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Astros Claim Jason Alexander From Athletics

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 12:59pm CDT

The Athletics announced that right-hander Jason Alexander has been claimed off waivers by the Astros. Alexander was designated for assignment by the West Sacramento club earlier this week.

Signed to a minor league deal back in November, Alexander had that contract selected to the A’s roster in April, and he struggled to an 18.00 ERA over four appearances and six innings with the team. The grim results included 2 1/3 innings of nine-run ball in the Athletics’ 19-2 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday, and Alexander was sent to DFA limbo the next day.

This brief run with the A’s marked Alexander’s first MLB action since his 2022 rookie season, when he had a 5.40 ERA across 71 2/3 innings (starting 11 of 18 games) with the Brewers. A shoulder injury kept him shelved for a good chunk of the 2023 season, and he spent the 2024 campaign in Boston’s minor league system.

Despite the lack of production at the big league level, Alexander has some decent numbers in the minors, including a 1.27 ERA in 21 2/3 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas this year. The grounder specialist has a 63.6% groundball rate to show for his minor league work in 2025, and Alexander has routinely topped the 50% mark in grounder rates over his minors career. At the cost of a 40-man roster spot, there’s little risk for the Astros in seeing what the 32-year-old can do as a depth arm.

Orioles Place Tyler O’Neill On 10-Day IL, Designate Kyle Gibson

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 12:54pm CDT

The Orioles have placed outfielder Tyler O’Neill on the 10-day injured list due to a left shoulder impingement, and designated right-hander Kyle Gibson for assignment. Outfielder Dylan Carlson and right-hander Kade Strowd were called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster moves.

After signing a three-year, $49.5MM free agent deal this past winter, the early days of O’Neill’s tenure in Baltimore have been marked by injuries and a subpar performance at the plate. This is already his second IL trip, as he previously missed a couple of weeks due to neck soreness in late April and early May. It is fair to wonder if these health issues have led to O’Neill’s modest .188/.280/.325 slash line and two home runs over 93 plate appearances, as O’Neill just hasn’t looked like himself this year.

Being hampered by injuries has been a frequent subplot of O’Neill’s eight-year MLB career, as the outfielder has only twice topped the 100-game mark in a season. One of those comparatively healthier seasons came with the Red Sox in 2024, as O’Neill made 473 PA over 113 games and hit .241/.336/.511 with 31 home runs. O’Neill hit the IL on three separate occasions but with a minimal amount of missed time, which allowed O’Neill plenty of opportunity to mash at Fenway Park.

The O’s were impressed enough to bring O’Neill aboard in what was the most expensive signing of Baltimore’s offseason, yet like so many other moves in what is becoming a Murphy’s Law year for the Orioles, O’Neill has yet to deliver much at the plate. Given how much criticism was directed at the front office and at ownership for not spending over the winter, the struggles of one of the players who did receive a healthy contract has only added to the discord of the Orioles’ 15-29 start.

Gibson was another offseason signing, though he joined the O’s just a week before Opening Day on a one-year, $5.25MM contract. The Cardinals declined their $12MM club option on Gibson’s services for the 2025 season, sending the veteran starter into the open market for what ended up being an extended stay. Since he didn’t have a proper Spring Training, Gibson agreed to begin the season in the minors so he could ramp up, but it seems like the right-hander is still showing plenty of rust.

Called up to the Orioles’ roster in late April, Gibson has been tagged for a 16.78 ERA over four starts and 12 1/3 innings. The ugly numbers include six runs allowed in just two-thirds of an inning in yesterday’s start, which ended up as a 10-6 Orioles loss to the Nationals.

Gibson was blunt about his lack of performance when speaking with MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other media yesterday, saying “four times taking the mound feeling like you haven’t given the team a chance to win each time is a pretty big gut punch. Feeling like you’re part of getting a manager fired is a gut punch. Just not going out there and being able to compete and give the team a chance to win every five days is frustrating. So yeah, I don’t know if any of you guys have ever felt the feeling of essentially letting down your co-workers, but it’s a gut punch.”

The DFA doesn’t necessarily mean that Gibson’s time in Baltimore is over. Since there is no chance another team will claim the right-hander (and assume the rest of his salary) off waivers, Gibson could accept an outright assignment to Triple-A to give himself more time to get on track. Gibson also has more than enough MLB service time to decline an outright assignment, which would allow him to retain his salary and re-enter free agency again.

Strowd is now back with the Orioles for the second time within the last month, though the right-hander has yet to officially make his Major League debut with an in-game appearance. A 12th-round pick for Baltimore in the 2019 draft, Strowd’s minor league numbers aren’t great, as he has only a 6.99 ERA over 56 2/3 career frames at the Triple-A level. That performance does come with a 31.02% strikeout rate and grounder rates that frequently top the 50% mark, but also a 12.41% walk rate.

Despite the rough bottom-line results, the Orioles were intrigued enough by Strowd’s ability to miss bats to add him to the 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft. This latest call-up should at least allow the righty to get a big league appearance on his resume, and given Baltimore’s pitching needs, there’s plenty of opportunity for Strowd to stick if he pitches decently well during however long he remains on the roster.

Jose Alvarado Issued 80-Game PED Suspension

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 12:16pm CDT

12:16PM: The Phillies reinstated right-handed Jose Ruiz from the 15-day injured list, and he’ll take the open spot on the 26-man roster now that Alvarado has been moved to the restricted list.

Dombrowski provided some background on Alvarado’s situation when speaking with reporters (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) today. Alvarado told Dombrowski that he didn’t take the PED knowingly, as Alvarado believes it stemmed from his usage of a weight loss drug during the offseason. After the reliever’s positive test, Alvarado tested negative on two subsequent follow-up tests. As expected, Dombrowski didn’t address trade possibilities, and noted that the Phillies’ “abundance of starters” could help provide an internal answer to their bullpen needs.

10:37AM: Major League Baseball announced that Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado has been issued an 80-game suspension for a violation of the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Alvarado (who turns 30 on Wednesday) has tested positive for the PED known as exogenous Testosterone. In addition to the 80 games lost in the regular season, Alvarado is also ineligible for any postseason action if Philadelphia reaches the playoffs.

The stunning news leaves the Phillies without not just their closer, but one of the few reliable members of what has been an overall shaky bullpen. Jordan Romano’s early struggles quickly cost him the closer’s role, and Alvarado stepped in as the primary stopper by converting all seven of his save opportunities. Alvarado has a 2.70 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, 47.3% grounder rate, and a career-best 4.8% walk rate over 20 innings for the Phils, and that major improvement to his control was seemingly the headline story of the left-hander’s season.

Now, of course, those numbers have to be called into question in the wake of the league’s ruling. This is the final guaranteed year of the three-year, $22MM extension Alvarado signed with the Phillies in February 2023, and the Phils hold a $9MM club option (with a $500K buyout) on his services for 2026. Exercising that option was looking like a no-brainer move for the Phillies just hours ago, yet the team might now prefer to part ways with Alvarado if any doubts remain about the sustainability of his performance.

The shorter-term financial impact on Alvarado is also significant, as the suspension will cost him roughly $4.18MM of his $9MM salary for the 2025 season. That money is also subtracted from the Phillies’ books, which may bring their estimated luxury tax number (as per RosterResource) under the maximum penalty threshold of $301MM.

That being said, it seems likely that Philadelphia will re-invest that money into reinforcing its bullpen. The Phillies were surely already looking to add relief pitching even before Alvarado’s suspension, and that need has become even more pronounced now that the team’s closer will be out until mid-August. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is likely going to be challenged to make a quick trade, as even the few teams clearly out of playoff contention will put a high asking price on any trade chips this early in the season.

Romano hasn’t allowed a run over his last seven innings of work, so after a brutal start to the season, he might get the first crack at any save situations. Matt Strahm or Tanner Banks might also get some looks in late-game situations, or the Phillies could use a committee approach rather than settling on a single full-time closer.

Rangers Place Evan Carter On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 10:31am CDT

The Rangers placed outfielder Evan Carter on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 17) due to a right quad strain. Fellow outfielder Kevin Pillar has been activated from his own stint on the 10-day IL to take Carter’s place on the active roster. Texas also made two more roster moves, optioning right-hander Cole Winn to Triple-A and calling up righty Caleb Boushley.

Carter has a Grade 2 quad strain, as manager Bruce Bochy told the Dallas Morning News’ Shawn McFarland and other reporters. This means that Carter’s absence will stretch well beyond the 10-day minimum and he is likely facing several weeks or even months on the sidelines. The injury apparently surfaced yesterday, as Carter was a late scratch from the Rangers’ starting lineup for their game with the Astros.

The quad strain continues Carter’s injury-riddled pro career. Carter missed a good deal of the 2021 minor league season and most of the 2024 MLB season due to back problems, and arm problems also kept him on the minor league IL for about a month in 2023. Carter did get healthy in time to make his big league debut in September 2023, and he quickly lived up to his top-prospect status by tearing up the league in both the remainder of the regular season and into the postseason, as Texas went on to win the World Series.

Just when it looked like Carter was a breakout star, however, his bad back limited him to 45 games of action in 2024. He began this season in the minors and was recalled a couple of weeks ago for his 2025 debut, and Carter has hit only .182/.270/.273 in 37 plate appearances before going on the IL.

In part due to concerns over Carter’s health following his lost 2024 campaign, the Rangers added Pillar as a depth option on a minor league contract back in January. Pillar made the Opening Day roster and hit .237/.237/.289 over 38 PA before going on the injured list due to lower back inflammation earlier this month. He’ll return to the roster after missing 15 days of action.

Brewers Select Easton McGee, Option Tobias Myers

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 9:45am CDT

The Brewers announced three roster moves today, including the selection of Easton McGee’s contract from Triple-A Nashville. To create space for McGee on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters, Milwaukee optioned right-hander Tobias Myers to Triple-A, and moved lefty Connor Thomas from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL.

McGee has appeared in two Major League games during his pro career, pitching once apiece in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. That resume would’ve likely been a lot longer if it hadn’t been for a Tommy John surgery in May 2023 that ended up costing him the remainder of that season and most of 2024. The Brewers signed McGee to a two-year minor league deal following the 2023 campaign that allowed him time to recover from his surgery, and his mound work last year consisted of 33 1/3 innings in Milwaukee’s farm system.

Now more fully back to good health, McGee has a 3.44 ERA across 18 1/3 innings with Triple-A Nashville in 2025. His 25.3% strikeout rate is solid but his 11.4% walk rate is on the high side, and significantly higher than McGee’s much better control numbers over the rest of his minor league career.

McGee has worked only as a reliever this season but has a few multi-inning outings under his belt, so he can add a fresh arm and some length to Milwaukee’s pen. The Brewers used five different pitchers in Saturday’s 7-0 loss to the Twins, with starting pitcher Myers allowing four runs on 11 hits over just 3 2/3 innings of work.

After an impressive 2024 rookie season, Myers was optioned to Triple-A last week but then quickly recalled after Jose Quintana went on the Brewers’ IL. The turn-around maybe didn’t help matters given Saturday’s results, and Myers now has a 4.95 ERA in 20 innings in 2025. Today’s transaction probably paves the way for Myers to receive a bit of an extended stretch at Triple-A so he can get himself back on track in preparation for another recall later in the season.

Thomas was selected away from the Cardinals in last December’s Rule 5 draft, but the southpaw pitched just 5 2/3 innings over two appearances before elbow arthritis sent him to the IL in early April. The shift to the 60-day IL means that Thomas will now be out of action until at least the first week of June. Thomas would have to spend at least 90 days on the Brewers’ active roster for Milwaukee to gain his full rights, or else otherwise his Rule 5 status would carry over into the 2026 season.

Twins Place Danny Coulombe On 15-Day IL, Call Up Zebby Matthews

By Mark Polishuk | May 18, 2025 at 9:04am CDT

The Twins announced four roster moves this morning, including the news that left-hander Danny Coulombe was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left forearm extensor strain. Between Coulombe’s placement and yesterday’s placement of Byron Buxton on the seven-day concussion IL, Minnesota filled those two open roster spots by (as expected) selecting the contract of outfielder Carson McCusker and calling up right-hander Zebby Matthews from Triple-A. Matthews will get the start today in the Twins’ game against the Brewers. To open up a 40-man roster spot for McCusker, infielder Luke Keaschall was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

Coulombe hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, so it would seem that the southpaw’s forearm issue may have been lingering for a few days. As scary as any forearm-related injury seems, Coulombe might miss only a few weeks or a relatively short amount of time if he has only suffered a minor strain. More will be known about Coulombe’s situation or recovery timeline will likely be revealed when manager Rocco Baldelli briefs the media later today.

Coulombe underwent a Tommy John surgery way back in 2011 during his college days at Texas Tech, and he had a more recent elbow issue just last June when he had bone spurs removed. That latter procedure cost Coulombe almost three and a half months of the 2024 season, though he was able to make it back to the Orioles’ roster for a few appearances in late September.

Baltimore still opted to decline its $4MM club option on Coulombe for the 2025 season, and the 35-year-old then entered free agency and signed a one-year, $3MM pact with Minnesota. That deal has proven to be one of the more underrated moves of the entire offseason, as Coulombe has been nothing short of excellent — the lefty has yet to allow a run over his 16 2/3 innings, and he has a stellar 31.7% strikeout rate and 3.3% walk rate. A perfect strand rate and a .205 BABIP hint at some regression, but even those metrics boost Coulombe’s SIERA to only a still-superb 2.18.

This great year has now unfortunately been interrupted by injury, and Kody Funderburk is now the only healthy left-hander in Minnesota’s bullpen. Anthony Misiewicz, Richard Lovelady, and Brady Feigl are at Triple-A if the Twins wanted to add another southpaw, but none of those pitchers are on the 40-man roster. The Twins’ bullpen has been so good this season that they may be able to get by with just one lefty if Coulombe doesn’t miss too much time, but obviously losing Coulombe is a hit to the club’s relief corps.

Simeon Woods Richardson was optioned to Triple-A earlier this week, opening up a spot in Minnesota’s rotation and giving Matthews another crack in the big leagues. One of the Twins’ top pitching prospects, Matthews made his MLB debut in 2024 to mixed results, as he has a 6.69 ERA over 37 2/3 innings. Despite some respectable secondary numbers (24.3% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate), Matthews was undone by the long ball, as he surrendered 11 home runs in his brief time on the Twins’ roster.

Matthews had only 19 innings of Triple-A experience in 2024, but he has looked good during a slightly more extended stint in St. Paul this year. Matthews has a 1.93 ERA, 28.1K%, and 6.7BB% in 32 2/3 Triple-A frames in 2025, with just a lone home run allowed. Getting anything remotely close to this production would be a huge help for the Twins this year and it would reinforce Matthews’ status as a future rotation building block going forward.

Speaking of highly-touted prospects, Keaschall had an 1.065 OPS over his first 26 career Major League plate appearances before he suffered a fractured forearm after being hit by a pitch. Keaschall was put onto the 15-day IL at the end of April and it was just a matter of time before he was shifted to the 60-day, as the infielder is expected to need multiple months to recover.

NL East Notes: Young, Mauricio, Edwards

By Nick Deeds | May 17, 2025 at 10:08pm CDT

Today’s game between the Nationals and the Orioles included a scary moment where Nats center fielder Jacob Young crashed into the outfield wall at full speed and went down, as noted by Spencer Nausbaum of the Washington Post. He eventually departed the game with a left shoulder injury and was replaced by Alex Call in the outfield. Fortunately, Nausbaum was among those to note after the game that x-rays on Young’s shoulder came back negative. The 25-year-old’s status remains uncertain ahead of further evaluation tomorrow, but it’s undeniably a good omen for the club on the heels of an exciting win over Baltimore.

Young, 25, hasn’t hit much in his second season as a regular fixture of the Nationals lineup. Across 124 plate appearances this season, he’s posted a meager slash line of just .215/.300/.252 with zero home runs and just four doubles. Despite that lackluster performance at the dish, however, Young has largely made up for it with elite defense and base running. Young has been in the 88th percentile when it comes to value on the basepaths this year according to Statcast even in spite of his league-leading four failed stolen base attempts. The defense has been nearly as good, as his +2 Outs Above Average leaves him tied for sixth among NL center fielders with other strong defenders like Brenton Doyle and Johan Rojas.

With James Wood and Dylan Crews in the outfield corners on a daily basis and Call posting a solid 114 wRC+ in part-time duty, Young may need to hit more in order to keep himself in the lineup on a regular basis in the long-term, particularly with prospect Robert Hassell III beginning to hit at the Triple-A level this year. For now, however, the Nationals will surely content themselves with a quick return to action for their center fielder, given that the loss of Young would likely force Crews to slide over to center field on a more regular basis. With Crews scuffling badly at the plate himself to this point in the year, the Nats would surely prefer to avoid putting additional responsibilities on his plate at this point.

More from around the NL East…

The Mets optioned infielder Ronny Mauricio to Triple-A today after ending his rehab assignment at the Double-A level. As noted by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, the move is largely procedural in nature given that Mauricio was already in the minors. Mauricio missed the entire 2024 season after suffering a torn ACL during winter ball, and he’s appeared in just ten games in the minors so far this year as he works his way back up to speed with five games at Single-A and five games at Double-A. Now, Mauricio is set to finish getting back into form with the club’s Syracuse affiliate. Given he’s hitting just .125/.176/.188 with a 35.9% strikeout rate so far this year, it’s safe to say that Mauricio is still focused on recovery at this point and likely won’t be a realistic big league option for the Mets for some time yet.
The Marlins, meanwhile, have been without shortstop Xavier Edwards in the lineup for two days now due to back soreness. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald relayed today that, according to manager Clayton McCullough, Edwards underwent imaging that “came out OK” and that Edwards was slated to resume baseball activities today. It’s unclear if Edwards is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow, but if a trip to the injured list is being considered that would be an ideal time to make a decision seeing as a hypothetical IL stint could be backdated due May 16 if it began tomorrow. Edwards was one of the club’s better hitters in 70 games last year but has hit just .263/.337/.292 to this point in the 2025 campaign. Javier Sanoja is filling in at shortstop while Edwards is out of commission.

MLBTR Chat Transcript

By Mark Polishuk | May 17, 2025 at 9:37pm CDT

Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat

Dodgers Notes: Kershaw, Edman, Hernandez, Ohtani

By Nick Deeds | May 17, 2025 at 8:17pm CDT

Longtime face of the Dodgers’ franchise and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is making his 2025 season debut against the Angels this evening, and ahead of the start of his 18th season in the majors the veteran spoke to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic about his drive to continue his playing career.

“I don’t really understand that question,” Kershaw said, as relayed by Ardaya, when asked why he’s continuing his career. “People ask me that. Why not just ride off into the sunset? I’m 37. I have a long time ahead of me. Baseball is fun. So why not? As of today, that’s my answer, yeah.”

Kershaw, of course, has flirted with the possibility of retirement from time to time over the years. After winning a second World Series championship with the Dodgers last year and being forced to end his season in August due to injuries that eventually required surgery on his left plantar plate and to repair a torn left meniscus over the winter. He’s been rehabbing ever since, and enters this year playing on a one-year deal that guarantees him just $7.5MM, although incentives based on starts made and time on the active roster could bring that total up to $15MM by the end of the season depending on his health.

The southpaw is already a slam-dunk Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pitchers of the 21st century, but there are some career milestones left for him to conquer. For one thing, he’s 32 strikeouts away from being the 20th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 for his career. The 257 1/3 innings he’d still need in order to join the 3,000 innings club isn’t a goal he can reach this season, but after pitching 258 innings total in 2022 and ’23 it’s not hard to imagine him reaching that milestone before his 40th birthday should he decide to continue his career for that long.

One other motivator for Kershaw could be that neither of his World Series rings have come with the full experience: the Dodgers couldn’t hold a parade in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Kershaw was not on the field with his teammates for their championship last year due to injuries. Kershaw confirmed that his inability to participate down the stretch last year was a source of frustration.

“Nobody wants to just sit around,” Kershaw said, as relayed by Ardaya. “I want to pitch, and contribute, and be a part of it. Last year was difficult. Obviously, fun to at least be a part of it and see us win and things like that. You always want to be a part of a great team. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Giants Move Jordan Hicks To Bullpen

By Nick Deeds | May 17, 2025 at 6:51pm CDT

The Giants have moved right-hander Jordan Hicks into a bullpen role. Hicks’s spot in the starting rotation will go to right-hander Hayden Birdsong, who is now slated to start for San Francisco against the Royals on May 20. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first suggested that the club was discussing the possibility of taking Hicks out of the rotation this afternoon, and manager Bob Melvin later confirmed the change to reporters (including Slusser) and announced Birdsong as Tuesday’s starter prior to tonight’s game.

It was just last week that Melvin suggested that moving Hicks out of the rotation was not something the Giants had begun discussing. Just a few days later, however, Hicks suffered his worst start of the season against the Diamondbacks as he was torched for five runs across just two innings of work. In that time, he surrendered seven hits (including a home run) and one walk while recording just one strikeout. It seems that outing, which raised Hicks’s ERA to 6.55 on the season, was the final straw for the Giants and convinced them that it was time to explore other options to round out the rotation behind Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander, and Landen Roupp.

It’s an unfortunate end to Hicks’s time in the rotation, particularly given the fact that peripheral numbers have generally looked favorably upon the right-hander’s work with the club this year. The righty’s 20.3% strikeout rate doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but he’s walked just 7.9% of his opponents and generated an incredible 57.4% ground ball rate. That’s the sixth-highest grounder rate among all qualified starters this year, and of the five names above him only Webb has allowed less hard contact than Hicks’s minuscule 27.7% clip. That elite contact management has been held back by a sky-high .362 BABIP and a shockingly low 56.7% strand rate. Those figures suggest some bad luck and poor sequencing may be the culprit of Hicks’s struggles, and those ideas are further backed up by his 3.48 FIP and 3.74 SIERA.

That 3.79 figure the 30th best SIERA in baseball among qualified starters this year, sandwiched between Clay Holmes and Freddy Peralta. While Hicks’s peripheral numbers may suggest strong underlying performance, however, it’s hard to make the argument that this move to the bullpen was premature. Hicks is the worst qualified starter in the league by ERA this year, and his struggles actually date back to last season when he posted an ugly 8.18 ERA with a 6.44 FIP across his final five starts of the year before moving to the bullpen in the second half and returning to form with a 1.17 ERA in August.

While it’s far from impossible to imagine Hicks getting another look in the rotation at some point given those aforementioned strong peripherals, a number of injuries may be required in order for that to come to pass. After all, the Giants have an excess of starting talent that’s forced them to use well-regarded youngsters like Birdsong and recent top prospect Kyle Harrison out of the bullpen to this point in the season. Birdsong, who posted a 4.75 ERA in 16 starts as a rookie last year, has done everything that could be expected to earn another crack at starting this year with a 2.31 ERA and a 24.8% strikeout rate in 23 1/3 innings of work as a multi-inning relief arm. The righty’s 9.9% walk rate is elevated, but his 3.68 SIERA to this point in the year is even better than that of Hicks. As for Harrison, the southpaw began the season in the minors and has only made three appearances so far this year at the big league level, though he’s struck out 31.3% of opponents with a 2.25 ERA in that limited work.

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