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Orioles Option Trevor Rogers, Designate Bruce Zimmermann

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder Emmanuel Rivera, recently claimed off waivers, has been added to the roster. They also selected the contract of right-hander Matt Bowman and recalled lefty Nick Vespi. To open spots for those three, they optioned left-hander Trevor Rogers, right-hander Colin Selby and infielder Liván Soto to Triple-A Norfolk. To open a 40-man spot for Bowman, lefty Bruce Zimmermann has been designated for assignment.

Just over three weeks ago, the Orioles acquired Rogers from the Marlins in a pre-deadline trade, sending youngsters Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to Miami. The O’s have been having a strong season overall but keeping the rotation intact has been a challenge. All three of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells required surgery to address their respective ulnar collateral ligaments in their elbows earlier this year. To bolster the group, they added both Zach Eflin and Rogers prior to the deadline.

It was a buy-low situation with Rogers, who had posted a 2.64 earned run average with the Marlins in 2021 but struggled since. He dealt with various injuries in 2022 and finished that year with a 5.47 ERA. In 2023, he was only able to make four starts due to a left biceps strain and a partial tear in his right lat.

Here in 2024, he was healthy enough to stay on the mound, making 21 starts for the Fish prior to the deal. His velocity was down but the results were passable, as he had a 4.53 ERA in those 21 outings. A few days after the deal, the lefty said he had already received more analytical information relating to his pitch mix and mechanics than during his entire time with the Marlins, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner on X. Perhaps the O’s felt there was a path to getting Rogers back to his 2021 form via those analytics, or simply him getting healthier as he moved further away from his injuries.

It has not gone to plan so far, as Rogers hasn’t fared well in his first four starts with the O’s. He has allowed 15 earned runs in 19 innings, leading to a 7.11 ERA. His 13.3% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate are both well below league average and nowhere near his previous work.

It seems the O’s have decided that a reset in Triple-A is in order. Perhaps that will give him a chance to work on their suggested tweaks in a lower-stakes environment. He can still be retained via arbitration for two more seasons after this one, so they have some time to figure out a path forward. This isn’t a service time manipulation situation, as he already crossed four years of service time earlier this year.

Still, it’s obviously less than ideal for the club to be subtracting one of its key deadline pickups in the middle of a playoff race. The O’s are still in comfortable position with a 74-54 record, just half a game behind the Yankees in the East and currently possessing the top Wild Card spot. But the Royals and Twins are just 2.5 games back and the Red Sox trail the O’s by only six games, so nothing is set in stone with more than a month left to play.

The rotation continues to be an issue as now both Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez are on the injured list, Eflin due to some shoulder discomfort and Rodriguez due to a lat strain. With Rogers now intentionally removed from the mix, the rotation is now down to Corbin Burnes, Dean Kremer, Albert Suárez, Cole Irvin and Cade Povich. Burnes is great but there are plenty of questions with the others. Kremer and Irvin are essentially back-end guys, with the latter having been passed through waivers a few weeks ago, recently being added back to the roster. Suárez keeps putting up good numbers but is a 34-year-old journeyman who is in the majors for the first time since 2017. Povich has just nine major league starts and a 5.77 ERA in those.

Ideally, the club will be hoping to get Rodriguez and Eflin back for the end of the regular season and then the playoffs as well, but they will have to try to get by with this group for now. Perhaps Rogers can also work his way back into the mix with some quick adjustments in the minors, but he can’t be recalled for the next 15 days unless replacing someone going on the injured list.

Bowman, 33, was signed to a minor league deal a week ago. That pact contained an upward mobility clause today and an opt-out next week. It seems the O’s didn’t want him to get away or simply wanted to add some a fresh arm to their bullpen, so he’s been added to their roster today.

As soon as he gets into a game for the O’s, it will be his fourth club of the year, as he’s already suited up for the Twins, Diamondbacks and Mariners. Since he’s out of options, he’s continually been squeezed out of his opportunities. Whenever he has cleared waivers, he has elected free agency and signed a new deal with fresh opt-outs, seemingly having a strong preference for flexibility.

While bouncing around, he has thrown 15 major league innings with a 5.40 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 46.8% ground ball rate. But he’s also thrown 33 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.87 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and grounders on more than half of the balls in play he’s allowed.

That minor league performance has seemingly led to plenty of interest around the league, with Baltimore being his latest stop. If he can perform like that at the major league level, he could be a nice asset for a Baltimore bullpen that hasn’t been strong this year. Their relief corps has a collective 4.18 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of the league. If things click, he can be retained beyond this season via arbitration, but based on the way his year has gone, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him bouncing around again soon.

Zimmermann, 29, has been in the Orioles’ organization for more than six years now. He came over from Atlanta in the July 2018 trade that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day the other way. He appeared in 38 games over the 2020-23 seasons, logging 158 1/3 innings with a 5.57 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 41.1% ground ball rate.

He’s been on optional assignment for all of 2024 so far, having tossed 69 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.41 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate. With the trade deadline now passed, the O’s will have to put Zimmermann on waivers in the coming days.

This is his final option year, so he’ll be out of options next year. A claiming club could potentially stash him in the minors for the rest of this season but he would need an active roster spot by next year. He has less than two years of service time, so any claiming club could control him for five seasons beyond this one. If he were to pass through outright waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the O’s in a non-roster capacity.

Astros To Sign Héctor Neris

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The Astros are signing right-hander Héctor Neris, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The righty was released by the Cubs earlier this week. Assuming it’s a major league deal, the Astros will need to make corresponding moves to get the righty onto their active and 40-man rosters once the deal is made official.

Neris, 35, returns to an organization that he has had success with. After many successful years with the Phillies, Neris joined the Astros going into 2022. He signed a two-year, $17MM deal with a club option for 2024, though he could vest that into a player option based on the number of appearances he made for the club during the life of the contract.

Over those two years in Houston, Neris got into 141 regular season contests, allowing 2.69 earned runs per nine. He struck out 29.1% of batters faced and gave out walks at a 9% clip. He earned five saves and 56 holds in that time. He also made 15 postseason appearances over those two years, including eight in 2022 with a 1.50 ERA, helping Houston win its second World Series title.

By July of 2023, he had made his 110th regular-season appearance with the club, thus converting the club option into a player option. He eventually decided to turn that down, taking the $1MM buyout and returning to free agency, rather than agreeing to the $8.5MM salary.

He eventually signed with the Cubs for the 2024 season, a one-year, $9MM guarantee. Again, there was a club/player option provision, this time with a $9MM salary on the table for 2025. It would begin as a club option that could become a player option with 60 appearances or 45 games finished in 2024.

His time as a Cub was mixed. He made 46 appearances for them this year with a 3.89 ERA that doesn’t look too bad at first blush. However, his 23.5% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate were both significant drop-offs from his previous work. He managed to dance around those free passes a bit with a 76.9% strand rate that’s on the lucky side, perhaps why his 4.09 FIP and 4.36 SIERA were a bit worse than his ERA.

The Cubs decided to set him loose, releasing him earlier this week. That was likely a reflection of his diminished performance but also the Cubs not wanting him to unlock that player option. Since Neris was released and no club grabbed him off waivers, that option is now dead and won’t carry over to any new deal he signs.

Though he hasn’t been as crisp this year, it’s a sensible pickup for the Astros. For one thing, there’s no real financial cost. Because they released him, the Cubs are on the hook for the majority of his 2024 salary that is still to be paid out. The Astros only have to pay him the prorated version of the $740K league minimum salary for any time Neris spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Cubs pay.

The Astros have also taken a few hits in their bullpen. Kendall Graveman, Penn Murfee, Oliver Ortega and Bennett Sousa are all currently on the 60-day injured list, with each of them undergoing a significant surgery earlier this year. Righty Ryan Pressly also landed on the 15-day IL a few days ago due to a low back strain. There’s nothing to suggest Pressly is slated for a lengthy absence, but it’s another gap in the relief corps until he comes back.

Perhaps a return to a familiar environment can get Neris back on track after some wobbles this year. Even if that doesn’t quite come to pass, it’s a low-cost signing that lengthens the club’s depth for the stretch run and postseason.

Joey Votto Announces Retirement

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Joey Votto has stepped away from baseball. The star first baseman, who had been on a minor league contract with the Blue Jays, announced his retirement on Instagram on Wednesday evening. He didn’t get to the majors with his hometown team but played an illustrious 17-year career with the Reds.

Votto provided a lengthy statement alongside a brief video of him departing Sahlen Field, home of the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. Votto thanked his family, various former teammates and coaches, and the fans. He expressed some regret that he wasn’t able to make it to the big leagues with the Jays, adding that he’s “just not good anymore” before thanking the Canadian fanbase for their support and expressing his love for Cincinnati. “I was myself in this sport. I was able to be my best self. I played this sport with every last ounce of my body, heart, and mind. Thank you for everything,” he concluded.

The Reds drafted Votto out of a Toronto prep school in 2002. He’d emerged as one of Baseball America’s top 50 prospects by the time he hit his way to Triple-A five years later. Votto debuted as a September call-up in ’07. He hit the ground running in 24 games and would break through as their everyday first baseman the following year.

Votto hit .297/.368/.506 with 24 homers and 32 doubles in his first full season. He finished runner-up to Cubs catcher Geovany Soto in Rookie of the Year balloting. Votto emerged as an elite hitter by year two, hitting .322/.414/.567 with 25 longballs and 38 doubles. He finished in the top 10 among qualifiers in all three slash stats.

That kicked off a nearly decade-long run during which Votto was among the game’s best players. He had arguably his best season in 2010. Votto led the majors with a .424 on-base percentage and topped the National League with an even .600 slugging mark. He hit .324 with 37 homers and a career-best 113 runs batted in. It was a dominating performance by counting and rate stats alike that nabbed him a rather convincing win over Albert Pujols and Carlos González in NL MVP balloting. Votto was the best player on a Cincinnati team that won 91 games and an NL Central title.

It was the first of four straight seasons in which the lefty hitter topped the NL in on-base percentage. He led the league in walks every year from 2011-13. His extraordinarily patient approach occasionally made him a target of criticism among some fans who preferred he were more aggressive, but Votto also filled a prototypical run producer role. He ranked 20th in RBI and 21st in homers among MLB hitters between 2010-13. Among hitters with 1500+ plate appearances, only Miguel Cabrera and Joe Mauer hit for a better average. Votto led the majors in OBP and ranked seventh in slugging. Votto made the All-Star Game in all four seasons and thrice finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. Cincinnati made the playoffs in three of those years, although they never advanced past the Division Series.

Midway through that run, the Reds committed to Votto as the face of their franchise. They signed him to a 10-year, $225MM extension early in the 2012 season. It remains the biggest investment in the organization’s history. While the team didn’t have a ton of success over the decade, that’s not any fault of their first baseman. He remained an impact hitter until the tail end of the contract.

A quad injury wiped out the bulk of Votto’s 2014 campaign. He returned at full strength the following year, hitting .314/.459/.541 to snag a third-place MVP finish. He would lead the NL in on-base percentage in each of the three seasons after that, earning two more top 10 MVP placements in the process. Between 2015-18, he hit .312/.442/.525 with 106 homers while walking more often than he struck out.

The 2018 season was the final of Votto’s six All-Star campaigns. His production tailed off between 2019-20 and it seemed he’d firmly entered the decline phase of his career. While that was the case to some extent, Votto had one more excellent year ahead of him. He rebounded with a surprising 36-homer outburst (tied for the second-most he hit in any season) with a .266/.375/.563 slash in 2021. That proved to be his last strong season, as he stumbled to replacement level numbers while battling shoulder issues between 2022-23.

Votto earned a well-deserved salute from Cincinnati fans in his final game at Great American Ball Park last September. The guaranteed portion of his contract wrapped up and the Reds made the obvious call to buy him out in lieu of a costly club option for 2024. Votto signed the minor league deal with the Jays during the only free agent trip of his career. He suffered an ankle injury in his first Spring Training game, keeping him on the IL well into July. Votto returned to action midway through the month but hit .143 in 15 Triple-A contests before deciding it was time to move on.

While that keeps him from ever appearing in a Jays uniform at Rogers Centre, it allows him to retire having spent his entire MLB career with one team. He’s one of the best players in Reds’ history and is among the most productive first basemen in league history. Votto will surely garner serious Hall of Fame consideration when his name appears on the ballot in five years.

By Jay Jaffe’s JAWS metric (designed to provide a comparison point for players against Hall of Famers), Votto ranks 12th among first basemen. The 11 players above him are either in the Hall of Fame or, in the cases of Pujols and Cabrera, locks for induction when first eligible. The player just behind Votto, Rafael Palmeiro, is not in the Hall, largely because of his ties to performance-enhancing drugs. The following three players — Willie McCovey, Todd Helton and Eddie Murray — were all inducted.

Votto didn’t provide quite the level of power associated with a Hall of Fame first baseman. He steps away with 356 homers (29th at the position) and 1144 runs batted in (49th). Those are no small accomplishments for the vast majority of players, of course, but Votto’s overall excellence was driven primarily by his on-base ability. He finishes his career with a .294 average and a huge .409 on-base percentage. He led the NL in the latter category on seven occasions.

While Votto surprisingly never won a Silver Slugger award — overlapping in the NL with Pujols and Paul Goldschmidt during his prime played a role — he had six top 10 MVP finishes. He earned a Gold Glove in 2011 and the aforementioned MVP honors the year prior. Baseball Reference valued Votto’s career around 64 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs credited him with 59 WAR. That’s right at the threshold at which position players tend to receive legitimate Hall of Fame consideration.

Votto would certainly have offers to stay involved in the game if he wishes to do so. He complemented his litany of on-field accomplishments with a cerebral approach to hitting and a sarcastic wit that’d no doubt provide coaching or media opportunities if he wanted to take them. Votto didn’t tip his hand in his retirement announcement about any plans for the future. We at MLBTR congratulate him on a fantastic career and wish him the best in his post-playing days.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Astros Activate Justin Verlander

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Justin Verlander is back. The Astros announced Wednesday that the 41-year-old right-hander has been reinstated from the injured list. Fellow righty Seth Martinez was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land in his place. Verlander will start today’s home game against the visiting Red Sox — his first appearance since June 9.

Verlander opened the season on the 15-day IL after some shoulder discomfort popped up during spring training and slowed his progression through the annual exhibition season. He was activated on April 19 and made 10 starts out of the Houston rotation before heading back to the 15-day injured list, this time with a neck issue that has kept him out a fair bit longer than originally anticipated.

At the time of his placement on the IL, Verlander noted that he’d been dealing with the issue for weeks but added: “If this was playoff time, I’d like to think I’d be out there.” Despite that confidence, Verlander wound up missing more than two months with the injury.

When healthy, Verlander has been a solid but not dominant piece of the Houston rotation. He’s pitched 57 innings with a 3.95 earned run average, displaying a lower-than-usual 21.3% strikeout rate and an uncharacteristic susceptibility to home runs (1.74 HR/9). Verlander has seen a slight but hardly major bump in his homer-to-flyball ratio, but the larger problem is that he’s simply allowing more flyballs than ever before. This year’s 57% flyball mark trounces both the career 42% mark he carried into the season and last year’s 44.8% mark.

Even if Verlander doesn’t recapture his Cy Young form this season, the current version of the right-hander is still plenty helpful for an Astros rotation that has been stretched thin by a massive wave of injuries. Verlander’s strikeout rate is only about a percentage point shy of average, and his command remains quite strong (7.1% walk rate). He was averaging just over 5 2/3 innings per start prior to his second IL placement of the season.

Verlander will step back onto a starting staff that also includes Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, deadline acquisition Yusei Kikuchi and rookie Spencer Arrighetti. The plan for Houston moving forward seems to be to adopt a six-man rotation. That will help to mitigate concerns regarding Verlander’s neck as well as workload concerns for Blanco, who’s already set a new career-high for innings pitched, and Arrighetti, who’ll likely establish a new career-high during his next start.

Rotation depth beyond the six presently healthy starters in Houston is scarce. Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this season. J.P. France underwent shoulder surgery. The ’Stros recently announced that righty Luis Garcia will not pitch this season. He’d been expected to return in the second half after undergoing his own Tommy John procedure early in the 2023 campaign, but did not recover as quickly as hoped. Lance McCullers Jr., who underwent flexor surgery last summer, was also expected to be a second-half reinforcement but is now similarly viewed as unlikely to return in 2024.

The extended length of Verlander’s stint on the injured list has effectively eliminated the possibility that he’ll be able to trigger the vesting player option in his contract. Had Verlander stayed healthy enough to reach 140 innings this year, he’d have triggered the right to pick up a $35MM player option for the 2025 season. The Astros would only have been on the hook for half of that sum, with the Mets covering the other $17.5MM as part of the trade that sent Verlander from Queens to Houston last summer.

Now, Verlander will simply become a free agent at season’s end. So long as he plans to continue pitching — he’s previously said he hopes to pitch into his mid-40s — there’ll likely be mutual interest in a reunion, but it won’t be as straightforward as Verlander picking up that pricey player option that’ll no longer come into play.

Cardinals Release Brandon Crawford, Option Jordan Walker

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The Cardinals announced today that infielder Matt Carpenter has been reinstated from the injured list while fellow infielder Luken Baker has been recalled from Triple-A Memphis. In corresponding moves, the club optioned outfielder Jordan Walker and granted infielder Brandon Crawford his unconditional release.

Crawford, 37, signed with the Cardinals in the offseason, a one-year deal with a modest $2MM salary. It seemed as though he was a bit of veteran insurance for rookie Masyn Winn, who the club was planning to have as their everyday shortstop. That was a sensible move at the time, as Winn had just 37 games of major league experience coming into the year and hit just .172/.230/.238 in those.

But here in 2024, Winn has delivered on his prospect hype. He has 11 home runs and a slash of .274/.324/.419, which translates to a wRC+ of 108. His glovework has led to 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 3 Outs Above Average at shortstop, and he has also stolen 10 bases. His all-around contributions have led to FanGraphs crediting him with 2.8 wins above replacement, which is third among National League rookies, just behind Jackson Merrill and Tyler Fitzgerald.

As Winn has been doing all of that, Crawford has hardly been used. Though he has been on the active roster all season, he has only appeared in 29 games and has only been sent to the plate 80 times. In that sporadic playing time, he has struck out at an uncharacteristic 32.5% rate and slashed .169/.263/.282 for a wRC+ 58. Perhaps it was difficult for Crawford to get into a groove with so little time in the lineup, but that rough performance is actually not too far off from last year, when he hit .194/.273/.314 for the Giants and produced a 62 wRC+.

Regardless of the cause, that performance from Crawford and the emergence of Winn have gotten him bumped off the roster. That will likely leave utility player Brendan Donovan as the Cardinals’ backup for Winn at the shortstop position. Perhaps Baker can give a jolt to the lineup, as he has hit 32 home runs in Triple-A this year and walked at a 14.8% clip.

For Crawford, rather than put him on waivers and be forced to go wherever he’s claimed, the Cards have given him a bit of agency over his next steps by releasing him instead. His brief time in St. Louis will seemingly be destined to a future bit of esoteric trivia for the Giants’ legend.

Any team could now sign Crawford for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Cardinals pay. The level of interest is likely tempered by his recent string of poor results, but he also has a lengthy track record. Since debuting with the Giants back in 2011, he has just under 1700 games of major league experience with roughly league average offense and very strong defensive grades. In the offseason, he seemed to at least give some thought to retiring before getting the deal with the Cards, which could perhaps be on the table again if he doesn’t get a tempting opportunity in the coming weeks.

As for Walker, this is the latest in his up-and-down treatment from the Cards. He was recalled just over a week ago with Carpenter landing on the IL and is now back to Memphis after getting one hit in 12 plate appearances while Carpenter was out.

Last year, he rode a wave of excitement to the club’s 2023 Opening Day roster but his performance was inconsistent throughout the year. Though he was optioned for a spell last summer, he was recalled and hit .277/.346/.455 from the start of June to the end of the year, leading to a 119 wRC+.

But here in 2024, he struggled out of the gate and was optioned before the end of April. His .257/.321/.426 batting line in Triple-A this year leads to a subpar 92 wRC+ but he still got recalled to cover for Carpenter briefly.

It’s a strange spot for him to be in as he is still looking to properly break through and cement himself at the major league level but there’s a bit of a ticking clock now. Because he burst onto the roster last year but has been optioned in two straight seasons, he’ll have just one option remaining after this one even though he’s only 22 years old. If he exhausts his final option next year, he could perhaps be out of options by 2026, which will be just his age-24 season.

Braves Sign Gio Urshela

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9:30am: The Braves formally announced the signing of Urshela. Riley has been placed on the 10-day IL to open a spot on the active roster, while lefty A.J. Minter — who underwent season-ending hip surgery recently — was moved to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot.

8:20am: The Braves and Urshela have agreed to a deal, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

7:50am: The Braves are nearing a major league deal with third baseman Gio Urshela, per a report from The New York Post’s Joel Sherman this morning. Urshela was recently designated for assignment and released by the Tigers, who’ll be on the hook for the remainder of his $1.5MM salary. The Braves will only owe Urshela the prorated league minimum for the time he spends on the big league roster or injured list. Urshela is a client of Rep 1 Baseball.

The news comes just one day after Braves third baseman Austin Riley was diagnosed with a hand fracture that is expected to sideline him for between six and eight weeks. If that timeline holds, it will leave him out of action for at least the remainder of the regular season and the early portions of the postseason, though it’s feasible he could return to the field if Atlanta makes a deep enough run into the playoffs.

With utilityman Whit Merrifield already covering for the injured Ozzie Albies at second base, that seemingly left the club to rely on top infield prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. and depth infielder Luke Williams to handle the hot corner down the stretch. With Urshela now in the fold, the club will add a veteran third baseman into the fold who could help raise the floor on their production at the position in Riley’s absence.

For Urshela, the deal represents an opportunity to get regular at-bats with a playoff contender down the stretch while also attempting to re-establish himself as a regular option following a disappointing stint in Detroit this year. Following a 2023 season where he was limited to just 62 games by a season-ending pelvic fracture, Urshela hit free agency and signed a one-year deal worth just $1.5MM with the Tigers back in February. At the time, it seemed to be a bargain for a player who had been a steady regular at third base for several years. It quickly turned sour, however, as Urshela delivered his worst season since establishing himself as a regular with the Yankees back in 2019.

The 32-year-old hit just .243/.286/.333 (73 wRC+) in 325 trips to the plate with the Tigers while splitting time between the infield corners. Defensive metrics are extremely mixed on Urshela’s defense at third, as the veteran has accumulated -17 Outs Above Average at the position since becoming a regular back in 2019. Brutal as that figure may seem, Defensive Runs Saved actually has Urshela as a plus defender at the hot corner over that same timeframe with a +4 figure overall. Still, even the most favorable views of Urshela’s defense leave it difficult to justify him as an everyday option if his hitting numbers remain where they were in Detroit.

Fortunately, there’s some reasons for optimism regarding the veteran’s future. His track record over the past half decade speaks for itself, as he entered the 2024 season as a solid .291/.335/.452 (115 wRC+) hitter since his 2019 breakout with New York. That’s the 16th-best figure among all qualified third baseman over that time frame. What’s more, Urshela’s .271 BABIP is by far the lowest of his career; he entered the 2024 season with a career .319 BABIP that had jumped to .334 since his breakout in 2019.

A return to form in that regard could help Urshela put up numbers closer to league average offensively. His batted ball data also suggests he’s in line for some positive regression. The 32-year-old’s .271 wOBA is a far cry from his .305 xwOBA, a figure that (while still below average) would put him roughly in line with his more palatable 2021 and 2023 seasons, where his offensive output was around 3% and 8% worse than league average (by wRC+). Even that level of production would make Urshela a solid fill-in at the hot corner for Atlanta, particularly if the club doesn’t want to push Alvarez into an everyday big league role in the middle of a pennant race at just 21 years old.

Cubs Release Hector Neris

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The Cubs are releasing veteran reliever Hector Neris, reports ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. The team already passed Neris through waivers without making a formal announcement of the move. He went unclaimed. Neris’ spot on the 40-man roster will be filled by right-hander Jack Neely, whose contract is being selected from Triple-A Iowa. Neely was acquired from the Yankees in the deadline trade sending Mark Leiter Jr. to the Bronx.

Neris, 35, was signed to a one-year, $9MM contract over the winter and has had an up-and-down season in what’ll now be his lone year with the Cubs. His 3.89 earned run average is sound, but Neris has blown five of 25 save situations on the season while sporting career-worst strikeout and walk rates of 23.1% and 13.3%, respectively.

The more prominent factor in the decision to release the right-hander, however, could be a vesting player option that would’ve kicked in had Neris reached 60 appearances or 45 games finished on the season. He’s only appeared in 46 games right now and finished a game 33 times. Neris thus would’ve needed to pitch in 14 of Chicago’s remaining 37 games — a 37% usage rate — or recorded the final out in 12 of them, but if he’d done so he’d have secured a $9MM player option for the upcoming season. Given his shaky performance, the Cubs very likely weren’t interested in allowing that provision to be reached.

While Neris clearly hasn’t had his best season, he’s only a year removed from a sparkling 1.71 ERA in 68 1/3 frames for the Astros. That mark is also deceptive, as benefited from a .219 average on balls in play and 90.5% strand rate that combined to tamp down his earned run average. Metrics like FIP (3.83) and SIERA (3.89) were more bearish, but between Neris’ 28.2% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate, he still had the makings of a solid all-around season. More broadly, Neris’ track record from 2019-23 on the whole is quite impressive. He pitched 297 1/3 innings between the Phillies and Astros, combining for a 3.12 ERA (3.33 SIERA), 30.2% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate, 40.1% grounder rate, 0.97 HR/9, 73 holds and 50 saves.

With Neris returning to the open market, he’ll now be available for any team to sign for the remainder of the season. He’ll only cost his new club the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster/injured list. That sum would be subtracted from what the Cubs are paying him, but Chicago remains on the hook for the bulk of his contract regardless. And, so long as Neris signs with a new organization before Sept. 1 — even on a minor league deal — he can be eligible for that team’s postseason roster. (If he’s not on the 40-man at the time, he’d technically need to be a replacement for an injured player on the postseason roster, but such exceptions happen multiple times quite literally every season.)

As for Neely, he’ll be making his big league debut the first time he takes the mound in a Cubs uniform. The 24-year-old righty was the Yankees’ 11th-round pick in 2021 and has emerged as a legitimate bullpen prospect, brandishing a prototypical fastball/slider combination that’s helped him pitch to a combined 2.42 ERA with a whopping 38% strikeout rate against an 8.5% walk rate in 48 1/3 innings across the Double-A and Triple-A levels with the Cubs and Yanks this year.

MLB.com ranks Neely 18th among Chicago farmhands, while FanGraphs pegs him 22nd. The towering 6’8″, 245-pound Neely sits around 95 mph with his heater — and likely looks faster than that, given the extension his massive frame generates. FanGraphs credits him with a plus (60-grade) slider, while MLB.com’s report tabs it as a true plus-plus (70-grade) pitch — noting the massive whiff and chase rates that Neely generated on the pitch late in the 2023 season.

Neely won’t gain a full year of big league service in 2024, of course, so the Cubs will control him for at least six full seasons following the current campaign. Even if he’s in the majors for good, Neely can’t be arbitration-eligible until the 2027-28 offseason and wouldn’t hit free agency until the 2030-31 offseason. His contract is only just now being selected to the 40-man roster, however, meaning he’ll likely retain a full slate of three minor league option years beyond the current season. As such, future optional assignments could impact his arbitration and free agent timelines. For now, he’ll simply focus on carrying his excellent upper-minors work over to the big leagues and establishing himself as a credible major league bullpen weapon.

Austin Riley Diagnosed With Fractured Hand

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The Braves announced Monday that Austin Riley has been diagnosed with a fractured right hand that will sideline him for six to eight weeks. With just under six weeks remaining on the regular season schedule, it could very well prove to be a season-ending injury for the two-time All-Star. Riley was hit by a pitch in yesterday’s game, and while initial imaging was inconclusive, an MRI performed Monday revealed the fracture. Atlanta will presumably make a corresponding roster move to place Riley on the injured list and bring up another infielder (e.g. Nacho Alvarez Jr.).

Atlanta also announced that right-hander Reynaldo Lopez has been reinstated from the injured list, with right-hander Jimmy Herget being optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in his place. He’s been out since Aug. 2 due to inflammation in his right forearm.

The loss of Riley is another crushing blow for a Braves club that has been hammered by major injuries all season. Even on Opening Day, Atlanta lost catcher Sean Murphy to an oblique strain that ultimately cost him about two months of the season. That set the tone for a 2024 campaign that has seen Spencer Strider (torn UCL and internal brace surgery), Ronald Acuna Jr. (torn ACL), Ozzie Albies (fractured wrist), A.J. Minter (hip surgery) and Michael Harris II (Grade 2 hamstring strain) all endure considerable, if not season-ending injuries.

Riley, 27, hasn’t been at his best all season but has, until now, been in the lineup nearly every day. He’s also picked up the pace considerably since a dreadful start to the season. Riley lugged an awful .228/.295/.353 slash into the month of June … and has since erupted with a .275/.339/.531 that falls right in line with his career averages. In a lineup that’s frequently been without some of its best hitters, he’s been a constant alongside designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. Now, it’s very possible that Riley’s 2024 season will draw to a close with 110 games played — although the specific wording of the team’s announcement leaves the door cracked for Riley to perhaps play a few games late in September if he heals more quickly than expected and the Braves are still in Wild Card contention.

In some ways, the fact that the Braves are even still in possession of a Wild Card spot is remarkable. Strider pitched in just two games and yielded seven runs in nine innings prior to landing on the shelf with what became a season-ending ligament injury. Acuna played in only 49 games. Acuna, Albies (90), Harris (72) and Murphy (50) have all played in fewer than 100 of the Braves’ 124 games this season.

While the Braves have had exceedingly poor injury luck, they’ve also had several things go right. Atlanta has improbably gotten not only a healthy season out of Chris Sale but a vintage, Cy Young-caliber showing out of the 35-year-old lefty, who’s thrown just 10 fewer innings this season than he did in the entire four-year period preceding the 2024 season. Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach has debuted and outpaced expectations. Reynaldo Lopez has improbably gone from reliever to Cy Young-caliber results himself.

Still, the loss of Riley is a gut-punch, particularly given how well he’d been hitting since the calendar flipped to June. The top of the Braves’ order will now need to rely on the aforementioned Ozuna, deadline pickup Jorge Soler and a trio of stars who’ve struggled through down seasons: Harris, Murphy and Matt Olson. Atlanta has gotten solid production out of some bargain-bin pickups like Ramon Laureano and Whit Merrifield, but the offense they’re trotting out on a nightly basis moving forward won’t resemble the powerhouse lineup they were expected to field this season.

Riley will likely be replaced by some combination of Alvarez and Luke Williams, neither of whom has looked comfortable against big league pitching this season. Alvarez, the organization’s top position-player prospect, still has just 38 games of Triple-A experience. He’s hit well there, but the 21-year-old went 3-for-30 in his first taste of the majors earlier in the summer and likely still needs some additional development time. He’d never played above A-ball prior to 2024. Williams is 2-for-17 in the majors this season. The 28-year-old journeyman has seen action in parts of four big league campaigns and is a .218/.277/.284 hitter in 283 trips to the plate.

At seven games back and now down another star player, Atlanta doesn’t have much of a path to overtaking the Phillies for the NL East crown. The Braves currently hold the final NL Wild Card spot but are only two games up on the division-rival Mets and four games up on the Giants. The Cardinals, Cubs and Reds are all within six games of that final postseason slot as well.

Diamondbacks Place Ketel Marte On Injured List

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The Diamondbacks announced that second baseman Ketel Marte has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ankle. Infielder/outfielder Pavin Smith has been recalled as the corresponding move.

Marte has been battling an ankle injury for over a week now. Last Saturday, when playing the Phillies, catcher Garrett Stubbs slid into second while trying for a hustle double. Marte received the throw coming in from left field and tried to apply a tag to Stubbs when the two collided but his leg got stuck awkwardly underneath the Philly catcher (video from MLB.com).

Arizona’s second baseman was removed from that game in obvious pain but has tried to play through the injury since then. He was in the lineup for last Monday’s game but appeared to be in pain again and was removed from that contest. He then missed a few days but returned to the lineup on Saturday, serving as the designated hitter. Yesterday, he wasn’t in the starting lineup but entered as a pinch-hitter but appeared to aggravate his injury on a check swing and was removed before finishing his at-bat.

After those failed attempts to stay on the field, he will now spend at least ten days on the shelf. Manager Torey Lovullo doesn’t seem too concerned, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com on X, saying that they believe it’s a low-grade sprain and that Marte just needs some rest. Whether he needs to miss more than the 10-day minimum or not remains to be seen, but it’s a huge blow to the Diamondbacks regardless as Marte has been putting himself into the MVP conversation with a stellar season.

Marte has 30 home runs this year and a 10.4% walk rate, while limiting his strikeouts to a 17.8% clip. His .298/.370/.560 batting line translates to a 152 wRC+, indicating he’s been 52% better than league average at the plate. Only ten qualified major leaguers have a better mark than that this year. He’s also stolen six bases and received strong grades for his defense at the keystone. Only six players have more wins above replacement than his 5.4 this year, per FanGraphs. Francisco Lindor and Shohei Ohtani are the only two National League players ahead of him there.

Subtracting that kind of production would hurt any team, but the Snakes also have Christian Walker and Gabriel Moreno on the injured list at the moment, meaning they head into this week without three of their best regulars.

The D’backs have been playing very well of late and currently sport a record of 69-56. They are only four games back of the Dodgers in the West and have possession of the second National League Wild Card spot, but teams like Atlanta, the Mets and others are in striking distance. The Snakes will be trying to stay ahead of that pack in the coming weeks but will be doing so without Marte, Walker or Moreno on the roster, and it’s unclear when any of those three could be returning to the club.

Kevin Newman has been playing a lot of second base in Marte’s stead in the past week and may continue doing so. He’s a solid defender but has hit .262/.305/.361 in his career for a 78 wRC+. His .281/.314/.382 batting line this year is slightly better but still translates to a subpar 92 wRC+.

Smith’s recall is likely just about giving the club an extra bat, as he’s only played first base and the outfield in his career. Blaze Alexander is likely the club’s current backup at the three positions to the left of first base, supporting Newman, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suárez.

Reds Place Hunter Greene On 15-Day Injured List

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9:10 pm: After tonight’s game, Reds manager David Bell said Greene’s MRI looked encouraging (per Goldsmith). While he added that it was too soon to offer a timeline for Greene’s return, the skipper seemed optimistic his ace could be back on the mound once his minimum 15-day stint on the IL is up.

7:51 pm: The Reds have placed All-Star starting pitcher Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list with right elbow soreness, the team announced. The club did not make a corresponding move before tonight’s game against the Royals at Great American Ball Park.

Greene, 25, was utterly dominant in his last start, holding the Cardinals to four hits and one run over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked only one. However, he reportedly felt soreness in his elbow following the outing (per Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The pain temporarily went away, but it returned while he was playing catch today. President of baseball operations Nick Krall told Goldsmith that the IL stint is precautionary as of right now, and Greene will need an MRI before the team can decide on any next steps.

The young flamethrower underwent Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer in 2018. While his elbow has remained healthy since then, Greene spent several weeks on the IL with a shoulder strain in 2022 and hip soreness in 2023. At long last, it seemed like 2024 would be the year he put everything together. His star potential has long been evident, but he was finally enjoying star-caliber results, with a 2.83 ERA through a career-high 143 1/3 innings pitched. Unfortunately, his excellent season has now been put on hold. It’s unclear how serious the issue might be, but it’s naturally worrisome when a hard-throwing pitcher with a history of UCL problems goes on the IL with elbow pain.

With Graham Ashcraft and Brandon Williamson on the 60-day IL, Cincinnati’s starting depth is already quite thin. Other starters on the 40-man roster include Connor Phillips and Lyon Richardson, but Phillips was sent to the Reds’ training complex in June amid tremendous struggles at Triple-A (10.11 ERA in 14 GS), while Richardson has recently been pitching out of the bullpen at Triple-A amid a difficult season of his own (4.58 ERA in 23 G).

Thus, the Reds will likely need to add a pitcher to the 40-man roster to start in Greene’s place on Monday. They already have an open spot to do so. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com names 23-year-old right-hander Julian Aguiar and 31-year-old right-hander Connor Overton as potential options, but he notes that the team is not planning to promote 22-year-old righty Rhett Lowder, one of the organization’s top prospects, from Double-A.

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