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Orioles Select Matt Bowman

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The Orioles have selected the contract of righty Matt Bowman and optioned fellow right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo to Triple-A Norfolk, per a team announcement. Baltimore already had an open 40-man roster spot, so optioning Hiraldo is the only necessary corresponding transaction. Baltimore also announced recently that infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A.

Bowman, 33, is now in his second Orioles stint of the season. Baltimore designated him for assignment earlier in the month and outrighted him to Norfolk. He responded with 4 2/3 shutout innings of relief (four strikeouts, two walks) and promptly punched a ticket back to the big leagues. He’s appeared in 16 games for the O’s in 2025 and totaled 17 1/3 innings with a 5.19 ERA, a 15.2% strikeout rate and a 3.8% walk rate. That strikeout rate is nearly seven percentage points shy of league average, but Bowman’s super walk rate also checks in about five percentage points lower than average.

Baltimore is Bowman’s seventh club in seven big league seasons. He’s a former 12th-round pick who’s also spent time with the Cardinals, Reds, Yankees, Twins, Mariners and Diamondbacks since debuting with St. Louis back in 2016. In 233 1/3 innings, he sports a 4.24 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 52.9% ground-ball rate.

Vavra, 28, is an organization favorite. The son of former Twins and Tigers coach Joe Vavra, Terrin was a 2018 third-rounder out of the University of Minnesota by the Rockies. Colorado traded him to Baltimore in 2020’s Mychal Givens swap, and he’s spent the majority of the past half decade calling the Orioles organization home.

The younger Vavra played in the bigs with the O’s in 2022-23 and has accepted multiple outright assignments and re-signed multiple minor league deals with the Orioles. He’s a .254/.331/.303 hitter in the majors (159 plate appearances) and a .287/.383/.418 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons (583 plate appearances).

Ronel Blanco To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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11:03am: Astros manager Joe Espada provided some more specifics to Leah Vann of Chron.com, revealing that Blanco will undergo Tommy John surgery.

10:28am: Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco, currently on the injured list due to elbow discomfort, will undergo season-ending surgery next week, the team announced Wednesday. Specifics on the nature of the procedure were not immediately revealed. Blanco is “anticipated to return during the 2026 season,” per the Astros, which suggests that he may not be ready for the start of next year’s spring training.

Blanco, 31, hit the injured list earlier this month with what was vaguely described as elbow discomfort. The lack of specificity is par for the course for the Astros organization when it comes to injuries, but the open-ended nature of the issue paired with GM Dana Brown stating that the Astros were “hoping for the best” as Blanco sought a second opinion created a particularly ominous air around Blanco’s status. It now appears that a worst-case scenario, or close to it, will play out.

Subtracting Blanco from an already thin rotation mix puts Houston in a perilous position. Their one-two punch of Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez is among the best rotation duos in the sport. Everything thereafter gets murky.

Rookies Ryan Gusto and Colton Gordon are both in the rotation at present, as is Lance McCullers Jr., who just returned from an injury absence of more than two years. Gusto (4.58 ERA in 35 1/3 innings) and Gordon (5.52 ERA in 14 2/3 innings) are not top-shelf prospects but rather 26-year-olds who profile as back-end starters or perhaps multi-inning relievers. McCullers has yet to complete five innings in an outing but has been solid in three of his four abbreviated starts. In the other, however, he was decimated for seven earned runs in just one-third of an inning versus the Reds.

Houston’s other rotation options are more or less all on the injured list. Spencer Arrighetti is still out with a broken thumb. Hayden Wesneski recently underwent Tommy John surgery, ending his 2025 season. Luis Garcia has been out more than two years due to Tommy John surgery and a series of setbacks. Cristian Javier had Tommy John surgery last June. J.P. France underwent shoulder surgery last July.

The ’Stros do have a few more rotation candidates in Triple-A, but there’s minimal experience among the group. Righty AJ Blubaugh made one four-inning start in his MLB debut earlier this season. He has a 6.05 ERA in Triple-A. Lefty Brandon Walter, a former prospect in the Red Sox organization, signed a minor league deal last summer and was selected to the big league roster shortly after the announcement that Wesneski’s season is over. He’s pitched quite well in Triple-A this year (1.94 ERA) but is in his first season back from a shoulder injury that cost him all of 2024 and has a 5.14 ERA in 28 career MLB innings. Journeyman righty Jason Alexander was recently claimed off waivers. Prospect Miguel Ullola is not yet on the 40-man roster; he has a solid 3.86 ERA and a huge 32.5% strikeout rate in Triple-A but also a grim 15.4% walk rate.

Suffice it to say, the Astros aren’t exactly plentiful in reliable rotation options at the moment. An injury to either Brown or Valdez would be a dagger to a reeling staff that’s been buoyed by a surprisingly excellent bullpen. The lack of innings from the rotation will very likely put further strain on that relief corps, however, making it all the more imperative that Houston find some rotation reinforcements, whether that help comes from within or via trade.

Of course, trading for help is far easier said than done. Even obvious sellers tend to avoid moving veteran pieces at this stage of the season, instead preferring to wait until there are more bidders and a fuller grasp of the potential market later in the summer. On top of that, the Astros will face some financial limitations if they look to bring in anyone from outside the organization. Owner Jim Crane didn’t expressly state it on the record, but multiple reports and nearly all of the Astros’ offseason actions made clear that Crane is intent on remaining south of the $241MM luxury tax threshold in 2025. An exception might have been made had Alex Bregman taken the team’s reported six-year offer, but that seems to have been the only scenario in which Crane was content to pay the tax. At the moment, RosterResource projects the Astros with about $235.5MM of luxury considerations.

For the time being, Houston will likely attempt to tread water with in-house options. Arrighetti could be back in around a month if all goes well; Espada told reporters last week that he was set for a follow-up visit to check in on his thumb’s progress and could begin playing catch a few days after the fact. He’ll need to progress through flat ground throwing, mound sessions, live batting practice and multiple minor league rehab starts before rejoining the team, however. No one else among Houston’s contingent of injured starters will be back anytime soon.

Barring a surprising acquisition, the Astros will be forced to continue operating with 60% of their Opening Day rotation on the shelf. The silver lining is that the 40% that remains healthy — Brown and Valdez — are far and away the team’s two best starters. If they can stay afloat in the standings, it’s all but a given that the Astros will target rotation help on the summer trade market. They’re currently in second place in the AL West, sitting a game and a half behind the division-leading Mariners. Houston and Cleveland are currently tied for the final two Wild Card spots in the American League, but six teams (Royals, Rays, Rangers, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Angels) are within four games in that tightly contested race.

Miguel Amaya Likely Out Four To Six Weeks

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Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya hit the injured list over the weekend due to a left oblique strain. At the time of his IL placement, the team indicated that Amaya was headed for imaging to determine the severity of the injury. That step has been completed, and manager Craig Counsell informed the Cubs beat last night that Amaya will likely be out for the next four to six weeks (link via Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). Chicago is hoping to get him back before the All-Star break.

The 26-year-old Amaya has been excellent in a limited role this season, taking 100 plate appearances over 27 games and turning in a .280/.313/.505 batting line (127 wRC+) with four homers and nine doubles. He’s only drawn four walks against 22 strikeouts but has generally enjoyed the most productive stretch of his career in 2025.

Amaya’s output has been more than strong enough to warrant a starting gig behind the plate, but he’s served as the backup to scorching-hot Carson Kelly, who signed a two-year deal in free agency and has erupted for a .298/.422/.606 slash (186 wRC+) with more walks than strikeouts (17.2% to 13.3%). Kelly is already halfway to his career-high 18 home runs — a mark he established back in 2019’s juiced-ball season.

Only the Mariners, led by presumptive All-Star Cal Raleigh, have gotten better production out of their catchers than the Cubs this season. Amaya’s hot streak has been a notable part of that, but he’ll give way to journeyman Reese McGuire, whose contract was selected in his place over the weekend. With Kelly out for the past three games due to an illness, McGuire has stepped right up and started three straight games. He’s just 2-for-10 in his first 11 plate appearances, but both of those hits have been home runs. McGuire is a career .251/.299/.369 hitter in 1049 major league plate appearances.

Rays Designate Ben Rortvedt For Assignment

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May 28: The Rays announced this morning that Rortvedt has indeed been designated for assignment. Thaiss has been added to the active roster and will presumably be with his new team for this afternoon’s series finale versus Minnesota.

May 27: The Rays intend to designate catcher Ben Rortvedt for assignment, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. That will clear an active roster spot for new backup catcher Matt Thaiss, who was acquired from the White Sox this afternoon. Topkin notes that Rortvedt was bidding emotional farewells to his teammates after tonight’s loss to Minnesota.

Rortvedt is out of options. The Rays cannot send him down without putting him on waivers. They’re not going to carry three catchers or move on from starter Danny Jansen, so the Thaiss pickup made a Rortvedt DFA more or less inevitable. The lefty-hitting Rortvedt went 0-3 with a strikeout tonight and is down to an .095/.186/.111 slash line through 70 plate appearances. His strikeout and walk numbers are solid enough, but he has only managed one extra-base hit while ranking near the bottom of the league in hard contact rate.

Tampa Bay acquired Rortvedt from the Yankees in a three-team deal on the eve of Opening Day 2024. He started a little more than half the team’s games last season, batting .228/.317/.303 across a career-high 328 plate appearances. The Rays signed Jansen to an $8.5MM free agent deal to supplant Rortvedt as the primary catcher. The drop in his already poor offense has now squeezed him off the roster. While Thaiss has very little power himself, he’s at least getting on base at a huge .382 clip over 35 games this year.

A former second-pick of the Twins, Rortvedt is a capable defensive catcher. He has graded as a slightly above-average framer and blocker in his career. He has solid arm strength and has thrown out six of 27 attempted base-stealers. Once the Rays officially announce the DFA, they’ll have five days to explore trade scenarios. They’d place him on waivers if they don’t find a trade partner. An acquiring team would need to plug him directly onto the MLB roster.

The Opener: Harper, Seager, Bart

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Here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on throughout the day:

1. Harper to be re-evaluated following HBP:

The Phillies endured a scary moment last night when superstar Bryce Harper exited in the first inning after a wayward pitch from Atlanta ace Spencer Strider struck his elbow. Notably, the afflicted elbow was the one that required Tommy John surgery prior to the 2023 season. The Phillies later labeled the issue a right elbow contusion, and manager Rob Thomson confirmed to reporters following the game that x-rays on Harper’s elbow came back negative (link via MLB.com’s Paul Casella). Thomson added that Harper “was certainly in a lot of pain,” however, and would need to be re-evaluated today. No player can reasonably be expected to replace a perennial MVP candidate like Harper, but if he requires some time away to recover, Alec Bohm could slide over to first base as Edmundo Sosa takes reps at the hot corner.

2. Seager to return:

The Rangers have seemed hapless on offense for much of this year, in part because superstar Corey Seager has only been able to anchor the lineup for 26 of the club’s 56 games due to multiple trips to the injured list. Texas is on the cusp of getting his bat back in the lineup, however. Manager Bruce Bochy told the Rangers beat last night that he “fully anticipates” Seager to return from the injured list today (link via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com).

That Seager will be activated off the IL is especially exciting for the Rangers given that they’ve also recently lost center fielder Evan Carter and DH Joc Pederson to the injured list. Seager’s return to the lineup at shortstop should free up utilityman Josh Smith to play elsewhere, though it’s at least plausible that the Rangers could give Seager some starts at DH in the short-term to help ease him back into full baseball activities.

3. Bart under evaluation following head injury:

Pirates catcher Joey Bart was struck in the head with a backswing behind the plate last night, and Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that he was still undergoing evaluation following last night’s game. The power that made Bart an impactful player for the Pirates last year has not yet shown up in 2025, but he’s still slashing .240/.347/.308 with a solid enough wRC+ of 90 across 44 games. Henry Davis is on the roster as the backup catcher, should Bart require a day or two, but a longer absence for Bart would require a non-roster catcher like Brett Sullivan to be selected to the roster as a backup to Davis. Fellow catcher Endy Rodriguez is also on the injured list after requiring stitches in his throwing hand last month.

Cubs Remain Open To In-Season Extension Talks With Pete Crow-Armstrong

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The Cubs made an effort to lock up center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong during Spring Training. At the time, an MLB.com report indicated that Chicago made an offer that could have maxed out around $75MM had all the option years been exercised — though the actual guarantee would have checked in lower than that.

Last week, Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported that the Cubs offered a guarantee in the $60-70MM range before the season started. Crow-Armstrong obviously wasn’t persuaded by that, and his asking price has surely only increased after a monster start to the year. Most extensions are concentrated during Spring Training or within the opening two to three weeks of the regular season. Players often prefer to table discussions to avoid potential distractions during the summer months.

Heyman nevertheless wrote last week that the Cubs were making “in-season overtures” to Crow-Armstrong’s camp. He indicated the team was willing to up its offer from the spring. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer predictably didn’t comment on the team’s new price range but told Patrick Mooney of The Athletic on Tuesday that the front office is willing to keep negotiations going. “Not talking during the season, to me, that’s a player-focused thing,” Hoyer told Mooney. “I’m not playing. I’ve got time to negotiate if they want.”

While Hoyer didn’t go into detail about the current state of conversations, he spoke about the reporting from April. Hoyer stated that the sides “hadn’t talked in a couple weeks when (word of the offer) leaked out” and added that “the number that came out about that wasn’t right.” MLB.com had initially reported that the offer was in the $75MM range before correcting that that number represented the approximate maximum value, including what was presumably at least one club option year.

Crow-Armstrong is playing at a level that’d put him in the MVP conversation if he keeps it up all year. He took a .280/.310/.565 slash line across 229 plate appearances into tonight’s game. He has swiped 14 bases in 17 attempts while already establishing a new career high with 14 home runs. He’s added 13 doubles and three triples and is tied for fourth in MLB (behind Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and teammate Seiya Suzuki) with 30 extra-base hits.

That would play at any position. It’s particularly remarkable from a player whose primary asset is his glove. Crow-Armstrong has been viewed as an elite defensive center fielder throughout his professional career. His early MLB results have supported that evaluation. The 23-year-old leads all outfielders with nine Outs Above Average, according to Statcast. He tied for sixth by that metric during his 2024 rookie campaign.

There’s probably still some trepidation about Crow-Armstrong’s offensive approach. He’s among the most aggressive hitters in MLB. He has walked in fewer than 4% of his plate appearances. This season’s success has come despite a middling .310 on-base percentage. The approach was certainly an issue during his debut campaign, as he hit .237/.286/.384 last year.

Crow-Armstrong entered this season with 170 days of major league service, putting him two days shy of one full service year. He’s a lock to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player at the end of the ’26 season. He will not reach free agency for another five years after this one, however. If the sides were to negotiate a deal that goes into effect next year, he’d be in the 1-2 year service class.

As Front Office subscribers can see with MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Jackson Merrill established a new standard for players in that bracket with this spring’s $135MM deal. Merrill probably took something of a hometown discount, but he also had a higher established offensive baseline than Crow-Armstrong does. Merrill hit 24 homers with a .292/.326/.500 slash over a full season as a 21-year-old rookie. He’s also a plus center fielder, albeit not quite the caliber of defender that Crow-Armstrong is. Merrill is an aggressive hitter in his own right, but he’s had sustained offensive success essentially from the moment he reached the big leagues.

Though Crow-Armstrong may have a comparable or even slightly higher ceiling, he’s not as established. During Spring Training, the Cubs seemingly valued him in the next tier of young hitters. An offer in the $60-70MM range would have aligned with recent deals for Lawrence Butler and Ezequiel Tovar. Crow-Armstrong has clearly played himself above that group within the past couple months, but there’s a broad range between them and Merrill.

Pohlad Family Continuing To Meet With Potential Buyers Of Twins

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9:44pm: Dan Hayes of The Athletic writes that the Pohlads remain firm in their $1.7 billion ask. Hayes adds that while the Pohlads have indeed received interest from multiple parties, they’ve also heard a few concerns — including the collapse of their local TV deal with FanDuel Sports Networks and the upwards of $425MM in debt which the organization has accrued. Those interested in the process are encouraged to read Hayes’ column in full for more details.

8:14pm: The Twins have been for sale at least dating back to last October. Those efforts seemed to stall in February, as perceived frontrunner Justin Ishbia dropped his pursuit in favor of taking a larger minority share of the White Sox under Jerry Reinsdorf.

That opened some question about whether the Pohlad family might pull the franchise off the market entirely. That still doesn’t appear likely. Phil Miller of The Minnesota Star-Tribune reports that the Pohlads have welcomed several potential buyers to Target Field this month. While there’s no indication that any formal offers have been made, Miller writes that one source suggested the process was nearer to a conclusion than its beginning.

In March, The Athletic reported that the Pohlads had an asking price of at least $1.7 billion. Around the same time, Forbes estimated the Minnesota organization was worth roughly $1.5 billion in its annual franchise valuations. CBNC placed a $1.65 billion evaluation in mid-April, more closely aligning with the reported asking price.

Carl Pohlad purchased the team for $44MM back in 1984. After Carl Pohlad died in 2009, his son Jim took control. Jim Pohlad turned over operations to his nephew, Joe, in November 2022.

Mets, David Villar Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets are in agreement with infielder David Villar on a minor league contract, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The CAA client had elected free agency after being outrighted by the Giants last week.

Villar, 28, joins the second organization of his career. He had been with San Francisco since they selected him in the 11th round of the 2018 draft. The right-handed hitter showed some promise during his rookie season three years ago. He hit nine home runs with a .455 slugging percentage in 52 games. He would have needed to improve upon a 32% strikeout rate to find long-term success, though.

The Giants never gave him much of a chance to do so. Villar appeared in 46 games the following season, and he hit just .145 while striking out 32% of the time. That more or less closed the book on his MLB tenure in San Francisco. He has appeared in only 20 big league contests over the past two seasons. Villar has tallied well over 1200 Triple-A plate appearances over the last three years. He’s a lifetime .273/.381/.507 hitter with 61 home runs at the top minor league level.

That minor league production has also come with a decent amount of swing-and-miss. Villar has punched out at a near-26% clip in Triple-A. He has cleared outright waivers twice in the past two months, suggesting every team has trepidation about him making enough contact to produce at the big league level. The Mets already have a decent amount of corner infield talent, so it’d probably take an injury to one of Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso or Brett Baty to open an MLB opportunity.

Genesis Cabrera Elects Free Agency

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Lefty reliever Génesis Cabrera elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’d been designated for assignment by the Mets on Saturday. Outfielder José Azocar, who was taken off the 40-man roster at the same time as Cabrera was, remains in DFA limbo.

The 28-year-old Cabrera returns to the open market after signing an offseason minor league contract with New York. The Mets called him up at the start of this month after losing A.J. Minter and Danny Young to injury. Cabrera was briefly the only southpaw in Carlos Mendoza’s bullpen. New York acquired José Castillo in a minor trade with Arizona and seemingly prefer him. They also brought up Brandon Waddell as a long man over the weekend.

Cabrera managed decent results during his few weeks on the MLB roster. He worked 7 2/3 frames of three-run ball, striking out seven while issuing three walks. He averages around 96 MPH on his sinker and four-seam fastball, better than average velocity from the left side. That has resulted in decent swing-and-miss rates over his career, but it hasn’t been enough to offset spotty command. Cabrera had walked at least 10% of opposing hitters in every big league season before this year’s small sample. He’d dished out five free passes in eight Triple-A innings before being called up.

That Cabrera went unclaimed on waivers suggests he’ll likely need to take another minor league contract. He shouldn’t have any issue finding interest as a Triple-A depth option. The Mets could try to bring him back themselves. Colin Poche and Anthony Gose are working as left-handed bullpen pieces for their top farm team in Syracuse.

Rockies Release Scott Alexander

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Left-hander Scott Alexander has been released by the Rockies, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by Colorado last week. He’ll head to the open market once he’s cleared released waivers, unless he has already.

This was the expected outcome once Alexander was DFA’d. He joined the Rockies on a $2MM deal this offseason. He went on to post a 6.06 earned run average over his first 19 appearances with the club. Given that performance, no club would want to take on his salary. If he had cleared outright waivers, he would have had the right to elect free agency and keep that money, as a veteran with well beyond five years of major league service time.

The Rockies are skipping that formality and sending him more directly to the open market, which could potentially lead to him garnering more interest. The Rockies remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary. Any other club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Rockies pay.

While Alexander is currently sitting on a rough ERA for this year, it’s worth considering the Coors Field effect. He has a 7.20 ERA in Denver this year but a more reasonable 4.26 ERA on the road. Those are small samples of 10 innings and 6 1/3 innings respectively but Alexander also has a 48.7% ground ball rate in Denver compared to 63.2% elsewhere.

Getting those grounders has been the key to his major league career, which spans almost a decade at this point. He debuted back in 2015 and has since posted a 66.6% ground ball rate in 325 2/3 innings. Zack Britton is the only pitcher in baseball with a better grounder rate in that time, among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitched. That has helped Alexander post a 3.34 ERA in his big league time. Considering that track record and the low price tag, it’s possible the southpaw field some calls in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

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