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Dodgers Place Evan Phillips On IL With Forearm Discomfort

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The Dodgers announced today that right-hander Evan Phillips has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right forearm discomfort. Fellow righty Matt Sauer has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

The club hasn’t provided any details about Phillips but it’s a concerning announcement. It’s always somewhat worrisome when a pitcher’s elbow/forearm are the cause of an IL stint and it only exacerbates what has already been a challenging year for the righty. Phillips was left off the Dodgers’ World Series roster last year. An MRI revealed nerve irritation in his shoulder and he was also dealing with tightness in his lat, triceps and biceps, as well as arm fatigue.

Coming into 2025, he revealed that he has been diagnosed with a small tear of a tendon in his rotator cuff during the playoffs. The issue still wasn’t fully resolved by Opening Day 2025, with Phillips starting the season on the 15-day IL. The club listed his ailment as a right rotator cuff strain. He was reinstated from the IL in mid-April. He has since pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings but is now back on the shelf again.

Time will tell how serious this current issue is. For the time being, the Dodger bullpen is once again deprived of a potential weapon. From 2022 to 2024, Phillips tossed 179 innings for the Dodgers with a 2.21 earned run average, 29.6% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate and 42.6% ground ball rate. He served as the club’s primary closer for stretches in there, earning 24 saves in 2023 and 18 last year.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

White Sox Place Andrew Benintendi On IL, Select Nick Maton

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The White Sox announced that outfielder Andrew Benintendi has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 5th, due to a left calf strain. Infielder Nick Maton has been selected to take his place on the active roster. The 40-man already had a vacancy since right-hander Penn Murfee was outrighted earlier this week.

Benintendi was removed from Sunday’s game with tightness in that calf and didn’t play in the club’s past two games, which is why this IL stint was able to be backdated. If it’s a minor issue, he could return to the club in just over a week.

The Sox don’t have any hopes of competing this year, currently sporting a 10-26 record, worst in the American League. Still, it’s less than ideal for Benintendi to be hurt again, as the club would surely love to trade him prior to the deadline.

That will be tough to do on account of his contract. He is making $16.5MM this year and again in 2026, followed by a $14.5MM salary in 2027. He hasn’t performed especially well with the White Sox overall, so other clubs won’t be too excited to take that on.

He went into the 2024-25 offseason with a bit of positive momentum. His 2024 season started rough, as he had a line of .195/.230/.284 when he landed on the IL in June with an Achilles injury. But he hit .251/.326/.470 for a 124 wRC+ after being reinstated.

The White Sox would have loved for him to roll that performance forward into 2025 but the injury bug has had other plans. Benintendi suffered a hand fracture on a hit-by-pitch in the spring. He was able to get healthy by Opening Day but then hit the IL due to an adductor strain in early April. He was reinstated fairly quickly but is now back on the shelf again. Around those injuries, he has hit .224/.298/.400 on the year, with five home runs getting that line up to league average.

For the time being, Maton will get some more at-bats with the Sox. He spent about a month with the club earlier this year but was outrighted off the roster after hitting .173/.295/.327. That brought his career batting line to .202/.302/.354 over 575 plate appearances. He has hit far better in the minors without being able to translate it to the show. From 2022 to 2024, he slashed .267/.375/.454 in the minors for a 121 wRC+. He has played all four infield positions as well as the outfield corners in his career, so he can bounce around the diamond for the Sox.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images

Red Sox Notes: First Base, Devers, Yoshida

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The Red Sox lost first baseman Triston Casas to a season-ending knee injury earlier this week and quickly selected Abraham Toro’s contract to the big league roster. The switch-hitting Toro and righty-swinging Romy Gonzalez appear set to share time at the position for the time being, although the Casas injury immediately prompted speculation about a potential move to first base for Rafael Devers. Manager Alex Cora told the Red Sox beat last night that there’s been no discussion of a role change for the third baseman-turned-DH (link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic).

“We got these two guys (Gonzalez and Toro) here, Toro starting today,” Cora said prior to last night’s loss. “Romy has done an amazing job in the starts over there so we’ll keep going that way.”

Cora followed up today in an appearance on WEEI radio, repeating that Devers is a DH for the time being but taking a slightly softer stance on the possibility of an eventual position change (link via WEEI’s Tom Carroll).

“We asked him to do something in spring training that, as you guys know, he didn’t agree with in the beginning,” said Cora. “And then little by little, he has embraced it because he knows the quality of the player that we have at third base and where we’re at as a team. … I’m not saying we’ll never have that conversation [about moving to first base], but I think for now, where we’re at, I like Raffy as a DH.”

Within that WEEI appearance, Cora again praised the season that Gonzalez has put together thus far. There’s no denying that the 28-year-old has excelled in the early stages of the 2025 season. He’s hitting .327/.382/.449 in 55 trips to the plate, although that small-sample production is buoyed by a .421 average on balls in play. Gonzalez is averaging 94.1 mph off the bat and has seen 58% of his batted balls depart at 95 mph or more.

It’s a strong profile, but one that is preceded by minimal track record. Gonzalez is in his fifth major league season and entered 2025 as a .242/.271/.387 hitter. He’s always hit lefties well (.281/.329/.465), but right-handers have long been a problem. That hasn’t been the case this year, and Cora’s comments seem to suggest he’ll at least get some runway to prove he’s made some real gains.

Toro, also 28, has a similar track record to that of Gonzalez. He’s a career .220/.285/.352 hitter who’s now seeing action in his seventh MLB campaign. He’s bounced around the league more (Astros, Mariners, Brewers, A’s) and has a strong Triple-A track record but limited success in the majors. Cora noted that Toro “put [together] some good at-bats” in his Red Sox debut yesterday, when he went 1-for-4 with a single.

The combination of Gonzalez and Toro, whether in a traditional platoon or a more selective timeshare, doesn’t feel like a feasible long-term option, but it’s understandable to hear a team’s manager voice confidence in the options he presently has on the roster. That said, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow took a more open-minded stance to the team’s first base void, telling NESN’s Tom Caron prior to the game that the Sox “need to be willing to put all idea and options on the table” and “uncover every rock” to make the team as competitive as possible (hat tip to the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham).

The case for moving Devers to first base is one that we discussed on this morning’s MLBTR podcast episode. MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes also touched on it in today’s mailbag. That switch would open DH at-bats for the return of Masataka Yoshida, or it could help facilitate a big league promotion for Roman Anthony, who is widely ranked as the game’s No. 1 overall prospect. Anthony could join Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu in cycling through the outfield and DH spots. He’s hitting .294/.410/.495 with five homers as a 20-year-old in Triple-A. Dating back to last year, Anthony has slashed .321/.440/.508 in 298 Triple-A plate appearances — all before even turning 21.

The 31-year-old Yoshida, meanwhile, has been out all season while recovering from October surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder. Yoshida spoke with the Red Sox beat yesterday and said through an interpreter that hitting is “no problem” but that he’s still feeling discomfort when throwing (video link via NESN). He received a cortisone injection three days ago and will be shut down from throwing for at least another couple days while that takes effect. The Red Sox have no plans to activate Yoshida until he is able to play in the outfield, per Abraham.

Devers’ move from third base to DH was a major storyline in spring training and led to plenty of hand-wringing early in the season when he went through one of the worst stretches of his career at the plate. That panic looks silly in retrospect, as Devers struggled for all of one week and has hit .292/.404/.508 since the calendar flipped to April. His lack of experience at first base is an obvious consideration in any scenario, but the current tandem of Gonzalez and Toro have relatively limited experience there themselves: 319 innings for Gonzalez and 353 for Toro.

There’s no perfect solution. The Red Sox will likely be getting sub-par defense at first base whichever route they take. Playing Devers there could free up DH at-bats for Yoshida or open a clearer path to get Anthony to the majors. For the time being, they’re sticking with Devers at designated hitter and seeing what they have in Toro and Gonzalez.

Run production has been an issue over the past week as the Red Sox have dropped five of six games, and even looking at the past month (i.e. excluding Devers’ early slump) they’ve been a league-average offense on a rate basis and sit 15th in the majors in runs scored. If Boston’s rotation continues to struggle as it has over the past two weeks (24th in MLB with a 4.76 ERA), or if Gonzalez and Toro play closer to their career levels in the weeks ahead, one would imagine the Sox will more seriously consider changes to get more offensive firepower into the lineup.

Reds Place Noelvi Marté On IL With Oblique Strain

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The Reds announced that infielder Noelvi Marté has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 5th, due to a left oblique strain. Outfielder Rece Hinds has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

Marté was scratched from yesterday’s game due to left side pain. It appears that testing done since then has revealed a strain. The club hasn’t announced the severity or how long they expect Marté to be out of action but even moderate oblique strains can take weeks or even months to recover from.

Time will tell how long it lasts but this IL stint will deprive the Reds of one of their best bats this year and interrupt Marté’s return to form. Through 73 plate appearances, he is hitting .294/.342/.515 this year for a 131 wRC+.

That’s a small sample but is nonetheless reassuring, given recent history. Marte was once a top prospect and then made a strong debut in 2023, hitting .316/.366/.456 in 123 plate appearances that year. But going into 2024, he received an 80-game PED suspension and posted dismal results when he got back, slashing just .210/.248/.301 last year. That performance was bad enough that he actually got optioned to the minors to start 2025 but he crushed the ball down in Louisville and got called up by the middle of April.

His hot streak over the past few weeks led to some renewed optimism about him carving out a major league career and perhaps taking over as the club’s long-term third baseman. That’s all still possible but it will have to be put on pause now for at least a little while.

For the club, they will be particularly short-handed at the infield corners for a while, as Marte is joining Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand on the IL. Spencer Steer has been getting most of the first base playing time lately and could stay there, though he could also move to third and give some first base playing time to Tyler Stephenson. Some third base time could also go to Santiago Espinal. He has a .333/.383/.391 line this year, though that’s surely inflated by a .368 batting average on balls in play and his career line is a more modest .270/.325/.366. Gavin Lux has seen a bit of playing time at third this year and could be a consideration there as well.

Photo courtesy of Sam Greene, Imagn Images

Latest On Nationals’ Rotation

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The Nationals reinstated right-hander Michael Soroka from the 15-day injured list earlier today and he started their afternoon contest against the Guardians. Right-hander Eduardo Salazar was optioned as the corresponding move. TalkNats reported yesterday that Soroka would be reinstated to retake his spot in the rotation and relayed that manager Dave Martinez said righty Brad Lord would be moved to the bullpen.

Lord started the season in the bullpen but stepped up to take a rotation spot when Soroka hit the IL due to a right biceps strain. Lord took the ball six times and gave the Nats some fairly competent work, posting a 4.44 earned run average in 26 1/3 innings with an 18.9% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. In spite of those decent numbers, moving him to the bullpen makes sense, as the other rotation candidates have more experience than he does. Most of them are having pretty good seasons as well, to varying degrees.

MacKenzie Gore is having a huge season so far, with a 3.33 ERA in 46 innings, and that’s underselling it. His 36.4% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate are both strong numbers. If it weren’t for a .343 batting average on balls in play, he would have allowed even fewer runs, which is why his FIP is 2.74 and his SIERA is 2.37. It’s a somewhat similar situation with Trevor Williams. His 18.8% strikeout rate is only about half of Gore’s but his 6.9% walk rate is good and he has allowed a .360 BABIP. Though his 5.86 ERA isn’t pretty, his 4.16 FIP and 4.25 SIERA suggest he deserves better.

Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker are a bit to the other side. Irvin has a 3.94 ERA despite a tepid 16.8% strikeout rate, with a tiny .230 BABIP and an 80.6% strand rate helping him out. His 5.08 FIP and 4.55 SIERA suggest there’s a bit of luck in that ERA. Parker has a 3.48 ERA even though his 12% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are both rough numbers, though his 45.7% ground ball rate is good. His .223 BABIP makes ERA estimators less optimistic, particularly his 5.63 SIERA.

As for Soroka, today was just his second start of the season, as he landed on the IL after his first. Today’s outing started well but finished poorly. He had eight strikeouts through five scoreless innings but then the sixth innings went single, single, hit-by-pitch, bases-clearing double by Carlos Santana. Soroka was then pulled but the bullpen allowed Santana to score, adding that to Soroka’s ledger. He therefore finished with four earned runs allowed in five-plus innings pitched.

Soroka debuted way back in 2018 and then finished second to Pete Alonso in 2019 National League Rookie of the Year voting. However, it’s not currently clear if he can stick in the rotation. After that excellent 2019 season, he spent much of the next few years injured, mostly due to due tearing his right Achilles twice. He had some mixed results with the White Sox last year, posting a 6.39 ERA though nine starts and getting moved to the bullpen. Over his final 24 1/3 innings, pitching in a multi-inning role, he posted a 1.48 ERA with a massive 42.7% strikeout rate.

The Nats signed him to a one-year deal with a chance to retake a rotation job. Since he’s mostly been injured this year, it’s still to be determined whether that will work out or not. The Nats gave him $9MM this year, so they’re motivated to let him try. The benefits of him succeeding as a starter are simply higher than if he’s a good reliever, whether that’s helping their club in 2025 or getting traded at the deadline.

Lord will be in relief for now but another rotation shot in the future is plausible. Pitcher injuries are fairly inevitable. Soroka is also on a one-year deal and figures to be a trade candidate in the coming months. Williams is on a two-year deal and could be moved this summer as well if his results even out. Gore is surely less likely to be moved but he only has two remaining seasons of club control after this one, so rumors may pop up. On the other hand, Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray could be healthy and back in the mix later in this year as well while Shinnosuke Ogasawara is currently on the 40-man and pitching in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images

Mariners Claim Leody Taveras

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May 7: The M’s announced today that Taveras has reported to the team with Thomas optioned to Triple-A as the corresponding move.

May 6: The Mariners have claimed outfielder Leody Taveras from the Rangers, according to announcements from both clubs. The Rangers recalled outfielder Evan Carter to take his spot on the roster, a move that was previously reported. Right-hander Luis F. Castillo, not to be confused with Luis Castillo, has been designated for assignment by the M’s to open a 40-man spot for the claim. An active roster spot will need to be opened whenever Taveras reports to the M’s.

Taveras, 26, will join a new organization for the first time. The Rangers signed him as an international amateur back in 2015, giving him a notable bonus of $2.1MM. He went on to become the club’s top prospect and one of the top 100 in the league for a few years. As a major leaguer, he has been useful but not quite a star. His speed and defense have allowed him to make notable contributions for the Rangers, though his offense has been less consistent.

When he first arrived in the majors, he struck out quite a bit, but he was still in his early 20s at that time. In 2023, he managed to get the punchouts down to a manageable 21.1% rate. He still didn’t walk much, just a 6.3% rate, but he put the ball over the fence 14 times. That all led to a .266/.312/.421 line and a 100 wRC+, indicating he was exactly league average at the plate.

Given his other talents, average offense was quite acceptable. He also stole 14 bases and got strong marks for his outfield defense. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 2.4 wins above replacement on the year as he helped the Rangers charge to their first ever championship.

He fell of a bit last year. His walk rate actually jumped to 7.9% and his strikeout rate essentially held steady, bumping ever so slightly to 21.2%. His home run total also didn’t change much, dropping to 12, but with 25 fewer plate appearances. His batting average on balls in play dropped to .272, after being at .318 the year before. He finished the 2024 season with a .229/.289/.352 line and 82 wRC+. Still, with his 23 steals and his glovework, he produced 1.1 fWAR.

Here in 2025, his offense has dropped further. Through 82 plate appearances, he has a 2.4% walk rate, 28% strikeout rate, .241/.259/.342 line and 68 wRC+. That’s been part of a larger constellation of struggles in Texas, as guys like Marcus Semien and Joc Pederson are also struggling badly. Jake Burger’s slump was steep enough to get optioned to the minors while Taveras was placed on waivers. The club also fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker and hired Bret Boone as a hitting coach in an attempt to kickstart the offense.

For the Mariners, it’s a buy-low move, with some echoes of their Víctor Robles pickup. Robles was also a notable prospect with the Nationals who had struggled to click in the majors. The M’s sntached him up last year after the Nats released him. Robles then performed well with Seattle, enough that they signed him to a small extension last year, just a couple of months after bringing him aboard.

Robles has unfortunately been sidelined by a dislocated left shoulder and is probably still a couple of months away from returning. Luke Raley replaced him in right field but he recently hit the IL himself due to an oblique strain. Recently, they’ve been playing guys like Rhylan Thomas and Miles Mastrobuoni out there, which is less than ideal. Thomas has just ten major league plate appearances so far and hasn’t done much with them. Mastrobuoni is a light-hitting utility guy. Dylan Moore was reinstated from the injured list today but he could be needed on the infield, with Ben Williamson producing subpar offense from third base in his first 70 big league plate appearances.

Presumably, Taveras will be in the mix to help out in right. He has only ever played center field in his major league career, though the M’s have Julio Rodríguez there every day. Taveras has played the corners in the minors and most center fielders can move to left or right without issue. Some platoon matchups in the lineup are possible. Taveras is a switch-hitter with better numbers as a lefty. Williamson and Moore are both right-handed, so perhaps they can take third and right field when tough lefties are on the mound.

Though the Mariners are “buying low” in the sense that Taveras has been performing poorly of late and was readily available on the wire, there is a notable cost here. Taveras qualified for arbitration ahead of the 2024 season as a Super Two guy and earned $2.55MM last year. In January, he and the Rangers avoided arbitration for this year, agreeing to a $4.75MM salary. That leaves about $3.7MM left to be paid out, which the M’s are taking on by making this claim.

That’s a fairly small amount in the baseball world, where many guys are making eight-figure salaries annually, but it’s not nothing for the Mariners. They reportedly had about $15MM to spend this winter. They ended up giving out less than that, bringing back Jorge Polanco and signing Donovan Solano for a combined $11.25MM. Perhaps not coincidentally, adding Taveras and his remaining salary leads to a sum pretty close to $15MM.

Maybe that will give the club a bit less wiggle room to add at the deadline or perhaps ownership will greenlight further spending if they keep playing well. Time will tell on that. But if the bet on Taveras pays off in Robles-like fashion, there could be benefits beyond this season. He is still controllable via arbitration for another two years after this one. He will have to perform better over the rest of the season in order to be tendered a contract but that’s exactly what the Mariners are hoping for.

If Taveras is able to get back on track, the Rangers might end up kicking themselves, especially since there’s a chance he’ll be thriving with a division rival for the next few years. But there’s no guarantee of that happening and they’re probably happy about the cost savings in the short term. It was reported in the winter that Texas wanted to get under the tax line in 2025 and that plan was confirmed by owner Ray Davis. They came into the season a few million under the line, according to public estimates, though with a clear chance of going over. They have a number of players with sizable contract bonuses and those would bump up the club’s tax number if triggered, something that MLBTR did a deep dive on last month.

With the M’s claiming Taveras and the rest of this year’s salary, that drops the Rangers further away from the $241MM base threshold of the tax. As of a few weeks ago, RosterResource and Cot’s Baseball Contracts had the Rangers’ CBT number at $236.4MM and $237.8MM respectively but those estimates are now listed at $234.1MM and $235.5MM.

Castillo, 30, was added to the roster in April. George Kirby started the season on the injured list and Emerson Hancock got lit up in his first start of the year. Castillo made a couple of spot starts before being optioned to the minors. Hancock has since come back up to retake a rotation spot with better results. Logan Gilbert is now on the IL as well, prompting a Logan Evans promotion, but Kirby is on a rehab assignment and should be able to rejoin the club soon.

The M’s are evidently willing to sacrifice a bit of rotation depth, so Castillo goes into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade possibilities would have to be explored in the next five days. Castillo’s MLB track record is pretty small but he’s been decent in the minors and in Japan. From 2022 to 2025, he has a 2.44 ERA, 22.6% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate in 59 minor league innings. He also pitched 143 1/3 NPB innings over 2023 and 2024 with a 3.01 ERA. Since he’s still optionable, he may have appeal for clubs looking to add some Triple-A rotation depth.

Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images

William Contreras Playing Through Fractured Finger

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Brewers catcher William Contreras has seen his power output decline this season, and MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports that he’s been playing through a fracture in the middle finger on his catching hand “for some time.” Contreras underwent x-rays last night that confirmed the presence of that fracture but did not reveal additional damage or injury. He’ll begin wearing a splint while catching to help mitigate some of the effects of the fracture but is expected to remain on the roster and continue catching.

Contreras, 27, is still getting on base at a hefty .358 clip, due in no small part to a massive 15.5% walk rate. He’s hitting .242/.348/.331 overall, however, which is a notable departure from the .283/.363/.472 output he produced from 2022-24. Contreras has just five extra-base hits this season — a pair of doubles and three homers — all of which came prior to April 14. He’s slugging .257 over his past 84 trips to the plate.

Even with Contreras scuffling a bit and minimal production from the left side of the infield, the Brewers remain a respectable offense. Milwaukee ranks tenth in the majors with 174 runs scored. Whether they can continue at that pace is a fair question to posit, however. Brewers hitters rank 18th in MLB with a combined .239 average, 14th with a .317 on-base percentage and just 25th with a .360 slugging percentage. By measure of wRC+ (91), their offense ranks 24th in the majors and has been nine percent worse than average.

While it seems there’s no immediate plan to sit Contreras down for any stretch of time, one would imagine that could change if his offense continues to lag. Eric Haase is Milwaukee’s backup and has hit .276/.314/.506 in a small sample of 93 plate appearances with the Brew Crew dating back to last season. That huge production has been propped up by a .400 average on balls in play and occurred despite a titanic 38.7% strikeout rate, however, making him a clear candidate for regression.

At the moment, the Brewers’ catchers in Triple-A Nashville include veteran Jorge Alfaro, former Yankees first-rounder Anthony Seigler and 2019 fourth-rounder Nick Kahle. Alfaro is hitting .213/.259/.417 in 28 games. Seigler, a catcher and second baseman, sports a .244/.416/.419 line in 113 plate appearances but is just getting back into catching after spending all of 2024 at second base in the Yankees’ system. (He signed with the Brewers as a minor league free agent in November.) Kahle was only activated for his season debut on April 22 and is hitless in his first 13 plate appearances.

Notably absent from that group is top catching prospect Jeferson Quero. The 22-year-old is widely considered to be among the sport’s top 100 prospects, but he missed nearly all of the 2024 season due to shoulder surgery and has yet to play in 2025 after suffering a hamstring injury late in spring training.

Rangers, Cory Abbott Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers and right-hander Cory Abbott have agreed to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. He’ll work as a starter with their Triple-A affiliate for the time being. The Dynamic Sports Group client had been pitching in the Mexican League to begin the 2025 season.

Abbott, 28, was a second-round pick by the Cubs in 2017 and has pitched in parts of three big league seasons, suiting up for both the Cubs and Nationals from 2021-23. He’s pitched 104 2/3 innings in the majors and struggled to a 6.02 earned run average due primarily to troubles with home run. Abbott’s 20.2% strikeout rate isn’t all that far south of this year’s 21.9% league average, but he’s surrendered an average of 2.41 homers per nine innings in the majors. Homers have been a problem for him in parts of four Triple-A campaigns as well, but he’s fanned a hearty 27.7% of his opponents at that level.

It’s only a sample of 15 innings with los Tecos de los Dos Laredos in 2025, but Abbott has been sharp in an exceptionally hitter-friendly environment. He’s held opponents to four runs on 13 hits and eight walks with 15 strikeouts. The resulting 2.40 ERA is less than half the current Mexican League average of 5.75.

Abbott is the second former big leaguer the Rangers have signed out of the Mexican League this week alone; Texas picked up righty Robert Dugger on a minor league deal yesterday after he got out to a decent start with los Guerreros de Oaxaca. Abbott and Dugger are two of just a handful of starters in Mexico to keep their ERAs south of 4.00 on the young LMB season.

The Rangers also recently added former Giants and Rockies southpaw Ty Blach on a minor league deal. They’ve been stockpiling experienced arms with Jon Gray, Cody Bradford and Kumar Rocker on the injured list at present. None of the three new arms they’ve signed in the past week will step right onto the MLB roster, but they’ll add some innings in Round Rock and could be summoned to the majors should the Rangers incur further rotation injuries or find themselves with a need for a long man in the bullpen.

The Opener: Morton, Bregman, Tigers, Rockies

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:

1. Morton gets another chance in the rotation:

The Orioles moved right-hander Charlie Morton to the bullpen last week after he struggled badly in the first month of the season. The 41-year-old has still walked (six) more batters than he’s struck out (five) and allowed a 6.43 ERA in seven innings of work as a reliever, however. It’s hardly an impressive performance, but the Orioles are nonetheless turning to Morton in the rotation once again today as he’s slated to start against the Twins and righty Simeon Woods Richardson (4.03 ERA in six appearances) at 6:40pm local time in Minnesota. With right-hander Zach Eflin seemingly poised to return to the Orioles’ rotation in the near future, it’s possible today’s start could be Morton’s final opportunity to make a good impression in a rotation role for some time.

2. Bregman searching for No. 200:

Over the weekend, a hitter who has the option to re-enter free agency this offseason slugged the 200th homer of his career when Cody Bellinger sent a pitch from Rays righty Taj Bradley into the seats. The milestone achievement was a rare bright spot in the 2025 season for Bellinger, who has struggled to a .205/.281/.389 slash line in his first 33 games in a Yankees uniform. With Bellinger now having reached career homer No. 200, another hitter in the AL East with an opt-out opportunity this winter sits on the cusp of that same milestone: Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman. Bregman hit his 199th homer late last week amid what’s been a brilliant first campaign with Boston that’s seen him hit .315/.393/.580. Will he get his milestone homer against Tyler Mahle (1.19 ERA in seven starts) and the Rangers this evening?

3. Top prospects face off in Colorado:

A pair of rookie hurlers and recent first-round picks are scheduled to face off tonight when the Tigers and Jackson Jobe face Chase Dollander and the Rockies at Coors Field in a game scheduled for 6:40pm local time. Jobe, 22, was selected third overall by Detroit in 2021 and made his big league debut with two scoreless relief appearances last year. This season, he’s in the Tigers’ rotation with mixed results to this point. Jobe’s 3.38 ERA is impressive, but it’s belied by a subpar 17.6% strikeout rate against an elevated 13.7% walk rate which have contributed to a lackluster 4.96 FIP.

Dollander, the No. 9 overall pick in 2023, has faced struggles of his own in his first taste of big league action. He’s fresh off a nice start against the Braves (one run, two hits, three walks, four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings) and will look to build some momentum on the back of that performance. While Dollander is striking out a solid 22.3% of opponents with a much more manageable 8.9% walk rate, he’s also surrendered a whopping eight home runs in just 25 innings this year. Six of those homers were surrendered on the road, so his trouble with the long ball can’t even be attributed to the difficulties of pitching at Coors.

Both Jobe and Dollander were top-10 picks, and both entered the season ranked among Baseball America’s top-10 prospects in the entire sport. That type of showdown is obviously quite rare, making tonight’s performance a fun one to watch — especially for fans who like to keep a close eye on the game’s next wave of young talent.

Angels, Hunter Strickland Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels are in agreement with Hunter Strickland on a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction log. The veteran reliever, who’ll head to Triple-A Salt Lake, had been on a minor league deal with the Rangers. Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News reported this afternoon that Texas had granted Strickland his release.

It didn’t take long for the 36-year-old righty to find his next landing spot. Strickland is plenty familiar with the Angels organization. He spent all of last season with the Halos. An offseason minor league deal led to a call-up by the second week of April. Strickland managed a career-high 73 1/3 innings over 72 appearances in middle relief. He posted a 3.31 ERA, though free agent interest was muted by his pedestrian 19.4% strikeout rate.

Texas added Strickland on a non-roster deal midway through Spring Training. He only made two appearances in camp, was released, then returned to the organization on a new minor league contract. Strickland pitched 12 times with Triple-A Round Rock. He surrendered 14 runs in 15 1/3 innings, striking out 15 while issuing nine walks.

The Angel bullpen has been a disaster through the season’s first six weeks. They have an MLB-worst 7.02 ERA despite logging the league’s smallest workload (109 innings). Angel relievers have allowed an MLB-high 23 home runs while ranking in the bottom third of the league with a 20.7% strikeout rate. Strickland’s Triple-A performance isn’t going to get him an immediate call, but there’s a clear path back to the big leagues if he can find something more closely resembling last year’s numbers.

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