Royals Outright Elias Díaz
The Royals sent veteran catcher Elias Díaz outright to Triple-A Omaha, according to the MLB.com transaction log. It’s unclear if he’ll report or elect free agency.
Díaz was designated for assignment last week when K.C. recalled speedy outfielder Tyler Tolbert. Kansas City had carried three catchers for the previous five weeks. Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen have each logged a lot of designated hitter work. Díaz gave skipper Matt Quatraro a little more flexibility for rest days. Jensen and Perez have alternated starts between catcher and DH over the past four games.
The 35-year-old Díaz picked up seven starts among his 10 games during his five weeks on the MLB roster. He popped a couple home runs and doubles apiece in 23 plate appearances. Díaz has been a below-average hitter throughout his career and hadn’t hit much in a tiny sample with Omaha before his call-up. He batted .204/.270/.337 across 283 plate appearances for the Padres a year ago.
Díaz has a plus arm and routinely throws out base stealers at a strong rate. He graded poorly as a receiving catcher early in his career but has tightened those numbers up in recent seasons. If he reports to Omaha, he’ll rejoin Luke Maile as non-roster depth catchers whom the Royals could call upon if one of Perez or Jensen is banged up.
Blue Jays, Matt Bowman Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are in agreement with reliever Matt Bowman on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The 34-year-old sinkerballer (35 on Sunday) will presumably report to Triple-A Buffalo.
Bowman was granted his release last week after opting out of a non-roster deal with Minnesota. It was moderately surprising that a Twins team with one of the worst bullpens in MLB didn’t carve out a spot. He pitched well at Triple-A St. Paul, working 21 1/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball. Bowman got ground-balls at a 55% clip with quality strikeout (28.1%) and walk (6.7%) marks.
Minnesota’s front office was evidently skeptical he’d maintain anything close to that against big league hitters. Bowman’s 7.1% swinging strike rate in the minors is well below average. He sits in the low-90s with his sinker while mixing in a cutter, slider and splitter. Bowman has pitched parts of seven MLB seasons with as many teams, logging the majority of his work with the Cardinals between 2016-18. He made 20 big league appearances with Baltimore last year, pitching to a 6.20 earned run average through 24 2/3 frames.
Toronto’s bullpen has been middle of the pack despite a top five strikeout rate. They lost a couple middle relievers, Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply, to the injured list last week. They have a handful of middle relievers who have bounced up and down from Buffalo this season and could be sent down if they want to carve out a spot for Bowman at some point. Chase Lee, Tanner Andrews and Adam Macko have options remaining. Yariel Rodríguez does not but would likely clear waivers and accept a Triple-A assignment based on his contract.
Angels Sign Alex Faedo To Minor League Deal
The Angels signed reliever Alex Faedo to a minor league contract last week. He has been assigned to the team’s Arizona Complex for the time being. He’ll build into game shape before reporting to a higher level affiliate, likely Triple-A Salt Lake.
Faedo was a first-rounder by the Tigers in 2017. The Florida product pitched parts of three MLB seasons, posting a 4.51 ERA across 175 2/3 innings. The 30-year-old righty missed more bats following a move to the bullpen in 2024. He allowed 3.61 earned runs per nine but was designated for assignment over the 2024-25 offseason. The Rays acquired Feado in a minor trade but got nothing out of the deal, as the righty went on the injured list with a shoulder issue.
The 6’6″ righty spent the entire season on Tampa Bay’s injured list. The Rays placed him on waivers at the beginning of the offseason when the injured list went away. He went unclaimed and elected minor league free agency.
Faedo will take some time to build up and put himself on the radar for a midseason look. The Halos have had one of the worst bullpens in the American League. They have the second-highest bullpen ERA (5.41) in the Junior Circuit. They’re middle of the pack in strikeout rate but have issued walks at the third-highest clip in MLB.
Bob Horner Passes Away
Former All-Star and Rookie of the Year Bob Horner has passed away at 68. The Braves announced the news on Tuesday afternoon while sending their condolences to his family and friends.
Horner was born in Kansas but grew up in Arizona. A 15th-round pick by the A’s out of high school, he instead elected to attend Arizona State University. The righty-hitting Horner had a legendary college career, clubbing 56 home runs over three seasons with the Sun Devils.
It was then an all-time NCAA record and remains the most for any ASU hitter to this day. Horner led them to a national title in 1977 and a runner-up finish in his junior season. He was one of five players — alongside Will Clark, Robin Ventura, Dave Winfield and Brooks Kieschnick — enshrined in the inaugural College Baseball Hall of Fame class in 2006.
The Braves held the first pick in the 1978 draft, which was held in the middle of June. They selected Horner and immediately added him to the MLB roster. That bold decision paid off, as he slugged 23 homers (including one off Bert Blyleven in his big league debut) and drove in 63 runs in 89 games. He narrowly topped future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith for the NL Rookie of the Year award.
Horner opened the following season as Atlanta’s third baseman, his first of seven straight years in that role. He remained an impact power threat, topping 30 homers in each of his first two full MLB campaigns. Horner earned a ninth-place finish in MVP balloting behind a career-high 35 longballs in 1980. He made the ’82 All-Star Game during his third 30-plus homer season, also helping the Braves to an NL West title.
Over parts of nine seasons in Atlanta, Horner hit .278/.339/.508 with 215 home runs. He moved to first base for the ’86 campaign, in which he hit .273 with 27 homers. That included one of the best single-game performances in history. Horner had a four-homer game against Montreal on July 6, 1986. It’s one of 21 such recognized games in big league history and remains the only four-homer performance by a Brave. Unfortunately, it was also one of three occasions in which his team lost the game, as the Expos prevailed 11-8.
Horner reached free agency after the 1986 season. MLB owners at the time were colluding to drive down player salaries. (Various arbitrators would rule in the Players Association’s favor on that matter, leading to an eventual $280MM settlement for violations of the collective bargaining agreement.) Horner rejected what he considered a lowball offer from the Braves going into ’87.
When no other MLB teams made a stronger offer, he signed a $2MM contract with the Yakult Swallows in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Horner hit .327 with 31 homers in 93 games. He’d return to the Majors the following season on a one-year deal with the Cardinals. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, he rejected a $3MM offer from Yakult to sign with St. Louis for just $950K.
Horner had a career-worst season at age 30 in 1988. He signed with the Orioles but announced his retirement in Spring Training ’89, citing a left shoulder injury that didn’t fully recover after surgery. He spent his post-playing days in the Dallas area with family. Horner finished his MLB career with a .277/.340/.499 slash line. He popped 218 homers, topped 1000 hits, and drove in 685 runs.
He’s one of the best players in college baseball history and had one star-level season in Japan amidst a unique, fascinating career. Horner’s passing sadly comes not long after the baseball world lost two other key figures from Braves history, Ted Turner and Bobby Cox. MLB Trade Rumors joins others around the game in sending our condolences to his family, friends, former teammates and loved ones.
Rays, Austin Slater Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rays are signing outfielder Austin Slater to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Ballengee Group client elected free agency yesterday after being outrighted by the Mets.
Slater is on his fourth organization of the 2026 season. He was in camp with the Tigers this spring. Granted his release shortly before Opening Day, Slater commanded an MLB contract from the Marlins. He spent a couple weeks with Miami but was outrighted off the roster in late April. Slater signed another big league deal almost immediately, replacing Tommy Pham in the New York outfield.
The Jacksonville native has appeared in 21 combined games, just over half of them starts. He’s hitting .209 with only one extra-base knock (a double) while striking out 15 times in 49 plate appearances. Slater hasn’t hit much over the past couple seasons, pushing him into a journeyman role after a half-decade run as a decent complementary outfielder with the Giants. Since the start of 2024, he carries a .212/.298/.304 line in 421 plate appearances divided between seven teams.
Slater made a living of mashing left-handed pitching during his time with San Francisco. He hasn’t hit well against pitchers of either handedness over the past couple seasons. He remains an above-average runner and competent corner outfield defender though.
It’s a sensible pickup for a team that has taken a couple hits to an already lackluster outfield over the past week. Jake Fraley and Jonny DeLuca will probably be out into July due to sports hernia surgery and a hamstring strain, respectively. That pushed Victor Mesa Jr. up from Triple-A Durham. Jacob Melton, their only other outfielder on the 40-man roster, hasn’t played in a month due to a left ankle sprain. Slater would probably be the next outfielder up if anyone else from the MLB roster suffers an injury.
Braves Re-Sign José Azócar To Minor League Deal
The Braves have re-signed outfielder José Azócar to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett. He is in tonight’s lineup, batting seventh and playing left field.
Atlanta clearly values Azócar as a potential bench player or depth piece. Since he is out of options, he has been repeatedly shuffled on and off the roster this year. The two sides agreed to a minor league deal in the offseason. Twice this year, he has been selected to the roster and been designated for assignment shortly thereafter. In both cases, he cleared waivers, elected free agency and then re-signed on a new minor league deal.
For the club, they effectively get an extra roster spot for added outfield depth, with Azócar giving them a speed-and-defense guy. He has 83rd percentile sprint speed this year, per Statcast, and has been even higher in previous seasons. He has received strong grades for his glovework at all three positions.
His offense is less impressive on the whole. He has a big .333/.375/.467 line this year but in a small sample of just 16 plate appearances. In his career, he has a .248/.293/.325 line in 434 appearances. He’s a useful player who has allowed the club to cover for injuries to guys like Ronald Acuña Jr. and Eli White.
For Azócar, it’s probably not his preference to be riding this transactions carousel, but at least he has a job and has gotten some sporadic big league pay and service time. Based on the fact that he has cleared waivers multiple times this season, no other club is willing to give him a roster spot, so it’s not as though he has significantly better opportunities elsewhere. He’ll rejoin the Stripers to get reps as he waits for the call back to the big leagues.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Mets Reinstate A.J. Minter From 60-Day IL, Select Eric Wagaman
5:05pm: The Mets announced that outfielder Luis Robert Jr. has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man spot. He originally landed on the IL in late April due to lumbar disc herniation. He is now ineligible to return until late June. His current status is unknown. As of a couple of weeks ago, manager Carlos Mendoza said Robert wasn’t progressing as hoped, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
1:50pm: The Mets announced that they have reinstated left-hander A.J. Minter from the 60-day injured list. Additionally, infielder/outfielder Jared Young has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and infielder Eric Wagaman has been selected to the roster. In corresponding active roster moves, outfielder Tyrone Taylor has been placed on the 10-day IL with a right hip flexor strain, while right-hander Jonathan Pintaro and outfielder Nick Morabito have been optioned. In terms of 40-man spots for Minter and Wagaman, the Mets had one vacancy. They said a corresponding move to open another spot will be announced prior to game time. Tim Britton and Will Sammon of Athletic reported most of these moves prior to the official announcement.
Minter and the Mets agreed to a two-year, $22MM deal going into the 2025 season. They haven’t been able to get much return on that investment yet. Minter tossed 11 innings last year before a lat strain sent him to the IL and ultimately required season-ending surgery. Here in 2026, he and the Mets started his spring ramp-up a bit behind the other pitchers. He started the season on IL but was able to start a rehab assignment in April. Unfortunately, some left hip discomfort slowed him down, which got him moved to the 60-day IL.
Ideally, Minter can now finally give the Mets an extended stretch of health and good results. Prior to this injury odyssey, he was quite an effective reliever for a division rival. From 2020 to 2024, he posted a 2.85 earned run average over 243 innings for Atlanta, striking out 30.1% of batters faced in that time. But he’s been injured for most of the past two years, actually dating back to before the Mets signed him, as he dealt with hip issues in 2024 and required surgery that summer.
Brooks Raley has been the club’s primary lefty reliever this season. Sean Manaea is also in the bullpen but is mostly working as a bulk reliever. Minter and Raley should be the primary options for situations where a traditional lefty reliever is wanted.
The Mets have been out to a rough start, with a 22-32 record, putting them 7.5 games back of a playoff spot. If they can’t climb in the standings, they could go into the deadline as sellers. Minter and Raley are impending free agents, so both would be natural trade candidates if that’s the way things go.
Wagaman was claimed by the Mets last month and optioned to the minors. Not long after that, he was put on waivers and cleared. He has put up a massive .372/.462/.581 line in 13 games for Syracuse since that claim. Now he gets back onto a 40-man roster.
While it’s nice that Wagaman has been crushing the ball, some caveats apply. For one thing, that line came in a small sample of 52 plate appearances. For another, he had a huge .424 batting average on balls in play in that time. Furthermore, Wagaman has often put up good minor league numbers. From 2022 to 2024, he had a .276/.348/.473 line and 131 wRC+ in 897 plate appearances on the farm.
That has led to major league opportunities that he hasn’t been able to capitalize on. He has a .250/.293/.381 line and 85 wRC+ in 588 trips to the plate in the big leagues. The Marlins designated him for assignment in the winter and traded him to the Twins. Minnesota kept him in the minors to start the year and designated him for assignment a month into the season, which is when the Mets claimed him.
Wagaman has experience at the four corner spots, though the Mets have only been using him as a first baseman and designated hitter for Syracuse. The Mets are getting subpar results from Mark Vientos at first base this year. With Jorge Polanco on the IL, a lot of DH at-bats have gone to MJ Melendez. Though Melendez was red hot when the Mets first called him up, he has a .119/.288/.167 line since the calendar flipped to May.
In the outfield, Juan Soto, A.J. Ewing, Carson Benge, Morabito and Taylor have been splitting the work out there. Now that Morabito and Taylor are out, Young will jump in and perhaps Wagaman could get some time in the outfield as well.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images
Brewers Place Logan Henderson On Injured List
4:15pm: Per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, manager Pat Murphy said Crow won’t start until Friday, with the Brewers likely deploying some kind of bullpen game on Wednesday before the off-day.
4:02pm: The Brewers announced that right-hander Logan Henderson has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a low back strain, retroactive to May 23rd. Fellow righty Coleman Crow has been recalled from Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move.
It’s unclear how serious this back issue is for Henderson. Even if it’s ultimately a brief stint on the IL, it once again prevents Henderson from getting an extended stretch of big league starts. He has posted good numbers when given the chance but injuries and roster considerations have gotten in his way.
Henderson made four really strong starts in April and May of last year. Unfortunately, the Brewers had enough veteran rotation options that Henderson was sent to the minors for a few months. He returned in August and made one more start before elbow inflammation put him on the IL for the rest of the year. Here in 2026, he started the season once again buried on the depth chart. Injuries to Quinn Priester and Brandon Woodruff opened a chance for him but now Henderson is joining those two on the IL.
On the whole, Henderson has made ten big league starts with great numbers. He has a 2.23 ERA, a 33.3% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. Unfortunately, due to the injuries and the crowded rotation mix, those ten starts have been scattered across a span of more than a year. The rotation is temporarily a bit shorthanded but Henderson won’t be able to take advantage of that now that he’s dealing with this back issue.
As for the Brewers, they will have to work around those injuries for a bit. Kyle Harrison is taking the ball tonight, with Crow perhaps following him on Wednesday. The club is off on Thursday, with Brandon Sproat and Jacob Misiorowski lined up for Friday and Saturday. Due to the off-day, they could perhaps go back to Harrison on normal rest on Sunday but won’t be able to get by with just four starters for long. Friday kicks off a stretch of 13 days in a row with a scheduled game.
Priester and Woodruff will be back in the mix at some point. Priester, who was been battling a nerve issue in his shoulder, is on a rehab assignment. He got up to three innings last time and will make his next appearance tomorrow, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Woodruff, who has been shelved since the beginning of the month due to shoulder inflammation, is scheduled for a four-inning live batting practice session next week. Until Priester, Woodruff or Henderson get back, Milwaukee might be improvising a bit.
Robert Gasser is on the 40-man roster but he was optioned on May 24th. When a pitcher is optioned, he can’t be recalled for 15 days unless replacing a player going on the IL. Thomas Pannone has a 3.04 ERA in Triple-A this year but isn’t currently on the 40-man roster. Garrett Stallings is another non-roster option. He has a 3.34 Triple-A ERA in a swing role this year, though his most recent outing saw him pitch two innings out of the bullpen.
Turning to options already on the active roster, Chad Patrick was in the rotation earlier this year but got moved to the bullpen. He tossed a combined 1 2/3 innings over his past two appearances but logged four innings as recently as May 16th. Shane Drohan has also been in a multi-inning role, logging three frames on Sunday. Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Carlos Rodriguez and Jake Woodford have been making a lot of appearances of in the range of two innings and could potentially provide some bulk.
Photo courtesy of Mark Hoffman, Imagn Images
Athletics Promote Gage Jump
3:05pm: The A’s officially announced their selection of Jump’s contract. Civale has indeed been placed on the 15-day IL, due to right shoulder tendonitis. Outfielder Denzel Clarke has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Clarke has a significant hamstring strain and will be out beyond the All-Star break.
7:08am: The A’s are calling up left-hander Gage Jump, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The 23-year-old is among the top prospects in the organization. When he first appears in a game, it will be his MLB debut. The team has yet to announce the move. The A’s have a full 40-man roster and would need to make an adjustment to add Jump.
MLB Pipeline ranks Jump at No. 3 in the Athletics system. FanGraphs‘ Eric Longenhagen has him behind only shortstop Leo De Vries. Jump has a mid-4.00s ERA at Triple-A this season, but he’s delivered a hefty 33.1% strikeout rate. He allowed just two earned runs over 9 2/3 innings in MLB Spring Training this year.
The A’s took Jump with the 73rd overall pick in the 2024 draft out of LSU. He immediately provided workhorse-level production in his first taste of pro ball, tossing 112 2/3 innings in 2025. Jump posted a 3.28 ERA and a sub-3.00 FIP between High-A and Double-A. He didn’t crack MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects last year, but sits at No. 41 in this season’s rankings.
Jump has shown a diverse pitch mix with Las Vegas. He’s leaned on the four-seamer more than half the time, but also thrown plenty of sliders (18.3%) and curveballs (13.1%). Jump has also used both a sweeper and a changeup more than 5% of the time. Control has been a bit of an issue, as Jump’s 11.8% walk rate is a significant increase from his 2025 mark.
The workload for Jump had been a bit limited to begin the year. He hadn’t completed five innings with the Aviators through eight appearances. Jump went seven strong innings in his last start, striking out nine without issuing a walk. He could step into a rotation that doesn’t have much stability outside of Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs. Manager Mark Kotsay mentioned a possible IL stint for Aaron Civale after Monday’s game, which would open up a rotation spot.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Orioles Designate Dietrich Enns For Assignment
The Orioles announced that they have recalled left-hander Nick Raquet from Triple-A Norfolk, a move that was reported by Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com earlier. In a corresponding move, the O’s designated fellow lefty Dietrich Enns for assignment.
Enns, now 35, had an intriguing comeback season in 2025. He had made his major league debut a few years prior but wound up pitching overseas from 2022 to 2024. He was back in North America last year and logged 46 1/3 innings between the Tigers and Orioles. He allowed 4.08 earned runs per nine. His 24.5% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate were both a bit better than average. He may have even had better results without a .338 batting average on balls in play, which is why his 3.54 SIERA was a bit lower than his ERA.
The O’s signed Enns for the 2026 season, a one-year deal with a $2.625MM guarantee and a club option for 2027. Here in 2026, a left foot infection put him on the IL for about a month, from early April to early May. Around that IL stint, he has given Baltimore 16 innings with a 3.94 ERA but with worse numbers under the hood. His 18.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate are both subpar figures. His BABIP and strand rate are now to the lucky side, so his 5.24 SIERA suggests he’s been worse than last year, even though he ERA is slightly better.
The Rays and Orioles went to 13 innings last night. Baltimore ultimately came out on top but it was a bit of a pyrrhic victory, as they had to use six relievers in the process. One of them was Enns, who was pitching for a second straight day. It’s likely that Baltimore’s decision to cut Enns came from a combination of the pitching staff being taxed, him being unavailable, and his uninspiring results this year. He is out of options and needed to be bumped off the 40-man entirely to open an active roster spot.
Enns now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Orioles could take five days to explore trade interest. Given this year’s results and salary, they may not find much interest. If Enns were to clear waivers, he would likely stick around as non-roster depth. He has a previous career outright and would technically have the right to elect free agency in that scenario. But since he has less than five years of big league service time, he would have to walk away from the money he is still owed on his current deal.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images