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Rays Option Taj Bradley

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The Rays optioned Taj Bradley to Triple-A Durham after tonight’s rough start against the White Sox, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. They’ll presumably announce that decision and a corresponding roster move tomorrow. Joe Boyle, who has been working in long relief, stands as the obvious candidate to step into the rotation.

Bradley didn’t make it out of the second inning tonight. He gave up four hits and three walks, allowing four runs in an inning and two-thirds. That promptly erased a four-run lead that the Rays had built in the bottom of the first. They took the lead back in the middle frames before an eighth-inning implosion by setup man Kevin Kelly led to an 11-9 defeat to the American League’s worst team.

This pushed Bradley’s season earned run average to 4.61 across 111 1/3 innings. The 24-year-old righty has a slightly below-average 20.2% strikeout rate against a 9.3% walk percentage. Leading up to tonight, he was coming off two of his best outings of the season. Bradley blanked the Orioles over six innings with as many strikeouts in his first start out of the All-Star Break. He’d closed the first half with six innings of one-run ball against Boston.

Bradley has been in Kevin Cash’s rotation all season. This is his first optional assignment since the end of 2023. Boyle, who was one of five relievers called upon tonight, worked three innings of one-run ball. He carries a 1.42 ERA in 19 innings over five MLB appearances. Acquired from the A’s in the Jeffrey Springs trade, Boyle has a huge arm but has struggled with command throughout his career.

The 25-year-old has seemingly taken a step forward in that regard this year. He walked 10.8% of batters faced across 15 Triple-A outings. That’s still higher than average but much more tolerable than the 17-20% range at which he’d sat for most of his minor league career. Boyle fanned 33% of Triple-A opponents with a 1.85 ERA while working from Durham’s rotation.

Bradley’s demotion one week before the deadline is interesting. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported a couple weeks ago that the club was open to offers on Bradley. ESPN’s Jeff Passan similarly wrote this morning that the one-time top pitching prospect is available in trade discussions. Bradley is likely still a season away from arbitration and under club control for four years beyond this one. If the Rays don’t trade him, they’ll need to keep him in Durham for at least 15 days unless he’s brought up to replace someone who is going on the injured list.

Rays Prefer To Keep Pete Fairbanks

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The Rays “strongly prefer” to hold closer Pete Fairbanks, report Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic. Tampa Bay is one of many bubble teams, holding a 53-50 record that has them right on the edge of the Wild Card chase.

While the Rays are generally open to offers on almost everyone at any time, it’s understandable that they’re reluctant to deal Fairbanks this summer. They’ve had a middle-of-the-pack bullpen overall. They added to that group by acquiring Bryan Baker from the Orioles before the draft. At the same time, setup man Manuel Rodríguez will be out for an extended stretch with a forearm injury.

Garrett Cleavinger is an excellent left-hander, but they’re already short on high-leverage options from the right side. Even with Baker in the fold and Edwin Uceta racking up strikeouts this month, they’re better off acquiring another righty rather than trading one away. The Athletic reports that the Rays would indeed prioritize the bullpen if they buy in the next week.

The 31-year-old Fairbanks is operating as Kevin Cash’s primary closer for a third straight season. He’s 17-20 in save chances with a 2.84 earned run average across 38 innings. That comes with a career-low 20.3% strikeout rate that is cause for some alarm. The bottom line results nevertheless make Fairbanks one of their most trusted relievers.

Fairbanks is in the final guaranteed season of his three-year extension. He’s playing on an affordable $3.667MM salary. Fairbanks is guaranteed at least a $1MM buyout on a club option that is currently valued at $8MM but is likely to end up in eight figures by season’s end as he triggers escalators based on his appearances and games finished. That might be rich for Tampa Bay’s taste, but they’re under no financial pressure to move Fairbanks this season and could reevaluate their 2026 payroll situation once the offseason arrives.

MLB Mailbag: Spencer Jones, Mason Miller, Angels, Cubs, Blue Jays, Dodgers

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This week's mailbag covers Yankees prospect Spencer Jones, comps for a Mason Miller trade, and trade deadline situations involving the Angels, Blue Jays, Cubs, and Dodgers.

Angel asks:

Do you believe the Yankees now view Spencer Jones as untouchable? His trajectory is so similar to Judge's, but I'd sign right now for 75% of Judge.

Jack asks:

Why does it feel like lots of the Yankees prospects don’t pan out in the MLB? Do you believe it’s because they’re overhyped, poor player development, a mix of both, or something completely else?

Sandy asks:

Volpe made another critical error last night. He seems to wilt under pressure in clutch defensive situations even if his dWar is positive at 0.8. Are the Yankees having second thoughts about their long-term shortstop? Should they? His bat has never been up to league average. Thanks!

Charles asks:

What would it take for the Yanks to get Bednar, Keller, and IKF in a package from the Pirates? It seems that if they are going to be contenders they need something like that.

Jones  is an interesting and polarizing prospect.  His stock seemed to drop in 2024, as he spent the season at Double-A and posted a 127 wRC+ with a whopping 36.8% strikeout rate.

In another 208 PA at the level this year, Jones still struck out 33.7% of the time, but posted a massive 186 wRC+ to earn a Triple-A promotion.  That came on June 27th.  He has since annihilated Triple-A pitching with a 205 wRC+, which includes 10 home runs in 79 PA.  His strikeout rate for the RailRiders is down to 26.6%.

The sample size makes this tricky.  Jones tinkers with his swing a lot, but 79 PA isn't enough to say that he's truly cut the strikeouts.  If he'd struck out five additional times in Triple-A - one additional time every three games -  his K% would be 32.9.

The error bars on Jones are wide, but the odds are currently stacked against him becoming a star.  Jones' Double-A sample is still bigger than his Triple-A one.  Let's see if we can find some comps who struck out at least 30% of the time at Double-A at age 24 or younger while posting a 130 wRC+ or better.

Gallo and Moncada at least had a few star-caliber seasons in the Majors between them.  Otherwise, these guys did not become stars or even MLB regulars.  They also did not cut their strikeout rates and dominate Triple-A pitching, so if Jones keeps that up he'll be charting a new trajectory.

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Cubs, Zach Pop Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs reached agreement with reliever Zach Pop on a minor league contract, according to Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. The right-hander was assigned to Triple-A Iowa.

Pop is on his fourth organization of the season. He has bounced between the Blue Jays, Mariners and Mets. Pop was on the injured list with Toronto and combined for five outings between Seattle and New York. He was tagged for 12 runs (11 earned) including four homers in 6 2/3 innings. Pop is out of minor league options, so teams couldn’t afford to give him much rope when he was struggling to that extent.

The 28-year-old has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons. He threw 48 1/3 frames for the Jays last year, working to a 5.59 ERA with a well below-average 15.8% strikeout percentage. Pop doesn’t have huge swing-and-miss stuff, but he sits around 96 MPH with his sinker and has posted a 55% ground-ball rate in his MLB career. He carries a 3.71 ERA in 80 career Triple-A innings.

Reds Have Expressed Interest In Eugenio Suarez

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The Mariners are not the only of Eugenio Suárez’s former teams who are eyeing the slugging third baseman. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports that the Reds have been in contact with the Diamondbacks to express interest. However, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com characterizes a deal coming together between those teams as a “long shot.” Along with Seattle, the Cubs and Yankees have been linked to Suárez in recent days.

Suárez is the top impending free agent hitter available. The D-Backs have straddled the buy/sell line for weeks but probably sealed their fate as deadline sellers by getting swept by the Astros. That negates their sweep of the Cardinals coming out of the All-Star Break and drops them back to three games below .500. They’re 5.5 back of the final playoff spot with four teams to surpass. Feinsand, Jon Heyman of The New York Post, and John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM have all suggested this evening that they’re likely to sell at this point. They face the Pirates and Tigers for three games apiece up to the deadline.

Both series are on the road, meaning Suárez probably played his final home game as a Diamondback this afternoon. The 34-year-old is playing on a $15MM salary. That was a club option on the seven-year contract extension that Suárez initially signed with Cincinnati in March 2018. He played seven seasons with the Reds overall, earning down-ballot MVP support in his best years.

Suárez looked to be on the downswing when the Reds packaged him alongside Jesse Winker to the Mariners coming out of the 2022 lockout. Seattle traded him to Arizona two years later. Suárez started his first season with the Diamondbacks so slowly that he was on the verge of getting benched in June. He transformed into one of the hottest hitters in baseball around last year’s All-Star Break and hasn’t let up. He leads the National League with 36 homers this season. Over the past calendar year, only Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have hit more home runs. Judge, Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are the three qualified hitters with a higher OPS than Suárez’s .938 in that span.

Arizona could — and almost certainly would — make a qualifying offer if they held him through season’s end. Their dwindling playoff chances make a trade more likely. They’d get a stronger return than one compensatory draft pick. Arizona could also prioritize upper minors talent that could make an impact next season rather than wait for a draftee who wouldn’t arrive until 2027-28 at the earliest. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reported last week that the Snakes intend to prioritize controllable pitching in trade returns. Corbin Burnes will miss most or all of next season, while Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are impending free agents.

Rosecrans reports that the D-Backs have some interest in Cincinnati pitching prospect Chase Petty, who could be one possible piece in a larger trade package. A former Minnesota first-round pick who was traded to the Reds for Sonny Gray, Petty made his MLB debut this season. He has been bombed for 14 runs (13 earned) in six innings over his first three starts. Petty has a 4.14 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate while walking nearly 11% of opponents across 15 Triple-A outings.

While this hasn’t been a good year, Petty is a 22-year-old who sits in the 95-96 MPH range with his fastball and ranks as Cincinnati’s #5 prospect at Baseball America. The Reds aren’t going to trade last year’s #2 overall pick Chase Burns for a rental. That should also be true of 2023 seventh overall selection Rhett Lowder, who has battled forearm and oblique injuries this year. Petty is probably the organization’s next-best pitching prospect.

Cincinnati is 2.5 games back in the Wild Card race with two teams to jump. The Cardinals are one game behind them. Cincinnati needs offense generally and would particularly benefit from a righty bat who can improve upon their dismal .219/.298/.348 team line against lefty pitching. An outfielder makes the most sense, though they could add at third base and use Noelvi Marte more frequently in right field after testing that out over the weekend.

Latest On Seth Lugo’s Trade Candidacy

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Seth Lugo reeled off another productive start this afternoon, tossing six innings of two-run ball to earn the win at Wrigley Field. The veteran right-hander now carries a 2.95 earned run average with a 22% strikeout rate. This was his 11th quality start in 19 appearances.

Kansas City took two out of three from the Cubs, but they’re still three games under .500. They’re off tomorrow before home series against the Guardians and Braves that’ll take them to the deadline. Lugo would be lined up for one more start against Atlanta until the Royals need to decide on his future. He’ll very likely decline his $15MM player option for next season. Kansas City’s win today pulled them back within four games of the final AL Wild Card spot, pending Boston’s game in Philadelphia. The Rays, Guardians and Rangers all stand between them and Boston.

The Royals would get plenty of calls on Lugo, who’d be one of the best short-term starting pitchers on the market if K.C. made him available. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network reported yesterday that the Cubs were among the teams that have had conversations with Kansas City about their pitching. Morosi added that the Royals are unsurprisingly more likely to trade Lugo than they would be to part with southpaw Kris Bubic. ESPN’s Jeff Passan hears similarly, writing that the Royals are more focused on Lugo at the moment.

That doesn’t mean Lugo is a lock to move. Passan adds that if the Royals feel they’re still in the Wild Card mix, they could keep the veteran right-hander and make him a qualifying offer when he hits free agency. That would at least ensure them a compensatory draft pick if Lugo walks. That’d come after the first round if he landed at least a $50MM guarantee; it’d come between the end of Competitive Balance Round B and the beginning of the third round (roughly 75th overall) if his contract is below $50MM.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic also suggests that the Royals have yet to decide whether to deal Lugo. He writes that Kansas City feels they’d have a decent chance to re-sign him as a free agent — following a similar path to last winter’s new deal with Michael Wacha after he opted out. If the Royals were to trade Lugo, Rosenthal adds that they’d want controllable outfield help. K.C.’s longstanding issue getting any kind of offense from their outfielders makes that a logical target.

The opt-out clause in Lugo’s contract is a somewhat complicating factor. While he’d very likely be a rental, an acquiring team would assume the risk that he suffers a significant injury in the final two months and then accounts for $15MM in dead money next season. That wouldn’t be detrimental, especially to a high-payroll franchise, but is a downside that teams will want to price into their trade offers if Kansas City shops Lugo.

Bubic, meanwhile, is under arbitration control for another season. The All-Star lefty is playing on a $3MM salary and should push into the $6-7MM range next year. Bubic has a sterling 2.38 ERA with a 24.9% strikeout rate in 113 2/3 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery.

Teams might have some workload questions after the injury limited him to 46 1/3 combined frames between 2023-24. There are few potentially available pitchers who are performing better than he is, though, so other clubs are surely calling the Royals to gauge his availability. The extra year of club control makes him a longer shot trade candidate for a K.C. team that’ll expect to compete next season even if they’re soft sellers over the coming eight days.

Padres, Phillies Showing Interest In Steven Kwan

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The Phillies and Padres are two of the many teams that have expressed interest in Steven Kwan, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Both National League contenders are known to be looking for a left field upgrade.

Kwan would be one of the top hitters on the market if the Guardians made him available. Heyman suggests that Cleveland is willing to consider offers but are understandably setting a high asking price. ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote on Tuesday that the Guardians are unlikely to pull the trigger on a Kwan trade. The two-time All-Star is under arbitration control for another two seasons. He’s playing this year on a bargain $4.175MM salary.

Phillies left fielders are hitting .190/.302/.339. Most of that falls on offseason signee Max Kepler, who has not performed as expected on a $10MM deal. Kepler carries a .207/.305/.372 slash with 11 home runs in 328 plate appearances. He has also expressed some frustration about the Phils shielding him from left-handed pitching, though it’s not as if he has forced his way into the lineup with his production. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Phillies tried to move Kepler in a change-of-scenery trade.

That might happen even if the Phils can’t land a bigger bat. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski shed some light on the team’s thought process with outfield prospect Justin Crawford on Monday (link via Matt Gelb of The Athletic). Dombrowski indicated that the 21-year-old Crawford, who is hitting .326/.406/.424 with 29 stolen bases in Triple-A, is on the radar for an MLB promotion. That might wait until after the deadline, however, as the Phils don’t want to call Crawford up only to option him back to the minors if they trade for an everyday outfielder.

“The one thing, if you’re bringing Justin Crawford up at this point, he needs to play,” Dombrowski told reporters. “So that’s the main thing. So we need to kind of just sort out our own situation here and see when he comes up that he’s going to be a guy that’s playing all the time.” Crawford could theoretically push Brandon Marsh out of center field even if the Phils were to acquire a left fielder. There’d be a clearer path to plugging him into left while pushing Kepler to the bench or off the roster entirely if they don’t land an external upgrade.

San Diego planned to open the season with a Jason Heyward/Connor Joe left field platoon. Neither player made it on the roster through the end of June. Gavin Sheets has taken over as the left fielder. The lefty-hitting Sheets has had a strong year at the dish, batting .257/.319/.433 with 14 homers. He has hit a skid this month, though, and he profiles better defensively at first base or designated hitter.

Kwan is one of the best all-around left fielders in the sport. He has won the Gold Glove in each of his first three big league seasons. He’s been an average or better hitter in each year, including a .285/.348/.393 slash in 415 plate appearances this season. Kwan has walked more often than he has struck out in each of the past two seasons. He doesn’t have huge power but has the high-OBP skillset that makes him an ideal leadoff hitter.

As a small-market club, Cleveland tends to be broadly open to considering offers on any player aside from José Ramírez. Each of Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith and Shane Bieber have come up in trade rumors as well. They’re certainly not locked into selling, however. The Guardians have won three straight and eight of their past 10 to climb back to .500. They’re within 2.5 games of a Wild Card position pending tonight’s results. They have two more games against the Orioles before heading to Kansas City for a weekend series. They’ll host the Rockies for three in their final set before the deadline.

Twins Sign First-Round Pick Marek Houston

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The Twins have signed shortstop Marek Houston, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. Houston was just selected with the 16th overall pick in last week’s draft. His $4,497,500 signing bonus is below the $4,929,600 slot value for that pick.

Houston, 21, spent the past three years playing for Wake Forest. Pre-draft rankings from MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, ESPN, FanGraphs and The Athletic’s Keith Law all put Houston in the 14-26 range of the class.

All outlets heap praise upon his defense. The larger question seems to be what he can do with the bat, where his contact is better than his power. He has shown some progress in the latter category, as his home run total went from four to eight and then 15 in his three seasons with the Demon Deacons. However, even that jump in power may need an asterisk. “The power is kind of an illusion, as Wake Forest plays in a shoebox, and 11 of Houston’s 15 homers this year came at home,” Law writes, “mostly wall-scrapers that would be doubles or outs in a typical ballpark.”

The Twins have Carlos Correa at shortstop now, with plenty of other guys capable of manning the position on the big league roster. As is the case with many clubs, there are a few notable shortstop prospects in the system who could factor into the future plans. Houston seems like a lock to stay at the position based on his defense, though he may get moved into a utility role if he doesn’t hit enough to be a regular.

Photo courtesy of Saul Young, Imagn Images

Athletics Sign First-Round Pick Jamie Arnold

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The Athletics have signed left-handed pitcher Jamie Arnold, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. The A’s took him with the 11th overall pick in last week’s draft. His $5,985,100 signing bonus is full slote value for that pick.

Arnold, 21, spent the past three years pitching for Florida State University. He finished both his 2024 and 2025 seasons with a 2.98 earned run average. He struck out over 33% of batters faced in both of those seasons.

Pre-draft rankings from MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, ESPN and The Athletic’s Keith Law all had Arnold listed as one of the top six guys available in the class. All outlets mention his mid-90s fastball. His best secondary pitch is a slider/sweeper, though his changeup also gets some positive mentions. FanGraphs was a bit more bearish, putting Arnold at #17 and mentioning that his fastball declined this year, both in terms of velo and his feel for the pitch.

The A’s are rebuilding and have put together a strong lineup, but the pitching staff still needs work. They will have a tough time luring free agents in the next few years, as they are currently playing in a Triple-A park. The amenities there have led to various complaints from players. As a Pacific Coast League park, the playing conditions are specifically unfavorable for pitchers. Developing homegrown arms should be an important focus of the organization in the next few years and Arnold could be a key component of that. BA already lists Arnold as the second-best prospect in the system.

Photo courtesy of Abigail Dollins, Imagn Images

Mariners Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

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D-backs slugger and former Mariner Eugenio Suárez is reported to be the Mariners’ top trade target, but he’s not a surefire bet to be available with Arizona on the periphery of the NL Wild Card chase. Seattle wouldn’t put all of its eggs in one basket anyhow — Suárez would have several motivated bidders trying to acquire him — so it’s not a big surprise to see Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post report that the Mariners are among the teams to show interest in Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon.

[Related: Seattle Mariners Trade Deadline Outlook]

The 30-year-old McMahon wouldn’t bring the same type of power as Suárez, but he’s younger with a much better glove and is signed for an additional two seasons. After a brutal start to his season and a poor final few months in 2024, McMahon has bounced back to his previous form. Dating back to May 1, he’s slashing .249/.333/.478 with 14 home runs, a dozen doubles and a triple. His 11.2% walk rate is strong, though a 29.7% strikeout rate in that span and a lengthy history of sub-par contact skills does present one concern.

McMahon does have pronounced home/road splits. He entered play Wednesday batting .253/.368/.500 at Coors Field and .189/.265/.324 on the road. He’d hardly be the first player to struggle on the road while playing home games at altitude and then even things out when traded to a more neutral setting, though. Prominent names like Matt Holliday, Dexter Fowler and Nolan Arenado (among others) have shown considerable home/road splits while playing for the Rockies before going on to find plenty of success elsewhere. That said, going from Coors Field to Seattle’s T-Mobile Park — perhaps the most pitcher-friendly setting in MLB — would potentially be a rude awakening.

McMahon has been particularly hot of late, hitting in six straight games and batting .345/.406/.848 with four homers and two doubles across his past eight contests. (That does not include the walk he drew in his first plate appearance of today’s game.) He’s being paid $12MM in 2025 — with about $4.32MM yet to be paid out — and is owed $16MM per year in 2026-27.

Although McMahon isn’t as complete a player as Matt Chapman, his remaining contract (which covers his age-31 and age-32 seasons) is a fraction of the six-year, $151MM contract Chapman signed starting in his age-32 season. McMahon’s contract looks affordable by comparison, and while much of the Mariners’ activity over the past two years has been dictated by ownership mandates to scale back payroll, ownership is reportedly willing to bump the payroll at this summer’s deadline.

Third base has been a weak spot for the Mariners throughout the season. Rookie Ben Williamson has been the primary option for Seattle, providing strong defense but virtually nothing in terms of power or on-base skills. The 24-year-old Williamson, Seattle’s second-round pick in 2023, rushed to the majors after just 14 games in Triple-A. He’s hitting .256/.289/.315 with one home run in his first 268 major league plate appearances.

Entering the season, the hope was that veteran switch-hitter Jorge Polanco — who re-signed as a free agent over the winter — would transition from second base to third base. Knee and side injuries have left Polanco as a designated hitter more often than not, however. His bat has more than held up its end of the equation, evidenced by a strong .254/.313/.462 slash with 15 homers and a tiny 14.2% strikeout rate. Polanco has played just 113 innings in the field this season, however.

[Related: Colorado Rockies Trade Deadline Outlook]

As for the Rockies, they tend not to be particularly active on the summer trade market even in non-contending seasons. They have a reputation for holding players well past the point at which their trade value reaches its apex. That’s arguably already happened with McMahon, though his resurgent play since May has done plenty of work to rebuild some of the value he’d lost over the past three to four months of play.

Saunders is the latest of several prominent reporters to suggest that with the Rockies bottoming out so significantly in 2025, they could well be more amenable to trading some veteran players over the next eight days. ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote similarly today, and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggested as much earlier in the month as well.

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