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Astros Re-Sign Jon Singleton To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have agreed to a new minor league deal with first baseman Jon Singleton, as first reported by Michael Schwab of The Ice Box Insider. Singleton was designated for assignment shortly before the trade deadline and passed through waivers unclaimed. He briefly became a free agent after rejecting an outright assignment but will now return to the ’Stros and presumably head to Triple-A Sugar Land for the time being.

Singleton was on the Astros’ 40-man roster heading into the season but was released after he didn’t make the club in spring training. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets and has spent the bulk of the season with their Triple-A club in Syracuse but was cut loose in June. Singleton quickly latched back on with Houston on a minor league deal and was briefly selected to the big league roster last month prior to his DFA.

That call to the bigs saw Singleton, 33, get into three games and go 1-for-9 in that tiny sample. He’s logged a combined 306 Triple-A plate appearances between the Mets and Astros organizations this year, slashing .224/.373/.451 with 16 home runs, a massive 18.4% walk rate and a 26.5% strikeout rate.

Singleton was the Astros’ primary option at first base last year, following the release of Jose Abreu. He wound up making 405 trips to the plate in 119 games and turning in a solid, if unspectacular .234/.331/.386 batting line (104 wRC+) with 13 homers. Singleton doesn’t hit lefties well and is a below-average defender at first base, but he draws plenty of walks and can hit for some modest power against right-handed pitching.

The Astros acquired lefty-swinging outfielder Jesus Sanchez from the Marlins prior to last week’s trade deadline, but they’re still very light on left-handed bats — particularly with Yordan Alvarez having missed most of the season due to a fracture in his hand. Singleton will add a lefty-swinging option to the depth chart — one who seems to be a sentimental favorite within the organization. This is the third minor league deal Singleton has signed with Houston since 2023, and he’s spent the vast majority of career in the Astros organization.

Orioles Claim Rico Garcia

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The Orioles have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Mets, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The latter club designated him for assignment earlier this week. The O’s have multiple 40-man roster vacancies from their deadline dealings. Garcia is out of options, so the O’s will need to make a corresponding active roster move whenever he reports to the team.

Garcia, 31, has been a fringe bullpen arm for the two New York clubs this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the winter and got called up in early July. He later went to the Yankees and then back to the Mets via waiver claims.

Around the transactions, his results have been quite good. He has thrown 15 1/3 innings over nine big league appearances this year, with a 3.52 earned run average. His 30% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate this year are all above-average figures.

That’s a small sample of work and he may not be able to maintain it over a larger time frame, particularly the control. Before getting called up, he tossed 30 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.45 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, 14.8% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate. He walked 11.5% of minor league batters faced last year and 17.2% in 2023. Put together, he has a 13.7% walk rate in 119 2/3 minor league innings dating back to the start of 2023.

Even if his major league numbers regress a bit, he’s a sensible flier for the O’s. They stripped down their bullpen ahead of the deadline, trading away Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto and Andrew Kittredge. They have also lost Félix Bautista, Scott Blewett and Colin Selby to the injured list in recent weeks.

Those trades and injuries have opened up lots of opportunities in the Baltimore bullpen. As the club plays out the string on this lost season, they can pick up guys like this and give them auditions down the stretch. If things go well with Garcia, he can be cheaply retained beyond this season. He’ll finish 2025 with less than two years of service time, meaning he still won’t have qualified for arbitration and will be controllable for five more seasons.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Yankees To Designate JT Brubaker For Assignment

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The Yankees are designating right-hander JT Brubaker for assignment, according to a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. The corresponding move for Brubaker’s departure is not yet known.

Brubaker’s time with the Yankees has been punctuated by frequent injury. Acquired from the Pirates alongside $550K of international bonus pool space for a player to be named later (Keiner Delgado) in March of 2024, he’s only pitched 16 innings in the majors.

Brubaker was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time of the trade sending him to the Bronx, though he was nearly at the one-year mark. He was targeting a midseason return but suffered an oblique strain during his rehab stint in July. He never made it back to the mound thereafter. This spring, he was quickly placed on the injured list after a comeback liner struck him in the chest and fractured three ribs. He was finally activated for his team debut in mid-June.

The 31-year-old Brubaker held opponents to six runs in 16 innings (3.38 ERA) but did so with a paltry 15.9% strikeout rate and a massive 14.3% walk rate. He also plunked a batter, meaning nearly 16% of his opponents in his brief run reached base without putting a ball in play. On top of his command troubles in the majors, Brubaker walked 12.5% of his opponents in five rehab appearances between Double-A and Triple-A (18 1/3 innings).

Though Brubaker didn’t pitch in the majors at all in 2023-24, he was solid for the Pirates in 2022, eating up 144 innings with a pedestrian 4.69 ERA but far more encouraging rate stats. Brubaker was dogged by a .334 average on balls in play that year but fanned 22.8% of his opponents against an 8.4% walk rate while generating a 44% grounder rate. Those were effectively league-average rate stats across the board — enough for metrics like FIP (3.92) and SIERA (3.97) to view him far more favorably.

With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, Brubaker will simply head to waivers. The Yankees have up to five days before they need to place him there. Brubaker has five-plus years of major league service, meaning he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Any team that claims him would be on the hook for the remainder of this year’s $1.82MM salary (about $528K). It’s possible that a contending club looking for some long relief/rotation depth could place a claim, but given his walk issues and lengthy layoff from pitching, there’s a better chance he’ll clear. Because he has five years of big league service, he’d be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and still retain the entirety of his guaranteed salary.

Pirates To Select Cam Sanders

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The Pirates are selecting right-hander Cam Sanders, according to a report from Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com confirms that report, adding that right-hander Johan Oviedo is set to be optioned to the minors to make room for Sanders on the active roster. The Pirates have multiple 40-man roster vacancies, so no additional corresponding transaction will be necessary.

Sanders, 28, was a 12th-round pick by the Cubs back in 2018. He’s spent the past four seasons bouncing between the Double- and Triple-A levels with the Cubs and Pirates. He’s typically posted excellent numbers at Double-A and poor numbers at Triple-A and ultimately converted from starting to relief work with the Cubs last year. Now in the Pirates organization after electing minor league free agency over the winter, he’s looked utterly dominant in the upper minors with a 1.90 ERA in 18 appearances at Double-A to go with a nearly identical 1.93 ERA in 15 appearances at the Triple-A level.

Between the two levels, Sanders has punched out 30.5% of his opponents in 42 1/3 innings of work this year. Walks have been a problem for Sanders in the past, as he surrendered free passes at an unplayable 22.4% clip at Triple-A last year. He’s kept them under control this year, however, with a 12.0% walk rate overall that drops to just 9.7% when looking only at Triple-A. Sanders will need to continue throwing strikes if he’s to survive in the majors, but the quality of his stuff gives him possible late-inning upside if he can continue to show even passable command. He’ll now join a relief corps that recently lost closer David Bednar at this year’s trade deadline and will vie for work with the likes of Dauri Moreta, Kyle Nicolas, and Yohan Ramirez.

As for Oviedo, the right-hander made his first big league appearance since 2023 yesterday in a start against the Giants but surrendered two runs in one inning of work after walking three and striking out three. Acquired from the Cardinals in the Jose Quintana trade back in 2022, Oviedo posted a solid 4.31 ERA in 31 starts for the Pirates the following year and looked like a viable #4 starter of the future for the club before being sidelined by Tommy John surgery. He has a 3.12 ERA in six rehab starts in the minor leagues this year, but judging off yesterday’s difficult return he may need some more time to build up before returning to the majors in a more permanent role. The Pirates have Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Andrew Heaney, and Mike Burrows holding things down at the big league level in rotation for the time being.

Blue Jays Release Chad Green

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The Blue Jays released Chad Green yesterday after the veteran right-hander cleared waivers, according to a team announcement. Green is now eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. He had been designated for assignment by the Jays just prior to the trade deadline.

A veteran of ten MLB seasons, the 34-year-old righty has struggled badly in 45 appearances for the Jays this year with a 5.56 ERA and an eye-popping 6.70 FIP across 43 2/3 innings of work. Green’s 6.8% walk rate remains more or less in line with the best seasons of his career, but his strikeout rate has dipped considerably. After punching out 32.4% of his opponents through the end of the 2023 campaign, he struck out batters at just a 21.9% clip last year. That number has dropped even further this season, down to 18.4%. In addition to the lack of whiffs, Green has allowed 14 home runs this year. That’s the most of any reliever in baseball so far this season, and only two relievers (Enyel De Los Santos and Tyler Alexander) allowed more homers than that over the entirety of the 2024 campaign.

It’s an ugly profile overall, and it seems unlikely that any team would be particularly enthused about offering him an immediate spot in their bullpen between the lack of strikeouts and his 16.4% barrel rate allowed. Certain underlying metrics do offer some room for optimism, however. Green’s 4.26 SIERA is only slightly below average, and his K-BB% is in line with quality relief arms like Caleb Ferguson and Taylor Rogers. Perhaps there’s a team out there that sees enough in Green that they’re willing to take a flier on him in the form of a minor league deal. Even with his poor numbers this year, it would certainly be understandable if a team decided to do so.

That’s because Green has a long track record of success in the majors prior to this year. From 2017 to 2022, Green was a dominant late-inning relief arm for the Yankees with a 2.96 ERA, a 33.4% strikeout rate, and a 3.01 FIP. He picked up ten saves in that time while joining arms like Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, and David Robertson at the back of the Yankees’ bullpen. Perhaps a team sees some sort of adjustments they can help Green make in order to get back to being a viable setup man; his heater is still averaging 95.2 mph this year, and while advanced metrics like Stuff+ have signaled a decline in the quality of Green’s offerings in recent years, he still grades at average to slightly above average.

As for the Blue Jays, they’ll be on the hook for what’s left of his $10.5MM salary for the 2025 campaign. If Green gets added to an MLB roster at some point this year, he’ll be paid a prorated portion of the MLB minimum by his new club and that amount will be deducted from what Toronto owes him. With newly-added relievers Louis Varland and Seranthony Dominguez now in the fold, the Jays figure to do just fine without Green in their late-inning mix even if he does manage to turn things around with a new organization.

Yankees Option Jake Bird

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The Yankees have optioned right-hander Jake Bird to Triple-A, per a team announcement. A corresponding move has not yet been announced, though ESPN’s Jorge Castillo notes that right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. is expected back from the injured list today and could take Bird’s roster spot.

Bird, 29, was one of the Yankees’ trio of potential high-leverage bullpen additions acquired ahead of the trade deadline last week. With a 4.73 ERA and 3.89 FIP to go along with a 26.3% strikeout rate for the Rockies this year, Bird showed himself capable of putting up at least decent numbers even when playing half his games at Coors Field. That was enough to intrigue the Yankees, and they surrendered second base prospect Roc Riggio and pitching prospect Ben Shields in order to acquire him. While Bird lacks the track record of dominance that David Bednar and Camilo Doval both offer, he comes with three years of team control after 2025 and the hope was that he could help deepen a bullpen mix that will lose Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to free agency this winter.

It’s only been a few games, but the early returns have not been great. The Yankees found themselves swept at the hands of the Marlins in the days following the deadline and have yet to win a game in August. That slump has left them with just a 1.5 game lead over the Rangers for the final AL Wild Card spot, and Bird has been in the thick of those troubles. After surrendering four runs to the Marlins while recording just one out in his Yankees debut, the right-hander surrendered three runs (two earned) while recording two outs against Texas last night. Those six runs allowed in a combined two innings of work across three appearances leave him with a 27.00 ERA for his Yankees career, and now he’s headed to the minor leagues as New York waits for him to get right.

While an effective version of Bird would undoubtedly make the Yankees’ bullpen better, it’s hard to argue they’re light on talent at the moment. Williams, Weaver, Bednar, and Doval have all had worrying moments at points throughout the season, but each has a strong track record of success in the late innings. And now it seems they’ll be reinforced later today by the return of Leiter, who has been sidelined for the past month due to a stress fracture in the fibular head of his left leg. Acquired from the Cubs at last year’s deadline, Leiter’s 4.46 ERA in 41 appearances leaves something to be desired but his underlying metrics remain brilliant. He’s struck out 29.1% of his opponents this year while walking a career-low 7.6%, and he’s paired all that with a career-best 49.0% ground ball rate. If Leiter keeps looking that good in his return to action, that elevated ERA should come back down in a hurry as he helps avoid further bullpen meltdowns in the Bronx.

The Opener: Alonso, Keaschall, Soroka

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Here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day today:

1. Alonso chasing down Strawberry:

Mets slugger Pete Alonso bashed the 251st home run of his career in a game against the Guardians yesterday, and his next home run will tie him with former Mets, Dodgers, and Yankees star Darryl Strawberry for the most home runs in Mets history. Strawberry hit 252 homers across 1109 games for the Mets in his career, while Alonso is at just 959 games; Strawberry has one additional season with the club and Alonso is further limited by the 60-game shortened season in 2020. Fans in Queens are surely hoping that Alonso’s latest homer will help their first baseman turn things back around, as he’s been hitting a paltry .188/.280/.426 since the start of July. Alonso will try to tie Strawberry’s record today against Guardians left-hander Logan Allen, who has a 4.06 ERA in 108 2/3 innings of work this year.

2. Keaschall to return from IL:

Multiple reports (including that from Dan Hayes of The Athletic) have indicated that the Twins are poised to activate top prospect Luke Keaschall from the injured list today. The 22-year-old’s return to action has been much anticipated, as he jumped out to a hot start when he went 7-for-19 with three doubles and five walks against just two strikeouts in his first seven games as a big leaguer earlier this year. Keaschall’s heroics were cut short, however, when he suffered a fractured forearm back in April. He’s been sidelined ever since, but now appears to finally be ready to return to the majors. The well-regarded youngster is very versatile, capable of handling first, second, and third base as well as center field. He mostly played second for the Twins earlier this year, however, and could push Edouard Julien out of the lineup for the Twins.

3. Soroka to the IL:

The Cubs are expected to place right-hander Michael Soroka on the 15-day injured list later today after he exited his start against the Reds last night after just two innings of work due to shoulder discomfort. It’s unclear exactly how long the 28-year-old will be on the shelf, but it’s a tough blow to a Cubs team that dealt two prospects to the Nationals for Soroka’s services ahead of the trade deadline in order to fortify a beleaguered rotation. It’s possible right-hander Ben Brown steps back into the rotation with Soroka unavailable, though southpaw Jordan Wicks is another option while right-hander Javier Assad is on a rehab assignment at Triple-A as he works towards his season debut. Regardless of who will eventually take what would have been Soroka’s next start, the Cubs will need to add another pitcher to their bullpen mix today to replace Soroka on the roster.

Twins Have Expressed Interest In Ryan Pressly

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The Cubs released veteran reliever Ryan Pressly over the weekend. Chicago had designated the two-time All-Star for assignment on deadline day after acquiring Taylor Rogers. The 36-year-old is now free to explore other opportunities, which could include a return to either of his previous teams.

Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that the Twins have reached out to Pressly’s camp to express interest. Meanwhile, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote on Sunday that the Astros were thinking about trying to re-sign the righty. It’s unclear if the Astros have spoken with Pressly or were simply weighing the idea internally. In either case, there’s no guarantee the 13-year big leaguer continues pitching. Hayes writes that Pressly is considering his options, including retirement.

The decision wouldn’t be about money, at least not for the remainder of this season. Pressly is guaranteed his $14MM salary whether or not he signs elsewhere. The Astros are covering $5.5MM as part of the offseason trade that sent him to Chicago. The Cubs are on the hook for the other $8.5MM. If Pressly were to sign, his new team would pay the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for his time in the majors — which would come off the Cubs’ books. There could be a long-term financial consideration in the sense that playing the final two months could elevate his stock before a return trip to free agency in the offseason. That’d only be relevant if he continues his career in 2026.

Before this season, Pressly had divided his MLB career between Minnesota and Houston. He pitched with the Twins between 2013-18, moving to Houston at the ’18 deadline. Pressly had been a productive reliever in the Twin Cities, but his career really took off with the Astros. He made both All-Star appearances and got his first closing opportunity in Houston. He made the postseason all seven years with the Astros, winning a ring in 2022. Pressly recorded 14 saves with a 2.78 ERA in 47 career playoff appearances.

If he were to return to one of his former clubs, one would imagine the Astros are the more desirable landing spot. They’re three games up in the AL West race and have a good shot to make the playoffs. Minnesota is eight games below .500 and decimated the bullpen at the deadline. They’re playing out the string and looking for relievers who can backfill the innings they traded away. Pressly is also a Texas native whose wife is from the Houston area — which was a consideration for the reliever in deciding whether to waive his no-trade clause to leave the Astros in the first place.

That said, a return to the Astros would presumably require pitching in lower-leverage spots. Pressly reportedly wasn’t thrilled with the Astros bumping him from the ninth inning to sign Josh Hader during the 2023-24 offseason. He didn’t force his way out of Houston — that was a team decision motivated by a desire to cut payroll — but GM Dana Brown acknowledged in January that the relationship between him and Pressly changed after the Hader signing. The Twins, who now have a bullpen comprising almost entirely journeymen and depth pickups, could promise him late-inning work. It’s also possible Pressly has fielded calls from other teams that haven’t been reported.

Pressly’s stint with the Cubs was a disappointment. He turned in a 4.35 ERA with a career-low 15% strikeout rate. He lost his hold on the closer role by the middle of April. Pressly remained an effective reliever as recently as last year, pitching to a 3.49 ERA over 56 2/3 frames with Houston.

Cubs Release Chris Flexen

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The Cubs released righty Chris Flexen, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Chicago had designated him for assignment last week. MLBTR has learned that Flexen declined an outright assignment, leading to the release. As a player with five-plus years of service time, Flexen will collect the remaining portion of his $1.5MM salary.

Flexen signed an offseason minor league deal and was called up at the end of April. That initially worked brilliantly. The 31-year-old fired 28 innings of 0.65 ERA ball over his first two months. Flexen’s 13.5% strikeout rate and pre-2025 track record suggested he was in line for significant regression. That arrived in July, when opponents blasted six home runs and tagged him for 15 runs (13 earned) through 15 2/3 innings. He allowed multiple runs in each of his final four appearances.

The Cubs pulled the plug last week. Flexen concluded his organizational tenure with a 3.06 earned run average over 43 2/3 innings. Estimators like SIERA, FIP and xERA all felt his true level was closer to allowing five earned runs per nine — essentially a match for the 4.95 ERA he posted over 160 innings for the White Sox a year ago.

Flexen has the ability to log multiple innings out of the bullpen or build back out as rotation depth. That’ll at least get him interest on a minor league contract, and it’s not out of the question that he finds a big league deal. A signing team would only pay him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for the final couple months. That’d be subtracted from the Cubs’ commitments.

Dodgers Place Tommy Edman On Injured List

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The Dodgers placed Tommy Edman on the 10-day injured list with a right ankle sprain. As expected, Max Muncy was reinstated from his own IL stint in the corresponding move.

Edman missed a couple weeks in May with ankle inflammation. He aggravated the injury while rounding first base on a single during yesterday’s win over Tampa Bay. Edman was immediately lifted for a pinch-runner, and manager Dave Roberts said postgame that it’d require an injured list stint. The switch-hitting Edman had a monster April, hitting eight home runs in the season’s first month. He hasn’t hit much since then, batting .214/.273/.323 in 210 plate appearances going back to May 1.

The Dodgers will lose one of their most valuable defensive players. Edman plays above-average to plus defense virtually everywhere on the diamond. He has played mostly second base but also taken a decent amount of innings in center field and at third base. The Dodgers also recently lost Hyeseong Kim to an IL stint. That presumably leaves second base to rookie infielder Alex Freeland, though it’s veteran utilityman Miguel Rojas who gets the nod there tonight after Freeland started four consecutive games at the hot corner.

Muncy will step back into an everyday role at third base. He’s back a month after suffering a bone bruise in his left knee. That’s a remarkably quick turnaround. Not only did the injury initially look gruesome, Muncy announced a six-week timetable even after imaging revealed he’d avoided ligament damage. Muncy was on a tear before the injury. After hitting .194 over the season’s first month, he raked at a .282/.410/.546 clip with 12 home runs from the start of May until the injury. He’s hitting fifth tonight against the Cardinals, who are turning to Sonny Gray in the series opener.

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