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Billy McKinney Elects Free Agency

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3:55pm: McKinney has elected free agency, per an announcement from the Rangers.

3:06pm: The Rangers have sent outfielder Billy McKinney outright to Triple-A Round Rock, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency but the log doesn’t indicate whether or not he will do so.

McKinney, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers at the end of May after being released from a minor league deal with the Mets. Texas added him to the roster but his stint in the majors was predictably brief. He was added to give the club an extra outfielder while Evan Carter was on the bereavement list. Carter returned three days later and McKinney was bumped back off the roster. As he’s out of options, McKinney had to be bumped off the 40-man, not just the active roster.

In that short window, McKinney got into two games and stepped to the plate eight times, recording one single, one walk and one strikeout. He now has a career batting line of .208/.283/.384 in 951 plate appearances dating back to his 2018 debut, with that production translating to a wRC+ of 79.

His minor league production this year was enticing but also nothing new for him. He slashed .295/.433/.487 for a 136 wRC+ in 24 games for the Express before being called up. Dating back to 2018, the year he first made it to the big leagues, he has a combined .259/.364/.471 line and 116 wRC+ on the farm. That had led to plenty of big league chances, with McKinney having spent time with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Brewers, Mets, Dodgers, Athletics, Yankees again, Pirates and then the Rangers.

He hasn’t been able to translate his big league chances into much success, which has led to him exhausting his option years, thus propelling him into journeyman status. If he elects free agency this week, he can see what other opportunities are out there for him. If he decides to report to Round Rock, he could hope for big league playing time later in the year. An injury could pop up at any time and Adolis García is a plausible deadline trade candidate.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Astros Recall Kenedy Corona For Major League Debut

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The Astros have recalled outfielder Kenedy Corona. He takes the active roster spot of first baseman Christian Walker, who has been placed on the paternity list. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was among those to relay the moves. Video of Corona celebrating his promotion with his minor league teammates was shared by Águilas del Zulia, his Venezuelan winter league club, yesterday. McTaggart adds that right-hander Jordan Weems, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and elected free agency.

Corona, now 25, was originally signed by the Mets out of Venezuela as an international amateur. He was sent to the Astros in the December 2019 trade which sent outfielder Jake Marisnick to Queens. The minor leagues were cancelled in 2020 but Corona then went on to have a solid three-year run after that. From 2021 to 2023, he got into 281 minor league games, climbing to Double-A in the process. He hit 43 home runs and stole 79 bases, slashing .260/.339/.450 for a 110 wRC+.

He was eligible for the 2023 Rule 5 draft, but the Astros didn’t want him to get away, so they gave him a 40-man roster spot. Since then, his offense has seemingly hit a wall. Dating back to the start of 2024, he has a combined batting line of .220/.314/.316, which translates to a 78 wRC+. However, he is considered a great defender and swiped another 35 bags in that time.

Jake Meyers is banged up at the moment. He left yesterday’s game with some calf tightness, per Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. Perhaps he will need to sit out another day or two, which could leave the Astros a bit thin in the outfield, especially with Chas McCormick, Yordan Alvarez, Pedro León and Jacob Melton all on the injured list.

The active mix consists of Cam Smith, Cooper Hummel and Taylor Trammell, as well as Meyers. Infielders Zack Short and Shay Whitcomb have some limited outfield experience. Houston had Jose Altuve in left field earlier in the year but he has mostly been back at second base for the past few weeks to cover for the Brendan Rodgers injury. Mauricio Dubón is also capable of playing the outfield but is currently playing a lot of shortstop with Jeremy Peña is on the injured list.

Put it all together and it makes sense for the club to use Walker’s spot for an extra outfielder for a few days while Meyers is hurt. Perhaps Corona will only be up for a few days while Walker is on the paternity list, but he’ll get a chance to make his major league debut whenever he is put into a game.

Weems, 32, has signed minor league deals with Atlanta and Houston this year. Getting released from the first one allowed him to land the second one. He got a brief stint in the majors with Houston, allowing two earned runs in three innings. He is out of options, so the Astros bumped him off the 40-man roster when adding a fresh arm to the active roster.

Players with three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to elect free agency. Weems qualified on both counts. He has exercised his right and will see what opportunities are out there for him. Since he cleared waivers, he will likely be limited to minor league offers.

He showed some potential with the Nationals a few years ago. Over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he tossed 94 1/3 innings for Washington with a 4.29 earned run average, 25.4% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. But in 2024, his strikeout rate dipped to 17.9% as his walk rate climbed to 12.2%, leading to a 6.70 ERA. He was bumped off Washington’s roster during the season and has mostly been stuck in the minors since then. In his 29 Triple-A innings this year, he has a 4.66 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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Anthony Franco

  • Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend!
  • Steve stretched his into a four-day weekend so I'm in today and he'll take the usual Friday slot. Going to stay around an hour on this one as a result
  • Let's get rolling

Cactusflair

  • Why didnt the Nats actually try to improve the team in this past off season??  Felt like outside of Sirotka signing they did nothing.

Denise Dunbar

  • Do you think the Nats' first pick in next week's draft will be even more telling after the Rizzo firing? It seems to me if they pick Holliday, they're saying the rebuild is ongoing for quite a while. In that instance, I think they should trade Gore if they can get a haul for him. Conversely, if they take one of the college lefties, to me that means they think they could possibly contend for a wildcard next year and might signal they plan to spend more this offseason. Interestingly, they sent out a season ticket holder survey about 10 days ago asking lots of questions about how satisfied we were with the direction of the team. I lambasted ownership, but not management, in responses. But I also wonder if this survey and its overall results factored into their decision making?

Anthony Franco

  • Two of a number of Nats questions in here. Martinez getting fired didn't really surprise me but I was a little taken aback that they moved on from Rizzo. I get why it happened, but I didn't see that coming
  • I actually think their offseason made sense. They felt they were still a year off from being competitive and didn't think a Danny Jansen signing or Eugenio Suárez trade would've moved the needle. Hard for me to disagree with that. They probably should've been involved at the top of the rotation market, but that's as much an ownership question as it is a front office one
  • Obviously, their series of low-cost bullpen pickups especially blew up, but I actually think they've shown progress this year in the more meaningful stuff (Wood's emergence as a superstar, Gore's development, etc.)
  • I wouldn't read too much into the #1 pick as a sign of their long-term direction. Even if they do take Holliday (or Eli Willits, I guess), it's not uncommon for top high school draftees to get to the majors within two or three years. It'd just be a sign that they think those guys are better prospects than the top college pitcher on their board

Opt-Out

  • Is this the trade deadline someone with an opt-out or player option finally gets traded?

Anthony Franco

  • Happened with Scherzer a few years ago, though he preemptively exercised the option to make it happen. I think someone will take the risk on Lugo this summer
  • He's obviously going to opt out if he's healthy, $15M if he does blow out would suck but isn't catastrophic (it's what teams gamble on the current version of Scherzer and Verlander and Alex Cobb), and the supply of starting pitching is really light

Edward Cabrera

  • What does a trade package look like for me and who do you think will be calling Bendix the most about it? Is there a world where Sandy and I get dealt to the same team?

Anthony Franco

  • He fits anywhere really (aside from the deep rebuild teams like Colorado and the White Sox). Cheap, amidst a potential breakout, two and a half seasons of control
  • Yankees, Cubs and Padres are the first three that come to mind but there aren't many places he could land that would surprise me
  • Seems less likely that someone would do the Alcantara/Cabrera package deal. They're both good enough to support a strong return individually, and the Fish would probably be better off splitting them up and shopping each individually. No guarantee they move Cabrera at all

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Diamondbacks Outright Kyle Nelson

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The Diamondbacks have sent left-hander Kyle Nelson outright to Triple-A Reno, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Nelson, 28, has the right to elect free agency but probably won’t exercise that right. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit any remaining salary commitments in order to do so. Nelson is in that three-to-five window. He and the Snakes avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a salary of $825K for this year, a bit above the $760K major league minimum. He presumably wants to keep collecting that salary for the rest of the year and will therefore report to Reno.

A few years ago, the southpaw was a solid piece of the Arizona roster. In 2023, he tossed 56 innings for the Diamondbacks with a 4.18 earned run average. He paired a 28% strikeout rate with a 5.9% walk rate.

Unfortunately, he required surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome early in 2024, which put him on the shelf for most of that season. He’s back on the mound here in 2025 but his results haven’t been great so far. The Snakes have kept him on optional assignment and he has tossed 17 Triple-A innings with an ERA of 8.47. His 14.6% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate at that level are both clear downgrades from his major league work of a few years ago, with diminished velocity as well.

Given the uncertainty there, it’s unsurprising that no club put in a claim. Assuming Nelson accepts his assignment, he’ll try to get back on track with Reno. Perhaps he can regain some velocity and some better results as he moves further away from his surgery. If he’s not added back to the roster by the end of the year, he’ll be able to elect minor league free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man roster during a season.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

Rockies Option Chase Dollander

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The Rockies announced today that they have optioned right-hander Chase Dollander to Triple-A Albuquerque. Fellow righty Bradley Blalock has been recalled from Albuquerque as the corresponding move.

Dollander, 23, was called up to the majors in the first week of April. The ninth overall pick of the 2023 draft, he tore through the minors last year, posting a 2.59 earned run average, 33.9% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 118 innings. He was already a top prospect after being drafted but that performance shot him up even higher on the rankings. After just one Triple-A start this year, he was up in the show.

Thus far, he hasn’t been able to deliver on that prospect hype. Around a brief stint on the injured list due to forearm tightness, he now has 15 big league starts under his belt with a 6.68 ERA. His 16.8% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate are both subpar.

Not every prospect comes up to the majors and finds immediate success, so it’s not necessarily a concern that Dollander has struggled so far. On the other hand, Coors Field is a notoriously challenging venue to pitch in and that seems to be a factor here. Dollander has a 4.25 ERA on the road but a massive 9.37 mark in the mountains. His 20.3% strikeout rate on the road is much better than his 13.7% clip at Coors.

Getting major league hitters out is tough in any stadium but the Coors effect only heightens the challenge. Batted balls fly farther in the thin air but breaking pitches also move less, so there may be a steep learning curve as Dollander tries to make his stuff work at altitude.

Given his struggles, it’s not necessarily a shock to see the Rockies send him down. It’s also possible that the upcoming All-Star break will allow them to recall him fairly quickly without missing more than one or two turns through the rotation. With some upcoming off-days, the Rockies might just use a four-man rotation for a while, or perhaps give Blalock a spot start or two.

Though the decision is defensible, Dollander is likely to be personally impacted by the move. A baseball season is usually 186 days long but a player needs only 172 days of service to be credited with a full year of service time. Dollander was called up just ten days into the season, so he was on track to hit the one-year mark. That almost certainly won’t happen now as an optional assignment for a pitcher has a 15-day minimum.

The Rockies could technically recall Dollander in less than 15 days if someone else goes on the injured list, but barring that scenario, Dollander no longer has a path to one year of service. As a top prospect, he could also earn a full year by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting but it’s hard to fathom that possibility with his current stats.

Put it all together and Dollander’s path to free agency has almost certainly been pushed by a year. Had he stayed up, he would have been on track for free agency after 2030. It now appears that post-2031 will be the earliest he could hit the open market. His path to arbitration could also be impacted, depending on how long this optional assignment lasts.

Those are long-term questions which will be answered in time. In the shorter term, the focus will be on Dollander’s on-field abilities and figuring out how to reach his potential. The 2025 Rockies are one of the worst baseball teams of all time and there aren’t many reasons for long-term optimism either. If Dollander can start looking like a potential ace again, that would provide a glimmer of hope, but it’s not there right now.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Nationals Name Miguel Cairo Interim Manager

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The Nationals announced that bench coach Miguel Cairo is now the club’s interim manager. He’ll take over for Dave Martinez, who was fired yesterday. The Nats are off today, so Cairo will make his debut as Washington’s skipper tomorrow in St. Louis.

Cairo, 51, played in the majors from 1996 to 2012. After his playing days were over, he did some front office and player development work. The White Sox hired him to serve as bench coach ahead of the 2021 season, under manager Tony La Russa. Late in the 2022 campaign, La Russa had to step away from the club due to a health issue. Cairo took over and served as acting manager for the remainder of the campaign. The Sox went 18-16 with Cairo at the helm.

Going into 2023, Cairo got some consideration for sticking around but the Sox decided to hire Pedro Grifol as the manager instead. Cairo spent that year working for the Mets in the minors, then got hired to serve as Washington’s bench coach going into 2024.

In-season managerial firings often lead to the bench coach taking over the reins. The Nats are looking to shake things up as they trend towards a sixth straight losing season. In addition to Martinez, president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo was also fired. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo is now the interim general manager.

With both the general manager and the manager currently having the “interim” tag, the future is quite hazy. The club has the top pick in this month’s draft. They will also have to navigate the deadline and play out the remainder of the schedule. Cairo will do his best to guide the Nats from the dugout until the end of September. Perhaps his performance in the coming months could help him with his job prospects beyond that, either with the Nationals or other clubs. It’s unclear at this time who will take over Washington’s bench coach job.

Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images

Poll: Should The Marlins Still Trade Sandy Alcantara This Summer?

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When we first polled MLBTR readers on the possibility of the Marlins trading Sandy Alcantara back in April, more than 87% of respondents said that Miami should try to trade Alcantara this year, before the trade deadline. There was certainly logic to that idea. After all, the Marlins were in a season where they had no hope of competing and Alcantara was widely expected to be the most sought-after player on the trade market. At the time, he had made three starts with a 4.70 ERA that appeared elevated, but he also had solid peripherals that suggested he was likely to be a surefire playoff starter for any team in need of rotation help.

Things have changed since then. Alcantara now sports a 7.01 ERA on the season as he’s struggled badly in his return from Tommy John surgery. His stretch of eight starts immediately following that poll saw him pitch to a shocking 10.09 ERA with a 16.1% strikeout rate, a 12.1% walk rate, and a FIP of 6.00. That stretch of brutal performances has evened out a bit since the calendar flipped to June, but even in six starts since then he’s posted a 4.89 ERA. That’s hardly an enticing figure for a team in need of a pitcher capable of fronting a playoff rotation, to say nothing of how concerning the season-long numbers are at this point.

Given Alcantara’s weak numbers, it’s easy to make the argument against parting ways with him at this point. His value is arguably at an all-time low, and the emergence of Edward Cabrera (3.33 ERA in 15 starts) this year means he isn’t even the Marlins’ best trade chip for the summer. Despite all of his struggles this year, Alcantara is still a former Cy Young award winner who is more than capable of turning things around. In fact, he’s already begun to show signs of improvement. While his last six starts have yielded that aforementioned unsightly 4.89 ERA, during that time his strikeout rate (18.2%) is trending in the right direction and his walk rate (4.1%) is actually better than ever. It’s not at all hard to imagine a strong second half putting the Marlins in position to get more for Alcantara this winter even in spite of the fact that he would be available for one less pennant race if traded after the season.

On the other hand, the possibility that Alcantara does not turn things around must be considered. It’s easy to forget in the glow of his dominant Cy Young season in 2022, but the right-hander’s 2023 was actually rather pedestrian as he posted a 4.14 ERA with a 4.03 FIP. That’s certainly a useful pitcher, but hardly the sort of ace a World Series contender would feel confident starting Game 1 of a playoff series with. The farther Alcantara’s peak in 2022 fades from memory, the lower his value will go and the harder it will be to convince interested teams that they’re buying low on an ace-caliber arm, unless he’s able to recapture that form.

Additionally, the market conditions this summer are very seller-friendly. There are only a handful of clubs certain to sell, and even fewer who both have and are willing to part with quality, controllable pieces. That gives the Marlins a great deal of power on the trade market, as they hold two of the best controllable arms who are expected to be available in Cabrera and Alcantara. With so many contenders in need of starting pitching and limited options available, it’s at least conceivable that a desperate team would be willing to take the risk of paying something close to full value for Alcantara’s services despite his brutal performance this year. The risk in waiting to deal a talented player whose production has taken a nosedive can be seen with the White Sox, who have frequently declined to trade Luis Robert Jr. in recent years amid hopes that he would put up a healthy, dominant season to raise his value. That hasn’t happened and now the Sox might not be able to get anything of note in return.

How should the Marlins handle the Alcantara question this summer? Should they trade him for what they can get this summer, or hold him to see if he can bounce back? Have your say in the poll below:

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2025 season is chugging along, and the trade deadline is just over three weeks away. If you have a question about the campaign, a look ahead to the deadline or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Dodgers To Select Julian Fernández

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The Dodgers are going to call up right-hander Julian Fernández, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The club will need to make corresponding moves to get the righty onto the active and 40-man rosters.

Fernández, 29, is a flame-throwing right-hander. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason. He has since thrown 28 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 4.08 earned run average in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He has struck out 25.6% of batters faced and given out free passes at an 8% clip. He is strictly a fastball-changeup guy, with the heater averaging 96.9 miles per hour this year and the change at 85.1 mph.

Despite the intriguing stuff, he hasn’t been able to carve out a huge major league career yet. He did rack up two years of big league service time over 2018 and 2019, though that was due to being plucked in the Rule 5 draft and then requiring Tommy John surgery, spending that whole time on the injured list. He made six appearances for the Rockies in 2021, with a 10.80 ERA, which is the extent of his actual big league action thus far.

He was outrighted off Colorado’s roster in 2022 and finished that year with a 6.63 ERA in the minors. He signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays in 2023 but posted a 10.61 ERA and was released before the end of May. He then spent 2024 in Mexico and put up an ERA of 1.82 there before landing his deal with the Dodgers for 2025.

Fernández has a couple of options remaining, so he can jump into the club’s ever-changing pitching mix and provide some roster flexibility. The Dodgers currently have 12 pitchers on the injured list and have been trying to improvise solutions as the body count has climbed. The upcoming All-Star break will give them a breather and they will presumably make some moves to shuffle things at the deadline. For now, they’ll add Fernández into the equation to see if he can get some big league hitters out.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

The Opener: Nationals, Tigers, Rays, Pitchers’ Duel

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

1. Nationals leadership changes:

Yesterday, the Nationals made the decision to part ways with both GM Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez. The team has already named Mike DeBartolo as the team’s interim GM who will handle baseball operations for the remainder of the season. He’ll be thrown right into the thick of things, with the 2025 draft (where the Nationals have the first overall pick) just a week away and trade season already upon us. It seems one of his first tasks while in charge will be selecting an interim manager to help guide the club, as the Nationals did not initially announce a replacement for Martinez. That decision is expected sometime today, and whoever is selected will join Warren Schaeffer, Don Kelly, and Tony Mansolino as in-season managerial hires this year.

2. Series Preview: Tigers vs Rays

A series between two of the AL’s top contenders begins today as the Rays head to Detroit for a three-game set against the Tigers. Tampa enters the series having recently pulled into a tie with the Yankees for second place in the AL East, just three games back of the division-leading Blue Jays. Detroit, meanwhile, has the best record in the majors and has won seven of their last ten games. The Rays, meanwhile, have gone just 4-6 in that time. The series kicks off later today with right-hander Shane Baz (4.33 ERA) on the mound for Tampa. The Tigers don’t have an announced starter for today’s game but could turn to Dietrich Enns (who has a 7.00 ERA in nine innings this year) for bulk innings if they opt for a bullpen game. The series will have more traditional pitching matchups the rest of the way, with right-hander Ryan Pepiot (3.34 ERA) taking on Jack Flaherty (4.84 ERA) tomorrow. The series wraps up Wednesday with right-hander Zack Littell (3.50 ERA) on the mound against righty Reese Olson (2.89 ERA in ten starts).

3. Pitchers’ Duel in Milwaukee:

Another series between two contending clubs is taking place today in Milwaukee, where the Dodgers will be taking on the Brewers in a series that will kick off with an exciting pitchers’ duel today between two hurlers who will represent the National League in this year’s All-Star game. Right-hander Freddy Peralta is on the mound for the Brewers against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto has made just 17 starts this year as the Dodgers have monitored his workload closely, but those starts have been dominant with a 2.51 ERA and a 28.6% strikeout rate. Peralta has been no slouch either, as he’s posted a 2.91 ERA in 99 innings of work with a 25.5% strikeout rate. First pitch in this intriguing matchup is scheduled for 6:40pm local time.

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