Mariners Place Rowdy Tellez On Release Waivers
June 26: The Mariners announced Thursday that Tellez is on unconditional release waivers. Assuming he clears, he’ll be free to sign with any team for the prorated league minimum.
June 20: The Mariners have designated first baseman Rowdy Tellez for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to outfielder/first baseman Luke Raley, who’s been activated from the injured list after missing seven weeks with an oblique strain.
Tellez, 30, is in his eighth big league season and has popped 11 home runs while serving as Seattle’s primary first baseman. Early in the year, he was expected to see more time at designated hitter for skipper Dan Wilson, but the injury to Raley and ongoing injury issues for infielder Jorge Polanco (who was accordingly relegated to DH work) pushed Tellez into the field on a regular basis.
After a disastrous start to his season, Tellez righted the ship in mid-April and has been a serviceable but flawed source of power in the heart of the Mariners’ order. He reached base just once in his first 23 plate appearances but has since swatted 11 homers and slugged .484. That power comes with a low average and bottom-of-the-barrel OBP, however. Tellez rarely walks, is easy to position against defensively due to his extreme-pull approach, and is measured by Statcast as the slowest player in baseball (eliminating virtually any chance of him reaching via infield hit).
Dating back to April 11, Tellez has taken 162 turns at the plate and is hitting .229/.265/.484. He’s been shielded almost entirely from left-handed pitching, receiving just 14 plate appearances and reaching base only twice (one single, one hit-by-pitch). He’s hitting .219/.257/.463 against right-handed pitching this year.
With Raley nearing a return, it seemed likely that either Tellez or fellow veteran first base option Donovan Solano could be pushed off the roster. Since both Tellez and Raley hit left-handed, the Mariners opted to move on from the veteran who can keep a platoon intact. Solano has helped his cause by hitting better over the past month, albeit in an excessively limited role. He’s batted .333/.394/.467 since May 20 but done so in only 33 plate appearances (26 of them against lefties).
For the time being, Solano and Raley will presumably platoon at first base. That’s not an ideal setup, as Raley is more comfortable in the outfield than at first and Solano has struggled this season overall. The Mariners will, at the very least, likely explore the trade market for righty-swinging options at first base in the weeks ahead. Dominic Canzone has provided slightly better-than-average offense in right field since being called up earlier this month (.233/.303/.400 in 33 plate appearances), but if he struggles like he has in two prior MLB seasons, the Mariners could move Raley to right field. That would set them up to either give prospect Tyler Locklear a run at first base or explore the trade market for a full-time upgrade either at first base or in right field.
The Mariners will have five days to trade Tellez or place him on waivers. He originally signed a minor league contract with Seattle but locked in a $1.5MM salary when he made the roster after a big spring performance. He’s still owed about $806K of that sum, as of this writing.
Any team that claims Tellez off waivers would assume the entirety of that remaining salary. If the M’s find an interested trade partner, they could include some cash to offset the salary in exchange for what would still likely be a nominal prospect return. Since waivers are a 48-hour process, we’ll know the outcome of Tellez’s DFA within a maximum of one week’s time. In the event that he clears waivers, Tellez has enough service time to elect free agency and retain the remaining money on this year’s salary.
Max Meyer To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery
Marlins starter Max Meyer is headed for a season-ending labrum repair in his left hip, reports MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola. The procedure comes with a six-to-eight month recovery timeline, so the process could linger into the early portion of Spring Training. He is already on the 15-day injured list and will move to the 60-day IL once the Marlins need a 40-man roster spot.
Meyer, the third overall pick in 2020, has yet to really establish himself in the big leagues because of injury. He was one of the sport’s top pitching prospects when the Fish called him up in July ’22. He made two starts before his elbow gave out and sent him for Tommy John surgery. That wiped out the entire following season. The Marlins bounced him between MLB and Triple-A Jacksonville last year, a sequence that was ostensibly about managing his workload after surgery but also prevented him from reaching two full years of big league service by the end of the season.
The 26-year-old righty had been in Miami’s big league rotation this year. He got out to a brilliant start to the season, turning in a 2.10 earned run average through his first five starts. He fanned 14 hitters (tied for second by any pitcher in a game this season) over six scoreless innings against the Reds on April 21. It looked as if Meyer were in line for a breakout, but his production tanked over his final seven starts. He allowed more than seven earned runs per nine with a dramatically reduced 16.5% strikeout rate until landing on the injured list earlier this month.
Meyer was clearly not at full strength, as he’d shown none of the electric stuff he did early in the year. Manager Clayton McCullough said at the time of the IL placement that Meyer had been pitching through the injury for a few starts. His year will end with a somewhat misleading 4.73 ERA across 64 2/3 innings.
Miami has lost Meyer and Braxton Garrett to season-ending surgeries. Ryan Weathers will be out at least into August with a significant lat strain. All three have flashed promise but battled too many injuries to give the Marlins the elite rotation they’ve envisioned behind Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez. Meyer will fall a little shy of the three-year service cutoff. He’ll qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player but won’t make much more than the league minimum next season because of his limited body of work. He’s under club control until the 2029-30 offseason.
Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement
Longtime infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield has announced his retirement, via his agency at Warner Sports Management.
“Hey guys,” Merrifield says, “You all should know that I decided a while back to retire. When it came down to it, it was an easy decision. Many factors played a role in my decision, but the main one was a 6 pound 6 ounce gift from God my wife and I were blessed with in March of 2024. I was never talented enough to just show up and play. Baseball required my full focus and energy for me to compete at the level I wanted to, and I realize I can no longer give that effort. At this point in life, I’d much rather chase around a toddler than chase sliders.” He goes on to thank the various clubs he played for and their fans while acknowledging those who believed in him along the way.
As Merrifield alluded to in his statement, he had a reputation for being a scrappy grinder, as opposed to the most naturally gifted athlete. But he nonetheless was able to carve out an impressive career in the big leagues as a late bloomer.
A ninth-round pick of the Royals in 2010, Merrifield was never really on the radars of prospect evaluators as a minor leaguer. Regardless, he climbed the ladder, impressing the Royals in various ways. He could bounce all over the diamond on defense. Offensively, he didn’t have a ton of power or draw many walks, but he didn’t strike out much and could steal plenty of bases once he got on.
He got called up to the majors in May of 2016 at the age of 27, significantly older than when most players make their debuts. At the time, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweeted that many people within the organization viewed Merrifield as the ideal guy to have the final spot on the roster. In other words, a utility guy.
His usage in that 2016 season reflected that. He was optioned to the minors and recalled a few times, eventually getting into 81 big league games and taking 332 plate appearances. He only hit two home runs and didn’t walk much but produced a .283/.323/.392 batting line and 91 wRC+. He stole eight bases and played the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners.
In 2017, he showed he was capable of being more than just a utility guy. He broke out at the plate that year by hitting 19 home runs, helping him produce a .288/.324/.460 line and 105 wRC+. He also swiped 34 bags and effectively took over as the club’s everyday second baseman, while still occasionally moving to other spots.
He had arguably the best season of his career in 2018. His home run total dropped to 12 but his walk rate almost doubled compared to the year prior, jumping from 4.6% to 8.6%. A .352 batting average on balls in play also helped him out, leading to a .304/.367/.438 line and 119 wRC+, with another 45 stolen bases to boot. FanGraphs credited him with 5.0 wins above replacement that year, the best tally of his career.
Going into 2019, the Royals and Merrifield agreed to an extension. The deal guaranteed him $16.25MM over four years with a club option for a fifth year. That total looks fairly modest to compared to some more recent deals but it was a product of his late-bloomer status. Since he didn’t debut until his age-27 season, he wasn’t going to qualify for arbitration until after he turned 30 and wasn’t slated for free agency until after his age-33 season. That deal may have sacrificed a bit of future upside but it allowed him to guarantee himself some life-changing money ahead of schedule.
His performance held pretty steady for the next couple of years. Over 2019 and the shortened 2020 season, he slashed .297/.342/.456 for a 109 wRC+ while stealing another 32 bases, while the emergence of Nicky Lopez bumped him to spending more time in the outfield and less at second base. He was selected to the All-Star team for the first time in that 2019 campaign, the first of three honors he would eventually earn.
His offense dipped a bit in 2021, as his .277/.317/.395 line translated to an 89 wRC+, though he still stole 40 bases. Going into 2022, it felt like maybe the end of his time as a Royal was drawing close. It was the final guaranteed year of that extension. He was also going into his age-33 season. The Royals were rebuilding during this whole era and had rebuffed plenty of trade calls, but given his age and contract status, the window appeared to be closing.
He stuck with the Royals into the start of the 2022 season. He and the club agreed to a reworked contract, with the club preemptively triggering his 2023 club option and shifting some of the salary commitments to the ongoing 2022 campaign. The Royals were still mired in their rebuild and would eventually finish the year with a record of 65-97, so trade talk picked up that summer.
Merrifield was eventually dealt to the Blue Jays for minor leaguers Max Castillo and Samad Taylor. It was a bit of a surprising landing spot at the time. With travel restrictions still in place for the COVID-19 pandemic, ten Royals players were unable to cross the border to play in Toronto earlier that summer due to not being vaccinated. Merrifield was one of them, which led to the question of how he would be able to play for the Jays down the stretch, but he eventually agreed to receive the jab.
Though his production was a bit lackluster at the time of the trade, he caught fire down the stretch, hitting .281/.323/.446 for a 120 wRC+. He helped the Blue Jays earn a Wild Card spot, which allowed him to appear in the postseason for the first time in his career. However, the Jays were swept out of the Wild Card round, falling 2-0 to the Mariners. He stuck with the Jays in 2023, stealing another 23 bases with offense just a bit below league average. The Jays grabbed another Wild Card spot but were swept out again, this time by the Twins.
He finally reached free agency for the first time in his career, ahead of his age-35 season, and landed an $8MM guarantee from the Phillies on a one-year deal. That didn’t really pan out, as he hit .199/.277/.295 and was released in July. “Philly, I liked you way more than you liked me,” he said in his statement today. “Sorry I stunk for you.”
He then signed with Atlanta, which was a personal thrill for him. In his statement today, he described them as his “childhood team,” having grown up in the Carolinas. He had a solid .248/.348/.336 showing in 42 games for Atlanta and made the club’s Wild Card roster but didn’t appear in a game as the club was swept by the Padres.
Merrifield was a free agent this winter and didn’t appear in any rumors. In hindsight, it seems that was because he had no intention of playing this year. He hangs up his spikes having played in 1,147 games with 4,866 plate appearances. He knocked 1,249 hits, scored 632 runs, drove in 485 and stole 218 bases. FanGraphs credits him with 19.8 wins above replacement for his career, with Baseball Reference giving him 17.9. BR also pegs his career earnings justs over $35MM. And he managed to do all of that despite not making it to the majors until well after his 27th birthday.
We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Merrifield on a fine career and wish him the best in whatever comes next.
Photos courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Wendell Cruz and Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
White Sox Sign Noah Syndergaard To Minor League Deal
4:05pm: Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, Syndergaard gets $30K per month in the minors. If he’s selected to the majors, he gets a base salary of $1.75MM, though that would presumably be prorated to account for the portion of the season that has already transpired. He can earn an extra $50K by logging 40 innings and $100K each for getting to 55 and 75 innings. He also has a release clause if he’s not in the majors prior to August 1st.
8:47am: The White Sox have signed former All-Star righty Noah Syndergaard to a minor league contract, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. The CAA client is headed to the team’s spring complex in Arizona to build up.
Syndergaard, 33 in August, hasn’t pitched in the majors since splitting the 2023 season between the Dodgers and Guardians. The former Mets star was one of the sport’s most promising young arms from 2015-19 before injuries derailed his career. Syndergaard posted a combined 3.31 ERA with a 26.4% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate in 716 innings over that five-year period but never got back on track after multiple arm injuries, most notably including Tommy John surgery.
The Angels signed Syndergaard post-surgery, shelling out a hefty $21MM on a one-year deal and forfeiting a draft pick — the Mets had issued him a qualifying offer — in hopes he’d recapture his ace form. He pitched more like a fourth starter with the Halos, logging a 3.83 ERA with a below-average strikeout rate and a heater that was down more than three miles per hour. They traded him to the Phillies for Mickey Moniak at the ’22 trade deadline, and he gave Philadelphia a similar performance.
A 2023 deal to join the Dodgers didn’t pan out, and L.A. swapped him out for another underperforming veteran (Amed Rosario) in a deadline deal with Cleveland that year. Syndergaard didn’t pitch well with either club and wound up being released by the Guardians about a month after the trade. He opted not to sign anywhere for the 2024 season despite rumored interest from the Padres and Pirates. Midway through last summer, it was reported that Syndergaard was setting his sights on a 2025 comeback. That’ll manifest in the form of an early-summer deal with a rebuilding White Sox club that can provide ample opportunity.
All told, Syndergaard has pitched only 225 1/3 innings in the majors since returning from Tommy John surgery. He’s pitched to a 4.99 ERA in that time with a 15.9% strikeout rate that’s nowhere close to his prior standards. Syndergaard averaged 98.6 mph on his fastball at peak, per Statcast, but has sat 93.2 mph post-surgery — including a 92.2 mph average between Cleveland and Los Angeles in 2023.
With the prevalence of Tommy John surgery in today’s sport, it’s easy to presume the surgery will be a 14-month (give or take) bump in the road for pitchers — one from which they’ll bounce back to full strength or something close to it. Syndergaard is a key reminder that such surgeries are major procedures that come with no promise of rebounding to full strength, or even an approximation of peak form. Hopefully, he can get back on track with the South Siders, but given his post-surgery performance and a big league layoff now approaching two calendar years, Syndergaard is more or less a risk-free lottery ticket for GM Chris Getz’s club.
Corbin Carroll Placed On IL With Wrist Fracture
June 24: The Diamondbacks officially placed Carroll on the IL, retroactive to June 21st, and recalled McCarthy today.
June 23: Corbin Carroll has been diagnosed with a “chip fracture” in his left wrist, manager Torey Lovullo told D-Backs’ postgame host Todd Walsh (h/t to Jody Jackson). It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action or whether there’s any consideration of surgery. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic had reported shortly before Lovullo’s announcement that the D-Backs would place Carroll on the injured list tomorrow. According to Piecoro, Jake McCarthy will be recalled from Triple-A Reno to take his spot on the roster.
It’s the latest hit to an Arizona team that has been battered by injuries. In this month alone, they’ve lost Corbin Burnes and top relievers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez to season-ending elbow surgeries. Starting catcher Gabriel Moreno went down with a broken index finger last week. They’ll now be without one of their top two hitters for what seems likely to be at least a few weeks.
Carroll was injured during last Wednesday’s loss to the Blue Jays. Toronto reliever Justin Bruihl hit him on the left wrist with a 91 MPH sinker. The D-Backs lifted him for a defensive replacement in the following half-inning. Carroll hasn’t played since and wasn’t recovering as well as hoped. The Snakes sent him for an MRI that revealed the bone break. It’s unfortunately similar to the situation that played out with Moreno, who initially continued to play after a first round of x-rays didn’t catch the hairline fracture in his finger.
The 24-year-old Carroll has had a fantastic season, hitting .255/.341/.573 with 20 homers in 72 games. He got out to a blistering start, cooled a bit in May, and had rebounded to reel off nine extra-base hits in 13 games this month. Carroll has been a fixture in the top two spots in Lovullo’s batting order all season. They’ve bumped Geraldo Perdomo to the leadoff spot, at least against right-handed pitching, in his absence. Randal Grichuk has drawn into the lineup as the right fielder.
Grichuk is a solid role player but obviously isn’t going to come close to replacing Carroll’s production. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Diamondbacks still have a strong nucleus. A lineup including Ketel Marte, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Perdomo should remain capable of scoring runs. They need an elite offense to compensate for the struggles of the injury-riddled pitching staff, though, and that’s much more difficult without Carroll at the top.
Arizona bludgeoned the White Sox for a 10-0 victory tonight. That brought them to 40-38 on the season. They’re in fourth place in the NL West but are just 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. Few teams have more at stake over the next five weeks as they hope to remain in position to add at the deadline.
Hoops Rumors Has The Latest On NBA Draft, Free Agency
We’re heading into the busiest time of the year for the NBA, and our sister site Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors on Twitter) has all the latest news, rumors and transactions for each of the league’s 30 teams.
Eight days ago, the Magic and Grizzlies completed a blockbuster trade. And yesterday afternoon, the Suns agreed to trade 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant to the Rockets in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in the 2025 draft, and five second-rounders.
Last night, the Thunder capped off their historically dominant regular season by winning an NBA championship after a thrilling seven-game series against Indiana. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his first MVP award this season and claimed Finals MVP as well.
The underdog Pacers had one of the most memorable playoff runs in NBA history but fell one win short of their goal. Unfortunately, star point guard Tyrese Haliburton sustained an Achilles injury in the first quarter of Game 7, and his status for next season is now uncertain.
Today, teams can begin negotiating with their own free agents — LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and James Harden are the most accomplished players expected to stay put. Next Monday, June 30, is when teams can start negotiating with free agents from other clubs.
The NBA draft is later this week, taking place over two days – Wednesday and Thursday – for the second straight year. The first two picks (Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper) seem like foregone conclusions, but there’s plenty of uncertainty about how things will unfold starting at No. 3.
Arguably the biggest question mark hanging over the offseason is the future of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. While he hasn’t given any indication that he intends to request a trade out of Milwaukee, reports have stated that possibility can’t be ruled out.
For the latest NBA updates on trades, free agency and the draft, check out Hoops Rumors today! There will be a whirlwind of activity over the next couple of weeks as teams reshape their rosters for next season, and we’ll be covering it all. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Bluesky.
Mets Option Francisco Alvarez
The Mets announced today that they’ve optioned catcher Francisco Alvarez to Triple-A. Catcher Hayden Senger was called up to take Alvarez’s spot on the active roster.
Alvarez, 23, is in the midst of his fourth MLB season. He played just five games in the majors in 2022, however, and entered the 2023 campaign a consensus top-10 prospect in the entire sport. He hit a respectable .209/.284/.437 (97 wRC+) with 25 home runs in 123 games during that rookie campaign while grading out as one of the sport’s best defensive catchers. It was a strong enough showing to make Alvarez a lock to serve as the Mets’ regular catcher in 2024, but was sidelined by a hand injury that ultimately required him to undergo surgery on his thumb and miss nearly two months. Alvarez was able to hit a respectable .237/.307/.403 (102 wRC+) last year, roughly league average production despite a sharp decline in power output.
While Alvarez’s overall offensive line was on par with expectations in 2024, there were still reasons for concern. His once-elite defense was just average in 2024 as his blocking ability went from average to the second percentile among qualifying catchers per Statcast. His pitch framing numbers also slipped slightly, though they still remained elite. In addition to the step back defensively, Alvarez’s power outage last year led underlying metrics to judge his performance at the plate more harshly last year; his xwOBA dropped from .305 in 2023 to just .289 in 2024 despite his wOBA remaining steady at .310 across both seasons.
2025 started out on a familiarly tough note for Alvarez, as he missed the start of the season due to surgery on his left hand—this time to repair a fractured hamate bone. Since making his season debut on April 25, Alvarez has hit just .236/.319/.333 with a wRC+ of 91. That’s not terrible for the standards of the catcher position, but it’s still a far cry from the roughly league average production he had posted for his career entering this year. He’s also hitting for even less power than last year, with just three home runs and three doubles in 35 games. An 8.2% barrel rate suggests that might be due to some lackluster batted ball luck, but further steps backward defensively aren’t as easy to dismiss.
Alvarez has remained below average as a blocker behind the plate after last year’s rough showing, and he’s now become one of the worst framing catchers in the league after that was his strong suit in his career prior to this season. While he’s stayed somewhat valuable by throwing out opposing base runners at an elite rate, Alvarez has fallen off to the point of becoming an average to below average catcher overall based on his numbers this year. Between his offense trending downward and his uncharacteristically lackluster defense behind the plate, the Mets clearly felt it was time to send him to the minors for a reset.
It’s a sign of urgency for a club that recently lost seven consecutive games before snapping that losing streak with a win over the Phillies last night. The Mets are in a statistical tie with Philadelphia for the NL East title at the moment, which puts a premium on wins as they look to rebuild their lead in the division and put the club’s front office in position to buy more aggressively at the trade deadline this summer. While the best version of the Mets involves Alvarez in the lineup on a regular basis, though Luis Torrens has shown himself to be deserving of a regular role in the short-term with strong defensive grades and an 89 wRC+ that’s not too far off of Alvarez’s own figure this year.
In the short term, it seems Senger will be tasked with backing up Torrens. The 28-year-old made his MLB debut earlier this year and has hit .179/.207/.214 (18 wRC+) in 29 plate appearances across 13 games in the majors. Longer term, there’s little question that Alvarez will return to the majors with the club and rejoin Torrens as part of the club’s catching tandem. The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports that the Mets are satisfied with their catching tandem at this point and that they aren’t expected to enter trade season in the market for catching help.
Reds To Promote Chase Burns For MLB Debut
The Reds are planning to select top pitching prospect Chase Burns from Triple-A Louisville, reports C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. He will start against the Yankees on Tuesday in his MLB debut.
Burns, 22, was the second overall pick in last year’s draft. He dominated for Wake Forest in his final year of college play, going 10-1 while striking out 191 batters across 100 innings and pitching to a 2.70 ERA. Coming into 2025, he was widely considered the top prospect in the Reds organization and a top 50 prospect in the game. If possible, the young right-hander has only improved his reputation over his first 13 professional starts. Armed with a fastball that hits triple-digit and one of the nastiest sliders in the minor leagues, Burns has put up a 1.77 ERA, a 36.8% strikeout rate, and a 6.85 strikeout-to-walk ratio between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. Although he has shot up through the system at a speed rarely seen, he has yet to ever look overmatched. So, after just two starts at Triple-A, he is already gearing up for his next challenge.
This might seem like an aggressive promotion, but Burns has done everything in his power to earn the opportunity. Meanwhile, the Reds are low on starting pitching depth. Wade Miley landed on the IL yesterday after just three appearances for Cincinnati. He joined Hunter Greene and Carson Spiers, as well as Rhett Lowder, Julian Aguiar, and Brandon Williamson, the three of whom have been out all season. To make matters worse, Nick Martinez has struggled badly in June, and Chase Petty, recalled earlier today, has taken the loss in all three games in which he’s appeared so far in his big league career. Thus, with an ailing big league rotation and Burns excelling in the minors, the Reds are going to give their top prospect a shot in the majors, less than a year after they drafted him. They will have to free up a space for Burns on the active and 40-man rosters prior to his debut.
A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery; Gabriel Moreno Diagnosed With Fractured Finger
June 21: MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert reports that A.J. Puk underwent internal brace surgery and not a Tommy John procedure. Tommy Henry, however, will require Tommy John. Gilbert adds that Justin Martinez, another D-backs pitcher in need of Tommy John surgery, will have his operation performed next week.
June 20: Diamondbacks reliever A.J. Puk underwent elbow surgery today, manager Torey Lovullo tells the Burns & Gambo show. Puk had visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache after experiencing recurring soreness as he tried to work back from a flexor strain. Lovullo didn’t have specific details as to whether he required a full Tommy John ligament replacement or some kind of modified internal brace procedure. Puk’s season is over in either case. He’s likely to miss most or all of 2026 as well.
Additionally, the manager told Burns & Gambo that catcher Gabriel Moreno has a hairline fracture in his right index finger. The D-Backs placed Moreno on the 10-day injured list yesterday but had initially called it a hand contusion. He has evidently been playing through an undiagnosed fracture for some time. A return timetable is unclear but will be measured in “weeks, not days.” Topping it all off, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that left-hander Tommy Henry is also headed for season-ending elbow surgery.
The news on Puk is terrible but unsurprising. He has been plagued by elbow issues for the past two months. He’d undergone Tommy John surgery once before in his career. The 6’7″ southpaw required the procedure in 2018 when he was a member of the A’s farm system. He missed that season and was limited to 28 combined appearances between the minors and MLB the following year.
Acquired from the Marlins at the 2024 deadline, Puk has been one of the most dominant relievers in the sport since getting to Arizona. He recorded 43 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings after the trade last summer, working to a 1.32 ERA in the process. He had fanned 12 more hitters against two walks while collecting four saves in his first eight appearances this year. Aside from a terrible stint in Miami’s rotation early last season, he has been generally excellent since the A’s traded him to Miami over the 2022-23 offseason.
Depending on the nature of the surgery, there’s a decent chance this will end his time with the D-Backs. Puk has over five years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the final time next offseason. He’d earn only a modest raise on this year’s $2.95MM salary, but a full ligament repair would make him a non-tender candidate. Players usually require 14-plus months to return from Tommy John surgery, and that would be Puk’s second such procedure. He’s likely to be out through next year’s All-Star Break even if he “only” needed the internal brace procedure, though the D-Backs would happily retain Puk for around $3MM if they felt they could get half the season from him.
The news on Puk comes a week after the news that Justin Martinez, the team’s other top reliever, also needs to go under the knife. Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery have been Tommy John victims in the rotation. It’s difficult for any team to weather that kind of injury luck. Arizona has hovered around .500 despite having an elite offense because of their issues on the mound.
They’ll lose Moreno from that lineup for what seems like a decent chunk of time. There’s a significant drop off to light-hitting backup Jose Herrera. The Snakes selected Aramis Garcia to work off the bench behind Herrera. Adrian Del Castillo is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He’s a far better hitter than either Herrera or Garcia but isn’t regarded as a great defender. Del Castillo won’t be an option in the immediate future regardless, as he landed on the Triple-A injured list today with what is expected to be a minor back injury. Moreno will be the clear starting catcher once he’s healthy, but his injury could lead the Snakes to pursue a veteran #2 who can provide more punch than Herrera offers.
Henry, 27, is a former second-round pick who has a 5.07 ERA over 37 career appearances. He has an ERA above 8.00 over 11 starts in Triple-A Reno this year. This is his final minor league option season and he seems unlikely to stick on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason. His elbow injury occurred in Triple-A, so he’s on the minor league injured list. He’ll continue to count against the 40-man for now. The D-Backs may place him on the MLB 60-day IL or simply decide to release him (which would save them a bit of money relative to putting him on the MLB injured list) once they need another roster spot.
Braves To Select Didier Fuentes
The Braves are going to promote right-handed pitching prospect Didier Fuentes, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The youngster will start tomorrow’s game against the Marlins. Corresponding moves will be required to add him to both the 40-man and active rosters.
It’s an extremely aggressive promotion, as Fuentes only just celebrated his 20th birthday two days ago. A fairly unheralded international signing out of Colombia, Fuentes has raised his stock as he has climbed the minor league ladder. Last year, he tossed 75 2/3 innings at the Single-A level with a 2.74 earned run average. He struck out 32.1% of batters faced while only giving out walks at a 6.9% pace.
That got him some prospect love ahead of 2025, with Baseball America giving him the #7 spot in Atlanta’s system coming into the year. They mentioned his mid-90s fastball and slider, while noting he was still working on a splitter to neutralize lefties.
Here in 2025, he has seemingly raised his stock even farther. He has gone from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, tossing a combined 39 1/3 innings. The 4.81 ERA might not jump off the page but he has a 28.9% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He’s been hurt by a 58.4% strand rate, which is why his 2.81 FIP suggests he has deserved better this year.
Coming into the year, FanGraphs listed Fuentes as the #11 prospect in the Atlanta system but they now list him as third in the system and #82 in the entire league. Both FanGraphs and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN use Bryan Woo of the Mariners as a comp for Fuentes.
The Atlanta rotation has taken a few hits this year. AJ Smith-Shawver required Tommy John surgery and Reynaldo López has been sidelined by arthroscopic shoulder surgery. At the moment, the starting group consists of Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes. It’s possible that Fuentes will just be making a spot start. The club just began a stretch of playing 13 games in a row, so he can give all the other starters an extra day of rest in the midst of that, while getting his first taste of the majors.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images