additional catching depth available to the Yankees in the lower minors, trading Escarra would be a major vote of confidence in Rice as a player capable of handling the defensive duties of a big league backup.

Geoff Hartlieb Elects Free Agency

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Reliever Geoff Hartlieb has gone unclaimed on outright waivers and elected free agency, the Yankees announced. New York designated him for assignment on Wednesday when they promoted pitching prospect Cam Schlittler.

Hartlieb has gone through this cycle twice in as many weeks. The Yanks selected his contract in late June and outrighted him a few days later. Hartlieb elected free agency, re-signed on a major league deal, then was DFA again after three days. He has gotten into two games and been hit hard in each. The journeyman righty has allowed six runs on five hits and four walks while retiring just four of 13 batters faced.

While MLB hitters have teed off on Hartlieb this year, he has had a nice run with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He carries a 3.34 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate against a 6.9% walk percentage. Hartlieb has a 4.17 ERA over parts of six seasons at the top minor league level. He has given up nearly eight earned runs per nine across 80 2/3 career major league frames. Most of that time came in a Pittsburgh uniform. Hartlieb has played for five clubs overall.

The Yankees could try to bring Hartlieb back on a minor league contract. He’s out of options, so they needed to run him through waivers to take him off the MLB roster. The lack of options limits his flexibility, but his production in Scranton should get him attention as a depth option.

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