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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.

Rangers Re-Sign Tucker Barnhart To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced that catcher Tucker Barnhart has been re-signed to a minor league deal. He had just elected free agency yesterday after clearing waivers. He’ll presumably report to Triple-A Round Rock in the coming days.

Though the Rangers just bumped Barnhart off their roster, they are likely happy to have him back in a non-roster capacity. At the big league level, they have Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka splitting the catching duties but they don’t have any other backstops on the 40-man.

Barnhart, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and came into the year as the top depth option at the position. That got him to the majors when Higashioka suffered a hamstring injury. He didn’t get much playing time, however. In over a month on the roster, he got into eight contests and made 15 plate appearances with a .231/.333/.231 line.

If either Heim or Higashioka heads to the injured list later this year, Barnhart will have a good chance of coming back up to the majors since he has over a decade of big league experience. He’s never been a huge threat at the plate, with a career .241/.318/.351 line and 78 wRC+, but he has received lots of praise for his glovework over the years.

Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images

Tigers Activate Sawyer Gipson-Long

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June 4: The Tigers announced Gipson-Long’s activation today. Righty Dylan Smith was optioned to Triple-A Toledo as the corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Jason Foley was recalled and placed on the major league 60-day IL. Foley underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in May while on optional assignment. Due to this move, he’ll get major league pay and service time while spending the rest of the year on the IL.

Foley came into this year with his service time clock at three years and 33 days. He should finish this season at 3.149, give or take a day. The Tigers can now retain him via arbitration through the 2028 season. However, he’ll be a non-tender candidate at the end of this year due to his health status. He is making $3.15MM this year and shouldn’t be able to push that any higher due to his injury absence.

June 3: The Tigers will activate Sawyer Gipson-Long to start tomorrow’s game against the White Sox, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters (including Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free-Press). He’ll be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, which will require a 40-man roster spot. The Tigers don’t have an obvious candidate to move to the 60-day IL. They’ll likely designate someone for assignment tomorrow.

Gipson-Long will take an MLB mound for the first time since September 2023. He injured his elbow last spring and required an internal brace UCL surgery. Knowing he’d miss the entire season either way, he also underwent a labrum repair on his left hip over the summer. He’ll make his return a little more than 13 months after the elbow procedure. He has taken the ball five times on a rehab stint going back to May 8. He reached 5 1/3 innings and 53 pitches during his final appearance with Triple-A Toledo last week.

Now 27, Gipson-Long has four MLB starts to his name. Those all came at the end of the 2023 season. He pitched well over 20 innings, working to a 2.70 ERA while striking out nearly 32% of opponents. It came against a soft slate of lineups, but it would have put him in the mix for the fifth or sixth spot on the rotation depth chart last year had he been healthy.

Injuries to Reese Olson and Jackson Jobe have opened that opportunity for now. Detroit has Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and Keider Montero operating as their top four at the moment. Veteran righty Alex Cobb recently began a rehab assignment; he’s been out all season with a hip issue.

Poll: Should The Marlins Trade Ryan Weathers?

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When it comes to trade candidates on the Marlins, the majority of the focus has been squarely on right-hander Sandy Alcantara. A recent Cy Young award winner who missed last season while rehabbing Tommy John surgery, Alcantara is earning a healthy salary on a team that is seemingly always looking for opportunities to lower its already-meager payroll and has enough team control remaining for rival clubs to convince themselves to part ways with prospects they’d never consider dealing for a rental arm.

That all makes Alcantara a sensible and attractive trade candidate on paper, but a major issue with those plans has emerged this year: he simply isn’t pitching very well. The righty’s 7.89 ERA through 12 starts is the worst mark among starters with at least 50 innings this year, and even more advanced metrics like his 5.04 FIP and 4.85 SIERA are the 11th- and tenth-worst figures in the sport respectively. It’s going to be hard to convince opposing teams to pay a premium for Alcantara as he’s currently pitching, and that’s a problem for a Miami club that’s in the midst of a deep rebuild.

While Alcantara might not be pitching like the front-line starter the team was hoping to be able to market to needy clubs this summer, another intriguing arm has inserted himself into the discussion with a strong start to the season: left-hander Ryan Weathers. The 25-year-old started the 2025 campaign on the injured list due to a forearm strain he suffered during Spring Training, but in four starts since returning he’s looked nothing short of excellent with a 2.49 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate, and a 43.1% ground ball rate. Those peripherals don’t quite live up to that ERA, but even his 3.60 SIERA to this point in the year puts him on par with arms like Merrill Kelly and David Peterson who have established themselves as solid mid-rotation, playoff-caliber starters.

On top of his solid performance, Weathers would also be extremely attractive as a trade candidate because he’s making less than $780K this season and comes with plenty of team control. The southpaw won’t be a free agent until the end of the 2028 season, so even clubs facing tight budget restrictions in the short term or who aren’t interested in adding long-term salary commitments could have interest in his services if he’s made available. Weathers’ combination of strong results and a team-friendly contract situation could make him an extremely valuable trade asset for the Fish this summer.

With that being said, there are certainly strong reasons to think the Marlins may not want to part ways with the southpaw. Weathers is still just 25 years old and has yet to complete a full, healthy big league campaign with the club. Four starts is a small sample size that could make him difficult to market, and while good health should allow him to get more like ten to twelve starts under his belt before trade season kicks into high gear, it’s possible he’ll take a step back and wind up pitching closer to the 3.63 ERA and 4.11 FIP he posted in 16 starts last season going forward. Even if he does keep this level of success up, there’s certainly an argument to be made that Weathers could be dealt at a later date when he’s more established and teams might feel more comfortable surrendering a large trade package for him.

What’s more, Weathers’ three seasons of team control after this one could make the Marlins a bit more reluctant to trade the lefty. Miami surely hopes to be competing for the postseason again before 2029, especially with players like Kyle Stowers, Connor Norby, Agustin Ramirez, and Xavier Edwards showing themselves to be solid pieces this year. A potential front three of Eury Perez, Max Meyer, and Weathers under long-term team control would go a long way to making the Marlins legitimate contenders sooner rather than later, and many of those aforementioned pieces only have one more year of team control than Weathers does. Moving someone like Edward Cabrera, who has the same amount of team control remaining as Weathers but is two years older, could also be a preferable option given that Weathers is set to hit free agency ahead of his age-29 season.

Of course, many of the reasons that Weathers would be difficult to part ways with now could be argued as reasons he should be traded at some point. His injury history may make him less valuable in trade, but the Marlins are seeing right now with Alcantara what struggling after a major arm injury can do to a player’s value. The lefty’s youth would mean he’s in the prime of his career when the Marlins will hopefully be trying to contend again, but it also would make him a prime extension candidate for a club with deeper pockets than Miami. The collection of talent the club has at its disposal is impressive, but it still leans much more towards pitching than offense, so swapping a player like Weathers for a bat with similar control could go a long way to improving the team.

How do MLBTR readers think the Marlins should handle Weathers this summer? Should he be kept off the market entirely, shopped aggressively, or moved only if a team makes an overwhelming offer? Have your say in the poll below:

Nick Solak Elects Free Agency

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Infielder/outfielder Nick Solak has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was outrighted by the Pirates yesterday but has the right to reject that assignment since he has a previous career outright.

Solak, 30, will now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity. He settled for a minor league deal with the Pirates coming into the year and then got out to a great start. In 32 Triple-A contests, he put up a massive .393/.452/.625 batting line. That was partly due to an unsustainable .422 batting average on balls in play but Solak also hit six home runs while drawing walks at a 9.5% clip and only striking out 13.5% of the time.

That was enough to get him to the big leagues but he didn’t get much playing time in Pittsburgh. In almost three weeks on the roster, he only received 11 plate appearances in four games, recording just one single and no extra-base hits.

The Bucs nudged him off the roster when Nick Gonzales came off the injured list. Solak is out of options and therefore had to be removed from the 40-man entirely. The 29 other clubs all passed on the chance to grab him off waivers, so he’ll presumably be looking for another minor league deal in the coming days.

Broadly speaking, he has generally hit well in the minors but not the majors. He has a .250/.325/.369 line and 91 wRC+ in the big leagues. That includes a hot start when he was first promoted in 2019. Since then, he has a .243/.314/.350 line and 86 wRC+. Dating back to that same 2019 season, he has a .291/.379/.472 line and 118 wRC+ down on the farm.

Defensively, he’s played almost every position on the diamond but he’s not considered a strong fielder. In recent years, he’s mostly been limited to the outfield corners, first base and occasionally appearances at second base.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Red Sox Notes: Duran, Casas, Dobbins

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The Padres’ reported interest in Jarren Duran has drawn plenty of attention, but Sean McAdam of MassLive.com downplays the potential fit between the two clubs. McAdam writes that he, too, has heard the Friars have checked in on Duran, but the Sox aren’t shopping the 2024 All-Star. With a crowded outfield mix and uber-prospect Roman Anthony seemingly ready for an MLB look, the Sox aren’t turning interested parties away when they inquire about Duran, but there’s an understandably high asking price.

With regard to the Padres specifically, McAdam touches on some of the difficulties regarding the fit that Darragh McDonald and I discussed on this week’s episode of the MLBTR Podcast. The Red Sox are likely to want immediate MLB help at either the infield corners or in the starting rotation, and San Diego is lacking in those areas. Their top two starters, Dylan Cease and Michael King, are free agents at season’s end. They don’t have any high-end, MLB-ready pitching prospects around which to build a deal, nor do they have the type of controllable corner infield help Boston would covet. The Padres’ infield is composed of expensive veterans, all of whom except Luis Arraez are on long-term deals; Arraez, a free agent at season’s end, isn’t going to get the ball rolling in talks when Duran is controlled through 2028.

The Padres do have two of MLB’s very best prospects in shortstop Leo De Vries and catcher Ethan Salas, but both are teenagers who are years from being ready for the majors. They’re also widely viewed as untouchable in trades, or close to it. As such, even if the Red Sox got to the point where they were serious about shopping Duran around, it seems likely that another outfield-needy team would be able to put together a more compelling package to sway the Sox.

Short-term help at the corner infield wouldn’t be a need at Fenway Park if the Sox had a healthy Triston Casas who was hitting as he did in 2023-24, when he batted a combined .256/.357/.480 (126 wRC+) with 37 homers in 745 plate appearances. Casas struggled for much of this season’s first three weeks, however, and suffered a season-ending knee injury when he’d begun to show signs of breaking out of that slump (.261/.414/.522 in eight games leading up to the injury).

Casas chatted with Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic about the injury, his timeline for a recovery and both the physical and mental difficulties of going through a rehab process that’ll span 10 or more months. An exact timeline hasn’t yet been established, but Casas said no doctors have told him to expect a yearlong absence to this point. He’s working toward a goal of being ready for next year’s spring training. For now, he’s still on crutches for at least two more weeks.

Casas calls the ruptured patellar tendon the biggest physical challenge he’s had to overcome in his career but noted that last year’s rib cage fractures may have been more mentally taxing. With that injury, he felt strong but had to simply wait to allow his ribs to heal before being cleared to swing at full strength, whereas he has more measured checkpoints and benchmarks in his rehab with the current injury. He added that former Red Sox right-hander Garrett Richards, who also suffered a ruptured patellar tendon late in his career, has reached out and been a valuable mentor as he navigates the early stages of his rehab. Sox fans, in particular, will want to check out McCaffrey’s piece for several thoughtful quotes from Casas about the injury, his rehab and his general outlook as he sets off on a long road to recovery.

Turning to the starting pitching group, the Sox optioned Richard Fitts earlier this week. Chris Cotillo of MassLive was among those to relay that Hunter Dobbins will draw into the rotation now. Various pitching injuries have thrust Dobbins to the majors this year and he has managed to perform decently in his first big league action. He has logged 44 1/3 innings this year over seven starts and two relief appearances, having allowed 4.06 earned runs per nine. His 19.6% strikeout rate is a bit low but he has only walked 5.6% of batters faced while getting grounders on 44.3% of balls in play.

Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito have the other four rotation spots for now. Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval and Chris Murphy are all on the injured list and could rejoin the rotation mix at some point. Sandoval, who had UCL surgery last year, tells Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he has thrown six bullpens but still isn’t close to facing live hitters. Crawford is on the IL due to knee discomfort but is now also dealing with wrist pain, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. Houck is on the shelf due to a flexor pronator strain and is still at the playing catch stage, per Smith. Murphy had Tommy John surgery in April of last year and his current status is unclear.

White Sox Claim Ryan Cusick

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The White Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Ryan Cusick off waivers from the Tigers and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Detroit designated Cusick for assignment earlier this week. Righty Miguel Castro has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Castro suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.

Cusick, 25, is a former first-round pick but he hasn’t yet been able to live up to that potential in the minor leagues. That’s why he’s been riding the transaction carousel lately. The A’s designated him for assignment just over a week ago. The Tigers claimed him but gave him the DFA treatment a few days later, which made him available to the White Sox today.

In the summer of 2021, Atlanta selected Cusick with the 24th overall pick and gave him a $2.7MM signing bonus. His time with that organization turned out to be brief, as Cusick was included in the March 2022 Matt Olson trade.

With the A’s, he didn’t pan out as a starter, both due to some injuries and his struggles to develop a changeup as a third offering. He had a 5.60 earned run average in 143 innings over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The A’s moved him to the bullpen midway through 2024 and he showed promise there. He ended last year with a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings. His 11.8% walk rate was a bit high but he also punched out 28.2% of opponents.

The A’s put him on their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft but he couldn’t keep that momentum going in 2025. He began this year with a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 innings. His 19.4% walk rate was actually higher than his 16.4% strikeout rate in that time. After the Tigers claimed him, he was able to add one scoreless inning before his second DFA of the year.

Cusick is clearly still a project but the Sox are a sensible landing spot for him. They are deep in rebuilding mode, having lost 121 games last year. They’re not quite as bad this year but they’re still the worst team in the American League. Most of their pitchers are young and inexperienced. If Cusick can get in a good groove with Charlotte, there’s a path to big league playing time. He has a full slate of options and can be kept in the minors for quite a while, though it’s also possible he gets nudged off the 40-man roster yet again if his struggles continue.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Yankees Outright Carlos Carrasco

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The Yankees announced that right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who was designated for assignment yesterday, has been sent outright to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The waiver process takes 48 hours but players can be put on the wire while still on the 40-man and that was reported to be the case with Carrasco on Monday.

Carrasco, 38, is a veteran with over a decade in the majors. That means he has the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. The Yankees didn’t give any indication whether or not he would exercise that right. He also accepted an outright assignment with the club last month, so perhaps he’ll do so again.

Though he has a long list of accolades in his career, Carrasco is mostly a depth arm at this point. He posted an earned run average of 6.80 in 90 innings for the Mets in 2023. Last year, he logged 103 2/3 innings for the Guardians and got his ERA down to 5.64, though that’s obviously still not an amazing number.

He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Yankees coming into 2025. Thanks to a number of injuries, he got a spot on the Opening Day roster. He made six starts and two relief appearances with a 5.91 ERA. He was designated for assignment in early May but, as mentioned, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment.

He pitched in Triple-A for a while and was called back to the majors this weekend after the Yanks got roughed up by the Dodgers on Saturday. He wasn’t needed in Sunday’s game and got put right back on waivers after. Assuming Carrasco reports to the RailRiders, he’ll get some innings in for that club and await his next big league opportunity.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Travis Jankowski Elects Free Agency

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Outfielder Travis Jankowski has cleared waivers and elected free agency, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. There wasn’t any indication the Rays removed him from their 40-man roster but it appears they quietly put him on waivers recently. This drops their 40-man roster count from 39 to 38.

Jankowski, 34 later this month, was acquired from the White Sox at the end of April. Tampa had a number of outfielders on the injured list and grabbed Jankowski as a veteran fill-in. Unfortunately, Jankowski himself hit the IL a couple of weeks later, landing there on May 15th due to a left groin strain. He started a rehab assignment a few days ago but it seems the Rays didn’t want to put him back on the roster, so they put him on waivers instead.

That’s likely due to their outfield getting healthier in recent weeks. Josh Lowe and Jake Mangum were both on the IL at the time Jankowski was acquired but each of them is now back on the active roster. Those two have slotted next to Kameron Misner in the club’s regular outfield mix with Christopher Morel also factoring in. The Rays considered that group strong enough that they optioned Chandler Simpson last week and don’t have room for Jankowski either.

Unlike Simpson, Jankowski is a veteran with over eight years of big league service time. That means he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. It also means he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Those factors have led him to the open market today.

He will now look for his next opportunity, presumably with a club that has a better path to playing time in its outfield. Jankowski has been a strong defender throughout his career. In 3,597 innings on the grass, he has accrued 29 Defensive Runs Saved and 33 Outs Above Average. He can also rack up double-digit steals if given regular playing time in a season.

The offense has been more mercurial. He was around league average with the Rangers in 2023, helping that club surge to a World Series championship. However, he was below average before that and has dropped down again since. On the whole, he has a career batting line of .236/.318/.305. That translates to a wRC+ of 76, indicating he’s been 24% below league average for his career. Since he cleared waivers, he’ll probably have to settle for a minor league deal.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

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