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Braves Place Austin Riley On 10-Day Injured List

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The Braves announced that third baseman Austin Riley was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right abdomen.  Right-hander Nathan Wiles was also optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett, and the two open roster spots will be filled by infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. (called up from Gwinnett) and southpaw Joey Wentz (claimed off waivers yesterday from the Twins).

Riley was in the starting lineup for yesterday’s 6-5 Braves win over the Cardinals before his injury forced an early exit from the game in the fourth inning.  Manager Brian Snitker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chad Bishop that he thought Riley hurt himself while making an infield throw, and the team decided to make a precautionary removal since Riley was still feeling lingering soreness.

More should be known about the third baseman’s condition when Snitker meets with reporters today, though it may not be a great sign that Riley has been so quickly placed on the IL.  The fact that his injury was still termed as an abdomen strain rather than an oblique strain could be a plus, and with the All-Star break looming, the Braves may have decided to just give Riley the full 10 days off to perhaps minimize the amount of lost game time.

Missing any action is a relative rarity for Riley, who has played in 681 of a possible 741 games since the start of the 2021 season (including all 93 of Atlanta’s games this season).  Riley’s durability took a hit last season, as a fractured hand on August 18 ended up bringing his 2024 campaign to a premature close.

After delivering star-level performance during the 2021-23 seasons, Riley has been more ordinary over the last two years.  He has followed up his 116 wRC+ from 2024 with a 113 wRC+ in 408 plate appearances in 2025, with Riley hitting .274/.324/.441 with 14 home runs.  This relatively modest production has come despite a .356 BABIP and excellent hard-contact numbers, as Riley’s longtime issues at making contact and taking walks have only worsened this season.  His 6.1% walk rate is well below league average, and Riley’s 27.7% strikeout rate puts him in the eighth percentile of all batters.  Both metrics would represents new career lows over a full season, as Riley had a 5.4% walk rate and 36.4K% over 297 PA in his 2019 rookie season.

The injury comes at a particularly unfortunate time for Riley, as an .891 OPS over his last 50 PA indicated that he was starting to heat up.  His absence is also another blow to an underachieving Braves team that has struggled to a 41-52 record, and even if Riley does end up missing just a minimal amount of time, every game is critical as Atlanta slips further and further back in the playoff race.  The Braves certainly have the appearance of being deadline sellers, though recent reports indicate that the club is only looking to move rental players (if anyone) by July 31.

Riley is enough of a lineup fixture that Luke Williams’ six innings of fill-in duty yesterday marked the first time all season that a Braves player besides Riley had lined up at the hot corner.  Williams figures to get more of the work at third base while Riley is out, though Alvarez has a good deal of experience at the position in the minors.  This will be Alvarez’s first taste of MLB action in 2025, and he hasn’t seen much game time at all this year, as a wrist injury and an oblique strain have limited the infielder to just 13 Triple-A appearances.

Trade Deadline Outlook: Toronto Blue Jays

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MLBTR’s new deadline preview series (available to Front Office subscribers) continues with a look at the Blue Jays, who held a 26-28 record on May 27 and seemed to be headed for another also-ran season.  However, the Jays have since won 29 of their last 40 games, pushing Toronto to the top of the AL East.  With the postseason now looking like a very realistic possibility, the Jays have plenty of options available to them as they consider roster upgrades.

Record: 55-39 (89.3% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)

Other series entries: Rockies, Giants, Phillies, Pirates, Astros, Marlins, Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Nationals, Cubs, Rays, Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Angels, Mets

Buy Mode

Potential needs: Starting pitching, relief pitching, outfield depth, bench depth, possibly third base

Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, and Chris Bassitt have been invaluable to the Blue Jays, as the steadiness and durability of the top three starters helped keep the pitching staff on track amidst some early chaos at the back end of the rotation.  Minor league signing Eric Lauer has a 2.78 ERA over 55 innings, and his entry into the fourth starter's spot was a key element of Toronto's success over the last six weeks.  Max Scherzer has pitched only 23 innings due to his ever-present thumb problems, and it remains to be seen whether or not Scherzer can remain healthy enough to contribute as a full-fledged starter or perhaps as a piggyback starter in front of a long reliever.

Even with Alek Manoah aiming to return from UCL surgery at some point in August, Manoah's own struggles since Opening Day 2023 make him far from a possible savior.  The Jays could obviously use an extra arm to help stabilize the starting five, as if Lauer starts to regress or one of the top three starters gets injured, the pitching situation could quickly go south.  That would in turn put more pressure on the bullpen, which itself could use some reinforcement after tossing a lot of innings over the first half.

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Diamondbacks Notes: Beeks, Graveman, Gallen, Kelly, Miller

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Prior to yesterday’s 6-5 loss to the Angels, the Diamondbacks placed left-hander Jalen Beeks on the 15-day injured list due to lower back inflammation, with a retroactive placement date of July 8.  Right-hander Kendall Graveman was activated from the 15-day IL in the corresponding move.

It doesn’t appear as Beeks’ injury is overly serious, as manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro) that the hope is that Beeks will miss just the minimum 15 days, with the retroactive time and the All-Star break factoring into that number.  This means Beeks should be able to return in plenty of time before the July 31st trade deadline, which is perhaps noteworthy if the 46-49 Diamondbacks end up being sellers.

Beeks is just a couple of days removed from his 32nd birthday, and he has a 4.39 ERA, 51.8% grounder rate, 22.9% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate over 41 relief innings this season.  While the K% and BB% numbers aren’t anything special, Statcast has liked Beeks’ work on the whole, and his ability to induce soft contact and keep the ball on the ground have helped the southpaw deliver some respectable numbers.  Beeks’ numbers are somewhat inflated by two nightmarish outings against in the Marlins in late June, which accounted for eight of the 20 earned runs he has allowed all year.

Should Arizona indeed decide to sell, Beeks is a natural trade chip as an impending free agent, and plenty of clubs should have interest in an inexpensive veteran lefty.  The D’Backs signed Beeks to a one-year, $1.25MM deal just before Opening Day, after Beeks was released at the end of spring camp from a previous minor league deal with the Astros.

An IL stint this relatively close to the deadline could throw a wrench into Beeks’ trade candidacy, as he has now joined the long list of Diamondbacks pitchers sidelined by injuries.  Graveman has been on the IL twice this season, first due to a lumbar strain and then this latest placement due to a hip impingement that cost him a little over a month of action.  These two IL stints have limited Graveman to just 10 appearances and 9 1/3 innings this season.  Graveman’s ERA is 8.68, though one six-run implosion against the Reds on June 7 is largely responsible for Graveman’s ungainly bottom-line statistics.

The D’Backs have faced such a swath of pitching injuries that it may impact their deadline plans as either buyers or sellers.  Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are both impending free agents and oft-cited trade candidates, yet according to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Diamondbacks “are unlikely” to move both starters at the deadline for the simple reason that the club still needs to fill innings for the remainder of the year.  The Snakes have already seen their starter depth depleted by Tommy John surgeries to Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, and Blake Walston, while Tommy Henry underwent an internal brace procedure in late June.  A shoulder strain has also sidelined Cristian Mena until at least the second week of August, as per his timeline on the 60-day IL.

Gallen is in the last few months of his final arbitration-eligible season, while Kelly is in the last year of what has now become a three-year, $24MM contract when Arizona made the easy call to exercise its $7MM club option on the right-hander last November.  Kelly has been the significantly better of the two pitchers this season with 2.0 fWAR to Gallen’s 0.1 fWAR, though Gallen is perceived to have the higher upside as a former front-of-the-rotation type.  The Diamondbacks figure to receive plenty of offers for both pitchers prior to July 31, so the decision of who stays and who goes will just come down to which offer the Snakes prefer.

In another injury update, Lovullo said Shelby Miller will be visiting Dr. Keith Meister to get a second opinion about the forearm strain that sent Miller to the 15-day IL earlier this week.  Lovullo said that surgery may well be an option for the reliever, but Miller is also still considering treatments that would allow him to return to action at some point in 2025.

At the very least, it certainly doesn’t seem like Miller will be able to return before the deadline, which reduces or (more realistically) wipes out his trade value.  This injury has cast a pall over what had been an outstanding season for Miller, a minor league signing who has delivered a 1.98 ERA over 36 1/3 bullpen innings for Arizona.

KBO League’s KT Wiz Sign Patrick Murphy, Release William Cuevas

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The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they have signed right-hander Patrick Murphy to a deal worth $277K.  Right-hander William Cuevas was released in the corresponding move to open up an international roster spot.  (Hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net.)

Murphy had been pitching for the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, but he was released from his minor league contract earlier this week, likely with this KBO deal already lined up.  This is the second time Murphy has headed overseas to pitch, as he had a 3.26 ERA over 38 2/3 innings in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2024.  He followed that performance up with a return to North America and a 3.18 ERA in 22 2/3 frames with Triple-A Round Rock, though with a 16.8% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate providing some less-inspiring peripherals.

With a promotion to the big leagues not looking too likely, the 30-year-old Murphy will now instead to South Korea for another chapter in a pro career that began as a third-round pick for the Blue Jays in the 2013 draft.  Murphy’s MLB career has consisted of 39 2/3 innings with the Jays and Nationals from 2020-22, and the grounder specialist has a 4.76 ERA to show for his time in the majors.  Since his last appearance in the Show, Murphy has also pitched in the Twins’ minor league system on top of his stints in NPB and with the Rangers.

Cuevas is another former big leaguer who posted an 8.06 ERA in 22 1/3 innings with the Red Sox and Tigers during the 2016-18 seasons.  He has since carved out a long career with the Wiz, including a championship ring in 2021 for the first Korean Series victory in franchise history.  Cuevas has a 3.93 ERA in 872 1/3 innings over parts of seven KBO League seasons, but a 5.40 ERA in 98 1/3 frames this season saw the 34-year-old fall out of the Wiz’s plans.  In between his two stints with the Wiz, Cuevas played in the Mexican League in 2022 and with the Dodgers’ Triple-A club in 2023.

Trade Deadline Outlook: New York Mets

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MLBTR's team-by-team look at the upcoming deadline continues with the Mets. Things have cooled after a hot start, thanks to a mounting number of injuries. But the club is still in playoff position and should be adding this month.

Record: 53-41 (83.1% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)

Other series entries: Rockies, Giants, Phillies, Pirates, Astros, Marlins, Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Nationals, Cubs, Rays, Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Angels

Buy Mode

Potential needs: Starting pitching; bullpen help, particularly from the left side; center fielder; infielder; catcher

Life comes at you fast in the baseball world. That's especially true in this era, where pitchers are pushing the human body to its limits. On June 12th, the Mets had a record of 45-24 and a 5.5-game lead over the Phillies in the National League East. They had a healthy rotation and a couple of guys on rehab assignments, almost ready to come off the injured list. At that moment, it seems like Frankie Montas was going to get squeezed to the bullpen and Paul Blackburn to the trade block.

On that June 12th date, Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that the Mets were getting trade interest on Blackburn due to their apparent rotation surplus. But moments after that report came out, Kodai Senga collapsed on the field with an apparent injury. He would be placed on the IL with a hamstring strain shortly thereafter. Not long after that, Tylor Megill also hit the IL, in his case due to an elbow sprain. A little over a week later, Griffin Canning ruptured his Achilles' tendon and Blackburn hit the IL with a shoulder impingement.

That barrage of injuries has quickly turned a surplus into a deficit and hampered the club's results. They have gone 8-17 over the past few weeks and are now a game and a half behind the Phils in the East. They are still firmly in contention, holding a Wild Card spot, but now seem likelier to add starting pitching.

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Rays Release Eloy Jimenez

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The Rays released Eloy Jiménez from his minor league contract, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Jiménez had been on the Triple-A injured list for the past 10 days.

This was the second IL stint of the season for the former Silver Slugger award winner. Jiménez appeared in 40 games with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate. He hit .278/.335/.397 and only managed three home runs across 167 plate appearances. His 43.5% hard contact rate is a little above the MLB average but not close to the huge exit velocities he posted during his best seasons with the White Sox. Jiménez’s career has been a on a sharp decline since he hit .295 with 16 homers in 84 games for Chicago back in 2022.

After a league average offensive showing in ’23, Jiménez was batting .240/.297/.345 at last summer’s deadline. The Sox needed to eat some money to ship him to the Orioles. The change of scenery did not turn things around. Jiménez hit .232 with a .270 on-base percentage and one homer in 33 games with Baltimore. The O’s bought him out and he was limited to minor league offers over the winter. He’ll very likely need to settle for another minor league contract if he stays in affiliated ball. Speculatively, Jiménez could be a target for teams in a foreign league like NPB or the KBO as well.

Fantasy Baseball: Closers, Call-Ups, and a Player to Watch

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Hello, friends.

Somehow, someway, the All-Star break is already upon us. As always, this time of year tends to feature waiver wires, which have mostly been picked clean. Full-time hitters, decent starting pitchers, and Saves (most of all) are in short supply and usually consist of about 60% blind hope. Unfortunate, as this coincides with the time that teams in contention might be severely lacking in a category, or two, and need to make a move to keep their championship dreams alive.

The questions in our weekly chats here at MLB Trade Rumors reflect these realities. Where can I find Saves? Which (good) prospects will be called up soon, AND be good enough to contribute in fantasy? Is there anyone under the radar who might rise up?

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Geoff Hartlieb Elects Free Agency

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Reliever Geoff Hartlieb has gone unclaimed on outright waivers and elected free agency, the Yankees announced. New York designated him for assignment on Wednesday when they promoted pitching prospect Cam Schlittler.

Hartlieb has gone through this cycle twice in as many weeks. The Yanks selected his contract in late June and outrighted him a few days later. Hartlieb elected free agency, re-signed on a major league deal, then was DFA again after three days. He has gotten into two games and been hit hard in each. The journeyman righty has allowed six runs on five hits and four walks while retiring just four of 13 batters faced.

While MLB hitters have teed off on Hartlieb this year, he has had a nice run with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He carries a 3.34 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate against a 6.9% walk percentage. Hartlieb has a 4.17 ERA over parts of six seasons at the top minor league level. He has given up nearly eight earned runs per nine across 80 2/3 career major league frames. Most of that time came in a Pittsburgh uniform. Hartlieb has played for five clubs overall.

The Yankees could try to bring Hartlieb back on a minor league contract. He’s out of options, so they needed to run him through waivers to take him off the MLB roster. The lack of options limits his flexibility, but his production in Scranton should get him attention as a depth option.

Angels Option Jack Kochanowicz

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The Angels announced they’ve optioned right-hander Jack Kochanowicz to Triple-A Salt Lake. Jake Eder is up to provide an extra bullpen arm for this weekend’s series against the Diamondbacks.

This is the first change that the Angels have made to their rotation all season. The quintet of Yusei Kikuchi, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Hendricks and Kochanowicz has combined to start all 93 games. That reflects both remarkable health and a lack of upper minors alternatives. Kikuchi is the only member of the starting five with a sub-4.00 ERA or an above-average strikeout rate. Soriano has allowed an even four earned runs per nine with huge ground-ball numbers. Anderson and Hendricks are soft-tossing fifth starter types.

Kochanowicz has been one of the least effective starters in MLB. He carries a 6.03 ERA with a well below-average 15.6% strikeout rate and an elevated 11% walk percentage. The 6’7″ righty is one of six pitchers with at least 15 starts while allowing over six earned runs per nine. Only Randy Vásquez, Erick Fedde and Antonio Senzatela have a worse strikeout/walk rate differential.

The 24-year-old Kochanowicz hasn’t tossed a quality start since the middle of May. He had his worst outing of the season against Texas last night. He surrendered eight runs on as many hits and three walks without escaping the third inning. He’ll spend at least the next 15 days in Triple-A unless he’s recalled in the corresponding move for an injured list placement.

Anderson, Kikuchi and Soriano are lined up for this weekend’s series. They’ll be able to reset their rotation coming out of the All-Star Break. They won’t need to tab a new fifth starter until July 22. Caden Dana and Victor Mederos are on the 40-man roster and working out of the rotation at Salt Lake. Neither is having a great season. Mederos has a better ERA with superior control, while Dana has shown slightly better swing-and-miss ability. Chase Silseth is also on the 40-man but has been on the minor league injured list since May and recently started a rehab assignment at the complex. Sam Aldegheri was just optioned back to Double-A this week.

Sam Blum of The Athletic suggests the Angels might stretch Carson Fulmer out as a starter. He worked 5 1/3 innings of long relief behind Kochanowicz last night. Fulmer had a 3.98 earned run average in 54 1/3 Triple-A frames — mostly as a reliever — before being called up this week. He owns a 5.38 ERA across 115 career big league outings. Reid Detmers has worked out of the bullpen all season, mostly one inning at a time. The Halos haven’t ruled out moving him back to the rotation at some point, but he’s their best setup option in a thin relief group. He’d also need to build back to a traditional starting workload over multiple appearances.

As explored in this afternoon’s Trade Deadline Outlook, the Angels could pursue a starter. Despite a thin roster, they’re within four games of a Wild Card spot in a cluttered American League. They’ve resisted selling at prior deadlines, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they’re at least soft buyers while they’re within range of the playoff picture.

Sergio Alcántara Elects Free Agency

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July 11: Alcántara elected free agency, according to the MLB.com transaction log.

July 10: The Giants have sent infielder Sergio Alcántara outright to Triple-A Sacramento, according to his MLB.com transactions tracker. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago. He has the right to elect free agency but it’s not clear if he will exercise that right or not.

Alcántara is celebrating his 29th birthday today. Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, he was selected to the big league roster last week as the Giants infield was a bit snakebit. Matt Chapman was on the injured list with a right hand injury, Christian Koss was out due to a hamstring strain and Tyler Fitzgerald was battling some minor back soreness.

From the get-go, it seemed like it was mostly an emergency call. Alcántara didn’t force his way up, as he was only hitting .206/.319/.252 in the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League. Two days after he was called up, Chapman was ready to come off the IL, so Alcántara was bumped right back off the roster. Since he’s out of options, he had to be removed from the 40-man. In that window, he got into one game, going 0-4 with two strikeouts.

That was his first major league action in a few years. He appeared in the big leagues in the 2020-22 seasons for the Tigers, Cubs, Diamondbacks and Padres. He now has a .207/.278/.340 career batting line, when factoring in this year’s game.

He is considered a solid defender, having spent his career bouncing between shortstop, third base and second base. He could stick with the Giants as a glove-first depth infielder or head to the open market to see what other opportunities are available to him.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images

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