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Mariners Outright Blake Hunt

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Catcher Blake Hunt went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Mariners and has been assigned outright to Triple-A, per the team’s transaction log. He hasn’t been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of big league service, so Hunt does not have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll remain with the organization on a crowded catching depth chart.

Hunt, 26, has been traded four times but still never taken the field for a big league game. The Padres selected him with the 69th overall pick back in 2017 and traded him to the Rays in the Blake Snell blockbuster. Hunt was with the Rays through 2023 before being traded to the Mariners in exchange for fellow minor league catcher Tatem Levins. Six months later, Hunt was on his way to the Orioles in exchange for reliever Mike Baumann, and after being designated for assignment in Baltimore later last year, he was shipped back to the M’s for cash.

Hunt is a glove-first catcher who draws strong marks for his minor league framing and blocking skills, in particular, per Baseball Prospectus. He’s long been touted for above-average to plus raw power but been dinged for a hit tool and an approach (or lack thereof) that don’t allow him to tap into that power often enough. He’s a career .232/.284/.413 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, including a .231/.271/.407 slash this season that’s right in line with those career marks.

Seattle, of course, has the top catcher in all of baseball right now in switch-hitting slugger Cal Raleigh. Veteran Mitch Garver is backing Raleigh up and at least reaching base at a respectable .321 clip, but he’s hitting .204 with nowhere near the power he once displayed. Hunt is one of several catching options in the upper minors for the Mariners, who also have journeymen Jacob Nottingham and top prospect Harry Ford on their Tacoma roster.

Ben Rortvedt Accepts Outright Assignment With Rays

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Catcher Ben Rortvedt, who was designated for assignment by the Rays last week, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Durham. He had the right to elect free agency but has chosen to accept. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to relay the information.

Players with at least three years of big league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, exercising that right means forfeiting any remaining salary commitments, unless a player has at least five years of service time.

Rortvedt is between three and four years. He qualified for arbitration for the first time after last season. He and the Rays avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.125MM salary for 2025. Rortvedt has pocketed about a third of that already but would have to walk away from the rest of it in order to head to the open market, so it’s not surprising that he has chosen to report to Durham.

For the Rays, they get to keep a bit of experienced non-roster depth behind the plate. Rortvedt had a solid season for them in 2024, getting into 112 games and stepping to the plate 328 times. His .228/.317/.303 slash line wasn’t tremendous, as his 87 wRC+ indicates he was about 13% below league average at the plate. However, catches are usually about 10% below league-wide par, so Rortvedt’s offense was passable enough.

He also received solid marks for his work behind the plate. Putting the two together, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.4 wins above the replacement on the year, with Baseball Reference putting him a bit lower at 0.9 WAR.

The Rays were satisfied enough to give him a raise and bring him back for 2025 but his bat has disappeared. Rortvedt slashed .095/.186/.111 in 70 plate appearances before getting designated for assignment last week. A tiny .122 batting average on balls in play wasn’t helping him out but his batted ball metrics all trended in the wrong direction as well. The Rays signed Danny Jansen in the offseason and then acquired Matt Thaiss last week, pushing Rortvedt down the depth chart. Since Rortvedt is out of options, he got pushed off the 40-man entirely.

Though he’s not having a strong season, he should get some regular playing time for Durham and could perhaps get his offense back on track. If he’s able to do so, he could be the first man up if either Jansen or Thaiss suffers an injury. Logan Driscoll is also on the 40-man roster but he started the year on the minor league injured list due to an ankle injury and still hasn’t played an official game this year.

If Rortvedt isn’t called up by the end of the season, he will be able to elect free agency, as is the case with all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a 40-man roster during the season.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2025 season is chugging along. If you have a question about the campaign, a look ahead to the deadline or anything else baseball-related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Craig Kimbrel’s Braves Deal Contains Rolling Opt-Out Clause

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The Braves signed veteran closer Craig Kimbrel to a minor league deal in the middle of March. He hasn’t been called up to the big leagues yet but it seems that could happen at any time with any club. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Kimbrel’s deal has a clause that Rosenthal refers to as a “rolling opt-out”. This clause means that, if any other club offers him a major league job, Atlanta has to promote him or let him go.

The way Rosenthal describes it, it sounds more like an upward mobility clause than a strict opt-out. With an opt-out clause, a player usually has a specific date wherein he can trigger the clause and become a free agent. With an upward mobility clause, when the player triggers it, it gives teams around the league a chance to give the player a major league roster spot. There’s usually a time frame of 48 hours for such decisions. If any club wants the player, the original signing team then has to decide to call him up or let the claiming team have him.

Semantics aside, what seems to be unique in this case is the “rolling” nature of the clause. Rather than having specific dates mentioned in the contract, it seems that any of the 29 other clubs could trigger the clause at any time by offering Kimbrel a gig in the big leagues. If that happens, Atlanta would then have to decide to call him up or let him go.

That makes it somewhat surprising that Kimbrel isn’t in the majors already. He has thrown 17 innings in the minors this year, mostly at Triple-A but also with a few appearances at Double-A. He has a combined 1.06 earned run average on the year. His 12.5% walk rate is a bit high but he has struck out 32.8% of batters faced and kept 45.7% of balls in play on the ground. A .171 batting average on balls in play isn’t sustainable but his 2.43 FIP suggests he’s still doing quite well when correcting for some regression.

That’s a fairly small sample of work in the minor leagues but Kimbrel also has his lengthy major league track record. He is fifth on the all-time saves leaderboard with 440. He has a 2.59 ERA over 809 2/3 innings, along with a 38.8% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate.

More recently, his results have been less consistent, which is why he settled for a minor league deal coming into this year. He was quite shaky in 2019 and 2020, posting ERAs north of 5.00 in both of those seasons. He generally had better results for the 2021-23 campaigns but struggled again in 2024. He posted a 5.33 ERA with the Orioles last year, getting released in September.

Perhaps teams are putting more stock in last year’s struggles in the majors, as opposed to this year’s good results in the minors. His deal also comes with a $2MM base salary if he’s called up. Presumably, that’s prorated, leaving a bit less than $1.3MM to be paid out at this point. That’s relatively small by MLB standards but teams are often reluctant to add money in midseason pickups. Joel Payamps just passed through waivers unclaimed even though he was quite effective in 2023-24. His $2.995MM salary this year might have been a factor, in addition to the fact that his results have backed up.

Whatever the reasons, Kimbrel still doesn’t have a major league opportunity. But given that a number of clubs around the league are dealing with bullpen challenges and pitcher injuries are inevitable, a path could open for him. Given the specifics of this clause, he only needs one of the 30 clubs to bite.

Photo courtesy of Kareem Elgazzar, Imagn Images

Royals Promote Jac Caglianone

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June 2: The Royals formally announced that Caglianone’s contract has been selected from Triple-A Omaha. Their 40-man roster is now full. Outfielder Dairon Blanco was optioned to Omaha to clear a space on the active roster. Kansas City is off today, so Caglianone’s debut will come tomorrow in St. Louis against Cardinals righty Andre Pallante.

June 1: One of baseball’s top hitting prospects is headed to the majors, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Royals are calling up Jac Caglianone.  The Royals have an off-day on Monday, which lines Caglianone up for his big league debut on Tuesday when the Royals start a series in St. Louis against the Cardinals.  There are only 39 players on Kansas City’s 40-man roster, so the club can select Caglianone’s contract on Tuesday and then make just one corresponding transaction to create space on the active roster.

It was less than a year ago that Caglianone was still awaiting his draft call, as the University of Florida product was selected just in the 2024 draft when Kansas City took him sixth overall.  Caglianone joins Cam Smith and Nick Kurtz as 2024 first-rounders that have already made their way to the Show, and Caglianone has (as you might expect) forced the issue by obliterating minor league pitching.  While he had only a .690 OPS in 126 plate appearances at high-A ball in 2024, Caglianone has a combined .323/.391/.600 slash line in 225 combined PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels this year.

Caglianone just played in his 12th Triple-A game today, so as dominant as the 22-year-old slugger has been, a case can be made that the Royals are being hasty in bringing him up to the majors this early in his pro career.  That said, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted just a few days ago, K.C. might’ve felt a bit of added motivation due to how little the team has gotten from its lineup, particularly in the outfield.

Today’s 1-0 loss to the Tigers marked the Royals’ sixth shutout loss of the season.  Kansas City is tied with the Pirates for the second-lowest run total (194) in baseball, ahead of only the woeful Rockies.  With the Royals ranking at or near the bottom of the league in several other major offensive categories, something had to give, especially since the team’s strong rotation was almost single-handedly keeping K.C. in the AL Central race.

The seeds for Caglianone’s quick promotion were planted when he made his first appearance as an outfielder with Double-A NW Arkansas back in late April.  Both a star first baseman and pitcher during his college days, Caglianone gave up on pitching to solely focus on hitting as a professional, and he has received a regular dose (though not an exclusive position change) of right field work over the last five weeks of minor league action.

With Vinnie Pasquantino playing first base in K.C. and several players getting cycled through the DH spot, putting Caglianone into right field is a logical way on paper for the Royals to both get a star prospect to the majors, and to help solve their longstanding need for outfield help.  Even as the Royals reached the playoffs in 2024, their entire outfield was a major weak link, and Kansas City’s attempts to upgrade the position over the offseason just didn’t really pan out.  Caglianone’s promotion is the latest step in a shake-up that has already seen MJ Melendez optioned to Triple-A in April, and Hunter Renfroe released earlier this week.

The left-handed hitting Caglianone figures to split time between right field, first base, and probably DH on occasion.  Drew Waters and Kyle Isbel will continue to platoon in center field, while Mark Canha, Michael Massey, and Jonathan India will likely share left field duties, with Massey/India also playing at second base and Canha likely getting some time in right field spelling Caglianone against some southpaws.  Broadly speaking, manager Matt Quatraro could be creative with his lineup given how Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia are the only regulars with above-average production, and even Witt’s 121 wRC+ is a sizeable step back from his MVP runner-up season in 2024.

It makes for a pressurized situation for Caglianone in his first taste of MLB action, as K.C. fans have, if anything, felt Caglianone was overdue for a promotion.  Royals GM J.J. Picollo spoke of the situation to Passan earlier this week, saying “The hardest part about this for us is we’re trying to do what’s best for the player.  That’s ultimately what this is.  You want the player to be as prepared as he can when he comes in the major leagues.  It’s not fair to any player, whether it’s Jac Caglianone or whoever, when a team may be scuffling offensively, to try to put it on him and hope he’s going to come save the day.”

Caglianone’s minor league numbers indicate that he is ready for a step up in competition.  MLB Pipeline ranked him as the 22nd-best prospect in baseball prior to the season, ESPN had him 29th, and The Athletic’s Keith Law (60th) and Baseball America (63rd) also had the slugger deeper in their rankings.  The pundits agree that Caglianone is a gifted hitter with huge power and exit-velocity numbers, but the only question is whether or not there’s too much swing-and-miss in his game to handle big league pitching.  Caglianone has done well in posting respectable strikeout rates in the minors this year though his chase rate is still ungainly.

Due to his inclusion in the top-100 lists, Caglianone qualifies as a Prospect Promotion Incentive player.  This means that if he finishes in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year voting, he’d earn a full year of service time despite not being called up until June.  The timing of Caglianone’s call-up means that if he stays in the majors for the remainder of 2025, he’d be on pace to earn Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility down the road.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea — Imagn Images

The Opener: Burnes, Yankees, Blackburn

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On the heels of an early morning trade, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:

1. Burnes to undergo MRI:

The Diamondbacks suffered a major injury scare yesterday when right-hander Corbin Burnes exited his start against the Nationals due to discomfort in his elbow. Manager Torey Lovullo indicated following the game that Burnes was set to undergo an MRI, but the team has already decided the right-hander will not participate in its upcoming road trip. It’s at least possible that means nothing more than a single skipped start for Burnes, but there’s also a clear chance of an injured list stint that will have its length determined by today’s MRI. Arizona’s marquee free agent has been sharp in his first year in the desert, with a 2.66 ERA and 3.89 FIP across 11 outings. He’s been particularly strong of late, working to a 1.67 ERA with a 26.6% strikeout rate across his past seven games. Eduardo Rodriguez is expected back from the IL in the near future and could take Burnes’s spot in the rotation if he’s facing a lengthy absence.

2. Yankees banged up:

The Yankees experienced a couple of injury scares of their own yesterday. As relayed by MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, outfielder Jasson Dominguez departed yesterday’s win over the Dodgers due to a left thumb contusion, while right-hander Luke Weaver did not appear in the game at all due to hamstring discomfort. The team plans to evaluate both players on today’s off-day, though Hoch relays that Dominguez himself suggested that his injury isn’t cause for “much concern.”

Weaver, on the other hand, was queued up to finish off last night’s game even after it was no longer a save situation but was subbed out for lefty Tim Hill after he (in the words of manager Aaron Boone) “felt something in the middle of his hammy” while warming up. It’s unclear if the Yankees plan to send Weaver for imaging, but it would make sense for the club to be careful with their closer given his phenomenal 1.05 ERA across 24 outings.

3. Blackburn to be activated for 2025 debut:

In more positive injury news, the Mets will get reinforcements from the shelf today when right-hander Paul Blackburn is activated to start tonight’s game against the Dodgers. Blackburn, 31, began last year in Oakland but was traded from the A’s to the Mets midseason. The right-hander hasn’t pitched yet this year due to knee troubles, but he should provide a breather to a Mets rotation that has pitched incredibly well this year despite being without not only Blackburn but also Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea. Blackburn’s first start will come opposite Dodgers right-hander Dustin May, who sports a 4.20 ERA and 3.92 FIP through ten starts this year.

West Notes: Andujar, Sheets, Betts, Bradford, Sborz

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An oblique injury forced Miguel Andujar into an early exit from the Athletics’ 8-4 loss to the Blue Jays today.  A’s manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reports that Andujar is “most likely” going to be placed on the 10-day injured list, and Andujar will undergo tests on Monday to gauge the severity of the injury.

Now in his second season with the A’s, Andujar has a .296/.328/.402 slash line over 180 plate appearances, or roughly the same production he delivered in 319 PA in 2024.  Splitting his time mostly between left field and third base, Andujar has been a solid player for the Athletics, yet he might now face a lengthy absence given the uncertain nature of oblique-related injuries.  A more severe strain could put Andujar out for months, which would threaten his availability as a trade chip for the July 31 deadline.  Andujar is a free agent after the season, so he is a logical trade candidate for an A’s team that may be moving into seller mode in the wake of a miserable 3-21 stretch over their last 24 games.

More from around both the AL and West divisions…

  • Gavin Sheets also left the Padres’ 6-4 win over the Pirates in the fourth inning after a collision with the left field wall.  That pursuit of Adam Frazier’s home run ball resulted in multiple issues for Sheets, as manager Mike Shildt told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin) that Sheets was being treated for a possible concussion, as well as a “head contusion coupled with a sore hip and a little bit of a jammed wrist and thumb.”  It certainly seems like an IL stint might be in the cards for Sheets, and since Jason Heyward is also sidelined with injury, the Padres’ top left field candidates on the big league roster would be rookie Brandon Lockridge and utilityman Tyler Wade.  Sheets signed a minor league deal with San Diego over the offseason and now looks like a coup for the club, as Sheets has delivered 11 homers and a .267/.323/.494 slash line over 192 PA as a left fielder, first baseman, and designated hitter.
  • Mookie Betts has now missed the Dodgers’ last three games due to a left toe fracture and won’t start on Monday either, as manager Dave Roberts told the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other reporters.  Betts is still considered day-to-day with the injury and might be back as early as Tuesday, since he was able to do some hitting in the batting cage and was walking in “pretty normal” fashion, as the shortstop told Plunkett and company.
  • Josh Sborz and Cody Bradford have yet to pitch during the 2025 season, but the Rangers pitchers each threw breaking balls for the first time in bullpen sessions over the few days, manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News).  Sborz underwent shoulder surgery last November and was projected to miss the first 2-3 months of the season, so his throwing progression puts him on pace for a return on the far end of that timeline.  Bochy said Sborz and Bradford are expected back roughly around the same time, as Bradford recovers from a sprain in his left elbow that arose during Spring Training.  Bradford is slated to throw two more bullpens before aiming for a live batting-practice session during the second week of June.

Dodgers Place Luis Garcia On 15-Day Injured List

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The Dodgers have placed right-hander Luis Garcia on the 15-day injured list due to a right adductor strain.  The placement is retroactive to May 29.  Righty Noah Davis was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Now in his 13th Major League season, Garcia has a 4.50 ERA in 26 innings for Los Angeles, along with a below-average 19.8% strikeout rate and an ungainly 12.9% walk rate.  Garcia’s 4.13 SIERA is a bit more favorable since the groundball specialist has been hampered by a .364 BABIP, but he is also allowing a lot of hard contact.

Garcia signed a minor league contract with L.A. in February and locked in $1.5MM in guaranteed salary when that contract was selected in advance of the Dodgers’ early Opening Day in Tokyo.  While his results have been up and down over his lengthy career, Garcia has generally been pretty durable, which probably helped his bid to make the team given the injury woes that have only worsened for the Dodgers’ pitching staff as the season has developed.

Incredibly, Garcia is the 15th pitcher currently on the team’s injured list.  (That number could be viewed as 16, if you consider that Shohei Ohtani is still going through his pitching rehab.)  Some help may be coming soon, as manager Dave Roberts told MLB.com’s Sonja Chen and other media today that relievers Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates could both be activated within the next week.

Getting those two quality bullpen arms back is a nice boost for the team, but needless to say, pitching health is once again a major subplot of the Dodgers’ season.  While the elite L.A. offense has carried the Dodgers back to first place in the NL West, pitching figures to be a deadline need for Los Angeles regardless of how many hurlers have returned from the IL by July 31.

Dominic Smith Opts Out Of Minor League Deal With Yankees

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Dominic Smith has become a free agent after triggering the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Yankees, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.  Smith wasn’t an Article XX(b) free agent with a built-in June 1 opt-out date in any minor league contract, but his deal still apparently contained some opt-out flexibility if he hadn’t been called up to New York’s active roster.

This is the second time in three months that Smith has opted out of a minors deal with the Yankees, as he also opted out of his initial contract near the end of Spring Training but re-signed with the club just after Opening Day.  Smith has since been playing at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, hitting .255/.333/.448 with eight home runs over 189 plate appearances.  Smith has primarily been a left fielder, with a good chunk of playing time at first base and DH and a handful of games in right field.

Despite his decent numbers and his defensive flexibility, it isn’t hard to understand why the Yankees haven’t felt the need to bring Smith to the majors.  Even with Giancarlo Stanton missing the entire season to date, Ben Rice capably stepped into the regular DH role, and Paul Goldschmidt has been excellent at first base.  The outfield picture is also crowded between Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Jasson Dominguez, and Trent Grisham surging into more playing time than expected due to some unexpectedly big production at the plate.  With Stanton slowly working his way back to good health, the situation will only get more crowded in the Bronx barring future injuries, so another new contract might not be in the cards for Smith if he wants a clearer path to Major League playing time.

A former top prospect and near-breakout star during his time with the Mets from 2017-22, Smith’s production has tailed off and he has become something of a journeyman since leaving Queens.  Smith has been a part of six different organizations since January 2023, and has hit .247/.321/.370 over 893 PA with the Nationals, Red Sox, and Reds.

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