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Tigers Willing To Play Colt Keith At Third Base

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Tigers infielder Colt Keith has not played third base in the majors but could make his debut there at any time. Prior to yesterday’s game, manager A.J. Hinch said so, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.

“We’re curious about how we can maximize this roster,” Hinch said. “I don’t know that it will be something that is primary, or I don’t know that it’s something you’re going to see a lot of, but there are a lot of times during games – as we do use our whole roster – where being able to put him over there could be very advantageous.” When asked if Keith is ready to play third, Hinch said: “I don’t know if he’s ready or not, but if the game leads me that way, I’m going to put him there because of the situations that we’re trying to win games. In a perfect world, he gets a few more reps of practice, but I’m willing to do anything to try to put these guys in a good position.”

Playing third base used to be quite normal for Keith. In 2021, his first professional season, that was his primary position. He logged 347 2/3 innings at the hot corner and 132 at second base. However, he suffered an injury to his right shoulder in June of 2022. He spent the second half of that year on the injured list. Issues with that shoulder flared up in 2023 and 2024, which led to him spending more time on the right side of the infield. He hasn’t played third since late in 2023 in the minors.

He was called up to the majors in 2024 and, as mentioned, hasn’t played third in the big leagues yet. He played second base last year, though the offseason signing of Gleyber Torres has pushed him largely to first base this year. Keith has technically spent more time at second than at first so far in 2025, though a lot of that time at the keystone was when Torres was on the injured list.

He has been doing some drills at third base lately and it seems the Tigers are satisfied enough with his progress that he’s a legitimate option there. Based on Hinch’s framing, it sounds like they are taking a cautious approach. Perhaps they will give Keith occasional looks there at first to see how it goes, with the possibility for more appearances if things go well.

If Keith is able to handle third, it would be a good fit for the club in a lot of ways, as the Tigers have a lot of options for the right side of the infield but are weaker on the left. Keith himself has a solid .244/.332/.390 line and 108 wRC+ this year. Torres is having a great season at the plate, with a .270/.383/.404 line and 131 wRC+. First baseman Spencer Torkelson has a .231/.341/.495 line and 134 wRC+.

The designated hitter spot allows those three to share a lineup but the Tigers would probably like to have Kerry Carpenter in there more often since he’s not a great defender in the outfield and has some recurring injury issues. He has spent a lot of time on the grass this year due to the Keith/Torres/Torkelson trio rotating through the DH spot, as well as a number of outfield injuries. However, Parker Meadows and Wenceel Pérez have both recently returned from lengthy IL stints. Between those two, Carpenter and Riley Greene, the outfield is more crowded than it has been all season.

Meanwhile, the left side of the infield is fairly wide open. Trey Sweeney has been the regular shortstop but he is hitting just .225/.282/.316 for a wRC+ of 70 this year, with subpar defense to boot. At third base, a hodgepodge of players have produced a collective .195/.272/.276 line and 60 wRC+. Only the Twins and Brewers have received less offensive production from the hot corner this year.

Jace Jung was given a chance to take the position earlier this year but he did not succeed. Of late, the club has been trying to cobble together a solution from utility players Zach McKinstry, Javier Báez and Andy Ibáñez. McKinstry and Báez are playing well on the whole but can’t seem to produce much when playing third. That may just be small sample noise, but regardless, the Tigers would surely love it if someone could solidify the position.

If Keith can handle third, it would upgrade the club’s production at that spot while also helping elsewhere. Torres and Torkelson could be the regular’s on the right side. McKinstry or Báez could bounce around as utility guys or perhaps cut into Sweeney’s time at short. The DH spot could open up for Carpenter and the club’s other outfielders.

The Tigers have the best record in baseball at 41-22 but no club is perfect and patching up any hole they can find will naturally help for the stretch run and in the postseason. It could also alter the club’s deadline plans if there’s a notable shift in the next month or so.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images

Royals Select Thomas Hatch

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The Royals announced Thursday morning that they’ve selected the contract of righty Thomas Hatch from Triple-A Omaha. Injured reliever Hunter Harvey moves from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Kansas City also technically optioned righty Andrew Hoffmann to Omaha but immediately re-added him to the roster as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader.

Hatch, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Royals back in February. He originally had signed a one-year deal with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, but that arrangement fell through due to some concerns stemming from his physical. Hatch wound up signing with Kansas City instead, and he’s now back in the majors.

Hatch has pitched in parts of four big league seasons, all with the Blue Jays or Pirates, and spent time pitching with Japan’s Hiroshima Carp in Nippon Professional Baseball last year. The former third-round pick (Cubs, 2016) has totaled 69 big league innings and carries a 4.96 earned run average, a 19.7% strikeout rate, a 10.7% walk rate and a 46.9% ground-ball rate in that time.

Whatever concerns led to the voiding of his KBO deal haven’t manifested in an injury this year. Hatch has been healthy all season and working out of the Storm Chasers’ rotation down in Omaha. He’s posted decent overall results in 51 innings — 4.59 ERA, 20.8 K%, 8.6 BB% — but has been better and more consistent than that rudimentary ERA would indicate. Hatch allowed nearly one-third of his seasonlong run total in a single, disastrous outing on April 15, when the Orioles’ Norfolk affiliate trounced him for eight runs. Since that time, he’s started seven games and rattled off a far more presentable 3.68 ERA with below-average strikeout numbers but solid command and ground-ball tendencies.

The Royals were off yesterday due to a rainout in St. Louis, so the entire bullpen is fresh. However, they used six relievers on Tuesday and presumably want some extra length in the ’pen for today’s twin bill. Hatch won’t start either game, but he’s fully stretched out (seven shutout innings in his most recent Triple-A start) and can thus provide ample long relief if either Game 1 starter Noah Cameron or Game 2 starter Cole Ragans runs into a short start. Ragans is expected to start Game 2 today, so he’ll presumably be reinstated from the 15-day IL between games. Cameron, good as he’s been so far in his big league tenure, could wind up being optioned to make room for Ragans’ return — a testament to the strength of Kansas City’s rotation.

The move to the 60-day IL isn’t a reflection of any sort of new setback for Harvey. He’s already missed 57 days, and the move from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL does not reset his minimum stay on the injured list. He’s technically eligible to return as soon as this weekend, but there’s no indication he’s close to returning. Harvey landed on the IL after experiencing shoulder discomfort in his most recent appearance back on April 7.

Harvey was subsequently diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain of his teres major. Harvey resumed throwing in early May but felt lingering discomfort and was shut back down. He hasn’t yet gone out on a minor league rehab assignment, and the team hasn’t provided an update on his status since May 23, when MLB.com’s Anne Rogers relayed that Harvey is playing catch but has still not progressed to the point where he’s able to more seriously ramp up his rehab.

The Opener: Doubleheader, Pitchers’ Duel, A’s

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

1. Doubleheader in St. Louis:

The Royals and Cardinals saw their game yesterday postponed by rain. That missed game will be made up for today as part of a split doubleheader between the two clubs. Game 1 is scheduled to begin at 12:45pm local time, while Game 2’s first pitch is set for 6:45pm. Tickets for yesterday’s postponed game will be valid for Game 1 today, while fans who had tickets for today’s game will still have valid tickets for Game 2. MLB.com notes that the Cardinals will offer fans who had paid tickets to yesterday’s game a voucher for a future Monday-Thursday Cardinals home game. Notably, this will be the fifth doubleheader of the Cardinals’ season, as they’ve been dogged by inclement weather throughout the year. The twin bill will now serve as the starting point for a series of 28 games in 28 days, a stretch during which the Cards will have only June 16 as a scheduled day off.

2. Game 2 Pitchers’ Duel:

While Game 1 of the aforementioned doubleheader will feature rookie southpaw Noah Cameron (1.05 ERA in four starts) pitching for the Royals against Cardinals veteran Miles Mikolas (3.90 ERA in 11 starts), the main attraction will be Game 2. Cole Ragans is expected to make his return to the mound for the first time since a May 16 start (also against the Cardinals), where he suffered a groin strain that kept him on the injured list for nearly three weeks. A finalist for the AL Cy Young award last year, Ragans has a lackluster 4.53 ERA in nine starts this year despite a terrific 1.98 FIP and a strikeout rate of 37.7%. His opponent today will be breakout southpaw Matthew Liberatore, who boasts a 3.08 ERA and 2.65 FIP for the Cardinals heading into his career-high 12th start of the season.

3. A’s shaking up pitching staff?

The Athletics are currently operating with a four-man rotation, and with the club in need of a fifth starter today, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com relays that right-hander Mitch Spence is expected to take the ball for his first start of the 2025 season. It’s possible he’s being called upon to start a bullpen game, but this could also signal a role change for the righty.

Spence made 24 starts and hurled 151 1/3 innings for the A’s during their final season in Oakland. The former Rule 5 pick opened the 2025 season in the ’pen and has tossed 39 innings with a 4.38 ERA and 3.82 FIP thus far. He hasn’t thrown more than 44 pitches or topped three innings in an outing since early April, however. Are the A’s planning to stretch him out more fully? Athletics starters rank 28th in the majors with a 5.49 ERA, leading only the Marlins (5.50) and Rockies (6.55). Luis Severino (4.54) and Jeffrey Springs (4.72) are the only A’s starters with sub-5.00 ERAs on the season.

Read The Transcript Of Nicklaus Gaut’s Fantasy Baseball Chat

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Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central Time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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MLB Mailbag: Duran, Bregman, Mariners, Yoshida, Donovan, Giants, Angels

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I'm pinch-hitting for Tim Dierkes on this week's edition of the MLBTR Mailbag. We'll tackle questions on Jarren Duran and the Padres, Alex Bregman's opt-out status, Donovan Solano and Tyler Locklear in Seattle, Masataka Yoshida, Brendan Donovan, some Giants rotation standouts, the Angels' bullpen and more!

Ross asks:

With the report that the Padres are interested in Jarren Duran, what would be a reasonable return for the Red Sox?

As we discussed on the podcast this week, the Padres/Duran connection feels like it's drawing a bit more attention than it should, at least based on the chances of him actually changing hands (even more so if we specifically zero in on the Padres). That's not to say there's no chance of a Duran deal, but the Padres have a clear need in the outfield and an ultra-aggressive baseball operations leader in A.J. Preller. It'd frankly be more surprising if they hadn't inquired on Duran.

That said, it's worth diving into a bit. Duran had a borderline MVP-caliber season last year, hitting .285/.342/.492 with plus defense and elite baserunning. Baseball-Reference valued him at 8.7 wins above replacement. We've seen players named MVP with lesser WAR totals than that, but Duran was an afterthought in the 2024 race thanks to outrageously good seasons from Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. and (to a slightly lesser extent) Juan Soto.

The Padres' farm system was once a powerhouse but is now top-heavy and lacking depth. Shortstop Leo De Vries and catcher Ethan Salas are among MLB's 25 best prospects, but there's not a lot of other talent in the hopper. It makes a deal difficult to envision -- for multiple reasons.

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

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MLB To Propose Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge System For 2026

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The challenge system for calling balls and strikes seems to be less than a year away. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred tells Evan Drellich of The Athletic that the league will propose that change, to go into effect in the 2026 regular season, to the Competition Committee. While the term “propose” may sound uncertain, MLB essentially has the ability to pass any on-field rule changes it wants.

MLB and the Players Association established the Competition Committee within the 2022 collective bargaining agreement. It’s an 11-person panel that consists of six league personnel, four player representatives, and one umpire. That committee can pass rule changes by majority vote.

The league reps have a majority of their own, so they’re able to pass any league initiatives over the objections of the players as long as there’s no dissension within their ranks. That happened with the 2023 changes that included the introduction of the pitch clock and limits on defensive shifts, which the Committee passed over unanimous “no” votes from the four players.

The MLBPA knew at the time of the 2022 CBA that the setup was essentially handing over complete control of on-field rules to the league. MLB had a formal unilateral right to implement rule changes under previous CBAs, but the union had the ability to block any change for one year before the league could override it. The Competition Committee has the authority to implement a rule change after 45 days, so any offseason measures go into effect the following season.

The players on the Committee may well be in support of the automatic zone regardless. (It’ll perhaps be more interesting, if ultimately irrelevant, to see how the lone umpire representative votes.) MLB initially had floated the concept of using a completely electronic strike zone, but it backed off that after receiving player feedback that it’d have too adverse an impact on catchers who make a living off their pitch framing acumen. They’ve tested the challenge system for years in the minors and introduced it to MLB Spring Training this year.

Human umpires will continue to make the vast majority of the ball-strike calls. Each team receives two challenges that would turn to the electronic zone to potentially overrule a call they feel is incorrect. Challenges must be called for in real time by either the hitter, catcher or pitcher. An overturned call does not result in a forfeited challenge. The limit on the number of incorrect challenges encourages players to challenge only if the call is either so egregious that they’re confident they’ll get it overturned or comes on pitches that might be particularly decisive to the outcome of the game.

Additionally, Manfred was noncommittal on when the league had interest in moving forward with a potential change to allow hitters to use bat tracking metrics to challenge check swing calls. The league began testing that with minor league players in the Arizona Fall League last season. It has not been used in any MLB exhibition games. MLB is unlikely to propose it without testing it in big league Spring Training, as they did with the ABS challenge. Manfred suggested that testing might not happen next year because of the more pressing strike zone change.

“We haven’t made a decision about the check-swing thing. … I think we got to get over the hump in terms of either doing ABS or not doing it before you’d get into the complication of a separate kind of challenge involved in an at-bat, right,” he told Drellich. “You think about them, they’re two different systems operating at the same time. We really got to think that one through.”

MLBTR Podcast: Jarren Duran Rumors, Caglianone And Young Promoted, And Pitching Injuries

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Diamondbacks can’t climb in the standings, what does their deadline look like? (48:45)
  • As a thought experiment, if the Orioles were willing to listen on Gunnar Henderson, what teams would even have the pieces to pull off a trade? (54:10)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Yasmani Grandal Steps Away From Red Sox

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Yasmani Grandal informed the Red Sox’s Triple-A team that he is stepping away from his minor league deal. Grandal did not officially announce his retirement, but it appears he’s leaning that way.

“At the moment, it looks like he’s probably going to walk away and potentially hang them up,” Triple-A manager Chad Tracy told MassLive’s Katie Morrison-O’Day on Tuesday. “We talked (Monday), and I knew he was going to pack up and go…his response was ‘it’s time to be dad.’” The Sox technically placed him on the restricted list, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Francys Romero confirms that Grandal does not intend to return to the Boston organization.

Grandal signed a minor league deal with the Sox in mid-April. He bypassed a contractual opt-out on May 1 and ultimately appeared in 23 games for Worcester. While he posted a decent .256/.372/.397 batting line, the Sox have a more locked-in catching duo than they did at the time he signed. Connor Wong had just broken his finger. Carlos Narváez was playing in front of Blake Sabol. Wong returned on May 2, while Narváez has impressed enough to take over as the primary catcher. Sabol was recently designated for assignment, so Grandal would probably have been the first one up in the event of an injury, but that was his only real path to the big leagues.

If this is the end of his playing days, he’ll walk away as one of the more productive catchers of his generation. Grandal was a two-time All-Star who twice received down-ballot MVP votes. He has spent parts of 13 seasons in the big leagues. A first-round pick by the Reds in 2010, he was dealt to San Diego as a prospect in a blockbuster deal for Mat Latos. Grandal played parts of three seasons with the Padres before he was packaged in another significant trade, moving to the Dodgers alongside then-prospect Zach Eflin for Matt Kemp.

Grandal arguably did his best work in a Dodger uniform. He hit .238/.337/.453 while grading as an elite pitch framer over four seasons. He played one All-Star season with the Brewers before joining the White Sox on a four-year, $73MM free agent deal. The contract didn’t end well, but he posted a career-best .420 on-base percentage over 93 games in 2021. His most recent (and potentially final) MLB work came with the Pirates last season, when he hit .228/.304/.400 across 72 contests as the veteran in a catching group that also included Joey Bart and Henry Davis.

Mariners, Daniel Bard Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Mariners are in agreement with veteran reliever Daniel Bard, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI. The ISE Baseball client will head to the team’s Arizona complex for some work before reporting to Triple-A Tacoma. Bradford adds that the deal contains multiple opt-out dates if Bard isn’t called up to the big league roster.

Bard is a few weeks shy of his 40th birthday. He missed all of last season recovering from surgeries to address a meniscus tear in his left knee and, more concerningly, a flexor tendon tear in his forearm. It seemed the latter injury might end Bard’s career, but he embarked on a comeback effort and threw in front of roughly ten teams last month. The Mariners evidently liked what they saw.

It has been a winding career path. Bard was a quality setup man in Boston for a few seasons until running into significant command woes. He bounced around the minors and even retired for a time to take a non-playing role with the Diamondbacks. Bard announced he was making a comeback in 2020. It improbably kickstarted a second act with the Rockies, with whom he eventually emerged as closer. He combined for 54 saves between 2021-22, working to a 1.79 ERA in the latter season.

Colorado signed Bard to a two-year, $19MM extension shortly before the 2022 trade deadline. That didn’t pan out, as his control issues resurfaced the following year. He managed a 4.56 ERA across 49 1/3 innings while walking more than 21% of opposing hitters. The second season of the deal was wiped out by the aforementioned injuries. Bard is a much less risky flier for the Mariners, who will see how his stuff plays in Tacoma after his tune-up at the complex. His fastball still had good life before the flexor surgery, as he averaged 95 MPH on his sinker in 2023.

MLBPA, Tony Clark Hire Counsel Amid Federal Investigation

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Last week, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Don Van Natta Jr. reported that the MLB and NFL Players Associations were the subjects of a federal investigation. According to ESPN, the FBI had contacted multiple players involved with the MLBPA regarding OneTeam Partners — a joint venture initially co-founded by the two players unions and a private equity firm that is concerned with issues outside the collective bargaining agreement (e.g. licensing deals for the use of player likenesses).

The players themselves are not the target of the investigation. ESPN wrote that an anonymous complainant filed allegations with the National Labor Relations Board late in 2024 that — among other things — accused MLBPA executive director Tony Clark of “improperly (giving) himself and other executives equity” in OneTeam. It seems that’s the cause for this investigation; the MLBPA has previously denied those allegations. According to ESPN, the NFLPA commissioned its own audit after the NLRB filing and determined that the NFLPA was in compliance with accepted practice.

There aren’t many specifics available. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote last night that Clark (as an individual) and the MLBPA have hired separate attorneys. That’s sensible because the allegations in the NLRB complaint, if true, could involve a conflict of interest between Clark and the union.

Clark has been the head of the Players Association since 2013. He has led two rounds of collective bargaining negotiations. He’s currently positioned to do so again in 2026. Last spring, he and deputy director Bruce Meyer weathered an internal push from a segment of the players who wanted to oust them in favor of former minor league advocate Harry Marino.

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