Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Wander Franco’s Administrative Leave Extended To July 14

By | at

Rays’ shortstop Wander Franco will stay on administrative leave through July 14, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. That will be the last day before this year’s All-Star break, which will run from July 15 to 18.

Franco has essentially been on administrative leave since late last year, when allegations surfaced that he engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor. A second complaint against Franco also emerged later. He was reinstated to Tampa’s roster over the winter in a procedural move but placed back on administrative leave when the 2024 season began, with an end date of June 1.

Major League Baseball usually waits for criminal proceedings to play out before rendering its own judgements and/or penalties. As such, Franco’s administrative leave is likely to be continually extended as long as his legal situation remains unresolved. Per Topkin, Franco is likely to be presented with formal accusations in the Dominican Republic June, with authorities having a July 5 deadline. While on administrative leave, Franco will not count against Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.

Placing a player on administrative leave is standard protocol in MLB when a player is being investigated under the league’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. It is not considered punitive in nature, and the leave is paid — though any accrued payments can be rescinded depending on the outcome of both criminal proceedings and potential discipline (i.e. suspension) following the league’s own investigation of the matter in question.

Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic initially brought charges of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering against Franco, with the laundering charges stemming from alleged payments that Franco made to the purported victim’s mother. Those charges were eventually lessened to an extent, with the latest reporting out of the Dominican Republic indicating that Franco is facing charges of sexual and psychological abuse of a minor. He’s been released on bond and was initially required to report to court on a monthly basis. Topkin relays that the monthly check-ins are no longer required but Franco did not get back the $33K bond as he requested.

Back in November of 2021, the Rays signed Franco to an 11-year, $182MM contract covering the 2022-32 seasons. It’s not at all clear at this time whether Franco will ever return to Major League Baseball. If Franco ultimately faces criminal charges or a lengthy ban resulting from MLB’s own investigation, he would not collect his salary for time missed (including retroactive forfeiture of any payments made while on administrative leave).

Alek Manoah Headed For Second Opinion, Likely Facing Lengthy Absence

By | at

May 31: Manoah is headed for a second opinion on his elbow, reports TSN’s Scott Mitchell. His initial diagnosis isn’t yet known, but Mitchell adds that it’s expected Manoah will be sidelined for an “extended period of time.”

May 29: Alek Manoah left tonight’s start against the White Sox in the second inning. The team announced he experienced elbow discomfort. Manager John Schneider told the Toronto beat after the game that Manoah will get an MRI tomorrow (X link via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson).

Manoah lost the first month of the season after battling shoulder discomfort during the spring. He was reinstated on May 5 and has taken the ball five times. The burly right-hander was out to an encouraging start to the season, working to a 3.70 ERA with 26 strikeouts and eight walks across 24 1/3 innings. Manoah wasn’t back to his Cy Young finalist form of 2022, but it was a substantial improvement over last year’s disappointing season.

There’s little to be done now beyond hoping that imaging doesn’t reveal any structural concerns. Manoah’s fastball sat in the typical 92-93 MPH range during the first inning. He didn’t top 90 MPH in the second inning until throwing Dominic Fletcher a 91.4 MPH sinker to start his at-bat. Manoah seemed to wince after releasing that pitch and departed the game following a mound visit (video provided on X by Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi). Trevor Richards came in for 3 1/3 scoreless innings of emergency relief to help Toronto to a 3-1 victory.

The Jays are working with limited rotation depth behind their front five of Kevin Gausman, Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Manoah. Offseason signee Yariel Rodríguez has been on the injured list since April 30 with back inflammation. Bowden Francis, who opened the season in the rotation when Manoah was on the shelf, has been out for the last month with forearm tendinitis.

Rodríguez and Francis are each on rehab stints with Triple-A Buffalo. While both pitchers should be back before long, they’ve each got questions about their viability as starters. Rodríguez barely pitched in 2023 as he went through the process of applying for free agency. He pitched out of the bullpen in Japan two seasons ago. Francis was rocked in his first two MLB starts this year and quickly kicked to multi-inning relief, where he had more success last season.

Paolo Espino, who has a 4.81 ERA over eight starts with Buffalo, is the only other traditional starter on the 40-man roster. Toronto brought back old friend Aaron Sanchez on a minor league deal earlier this month, but he has given up 17 runs in 10 2/3 Triple-A innings. Beau Sulser, another recent non-roster acquisition, has surrendered 12 runs in 14 1/3 Triple-A innings in a swing role. Top prospect Ricky Tiedemann is back on the minor league IL because of a nerve issue in his elbow.

If Manoah needs to go on the injured list, Espino seems the logical choice to hold the fort until Rodríguez is ready to return. Toronto’s rotation would look perilously thin in the event of any other injuries. While the Jays benefitted from remarkable rotation health last season,  they relied on Richards to kick off a few bullpen games last summer while Manoah was in the minors. Perhaps they’d look at that as another short-term solution, but starting pitching would likely be a deadline priority if the Jays are in the postseason picture in July.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

By | at

MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on the Yankees' deadline needs, outfield trade possibilities for the Royals, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Diamondbacks' slow start, Tarik Skubal's dominance, Aaron Judge's potential Hall of Fame track and the Cy Young candidacies of star closers Emmanuel Clase and Mason Miller.

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker

Cardinals Place Lars Nootbaar On Injured List

By | at

The Cardinals announced Friday that outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with an oblique strain. Infielder Jose Fermin is up from Triple-A Memphis to take Nootbaar’s spot on the active roster. St. Louis also announced that reliever Giovanny Gallegos is headed to Memphis on a minor league rehab assignment.

Nootbaar, 26, missed the first two weeks of the season with a rib injury and will now head back to the injured list. He’s out to a .234/.337/.404 start to the season, with plenty of underlying indicators that improved performance could be on the horizon once healthy. Nootbaar’s 13.4% walk rate remains characteristically excellent, as does his 20.6% chase rate on pitches off the plate. He’s been slightly more aggressive on pitches within the strike zone this season, and Nootbaar’s 92.1 mph average exit velocity, 21.7% line-drive rate and massive 52.8% hard-hit rate are all career-high marks. Given the plate discipline and quality of contact, an uptick in his offensive output seems quite likely — provided this oblique injury doesn’t hinder him upon his return.

With Nootbaar headed to the injured list, the Cardinals will likely give more playing time in right field to Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson. The switch-hitting Carlson is the vastly superior defender but has also posted a woeful .139/.244/.139 slash in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. Burleson is a poor defender but sports a far more impactful .289/.321/.428 slash with five homers in 160 turns at the plate.

Fermin was up with the big league club earlier this season but went just 3-for-18 with a trio of singles in that brief look. The 25-year-old has decimated Triple-A pitching this season, raking at a .346/.461/.615 pace with six homers and 10 doubles to along with a 10-for-10 showing in attempted stolen bases. He’s walked 19 times — a hearty 14.8% rate — against a minuscule five punchouts in Memphis this year (3.9%).

Gallegos, 32, allowed a dozen runs in nine innings this season before landing on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement. It was a wildly out-of-character showing for the typically solid Gallegos — one that included a career-low 92.5 mph average fastball. From 2019-23, Gallegos was one of the Cardinals’ steadiest bullpen arms, logging a combined 3.14 ERA with a very strong 30.7% strikeout rate against just a 6.4% walk rate in 238 1/3 innings.

Gallegos is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM contract that includes a $6.5MM club option. If he looks like his typical self in his return from the IL, that’ll be an easy call for the Cardinals to pick up, but the right-hander’s disastrous start to the 2024 season has rendered what looked like a straightforward call something of an open question.

Teams Inquiring On Marlins’ Tanner Scott

By | at

The Marlins’ awful start to the season and uncommonly early trade of star infielder Luis Arraez served as clear indicators of the direction they’ll take as this summer’s trade deadline approaches, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports this morning that teams have already been inquiring on closer Tanner Scott.

Given the state of the Marlins, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if and when virtually any player on the roster is discussed as a potential trade candidate. Nevertheless, it’s somewhat notable that clubs have already been gauging the asking price on Scott. That’s especially true since the left-hander stands as the Marlins’ most logical and likeliest trade candidate. He’s a free agent at season’s end and earning a notable (by Miami’s standards) $5.7MM salary. It’d be a shock if the Marlins didn’t trade him at some point in the next two months.

Scott was one of the best relievers in all of baseball in 2023, pitching to a 2.31 ERA with a huge 33.9% strikeout rate. The now-29-year-old southpaw had battled alarming command troubles throughout his career but in ’23 looked to have put them in the rearview mirror. Scott walked hitters at a lower-than-average 7.8% clip — the first season of his career with a walk rate under 11.6%. Improved command, paired with a blazing heater (96.9 mph average) and wipeout slider made Scott virtually automatic. He converted 90% of the time in a save situation, picking up a dozen saves and 24 holds with only four blown saves.

This season has been more of a mixed bag. Scott’s 1.57 ERA is pristine, but his longstanding command problems have returned. He’s walked 17.8% of his opponents this year, making that microscopic ERA something of a mirage. That said, much of Scott’s trouble in that area occurred early in the season. The lefty walked nine hitters through his first 5 2/3 innings but has walked only nine men since that time — in a span of 17 1/3 frames. Things have been even better of late; Scott has just one walk in his past six innings. The southpaw’s strikeout rate is still down this season, sitting at a roughly average 22.8%, but he’s inducing grounders at a hefty 54.5% clip and his Scott’s fastball remains as potent as ever.

Dating back to Scott’s 2020 breakout with the Orioles, he’s pitched 238 1/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball. His 13% walk rate in that time is problematic, but last year’s gains and the recent improvement after some early-season struggles suggest that a lower rate could reasonably be expected. Scott has also fanned 30% of his opponents dating back to the ’20 season, while keeping more than half the batted balls against him on the ground. Even in the modern era of power arms, left-handers with this type of velocity aren’t common. Only four southpaw relievers in baseball have averaged better than Scott’s 96.8 mph on his heater dating back to 2020 (Gregory Soto, Jose Alvarado, Aroldis Chapman, Genesis Cabrera).

As of this writing, the Marlins still owe Scott $3.7MM of this season’s salary. That’s an affordable sum for most clubs throughout the game, even those that have luxury-tax concerns. However, Miami showed in the aforementioned Arraez trade that the club would pay down additional salary in order to extract what the front office believes to be a stronger return. If the Fish are willing to cover the bill on some or all of the money yet owed to Scott, that would only figure to strengthen whatever prospect package they ultimately acquire.

Barring a major injury, a trade of Scott seems all but inevitable. Fellow impending free agents Josh Bell and Tim Anderson would be clear trade candidates themselves if either were performing up to career levels, but Bell has been a roughly league-average bat this season while Anderson’s production has been even worse than his disastrous 2023 showing in Chicago.

Beyond Miami’s impending free agents, just about any player who’s already into or approaching his arbitration years seems like a candidate to move. Lefty Jesus Luzardo is one of the most obvious trade candidates in all of baseball, and teams will surely inquire on fellow starters Trevor Rogers (controlled through 2026) and Braxton Garrett (controlled through 2027 but Super Two eligible this offseason). Outfielders Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez are also potential trade candidates, though only Chisholm is in the midst of a particularly strong season at the plate. Both Chisholm and Luzardo are controlled two more seasons beyond the current year. Chisholm is earning $2.625MM. Luzardo is earning $5.5MM.

Mets To Designate Omar Narvaez, Acquire Luis Torrens, Option Brett Baty, Christian Scott

By | at

10:20am: The Mets are sending cash to the Yankees in the deal for Torrens, tweets Sherman. Specifically, it’ll be a $100K return for the Yankees.

9:50am: The Mets are shaking up the roster with a broad-reaching set of roster moves. Catcher Omar Narvaez is being designated for assignment, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. His spot on the roster will go to catcher Luis Torrens, who is being acquired from the Yankees and selected to the MLB roster, according to Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. Meanwhile, third baseman Brett Baty and righty Christian Scott will be optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. They’ll be replaced on the roster by infielder Jose Iglesias, whose contract will be selected from Syracuse, and righty Dedniel Nunez, who’ll be recalled from Syracuse, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.

It’s a significant slate of roster moves that’ll see the Mets jettison the veteran Narvaez, option two of their top prospects to Triple-A for more seasoning, and thus clear a full runway for Mark Vientos to get an opportunity as the everyday third baseman.

Narvaez, 32, inked a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $15MM in the 2022-23 offseason — the second season of which was a player option. After a lackluster debut campaign in Queens that saw him hit just .211/.283/.297, Narvaez unsurprisingly opted into the second season of his contract. This year’s production has been even more feeble, however. In 69 trips to the plate, Narvaez has managed only a .154/.191/.185 batting line with a dismal 22.2% hard-hit rate.

Prior to his time with the Mets, Narvaez was a quality regular with the White Sox, Mariners and Brewers from 2018-22 — even making an All-Star team with Milwaukee in 2021. That five-year span saw Narvaez bat .254/.337/.397. He was inconsistent with the bat on a year-to-year basis but wound up producing at a roughly league-average level overall during that half-decade run. On top of that, the Brewers — who have a reputation for improving catcher defense — revamped Narvaez’s skill set behind the plate. He rated as one of the game’s worst defenders in 2018-19 with Chicago and Seattle but posted seven Defensive Runs Saved and was worth an even more impressive 19 runs behind the plate in Statcast’s eyes — thanks largely to massive improvements in his framing.

The injury to Francisco Alvarez appeared to create an opportunity for Narvaez to get back to that previous form, but he’s been outhit by the defensively superior Tomas Nido, who returned to the big leagues after being outrighted to Syracuse last season. Nido hasn’t been great at the plate himself — his .233/.260/.370 batting line is well below par — but has handily outperformed his fellow backstop. That’ll allow Nido to stick around in what’ll likely be the lead catching role until Alvarez’s return.

Alvarez suited up for Double-A Binghamton yesterday, kicking off a 20-day window for his minor league rehab assignment. That could make for a short-lived stay on the roster for the newly acquired Torrens. The Mets will choose between him and Nido once Alvarez is ready for activation. In 124 Triple-A plate appearances with the Yankees, the journeyman Torrens hit .279/.339/.469 with five homers and six doubles.

Once a well-regarded catching prospect with the Padres and Mariners, the now-28-year-old Torrens is a career .227/.289/.354 hitter in 807 MLB plate appearances. He has a knack for hard contact, but too many of those well-struck balls are of the grounder variety. A hefty 49.9% of Torrens’ career batted balls in the majors have been on the ground, which is clearly suboptimal for a plodding catcher who ranked in the 24th percentile of big league players in sprint speed from 2022-23, per Statcast.

In Baty and Scott, the Mets are sending two of the organization’s most touted prospects back to the minors. Baty, 24, has now seen MLB action in three straight seasons but has yet to cement himself as the everyday third baseman — or even as a viable big league bat. This year’s .225/.304/.325 batting line is 12% worse than average, by measure of wRC+, but nonetheless stands as his most productive season in the big leagues. Since making his debut late in the 2022 season, Baty carries a .214/.281/.325 line in exactly 600 plate appearances.

Baty, the No. 12 pick in the 2019 draft, has been particularly cold of late, tallying just six hits in his past 54 trips to the plate. He’s considered a superior defender to the also-24-year-old Vientos, but Vientos’ bat has been too loud for the Mets to ignore. Also long considered one of the organization’s better prospects, Vientos is hitting .295/.354/.591 with three homers in just 48 plate appearances. The former No. 59 overall pick’s performance emphatically warrants greater playing time. With Baty sent to Triple-A, he’ll receive that chance and could well establish himself as a long-term corner option for the Mets with a strong showing.

Scott, who’ll turn 25 in a couple weeks, has pitched well through his first five MLB starts. In 27 2/3 frames, he’s worked to a 3.90 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate and excellent 5.4% walk rate. However, the right-hander was a reliever in college whom the Mets have moved into a rotation role since turning pro. He’s thus never worked a full starter’s workload, with last year’s 87 2/3 frames standing as a career-high. The Mets have multiple off-days on the schedule in the near future, lessening the need for rotation arms. As such, they’ll send Scott to Syracuse, where they can more easily manage his innings and simultaneously afford the big league club an extra reliever.

Passan does note that Scott is expected to return to the big leagues before long. His promotion to date certainly warrants that. And if the Mets continue on their current trajectory, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see other members of the rotation dangled in trade scenarios. For now, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, Tylor Megill and David Peterson are lined up to make the next five starts. Severino is on a one-year deal, while Manaea has a opt-out at season’s end and Quintana is in the second season of a two-year contract.

In place of Baty, the Mets will turn to the veteran Iglesias. He’s carved out a reputation as a plus defensive shortstop with good contact skills but minimal impact when he does put bat to ball. Iglesias didn’t play in the majors last season but is a career .279/.319/.382 batter in more than 4000 plate appearances. He’s come to the plate 175 times in Syracuse this season and turned in a .273/.309/.442 slash.

Iglesias will give the Mets a true backup shortstop to Francisco Lindor, something they previously lacked, and is plenty capable of spelling Vientos at the hot corner or stepping in for Jeff McNeil at second base even if the overwhelming majority of his career has been spent at shortstop.

As for Nunez, this will mark his third stint with the Mets already this year. He was up earlier this week as the 27th man for a doubleheader and also had a four-game run earlier in the season. He’s pitched 8 1/3 innings over five appearances, holding opponents to three runs on seven hits and three walks with 13 strikeouts.

The Opener: Padres, Royals, Musgrove, Yelich, Reetz

By | at

As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:

1. Series Preview: Padres @ Royals

An interleague set between a pair of playoff contenders is set to take place this weekend, as the Padres head to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City to take on the Royals. San Diego has enjoyed an 8-5 record the past two weeks as they’ve climbed into a tie with the Giants for the second of three NL Wild Card spots with a 30-29 record. Meanwhile, the Royals are coming off a tough series loss against the division-rival Twins but enjoyed an eight-game winning streak not long before that, placing them in the second AL Wild Card spot and just three games back of the Guardians for the AL Central lead with a 35-23 record.

The series kicks off at 7:10pm local time this evening with Padres ace Dylan Cease (3.29 ERA) facing off against Royals veteran (and former Padre) Michael Wacha (4.31 ERA). Saturday will see veteran righty Joe Musgrove (5.66 ERA) take on Royals youngster Alec Marsh (3.24 ERA). Notably, if Musgrove can pick up seven punchouts, he’ll reach 1000 strikeouts from his career — making him the 554th pitcher in MLB history to hit that milestone. The Royals have not yet announced who will take the ball opposite Michael King (4.09 ERA) on Sunday, though lefty Cole Ragans (3.49 ERA) appears to be the next in line barring a shakeup of the club’s rotation.

2. Yelich approaching milestone:

Christian Yelich’s home run on Wednesday was the 199th of his career, leaving him one round-tripper shy of becoming the 373rd player in MLB history to club 200 homers. Yelich’s next big fly will tie him with another former MVP, Josh Hamilton, and 11-time All-Star Bill Freehan on the all-time list.

The 32-year-old Yelich looked to be on the decline in 2021-22 before a rebound campaign in 2023, and the 2024 season has seen him bounce all the way back to MVP-caliber form — at least through a sample of 128 plate appearances. (Yelich missed a bit more than three weeks with a back strain.) In 30 games this year, Yelich is hitting .297/.386/.532 (160 wRC+) with six home runs, four doubles, a pair of triples and seven steals (in eight tries). He’ll take aim at joining the 200 club this weekend when the White Sox visit Milwaukee and send Erick Fedde, Garrett Crochet and rookie Nick Nastrini to the mound.

3. Reetz to exit DFA limbo:

When the Giants signed lefty Drew Pomeranz to a big league deal last week, the club needed to clear space on its 40-man roster to accommodate the newly-signed veteran. They did so by designating catcher Jakson Reetz for assignment, opening up a one-week window for the club to either execute a trade of Reetz or attempt to pass him through waivers. That window expires today, meaning that an announcement regarding Reetz’s future should be expected at some point today. Reetz made it into five games for the Giants in his first big league action since 2021, going 1-for-12 at the plate with a home run and four strikeouts.

The 28-year-old has bounced around multiple organizations as upper-level catching depth in recent years, and belting 29 homers and 36 doubles in exactly 600 career Triple-A plate appearances (with an overall .236/.334/.483 batting line). A team willing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him could continue to use him in that role, as Reetz has multiple options remaining. Of course, for a player that has regularly been available on a minor league deal in recent years, it’s perhaps more likely that he will simply clear waivers and be outrighted to the minor leagues by the Giants. Reetz has been outrighted previously in his career and would be able to reject such an assignment in favor of free agency.

Marlins Acquire Shaun Anderson, Designate Woo-Suk Go

By | at

The Marlins on Thursday acquired recently DFA’ed right-hander Shaun Anderson from the Rangers in exchange for cash, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link)*. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Miami designated right-hander Woo-Suk Go for assignment.

Anderson, 29, appeared in only two games with Texas, logging 3 1/3 innings and yielding a pair of runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts. This marks the fifth MLB season in which he’s seen action at the game’s top level. Anderson has previously suited up for the Giants, Twins, Orioles, Padres and Blue Jays — in addition to a prior run in the Rangers’ minor league ranks. He’s pitched 139 big league innings but struggled to a 5.83 earned run average in that time. He’s intrigued several teams over the years thanks in large part to a high-spin slider that has the potential to be a true bat-missing offering, but the rest of his arsenal hasn’t helped him reach passable results.

Anderson split the 2023 season between the Phillies’ Triple-A club and the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kia Tigers, making 14 starts for the latter. During that brief KBO run, he notched a respectable 3.76 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 61.7% ground-ball rate (though ground-ball rates in the KBO always tend to be higher than in MLB, it should be noted). Anderson is in his final minor league option year, so he can be sent back and forth between Miami and Triple-A Jacksonville freely without needing to pass through waivers.

Go, 25, was one of the top relievers in the KBO in recent years and made his way to North American ball via the posting system this winter. The Padres signed him to a two-year, $4.5MM contract but almost immediately cut bait on him, sending him to the Marlins as a financial counterweight in the Luis Arraez trade earlier in the month. He’s pitched well in Triple-A since the trade, logging nine innings with a 3.00 ERA. However, he’s fanned only 8.3% of his opponents against a 5.6% walk rate.

During his outstanding run with the KBO’s LG Twins from 2019-23, Go posted a collective 2.39 ERA with 139 saves, a 30.2% strikeout rate, a 10% walk rate and a ground-ball rate north of 60%. He missed time in 2023 with a lower back injury but still pitched 44 innings of 3.68 ERA ball with a 31.1% strikeout rate, 11.6% walk rate and massive 65.8% grounder rate.

Scouting reports on Go had his fastball topping out at 98 mph in the KBO, but when he reported to spring training reports out of Padres camp suggested he was in the 92-94 mph range, topping out just shy of 95 mph. Though the Friars had envisioned him as a potential entrant into their late-inning mix, the decision to instead option him (to Double-A) and then include him in the Arraez trade suggests they quickly became less enamored of him once he joined the organization. That the Marlins are now jettisoning him from the 40-man roster suggests they’re similarly unenthused about the right-hander’s chances of contributing at the MLB level.

Because of that $4.5MM contract, Go seems like a lock to clear waivers if he makes it there. Miami will have five days to explore trade possibilities before placing him on waivers becomes a necessity. Waivers themselves would then be a 48-hour process. If Go clears, he’d likely accept an outright assignment to Jacksonville, allowing him to continue collecting his salary while endeavoring to pitch his way into the Marlins’ big league bullpen plans.

*MLBTR originally mistakenly indicated the Marlins had formally announced the trade for Anderson and DFA of Go. The team had not done so yet at the time. We regret the error.

Reds Outright Brett Kennedy

By | at

The Reds have sent right-hander Brett Kennedy outright to Triple-A Louisville, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Cincinnati designated him for assignment on Tuesday when they reinstated Alex Young from the 60-day injured list.

Kennedy only spent a few days on the 40-man roster and didn’t get into an MLB game. He made five appearances for the Reds a year ago, allowing 13 runs over 18 innings. Cincinnati outrighted him off their roster at season’s end but brought him back on a minor league deal during the winter. He has spent the bulk of the year working from the Louisville rotation. The 29-year-old has tossed 40 2/3 innings over eight starts, struggling to a 6.86 ERA in an offensive Triple-A setting.

While Kennedy has never missed many bats, he’s not afraid to attack the zone. He has walked fewer than 5% of opposing hitters this year and has a 7.9% walk percentage over parts of five Triple-A campaigns. The Reds have kept him around as a strike-throwing depth option who can make a spot start or work in long relief. Kennedy has the right to elect free agency because he has been outrighted a few times in his career, but it seems likely he’ll head back to Louisville in hopes of getting another MLB look during the year.

Blue Jays To Acquire Ryan Burr From Phillies

By | at

The Phillies are trading minor league reliever Ryan Burr to the Blue Jays, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (X link). The return isn’t clear, but trades of this nature tend to be for cash considerations.

Burr signed a minor league contract with Philadelphia in January. He was not on their 40-man roster and won’t need to immediately occupy a spot on the 40-man for the Jays (unless his contract contained some kind of upward mobility clause that spurred the trade). Burr has posted huge numbers for the Phils’ top farm team, so Toronto could decide to quickly call him up.

If Burr does get a look with the Jays, it’d be his first MLB work since 2022. The right-hander pitched in parts of four seasons with the White Sox between 2019-22. He had his best year in 2021, turning in a 2.45 ERA in a personal-high 36 2/3 innings. Chicago released him the following season after he suffered an injury in Triple-A. He pitched in the minors with the Rays last year, working to a 3.09 ERA over 23 1/3 innings. Tampa Bay never called him up, leading him to the Phils via minor league free agency.

He’s out to an even better start with Philadelphia’s affiliate. Burr has allowed only four runs in 16 2/3 innings. He has punched out 29 of 67 opposing hitters, a massive 43.3% clip, against a 7.5% walk rate. He has fanned nearly a third of his opponents in 40 Triple-A frames over the last two seasons.

Philadelphia’s bullpen has been around average at preventing runs, working to a 3.90 ERA that ranks 16th in MLB. They’re seventh in strikeout rate, fanning nearly a quarter of batters faced. Toronto’s relief group has been much shaker. They’re 27th with a 19.6% strikeout percentage and have allowed 4.77 earned runs per nine. Only the Rockies and Rangers have a higher bullpen ERA.

The Phils only have two relievers with minor league options: Orion Kerkering and Gregory Soto. Kerkering is one of their best relievers, while Soto’s a veteran with a power arm who is playing on a $5MM salary. Toronto has already optioned the struggling Erik Swanson and could send down one of Génesis Cabrera, Nate Pearson or Zach Pop if they want to give Burr a look against MLB hitters. Burr has a pair of options, so the Jays could shuttle him back and forth from Triple-A if they add him to the 40-man roster.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top