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Cubs Option Matt Shaw

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The Cubs have optioned third baseman Matt Shaw to Triple-A Iowa, reports Keith Law of The Athletic. That’s part of a larger slate of moves, relayed by Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Infielder Vidal Bruján has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. On the pitching side, the club recalled left-hander Luke Little and right-hander Daniel Palencia. To make room for those two, righty Nate Pearson has been optioned to Iowa as well, while righty Eli Morgan has been placed on the 15-day IL due to an elbow impingement.

Shaw, 23, came into the season as one of the top prospects in the league. The club clearly believed he was worthy of a shot at the majors, as they traded Isaac Paredes to the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker deal in the offseason. That didn’t guarantee Shaw a spot on the Opening Day roster but it opened a door for him, which he walked through. He cracked the club’s roster ahead of the Tokyo Series and has been serving as their regular third baseman up until this point.

The results have been mixed. Across his 68 plate appearances thus far, he has drawn a walk in 14.7% of them, but he’s also been struck out at a 26.5% clip. He has a tepid .172/.294/.241 batting line, though with a .231 batting average on balls in play. That number is on the unlucky side but Shaw hasn’t been doing himself many favors in terms of putting good wood on the ball. His 82.7 mile per hour average exit velocity in the second percentile of qualified MLB hitters, per Statcast. His hard-hit rate is in the fifth percentile, his bat speed in the tenth and his barrel rate 15th. His defense has also been a bit of a question mark. In 141 innings at third base thus far, he already has four errors.

All of that is surely less than the Cubs were hoping for, as he destroyed minor league pitching. After getting selected with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Shaw got into 159 minor league games between that draft selection and the end of the 2024 season. He had solid walk and strikeout rates of 10.2% and 17.3% respectively while slashing .303/.384/.522 for a 157 wRC+. 35 of those games were at the Triple-A level last year and he hit .298/.395/.534 in those, building the case that he was ready for a major league debut.

Shaw is yet another example of a top prospect who didn’t immediately click at the major league level. While some may jump to declare Shaw a “bust”, this sort of thing is actually quite common. A classic example is Mike Trout, who hit .220/.281/.390 in his first 135 plate appearances back in 2011. It can’t be assumed that a prospect will immediately succeed when reaching the majors for the first time, nor does it mean that they won’t ever find success down the line.

Sending Shaw down is defensible in a vacuum, given his struggles. But outside the vacuum, it’s unclear who the Cubs can turn to as a better option for the hot corner. Bruján has a .189/.261/.270 batting line in his career. Justin Turner has lots of third base experience but is now 40 years old. He’s been more of a first base/designated hitter type in recent years, with just 90 innings at the hot corner since the end of the 2022 season. He’s also having his own struggles at the plate this year, with a .172/.286/.172 line thus far. Jon Berti is a 35-year-old veteran utility guy. Gage Workman is a Rule 5 guy who has received just ten plate appearances thus far this year and has been punched out in five of them.

It’s possible this is just a short-term situation and Shaw will be back up with the big league club soon. How long it takes for his return will be significant for him and the club. By cracking the Opening Day roster, he was on pace to get a full year of service time in 2025. That would have meant qualifying for arbitration after 2027 and free agency after 2030. A quick return to the majors could still make those targets viable. A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs just 172 days in the big leagues or on the injured list to get credited with a full year. It’s also possible for Shaw to qualify for arbitration after 2027 even with less than three years of service time, as he could reach Super Two status.

If Shaw doesn’t return fairly quickly, those timelines will be pushed one year into the future. It will also take off the possibility of the Cubs earning an extra draft pick via the prospect promotion incentive. Under the PPI rules, teams can earn an extra pick by carrying a top prospect on the roster long enough to earn a full service year. The Cubs put that on the table initially by giving Shaw an Opening Day job but it will no longer apply if he’s down for a few weeks.

Photo courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images

Cardinals Moving Steven Matz Back Into Rotation

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Steven Matz makes his return to the Cardinals’ rotation tomorrow afternoon. The lefty is scheduled for his first start of the season against the Astros. Matz had opened the season in the bullpen because the Cards had off days in each of the first three weeks. They’re now going into their sixth game of a stretch of 13 consecutive game days, so they’ll move to a six-man rotation.

This has been the plan since Opening Day. St. Louis wanted to give Matthew Liberatore another rotation opportunity after he’d spent most of last season in long relief. Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas were rotation locks, while Andre Pallante has maintained his hold on the fourth starter role. Matz temporarily kicked into relief since it didn’t make much sense to use a six-man rotation when they had so many off days.

Matz has found success over his first five appearances. He has tossed 11 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned). His six strikeouts and 9% swinging strike rate haven’t been overpowering, but he’s throwing a lot of strikes and has gotten grounders at a solid 46.2% rate. Matz’s most recent appearance came on Sunday. He threw 46 pitches in 2 1/3 innings against Philadelphia. He’ll be working on three days rest and hasn’t had a full rotation workload, so he’ll be on a tighter pitch limit tomorrow. Daniel Guerrero of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Matz will be capped around 65 pitches.

The 33-year-old Matz is in the final season of his four-year free agent deal. His Cardinals tenure has mostly been marred by inconsistency and injury, though he did manage a 3.86 ERA in 105 innings two seasons ago. A back injury kept him to 44 1/3 frames over 12 appearances (seven starts) last year. He allowed 5.08 earned runs per nine with a below-average 17.4% strikeout rate. Matz is making $12MM and could net the Cardinals some salary relief and/or a modest return closer to the trade deadline if he has a solid first half.

Mets To Promote Justin Hagenman

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The Mets will recall right-hander Justin Hagenman to pitch in tomorrow’s series finale in Minnesota, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (video via SNY). It’s still undecided whether he’ll start the game or work behind an opener, but he’ll make his major league debut. Hagenman is already on the 40-man roster after signing a major league free agent contract last offseason.

Griffin Canning was lined up for the start but came down with an illness. He’ll be pushed back by a couple days. The Mets will need to option out a pitcher to make room on the active roster. As Tim Britton of The Athletic observed this evening, they’ll likely use a roster technicality.

A pitcher who is optioned must spend at least 15 days in the minors unless he’s recalled as the corresponding move for another player going on the injured list. The Mets lost center fielder Jose Siri to a broken leg last night. They elected not to put him on the IL today because of the Canning situation. They can recall Hagenman while optioning a reliever — Max Kranick is a logical choice after he threw 31 pitches tonight — and then recall that reliever on Thursday as the corresponding move for Siri’s IL placement. They’d probably option Hagenman back out after his spot appearance and call up an outfielder at that point.

Hagenman, 28, gets the call after pitching parts of four seasons in Triple-A. He was drafted by the Dodgers out of Penn State back in 2018. He got as high as Triple-A in the L.A. system before being traded to the Red Sox at the 2023 deadline as part of a package for Enrique Hernández. Hagenman spent a season and a half in the Boston farm system but never received a call-up. He qualified for minor league free agency when the Red Sox opted not to put him on their 40-man roster at the end of last season.

The Mets signed him to a split deal that pays $225K while he’s in Triple-A and comes with a prorated $850K salary for whatever time he spends in the big leagues. The 6’3″ righty struck out seven without a walk over eight innings in Spring Training. He’s had a tougher start to the season at Triple-A Syracuse. Hagenman has surrendered 11 runs (eight earned) on 15 hits and four home runs through 10 2/3 innings. His most recent start came on April 10, though, so he’s a fresh arm who can provide multiple innings in a pinch.

Hagenman owns a 4.56 ERA through 240 2/3 career innings at the top minor league level. He has struck out a solid 24.5% of batters faced against a 7.8% walk rate. His sinker is averaging 91 MPH, while he’s also using a pair of low-80s breaking pitches and a changeup in the 85 MPH range.

Mariners Re-Sign Jesse Hahn To Minor League Deal

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Jesse Hahn returned to the Mariners on a minor league contract, per the MLB.com transaction tracker. The righty had rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency over the weekend.

Players frequently re-sign after declining an outright assignment. The time on the open market allows the player to at least gauge whether there might be an immediate opportunity elsewhere. If not, they can try to renegotiate more favorable opt-out dates or salaries into a new deal than they would have received had they accepted the outright.

Hahn spent four days on Seattle’s major league roster earlier this month. He pitched twice and turned in four innings, allowing only one unearned run. Hahn walked four batters, but three of those were intentional as he navigated the free runner in extras against the Astros. He struck out three and allowed as many hits.

It was a solid showing for the 35-year-old. Hahn was pitching in the big leagues for the first time in four years. He had made five appearances for the 2021 Royals. Hahn hasn’t topped 20 major league innings in a season since 2017. A shoulder injury sidelined him entirely between 2022-23. He returned to the affiliated ranks on minor league contracts with the Dodgers and Seattle last season, combining for a 4.29 ERA through 50 1/3 frames in Triple-A.

Rangers Re-Sign Nick Ahmed To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have re-signed infielder Nick Ahmed to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was participating in extended spring training this weekend, per Phrake Photography.

Ahmed, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in February. He put up a strong .324/.361/.647 showing during Spring Training but didn’t break camp with the club. He was released at that time but has returned to the same club a few weeks later.

The Rangers likely didn’t put much stock into Ahmed’s strong spring numbers. He has been in the majors for over a decade and is well established as a strong defender but subpar hitter. His career batting line of .234/.287/.371 translates to a 72 wRC+, indicating he’s been 28% below average overall. That’s been trending down in recent years, as he hit .221/.271/.327 for a 62 wRC+ in the 2021 through 2024 seasons.

There’s little denying the glovework. Ahmed has 79 Defensive Runs Saved and 118 Outs Above Average at shortstop in his career. From 2016 to 2019, his 76 OAA at short was tops in the majors while his 65 DRS was second only to Andrelton Simmons. He also hit close to league average at times and the combination was occasionally quite valuable. He slashed .248/.307/.421 over 2018-2020. His 89 wRC+ in that time indicates he was still 11% below league average but that passable offense and excellent glovework made him worth 8.9 wins above replacement over 368 games in that span, per the calculations of FanGraphs.

But the recent decline in offense has pushed him into journeyman status. He played for the Giants, Dodgers and Padres in 2024. As mentioned, he settled for a minor league deal with the Rangers this winter and didn’t make the big league roster.

He’ll now provide the Rangers with some non-roster infield depth. As mentioned, he’s getting a bit of action in extended spring training, presumably to get back in game shape after being unsigned for about three weeks. His transaction tracker says he’s been assigned to the Arizona Complex League Rangers. Presumably, he’ll head to Triple-A Round Rock eventually after getting some reps.

The Rangers have Corey Seager at shortstop but he has a spotty health history. Second baseman Marcus Semien has been incredibly reliable in the health department but will turn 35 this year. If either of them needed to miss some time, the Rangers have Jonathan Ornelas and Ezequiel Durán on the 40-man. Ahmed joins Sam Haggerty and Alan Trejo as non-roster middle infield options.

Photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale, Imagn Images

Reds Not Immediately Reinstalling Alexis Diaz As Closer

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Alexis Díaz is back in the Cincinnati bullpen, as the Reds reinstated him from the 15-day injured list this afternoon. (They also welcomed back Matt McLain and Austin Hays from the IL.) However, Díaz will not immediately return to his traditional closer role.

Manager Terry Francona told reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com) that Díaz won’t step right back into the ninth inning. The Reds relied upon Emilio Pagán in save situations while Díaz was shelved by a hamstring strain. Pagán has four of the team’s five saves, while Tony Santillan picked up the other. Santillan has been Francona’s top setup man. Scott Barlow and Ian Gibaut have gotten a handful of leverage appearances as well.

Pagán has had a solid first three weeks. He has worked 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball, striking out five against one walk. He’s 4-4 in save chances and picked up a hold on Opening Day. Pagán is in the second season of a two-year, $16MM free agent deal. The first season didn’t work out as the Reds had hoped. The righty allowed a 4.50 earned run average over 38 innings. His strikeout and walk numbers were very good, but Pagán’s longstanding issue keeping the ball in the park continued. He also lost a few weeks to triceps tightness and spent two months on the IL with a lat strain.

Díaz has been Cincinnati’s closer for most of his three-year MLB career. He earned his first save chances late in his rookie year, a deserved nod after his 1.84 ERA with 83 punchouts across 63 2/3 innings. Díaz earned an All-Star appearance and saved 37 games during his second season. He walked a tightrope for most of last year, however.

While Díaz successfully locked down 28 of 32 save chances, he did so with a career-worst 3.99 ERA. His strikeout rate — which had sat north of 30% in each of his first two seasons — plummeted to a pedestrian 22.7% mark. Díaz has never had good command, making the drop in whiffs all the more concerning.

His stuff has also backed up. The righty averaged 93.9 MPH on his fastball last season. That’s down nearly two ticks from his 95.7 MPH mark as a rookie and a 94.5 MPH average in 2023. Between those somewhat alarming numbers and the season-opening IL stint, it’s sensible for the Reds to stick with Pagán and Santillan as their top late-game arms while having Díaz work in somewhat lower-leverage spots in the early going.

Pirates Place Endy Rodriguez On Injured List

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April 15: The Pirates officially placed Rodriguez on the IL today and recalled right-hander Chase Shugart in a corresponding move.

April 14: The Pirates are likely to place first baseman/catcher Endy Rodriguez on the 10-day injured list, manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including Kevin Gorman of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). The 24-year-old sustained a laceration on his right index finger that required multiple stitches.

Rodriguez suffered the injury in the first inning of tonight’s win over Washington. He was behind the plate when Paul Skenes spiked a curveball that hit James Wood in the foot. The ball skipped off Wood’s foot and struck Rodriguez in his throwing hand. Henry Davis stepped in to finish the game.

The Bucs are already carrying three catchers on the active roster. They recalled Davis over the weekend while starter Joey Bart is day-to-day with back soreness. If Bart is expected back within a day or two, they could get by without bringing up another catcher. It’d be trickier if Bart isn’t available for now even as an emergency option. They don’t have any other catchers on the 40-man roster after trading Jason Delay to Atlanta a couple weeks back. Abrahan Gutierrez, who has never appeared in the majors, is the top option in Triple-A.

Rodriguez has played more first base than catcher through the season’s first two weeks. Tonight was his fifth start behind the dish. He has logged nine starts at first base. There’s a clearer path to playing time at the latter position with Spencer Horwitz beginning the season on the injured list. Rodriguez hasn’t come close to meeting the higher offensive bar at first base. He’s hitting .178 without a home run over 50 plate appearances. Pittsburgh had gotten a .146/.216/.225 slash out of the position entering play tonight (though Enmanuel Valdez’s strong game today will boost those numbers).

If the corresponding roster move is at catcher, Valdez would probably get the bulk of the first base reps. That’d push Adam Frazier back in to second base while potentially creating a little extra playing time in right field for Alexander Canario and/or Jack Suwinski. The Pirates have staggered Andrew McCutchen’s playing time in right, as they’re limited to using Bryan Reynolds at designated hitter because of an ongoing triceps issue.

First baseman Billy Cook is on optional assignment in Triple-A, but he’s out to a .143/.244/.200 start through 11 games. Non-roster corner infielder Malcom Nuñez has gotten out to a better start (.278/.290/.528), while former Phillies first baseman Darick Hall has had a similarly cold stretch as Cook (.241/.333/.276) to begin the season. The 40-man roster is at capacity.

Brewers Promote Logan Henderson

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The Brewers announced Tuesday that righty Logan Henderson has been recalled from Triple-A Nashville. Fellow right-hander Elvin Rodriguez was optioned to Nashville in his place.

Whenever Henderson takes the mound for Milwaukee, he’ll be making his MLB debut. The 23-year-old was their fourth-round pick back in 2021, and while he’s never cracked into the very top echelon of leaguewide prospects, he’s consistently ranked among the Brewers’ top 20 or so prospects. He currently sits No. 20 in their system at Baseball America and No. 12 at MLB.com.

Henderson, 23, opened the season with a clunker in Nashville (four innings, five runs on six hits and three walks) but has bounced back with 10 straight shutout frames. He’s punched out eight hitters in each of his three starts this year and is now sitting on a 3.21 ERA with a gargantuan 40.7% strikeout rate but also a sky-high 16.9% walk rate. Command hasn’t been an issue in the past, however; Henderson has walked only 7.7% of his opponents since being drafted in ’21. Last year, he made 19 starts across three levels and turned in a 3.32 ERA, 32.8% strikeout rate and 4.7% walk rate. His changeup, in particular, draws praise as a potential plus offering in the big leagues.

Though Henderson has been a starter in the minors, it seems he’ll be tasked with providing some length in the bullpen for now. Righty Quinn Priester is set to start for the Brewers today, and veteran Jose Quintana is slated to be on the bump tomorrow. The Brewers then have an off-day Thursday before a weekend slate against the visiting A’s. Unless there’s an injury the team hasn’t revealed at this time, Henderson will provide a long relief option in place of the optioned-out Rodriguez, who tossed five innings of one-run ball yesterday in mop-up duty when the Tigers trounced lefty Tyler Alexander for eight runs.

Even if he’s not in the rotation right now, Henderson is a clear candidate to join Milwaukee’s rotation at some point this year. The Brew Crew currently has Brandon Woodruff, Aaron Civale, Nestor Cortes, Tobias Myers, Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser and DL Hall on the injured list. The rotation presently includes Peralta, Quintana, Priester, Alexander and 26-year-old rookie Chad Patrick. If Henderson shows well, he’ll be in line to potentially secure a long-term rotation spot. Each of Woodruff, Civale, Quintana, Cortes and Alexander is a free agent at season’s end, so there’s ample long-term opportunity for a promising young righty like Henderson.

Orioles Release Luis Gonzalez

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The Orioles have released left-hander Luis Gonzalez. Jake Rill of MLB.com was among those to relay the news. He was designated for assignment yesterday when the club claimed righty Scott Blewett off waivers. Gonzalez is currently injured, meaning he can’t be placed on outright waivers.

It’s a bit of a heartbreaking development for the southpaw. Gonzalez was just added to Baltimore’s 40-man in November, just ahead of his 33rd birthday, which was in January. He had been grinding away for years, having made his professional debut as a prospect with the Phillies back in 2010. He has been in affiliated ball for most of the past decade and a half, but also had stints in Japan, Italy and Mexico.

Going into 2024, he was with the Orioles on a minor league deal. He tossed 60 innings over 44 Triple-A appearances. He allowed 4.50 earned runs per nine, which isn’t terribly impressive, but other numbers were more eye-catching. He struck out 28.9% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 4.9% clip.

The Orioles were impressed enough that they added him to their 40-man at the end of the year, putting him in line to finally make his major league debut at some point in 2025. However, he landed on the minor league injured list on April 11 with an undisclosed injury. As mentioned, injured players aren’t allowed to be placed on outright waivers. Once Gonzalez was DFA’d, it made it inevitable that he would be released.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the O’s and Gonzalez quickly reunited on a minor league deal, as that often happens in cases like these. However, he will technically be able to speak to the 29 other clubs once he officially clears release waivers.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Cardinals’ Cooper Hjerpe Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Cardinals announced that pitching prospect Cooper Hjerpe has undergone Tommy John surgery. The left-hander will miss the entire 2025 season and won’t be expected back until midway through the 2026 campaign.

Hjerpe, 24, is one of the club’s top pitching prospects. He was selected in the first round, 22nd overall, in the 2022 draft. He received a signing bonus of just under $3.2MM. He has since posted some intriguing minor league numbers, with plenty of strikeouts though also lots of walks. He logged 93 1/3 innings over 2023 and 2024, splitting his time between High-A and Double-A. He allowed 3.37 earned runs per nine, punching out 32.8% of batters faced but also giving out free passes at a 13.7% clip.

His elbow health, or lack thereof, has been a part of the trajectory in that time. He required surgery to remove loose bodies from that elbow in 2023, limiting him to just eight starts that year. In 2024, his final start of the season was on July 2, with an elbow injury shutting him down from then on.

Clubs and pitchers generally prefer to take non-surgical approaches to injuries for as long as they can, as going under the knife is such a lengthy time commitment and there are no guarantees that a player will return to 100% effectiveness afterwards. But in this case, it could be avoided no longer, so Hjerpe is now going to be on the shelf for a while.

Despite the limited workload, Hjerpe is well regarded. Baseball America currently lists him as the #7 prospect in the Cards’ system, highlighting his unique sidearm delivery as he throws an arsenal that includes a fastball, curveball, cutter and changeup. Back in May of last year, Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs had him in the #5 spot.

If Hjerpe were healthy here in 2025, he likely would have returned to Double-A and could have pushed for a Triple-A promotion at some point during the season. All that will have to be kicked down the road now.

Some interesting decision points will come this winter, as Hjerpe will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December. The Cards will have to decide if it’s worth giving him a 40-man spot by the Rule 5 protection deadline in November. He’s obviously an important prospect in the system but has a limited track record and will still be rehabbing at that time. However, grabbing an injured pitcher in the Rule 5 isn’t unprecedented. In the most recent iteration, the Blue Jays took Angel Bastardo from the Red Sox while the Rays grabbed Nate Lavender from the Mets. Both of those pitchers underwent Tommy John surgeries last summer and could potentially return later this year.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

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