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A.J. Puk Shut Down With Flexor Strain, Not Expected To Require Surgery

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D-Backs southpaw A.J. Puk has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. He’ll remain shut down from throwing for 2-3 weeks before going for reevaluation. Fortunately, the team does not believe the injury will require surgery.

It’s moderately encouraging news after last week’s revelation that Puk was seeking multiple opinions on his elbow injury. He went on the 15-day injured list on April 19 and almost immediately went for imaging. That obviously raised the possibility of surgery, but it seems he’ll avoid the worst-case scenario.

That said, he’s clearly going to be out for an extended stretch. Puk will not resume throwing until the middle of May at the earliest. He’ll surely require a multi-week build from there. He won’t be back on an MLB mound before June, and there’d seem to be a decent chance he’s out beyond the All-Star Break. Puk has a previous Tommy John procedure on his medical chart. He underwent the surgery while he was a prospect in the A’s system back in 2018.

Acquired from Miami at last year’s deadline, Puk has been brilliant for the Diamondbacks. He posted a 1.32 ERA with 43 strikeouts in just 27 1/3 innings down the stretch. He’d reeled off another eight frames of three-run ball with 12 punchouts this season. He recorded four saves and two holds without surrendering a lead over the first three weeks.

Puk’s absence puts greater pressure on Justin Martinez to cement himself as Torey Lovullo’s top late-game weapon. The fireballer has worked 10 innings of two-run ball with 11 punchouts and a massive 61.9% grounder rate. Shelby Miller, Kevin Ginkel, Jalen Beeks and Ryan Thompson are among the setup group.

Giants Sign Cal Mitchell To Minor League Contract

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The Giants signed outfielder Cal Mitchell to a minor league deal. He was assigned to Double-A Richmond, where he’s making his organizational debut tonight. Mitchell was released from a minor league contract with the White Sox over the weekend.

A second-round pick by the Pirates in 2017, Mitchell reached the majors five years later. He hit .226/.286/.349 with five homers over 69 games as a rookie. Mitchell spent most of the following season on optional assignment to Triple-A before being designated for assignment that September. He cleared waivers and elected minor league free agency during the 2023-24 offseason. The San Diego native signed a minor league deal with his hometown club.

Mitchell spent all of last season with the Friars’ top farm team in El Paso. He had a good year, batting .277/.359/.512 with 22 home runs and 26 doubles across 469 plate appearances. Mitchell walked at a strong 11.7% clip against a serviceable 20.3% strikeout percentage. The Padres nevertheless didn’t bring him up.

The 26-year-old signed with the White Sox early last offseason. He struck out 11 times in 28 Spring Training plate appearances. The whiffs remained an issue in the minors. Mitchell fanned 14 times without drawing a walk over 10 Triple-A games. He hit .111 in 27 plate appearances, leading to his release. Mitchell now drops back a minor league level but gets a change of scenery to try to find his groove offensively.

Braves Release Jake Marisnick

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The Braves have released outfielder Jake Marisnick, who’d been playing with Triple-A Gwinnett after signing a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’ll head back to the market and look to latch on with another team needing outfield depth.

Marisnick’s release comes both on the heels of some notable struggles in Gwinnett and a shakeup in Atlanta’s outfield corps. The Braves signed veteran Eddie Rosario to a big league deal yesterday after his recent release from the Dodgers organization. In a corresponding move, they optioned Jarred Kelenic to Gwinnett, hoping a minor league reset can get the former top prospect back on track. Releasing Marisnick will clear roster space and playing time for Kelenic in Triple-A.

As noted, the 2025 season has been a struggle for Marisnick anyhow. The 34-year-old has appeared in a dozen games and taken 45 turns at the plate. He’s produced a woeful .098/.178/.195 batting line in that time. Marisnick has homered and was successful in his only stolen base attempt, but he’s fanned in 29% of his plate appearances and posted bottom-of-the-scale batted ball metrics (81.7 mph average exit velocity, 28.6% hard-hit rate).

Although he didn’t hit well in Gwinnett, Marisnick logged a big .286/.371/.549 slash in the Angels’ minor league ranks just last year. He’s a veteran of 11 major league seasons who has more than nine years of major league service time under his belt. Marisnick has never been a big threat with the bat — as evidenced by a lifetime .228/.281/.385 line in 2247 MLB plate appearances — but Statcast regularly places him in the 85th to 90th percentile in terms of sprint speed, and Marisnick is a superlative defender in center field; in 4448 career innings, he’s been credited with 54 Defensive Runs Saved and 40 Outs Above Average in center. He’s chipped in another 26 DRS and 12 OAA in 908 career innings in the corners.

Marisnick has at least held his own against left-handed pitching in his major league career (.237/.293/.417, 92 wRC+). That, coupled with his speed and glovework, ought to earn him a look with a new organization — albeit likely on another minor league contract.

Poll: Should The Rangers Be Worried About Marcus Semien?

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On balance, Rangers fans are surely happy that the club signed Marcus Semien prior to the 2022 season. After all, his second year with the club saw him make the AL All-Star team, finish as a finalist for the AL MVP award for the third time in his career, and join the rest of the Rangers in hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy after bringing home the first World Series championship in franchise history. Flags fly forever, so in a sense that surprising seven-year, $175MM contract that Texas brass shelled out to convince Semien to join a team coming off a 102-loss season is already a resounding success.

Perhaps that’s a good thing, as Semien has shown some worrying signs as he enters his mid-thirties. Last season represented a notable step back from his star-level production thanks primarily to a down season at the plate. In 159 games for the Rangers last year, the veteran hit .237/.308/.391 with a 99 wRC+. It was a step back from the 126 wRC+ he had posted the previous year, but hardly out of the ordinary. 2024 was the seventh year in a row where Semien had alternated a relatively average offensive season with one where he mustered up enough offense to finish third in AL MVP voting. It’s a trend that stretched across three different teams, starting during his time in Oakland in 2018 with a pedestrian season that he followed up by crushing a then career-high 33 homers in 2019.

The trend continued when he suffered a down season during the 60-game 2020 campaign, though Semien came roaring back with a 45-homer season and 6.0 fWAR in 2021 as a member of the Blue Jays. That was the platform campaign Semien put together ahead of his decision to sign with the Rangers, and overall the first three years of that deal have been successful overall with a .254/.320/.433 (111 wRC+) with 14.8 fWAR. Despite his pedestrian season offensively last year, Semien still managed to piece together a four-win campaign thanks to him offering some of the most defensive value in the entire sport with his work at second base. Among all qualified players regardless of position last year, Semien’s +19 Outs Above Average were eclipsed by only fellow second baseman Andres Gimenez. His Fielding Run Value was similarly impressive, as his +14 figure was tied with Gimenez for the league lead among all infielders.

That sort of wizardry with the glove can make up for a pedestrian bat, but it can’t make up for the sort of numbers Semien has put up in 2025 so far. In Semien’s first 115 plate appearances this year, he’s hit a paltry .155/.226/.223, good for a 30 wRC+. That’s 70% worse than league average, and the third-weakest offensive performance in the majors among qualified hitters so far this year. That sort of offensive production is nearly impossible to make up for with the glove and on the bases, and that’s assuming Semien can replicate his elite defense from last year despite being just a few months shy of his 35th birthday. With three years and $72MM still remaining on his contract after this year, Semien’s age and brutal start to the season are clear causes for worry in Texas.

Fortunately, Semien’s underlying offensive numbers do provide reason for at least some optimism. Semien’s .175 BABIP won’t stay more than 100 points below his career mark (.281) all year long. In the power department, his 8.1% barrel rate is actually the highest he’s posted since his 45-homer campaign with the Blue Jays back in 2021, though his 31.7% hard-hit rate is the lowest its been in a 162-game season since 2017. The more concerning metrics are those regarding his plate discipline. While Semien’s 8.7% walk rate is largely unchanged from last year’s 8.9% figure, his strikeout rate jumped from 14.6% in each of the past two seasons to 20.0% so far in 2025.

That increase in strikeouts has been due to an increase in whiffs, especially outside of the strike zone. Semien’s swinging strike rate this year is up to 10.9%, a full two points higher than his career mark of 8.9% and the highest he’s posted since his 21-game cup of coffee with the White Sox back in 2013. When looking at pitches outside of the strike zone, Semien is making contact just 45.5% of the time, down more than ten points from last year. Even though Semien can expect some positive regression in the power and BABIP departments, his newfound issues with whiffs outside of the strike zone could limit his ability to be an above-average bat in the majors if not corrected.

How do MLBTR readers think Semien’s 2025 season will play out? A rebound on at least some level appears all but guaranteed, given that Billy Hunter of the 1953 St. Louis Browns is the last player to post a 30 wRC+ or lower while qualifying for the batting title. The real question appears to be whether Semien will be able to get his offense back to a level that would allow his defense to make him an above-average major leaguer. Have your say in the poll below:

Mets Sign Brooks Raley

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April 29: The deal is now official and Mike Fitzpatrick of the Associated Press has the details. Raley is guaranteed $1.85MM, which comes in the form of a $1.5MM salary this year and a $300K buyout on a $4.75MM club option for 2026. Raley will get a $250K bonus if added to the active roster this year. There are also performances bonuses worth $900K this year and $1.75MM next year. In 2025, he will earn an extra $125K for appearing in 10, 15 and 20 games, then $175K at 25, 30 and 35 games. In 2026, it’s $250K for 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 games.

April 25: The Mets and left-hander Brooks Raley have agreed to a deal, pending a physical, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. It will be a one-year pact with a club option for 2026. The Mets have an open 40-man roster spot, so no corresponding move will be necessary if it’s a major league deal. The financial components of the deal for the Vanguard Sports client have not yet been reported.

Raley, 37 in June, was with the Mets last year when he required Tommy John surgery in May. That put him on the shelf for the remainder of the campaign and the start of 2025 as well. He is evidently making progress in his rehab, as it was reported last week that he threw for interested clubs. Sherman relays that Raley’s doctors believe he can start a rehab assignment in June.

Prior to his surgery, he had a good run as an effective lefty reliever. He spent 2015 to 2019 pitching as a starter in Korea but was able to return to affiliated ball and carve out a bullpen job. From the start of 2020 to the present, he tossed 184 1/3 innings, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. He had a 29% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate in that time.

The Mets are plenty familiar with him, as they acquired him from the Rays ahead of the 2023 season. He posted a 2.80 ERA in 54 2/3 innings for them that year. That compelled them to pick up a $6.5MM club option on his contract for 2024, which was a net $5.25MM decision at that time on account of the $1.25MM buyout. Unfortunately, they only got seven innings out of that investment before he got hurt.

The two sides have now reunited on a fresh deal. The structure reflects his current injury status. Raley will presumably bank a bit of money this season, even though he will only pitch about half of it in a best-case scenario. For the Mets, by investing in Raley now, they are hoping to get a bit of a payoff later this year with the option giving them a chance to carry it into 2026. Such arrangements are common for pitchers in this position.

The Mets have one of the best bullpens in the league so far this year. Their relievers have a collective 2.35 ERA, which is second only to the Padres. The lefty contingent currently consists of A.J. Minter and Danny Young. They don’t strictly need Raley but pitching injuries are fairly inevitable and the Mets love to stack depth. He’ll work his way into their plans in the coming weeks. If he is getting a big league deal, he could be moved to the 60-day injured list if he Mets don’t expect him to be big league-ready by late June.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, USA TODAY Sports

Jesse Chavez Elects Free Agency

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April 29: Chavez cleared waivers and elected free agency yet again, as relayed by David O’Brien of The Athletic. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he signs a new minor league deal in the next day or two.

April 27: The Braves announced this morning that they’ve designated right-hander Jesse Chavez for assignment. The move makes room on the active roster for right-hander Davis Daniel, who has been recalled to the majors.

Chavez, 41, made just one appearance in his latest stint with the Braves when he surrendered one run on two hits and a walk while striking out two in an inning of work against the Diamondbacks. He’s so far posted a 6.00 ERA in three innings at the big league level for Atlanta this year, his sixth season in a Braves uniform. The veteran journeyman has pitched to a 4.24 ERA (99 ERA+) and 4.22 FIP in his 18 seasons as a big leaguer but has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent years.

In 2018, Chavez posted a 2.55 ERA and 3.54 FIP for the Rangers and Cubs across 95 1/3 innings of work. It would’ve been easy to think of that performance as a flash in the pan after he returned to Texas and struggled in both 2019 and the shortened 2020 season, but he signed with Atlanta in 2021 and has looked quite good ever since with a 2.96 ERA and 3.50 FIP in 204 innings of work since then. That ERA drops to an even more impressive 2.59 when looking just at the time he’s spent in Atlanta over the past five seasons, and a strong relationship between the organization and player has seen him return to the club repeatedly in recent years after brief stints elsewhere.

It seems likely that relationship will continue even after today’s DFA. The Braves now have one week to either trade Chavez or pass him through waivers going forward, but if he does clear waivers it would hardly be a shock to see Chavez reject an outright assignment before re-signing in Atlanta on a minor league deal, as he did the last time he was DFA’d by the Braves earlier this month. Should he accept an outright assignment return to the Braves organization on a fresh deal, he’ll remain available to Atlanta as a non-roster depth option who can be called upon to provide length out of the bullpen as needed.

Chavez’s departure from the roster makes room for Daniel, who Atlanta acquired from the Angels back in December. The righty was a seventh-round pick by Anaheim in the 2019 draft and made his big league debut in 2023. In total, he’s pitched 42 2/3 innings of work across nine appearances (six starts) with a 5.06 ERA and 4.41 FIP during that time. Last season, Daniel struck out 20.9% of batters faced at the big league level while walking just 4.5%, but was held back by the long ball as he surrendered five in just 30 1/3 innings of work. For a Braves club that doesn’t have a clear starter for Monday’s game against the Rockies after losing Spencer Strider to the injured list, Daniel could be an option for a spot start if he’s not needed out of the bullpen against the Diamondbacks this evening.

Yuli Gurriel Elects Free Agency

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May 3: Gurriel has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency, the Padres announced this afternoon.

April 29: The Padres are going to designate first baseman Yuli Gurriel for assignment and place infielder Mason McCoy on the 10-day injured list, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. McCoy dislocated his left pinky finger recently. Those will open roster spots for outfielder Jason Heyward and infielder Luis Arráez to be activated from the IL.

Gurriel, 41 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Friars in the offseason. They were looking for some cheap ways to add some offense, with holes in a couple of spots, including their designated hitter and bench mix.

Both Gurriel and Gavin Sheets had good spring performances and cracked the Opening Day roster. Sheets has done a better job of carrying it into the regular season, as he’s hitting .275/.314/.438 for a wRC+ of 111. Gurriel, on the other hand, has produced a dismal .111/.200/.139 line.

Arráez recently landed on the concussion IL, which moved Sheets from a regular designated hitter to a regular first base role. That allowed Gurriel to hang around for while but he would have been hard pressed to find playing time going forward with Arráez back in action. Presumably, Arráez and Sheets will share most of the first base and DH playing time going forward.

The Friars should put Gurriel on waivers in the coming days. Based on his age and recent performance, he’s not likely to garner much interest. He hit .243/.297/.356 for a wRC+ of 82 over the 2022 through 2024 seasons. As a veteran with at least five years of service time, Gurriel would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency in the event he clears waivers.

McCoy’s injury will subtract a bit of infield depth but Heyward might indirectly help with that. Tyler Wade has been covering center field lately due to injuries to Jackson Merrill and Brandon Lockridge. With Heyward now off the IL, he can rejoin the outfield mix alongside Wade, Fernando Tatis Jr., Tirso Ornelas, Oscar González and Connor Joe. If there’s an injury to middle infielders Xander Bogaerts or Jose Iglesias, Wade is capable of moving to the dirt and leaving center field to someone in that group.

Photo courtesy of David Banks, Imagn Images

Rockies Outright Lucas Gilbreath

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The Rockies announced that left-hander Lucas Gilbreath has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. He had been designated for assignment on the weekend to make room on the roster for Alan Trejo.

Gilbreath, 29, once seemed to be cementing himself as a solid piece of the Colorado bullpen. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he tossed 85 2/3 innings with a 3.78 earned run average. His 13.2% walk rate was on the high side but he managed to punch out 25% of opponents and get grounders on almost half the balls in play he allowed. He earned four holds in the first of those two seasons and then 12 more in the second.

But as is so often the case, arm troubles got in the way. Tommy John surgery in March of 2023 wiped out that entire season for him. He was reinstated from the injured list in August of 2024 but made just three appearances before landing back on the shelf due to shoulder inflammation, staying there for the rest of the season.

Gilbreath crossed three years of service time during those two lost seasons. The lefty and the Rockies avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $785K salary for this year, a bit above this year’s league minimum, which is $760K. Since he has hit the three-year service line, Gilbreath has the right to elect free agency and reject this outright assignment. But since he’s below the five-year line, he would have to walk away from what’s left of that money.

He will presumably accept his outright and keep pitching for Triple-A Albuquerque. He’s already been with that club this year, having been optioned before Opening Day. He has a 2.70 ERA through seven appearances so far. He should provide the Rockies with some non-roster depth as he tries to earn his way back to the majors.

Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images

Angels Designate J.D. Davis For Assignment

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The Angels announced that outfielder Gustavo Campero has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake. In a corresponding move, infielder J.D. Davis has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 38.

Davis, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Halos in the offseason. He cracked the big league roster earlier this month when Yoán Moncada landed on the injured list. Moncada is still on the IL but Davis has hardly played. Since being added to the roster April 10th, he has stepped to the plate nine times over five games. He recorded three strikeouts and one single, leading to a .111/.111/.111 line.

That’s a rough showing but also a tiny sample size. Regardless, the Angels seem to prefer other options for their infield mix. Luis Rengifo is covering third while Nolan Schanuel is the regular at first. Defensive specialist Kevin Newman is presumably the backup for those two at the moment, as no one else on the roster has much experience at those spots.

The Angels will likely put Davis on waivers in the coming days. He is coming off a down year, as he hit .218/.293/.338 for an 86 wRC+ in 2024, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal coming into this year. But over the five prior seasons, he hit .268/.352/.443 for a 119 wRC+.

Campero is out to a strong start this year, hitting .333/.397/.472 in Triple-A. However, it’s unclear how he’ll get into the lineup as a corner outfield guy. The Angels have Taylor Ward and Mike Trout as their regulars in the corners and Jorge Soler acting as the designated hitter most days. Campero does have some catching experience but the Halos have Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud back there. Campero is a threat for double-digit steals, so perhaps he will be utilized as a pinch runner.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Nationals Release Stone Garrett

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The Nationals have released outfielder Stone Garrett, reports Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post. Garrett opened the season in Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment in spring training but cleared waivers and remained with the organization as a non-roster player.

The 2025 season hasn’t been kind to the 29-year-old Garrett. He’s tallied 51 plate appearances with the Red Wings and recorded an anemic .087/.176/.130 batting line with a mammoth 43.1% strikeout rate. He has just one hit and 13 strikeout in his past 31 plate appearances with Rochester.

Garrett has appeared in parts of three major league seasons between the Nationals and Diamondbacks. In that time, he’s a .276/.341/.492 hitter — 25% than league average, per wRC+. There’s plenty of reason to take that output with a hefty grain of salt, though. Garrett has benefited from a .369 average on balls in play and has gone down on strikes in 30.2% of his major league plate appearances.

Big league playing time has been scarce for Garrett in recent seasons, thanks largely to injury. He suffered fractures in his fibula and ankle when crashing into the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium in 2023 and spent more than eight months recovering. He logged just six MLB plate appearances in 2024 and spent the rest of the season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he hit only .249/.348/.333 in 79 games.

At his best, Garrett has shown himself to be capable of clobbering left-handed pitching. He’s a career .279/.333/.541 hitter when holding the platoon advantage, and while his BABIP (.362) and strikeout rate (30.8%) even in those situations point to regression, his power against lefties is legitimate. He’ll need to show more than he did in Rochester this year, but the track record and two remaining minor league option seasons should help him find a minor league deal with another club.

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