Phillies, Blue Jays Could Consider Six-Man Rotations
Both the Phillies and Blue Jays are hoping to bolster their starting rotations by reinstating an All-Star right-hander from the injured list later this month. Aaron Nola has not pitched for Philadelphia since mid-May, when he hit the IL with a sprained ankle. While he was originally expected back in June, he suffered a stress reaction in his rib cage that prolonged his IL stint. He is now finally nearing his return. Earlier this month, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reported that Nola could rejoin the Phillies after three rehab outings; he has since made his first two, striking out six over 6 2/3 total innings at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, giving up one earned run on seven hits. Per Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Nola is expected to make his next (and possibly final) rehab start this Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Shane Bieber has been recovering from Tommy John surgery since last April. A free agent over the winter, he re-signed with the Guardians, but Cleveland flipped him to Toronto ahead of last month’s trade deadline. He had already begun a rehab assignment in the Guardians system, and he picked up right where he left off with his new team, tossing five innings of two-run ball for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons last weekend and 5 2/3 yesterday afternoon. Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) that Bieber will most likely require one more rehab start before he’s ready to make his 2025 debut.
When Nola and Bieber return, their teams will have to figure out how to integrate them into rotations that have been functioning just fine in their absence. Since Nola last pitched on May 14, Phillies starters rank second in MLB in ERA but first in FIP, xFIP, SIERA, strikeout-to-walk ratio, innings per start, and FanGraphs WAR. Their current starting five includes Cy Young contenders Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez; Ranger Suárez, who might have been a Cy Young candidate himself if he hadn’t missed the first five weeks of the season; Jesús Luzardo, whose peripherals have stayed strong, even though his ERA has shot up after a hot start; and Taijuan Walker, who has bounced back from a dreadful 2024 campaign to post an ERA in the mid-3.00s as both a starter and a reliever.
Nola had a rough stretch of starts to begin the season, pitching to a 6.16 ERA in his first nine outings. Yet, it’s important to consider that a nine-run blow-up outing two days before he hit the IL significantly affected his surface-level stats. Moreover, several of his underlying numbers suggest he was much better to start the 2025 campaign than his ERA would have you think. His 3.77 SIERA this year is almost identical to his 3.72 SIERA from 2023-24, and while his FIP sits at 5.04, his xFIP is a much more respectable 3.65. He also boasts a lengthy track record of major league success. Long story short, there is no question he will have a spot in Philadelphia’s rotation upon his return.
The most straightforward course of action for the Phillies once Nola comes back would be to move Walker back to the bullpen. While he has pitched to a 3.48 ERA in 13 starts, his 4.64 SIERA out of the rotation is much less promising. It’s also impossible to forget just how much he struggled as a starter last season, producing a 7.18 ERA and 5.11 SIERA in 15 starts. However, the Phillies might also want to take advantage of the fact that Walker is throwing well right now. After all, most teams don’t have the luxury of six healthy, MLB-caliber starting pitchers.
Luzardo missed significant time with injuries in 2022 and ’24, and only once has he pitched a full, qualified season. Suárez has never qualified for the ERA title, topping out at 155 1/3 innings in 2022. Before this year, Nola could claim to be the most durable pitcher in the game, but his health is now something of a question mark. Wheeler’s health, too, is something to monitor after he underwent an MRI for shoulder soreness earlier this month (per The Athletic’s Matt Gelb). It came back clean, and the team doesn’t appear to be worried, but Wheeler is 35 and critical to his team’s World Series aspirations. Finally, Sánchez hasn’t given the Phillies any reason to worry so far, but the one-two punch of Wheeler and Sánchez has been paramount to Philadelphia’s success in 2025. Keeping both of them at full strength is a top priority.
So, it’s not hard to understand why a six-man rotation might appeal to manager Rob Thomson, especially with his club having just begun a stretch of 24 games in 25 days. Indeed, Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic reports that the skipper will at least consider switching to a six-man cycle when Nola comes off the IL.
It’s worth noting that the Phillies also thought about using a six-man rotation earlier this season, only to ultimately stick with the traditional five-man setup. When Suárez was nearing his return from the IL in May, Thomson fielded questions about adding Suárez to a group that already included Wheeler, Sánchez, Nola, Luzardo, and Walker. Could it happen? “Possibly,” he said at the time. “We’re kind of walking through that a little bit right now” (per Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia). Yet, Gelb suggested the Phillies were “highly unlikely” to go with a six-man rotation, and he proved to be correct. The circumstances are undoubtedly different in August than they were in May, but there’s a good chance the same outcome will prevail, and the Phillies will return to the five-man rotation they had always planned to use before injuries got in the way.
Toronto’s rotation has not been nearly as strong as Philadelphia’s this year, but the Blue Jays have been in much better shape since Eric Lauer forced his way into the starting rotation and Max Scherzer came back from the injured list, joining the steady and reliable trio of Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, and Chris Bassitt. Dating back to the week of Scherzer’s return, Blue Jays starters have a 4.00 ERA in 41 games. They rank 10th in both SIERA (3.93) and FanGraphs WAR (3.1). That’s a notable improvement from their performance over the three months prior, when they pitched to a 4.65 ERA (26th in MLB), a 4.16 SIERA (18th), and just 2.7 fWAR (27th) in almost twice as many games.
As is the case for the Phillies, there is really only one solution if the Blue Jays want to keep a five-man rotation when Bieber joins the squad: move Lauer to the bullpen. However, Lauer has been far more than just a stopgap for Toronto. In 18 games (12 starts), the southpaw has a 2.59 ERA and 3.62 SIERA. He has yet to allow more than three earned runs or seven hits in a start this year. His middling stuff and unimpressive track record are valid causes for concern, but there’s no denying how well he’s pitched. Since he formally joined the starting staff in mid-June, one would be hard-pressed to argue he hasn’t been better than all four of his much more established rotation-mates.
Much like with Nola, there is no question that Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young winner, will have a spot in Toronto’s rotation when he’s ready for it. Thus, Schneider told Davidi that a six-man rotation is “a definite possibility,” at least for “10 days or two weeks.” Needless to say, such an arrangement would be great for Lauer. Not only would he get to keep his job in the rotation a little longer, but some extra rest would probably do him well, considering he’s never pitched a full, qualified season. Extra rest would also benefit the injury-prone, 41-year-old Scherzer and the returning Bieber. On the other hand, it might not please the workhorses Gausman, Berríos, and Bassitt, each of whom has pitched just about every five games like clockwork since he arrived in Toronto. Unlike the Phillies, the Blue Jays have several off-days coming up, so a six-man rotation could mean that, at times, their starters would go a week between outings. Any potential benefits of a six-man rotation would be cancelled out if the extra time off negatively impacts any of their veteran arms. The Blue Jays would also have to consider the fact that their bullpen, a group that has struggled to a 8.48 ERA over the last two weeks, would be pitching one man down.
Images in article courtesy of Reggie Hildred, Imagn Images (Nola) and Ross Cameron, USA TODAY Sports (Bieber).
Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall Expects Lower Payroll In 2026
The Diamondbacks went into 2025 with an Opening Day payroll of just under $187MM, representing yet another new high for a club that had already bumped its payroll from roughly $116.1MM in 2023 to $163.3MM in 2024. Arizona’s attempt to try and capitalize on its surprise NL pennant in 2023 hasn’t worked out, however, as the D’Backs fell short of the playoffs in 2024 and are fighting just to try and salvage a winning record this year.
These struggles led to some selling at the deadline, with such impending free agents as Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Randal Grichuk, Shelby Miller, and Jordan Montgomery all sent elsewhere. The money saved by getting those players off the books for the final two months of 2025 will impact the 2026 payroll, as team president/CEO Derrick Hall said the D’Backs will “reinvest into the product for next year. We’re going to have to because we’re still going to have so many guys on the IL. We’re going to have to do some work on the roster.”
In terms of overall spending, however, Hall told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters that next year’s payroll is expected to be reduced to some degree. “Do I think we need to have the payroll number where it was this year? Probably not. But I think we can have just as good a team as we constructed by reinvesting the money that we have (saved) and then some,” Hall said.
Hall’s statement isn’t surprising since 2025 was viewed as something of an all-in season for the Diamondbacks, with ownership okaying the payroll boost since the entire roster core was in place. With several notable players slated for free agency this coming winter, a spending cut was pretty much inevitable just because of all the high salaries coming off the team’s books. In the aftermath of the trade deadline, the Diamondbacks have just under $107MM in guaranteed salaries set for 2026 (hat tip to RosterResource), though that number doesn’t factor in arbitration raises.
It doesn’t help matters that Corbin Burnes (Arizona’s highest-paid player) will miss most or all of the 2026 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Between Burnes’ absence and Zac Gallen slated for free agency, the D’Backs will have holes to fill in the rotation, plus they’ll be looking to fix a bullpen that has been a weak link for the better part of two years. The Diamondbacks’ offense has again been strong in 2025, but the absence of Suarez and Naylor means that next year’s lineup needs a lot more power.
Hall said he expects the D’Backs to still be able to make moves in free agency, and the CEO unsurprisingly didn’t give any specifics about how much GM Mike Hazen may or may not have to spend this offseason. It is possible the team doesn’t yet know the answer to this question, as Hall noted that attendance over the remainder of the season will impact next year’s payroll.
Hypothetically speaking, even if the Diamondbacks were to reduce payroll to 2024 levels, that still leaves Hazen with quite a bit of spending capacity to address the roster’s many needs. Trading a player like Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (who drew interest prior to the deadline) who is only under guaranteed contract through 2026 is another avenue the front office could pursue to free up more money, if necessary.
With so much invested in long-term contracts, there is no sense that the Diamondbacks are planning a larger selloff or considering a rebuild in any respect. As disappointing as the last two seasons have been for the Snakes and their fans, there is still enough core talent in place that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the D’Backs return to contention by next year, though Hazen will again need to be creative.
Diamondbacks Sign Nabil Crismatt To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Nabil Crismatt to a minor league deal, per an announcement from the Triple-A Reno Aces. Crismatt was previously with the Phillies on a minor league deal but was released a few days ago, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.
Crismatt, 30, has pitched 177 major league innings in his career with a 3.71 earned run average. His 21.5% strikeout rate is a bit south of average but his 7.2% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate are both solid figures. That includes a brief stint with the Diamondbacks in 2023, when he tossed two scoreless innings in his lone appearance as a Snake.
This year, he’s been stuck in the minors with the Phillies. He’s been working as a starter in Triple-A, making 19 starts with a 4.04 ERA, 16.2% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.
The Diamondbacks have been hemorrhaging pitching this year. They have lost Corbin Burnes, A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez, Tommy Henry and Blake Walston to Tommy John surgeries. Additionally, Cristian Mena, Christian Montes De Oca, Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel are on the injured list due to other reasons. Those injuries played a notable role in knocking the Diamondbacks out of contention, which led them to trading Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller ahead of the deadline.
Given all of those fallen soldiers, the club may have some innings available down the stretch. Crismatt has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career. He’ll give the Diamondbacks a depth arm for now but could perhaps be useful for the big league club as they play out the string on the season.
Photo courtesy of Orlando Ramirez, Imagn Images
Astros Outright Luis Contreras
The Astros have sent right-hander Luis Contreras outright to Triple-A Sugar Land, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week when the club signed righty Enyel De Los Santos.
Contreras, 29, will stick with the Astros as non-roster depth. He has less than three years of big league service time and does not have a previous career outright. That means he does not have the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency.
He will therefore have to report to the Space Cowboys and try to pitch his way back onto the roster. His big league track record is still quite limited. He has pitched 18 innings for the Astros across this season and the 2024 campaign. He allowed 15 earned runs in that time via 18 hits and 10 walks while striking out 19. His minor league track record is greater in both quality and quantity. He has thrown 76 1/3 innings for the Space Cowboys since the start of 2024 with a 2.36 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images
White Sox Release Gus Varland
The White Sox have released right-hander Gus Varland, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Sox selected infielder Jacob Amaya.
A release was inevitable once Varland entered DFA limbo. A trade wasn’t possible since the deadline had passed. Varland was also on the minor league injured list at the time of his DFA. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers.
He’ll now head to the open market and see what offers await him. He won’t be able to help any club in the short term. Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, a forearm strain sent him to the IL earlier this year. James Fegan of Sox Machine reports that Varland now has a lat strain, suggesting he may be out for the rest of the year.
Clubs should still be interested in Varland as a long-term play. The 28-year-old has some major league success on his track record. Overall, he has a 4.82 earned run average in 46 2/3 innings, but his most recent big league stretch was better than that. The Sox claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers in August of last year. After that claim, he went on to toss 20 1/3 innings for the Sox down the stretch with a 3.54 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.
Here in 2025, he had a rough spring and started the season on optional assignment in the minors. He made just two appearances before landing on the IL. He tried rehabbing in June but that rehab assignment only lasted six appearances. Varland will still have an option remaining after this season and less than a year of service time. Even though he can’t help this year, teams will be interested in him for 2026 and beyond.
Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/9/25
Leading up to the trade deadline, dozens of moves were made. In the wake of those trades, several players were designated for assignment. Here are the results of a few recent DFAs which MLBTR hasn’t yet covered…
- Right-hander Sean Hjelle has been sent outright to Triple-A Sacramento, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment by the Giants when they traded Tyler Rogers to the Mets. Two of the players the Giants received, José Buttó and Blade Tidwell, required 40-man roster spots. The departure of Rogers opened one spot, with Hjelle DFA’d to open another. This was Hjelle’s first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, meaning he didn’t have the right to elect free agency. He will give the Giants non-roster depth and try to earn his way back to the majors. His Triple-A numbers have been good this year, having tossed 41 2/3 innings with a 2.81 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 52.7% ground ball rate.
- Left-hander Zach Penrod has been outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment by the Dodgers when left-hander Blake Snell was reinstated from the 60-day injured list. This was his first career outright and he has less than three years of big league service time, meaning he had to accept the assignment. Penrod was just acquired from the Red Sox in a DFA trade in June and was kept on optional assignment, so he still hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers in the majors.
- Right-hander Connor Gillispie has been outrighted to Triple-A St. Paul, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Twins in late July when Michael Tonkin was selected. This was Gillispie’s first career outright and he has less than three years of big league service time, meaning he had to accept the assignment. He reported to the Saints but they put him on the minor league injured list a few days later. It’s unclear what his current health status is but he hasn’t pitched since July 27th.
- Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb is back with the Tigers on a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment in late July when Detroit signed Luke Jackson. Hartlieb cleared waivers and elected free agency, which was his right as a player with a previous career outright, but reunited with the Tigers on a new minor league deal. He has a 7.95 career ERA in the majors but better minor league numbers. He has tossed 41 Triple-A innings this year with a 3.29 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 40.6% ground ball rate.
Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images
A’s Place Luis Severino On 15-Day IL Due To Oblique Strain
The Athletics announced that Luis Severino has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Left-hander Hogan Harris was called up from Triple-A to take Severino’s spot on the active roster.
The severity of the strain isn’t yet known, but anything more than a Grade 1 strain (the least-serious type) could put the remainder of Severino’s 2025 season in jeopardy. Since the A’s are out of contention, the team might choose to just shut the right-hander down if he’s going to miss anything beyond six weeks of action, as there would be little point in bringing Severino just to make a token start or two at season’s end.
Severino’s injury adds another layer to what has been an unusual first season for the veteran’s Athletics tenure. The A’s shocked many in the baseball world last winter with an uncharacteristic spending splurge when they signed Severino a three-year, $67MM free agent contract. Even if this deal and other relatively larger expenditures from the A’s were as much about avoiding a grievance from the players’ union as much as they were about improving the roster, on paper Severino certainly seemed like a solid addition to the club’s pitching staff.
Instead, Severino has a 4.82 ERA over 136 1/3 innings, as well as very poor strikeout and whiff rates. While Severino hasn’t missed many bats over his last few seasons, he has allowed far more hard contact this year than he did during his more successful 2024 campaign with the Mets.
The story of Severino’s 2025 season may lie in his home/road splits, as the righty has a 3.17 ERA over 65 1/3 away innings and a garish 6.34 ERA in 71 innings at Sutter Health Park. Severino has been public about his displeasure with playing in the minor league ballpark, and this reportedly made A’s management eager to trade the righty. Despite some rumors, no deal was struck prior to the deadline, which isn’t surprising given how the Athletics reportedly weren’t keen on eating much or any of Severino’s salary to accommodate any potential move.
Severino is owed $20MM in 2026, and he has a $22MM player option for the 2027 season. Given his feelings about Sutter Health Park, an opt-out might seem like a possibility even if his numbers continue to be uninspiring, which perhaps creates an unusual situation for both the player and the team down the road. Barring a trade for another team’s unwelcome contract, Severino’s opt-out clause and recent performance would make an offseason move tricky, and this oblique strain now adds another wrinkle to the situation.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- The Weekend Chat has returned! We’ll take a minute to get some questions build up, and then get into it…
Guards ball
- Do you think the guardians have a legit shot to still when the Al central considering the hot start we are on since the all star break?
Mark P
- Detroit’s lead is down to six games over Cleveland, which is still pretty substantial. It would take a combo of the Guards both staying hot, and the Tigers continuing their so-so play over the last month for the Guardians to have a legitimate chance.
It would be pretty ironic if, a year after their big late-season surge, the Tigers were caught by another team going on a surprise late run
Rangers Fan
- I’ve seen conflicting reports on the Rangers CBT situation after the trade deadline additions. The local beat writers are acting as if the Rangers will definitively end the season over the CBT threshold. But other sources, like Spotrac and Cot’s, make it seem like the Rangers can and will end up below the CBT threshold. Obviously, bonuses and incentives complicate things, but if you take the incentives that are “very likely” to hit, it appears the Rangers will stay under with a little room for additional bonuses. Do you have any clarity on this?
Mark P
- A team’s final luxury tax number isn’t officially known until the league releases numbers in December. Sites like Cot’s, Spotrac, RosterResource, etc. do a great job in providing projections and estimates, but they’re the first to tell you that they’re working with incomplete information. Many other factors like roster bonuses or other expenses are known sometimes only to the teams themselves, and those the x-factor numbers audited by the league at year’s end
- My guess right now would be that Texas is just barely under the line, given how Cot’s/RR/Spotrac all have them slightly under the $241MM tax line.
Yankees Notes: Slater, Stanton, Williams
Acquired from the White Sox at the trade deadline, Austin Slater made only two appearances in the pinstripes before he suffered a left hamstring strain. Slater was placed on the 10-day injured list on August 5, and he’ll unfortunately be missing far more than just the 10-day minimum, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner) that Slater will need 4-6 weeks of recovery time.
It’s a tough break for both Slater and the Yankees, as the nine-year veteran was expected to bring some needed right-handed hitting balance to New York’s outfield mix. Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham both hit from the left side and Jasson Dominguez is a switch-hitter, plus Aaron Judge is still limited to DH duty as he fully recovers from a right flexor strain. The idea was that Slater would primarily platoon with Dominguez in left field, but that plan will now have to be put on hold until September.
Even if Slater had been healthy, Giancarlo Stanton was expected to get some outfield time in the wake of Judge’s injury, as the Yankees weren’t going to keep Stanton’s bat out of the lineup entirely. Stanton’s return to the grass has come today, as the slugger is penciled in as the Yankees’ starting right fielder for today’s game with the Astros. With left-hander Framber Valdez on the mound, the Yankees are utilizing most of their right-handed bats in the starting lineup, leaving Dominguez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Austin Wells on the bench.
It marks the first time since September 14, 2023 that Stanton has played a position other than designated hitter. Multiple lower-body injuries limited Stanton’s time in the outfield, and even his move into a seeming full-time DH role came at a physical cost. Stanton didn’t make his 2025 debut until June 16 as he was dealing with torn tendons in both elbows.
With all of this in mind, Stanton is expected to be used only sparingly in the outfield, since the Yankees naturally want to keep him healthy for the stretch drive. Stanton has hit .268/.345/.528 with 10 homers over his 142 plate appearances this season, with a 139 wRC+ that would be his highest since the 2020 campaign.
New York needs all the help it can get as the club tries to get its season back on track. The Yankees are only 19-30 over their last 49 games, dropping from first place in the AL East to just a half-game lead over the surging Guardians for the final AL wild card slot. Relief pitching is one of the chief culprits for the Yankees’ slide, as the team’s bullpen 4.90 ERA since June 13 ranks 26th of the 30 big league teams.
The acquisitions of Camilo Doval, David Bednar, and Jake Bird at the trade deadline was supposed to stop the bleeding on the relief front, yet Bird has already been optioned to Triple-A and Doval and Bednar have each had some shaky moments in their brief stints as Yankees. Devin Williams has also continued to struggle, and he picked up the loss by allowing three runs (two earned) during the 10th inning of yesterday’s 5-3 loss to the Astros.
After years as a relief ace with the Brewers, Williams now has a 5.73 ERA over 44 innings with New York. To put it in perspective, Williams allowed only 48 total earned runs in 235 2/3 innings over his six seasons prior to 2025, but he has already been touched for 28 ER in his lone season with the Yankees.
Given these numbers, Kirschner opined that Williams might not even last the season in the Bronx, as the Yankees could opt to just release him in a few weeks once some other relievers (i.e. Fernando Cruz, Ryan Yarbrough) return from the IL. Such a scenario would’ve seemed unthinkable heading into the 2025 season, and many of Williams’ secondary metrics are in line with his career norms. It seemed like he had gotten on track during a dominant stretch from mid-May until the All-Star break, but Williams has a 10.38 ERA over his last 8 2/3 innings, and has allowed at least one earned run in each of his last five outings.
At the very least, it would seem like Williams can’t be trusted for any more high-leverage work. (Even last night, he likely wouldn’t have been used in the 10th inning if other pitchers hadn’t been unavailable.) A more extreme move like a release might hinge on how the rest of the bullpen is performing or if the Yankees feel they have enough depth, but as Kirschner notes, there is already virtually no chance New York would re-sign Williams in free agency this winter. If the team is going to cut ties anyway and Williams may not even be a candidate for a postseason roster at this point, a release in September might not be out of the question.
Padres Release Mike Brosseau
The Padres released infielder Mike Brosseau from his minor league contract on Friday, as initially reported by the Mad Friars website. Brousseau inked his deal with San Diego back in December, but didn’t receive any time on the active roster during his stint in the organization.
With only a .222/.308/.358 slash line over 344 plate appearances with Triple-A El Paso, Brosseau didn’t do much to force the issue for a call-up. Even with the Padres hurting for bench depth for much of the season, it would seem that Brosseau simply didn’t hit enough to get himself on the team’s radar. It perhaps didn’t help that Brosseau has played almost exclusively as a third baseman in El Paso, and the Padres naturally had no needs at that position due to Manny Machado‘s presence.
Brosseau hit .242/.313/.428 over 647 plate appearances with the Rays and Brewers from 2019-23. He posted particularly big numbers during the shortened 2020 season for Tampa Bay’s pennant-winning club, and also hit well in 2019 and 2022. However, Brosseau’s numbers tailed off during the 2023 season, and the Brewers released him midway through the season so Brosseau could sign with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball. That brief stint in Japan was followed up by minor league contracts with the Royals and Mets during the 2024 season, before Brosseau signed on with the Padres this past offseason.
Though most of his 2025 has been spent at the hot corner, Brosseau has plenty of experience at a first and second baseman, plus he has played as a shortstop and at both corner infield slots in the past. Teams could have interest in adding Brosseau for the remainder of the 2025 campaign either as a depth option, or just to fill out any Triple-A roster vacancy left open by prospect trades at the deadline.