Blue Jays Designate Connor Seabold For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Connor Seabold has been designated for assignment. That opens an active roster spot for Max Scherzer, who has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start tonight’s game. Toronto’s 40-man roster count drops to 38, as Yariel Rodríguez was also designated for assignment this week.
Seabold, 30, began the year with the Jays on a minor league deal. They had planned to have him serve as multi-inning depth piece until his velocity ticked up a bit in camp, which caused them to try him in more of a traditional relief role.
They couldn’t find a spot for him on the Opening Day roster, so he triggered an opt-out and signed with the Tigers. He posted a 3.45 earned run average for Detroit, spending about two months on the roster before getting squeezed into DFA limbo. At that time, the Jays had suffered a number of injuries and had room for Seabold, so they sent minor league pitcher Juanmi Vasquez to the Tigers in a DFA trade.
Seabold has made five appearances for the Jays in the past two weeks, allowing three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. That gives him an 8.10 ERA in that tiny sample of work. Looking at his season as a whole, he has a 4.26 ERA in 19 innings. His 17.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his 8% walk rate and 42.9% ground ball rate are decent figures.
Ultimately, that’s not enough for him to keep his roster spot. The Jays have been getting healthier of late, with Tommy Nance, Dylan Cease and now Scherzer coming off the IL this week. Seabold is out of options, so he has been pushed into DFA limbo yet again. That can last as long as a week, though the waiver process takes 48 hours. The Jays could take five days to see if Seabold has any trade value but they could also put him on waivers sooner than that.
If Seabold were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency since he has a previous career outright. However, since he has fewer than five years of big league service time, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in exercising that right. His deal with the Tigers in March was a split deal which came with an $800K salary in the majors. The minor league salary on that deal was not publicly reported. Perhaps it’s healthy enough that he would not want to walk away from it and would accept an outright assignment.
The returns of both Cease and Scherzer give the Jays the healthiest rotation they’ve had in months. Their starting group has really been decimated by injuries this year. José Berríos, Cody Ponce and Bowden Francis are done for the year. Cease, Scherzer and Trey Yesavage all spent time on the IL for lesser injuries. Shane Bieber and Lazaro Estrada are currently on the IL. Jake Bloss is on the minor league IL, still working his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Despite all the injuries, the Jays gave up on Eric Lauer earlier in the year, trading him to the Dodgers.
Due to all those issues, the Jays have effectively been running a three-man rotation while Cease and Scherzer have been out, with Yesavage, Kevin Gausman and Patrick Corbin being the three. The Jays have been patching things together around those three, with bullpen games featuring guys like Spencer Miles, Chad Dallas and Simeon Woods Richardson in bulk roles.
Ideally, things stay healthy from here with Cease, Scherzer, Gausman, Yesavage and Corbin in the rotation. Dallas has been optioned to the minors and can be in the Triple-A rotation while Miles and Woods Richardson are still in the big league bullpen. Bieber, Bloss and Estrada are on rehab assignments right now and could be factors in the future. On the position player side, catcher Alejandro Kirk is also rehabbing and could be back with the big league club soon.
The defending American League champions probably hoped to be better than 33-35 at this point in the season but probably don’t feel too bad about how they weathered all those injuries. The weak performance across the A.L. means they are tied for a Wild Card spot with the Rangers, despite their losing record. With the injury situation leveling off, perhaps they can post better results going forward.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Dodgers Release Tyler Fitzgerald
The Dodgers have released infielder/outfielder Tyler Fitzgerald, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. He landed on the minor league injured list earlier this month, according to his transaction tracker at MLB.com. It appears the Dodgers wanted to remove him from the 40-man but injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. He’ll be a free agent as soon as he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already.
Not so long ago, Fitzgerald seemed to be on the verge of a breakout. With the Giants in 2024, he hit 15 home runs in 341 plate appearances and slashed .280/.334/.497 for a wRC+ of 132. Since he has the ability to play any spot on the infield or in the outfield, that was tremendously valuable. There were some yellow flags, since his .380 batting average on balls in play was helping him out a lot and he worked around a 31.7% strikeout rate, but it seemed like he could be a solid utility guy even if the offense backed up a bit.
Last year, even those who were expecting some regression were probably surprised by how far he fell. He finished the year with a .217/.278/.327 line and 72 wRC+, struggling enough to spend most of the second half on optional assignment in the minors. He also didn’t perform in Triple-A, slashing .246/.321/.379 for an 84 wRC+.
The Giants held him on the roster through the offseason but designated him for assignment in late March, just after the 2026 season began. He was traded to the Blue Jays for cash, with that club keeping him in the minors as depth. He hit .150/.150/.200 in a small sample of six Triple-A games before the Jays designated him for assignment and flipped him to the Dodgers in another cash deal.
With the Dodgers, he seemed to bounce back a bit, hitting .293/.400/.598 in 24 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, as mentioned, his progress was interrupted by injury. It’s not publicly known what injury Fitzgerald is dealing with but it has nudged him off the roster regardless. The Dodgers have Tommy Edman on a rehab assignment at the moment and he is currently on the 60-day IL, so perhaps this helps them to clear a spot for Edman’s return.
Regardless of the reason, Fitzgerald is sure to find a landing spot somewhere. Though he wasn’t good in the majors last year, his 2024 showing, his versatility and his recent form since joining the Dodgers are all intriguing. The nature of his injury will determine whether he can help any club in the short term or if he would be more of a long-term play at this point.
Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images
Braves Place Ronald Acuña Jr. On Injured List
The Braves announced that outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring. First baseman Rowdy Tellez has been selected to take his place on the active roster. Right-hander Jhancarlos Lara has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Tellez.
It’s already the second time this year that Acuña’s left hamstring has sent him to the IL. He spent a little over two weeks there from early- to mid-May. He has been back for a few weeks but the injury has flared up again and sent him to the IL once more.
Around the injuries, Acuña has been performing well but not up to his own standards, currently sporting a .251/.373/.421 line. That translates to a 125 wRC+, indicating Acuña has been 25% better than league average on the year, but he has a career wRC+ of 142 and was at 161 last year.
It doesn’t appear the injury is serious but Atlanta can afford to be cautious. They have the best record in baseball at 45-22. They have a nine-game lead over the Phillies in the National League East. Given their strong short-term position, they should be thinking about the long term and making sure Acuña is healthy for October.
They will still have Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Harris II in two spots. With Acuña on the shelf, Mauricio Dubón and Eli White will probably step in for more outfield work. If Dubón is spending more time on the grass, that could open up more shortstop playing time for Jorge Mateo or Ha-Seong Kim.
Tellez, 31, will probably just be serving as a bench bat. He has only been a first baseman throughout his career and won’t help in the outfield. Matt Olson is the club’s first baseman and hasn’t taken a day off in years. Dominic Smith is the regular in the designated hitter spot. He has a strong .292/.331/.458 line and 118 wRC+ on the year.
Dubón, White, Mateo and Kim are all right-handed hitters and Tellez is a lefty, so perhaps he will be called upon to pinch-hit for those guys in some key spots against tough righty arms. Tellez doesn’t have a strong walk rate against righties in his career but has done most of his damage with the platoon advantage, leading to a .236/.299/.452 career line against righties. He signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason and has been hitting well in Triple-A this year, with a .259/.367/.483 line, including a 308/.406/.608 slash against righties.
Lara, 23, was added to Atlanta’s roster in September of last year but never got into a game. He was optioned a few days later and has been on optional assignment for all of this season as well. He has elite stuff, with his fastballs averaging in the upper-90s, but atrocious control. He has walked 17.5% of batters faced in his minor league career, which is about double a normal rate. That includes an ugly 33.3% walk rate in 15 Double-A appearances this year, helping him produce an 8.22 earned run average.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Atlanta could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. If Lara garners any interest, it would be as a project, since the results certainly aren’t there right now. But since he has natural talents and still has options, perhaps some club with roster space will look to stash him. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he would stick in Atlanta’s system without using up a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel, Imagn Images
Giants Designate Will Brennan For Assignment
The Giants announced that left-hander Reiver Sanmartin has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Tristan Beck has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento as the corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, outfielder Will Brennan has been designated for assignment.
Brennan, 28, was a free agent this offseason after being non-tendered by the Guardians. The Giants scooped him up by signing him to a major league deal, a split contract that paid him $900K in the majors and $400K in the minors. He is still optionable and the Giants have made use of that, as he has already been optioned four times this year.
He has performed well in the minors but not the majors, which continues a trend for him. He has been sent to the plate 23 times at the big league level this year, with just two hits, both singles. Dating back to his time with Cleveland, he now has a .263/.301/.365 line in 889 major league plate appearances. That leads to an 86 wRC+, indicating he has been 14% below league average offensively.
He has taken 117 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this year and produced a .364/.393/.467 line and 126 wRC+. That’s propped up by an unsustainable .396 batting average on balls in play but is nonetheless a much more encouraging performance than what he has done in the big leagues. He now has 745 Triple-A plate appearances dating back to 2022 with a .324/.368/.464 line and 122 wRC+, though that is bolstered by a high .355 BABIP.
Brennan has some wheels and could have some appeal as a speed-and-defense depth outfielder, though the bat is more of a question mark. Even when he puts up good marks in the minors, he does so with a low walk rate and generally relies on batted-ball luck.
He now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants can take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest. Since he is still optionable, perhaps he would hold some appeal to a team looking for extra outfield depth.
If he were to clear waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency but probably wouldn’t exercise that right. Players with at least three years of service have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of the open market but have to forfeit their salary commitments unless they have at least five years of service. Brennan is just a bit over that three-year line and would have to walk away from the remaining money on his deal if he elected free agency.
Sanmartin, 30, was claimed off waivers from the Reds in November. He suffered a hip flexor strain in March that was expected to cost him about three months, a timeline that has proven to be pretty accurate. He logged 84 1/3 innings with the Reds from 2021 to 2025, allowing 5.66 earned runs per nine. His 19.2% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate in that span were subpar but he induced grounders on 53.6% of balls in play. He’ll be making his debut as a Giant as soon as he gets into a game.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Johan Rojas To Undergo Elbow Surgery
The Phillies announced that outfielder Johan Rojas recently experienced some elbow soreness while ramping up to return from his ongoing suspension. Imaging revealed a tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, which will require surgical repair involving an internal brace. The expectation is that he will be ready for spring training 2027. He is currently on the restricted list
2026 was already shaping up to be an unfortunate season for Rojas. Back in March, he received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone. That was going to wipe out the first half of his regular season and, like all players suspended for PEDs, render him ineligible for the postseason.
After receiving that suspension, his best-case scenario would have been for him to have a strong second half, but now that’s off the table as well and he will miss the entire 2026 campaign. He is currently on the restricted list. Once his suspension is up, the Phillies can put him on the 60-day injured list, or perhaps cut him from the roster by designating him for assignment or releasing him.
Rojas had a strong debut with the Phils in 2023. He was already known to have speed and defensive abilities, but he then put up a .302/.342/.430 line in his first 164 plate appearances. That wasn’t entirely sustainable, as he had a .410 batting average on balls in play, but it was a welcome development for the Phillies nonetheless. Thanks to that offense, his 14 steals and strong glovework, he was credited by FanGraphs with 1.4 wins above replacement in just 59 games.
His production tailed off from there. He could still swipe some bags and run the ball down on the grass but he hit just .237/.279/.312 over the 2024 and 2025 seasons. That seemingly caused the Phils move on from the idea of Rojas being an everyday player. They acquired Harrison Bader at the 2025 deadline. He became a free agent after the season but they essentially handed the 2026 center field job to Justin Crawford in the most recent offseason.
With Crawford, Adolis García and Brandon Marsh set to be the regular outfield in 2026, Rojas was lined up to either be in a fourth outfielder role or sent to the minors. Between the suspension and this surgery, he will instead be a total non-factor for the year. If he holds onto his roster spot through the winter and gets healthy, he could be back in consideration for those kinds of depth roles next year. Garcia is an impending free agent but the Phils will presumably look to address that spot before the 2027 season begins.
For now, the Phils have Edmundo Sosa and Steward Berroa as their bench outfielders, backing up the trio of Marsh, Crawford and Garcia. Marsh is the only one of those three having a good season, so it’s possible they look to shake things up at the deadline.
Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images
Astros To Acquire Raynel Delgado From Rays
The Astros are acquiring minor league infielder Raynel Delgado from the Rays for cash considerations, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Delgado was not on Tampa Bay’s roster and would only require a 40-man spot with Houston if the trade were spurred by him exercising an assignment clause in his minor league deal. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Sugar Land.
Delgado, 26, has yet to reach the big leagues. A Havana native who moved to Florida as a child, he was a sixth-rounder by Cleveland in 2018. Delgado played in their system until 2024, topping out at Triple-A Columbus. He qualified for minor league free agency after that season when the Guardians elected not to add him to the 40-man roster.
The lefty-hitting Delgado spent 2025 in Triple-A on a minor league deal with Milwaukee. He hit .281/.363/.378 and didn’t get a major league look. Tampa Bay added him on a non-roster invitation early last offseason. Delgado has struggled offensively with their top affiliate in Durham, hitting .250/.320/.362 with three home runs in 253 plate appearances.
Delgado has posted league average strikeout and walk rates at the Triple-A level for the past couple seasons. He has middling power but can steal a few bases and move around the infield. Delgado is more of a second/third base type than a true shortstop, but he has more than 500 minor league innings at all three positions. The Astros have lost depth infielders Braden Shewmake and Nick Allen to the injured list over the last couple weeks.
Will The Guardians Make An Outfield Move?
The Guardians enter this afternoon’s series finale against the Yankees with a narrow lead in the AL Central. They’re half a game up on the White Sox with a 37-32 record in their bid for a third consecutive division title.
It has been a similar story to the past few iterations of Guards baseball. They have one of the better bullpens in the American League, moving seamlessly to Cade Smith in the ninth inning while getting surprisingly strong work from reclamation pickup Colin Holderman. They could use another lefty, but the back end is generally a strength.
They’re the only team that has used the same five-man rotation all season, mostly successfully. Parker Messick and Gavin Williams have made for an excellent combination at the top. Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi and Joey Cantillo have been less consistent but reasonably effective overall.
The other side of the ball remains the big question. The offense isn’t as bad as last season, when they somehow won the division despite scoring the fewest runs in the American League. They’re certainly better positioned in the middle infield with Travis Bazzana at second base and Brayan Rocchio amidst a breakout season at shortstop.
It’s still one of the weaker overall lineups in the league, however. They’re 10th in the AL in scoring, 12th in home runs, and last in batting average and slugging. They’ve worked enough walks to get to middle of the pack in on-base percentage. By measure of wRC+, only the Red Sox and Royals have had less productive offenses among AL teams. They’re 22nd by that measure overall and 21st in MLB in runs scored.
There should be a clear target area for the front office as they approach deadline season: the outfield. Cleveland is clearly content to punt offense from the catcher position. First base hasn’t been great overall, but Kyle Manzardo and Rhys Hoskins have each gotten going since the beginning of May. The outfield, on the other hand, has been rough after a reasonably encouraging start to the season.
Cleveland outfielders were hitting .251/.321/.413 through the end of April. They were 12th in OPS and tied for 11th in homers. Since the calendar turned to May, they’ve combined for a .215/.291/.310 line across 465 plate appearances. Their .601 OPS over the last six weeks is dead last in the Majors. They’ve hit just eight home runs, above only the White Sox, Rays, and Royals. Only Houston outfielders have fared worse by the park-adjusted metrics.
Essentially the entire outfield has gone cold. Chase DeLauter started his career with a bang, homering four times in his first three regular season MLB games. He added another homer amidst a three-hit game on April 3. He’s gone deep just twice since then and has a .252/.315/.333 line since the beginning of May. It’s common for players even as talented as DeLauter to have some ruts during their rookie seasons. He’s not in danger of losing playing time, but his slump exposes the depth concerns elsewhere.
Steven Kwan was supposed to be the stabilizer. He’s an elite defensive left fielder whom the Guardians felt could play a capable center field on a semi-regular basis. Kwan has impressed defensively, but his bat has tanked. He’s hitting .213/.323/.262 with just one home run through 264 trips to the plate. No other qualifier has made less hard contact.
Kwan’s game has always been about plate discipline rather than hard contact. He rarely expands the strike zone and probably has the best pure contact skills of anyone not named Luis Arraez. That’s still intact — even Arraez has a slightly higher swing-and-miss rate this year — but Kwan can’t be a productive hitter without some kind of extra-base impact. He’d topped 10 home runs in both 2024 and ’25 and hit at least 25 doubles in three of his first four seasons. This year, he’s on pace for 19 doubles and two homers. Stephen Vogt dropped him from the leadoff spot in favor of Bazzana in mid-May; Kwan has hit seventh for the past couple weeks.
It’d be less concerning if this were only a bad two-month stretch. Kwan’s numbers trended down during the second half of the ’25 season as well. He’s a .233/.311/.310 hitter in nearly 700 trips to the plate over the last calendar year.
Kwan has come up in trade rumors for the last few seasons. It’d be less straightforward to move him now than it would’ve been last summer, when they were deadline sellers before going on an improbable run to seize the division from Detroit. At the same time, Kwan is the team’s second-highest paid player on a $7.725MM salary.
That’ll probably jump into eight figures for his final arbitration season. He’s on pace to be worth roughly one win above replacement despite the defensive contributions. Would a team that runs one of the lowest payrolls in the sport be willing to tender him a $10MM contract if he hits like this all season? If they feel he’s trending toward a non-tender, they could entertain trade scenarios this summer while looking to acquire a corner outfielder who has more offensive punch.
That’s complicated by their lack of recent production from center and right field. Hot starts from Angel Martínez and Daniel Schneemann were among the reasons for Cleveland’s early success. Schneemann’s fantastic April always felt unsustainable, and he has hit .160/.233/.181 since the beginning of May. Schneemann has gotten some run as a regular center fielder but should be in a utility role.
Martínez has bigger physical tools and can certainly flash significant upside. He’s less than a month removed from winning AL Player of the Week after popping four homers in five games. Martínez also has an extremely aggressive approach and almost never walks, lowering the floor from an on-base perspective.
He’s among the bottom 10 qualified hitters this year with a .275 OBP. In 19 games since the Player of the Week award, he’s hitting .178 with a .200 on-base mark — though he matched last year’s career high by connecting on his 11th home run of the season this afternoon.
Schneemann and Martínez are each capable big leaguers, but they should be role players rather than locked into the everyday lineup on a contender. Cleveland has Kahlil Watson, George Valera, CJ Kayfus and Petey Halpin on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment in Triple-A.
Watson and Valera have hit pretty well against minor league pitching, as has non-roster corner bat Nolan Jones. Neither Valera nor Watson has an MLB track record. Jones hasn’t hit big league pitching since 2023. Gabriel Arias could get some outfield work when he returns from a hamstring strain, but his strikeout issues are well established.
Although the Guardians aren’t typically aggressive deadline buyers, they could move one or two of their toolsy but unestablished minor league outfielders for someone with a higher floor. There aren’t many defined sellers yet, though the Rockies have a couple outfielders (Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy) who should be available. Moniak is currently sidelined by ankle tendinitis but expected back before the deadline. Lars Nootbaar, Taylor Ward, Trevor Larnach, Casey Schmitt and Jacob Young are some of the other players who could hit the trade market. Adding someone to raise the offensive floor should be the priority next month.
Braves Designate Carlos Carrasco For Assignment
The Braves have once again designated righty Carlos Carrasco for assignment. This time, his roster spot goes to right-hander James Karinchak, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also placed right-handed reliever Tyler Kinley on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation and recalled righty JR Ritchie from Gwinnett in his place.
Readers should be plenty familiar with the cycle at this point. Carrasco, 39, can’t be optioned and thus must be designated for assignment any time the Braves want to send him down to the minors. At this stage of his career, the former Cleveland ace is amenable to functioning as an effective 41st man on Atlanta’s 40-man roster. The team regularly selects his contract to the majors, designates him for assignment, passes him through waivers and re-signs him on a new minor league deal once he elects free agency. He’s then summoned the next time Atlanta’s bullpen needs some length.
The cycle will very likely repeat itself again several more times this season. Atlanta has now designated Carrasco for assignment five times dating back to last August. He’s re-signed a new minor league deal after each prior DFA and also signed a minor league contract with the Braves as a free agent over the winter. The setup clearly works for both parties.
Carrasco has pitched well overall with the Braves this year, though he’s been tagged for runs in each of his past two appearances. He’s still held opponents to a total of three runs on 10 hits and a walk with four strikeouts in nine big league innings. His work in Gwinnett has been even sharper. In 30 frames with the Stripers, he has the exact same 3.00 ERA but a much stronger 21% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.6% walk rate.
The 30-year-old Karinchak, a former Cleveland teammate of Carrasco, will be returning to the majors for the first time since 2023. Karinchak looked like a potential bullpen monster for the Guardians at one point, pitching to a 2.51 ERA with a preposterous 46.6% strikeout rate through his first 32 1/3 MLB frames from 2019-20. Injuries and poor command have since derailed him. He still posted a 3.24 ERA in 133 1/3 innings from 2021-23, but Karinchak did so while walking more than 14% of his opponents and with a lesser (albeit still excellent) 33.9% strikeout rate.
Karinchak spent nearly the entire 2024 season on the minor league injured list due to a shoulder issue, pitching only 6 2/3 innings that year. A fastball that averaged 97 mph during his MLB debut was sitting at 92.1 mph during that injury-ruined season. Cleveland outrighted him off the 40-man roster that offseason, and he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox. He pitched 29 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA for the South Siders’ Triple-A club in Charlotte, but Karinchak also walked nearly 17% of his opponents there and sat 92.7 mph on his heater. He was released in June and didn’t latch on with another club until the Braves signed him this past December.
Thus far in 2026, Karinchak has pitched 25 2/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA that matches his mark from Charlotte last season. He’s toned his walks down, relatively speaking, issuing a free pass to exactly 10% of his opponents. He’s punched out a gaudy 38% of the batters he’s faced. His fastball velocity still isn’t nearly back to its peak levels, but this year’s 93.8 mph average is up noticeably from his 2024-25 levels.
Karinchak still has a minor league option remaining, and if he can carve out a role in the Atlanta bullpen, he’d be controllable through the 2027 season via arbitration. That’ll depend on whether he can continue to show improved command/velocity and whether he can stave off further injuries.
The Opener: Montgomery, Acuna, Athletics
On a day full of intriguing pitching matchups, Shohei Ohtani vs. Jared Jones might take the cake. Ohtani has allowed five earned runs all season. Jones bounced back from a rough season debut with five zeroes against the Astros in his last outing.
1. Montgomery walks off the Braves
What a debut for Braden Montgomery. One of the top prospects in the White Sox system joined the club for his first MLB game on Tuesday. The outfielder picked up his first big-league hit in his second at-bat, singling home fellow prospect Jacob Gonzalez. Montgomery then came to the plate with Chicago trailing by one in the 10th inning. With two outs and the tying run on third base, the rookie drilled a game-winning home run. Montgomery became the fifth player to hit a walk-off homer in their MLB debut. “It was something out of dreams,” Montgomery said (h/t Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “It’s something that I couldn’t draw up any better myself.”
2. Acuna leaves with a hamstring injury
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. seems to have avoided a serious leg injury after leaving last night’s game against the White Sox. Acuna came up lame while running out a ground ball in the fourth inning. He was diagnosed with left hamstring tightness and will undergo imaging on Wednesday. It’s the same hamstring that cost Acuna a couple of weeks in early May. Manager Walt Weiss said the injury isn’t as severe this time. “It doesn’t seem as bad as the last one,” Weiss said (h/t Zach Sweet of MLB.com). “We’re not eyeing an IL [stint] on him right now, but day to day. He’s going to get an MRI, and then we’ll go from there. It’s certainly not as bad as the last one.”
3. Athletics tie franchise home run record
The fireworks at Las Vegas Ballpark continued on Tuesday night. After slugging seven home runs in a wild extra-innings loss on Monday, the Athletics hit five more yesterday. The dozen long balls tied the club’s franchise record for home runs in a two-game span (h/t Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Outfielder Henry Bolte got in on the fun, taking lefty Robert Gasser deep in the second inning. for his first career home run. Bolte has more than held his own in his first taste of the majors, delivering a 114 wRC+ across 25 games. The A’s play four more times in Vegas this week.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Brewers Sign Luis Lara To Extension
The Brewers have signed yet another extension with one of their prospects. Milwaukee announced the signing of Triple-A outfielder Luis Lara to a seven-year deal with club options covering the 2033-35 seasons. It’s reportedly a $31MM guarantee that could climb as high as $79MM depending on the option specifics and bonuses. Lara is represented by Octagon.
Lara will remain in Triple-A on optional assignment. The Brewers needed to add him to the 40-man roster to finalize the Major League contract. Left-hander Brian Fitzpatrick has been moved from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. The rookie reliever suffered a partial UCL sprain and is going for a second opinion, relays Todd Rosiak of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
It has become more common in recent years for clubs to commit to their young players before the make it to the majors, or perhaps after just a handful of games in the big leagues. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, from 2006 to 2016, there were six extensions signed by players with less than a year of service time. From 2017 to the present, that number is 25, with 15 of them being inked in the past four years.
Milwaukee has played a notable role in that data set, particularly in signing pre-debut deals. In 2023, they gave Jackson Chourio an eight-year, $82MM pact when he was considered one of the top two prospects in the league. That was the record deal for a pre-debut player at the time, though Colt Emerson later broke that record when he signed a $95MM deal with the Mariners. Earlier this year, the Brewers signed another pre-debut deal, though on a lesser scale. They and Cooper Pratt agreed to an eight-year deal worth $50.75MM back in April, though Pratt has remained in the minors on optional assignment since signing that deal.
This deal with Lara comes in at an even lower level. The guarantee is barely a third of what Chourio received and just a bit more than half of Pratt’s deal. Coming in well shy of Chourio is no real surprise. As mentioned, Chourio was one of the top prospects in the league at that time. Lara is a solid prospect but is perhaps more of a borderline top 100 guy right now. Pratt and Lara have some similar prospect rankings but the Pratt deal was seen by some as a bit of an overpay.
Lara, now 21, was an international signee of the Brewers back in 2022. Milwaukee gave him a $1.1MM signing bonus at that time. Lara’s size is notable, as he is listed at 5’7″ or 5’8″, depending on the source. As you would expect for such a player, there’s not a ton of power, but he does have speed. He has 447 minor league games under his belt to this point with just 17 home runs but 144 stolen bases. On account of that speed, his defense also receives high praise, with some evaluators considering him a future Gold Glover.
The offense is more of a question. As mentioned, the power is light, though perhaps Lara is building strength as he ages. He never hit more than four homers in any previous season but is already up to seven in 2026, in just 247 Triple-A plate appearances. The plate discipline appears to be strong, however, as he has often posted strong walk and strikeout rates. This year, his first at the top level of the minors, he has a 15.8% walk rate and 13% strikeout rate. Those are both excellent figures.
Baseball America currently lists Lara as the #5 prospect in the system, a couple of spots behind Pratt. That outlet has Pratt #44 on their Top 100, with Lara in the #50 spot. FanGraphs had Lara #11 in the system back in the winter, before he started putting up good numbers at Triple-A here in 2026. ESPN bumped Lara up to #5 in the system in a recent system update. MLB Pipeline has Lara listed #91 overall and the #5 Brewer.
The Brewers presumably feel good about Lara coming up and being a major league contributor. It seems that Lara’s speed and defense would give him a solid floor even if he doesn’t hit much. If he can maintain his strong approach at the plate and add a bit of power as he gets deeper into his 20s, then that just makes the deal all the more attractive for them.
From Lara’s perspective, he is cutting off the most extreme edges of his earning abilities, as is the case for any prospect signing an early extension. If he hadn’t been able to hit in the majors, he could have ended up in the role of a speedy fourth outfielder, which likely wouldn’t have paid him much. Accepting this deal allows him to bank more money than he would have in that scenario. But if he turns into an All-Star caliber regular, he won’t have as much ability to cash in on that. This deal will lock in his age-21 through age-27 seasons, with the three club options taking him through age-30. He could still theoretically get a nice deal at that point, going into his age-31 season, but could have had more earning power if he managed to hit the open market in his late 20s.
As mentioned, Lara is going to stay in the minors for now. At the major league level, Milwaukee has an outfield group consisting of Chourio, Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick, with Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers and Blake Perkins chipping in on occasion. They also have Brandon Lockridge on the injured list, Tyler Black and Akil Baddoo on optional assignment, and Jett Williams in Triple-A in a non-roster capacity.
In the long run, it’s fair to wonder if the Brewers will trade from that group in order to open up playing time. Bauers is an impending free agent but everyone else is under club control for a while. Yelich’s deal is guaranteed through 2028. Chourio is signed through 2031 with two club options. Mitchell can be retained via arbitration through 2028, Frelick and Perkins through 2029.
For now, the Brewers have enviable outfield depth on a club that has few obvious holes. They have a 41-23 record which is second-best in the National League, behind only Atlanta. Though they will undoubtedly be looking to add to the roster ahead of the trade deadline, perhaps they could do so while flipping out an outfielder from their big league roster as they look for more pitching or help on the left side of the infield.
Spencer Michaelis of the Brewers Fanatic Podcast first reported that the sides had agreed to a deal of roughly $30MM over eight years with two club options. Jon Heyman of The New York Post clarified that it’s actually a seven-year deal worth $31MM. Jeff Passan of ESPN confirmed the 7/$31MM framework and noted there are three club options, with a $79MM max. Passan also added that Lara will be staying in the minors for now. Photos courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images.