Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Anthony Franco
- Hey all, hope you're doing well!
- Looking forward to another of these, let's get goin
- Going even
- Great start
RoxTalks
- What could the Rockies conceivably get back at the deadline if they actually sell at the deadline, rather than sit on their valuable pieces until they aren't valuable anymore or watch them walk for free like they so often do? Could Goodman get a back-end top 100 prospect despite the strikeout issues given the positional/offensive value? Senzatela two mid-range organizational prospects? Is there anyone else that might entice other teams?
Anthony Franco
- Yeah I think Goodman would pull a back-end Top 100 guy. Three and a half years of a serviceable defensive catcher with 25-30 HR upside is pretty valuable even with the approach questions
- Doubt he'd net a top 50 headliner though, and if the Rockies are looking at something like the #85 overall prospect and a couple mid-tier fliers, I assume they'd again hold. That's a tough sell for ownership
- With you on Senzatela's value and think he's a lock to move as long as he doesn't get hurt
- There's not much beyond that. There'll be teams that love Halvorsen, doubt the Rox move him. Moniak netting a mid-level prospect as a strong side platoon, sure. Center field market might be bleak enough that the Guardians, Astros or Rays view McCarthy as a low-end regular
Chris
- Any concern about Kyle Tucker?
Anthony Franco
- A little bit. Plate discipline is strong enough that the floor should still be an above-average hitter but the exit velocities were always more good than great and have trended down over the past two years
- I'll take the over on his 12-homer pace but could see him settling in as a low 20s HR guy rather than pushing 30 like he did when healthy in Houston
- And if that's where he ends up, he's probably more like 20-25 points better than average offensively rather than 40, which is what the Dodgers paid him for
Nick
- If Sox take Cholowsky 1/1 and they’re still in serious contention in September does he get called up if he’s bashing in the minors?
Anthony Franco
- Higher chance of it with Cholowsky than if they take Vahn Lackey -- can't see any way they'd throw a catcher in that spot -- but would still guess it's a '27 ETA. The infield's pretty well positioned already and you'd be talking about 35-40 games of minor league experience at the end of the longest season of his career
Fenway Yard Sale
- If things continue as they have what pieces do the Red Sox trade and what could come back. Any chance they could also get anything for Bello, or Campbell?
Anthony Franco
- Campbell no. Limited defensive value with a 30% strikeout rate in Triple-A this year and owed $60MM for the next eight seasons. This the quickest any of those early-career top prospect extensions have soured
- I half jokingly proposed that they should've put Campbell on waivers last offseason to shed the contract. They were never going to do that obviously -- nor would I have had the stones to do it if I were running baseball ops -- but I'm pretty confident he'd go unclaimed if they waived him now
- I think that's also true of Bello but could see more of an argument for them paying down some money if they just think everyone involved needs a change of scenery. If the Sox pay him down to $8-10M annually, doesn't seem crazy to get a team like Arizona or Washington that has no real long-term starting pitching to roll the dice
My name?
- What are the cards going to do? They came into the year having signed Stanek and May with the obvious hope that they'd prove some value and be valuable trade assets to offload along with Romero and possibly Noot, Burleson, and O'Brien. But now they're like really in contention? Even if they do not buy, they loose considerable opportunity to improve for the future by holding on to those players. And for what? To have guys like Leahy, Libratore, Pallante, and McCheesey starting playoff games against the Braves or Dodgers or Brewers?
Rebuild or no
- With teams like the Cardinals and white Sox finding themselves in contention instead of rebuilding. And contenders like the Mets, tigers and Red Sox possibly selling how does they affect the deadline?
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Padres Designate Bryce Johnson For Assignment
The Padres have designated outfielder Bryce Johnson for assignment, per a team announcement. Xander Bogaerts is being reinstated from the paternity list. The team’s 40-man roster stands at 39 with the move.
This may conclude Johnson’s second stint with San Diego, which first signed the former Giant to a minor league contract ahead of the 2024 season. He got into 47 games that year and hit just .206/.286/.238 (57 wRC+) with no home runs in 73 trips to the plate. Johnson opened 2025 in the Pirates organization, but the Padres brought him back in a mid-April trade for catcher Brett Sullivan. The move worked out better than expected for the Padres, as the switch-hitting Johnson easily posted career-best numbers. Across 55 games and 84 trips to the plate, he slashed .342/.383/.434. Although he only hit one homer, Johnson managed a 135 wRC+.
Last season’s unexpected outburst has not carried into 2026 for Johnson, one of many players who have slumped for the Padres this year. The Padres will enter Friday last in the majors in runs, all three triple-slash categories and wRC+. Johnson contributed to those woes, as he hit a meager .178/.229/.222 (30 wRC+) and struck out in a bloated 36.7 percent in 49 plate appearances before the Padres cut him.
While Johnson has only made 12 starts this year, he has gotten into 32 games and seen action at all three outfield positions. Johnson’s designation will lead to further instability in the grass for the Padres. They lost Ramón Laureano to what is likely a season-ending hip injury earlier this month, and they released Nick Castellanos a couple of days later. Samad Taylor and Jase Bowen have come up from the minors to join Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets as outfield options. Tatis has gotten more action at second base than in his typical right field over the past month-plus, but that could change. The Padres are expected to give some keystone time to Will Wagner, which would allow Tatis to go back to the outfield, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The 30-year-old Johnson will head into DFA limbo for up to a week. The Padres will have five days to find a trade partner for Johnson, which is possible given his above-average speed, defensive versatility and $805K salary. If a taker does not emerge, there is a 48-hour waiver process. Johnson has been outrighted in the past, which gives him the right to decline a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
Rockies To Promote Sean Sullivan For MLB Debut
The Rockies are set to promote pitching prospect Sean Sullivan, according to Kevin Henry of the Denver Gazette. Sullivan will start tonight against the Athletics and make his major league debut in the process. The lefty is not on Colorado’s 40-man roster, which is currently full. Thus, a corresponding move will be needed in order to select Sullivan’s contract.
Sullivan, 23, was the Rockies’ second-round draft pick in the 2023 draft. He currently ranks as the organization’s No. 11 prospect, according to MLB.com. Sullivan fared well in 20 starts between Single-A and Double-A last year, posting a 2.94 ERA in 104 innings with a 24.9% strikeout rate. He’s been less fortunate in 2026, with a 5.60 ERA in 11 starts at Triple-A.
The 6’4″ Sullivan is a bit of an oddity in terms of his raw stuff. He throws a four-seamer 41.0% of the time, but the pitch only averages 89.0 MPH. Sullivan mixes in an upper-70s slider 29.9% of the time, plus a changeup and cutter at 14-15% each. The changeup is Sullivan’s best pitch, while scouting reports rate his fastball and slider as slightly below-average. Despite the low velocity, Sullivan generally thrives by leveraging pinpoint control and a deceptive, low three-quarters arm slot (video courtesy of MLB.com). He walked just 6.0% of hitters in the minors last year and has walked 7.7% of hitters at Triple-A in 2026.
Sullivan will now have a chance to prove himself in the big leagues as a control and deception guy. Tonight’s game is at Las Vegas Ballpark, the hitter-friendly home of the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate. If he sticks around for multiple starts, Sullivan could then try his luck at high altitude, with the Rockies hosting the Red Sox at Coors Field from June 22-24.
Rockies starters have performed poorly in 2026, as is seemingly the case every year. The rotation’s 5.94 ERA is dead last in the Majors and 26% worse than average even accounting for the games at Coors. No Rockies starter has thrown enough innings to qualify, with Tomoyuki Sugano just barely missing the cut at 68 1/3 innings. Sugano’s 4.08 ERA is palatable but well shy of his 7.39 xERA, which shows he’s been extremely lucky. Michael Lorenzen and Kyle Freeland are the only others to throw at least 50 innings. Both have ERAs over 7.50.
Given those underwhelming performances and injuries to other starts, there’s little harm in calling up Sullivan. Chase Dollander, one of the team’s more promising arms, has been out with a right elbow sprain for over a month and is not expected to return soon. Tanner Gordon made two starts at the end of May before landing on the 15-day injured list with a right hip impingement retroactive to June 2nd. He’s expected to throw a bullpen soon. FanGraphs’ RosterResource tool currently has the club at a four-man rotation of Lorenzen, Ryan Feltner, Freeland, and Sugano, so Sullivan can serve as the fifth starter until Gordon returns.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Astros Interested In Outfield, Bullpen Upgrades
The Astros are currently 31-39 and in fourth place in the AL West, but the mediocre state of the American League has them only four games out of a Wild Card spot. Earlier this week, general manager Dana Brown pushed back hard on the idea of trading Jeremy Peña or Yordan Alvarez. Brown shared more details about the Astros’ deadline strategy with Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, saying the team will be looking to upgrade their outfield and bullpen.
“If we could find some offensive outfield help at the Deadline, that would be great,” Brown said to McTaggart. “If we could find some bullpen help, that would be great. Those are two big things.” The GM went on to say that the rotation will stabilize when Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and other injured starters return, so that won’t be as much of a focus as the outfield and rotation.
Nearly every club wants to add to their bullpen, but Dana Brown’s comments on outfield additions are more notable. Houston’s 102 team wRC+ is middle of the pack, but their outfielders are a Bottom-5 unit with just an 86 wRC+. Of their outfielders, only Cam Smith has made enough plate appearances to qualify, and he is 9% below average by wRC+, although his stellar defense makes him valuable overall.
The current lineup includes Joey Loperfido in left field, Taylor Trammell in center, and Smith in right. Loperfido is striking out 29.2% of the time in a small sample. Trammell has a 98 wRC+ in 76 plate appearances but is running a .452 average on balls in play that will eventually come back to earth. LaMonte Wade Jr., who’s currently on the 10-day injured list, had a 119 wRC+ in 2024 but struggled so badly last year that the Giants designated him for assignment. Wade will be out until the second half per the team’s injury report, and he won’t be a difference maker when he returns.
With so many fringe contenders and few obvious sellers, it’s difficult to tell which outfielders will be available to Houston via trade. In addition, the Astros have a weak farm system with only two Top-100 prospects according to MLB.com. That could limit them to looking at rentals and complimentary pieces in the outfield.
At present, the Tigers, Red Sox, Royals, and Angels are the four teams behind the Astros in the Wild Card standings. The Tigers and Red Sox’ outfielders all have several years of control left and would require a substantial return, so they’re not likely to move. Perhaps the Angels could make Jo Adell available with just a year and a half of control remaining. Adell is hitting below-average this year but has a 146 wRC+ against lefties, so he could complement Loperfido and Trammell, both of whom hit from the left side. In any case, some kind of outfield upgrade is needed if the Astros want to secure a Wild Card spot.
The same goes for upgrading the bullpen. At this point in the season, Houston’s relievers have a 4.82 ERA that ranks seventh-worst in the Majors. Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan King, and Steven Okert have ERAs between 2.51 and 3.07, but the latter two are outperforming their SIERAs by at least a full run and are candidates for regression. AJ Blubaugh and Bryan Abreu are struggling mightily. The recent return of closer Josh Hader helps a lot, but the ‘pen needs more than one or two dominant arms to be an effective unit overall.
As with potential outfield upgrades, the club may not have the prospect capital to pull off a deal for a top-tier reliever. That said, it might be easier to package several mid-level prospects together to acquire bullpen pieces. Fifteen of the club’s Top-30 prospects on MLB.com are right-handed pitchers, so perhaps Houston could look to trade from that depth in exchange for more established bullpen arms.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Guardians Receiving Trade Interest In Young Catchers
The August 3rd trade deadline is over a month and a half away, and the Guardians sit just half a game back of the upstart White Sox in the AL Central. Although impactful trades are very unlikely at this stage, teams are nonetheless starting their due diligence on opposing players to prepare for deadline season. Some are interested in Cleveland’s young catchers, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports the team has fielded calls on Bo Naylor, Cooper Ingle, and Kody Huff.
All three players are currently at Triple-A. Naylor is the only one with big league experience, having appeared in 346 games for Cleveland since debuting in 2022. He’s batted .199/.279/.372 with an 82 wRC+ in that time. Ingle is the team’s No. 3 prospect and a Top-100 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB.com. He’s doing exceedingly well at Triple-A this year, with a 161 wRC+ in 179 plate appearances. Huff has the least pedigree of the three, but he’s also hitting well. Ingle and Huff are not on Cleveland’s 40-man roster.
Rosenthal doesn’t specify the extent of the talks, though they’re more than likely just early check-ins from opposing clubs. The Guardians are in a precarious spot as far as their major league catchers go. Naylor got most of the starts in the early going, but he only put up a 22 wRC+ before being optioned down on May 9th. Austin Hedges and Patrick Bailey are the current tandem behind the plate. The former’s 98 wRC+ is well above his career norms, while the latter’s .154/.207/.238 output would be unplayable at any other position. Both Hedges and Bailey are lauded for their defense, but neither is a strong option on offense.
Overall, Guardians catchers are batting .210/.265/.326 with a 65 wRC+. That mark is fifth-worst in the Majors and well below the 89 wRC+ put up by catchers around the league. With the AL Central being a weak division, the club is likely thinking about ways to upgrade the roster and pull ahead of the rest of the group. Given their Bottom-5 payroll, internal upgrades might be the most efficient way to achieve that.
All that’s to say that Cleveland has both a surplus of catching depth as well as a need for more offense at the big league level. Ingle, in particular, has the prospect pedigree and upper minors track record to warrant a promotion at some point. He’d need to establish himself against major league pitching, but Hedges and Bailey’s weak hitting is reason enough for Ingle to get a shot.
Naylor and Huff would find themselves lower on the depth chart in that scenario. While Naylor holds some value as a young player (he’s only 26) who’s controllable for there years beyond this one, he simply hasn’t established himself offensively in the Majors. Naylor had a 123 wRC+ in 230 plate appearances in 2023, but he has just a 74 wRC+ in 893 PA from 2024-26. He’s also a lesser option on defense compared to Hedges and Bailey, with Naylor declining to 1 Defensive Run Saved in 2025 following an 11 DRS season the year prior.
All told, it’s notable that Naylor has been relegated to Triple-A for the last month and change, with the Guards accepting the lack of offense from Hedges and Bailey. As for Huff, he’s improved greatly on offense, with a 144 wRC+ at Triple-A this year compared to a 71 wRC+ in 2025. That said, he is not considered a top prospect and profiles as a depth piece at best. Theoretically, that could leave Huff and Naylor as the most expendable out of the three catchers mentioned by Rosenthal.
Rosenthal clarifies that the Guardians might not be in a rush to deal from their catching depth. The free agent market is projected to be weak, with none of the catchers being younger than 30 in 2027. In that context, Cleveland might consider holding on to their depth and sorting out the logjam during the offseason when demand will still be favorable. Hedges is a free agent after this season, while Bailey is under control through 2029. Assuming Hedges leaves, that could open a spot for Ingle on the big league roster, with Naylor and Huff sticking at Triple-A if they don’t end up being traded.
Fantasy Baseball Subscriber Chat With Nicklaus Gaut
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Brewers Pause Quinn Priester’s Rehab Assignment
The Brewers are once again pausing the rehab assignment of Quinn Priester, reports Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Priester struggled on Monday in a start in the Arizona Complex League, walking five hitters in 2 2/3 innings while surrendering three earned runs. He also uncorked three wild pitches. Rosiak clarifies that Priester was “without physical complaint,” so the pause isn’t the result of a new injury.
It’s nonetheless another unfortunate note in Priester’s season, which he’s spent on the injured list for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome. Priester struggled when he first attempted to rehab at Triple-A and was pulled from that assignment early last month. He resumed pitching on May 16th, but control continues to be an issue. Priester has walked 16 batters in 11 innings across his last five appearances. The last two of those were in the Complex League, where Priester was re-assigned on May 30th.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy reflected on Priester’s rehab after the Monday outing. “It doesn’t bode well to be ready to pitch in the major leagues,” said Murphy. “I think he’s still a ways away, but I think it’s trending in the right direction in that he felt really good, didn’t feel any pain at all.” Murphy added that the team hasn’t considered surgery for Priester and will instead give him more time to recover the feeling in his fingers.
At this point, the timeline for Priester’s return to the Majors is unclear. The Brewers will understandably proceed with caution given the stops and starts in Priester’s rehab. He still needs to get the walks under control, not to mention build up to a full starter’s workload. Per Rosiak, Priester was set to throw five innings and 70-75 pitches in his next appearance after Monday. He maxed out at 3 1/3 innings on June 2nd and is yet to go twice through the batting order in his rehab appearances. At this rate, Priester likely won’t be back until the second half of the season.
Milwaukee’s rotation has fared well overall despite Priester’s absence. The group’s 3.50 ERA is fifth-best in the Majors, and their 27.2% strikeout rate is tops among all clubs (Phillies starters are second at 24.3%). Much of the credit, especially for the strikeouts, goes to Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison atop the rotation. The back half of the rotation hasn’t fared as well. Brandon Sproat has a 5.70 ERA in 13 appearances (11 starts), while Robert Gasser made one strong start on June 3rd and three mixed to bad ones otherwise. Shane Drohan has allowed five earned runs in 10 1/3 innings across two starts since converting from the bullpen.
Brandon Woodruff and Logan Henderson were both solid before going on the injured list earlier in the season. Woodruff is expected back this month and Henderson in early July, per the team’s injury report at MLB.com. Priester had a 3.32 ERA in 157 1/3 innings last year and can lengthen the rotation once he’s fully healthy. The Brewers have ridden their strong top of the rotation and above-average offense to a 41-25 record thus far, four games ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images
Free Agent Power Rankings: The Next Five
MLBTR published our updated iteration of the Free Agent Power Rankings on Monday. That includes full breakdowns of our top 10 in the class. Darragh McDonald and Steve Adams also devoted much of this week's podcast to breaking down the process and debates about the back half of that list.
It's certainly the weakest class in recent memory. That's most acute at the top behind Tarik Skubal and Freddy Peralta. There might not be a third nine-figure player in the class. While that makes it a less exciting group overall, it also leaves the middle tiers more muddled. Some players in the 11-20 range right now could jump into the top five. Others who were arguably near the top of the class a couple months ago (e.g. Bo Bichette, Trevor Rogers) have dropped even more quickly.
As we did after our first version in April, we'll run through the next five players who weren't far off the list. They're ordered here alphabetically, but it also works out that the first name is the player who was our consensus #11.
Kevin Gausman, SP, Blue Jays
Gausman will land among the top 10 in the class in terms of average annual value. There's an argument that he's the second-best player for 2027 alone behind Skubal. His numbers over the past three-plus seasons are at least quite comparable to Peralta's. The only hangup is age.
The two-time All-Star will play all of next season at 36. Max Scherzer is the only free agent starter 36 or older to sign for three years since 2017; Scherzer's $130MM deal with the Mets started at age 37. Nathan Eovaldi was entering his age-35 season when he re-signed with Texas for three years and $75MM. Merrill Kelly signed for two years and $40MM last offseason at 37.
Gausman hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. He carries a 3.60 ERA across 80 innings. He's averaging just under six innings per start and has managed a quality start in half of his outings. He has above-average strikeout and whiff rates while very rarely issuing free passes. He's no longer a Cy Young candidate like Scherzer and Justin Verlander were in their late 30s, but he's probably a tier above Kelly and Chris Bassitt.
The veteran righty should be in the $25-30MM range on an annual basis, which would put him in the Eovaldi bucket. If he gets to three years, he'll very likely wind up with one of the 10 largest contracts in the class. That'd be tough to accomplish on a two-year deal, even in a thin group. Gausman is ineligible for a qualifying offer after receiving one from the Giants in 2020, so he won't be attached to draft compensation.
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D-Backs Expected To Activate Jordan Lawlar
The Diamondbacks will activate Jordan Lawlar from the 60-day injured list for Friday’s series opener in Cincinnati, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports and 98.7 FM. The Snakes will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster moves tomorrow.
Lawlar returns from a two and a half month absence. He broke his right wrist when he was by a pitch from then-Atlanta righty Osvaldo Bido on April 3. Arizona almost immediately moved him to the 60-day IL. It was particularly brutal timing, as the injury occurred both on the same night that Lawlar hit his first MLB home run and when the D-Backs were already down 12-1.
The injury also interrupted Lawlar’s transition to the outfield. He’d made five starts in left field and one in center, his first regular season outfield work. The D-Backs have used him exclusively in the outfield during a brief minor league rehab assignment, confirming they’ll stick with that arrangement for the former top shortstop prospect.
Lawlar has still only managed 128 career plate appearances at the big league level. He spent most of the 2024 season on the minor league injured list after undergoing right thumb surgery. Last year, it was a Grade 1 hamstring strain in Triple-A that cost him almost two months between June and August.
Arizona’s outfield has been carried almost entirely by an MVP-caliber start from Corbin Carroll. Left and center field, question marks coming into the season, haven’t been good. They moved on from Alek Thomas last month, turning center field over to rookie Ryan Waldschmidt. The former supplemental first-rounder has hit .267 over his first 31 MLB games, but he has struck out 38 times in 114 plate appearances. Waldschmidt has fallen into a .214/.250/.286 slump with a team-high 17 punchouts over the last two weeks.
Tommy Troy, another rookie, has gotten the recent run in left field. Troy has shown solid plate discipline but without much impact, hitting .240/.345/.340 across his first 58 plate appearances. The D-Backs could get Lourdes Gurriel Jr. back from a hamstring strain within the next few weeks. He also struggled after making a quicker than expected return from ACL surgery. They just added Max Kepler for the MLB minimum, and his performance-enhancing drug suspension will be lifted in a couple weeks. Kepler isn’t eligible for postseason play, so even if he hits well, the D-Backs will need other outfielders to step up.
Assuming they expect James McCann back within the next month, Arizona doesn’t have any clear candidates for a move to the 60-day injured list. Out of options fourth outfielder Jorge Barrosa has hit .172/.241/.313 this season. If they want to keep him on the bench, they could designate someone else for assignment and option any of Waldschmidt, Troy or Adrian Del Castillo to Triple-A.
NPB’s Yokohama BayStars Sign Jerar Encarnacion
The Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan confirmed the signings of right-hander Osvaldo Bido and outfielder Jerar Encarnacion on Friday. MLBTR covered the Bido signing in the middle of May. Rumors out of Japan at the same time linked Encarnacion to the club, but neither deal became final until today.
Encarnacion, a client of A & F Sports Agency, opened the season with the Giants. He’s out of minor league options, so San Francisco was initially reluctant to cut him loose. He worked mostly as a bench bat but picked up a handful of starts in the corner outfield or at first base. He started the season slowly, hitting .176 without a home run across 35 plate appearances.
The 28-year-old has played parts of four big league seasons, the last three of which came with San Francisco. He’s a .211/.237/.362 hitter with 10 home runs in just under 300 trips to the plate. The meager on-base percentage hints at his very aggressive plate approach, but Encarnacion has big raw power. He hit 26 homers in Triple-A with the Marlins a few seasons ago and obliterated minor league pitching at a .352/.438/.616 clip in 2024 to earn an MLB look from the Giants.
It’s the kind of profile that tends to play better in NPB or the KBO, where the average pitcher quality is lower than in MLB. Encarnacion will surely do better financially with the BayStars than he would have had he bounced around on minor league contracts after San Francisco designated him for assignment last month.