Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Twins Select José De León

By | at

The Twins are going to select right-hander José De León to their roster, reports Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Jorge Alcalá, who is going on the 15-day injured list. The club already had an opening on their 40-man roster after losing righty Dereck Rodríguez off waivers to the Braves yesterday. The club has subsequently announced the moves, listing Alcalá’s ailment as a right forearm extensor muscle strain. His IL placement is retroactive to May 15.

De León, 30, was once one of the top prospects in the league. Originally drafted by the Dodgers in 2013, he impressed prospect evaluators enough to land on Baseball America’s top 100 list in both 2016 and 2017, placing in the top 30 both of those years. Unfortunately, he’s battled significant injuries since then and still hasn’t been able to carve out a lengthy stay in the big leagues.

He was traded to the Rays prior to 2017 but then required Tommy John surgery going into 2018. He returned in 2019 and was traded to the Reds after that season. He struggled in his time with that club and was released after 2021. He was with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal last year but got hurt in Spring Training and didn’t debut until August.

Through all of that, he has an 8.44 ERA in the big leagues through 48 innings that have been scattered across five different seasons with three different clubs. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins this offseason and is off to a good start. He’s tossed 27 1/3 innings across nine Triple-A appearances, four of them starts. He has a 3.62 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 41.6% ground ball rate.

That showing has impressed the Minnesota brass enough that the righty will get back to the majors. He is out of options and can’t be easily sent back to the minors later in the year, but he does have just two years and 95 days of major league service time. That means that he could be cheaply retained for future seasons via arbitration if he manages to hang onto his roster spot all year long.

Red Sox Select Ryan Sherriff

By | at

4:15pm: The Red Sox have now made these moves official, announcing Schreiber’s injury as a right teres major strain.

2:15pm: The Red Sox are calling up relievers Justin Garza and Ryan Sherriff, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Sherriff isn’t on the 40-man roster but the Sox already have an opening there after designating Ryan Brasier for assignment on the weekend. The corresponding moves to get Garza and Sherriff onto the active roster are righty John Schreiber going on the 15-day injured list and lefty Brennan Bernardino being optioned, per Ian Browne of MLB.com.

Sherriff, 33 next week, has 44 1/3 innings of major league experience but scattered across multiple seasons. The lefty tossed 20 combined innings for the Cardinals over 2017 and 2018 and then 24 1/3 for the Rays in 2020 and 2021. Tommy John surgery in between those stints wiped out the latter half of his 2018 and then all of his 2019. In all of those seasons combined, he has a 3.65 ERA in the majors along with an 18.7% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 56% ground ball rate.

The Rays put Sherriff on waivers at the end of 2021 and he was claimed by the Phillies. A shoulder strain limited him to just 14 minor league appearances last year and he was outrighted off the Philly roster in August. He became a free agent at season’s end and signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Through 15 Triple-A appearances this year, he has allowed exactly 3.00 earned runs per nine innings, striking out 24.6% of opponents while walking 12.3% and getting grounders on 47.5% of balls in play.

Sherriff will give the Sox a fresh lefty arm after Bernardino has pitched in three of the past four days, including the last two. Richard Bleier is in the same situation while Joely Rodríguez has just come off the injured list, so the Sherriff-Bernardino swap makes their southpaw contingent a bit less weary. Sherriff still has options himself, allowing the Sox to perhaps reverse this lefty swap later in the year whenever the need arises.

As for Schreiber, he’s emerged as a key piece of the bullpen for Boston, posting an ERA of 2.22 last year while striking out 28.8% of opponents, walking just 7.4% and getting grounders at a 56.3% clip. He worked his way up the bullpen chart, earning eight saves and 22 holds on the season. This year, his walk rate has ticked up to 11.4% but he’s still managed to lower his ERA to 2.12 and pick up another six holds. He had departed last night’s game with lat tightness and manager Alex Cora said after the game that an IL stint was likely, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. His spot will go to Garza, 29, whom the Sox just claimed off waivers from the Angels last month. Between the two organizations, he has a 3.95 ERA in Triple-A this year.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Turf Toe

By | at

The Marlins announced to reporters, including Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, that outfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. will be placed on the 10-day injured list due to turf toe. Manager Skip Schumaker says Chisholm will miss approximately 4-6 weeks, per Mish.

The news comes as an unfortunate blow to the Marlins, as Chisholm is one of the key players on their roster. He left Saturday’s game after colliding with the wall while attempting a catch and postgame X-rays were negative, but it was reported the next day that he would be sent to see a specialist. It seems that the issue was more serious than initially expected, as he will now miss a decent chunk of time dealing with the ailment.

Chisholm, now 25, had a breakout season with the Marlins last year. He hit 14 home runs and stole 12 bases in 60 games while hitting .254/.325/.535 for a wRC+ of 139. Unfortunately, a stress fracture in his back put him on the injured list in July and limited him to just those 60 contests.

The club then made the surprising decision to move Chisholm from second base to center field this year, installing Luis Arraez at the keystone instead. Defensive metrics have given Chisholm strong grades at his new position in the early going this year, though he hasn’t yet been able to get into a good groove at the plate, slashing just .229/.291/.403 in 2023 for a wRC+ of 91 thus far.

The timing of this injury is unfortunate for the Marlins as they already have a couple of other outfielders on the injured list. Jesús Sánchez just landed there on the weekend due to a right hamstring strain while Avisaíl García has been out for a couple of weeks with lower back tightness. García will begin baseball activities in the next few days, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, but doesn’t seem especially close to a return.

The club will now have to spend the next stretch of their schedule triply shorthanded in the outfield and without their primary center fielder for more than a month, in all likelihood. Garrett Hampson has played center on Sunday and is in there again tonight, though he’s a career .236/.296/.373 hitter. He’s off to a stronger .262/.294/.431 start this year but he’s currently riding a .364 batting average on balls in play while striking out in 29% of his plate appearances and walking just 2.9% of the time.

Hampson figures to be flanked by Bryan De La Cruz and Peyton Burdick in the corners until García or Sánchez can return. Jorge Soler could get in the mix from time to time but he’s been serving as the designated hitter most days.

Mets To Select Josh Walker

By | at

The Mets have optioned left-hander David Peterson, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. His active roster spot will go to fellow lefty Josh Walker, who was not previously on the 40-man roster, though the club already had a vacancy in that regard and won’t need to make a corresponding move.

This is the first time that Walker, 28, has been on a major league roster and he will be making his debut as soon as he’s put into a game. A 37th round selection of the Mets in the 2017 draft, he got some work in the lower levels of the minors in the 2017-2019 stretch before the minor league were canceled by the pandemic in 2020.

In 2021, he shot through three levels, going from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A. He tossed a combined 115 2/3 innings with a 3.73 ERA, striking out 21.5% of opponents against a 6.4% walk rate. Last year, he was limited by injury to just 13 1/3 innings over 13 appearances and has been working exclusively in relief here in 2023. He has tossed 13 1/3 innings over nine Triple-A outings with a miniscule 0.68 ERA, 34% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 32.1% ground ball rate. He’ll give the Mets a second left-handed relief option alongside Brooks Raley.

As for Peterson, he was called on to join the rotation as the Mets were dealing with injuries to Carlos Carrasco, José Quintana, Justin Verlander and the sticky stuff suspension of Max Scherzer. Unfortunately, he’s been lit up so far this year, currently sporting an 8.08 ERA through eight starts. There’s likely a bit of bad luck in there as Peterson actually has strong strikeout and walk rates of 24.7% and 7.7%, respectively. A .404 batting average on balls in play and 58.8% strand rate have helped some extra earned runs across the plate, but so have the eight homers Peterson’s allowed so far.

With Verlander and Scherzer both now back and Carrasco expected to rejoin the club in the near future, Peterson will head down to the farm and try to get things back on track for whenever the club needs reinforcements again.

Guardians Recall Brayan Rocchio

By | at

The Guardians announced to reporters, including Zack Meisel of The Athletic, that they have recalled infield prospect Brayan Rocchio. He’ll take the roster spot of third baseman José Ramírez, who has been placed on the bereavement list. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base had previously reported on Rocchio’s promotion.

Rocchio, 22, actually joined the big league club once already, but he was optioned the next day without getting into a game. Both Amed Rosario and Tyler Freeman were dealing with some minor injuries at that time but ultimately didn’t need to go on the injured list. As such, Rocchio is still looking to make his major league debut, despite that brief trip to the big leagues last month.

Signed as an amateur out of Venezuela, he has continued to impress prospect evaluators as he’s risen up the minor league ladder. Coming into this year, he was placed on lists of the top 100 prospects in the league by Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, ESPN, FanGraphs and Keith Law of The Athletic.

Those outlets generally praise Rocchio’s infield defense and his bat-to-ball skills as he doesn’t strike out or walk much. Last year, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 18 home runs and striking out at just a 17.5% clip. That led to a batting line of .257/.336/.420 and wRC+ of 106 between the two levels. This year, he’s been struck out in just 12.8% of his trips to the plate at Triple-A while hitting .338/.396/.486 for a wRC+ of 126.

Rocchio has split his time between shortstop and second base this year but has also seen some time at third base in the lower levels. He’s not in the lineup tonight, as the Guardians have Gabriel Arias at third while the usual middle infield tandem of Rosario and Andrés Giménez are still in place. It’s possible that Rocchio is only up to serve in a reserve capacity for a few days until Ramírez returns, but he will hopefully get a chance to make his debut this time.

Brewers Designate Gus Varland For Assignment

By | at

The Brewers have designated right-hander Gus Varland for assignment, reports Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His roster spot will go to righty J.B. Bukauskas, per Hogg.

Varland, 26, was selected from the Dodgers in the most recent Rule 5 draft. He made Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster and was able to make six appearances by the middle of April, with a 2.70 ERA in that time. Unfortunately, the last of those appearances saw him get struck by a comebacker off the bat of Manny Machado. Although X-rays were negative, Varland was placed on the 15-day injured list the next day with a right hand contusion.

He was reinstated from the injured list last week but his most recent appearances haven’t gone well. His first stint off the IL saw him walk three batters, hit another and allow one hit across 1 1/3 innings but he managed to escape without any earned runs crossing the plate. He wasn’t so lucky last night, as he was torched for nine earned runs in two thirds of an inning, spiking his season ERA to 11.42.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, the Brewers will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. If any other club were to acquire him, they would still be bound by the Rule 5 framework, meaning they have to keep Varland in the majors or on the IL all season long in order to retain his future rights. If he goes through waivers unclaimed, he will be offered back to the Dodgers.

Tigers Claim Seth Elledge From Mets

By | at

The Tigers announced that they have claimed right-hander Seth Elledge off waivers from the Mets and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. The Mets had designated him for assignment on the weekend. In order to open a spot for Elledge on their 40-man roster, the Tigers transferred right-hander Beau Brieske to the 60-day injured list.

Elledge, who turns 27 on Saturday, has changed uniforms a few times in recent years. He got to the majors with the Cardinals in 2020 and 2021 but was outrighted at the end of that latter season and signed a minor league deal with Atlanta. He spent 2022 with the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers and impressed enough to get added to Atlanta’s 40-man roster at season’s end. He was optioned to the minors again to start this year but was designated for assignment in early April, getting claimed by the Mets, who also put him on waivers about a month later.

Amid all of those roster moves, he’s made 10 Triple-A appearances on the year with a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 innings, striking out 21.1% of batters faced against a 14.1% walk rate. He was much better last year, posting a 3.88 ERA in a larger sample of 46 1/3 innings. He struck out 33.7% of opponents on the season while walking just 8.6%. Though he’s out to a slow start this year, it’s understandable why clubs keep finding roster room for him based on last year’s results and the fact that he still has a couple of options remaining. He also has that small bit of major league experience, tossing 23 1/3 innings for the Cards with a 4.63 ERA. The Tigers have a couple of relievers on the injured list in Freddy Pacheco and Trey Wingenter, so Elledge can head to Toledo to give them a bit of extra depth.

As for Brieske, he’s been on the injured list all year due to a right ulnar nerve entrapment and hasn’t even begun a rehab assignment. This move will make him ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was March 27, meaning he could technically come back next week if he were healthy. But there’s nothing to indicate a return that soon is on the table, making this move a fairly inevitable formality.

Injury Notes: Seager, Buehler, Maeda, Hiura

By | at

Rangers shortstop Corey Seager is expected to be activated prior to tonight’s game, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 29-year-old Seager, playing in the second season of a decade-long $325MM contract, has missed the past month due to a hamstring strain. He burst out of the gates with a .359/.469/.538 showing through his first 49 trips to the plate and went 2-for-8 with a double, a walk and no strikeouts in a brief three-game rehab assignment at Double-A. In Seager’s absence, 23-year-old Ezequiel Duran has filled in admirably at shortstop, batting .293/.328/.474 on the season, though his bat has cooled off in the past week or so. Manager Bruce Bochy has been impressed enough that he’s pledged to find “creative” ways to keep Duran in the lineup frequently even after Seager’s return.

A few more injury situations of particular note to keep an eye on around the league…

  • Right-hander Walker Buehler is with the team at Dodger Stadium and will throw in the bullpen for the Major League staff to take a look at his progress in recovering from Tommy John surgery, tweets Juan Toribio of MLB.com. Walker is still a ways from being an option in the big leagues. The 28-year-old’s surgery was performed late last August, and the general expectation surrounding him has been that he’ll at best be an option in the final month or so of the season. Still, the fact that Buehler has already had multiple bullpen sessions in Arizona and is slated for more mound work this week at Dodger Stadium is encouraging for both the Dodgers and their fans.
  • The Twins hope that right-hander Kenta Maeda can resume throwing off a mound by the end of the week, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Maeda hit the injured list with a triceps strain after being tattooed for 10 runs in three innings against the Yankees. He’d previously allowed six runs on 12 hits with a 12-to-1 K/BB ratio in 13 innings (4.15 ERA) after missing the entire 2022 season. The Twins’ rotation depth has been tested early, with Bailey Ober and Louie Varland stepping in for the injured Maeda and Tyler Mahle (Tommy John surgery). A healthy Maeda would again give the Twins six candidates for rotation work, but injuries tend to sort these issues out. And, if everyone is healthy at the same time, the Twins could opt to use Maeda in relief as a means of monitoring his workload after not throwing a pitch last season.
  • Brewers infielder Keston Hiura, currently playing with their Triple-A club, will miss several weeks due to a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Hiura won’t require surgery, but the expectation is that he’ll be out of game action until late next month. It’s a tough blow for the former top prospect, who was hoping to play his way back onto the big league roster after clearing outright waivers earlier this year. He’s out to a .331/.396/.678 start with a dozen home runs through 134 plate appearances with Nashville this season and has trimmed his strikeout rate there to 24.6%. Hiura has had similar stretches in Triple-A before, however, and his familiar strikeout woes have regularly resurfaced upon being promoted back to the big leagues. He batted .226/.316/.449 with the Brewers last year (115 wRC+), but because of a staggering 41.7% strikeout rate, he needed a .355 average on balls in play to get to that middling .226 batting average.

Orioles Recall Cole Irvin

By | at

Left-hander Cole Irvin is back with the Orioles, as the team announced Tuesday that he’s been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk. Right-hander Logan Gillaspie has been optioned to Norfolk in a corresponding move.

Baltimore’s decision to option Irvin to Norfolk came as something of a surprise earlier this season. The Orioles’ acquisition of Irvin was one of just two moves made to fortify the starting rotation over the winter (along with the Kyle Gibson signing), and the team parted with an infield prospect of some note (Darell Hernaiz) in order to acquire him. There’s no getting around how rough Irvin’s start to the season was — 15 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings through three starts — but his track record and the manner in which the O’s acquired him led many to presume he’d have a longer leash to get back on track.

To Irvin’s credit, he’s largely done that in Norfolk. The lefty took the ball five times for the Tides and pitched 31 innings with a sharp 3.19 ERA. His 13.4% strikeout rate is still a red flag, but Irvin also only walked 3.1% of his opponents in Triple-A.

Strikeouts have never been a big part of Irvin’s game anyhow. He’s spent the past two seasons anchoring the Athletics’ rotation in Oakland, making 62 starts with a 4.11 ERA, 16.8% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate. Irvin, who’s averaged 90.9 mph on his fastball in his career, has succeeded more with precision and command than by overpowering his opponents.

The role Irvin will occupy with the O’s this time around hasn’t been formally laid out. Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun tweets that he could provide some length out of the bullpen for the time being, although one would imagine that a return to the starting staff could be in order if Irvin pitches well in a long relief capacity. Baltimore starters have combined for a 5.08 ERA this season, although Irvin’s own struggles weigh into that number. Over the past month, the O’s have used Gibson, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish and top prospect Grayson Rodriguez in the rotation, and that quintet has combined for a more palatable 4.28 mark. Rodriguez (6.51 ERA), Gibson (5.08) and Bradish (4.88) have all posted lackluster bottom-line results in that time.

From a service time vantage point, Irvin’s demotion isn’t likely to change his trajectory. He entered the season with two years, 120 days of big league service time, meaning he needed only 52 days in the Majors to reach three years of service and become arbitration-eligible following the current season. It’s highly likely he’ll hit that mark this year even with a month-long stay in Norfolk. That’ll keep him on pace to become a free agent following the the 2026 season. This is Irvin’s final minor league option year, so the team can technically shuttle him between Norfolk and the Majors throughout the season if they like, but if Irvin can round back into his 2021-22 form he’ll have a clear role on the big league staff.

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

hide arrows scroll to top