Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Marlins, Ronald Bolanos Agree To Minor League Contract

By | at

The Marlins have signed right-hander Ronald Bolaños to a minor league deal, as noted by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. He was assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville, where he tossed four scoreless innings in his first start of the season tonight.

Bolaños, 26, has reached the major league level in each of the past four seasons. He broke into the professional ranks with the Padres and debuted at the MLB level with San Diego in 2019. The following summer, the Friars traded Bolaños alongside outfielder Franchy Cordero to the Royals for left-handed reliever Tim Hill.

Over the last three years, Bolaños has seen sporadic MLB action with Kansas City. He made two starts during the shortened 2020 season and was limited to three big league outings in 2021, largely because of an extended injured list stint with a forearm strain. He returned to throw 18 1/3 frames over eight relief appearances last year but walked and struck out 12 batters apiece. Midway through the season, K.C. designated Bolaños for assignment and ran him through outright waivers.

The native of Cuba spent the second half of the season in Triple-A Omaha. He posted a 6.26 ERA over 41 2/3 frames, working primarily as a multi-inning reliever. Bolaños qualified for minor league free agency at year’s end and remained on the open market until catching on with Miami.

Altogether, Bolaños owns a 5.25 ERA in 48 major league frames. He’s allowed just under five earned runs per nine innings over 413 1/3 career innings in the minors. The 6’2″ hurler relies primarily on a sinker that averaged just north of 93 MPH last season and has a decent track record of keeping the ball on the ground. He’ll offer the Fish a depth option for either the rotation or long relief. Bolaños is out of minor league option years, so if he earns an MLB call at any point, the Marlins would have to keep him in the majors or again designate him for assignment.

A’s, Francisco Perez Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Athletics have signed reliever Francisco Pérez to a minor league contract, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. The left-hander had been released from a non-roster deal with the Nationals during Spring Training.

Pérez has pitched in the majors in each of the last two seasons. He debuted with Cleveland late in the 2021 campaign, appearing in four games. The Nationals snagged him off waivers at the end of that year. Pérez held his 40-man roster spot for a season and got into 10 MLB contests with Washington last year. The Nationals ran him through outright waivers at the end of last season.

In 14 career appearances, the Dominican Republic native has tallied 15 1/3 innings of 10-run ball. He’s issued 12 walks while punching out 12 hitters in that rather brief look. He’s leaned heavily on a four-seam fastball that averages around 93 MPH while using a mid-80s slider as his top secondary offering.

Pérez spent the bulk of the 2022 season with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester. He worked 46 2/3 innings over 45 outings for the Red Wings, allowing a 4.82 ERA. The 25-year-old punched out a strong 29.9% of batters faced at the top minor league level, though he also dished out free passes at a huge 15.7% clip.

The Nats were sufficiently intrigued by the bat-missing numbers in Triple-A to re-sign Pérez to a minor league deal over the winter. He only got into two Spring Training contests before being reassigned to minor league camp and subsequently released. He now joins the third organization of his career, where he’ll presumably head to Triple-A in search of a new opportunity.

Oakland has a pair of left-handers in the MLB bullpen: Sam Moll and Richard Lovelady. They recently turned to Hogan Harris for his MLB debut in relief, though he’s worked as a starting pitcher in the minors. The only other left-handed reliever who’d have a 40-man roster spot is Kirby Snead but he’s on the 60-day injured list after suffering a shoulder strain in Spring Training. Former Marlin Jake Fishman is at Triple-A Las Vegas as a non-roster depth pitcher but landed on the minor league IL two weeks ago.

Dylan Moore Headed For MRI With Core Discomfort

By | at

Mariners utilityman Dylan Moore hasn’t played all season. He suffered a Grade 1 oblique strain during Spring Training, an injury that shut him down from baseball activities for a few weeks. It looked as if he was nearing his return, as he embarked on a rehab assignment with High-A Everett on Tuesday.

Moore only played in one game for the AquaSox, tallying three plate appearances. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets that Moore experienced some core discomfort coming out of that game. He’ll be returned from his rehab assignment and head to Philadelphia for an MRI.

The right-handed hitter indicated his current soreness isn’t in the oblique area. It’s concerning nevertheless, as Moore had a core injury late last season that necessitated offseason surgery. His upcoming imaging will be with the surgeon who performed that procedure, according to Divish.

Moore signed a three-year extension in February. That was a testament to the value the Seattle front office and coaching staff put on his defensive flexibility, baserunning and right-handed bat. Moore’s offense has been up-and-down throughout his career, but he’s coming off a .224/.368/.385 showing in 255 plate appearances. Consistently high strikeout totals have resulted in a lowly .208 career batting average. Moore draws plenty of walks and has enough power to post roughly league average on-base (.317) and slugging (.384) marks after considering Seattle’s pitcher-friendly park.

The Mariners planned for Moore to platoon with trade acquisition Kolten Wong at second base. The lefty-hitting Wong has taken the bulk of the at-bats, with a handful of plate appearances going to Sam Haggerty and José Caballero. Seattle second basemen enter play Friday with a woeful .088/.171/.103 line over 77 trips, largely because of Wong’s frigid start with his new team. The veteran infielder is hitting .098/.190/.098 over 16 games as a Mariner.

In more fortunate injury news, reliever Andrés Muñoz is set to begin a rehab stint with Triple-A Tacoma next week, tweets the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude. Muñoz hit the injured list on April 8 with a deltoid strain. It seems he’s in line to return not long after a minimal 15-day absence. The flamethrowing right-hander worked 65 innings of 2.49 ERA ball with an elite 38.7% strikeout percentage last season, breaking through as one of the sport’s best late-game weapons.

Twins Reinstate Jorge Polanco

By | at

The Twins announced a series of roster moves today, with infielder Jorge Polanco reinstated from the injured list and right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson recalled from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, righty Jorge Alcalá and infielder Edouard Julien were optioned to Triple-A. The Polanco-Julien swap was reported by Twins Farm Report on Twitter prior to the official club announcement.

Polanco, 29, is in tonight’s lineup, batting fifth and playing second base. This will be his first major league game since August of last year. He was placed on the injured list in early September due to left knee inflammation and wasn’t able to return. As this year’s Spring Training ramped up, everything seemed aligned for him to make the Opening Day roster, but he was eventually slowed down in the middle of March with what chief baseball officer Derek Falvey called “normal soreness.” That ultimate led to an IL-placement on Opening Day, but he’ll now slot back into the Minnesota lineup for the first time in almost eight months.

He began his career as a shortstop and didn’t get especially strong marks for his glovework but showed encouraging offensive abilities. By the end of 2018, he had appeared in 288 games and struck out in just 16.2% of his plate appearances while demonstrating a bit of power with 23 home runs. His .272/.329/.420 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 100, indicating he was exactly league average in that time.

The Twins clearly believed that Polanco would grow into something more, as they then signed him to a five-year, $25.75MM extension with a couple of club options. Polanco has since proved them right, hitting 75 home runs over the past four seasons, one of which was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. His .270/.337/.459 line in that time amounts to a wRC+ of 117. He’s since moved to second base in deference to stronger shortstop defenders like Andrelton Simmons and Carlos Correa.

Polanco is now in the final guaranteed season of that extension, though it seems likely that those options will be picked up. The 2024 option is valued at $10.5MM with a $1MM buyout, making it a net $9.5MM decision. The 2025 option is worth $12.5MM with a $750K buyout, making it a net $11.75MM decision. Those are reasonable salaries for a potent bat at an up-the-middle position.

While Polanco has been out of action this year, most of the playing time at second base has gone to Julien, Nick Gordon and Kyle Farmer. Julien will now go back to the minors to get regular work down there. Farmer went on the IL last week after getting hit in the face by a fastball from Lucas Giolito. Though the incident looked quite scary on the broadcast, Farmer managed to avoid any fractures and was mostly limited to dental injuries. He told Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press today that he still has to get four root canals next week but has started doing baseball activities like hitting off a tee and taking ground balls.

Angels Select Austin Warren, Chad Wallach; Designate Justin Garza

By | at

5:50pm: The Angels have now announced all the moves listed below, as well as the fact that right-hander Justin Garza has been designated for assignment as the move to open up a second spot on the 40-man roster. The 29-year-old Garza posted a 4.71 ERA in 21 games with Cleveland in 2021 but hasn’t made it back to the big leagues since. The Angels signed him to a split contract over the winter and he has a 4.32 ERA through six Triple-A appearances so far this year.

5:30pm: Bollinger adds (Twitter links) that right-hander Jimmy Herget was optioned as the corresponding move for Warren, and that catcher Logan O’Hoppe has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to his shoulder injury. Chad Wallach was selected to take O’Hoppe’s spot, but he wasn’t on the 40-man and will need a corresponding move.

The optioning of Herget comes as a surprise as he registered a 2.48 ERA last year and got himself some high-leverage work, racking up nine saves and six holds. However, he’s struggled to a 6.23 ERA so far this season, with his strikeout rate dropping to 13.2% after being at 23.7% last year.

The club still doesn’t know the severity of the shoulder issue that has been plaguing O’Hoppe of late, but he’ll sit for a week-plus while they figure it out. Wallach is a 31-year-old with 90 games of major league experience scattered over the past six seasons. He’s hit .198/.265/.296 in that time but has a good reputation for his defense and game calling.

5:20pm: The Angels have added right-hander Austin Warren to their 40-man roster, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com (Twitter links). The club already has a vacancy on their 40-man due to outrighting infielder David Fletcher earlier this week, though a corresponding move will be required to get Warren onto the active roster.

Warren, 27, was selected by the Angels in the sixth round of the 2018 draft and has spent his entire career with the organization to this point. He was selected to the big league roster in 2021 and has 30 games of major league experience thus far. He has a 3.47 ERA in 36 1/3 innings, striking out 18.8% of his opponents, walking just 6.5% of them and getting grounders on 45.9% of balls in play.

Back in January, Warren was designated for assignment when the club signed Brett Phillips, ultimately clearing waivers and sticking with the organization. He started the year at Triple-A and tossed seven scoreless innings over five appearances before getting brought back to the big leagues today. He’ll give a fresh arm to an Angels bullpen that has seen a decent amount of work this week. Shohei Ohtani’s start on Monday was interrupted by a rain delay when he had only thrown two innings and he didn’t return after the game resumed. Then José Suarez lasted just 3 1/3 innings on Tuesday. Griffin Canning got to 5 1/3 frames on Wednesday but Patrick Sandoval tallied just four innings yesterday.

Warren still has a couple of options remaining, which means he can be easily sent back down to the minors the next time the Halos need to make a bullpen swap.

Garrett Mitchell Will Likely Require Shoulder Surgery, Putting Season In Jeopardy

By | at

Brewers manager Craig Counsell informed reporters, including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that outfielder Garrett Mitchell’s MRI revealed significant damage. Counsell said that Mitchell will seek a second opinion but surgery is likely and the remainder of his season is in jeopardy. Mitchell had been placed on the 10-day injured list earlier this week with a left shoulder subluxation.

Mitchell spoke after Counsell and provided more information to reporters, including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He said the plan is to go see Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles on Monday. If it is deemed that surgery is necessary, that will take place the following day.

At this point, it’s not a foregone conclusion that Mitchell will go under the knife, but it seems the most probable course of events. If it does indeed come to pass, it will be a very frustrating setback for Mitchell and the Brewers, given the promising start to his career. Between his debut last season and the start of this year, he’s been in 44 major league contests so far. He’s struck out in a worrisome 40% of his plate appearances but has still managed to be productive. He’s hit five home runs and currently has a batting line of .286/.341/.462, which translates to a 121 wRC+. He’s also stolen nine bases and been graded well for his defensive work in center field.

Whether Mitchell is ultimately out for the remainder of the season or some shorter timeline, the Brewers will be pressing on without him for the foreseeable future. Joey Wiemer, who had been playing right field, took over center field last night and is in there again tonight, pointing to him having the job for now. With Tyrone Taylor also on the injured list, Brian Anderson might now be the regular right fielder. He had been playing third base but that could now fall to Owen Miller and Mike Brosseau. Blake Perkins is also now up with the club and can provide cover at all three outfield spots. Outfield prospect Sal Frelick won’t be an option in the short term, as he has been placed on the injured list in the minors due to a thumb sprain, per Hogg.

Josh Donaldson Likely To Miss Multiple Weeks With Hamstring Strain

By | at

Yankees’ third baseman Josh Donaldson has been diagnosed with a “Grade 1-plus strain” of his right hamstring, manager Aaron Boone tells reporters, including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Boone says Donaldson will probably miss a couple of weeks.

Donaldson was initially placed on the injured list due to this strain a couple of weeks ago but seemed set to be activated on Wednesday. He ultimately wasn’t activated and it was reported that he underwent an MRI to examine his resumed tightness. It seems that the imaging found the strain still lingering and he will need to a miss more time getting healthy.

Donaldson is looking to bounce back after a frustrating 2022 where he hit .222/.308/.374 for a wRC+ of 97. He was still graded well for his glovework but it was his first subpar offensive effort since 2012. He got into five games here in 2023 but mustered a paltry .125/.176/.313 showing before this hamstring issue put him on the shelf. He’s in the final guaranteed season of the four-year deal he signed with the Twins going into 2020.

With Donaldson out, the Yankees have mostly turned to DJ LeMahieu at the hot corner. Utility players Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Oswaldo Cabrera have also been in the mix, though prospect Oswald Peraza is getting the start tonight. With Giancarlo Stanton expected to miss the next six weeks or so, the designated hitter spot is also open for players to be rotated through, with LeMahieu in there for tonight’s contest.

Trevor Rogers Placed On IL With Biceps Strain

By | at

April 21: The Marlins officially placed Rogers on the 15-day injured list today with a left biceps strain, per Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base. In a corresponding move, left-hander Steven Okert has been activate from the IL, where he began the season due to a left adductor issue. Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald had previously noted that Okert was with the club and that Rogers’ IL move was listed on the MLB transaction tracker.

April 19, 8:00pm: Craig Mish of SportsGrid tweets that Rogers appears likely to land on the injured list. He notes that the club is hopeful Rogers’ recovery timetable will be measured in “weeks, not months.”

3:05pm: Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers was removed from his start today after a visit from the trainer, having thrown just 58 pitches in three-plus innings. The club later announced his ailment as left forearm tightness, per Andre Fernandez of the Miami Herald.

At this point, it’s unclear exactly what the lefty’s injury is or how severe, but any issue with a pitcher’s throwing arm is cause for some concern. He and the club will likely do further testing to get more clarity on the specific diagnosis and prognosis. The Marlins are out to a strong 10-8 start here in the early parts of the season and will hope that Rogers has just a minor issue that will not require any significant absence.

The southpaw has had an inconsistent career so far, which started with a 6.11 ERA over 11 starts in 2020. He then had an excellent breakout campaign the following year, throwing 133 innings over 25 starts with a 2.64 ERA. He struck out 28.5% of batters faced while walking 8.4% and getting grounders at a solid 40.1% rate. He came in second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, trailing only Jonathan India. However, he couldn’t maintain that production last year, posting a 5.47 ERA over 23 starts as strikeout rate fell to 22.2%. He also went on the injured list for about a month due to back spasms and finished the year on the IL due to a lat strain.

Rogers has been in decent form here so far in 2023, with his ERA at an even 4.00 after today’s truncated start. If he eventually has to miss some time, it would be the second blow to the Marlins’ rotation, as Johnny Cueto is on the IL due to biceps tightness and is reportedly facing an absence of several weeks. Even in the event of Rogers missing time, the club would still have Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett in that scenario, but they would need a fifth starter at some point.

Devin Smeltzer is up with the big league club for long relief purposes but last pitched back on April 10, when he allowed five earned runs in four innings. Sixto Sánchez is on the 40-man but hasn’t pitched competitively since 2020 due to ongoing shoulder issues and is currently ramping up in extended Spring Training. Daniel Castano has already been up with the club once and could perhaps do so again. Non-roster options in Triple-A include Chi Chi González and Bryan Hoeing.

Matt Foster Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

By | at

White Sox right-hander Matt Foster underwent Tommy John surgery this week, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. The righty was placed on the 15-day injured list at the start of the season due to a forearm strain and was transferred to the 60-day last week.

Foster, 28, has spent his entire career with the White Sox thus far, having been selected by them in the 20th round of the 2016 draft. He worked his way up to the majors and debuted in 2020, showing promise that year by posting a 2.20 ERA in 28 2/3 innings. He struck out 28.4% of batters faced while walking 8.3% of them and got grounders on 35.8% of balls in play. He wasn’t quite able to maintain that pace in the two subsequent seasons, however, registering a combined 5.14 ERA in 84 innings with a diminished strikeout rate of 22.3%.

Foster will now be out of action for the remainder of this year and part of 2024 as well, given the typical Tommy John recovery time of 14 to 18 months. He’ll accrue a full year of service time while on the IL all season, which will get him beyond the three-year plateau and qualify him for arbitration for the first time in the coming offseason.

Kris Bubic To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

Royals left-hander Kris Bubic will undergo Tommy John surgery, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. That will put him out of action for the remainder of 2023 and a portion of the 2024 season as well. The typical recovery timeline for Tommy John surgery is roughly 14-18 months. Bubic was placed on the 15-day injured list last week but the club will inevitably move him to the 60-day once they need a roster spot.

It’s a very unfortunate setback for Bubic, 25, who was showing some positive signs here in 2023. Coming into this year, he had a 4.89 ERA through 309 innings, a somewhat disappointing mark for a guy who was selected 40th overall in 2018 and had been a touted prospect in the years after that. But through his first three starts this year, he had a 3.94 ERA and possibly was even better than that number would indicate. He struck out 23.5% of batters faced and walked just 2.9%, big improvements over his 20% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate coming into the year. He also saw his ground ball rate jump to 52.1%, which was just 44.3% in prior seasons.

This is just three starts and small sample caveats certainly apply, but it’s also worth pointing out that Bubic had added a slider to his repertoire this year. Both Eno Sarris of The Athletic and Jake Mailhot of FanGraphs wrote pieces last week that highlighted Bubic’s improved arsenal in the early parts of the year, suggesting that his better results might have been for real and perhaps could have gotten better going forward. Though his 2023 ERA was about a full run better than his career mark, he had an even shinier 2.71 FIP and 3.45 SIERA. Again, it’s just three starts, but it was backed up by actual changes to his arsenal and might not have been just noise. Bubic and the Royals will now have to wait over a year to test those changes over a larger sample.

It’s obviously a blow for Bubic personally but also for the Royals, who have made some decisions that put their fortunes in the hands of young starters. They have used many of their early draft picks in recent years on pitchers, with not a lot of success. Between 2015 and 2018, Bubic, Brady Singer, Josh Staumont, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar and Jonathan Bowlan were all selected in the first 65 picks of their respective drafts. Up until last year, none of that group had found much major league success. Singer finally bucked the trend in 2022 by posting a 3.23 ERA in 153 1/3 innings and it seemed there was a chance that Bubic was following him. But now the latter is out for the remainder of the year and the former is struggling to a 8.14 ERA through his first four starts.

This loss will only compound the various struggles that the Royals are facing right now, as they have limped out to a 4-15 start, with their .211 winning percentage below all MLB teams except for the Athletics. Without Bubic, the Royals will proceed with four regular starters in Zack Greinke, Jordan Lyles, Brad Keller and Singer. Tonight, Taylor Clarke is serving as an opener in front of Ryan Yarbrough, who figures to get the bulk of the innings. Lynch is on the IL with a shoulder strain but could factor in whenever he’s healthy.

Bubic qualified for arbitration this past offseason as a Super Two player, meaning this is his first of four arb seasons. He and the club agreed to a $2.2MM salary for this year. Even though he’s going to miss the vast majority of the season, he’ll be in line for a similar salary next year, since the arb system is designed so that salaries almost never go down. He can then go through the arbitration system twice more after that before he’s slated for free agency after 2026.

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

hide arrows scroll to top