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NPB’s Seibu Lions Likely To Post Kona Takahashi For MLB Teams This Offseason

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The Seibu Lions have agreed to post right-hander Kona Takahashi for Major League teams this winter, according to a report from Nikkai Sports.  Takahashi turns 29 in February, and he has a 2.95 ERA, 13.8% strikeout rate, and 6.9% walk rate over 116 innings and 19 starts for the Lions this season, which is his 11th campaign in Nippon Professional Baseball.

The numbers reflect something of a bounce-back for Takahashi, who had a 3.87 ERA over 81 1/3 frames in 2024 and a rather glaring 0-11 record.  Even with the caveat that win-loss records aren’t the best indicator of performance, it was a far cry from the form that saw Takahashi deliver a 2.20 ERA during the 2022-23 seasons, as his tough year included a drop in velocity and even some time in the Japanese minor leagues.

Takahashi first expressed an interest in coming to MLB after his big 2022 campaign, and though he has appeared in each of the last 11 NPB seasons, he still hasn’t amassed the full nine years of service time necessary for full free agency.  The Lions have nevertheless agreed to let Takahashi search for a Major League team a bit early, and landing a contract would allow the Lions to gain some money via a posting fee.

Once an NPB player is posted, he has 45 days to work out a deal with a Major League club.  If no deal is reached, the player returns to his Nippon Professional Baseball club for the next season and can’t be posted again until the following winter.  If a deal is reached, the player’s original NPB club earns a posting fee depending on the size of his MLB contract.  Should the player sign a big league deal worth $25MM or less in guaranteed money, the NPB team will receive 20 percent of the total guarantee.  If the player signs a minor league deal, the NPB team will get 25 percent of the signing bonus, plus a later supplemental free if the player is added to the MLB team’s active roster.

It seems likely that any contract Takahashi lands will be within the lower ranges of the posting system, as the Yakyu Cosmopolitan writes that Takahashi’s “market will be similar to” that of Shinnosuke Ogasawara or Naoyuki Uwasawa.  Ogasawara signed a two-year, $3.5MM contract with the Nationals last January after being posted by the Chunichi Dragons, and Uwasawa signed a non-guaranteed split contract with the Rays in January 2024 after the Nippon Ham Fighters posted the right-hander.

Takahashi has solid control but isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher, as his 20% strikeout rate from the 2020 season (over 120 1/3 innings) is his career high in Japan.  MLB teams may be looking at him more as reliever or a swingman than as a rotation candidate, but the ever-present need for pitching means that Takahashi has a solid chance of landing some kind of a deal to get to the majors in 2026.  The Nikkai report indicates that evaluators from the Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Mariners, and Rangers recently scouted one of Takahashi’s starts, so the right-hander is getting at least some due-diligence interest from a range of teams.

Tigers Shut Down Beau Brieske Due To Elbow Soreness

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Right-hander Beau Brieske has been on Triple-A Toledo’s injured list since July 10 due to elbow soreness, and Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg told reporters (including the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky) yesterday that the reliever had a setback during a recent bullpen session.  As a result, Brieske will be shut down for the next 4-6 weeks, meaning that his 2025 season is all but officially over, barring both a deep Tigers postseason run and a rather improbable activation to a playoff roster.

The extent of Brieske’s elbow problems aren’t yet known, as Greenberg only said that surgery was “not yet” an option.  Brieske has missed time due to forearm issues in the past but hasn’t undergone a major arm procedure during his career.

A 27th-round pick for the Tigers in the 2019 draft, Brieske made his MLB debut as a starter in 2022, and was then shifted into a multi-inning relief role in 2023.  This usage continued into last season, as Brieske made 12 pseudo-starts as an opener, mostly late in the year.  Brieske’s flexibility out of the pen was a key part of the “pitching chaos” strategy that the Tigers used down the stretch to help fuel their late-season surge into a playoff spot.

Brieske delivered a 3.86 ERA over 184 1/3 innings and 86 games from 2022-24, with steadily increasing strikeout rates across those three seasons.  In 2025, however, Brieske posted only a 6.55 ERA across 22 innings and appearances, as his season was impacted by injuries even before his elbow soreness — ankle problems hampered Brieske in Spring Training and led to an early-season IL placement.  The bottom fell out when Brieske was charged for five runs in just a third of an inning on June 11, and he was optioned to Triple-A the next day.

Brieske is arbitration-controlled through the 2028 season and is due only a minimal raise on his $1.025MM salary from 2025, though his health status may hinge on whether or not Detroit tenders him a contract.  If his elbow heals up without the need for surgery, the Tigers could well bring him back given his modest price tag, and the hope that Brieske will return to his old form with better health in 2026.

Rockies’ Dugan Darnell To Undergo Hip Surgery

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The Rockies placed Dugan Darnell on the 15-day injured list on August 22 and then moved him to the 60-day IL two days later, officially ending the right-hander’s first Major League season.  Darnell was initially sidelined due to left hip inflammation, but he told the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders and other reporters that tests revealed a torn left hip labrum, and surgery will be required.  The procedure is expected to take place closer to the end of September, and Darnell is facing a recovery period of roughly eight months.

An Alex Call line drive struck Darnell in the hip on August 21, during the Rockies’ 9-5 loss to the Dodgers.  That fateful plate appearance may have been the last straw in forcing the surgery, as Colorado interim manager Warren Schaffer suggested last week that Darnell had been dealing with lingering hip soreness even before Call’s liner.

Regardless, it’s a tough setback for Darnell’s career so soon after he’d finally completed a long journey to the majors.  Darnell signed as an undrafted free agent with Colorado in February 2021, following two years of playing independent ball.  The righty then posted a 3.74 ERA over 255 1/3 innings in the Rockies’ farm system, working out of the bullpen in all but two of his 200 appearances.

After some rough numbers at the Triple-A level in 2023 and 2024, Darnell posted a 3.19 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate over 53 2/3 innings in Albuquerque in 2025.  This was enough for Darnell to earn a trip to the Show at the start of August, and he delivered a 3.86 ERA over 11 2/3 innings and nine relief outings for Colorado.  The 28-year-old benefited from some good luck in the form of a 76.9% strand rate and a .257 BABIP, as Darnell had more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five) during his brief time with the Rockies.

In the best-case scenario, Darnell will be available by June 2026, so he’ll start next season on Colorado’s 60-day injured list.  If there’s any silver lining to this situation, Darnell will continue to amass Major League service time while on the IL.

The Nationals Need To Lean Further Into Their Rebuild

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This wasn't how the Nationals hoped their rebuild would play out. When now-former GM Mike Rizzo traded Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers back in 2021, the hope was that dismantling a stacked roster could lead to an accelerated turnaround. In the span of just over a calendar year, Washington traded Scherzer, Turner and Juan Soto, in addition to short-term veterans like Kyle Schwarber, Jon Lester, Brad Hand, Yan Gomes, Daniel Hudson, Josh Harrison, Josh Bell, Jeimer Candelario, Dylan Floro and Hunter Harvey.

It obviously takes years to fully evaluate the extent of any given trade, but it's more than fair to say the slate of moves largely hasn't panned out. Rizzo's return for Soto/Bell has been terrific, with the Nats netting James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana. The first four are current big leaguers -- the first three are stars or close to it -- and Susana is now a consensus top-100 pitching prospect. The trade of Lester brought back Lane Thomas, who was a solid regular for a few years before being traded to Cleveland last summer in a deal that netted the Nats current big league infielder Jose Tena and left-hander Alex Clemmey -- currently their No. 3 prospect at Baseball America. It's a nice return for one-plus seasons of Thomas.

The rest of the Nationals' haul, however, hasn't really panned out. Washington doesn't have any above-average regulars to show for the rest of that slate of trades. If they'd focused squarely on low-level minor leaguers who were still bubbling up to the top of a stacked farm system, that'd be one thing .... but it's not the case. Washington's farm system ranks 21st in the majors, per Baseball America, and that's after benefiting from the No. 1 pick in this summer's draft. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranks their farm 22nd. The MLB.com team ranks them 23rd. For a last place team that's been rebuilding for more than four years, that's not sufficient.

Let's dive into what the Nats received from that group of trades, what critical decisions lie ahead in the offseason, and how boldly they could act in order to turn things around.

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Red Sox Release Walker Buehler

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The Red Sox announced that they have released right-hander Walker Buehler. That the corresponding move for the Sox to select prospect Payton Tolle, a move which was reported yesterday. The Sox also optioned outfielder Jhostynxon García and recalled infielder Nick Sogard. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported Buehler’s release prior to the official announcement.

The Sox signed Buehler to a one-year, $21.05MM deal in the offseason. That was a bet on a bounceback. Buehler had been an ace earlier in his career with the Dodgers. He finished 9th in National League Cy Young voting in 2019 and then fourth in 2021. However, he required Tommy John surgery in 2022, the second of his career. He was back on the mound in 2024 but wasn’t as sharp, posting a 5.38 earned run average.

He didn’t have a ton of momentum going into free agency but helped his cause somewhat with a decent playoff performance. He tossed 15 innings in the postseason last year with a 3.60 ERA, including getting the final outs in Game Five against the Yankees.

The Sox pushed in some chips with the hope of Buehler being better in 2025 but it didn’t pay off. He made 22 starts for the Sox with a 5.40 ERA, almost an exact match for his regular season work last year. He only struck out 16.5% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 10.8% clip. He averaged 94 miles per hour on his fastball, one tick below last year and a few ticks below his prime, when he was in the 96-97 mph range.

Clearly, the Sox ran out of patience. He was bumped to the bullpen a week ago. He made one long relief appearance on Sunday. They could have kept him around as a long reliever but rosters expand in September, giving every club an extra arm and a bit less need for someone to be on mop-up duty.

By cutting Buehler loose now, they are giving him a chance to land somewhere else. He will be postseason eligible with a new club as long as he joins that new organization prior to September 1st. Given his performance and the roughly $3.4MM left on his contract, it feels unlikely that anyone would claim him off release waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours. It’s unclear when exactly the Sox started that process. If they did it after last night’s game, perhaps Buehler could be a free agent by Saturday night. That would give him about 24 hours to sign somewhere else. If they are just putting him on the wire now, then the timeline is tighter, though it’s likely that his agent will be fielding calls from interested clubs while the waiver process plays out.

Assuming he does clear waivers, the Sox will remain on the hook for what remains of that salary. Another club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the major league minimum salary, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay. For a contending club need to patch a rotation hole, they might be tempted to take a free look at Buehler and hope to strike gold.

For the Sox, they are going into the stretch in decent position. They have a record of 75-60. They are just 3.5 games back of the Blue Jays in the American League East. They have the top Wild Card spot and are 5.5 games ahead of the Royals, the top non-playoff team in the A.L. With still a lot of meaningful games left, they have decided Buehler isn’t one of their horses. They head into the final few weeks of the season with Garrett Crochet as their clear ace, backed up by Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Dustin May. They are giving Tolle a shot at taking a spot and also have Kyle Harrison in Triple-A, if needed.

Photos courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Pirates Place Isiah Kiner-Falefa On Outright Waivers

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The Pirates have placed veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on outright waivers, Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. He’ll be available to all 29 other clubs, with waiver priority determined based on the reverse order of the MLB-wide standings. (Outright waiver priority is not league-specific like the now-defunct revocable August trade waivers were.)

Because he has not been designated for assignment, Kiner-Falefa can continue to play while on waivers. If another team claims him, which seems plausible, he’d be postseason-eligible because he’d join that club before Sept. 1. (Waivers are a 48-hour process.) He’s being paid $7.5MM this season, with about $1.21MM of that sum yet to be paid out.

The Pirates do not have to assign him outright to a minor league affiliate if he goes unclaimed. They could do so if they choose, but Kiner-Falefa would have the right to then elect free agency and retain the remainder of his guaranteed money. They could also opt to simply release Kiner-Falefa if he goes unclaimed, as the Guardians did with veteran first baseman Carlos Santana, which would give him one more chance to jump into a playoff hunt between now and season’s end.

In 419 plate appearances, Kiner-Falefa is batting .268/.304/.337. It’s a light batting line (78 wRC+), but he’s gone 15-for-19 in stolen base attempts and played a respectable shortstop this season. Kiner-Falefa is a versatile defender with experience at short, second base, third base and all three outfield spots.

The Pirates somewhat surprisingly didn’t trade Kiner-Falefa at the deadline. Presumably, his middling offensive contributions didn’t garner strong interest. However, as teams gear up for the stretch run and look to deepen their benches, Kiner-Falefa’s brand of speed, contact (15.5% strikeout rate) and defensive versatility could hold appeal. He’s struggling quite a bit against lefties this year, despite being a right-handed bat, but he entered the season with more or less neutral platoon splits in his career.

For the Bucs, the waiver route presents an opportunity to trim some payroll and to afford a veteran player the opportunity to join a postseason chase in the season’s final month. By waiting until the end of the month to make the move, they made it as affordable as possible for teams with interest in claiming him. Kiner-Falefa’s contract does contain $250K bonuses for reaching 500 and 550 plate appearances, but he’s 81 shy of that mark right now thanks largely to a monthlong stay on the IL for a hamstring strain back in April/May.

If another club claims Kiner-Falefa, it’d open more at-bats for younger infield options. There’s no way the Bucs would call up 19-year-old Konnor Griffin, currently ranked as MLB’s top prospect, when he has just eight games above A-ball to his credit right now, but they could give some reps to former trade acquisitions like Nick Yorke or Cam Devanney in the season’s final month.

Randy Moffitt Passes Away

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Former major league reliever Randy Moffitt passed away on Thursday at age 76, the Giants announced. According to an Associated Press report, Moffitt had battled an extended illness.

The younger brother of tennis legend Billie Jean King, Moffitt was a gifted athlete in his own right. San Francisco drafted him in the first round in 1970 out of Long Beach State. The Giants moved him to the bullpen after one minor league season. He reached the big leagues in 1972 and spent the remainder of the decade pitching towards the back of the San Francisco relief corps.

Moffitt recorded double digit save totals in each season from 1973-78. He had a pair of sub-3.00 ERA showings. Moffitt struck out 65 hitters with a 2.42 mark across 100 1/3 innings in 1973. He tossed a personal-high 103 frames of 2.27 ERA ball three seasons later. The 6’3″ righty remained in San Francisco until he was released in 1981. He finished his big league career with lone seasons for the Astros and Blue Jays.

Over a career spanning parts of 12 seasons, Moffitt turned in a 3.65 earned run average. He finished 306 of his 534 appearances, including 96 saves. Moffitt won 43 games and tallied 455 strikeouts. He made 459 appearances in a San Francisco uniform. Moffitt is sixth in franchise history in appearances, fifth in games finished, and ninth in saves. He’s a member of the organization’s Wall of Fame. MLBTR joins others around the game in sending condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Mets Sticking With Six-Man Rotation

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The Mets are moving to a six-man rotation for the time being, manager Carlos Mendoza tells reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). That’ll keep Jonah Tong in the rotation after tonight’s debut. New York will operate with a seven-man bullpen for the next two games but will get an eighth reliever back when active rosters expand on Monday.

Tong worked five innings against the Marlins tonight. He gave up four runs, only one of which was earned after the Mets made a pair of errors in the fifth inning. Tong punched out six without issuing a walk while allowing six hits. Completing five innings was all he needed to do to pick up his first big league win. The Mets pounded Miami pitching for 19 runs in a blowout victory.

The Mets now have a pair of rookies in their starting staff. Nolan McLean, called up two weeks ago, has begun his big league career with a trio of fantastic starts. He fired eight scoreless innings against Philadelphia last time out and has allowed only two runs through his first 20 1/3 innings. David Peterson has been their best starter all year, while Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea are surely locked into rotation spots. It wouldn’t have made much sense to call Tong up just for a spot start.

Clay Holmes has a 4.38 ERA with a well below-average 15.8% strikeout rate in eight starts since the All-Star Break. He has only completed six innings once during that stretch. The Mets could’ve considered moving him to the bullpen, where he’ll probably end up in October if they hold onto a playoff spot. That’s not the plan for now, and Holmes is lined up to start in Detroit next Wednesday.

The Mets have a scheduled off day on Thursday. If they don’t make any adjustments to their six-man rotation, Tong’s second MLB start will come a week from now at Great American Ball Park. That’s shaping up to be a big series with the Reds representing the closest thing to a challenger in the Wild Card race. New York has pulled five games clear of Cincinnati, who have dropped four in a row at a very inopportune time.

The final month presents an evaluation opportunity for New York’s coaching staff and front office. They could go in a number of directions with a playoff rotation. Peterson is probably the favorite for a Game One start, but McLean and Tong each have a shot to convince the club that they’re worthy of a postseason start despite their inexperience.

Angels Re-Sign Connor Brogdon To Minor League Contract

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The Angels re-signed reliever Connor Brogdon on a minor league deal, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Brogdon, who had elected free agency last week after being designated for assignment, reports to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Los Angeles initially signed Brogdon to a minor league contract over the offseason. He had an ERA approaching 13.00 in Triple-A when the Angels nevertheless called him up in early May. Brogdon held an MLB bullpen spot for the next three months. He allowed 5.30 earned runs per nine over 37 1/3 innings. His strikeout, walk and home run rates were each on the wrong side of league average.

Brogdon looked like a potential leverage piece for the Phillies early in his career. He combined for a 3.36 ERA with solid strikeout and walk numbers in more than 100 innings between 2021-22. His numbers have tanked in the past few years (though he did collect a World Series ring last year after pitching one inning for the Dodgers in April). Brogdon still has a mid-90s fastball, and the Angels clearly still like him as a depth option. He’ll provide non-roster bullpen depth down the stretch.

Rays Re-Sign Logan Driscoll To Minor League Deal

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The Rays re-signed catcher Logan Driscoll to a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Tampa Bay had released him a couple weeks ago. Driscoll has been battling an ankle injury and hasn’t played all year, and the Rays wanted to take him off the 40-man roster without paying him an MLB salary.

Driscoll, 27, is a former second-round draftee of the Padres. The Rays acquired him in a 2020 trade that sent Emilio Pagán to San Diego. Driscoll has spent six seasons in the system and got a brief major league look last season. He played in 15 games, batting .171 with one home run. The lefty hitter owns a solid .287/.362/.460 slash in 370 plate appearances over two seasons at Triple-A Durham.

Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia are splitting the major league catching reps. They’re now the only two catchers on the 40-man roster. Matt Thaiss, Tres Barrera and Dominic Keegan are all active for Triple-A Durham. Thaiss would probably be the choice if either Feduccia or Fortes suffer an injury before the end of the season. Tampa Bay will need to decide this offseason whether to add Keegan to the 40-man roster or expose him to the Rule 5 draft. The Vanderbilt product is hitting .239/.311/.383 in 52 Triple-A games.

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