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Details On Bryan Reynolds’ Limited No-Trade Protection

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The Pirates appear to be open for business regarding trade talks for most of their roster (sans Paul Skenes) this summer. In a trade market without many quality bats available, that could make two-time All-Star Bryan Reynolds a particularly intriguing commodity for some teams. One potential wrinkle in Reynolds’s availability is his partial no-trade protection, which allows him to block trades to a list of six teams. A report from Noah Hiles from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday revealed those teams are the Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, and Padres.

All six of those teams are in playoff contention and stand out as likely to not only buy this season, but do so fairly aggressively. It’s not unheard of for a player to waive their no-trade clause, and some players with limited no-trade protection even specifically prioritize putting likely contenders on their no-trade lists to maximize the amount of leverage they have in determining their destination should their team decide to trade them. With that being said, the news of Reynolds’ no-trade list certainly makes a deal sending him to any of those six clubs far less likely.

Many of the clubs Reynolds can block a trade to appear to be imperfect fits on paper. The Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets all have deep corner outfield mixes and seem very unlikely to prioritize adding a bat like Reynolds when they have larger needs elsewhere. The Giants likely made their big splash of trade season already when they acquired Rafael Devers from the Red Sox, although Mike Yastrzemski is in the final year of his contract and would be unlikely to stop San Francisco from adding an impact bat. Addison Barger’s breakout and George Springer’s resurgence have more or less locked down the right field and DH spots for the Blue Jays, and while there’s an opening in left field for the moment that figures to change as soon as Anthony Santander returns from the injured list.

Perhaps the clearest fit for Reynolds on his no-trade list is the Padres, who have long appeared to be a bat short in the lineup as they’ve cycled through options like Jason Heyward, Trenton Brooks, and Oscar Mercado with little success this year. There’s a clear opening in left field for Reynolds to theoretically step into, as well. With that being said, San Diego has operated under some extremely tight financial constraints in recent years that would make it difficult to see them deal a player like Reynolds, who is due more than $77MM after this season on his extension with the Pirates. It should also be noted that, despite Reynolds’s long track record of success in the majors, he’s in the midst of the worst full season of his career as he’s slashed just .232/.298/.384 with a wRC+ of 87 this season.

That combination of a hefty contract, a tough 2025 campaign so far, and now a list of six contenders who likely will not be in the market for Reynolds’s services could mean the Pirates won’t get as much interest in their star outfielder as they may have hoped. Even if that proves to be the case, however, Reynolds is sure to get at least some interest around the league. The Royals have already been connected to Reynolds just this past week, and there will surely be more outfield-needy teams who at least give the Pirates a call to see if there’s a match. Speculatively speaking, the Phillies and Cardinals stand out as clubs that could theoretically stand to make a substantial upgrade to their outfield who might have the resources necessary to take on Reynolds’s contract.

Yankees Sign Geoff Hartlieb To Major League Deal

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The Yankees announced this morning that they’ve signed right-hander Geoff Hartlieb to a major league deal and selected him to the roster. Left-hander Jayvien Sandridge has been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Hartlieb on the active roster.

Hartlieb, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees during the offseason and made his lone big league appearance of the season this past week against the Blue Jays. He was lit up for three runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three in one inning of work and was promptly designated for assignment. He ultimately cleared waivers and elected free agency but is now back in the majors with New York on a fresh MLB contract.

Prior to playing for the Yankees, Hartlieb had played in five MLB seasons across four organizations. He got his start with the Pirates in 2019 and struggled to a 9.00 ERA in 35 innings during his debut season but settled in and provided some solid middle relief help for Pittsburgh during the shortened 2020 campaign with a 3.63 ERA in 22 1/3 frames. Since then he’s made only sparing MLB appearances, with an ugly 8.59 ERA in 22 innings of work between 2021 and 2024 for the Pirates, Mets, Marlins, and Rockies.

Going forward, Hartlieb figures to offer the Yankees another depth option capable of going multiple innings. That could be a useful stopgap addition as they try to sort out a pitching staff that recent lost Clarke Schmidt to what will likely end up being season-ending Tommy John surgery. Schmidt’s injury leaves the Yankees very short on starting depth with Ryan Yarbrough, Gerrit Cole, and Luis Gil all already on the shelf. That could leave the Yankees relying on bullpen games every fifth day for the time being unless they’re willing to dedicate a rotation spot to right-hander Allan Winans. As for Sandridge, the lefty recently made his MLB debut and two runs on two walks, a hit batsman, and a homer while recording two strikeouts in 2/3 of an inning. He’ll head back to Triple-A and serve as optionable lefty depth for the Yankees going forward.

Orioles Acquire Alex Jackson From Yankees

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9:23am: The Orioles have announced that they’ve selected Jackson’s contract and placed Sanchez on the injured list with a right knee sprain. Jorge Mateo was transferred to the 60-day injured list to create room for Sanchez on the 40-man roster.

8:44am: The Orioles have acquired catcher Alex Jackson in exchange for international signing bonus pool money and a player to be named later or cash considerations, per an announcement from the Yankees. Jackson is not on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will not be necessary unless Baltimore selects Jackson to the roster.

The move comes after catcher Gary Sanchez exited yesterday’s Orioles game with what the club described at the time as “right knee pain.” As noted by Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, interim manager Tony Mansolino did not have a more specific diagnosis available after the game but noted that Sanchez was set to undergo an MRI last night. The results of that MRI are not yet available, but it certainly seems as though a trip to the injured list is on the table. Weyrich was among those to report this morning that catcher David Banuelos had been added to the medical taxi squad following Sanchez’s injury, and now this morning’s acquisition of Jackson adds another potential replacement for Sanchez to the mix.

Jackson, 29, was selected sixth overall in the 2014 draft by the Mariners but didn’t make it to the majors until 2019 as a member of the Braves. He’s notched 124 games in the majors across parts of five big league seasons, with his largest showing coming as a member of the Rays last year. Jackson offers a solid glove behind the plate but virtually no offensive value with a career slash line of just .132/.224/.232. His performance in Tampa was even weaker than that as he hit just .122/.201/.237 in 58 games, leaving him with a 29 wRC+ that was not only 71% worse than league average but the second-worst figure among all players with at least 150 plate appearances in the majors last year.

It’s not exactly an exciting profile, but Jackson still offers the Orioles some depth at a time where additional options are extremely necessary for the club. Starting catcher Adley Rutschman has been sidelined since June 19 by an oblique strain, and since then depth catchers Maverick Handley and Chadwick Tromp were both sidelined by injuries of their own. That’s left backup catcher Gary Sanchez to take the starting role while being backed up by fifth-string backstop Jacob Stallings. With Sanchez now seemingly ticketed for an IL stint of his own, Banuelos or Jackson could be called upon to back up Stallings while the 35-year-old steps into a starting role.

That the Orioles appear likely to lean on a sixth catcher (and acquired a seventh) amid this rash of injuries underscores their refusal to promote top prospect Samuel Basallo to the majors. The 20-year-old is a consensus top 15 prospect in the sport and has torn the cover off the ball in Triple-A this year, slashing .253/.372/.547 with 16 homers in just 58 games and a 15.6% walk rate. While GM Mike Elias has suggested that he “hopes” to see Basallo play in the majors this year, it’s clear at this point that Baltimore doesn’t have much interest in bringing him up to the majors at this point in time. Perhaps he could be called upon late in the season as a September call-up, or there could be a specific aspect of Basallo’s game that the Orioles feel needs to develop further before he can debut. Potent as his bat has been, there’s long been questions about Basallo’s defensive ability behind the plate that may be leading the Orioles to be cautious about bringing him up to the majors as a regular catcher without more seasoning.

Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Right-hander Clarke Schmidt has a tear in his UCL and will probably undergo Tommy John surgery, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Joel Sherman of the New York Post).  Schmidt will miss the remainder of the 2025 season and will miss perhaps all of the 2026 season, given the usual 13-15 month recovery timeline for TJ procedures.

It is a worst-case scenario for Schmidt, who went on the 15-day IL yesterday with what was described as forearm tightness.  Schmidt told reporters that he had been dealing with the issue for a month, which perhaps makes his recent performances all the more impressive.  The righty carried a streak of 28 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings in June but ran into trouble in his last two starts, when Schmidt allowed seven earned runs over nine combined innings against the Athletics and Blue Jays.  In that latter outing against Toronto on Thursday, Schmidt was pulled after just three innings of work.

Rotator cuff tendonitis kept Schmidt from making his 2025 debut until April 16, but he’ll now wrap up his season with a 3.32 ERA over 78 2/3 innings.  Though his strikeout and walk rates were nothing special, Schmidt did a very good job of limiting hard contact, and benefited from a .232 BABIP.  That batted ball luck is reflected in Schmidt’s 4.24 ERA, but the 29-year-old did well to help stabilize a Yankees rotation that was already dealing with a number of injury issues.

Unfortunately, Schmidt now joins ace Gerrit Cole and reliever Jake Cousins as Yankee pitchers who have undergone a Tommy John procedure this season.  In the bigger picture, this is the second TJ surgery for Schmidt, who also went under the knife in 2017 when he was still a college pitcher at South Carolina.  He also missed a big chunk of the 2021 season due to an elbow strain, and missed about half of last season due to a lat strain.

Since this is Schmidt’s second Tommy John surgery, chances are that his rehab process will sit on the longer end of the usual timeframe.  This means Schmidt might only be available for the very end of the 2026 season, and it is probably more likely that he isn’t back until Opening Day 2027.  Schmidt is arbitration-controlled through the 2027 season, so the Yankees might consider a non-tender this winter and then look to re-sign the righty to a two-year deal with most of the salary pushed into 2027 when Schmidt is healthy.

In the shorter term, the Yankees now have to figure out how to address Schmidt’s rotation spot.  Ryan Yarbrough (oblique strain) and Luis Gil (lat strain) should both be back after the All-Star break, with Gil set to make his 2025 debut after his own long-term injury absence.  Between Gil and swingman Yarbrough joining Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Will Warren, that might be enough depth at the big league level for New York to remain comfortable with the rotation, plus Allan Winans and prospect Cam Schlittler are available at Triple-A.

There’s also the upcoming trade deadline as a possible avenue for rotation help, if the club decides some upgrades are necessary.  The Yankees have some time to see how Gil and Yarbrough fare in their recoveries before deciding one way or the other, plus rival teams’ asking prices on any available starters are surely still very high here in early July.  It is possible the front office might have felt compelled to add starting pitching even if Schmidt was still active, yet his loss only makes the rotation more of a need for a struggling Yankees team that is only 6-15 in its last 21 games.

Yankees Sign Jeimer Candelario To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have signed infielder Jeimer Candelario to a minor league deal, as announced by the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (h/t to Conor Foley of YES Network). Yancen Pujols reports that Candelario is expected to report to Triple-A on Monday and that Candelario had multiple offers before he settled on the Yankees.

Candelario, 31, was recently released by the Reds while in the midst of year two of his three-year pact with the organization. It’s not hard to see why Cincinnati pulled the plug, as he has battled injuries all throughout his tenure with the club and hit just .207/.265/.394 across 134 games with the club over the past two seasons. Almost all of that production came in year one of the contract, as Candelario made it into just 22 games this year and hit a paltry .113/.198/.213 in 91 trips to the plate before being designated for assignment.

Despite that lackluster work in recent years, Candelario is not far removed from a four-year run from 2020 to 2023 where he slashed a strong .254/.329/.437 in 465 games for the Tigers, Nationals, and Cubs. That production wound up being good for a wRC+ of 111, and he enjoyed three-win campaigns in both 2021 and ’23. A resurgence to that sort of level would be a godsend for the scuffling Yankees. A recent skid where they’ve lost 16 of their last 22 games has seen them drop from the heavy favorites in the AL East to three games back of the Blue Jays and tied with the Rays in the division.

That consistent stretch of losing has led to plenty of attention on the club’s hole on the infield. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a solid player who can handle either second or third base as necessary, but a supporting cast of DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza to hold down the other position just hasn’t cut it. If Candelario can prove he’s healthy and effective again, it’s not hard to imagine him being an upgrade over the Yankees’ current options to partner with Chisholm. With that being said, trade season is already upon us and some intriguing infielders like Eugenio Suarez, Luis Urias, Ryan McMahon, and Amed Rosario could be available this summer.

Any of those players would be a more reliable addition than Candelario at this point, and it’s not hard to imagine the Yankees feeling as though they can’t afford to roll the dice on a player who hasn’t been healthy and effective in nearly two years now. Still, he’d at the very least represent a more robust depth option for the Yankees than the likes of Nicky Lopez and Andrew Velazquez who were already in the organization on minor league deals.

Yankees Likely To Promote Cam Schlittler

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The Yankees are currently planning to add pitching prospect Cam Schlittler to the big league roster on either Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Joel Sherman and Dan Martin of the New York Post.  Multiple transactions will be required in advance since Schlittler isn’t on the 40-man roster, though 40-man space can be easily created by moving Clarke Schmidt to the 60-day injured list.  Schmidt will miss the rest of the season due to an expected Tommy John surgery, which has opened the door for Schlittler to make his Major League debut.

Allan Winans was only just optioned to Triple-A last Sunday and thus his minimum 15-day stay in the minors isn’t yet up, unless another injury arises in the next few days to allow New York to bring Winans back to the Show.  Should a forthcoming injury create a path back for Winans, the Yankees might change course, which is why Sherman and Martin note that the club hasn’t yet absolutely decided to call Schlittler up.

Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Will Warren comprise the top four pitchers in a rotation that has now taken another big injury hit with the loss of Schmidt, on top of Gerrit Cole’s Tommy John surgery in March.  Luis Gil has missed the entire season due to a lat strain and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break, while Sherman/Martin write that swingman Ryan Yarbrough is expected to be out until August while recovering from an oblique strain.  This means Schlittler might get a bit of an extended audition beyond just a start in New York’s upcoming series with the Mariners, unless Winans is recalled or if the Yankees perhaps acquired another pitcher.

A seventh-round pick for the Yankees in the 2022 draft, Schlittler has a 3.33 ERA over 243 1/3 career pro innings, starting 50 of his 54 games.  This year, he has a 2.38 ERA over 53 innings of Double-A ball and a 3.80 ERA in 23 2/3 innings at Triple-A.  Schlittler has an impressive 31.9% strikeout rate over his 76 2/3 total innings this season, as well as an 8.4% walk rate and a 47.8% grounder rate.  The right-hander has consistently done a good job of keeping the ball on the ground, though this does leave him open to some batted-ball variance, such as his .350 BABIP in the minors this season.

Baseball America ranks the 6’6″, 210-pound Schlittler fifth on their list of the Yankees’ minor league prospects, while he sits tenth on MLB Pipeline’s Yankees farm rankings.  Both outlets put a 60-grade on Schlittler’s fastball, which averages around 94mph and can hit as high as 97-98mph, plus BA’s scouting report cites the pitch’s “15 inches of induced vertical break.”  BA’s report is also a big fan of the sweeper Schlittler has been developing, which nicely complements his more standard slider.  This combination of pitches hints that Schlittler could be a very promising reliever if his future as a starter doesn’t work out, but evaluators feel he has a chance to stick as at least a back-end rotation member.

Yankees Sign Joel Kuhnel To Minors Deal

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The Yankees announced today that right-hander Geoff Hartlieb elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. Because he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to reject all future outright assignments. The Yankees also added an arm, signing right-hander Joel Kuhnel to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was with the Phillies on a minor league deal but was released yesterday.

Hartlieb, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in the offseason. He was selected to the roster on Monday and designated for assignment on Wednesday. In between, he tossed one inning against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, allowing three earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three. He is out of options so the Yankees effectively had to designate him for assignment in order to remove him from active roster while making space for a fresh arm.

That was a rough outing but he was in good form in the minors prior to getting called up. He tossed 35 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a 3.34 earned run average, 26.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate.

He also has some previous big league work on his résumé, though it’s not especially sparkling, as he has a 7.62 ERA in 80 1/3 innings. His 48% ground ball rate is strong but his 20.3% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate are both subpar figures, particularly the latter. He’ll head to the open market and see what kind of opportunities are out there for him.

Kuhnel, 30, may have triggered an opt-out provision in his deal with the Phils because he has been putting up good numbers this year. In 32 1/3 innings for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he had a 3.62 ERA. His 20.6% strikeout rate was a bit below average but his 3.1% walk rate was tiny and he got ground balls on a huge 66.3% of balls in play.

That’s generally been Kuhnel’s recipe. In 93 2/3 big league innings in his career, he has only struck out 18.7% of batters faced but has limited walks to a 5.9% pace and gotten opponents to pound the ball into the ground at a 52% clip. That’s led to a 5.86 ERA but his .311 batting average on balls in play and 63.8% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side. His 4.46 FIP and 3.77 SIERA paint him in a more favorable light.

The Yankees love groundballers and, as the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. Kuhnel has been assigned to the RailRiders and will try to work his way onto the big league roster.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Yankees Place Clarke Schmidt On 15-Day IL With Forearm Tightness

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The Yankees have placed starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt on the 15-day injured list with right forearm tightness. In additional pitching transactions, the team optioned Clayton Beeter to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre yesterday and recalled Scott Effross and Jayvien Sandridge this morning.

Schmidt, 29, exited early on Thursday after giving up three runs in three innings against the Blue Jays and later revealed that he has been nursing some tightness in his forearm for a month (per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). He is going for imaging today (per Greg Joyce of the New York Post), which is worrisome enough, but the fact that the team placed him on the IL before his MRI is further cause for concern. Joyce suggests that it is not yet clear if the Yankees will be able to offer an update on Schmidt by the end of the day today.

The right-hander sat out the first three weeks of the season with rotator cuff tendonitis. Upon his return, however, he picked up right where he left off in 2024 (another injury-shortened but nonetheless successful campaign). Through 16 starts this year, Schmidt has pitched to a 3.32 ERA and 4.23 SIERA. Add that to his 16 starts from last year, and you get a 3.07 ERA and 3.97 SIERA through 30 starts and 164 innings. In other words, it’s not hard to see why he’s so important to the middle of the Yankees’ rotation and why losing him to the IL again would be a significant loss for the club.

New York’s rotation was already stretched thin with Gerrit Cole out for the year, Luis Gil out since spring training with a lat strain, and Ryan Yarbrough recently hitting the IL with a strained oblique. Max Fried and Carlos Rodón make for as good of a top two as you’ll find on any AL club, but Will Warren has been wildly inconsistent in his rookie season, and Marcus Stroman only just returned from a long IL stint of his own. The only other healthy starter on the 40-man roster is 29-year-old Allan Winans, who has excelled at Triple-A but has a career 7.38 ERA over 10 MLB games. JT Brubaker can also start, but he has been pitching out of the bullpen this year and has not started in the majors since 2022. According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, the team considers pitching prospect Cam Schlittler a potential option for the rotation in the second half, but it’s unclear if they would call him up sooner. He has been excellent in the minors this season, but this is only his third professional campaign, and he only has five starts at Triple-A under his belt. So, if Schmidt misses significant time – and even if he doesn’t – the Yankees could seek some outside help for the rotation as they look to regain first place in the AL East.

Colten Brewer Opts Out Of Yankees Deal

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Right-hander Colten Brewer has opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. He was on the temporarily inactive list in recent days due to his wife giving birth.

Brewer, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in the winter. He reported to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and tossed 29 2/3 innings over 22 appearances with a 3.94 earned run average. His 12.7% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 27.1% of batters faced and kept 44.9% of balls in play on the ground.

The righty also has 120 innings of big league experience with a 5.10 ERA, though it’s come in scattered fashion, dating back to his 2018 debut. Most recently, he tossed 20 2/3 innings for the Cubs last year. The 5.66 ERA with the Cubs wasn’t especially impressive but his 23.2% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 44.3% ground ball rate were all respectable figures. His overall results were undercut by a .371 batting average on balls in play and 55.2% strand rate. His 3.12 FIP and 3.86 SIERA suggested he deserved better.

Brewer will now head out to the open market and see what kind of opportunities are available to him. Given the rate of pitching injuries around the league and his recent numbers, he should be getting some calls.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Yankees To Sign Nicky Lopez To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees are signing infielder Nicky Lopez to a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Lopez will presumably report to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in the coming days.

Lopez, 30, has been a major league regular for a few years now. However, he has bounced around in 2025, hitting the fringes of various rosters. He started the year with the Cubs on a minor league deal but opted out when he didn’t break camp. That led to a big league deal with the Angels, though he was designated for assignment three weeks into the season. He was then signed by the Cubs, this time to a big league deal, though he was designated for assignment a month later. He then landed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks but opted out of that deal a few days ago.

He has an awful .042/.179/.042 slash line in the majors this year, though in just 28 scattered plate appearances. He hit .267/.303/.317 on that minor league deal with the Snakes more recently, though that only translated to a wRC+ of 46 in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.

In his big league career, he has generally been a glove-first player. He had a strong .300/.365/.378 showing in 2021 but that now looks like a clear outlier. Since then, in over 1200 plate appearances, he has a .229/.300/.283 line. On defense, he has extensive experience in the middle infield, with plenty of time at third base as well. He’s also made brief appearances at first base, left field and even on the mound.

The Yankees aren’t getting much out of their second base position, with DJ LeMahieu not having a great season. They seem likely to pursue a third base upgrade at the deadline, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. then being moved to second base, pushing LeMahieu into a bench role. For now, Lopez gives them some veteran non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images

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