Anthony Franco
- Hey everyone, hope you've enjoyed your week! Looking forward to another of these, let's get going
Dave Dombrowski
- How much has Kyle Schwarber raised his salary now? Does 4/140 keep him in Philly and away from FA? Does the uncertainty regarding Wheeler push me to make a strong offer to Ranger Suarez? And will there be enough left to resign JTR, the real rock of the pitching staff? Do you think that John Middleton will back a payroll approaching $400M?
Anthony Franco
- Yeah I have to imagine 4/140 would get it done before he hits the market. Still don't see Philly going to 35M annually especially at their luxury tax status, but I do think he's got a shot at five years that could approach that guarantee
- DH who is soon to be 33 is a profile the market hates but Schwarber's pretty clearly in a different tier from the Santander/Teoscar group. You could point to Alonso's quiet market last year as a counterargument, but Schwarber's walk year is so much better than Alonso's 2024
- I don't think the Wheeler injury dramatically changes things on Ranger. Never seemed all that likely to me that they'd re-sign him for nine figures, even after trading Abel. I think they're just more likely to be in on an Adrian Houser type who can serve as a fifth starter or long man once Painter is in the rotation
Slick
- Are the Nationals looking at another five years of rebuilding? From top to bottom this team appears to be in disarray.
Anthony Franco
- I'm not as pessimistic on a core with Wood, Abrams, Gore, etc. but based on Steve's forthcoming Front Office post this week, I think he's more in your camp
- He's about to drop like 2000 words on this topic
Mariners
- What are your thoughts on the Robles suspension? Fair? Too long? Too short?
Anthony Franco
- Start at 10, drop to seven seems fine. I feel like Contreras should have been at that level as well though, so I guess you could argue it's inconsistent
Chris
- More likely to rebound in 2026: Braves or Orioles?
Anthony Franco
- Tough one. I think I'd take Baltimore. Atlanta's got more high-end talent coming back, especially on the pitching staff, but they're probably going to put a lot on Sale, Schwellenbach and López to stay healthy in a way that concerns me
- The O's have a lot of heavy lifting to do this offseason, especially in the bullpen, but I think they're a little more well equipped to navigate 162 with in-house depth
JeffyM82
- Bo Bichette 2025 total hits over/under Bo Bichette total free agent contract (millions). Where are you putting your money? Bo Currently has 169 hits with 28 games remaining.
Anthony Franco
- Ha yeah I'll take the hits. I like this one though, reasonable argument either way
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Orioles Outright Vimael Machín
The Orioles announced that infielder Vimael Machín, who had been designated for assignment earlier in the week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. He had the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright but has accepted the assignment.
Machín, 31, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in the offseason. He was selected to the roster a week ago when Jordan Westburg landed on the injured list. He hit a home run in his first game but didn’t do much apart from that. That homer was his only hit in 12 plate appearances, with one walk as well, leading to a .091/.167/.364 slash line.
He also got some criticism from fans for a play against the Red Sox on Sunday, seen in this video from MLB.com, where he either forgot how many outs there were or simply didn’t act aggressively enough to turn a double play. Playing third base, he fielded a sharp grounder, lightly jogged to tag the bag for a force out but then threw too late to record the out at first. Instead of the inning being over, a wild pitch and double followed to knock in two more runs.
He was designated for assignment the next day. The 29 other clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers. By accepting the assignment, he’ll continue to provide the O’s with non-roster depth. He has a .204/.286/.264 line in 373 big league plate appearances but a .289/.367/.449 line in 1,341 Triple-A plate appearances since the canceled 2020 season. He has minor league experience at every position on the diamond, though just one inning at catcher, two on the mound and just one in center field.
Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images
Yimi García To Undergo Season-Ending Elbow Surgery
The Blue Jays announced to reporters, including Mitch Bannon of The Athletic, that Yimi García will undergo surgery to clean up scar tissue in his throwing elbow. He won’t return this year but is expected to be ready for next year’s spring training. He’ll be transferred to the 60-day injured list whenever the Jays need a roster spot.
It’s the second straight season marred by elbow issues for García. He hit the IL in June of last year for right elbow ulnar neuritis. He was reinstated from the IL in July, just in time for the Jays to trade him to the Mariners for outfielder Jonatan Clase and catcher Jacob Sharp. A few weeks after that trade, right elbow inflammation put García back on the shelf and he finished the season there.
He hit free agency and the Jays brought him back via a two-year, $15MM deal. A shoulder impingement put him on the IL in May. He was reinstated in early July but went back on the IL a few days later due to a left ankle sprain. While on the IL, his experienced a recurrence of ulnar nerve symptoms in his elbow. This surgery now wipes out any hope of him returning to the club.
Despite the injury problems, the results have still been decent, to varying degrees. Last year, he tossed 39 innings with a 3.46 earned run average, 32% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. This year, in 21 innings, his strikeout and walk rates regressed to 27.8% and 13.3% respectively. However, he also increased his ground ball rate from 27.3% to 41.2%, leading to a 3.86 ERA.
The Jays presumably knew they weren’t likely to get García back for the stretch run. Ahead of the deadline, they added Seranthony Domínguez and Louis Varland to bolster their bullpen for the stretch run.
Domínguez is an impending free agent, so that opens up a spot in next year’s bullpen. If García can return to health as hoped, he could slot into that opening, though Ryan Burr and Nick Sandlin are also on the IL and could be back in the mix next year.
The Jays also provided an update on outfielder Anthony Santander, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Santander is progressing well enough that he could begin a rehab assignment next weekend with a chance to return later in September.
Toronto fans haven’t yet had a chance to see Santander at his best. Signed to a five-year deal in the offseason, he slumped to start the season and then tried to play through a left shoulder subluxation. He was eventually placed on the IL in late May with a .179/.273/.304 line on the year. But just last year, Santander launched 44 homers for the Orioles, which is why the Jays signed him. If they can get him healthy and clicking again, the switch hitter could be a difference maker down the stretch.
The Jays have largely been using George Springer as their designated hitter but he has also been playing the outfield on occasion. If Santander is able to come back, those two would presumably take turns as the DH. That could lead to less playing time for corner outfield guys like Nathan Lukes, Addison Barger and Davis Schneider but Lukes can also play center while Barger can also play third and Schneider second. The distribution of playing time will likely depend on who is healthy and playing well a few weeks from now.
Infielder Ernie Clement recently got spiked on a slide, which led to a hairline fracture of his left middle finger and some stitches in his leg, per Nicholson-Smith. He hasn’t yet gone on the IL and could be fully healed up by the time Santander is back but those minor scrapes are the things that could impact lineup decisions down the road. Santander is on the 60-day IL and will need a 40-man spot when he’s activated. He could take García’s spot if the Jays don’t use it on someone else in the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images
Poll: AL Cy Young Race Check-In
While a few of this season’s awards don’t appear to be terribly competitive headed into the final month of the season, one race that still appears to be wide open is that for the AL Cy Young award. MLBTR last checked in on the race back in June, at which point Tigers ace Tarik Skubal was viewed as the heavy favorite to capture his second consecutive Cy Young, with nearly 46% of the vote and nearly double second place finisher’s total.
Skubal is still a strong contender for the award, of course, and perhaps even the favorite. Through 26 starts this year, the southpaw has logged 166 innings of 2.28 ERA ball. He’s struck out 33.5% of his opponents with a phenomenal 3.9% walk rate, giving him the best K-BB% in baseball this year. That mix of strikeout stuff and pinpoint command is Skubal’s bread and butter, as his other metrics this year have been closer to average than exceptional. His ground ball rate is a cromulent 40.7% this year, and his 8.7% barrel rate ranks 15th among 30 qualified AL hurlers. Skubal’s last start was an unusual one, as he surrendered six runs in 6 2/3 innings of work but only one of those six runs was considered earned. Even with those five runs not countered against his ledger, he’s posted a 3.05 ERA and 3.55 FIP in the month of August. That performance is strong but not quite on the level of some other contenders.
While Skubal’s numbers haven’t changed too drastically since June, he’s found a rival for his position as the AL’s best lefty strikeout artist in the form of Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet. The 26-year-old has more or less matched Skubal in virtually every stat. He had 166 1/3 innings of work to Skubal’s aforementioned 166 through 26 starts, though Crochet’s six-innings of two-run ball against the Orioles yesterday pushed his total up to 172 1/3. His 2.40 ERA is within spitting distance of Skubal’s own figure, and his 31.1% strikeout rate is just a couple of points behind. Where he falls more significantly behind Skubal is his walk rate, as he’s allowed free passes at a 6.1% clip.
He makes up for the gap in K-BB% somewhat with stronger batted ball numbers, however. He’s generating grounders at a 48.5% clip, and his 7.2% barrel rate is the sixth-best figure in the AL. For those inclined towards more traditional metrics, Crochet also sports an AL-best 14 wins on his record. Crochet’s 3.19 ERA in August didn’t separate him from Skubal significantly, but his peripherals (including a 2.96 FIP) are significantly better over that span. If he can turn those peripherals into production in September, perhaps that will be enough to separate himself from Skubal.
Of course, Crochet and Skubal aren’t the only two options to consider. Astros right-hander Hunter Brown is in the midst of a breakout season that deserves serious consideration. Through 26 starts, Brown’s 155 2/3 innings of work lag behind the totals of the two lefties, but his numbers are undeniably impressive. He’s posted a 2.37 ERA with a 46.0% ground ball rate and a 29.1% strikeout rate. Brown’s 6.1% barrel rate is the second-best figure in the AL this year, though he’s held back somewhat by his 7.6% walk rate.
When looking at Brown’s recent work, it’s something of a mixed bag. His 1.71 ERA in August is obviously fantastic, but it comes with an asterisk after he allowed four unearned runs in his most recent start. His 22.2% strikeout rate is also far below his typical norms, but his 2.71 FIP is nothing short of excellent. Brown seems to be a step behind both Skubal and Crochet at this point, but it’s easy to imagine him pushing himself more firmly into the conversation with a strong September.
Brown, Skubal, and Crochet seem like the top three players in the race at this point, but there are some other arms who deserve acknowledgment as well. Nathan Eovaldi has a sensational 1.73 ERA in 22 starts this year, but with just 130 innings of work and a rotator cuff strain that’s likely season-ending, it would be a shock if he got more than down-ballot consideration for the award. Jacob deGrom’s first healthy season in half a decade has been extremely impressive with a 2.79 ERA, but the 37-year-old’s peripherals pale in comparison to the other top starters in the league. Max Fried’s season with the Yankees started out incredibly impressive, but his 5.33 ERA since the start of July has likely pushed him out of the conversation for the most part.
With just a month left to go in the season, who do you think will come out on top in the AL Cy Young race? Have your say in the poll below:
Fantasy Baseball: Streaming for Speed
Hello, friends.
Somehow, some way, it's almost September. For many of us, the season is still technically going, but any realistic expectations of winning have long since passed. For others, though, the chase remains afoot, and these possible champions of the future need to scrounge points wherever they can. Including the bane of many fantasy existences.
That's right, America -- I'm talking about red-hot speed.
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Cardinals To Promote Jimmy Crooks
12:41pm: Pozo is indeed being placed on the 7-day concussion list, per Woo.
12:13pm: The Cardinals are promoting catcher Jimmy Crooks and infielder César Prieto, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Prieto news was reported yesterday. The Cardinals have two 40-man openings and won’t need to make corresponding moves to select either player’s contract from Triple-A Memphis. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that first baseman/outfielder Alec Burleson will be placed on the 10-day injured list as one of the corresponding active roster moves. Goold suggests that catcher Yohel Pozo could also be IL bound after getting struck by a foul ball yesterday.
It’ll be the big league debut for both Crooks and Prieto. Crooks, in particular, holds appeal as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. He currently sits sixth at MLB.com and fifth at FanGraphs, where Crooks cracked the back half of their top-100 list.
Crooks, who turned 24 in July, is regarded as a plus defensive catcher, but he’s also posted at least average offensive numbers at every minor league stop he’s made. He’s spent the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he’s batting .274/.337/.441 with 14 home runs. He’s nabbed a strong 29.4% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him with Memphis, and Baseball Prospectus gives him excellent framing grades in his career (though he hasn’t been as sharp in that regard in 2025 specifically).
A fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma back in 2022, Crooks doesn’t have huge power but has reached double-digit homers in every full professional season thus far. His walk rate typically lands around 11%, though that’s down to 8.4% this season. He’s fanned at a 26.5% clip as well, but strikeouts generally haven’t been a major issue for him.
With the Cardinals moving Willson Contreras to first base and Ivan Herrera to the outfield, there’s a clear long-term opportunity for Crooks behind the plate. Pedro Pagés and the aforementioned Pozo have been shouldering the catching workload in St. Louis since Herrera was shifted off the position, but Pagés profiles more as a defensive-minded backup and Pozo is a 28-year-old journeyman who signed a minor league deal last offseason.
The Cardinals entered the year intent on taking a look at some younger players in larger opportunities. Following the position changes for Contreras and Herrera, the final month of the season can serve as a proving grounds for Crooks. One month of playing time isn’t going to decisively answer whether Crooks can handle the role in the long-term, but it’ll give the Cards some additional data to consider when weighing how heavily (if at all) to pursue catching help in the offseason.
Presumably, with Pagés standing as a plus defender who can at least provide modest pop, the Cards feel comfortable with Pagés and Crooks getting the first crack at playing time in 2026. Pozo can be controlled for six more years, won’t be arbitration-eligible this winter and has multiple minor league option years remaining, so the Cards could also keep him around if they’re satisfied with his performance to date.
As for Crooks, he’ll be controllable for at least six full seasons, all the way through 2031. The earliest he’ll be able to qualify for arbitration is in the 2028-29 offseason, although both that timeline and his free agent timetable can be pushed back if he’s optioned in the future.
Víctor Robles Suspension Reduced To Seven Games
Mariners outfielder Víctor Robles has had his suspension reduced to seven games, reports Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. He will begin serving it tonight. He received a ten-game suspension over a week ago but played for the club while appealing the decision.
The suspension stemmed from an incident which occurred during Robles’s minor league rehab assignment. He had been hit by a pitch numerous times during his rehab, including a few pitches from right-hander Joey Estes, then of the Las Vegas Aviators. Jomboy Media did a thorough rundown of the events which led to Robles losing his temper. As his anger boiled over, he threw a bat towards Estes and his tantrum continued after that.
The league understandably punished Robles, though he exercised his right to appeal. The Mariners reinstated him from the injured list about a week ago while the appeals process was playing out. He has now had the suspension reduced but will need to miss seven contests.
For the Mariners, they will be punished beyond just not having Robles. When a player is suspended for an on-field infraction like this, the team doesn’t get to replace him on the roster, meaning the M’s will have to play with a 25-man roster. The one consolation of that situation is the calendar, as rosters expand from 26 to 28 on September 1st. Still, the M’s will have a shorter bench of just three guys for their weekend series in Cleveland, a key matchup against one of the clubs trying to catch Seattle for a Wild Card spot.
Seattle has Randy Arozarena in left field and Julio Rodríguez in center most days. Since coming off the IL, Robles has been in the right field mix alongside Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley. For the next seven games, those two will handle the spot, with Robles getting back into the mix after he’s served his sentence.
For Robles, it’s going to contribute to a mostly lost season. He dislocated his shoulder early in the campaign, an injury which cost him over four months. He has been limited to just 14 games and has hit .246/.267/.298 in his 60 plate appearances. He still has time to alter those numbers but will have to wait another week.
The M’s were surely hoping for more when they signed Robles last year. A former top prospect, Robles had struggled to click in the majors but seemed to break out with the M’s in 2024. He finished the year with a .328/.393/.467 in 77 games for Seattle. In the middle of that performance, the Mariners signed him to a two-year, $9.75MM deal for the 2025 and 2026 seasons with a 2027 club option.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Release Rene Pinto
The D-backs have released catcher Rene Pinto, who’d been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, per the MiLB.com transaction log. He’s a free agent and can field interest from any teams seeking to bolster their catching depth in the season’s final month.
Pinto, 28, hasn’t played in the majors this season but saw big league time with the Rays in each of the past three seasons. He’s drawn solid framing grades in the majors but has struggled to control the running game and has drawn poor marks from Statcast for his ability to block pitches in the dirt. Pinto is a career .231/.263/.404 hitter with 10 homers but a 36.7% strikeout rate in 237 major league plate appearances.
While his big league numbers aren’t much to look at, Pinto has been far better in Triple-A. He batted .268/.324/.517 with 11 round-trippers in 225 plate appearances with Reno this season and carries a career .256/.307/.493 slash with 57 homers in 1132 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue in Triple-A as well, however. He’s fanned in 29.9% of his career plate appearances there.
There’s not much on the market for catching depth right now, so teams that have recently incurred injuries behind the dish could take a flier on the former Rays backstop. The Reds (Tyler Stephenson), Mets (Francisco Alvarez) and Nationals (Keibert Ruiz) all have catchers on the injured list at the moment, for instance. With rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it’s also possible that another club will look to use one of those extra spots to carry a third catcher, which could create further opportunities.
Braves Select John Brebbia
The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander John Brebbia from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also recalled righty Nathan Wiles from Gwinnett, while lefty Austin Cox and righty Wander Suero were optioned to Triple-A. The Braves already had a pair of 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need a corresponding 40-man move to accommodate Brebbia’s addition
The pair of promotions will provide manager Brian Snitker with some fresh arms after yesterday’s blowout loss to the division-rival Phillies, wherein Kyle Schwarber belted four home runs to lead Philadelphia to a 19-4 victory. Cox (68 pitches) and Suero (31 pitches) weren’t going to be available today anyhow after logging heavy workloads in yesterday’s game. (Suero also tossed 24 pitches Tuesday.)
Brebbia, 35, opened the 2025 season with the Tigers but struggled in 18 2/3 innings before being released. The veteran righty was tagged for 16 earned runs (7.71 ERA) on 22 hits and 11 walks with 20 strikeouts during his brief run with Detroit. He also plunked three batters and was charged with two wild pitches. Three of those 22 hits were home runs.
It’s a second straight disappointing year for the well-traveled reliever. Brebbia pitched pretty well for the first half of the 2024 season with the White Sox before melting down after the All-Star break and eventually being released. He went on to sign with Atlanta last year as well but finished out the ’24 season with an overall 5.86 ERA thanks to 18 runs in 18 1/3 second-half innings.
Though last year’s second half and the 2025 season haven’t been pretty, Brebbia had a nice track record up until that point. The right-hander was a generally reliable bullpen option with the Cardinals and Giants from 2017-23. He carried a career 3.53 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate (336 2/3 innings) into last year’s All-Star break. Things have obviously gone south since that time, but it’s a solid track record on the whole. Brebbia has also been excellent with Atlanta’s Triple-A club this season, tossing 19 innings with a 1.89 earned run average, a 26.9% strikeout rate and a 3.8% walk rate.
Blue Jays, Eloy Jimenez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays and outfielder/designated hitter Eloy Jimenez are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. The Klutch Sports client was with the Rays organization earlier this season but was cut loose around the All-Star break.
Jimenez, 28, was a top prospect with the Cubs and White Sox and looked to be emerging as a core piece for the latter when he debuted with a 31-homer rookie campaign back in 2019. The slugger signed a six-year, $43MM contract before ever taking a single at-bat in the majors, and that impressive rookie effort made the contract look like a potential bargain. Unfortunately for Jimenez and the South Siders, injuries derailed his trajectory. Jimenez was again excellent in 2020, hitting .296/.332/.559 with 14 homers in the pandemic-shortened season, but he’s struggled to stay on the field since.
From 2021-24, Jimenez played in just 357 games — only 55% of his teams’ contests. A ruptured pectoral tendon cost him more than four months of the 2021 season. He missed nearly three months of the 2022 season due to a torn hamstring. In 2023, he strained his other hamstring muscle and also missed more than a month due to an appendectomy. Jimenez’s 2024 season was cut short by an adductor strain and a third hamstring strain.
Beyond limiting Jimenez’s time on the field, the series of health issues clearly had an impact on his offensive output. He was terrific in 84 games in 2022 but posted roughly league-average offense in both 2021 and 2023. His 2024 season was well below average, with the formerly imposing slugger turning in a meek .238/.289/.336 slash in 349 plate appearances between the White Sox and the Orioles, who acquired him at last summer’s trade deadline.
Jimenez appeared in 40 Triple-A games with the Rays this season, hitting .278/.335/.397 with three home runs. He continued to show quality contact skills (17.4% strikeout rate), but his batted-ball metrics were well shy of his career marks in the majors. Jimenez averaged 89.6 mph off the bat in Triple-A Durham and logged a 43.5% hard-hit rate. He’s averaged 91.5 mph with a 49.3% hard-hit rate as a big leaguer.
Though Jimenez is something of a long shot to contribute at this point, there’s no harm in the Jays taking a no-risk look at a formerly prominent slugger on a non-guaranteed pact. He might need a quick tune-up in the low minors before jumping into the fray at Triple-A Buffalo, having been out of action for seven-plus weeks, but Jimenez will be a depth option for Toronto in the final month of the season. And, since he’s signing before Sept. 1, he’ll be postseason-eligible should he show enough to be selected to the big league roster at some point. If not, he’ll play out the season in Buffalo and head back to the offseason free agent market in search of what would surely be another minor league contract ahead of his age-29 campaign in 2026.
