Gary Sánchez Likely To Miss 8-10 Weeks
Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino informed members of the media today that catcher Gary Sánchez is likely to miss eight to ten weeks due to his right knee sprain. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to relay the timeline and the specific diagnosis, which is a sprain of the catcher’s right posterior cruciate ligament.
It’s yet another unwelcome development in a season that’s been full of them for the Orioles. Sánchez’s .231/.297/.418 batting line (101 wRC+) is “only” a touch better than league average, but he’d been riding a blazing .295/.348/.574 hot streak with five homers over his past 66 plate appearances. That torrid stretch dovetailed with IL placements for Adley Rutschman, Maverick Handley and Chadwick Tromp. Sánchez now becomes the Orioles’ fourth catcher on the injured list.
It’s brutal timing for both the Orioles and Sánchez. With so many other catching injuries on the roster, he’d been thrust into the starting role and was making the most of it — all with free agency just a few months away on the horizon. Sánchez might’ve positioned himself as a trade candidate for the O’s if they end up going the seller’s route, and if not, he was shaping up to be a key piece of their turnaround.
With Sánchez shelved for the foreseeable future, the O’s will turn to a pair of recent acquisitions, Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson, to handle catching duties. Stallings signed a minor league deal a couple weeks back after being released by the Rockies. Jackson was just acquired from the Yankees in exchange for international bonus pool space. Both catchers will be tasked with not only trying to get going at the plate after some substantial struggles in the majors but learning a new pitching staff and building rapport on the fly.
The 35-year-old Stallings hit just .151/.225/.194 in 103 plate appearances before the Rockies released him, though he did turn in a strong .263/.357/.453 line as recently as last season in Colorado. Jackson, a former No. 6 overall draft pick and top prospect, was sitting on league-average numbers in Triple-A with the Yankees but has been unable to produce in myriad big league auditions over the years. The 29-year-old has tallied 340 MLB plate appearances but managed only a .131/.224/.232 batting line with an eye-popping 41.8% strikeout rate in that time.
Mets Designate Zach Pop For Assignment
The Mets announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. He takes the active roster spot of outfielder Starling Marte, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right knee bruise, retroactive to July 7th. Right-hander Tylor Megill was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Winker. The Mets also selected the contract of right-hander Alex Carrillo, a move which was reported earlier. Righty Zach Pop has been designated for assignment as a corresponding move there. The Mets also announced that they have signed right-hander Junior Fernández to a minor league deal.
Winker, now 31, had a solid bounceback season with the Mets in 2024. After a down year in 2023, he put up a .253/.360/.405 slash and 118 wRC+ with the Mets last year. That prompted the club to re-sign him via a one-year deal with a $7.5MM guarantee. This year, he got into 24 games and hit .239/.321/.418 before an oblique strain sent him to the IL. He missed a little over two months but can now return to the club’s corner outfield and designated hitter mix.
Subbing out of that mix is Marte. It’s not known how serious this current injury is but he also spent almost a month on the IL last year due to a right knee bone bruise. He is hitting .270/.353/.387 for a 116 wRC+ this year. The Mets have Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Tyrone Taylor in the outfield most nights. Marte has mostly been in the DH spot, but now Winker will take up that role. They hit from opposite sides of the plate, with Marte being a righty and Winker a lefty, so that may impact the club’s deployment when factoring in the opposing pitcher.
Megill landed on the 15-day injured list on June 15th due to a right elbow sprain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement in mid-August. He recently started throwing again but it seems the Mets don’t expect him to be able to return within the next month.
The club has been hit hard by the injury bug in recent weeks, with Megill just one of the victims. The situation has led to the Mets frequently cycling pitchers through the roster as they attempt to paper over the large number of absences. Pop was one pitcher who was run through the machine, getting added to the roster just three days ago. He pitched an inning and a third for the Mets on Sunday, allowing three earned runs on five hits without striking anyone out.
He now has 162 1/3 innings of major league work under his belt. He has occasionally shown glimpses of being an effective ground ball guy. 55% of the balls in play he’s allowed have been pounded into the ground and his 7.8% walk rate is also decent but he has only struck out 17.8% of batters faced. He has a 4.88 ERA overall, which isn’t terrible, but his best work is a few years old now. He has a 6.68 ERA dating back to the start of the 2023 season, in 68 2/3 innings.
He is now out of options, which has limited his ability to cling to a roster spot. But he’s cheap, as the Blue Jays are on the hook for the majority of his $900K salary since they released him earlier this year. Other clubs can sign him and only pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for the time spent on the roster. He also got a brief stint with the Mariners before joining the Mets. He has the right to reject outright assignments and will likely end up back on the open market in the coming days.
Fernández, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason but was released a few days ago. He had logged 38 1/3 Triple-A innings in the Royals’ system with a 4.93 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 50% ground ball rate but a concerning 14.9% walk rate.
His big league career has had a somewhat similar shape. He has 54 big league innings under his belt with the Cardinals and Pirates, with a 5.17 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 13.9% walk rate and 49.4% ground ball rate. As mentioned, the Mets have been hit hard by injuries, so there’s little harm in adding some non-roster depth.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
Red Sox Select Isaiah Campbell
The Red Sox announced they have selected the contract of righty reliever Isaiah Campbell. Fellow righty Richard Fitts has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding active roster move. Liam Hendriks has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.
Campbell returns to the big leagues for his second stint with the Sox. Boston acquired him from Seattle in a one-for-one swap for infielder Luis Urías going into the ’24 season. Campbell was coming off a 2.83 ERA across 28 2/3 innings as a rookie. He looked like a nice pickup for Urías, who was on the verge of being non-tendered, but injuries wrecked his year. Campbell only managed 6 2/3 big league innings and was tattooed for 13 runs. He never seemed to be at full strength, pitching through shoulder and elbow injuries.
The Sox non-tendered Campbell in November. They immediately brought him back on a minor league contract, seizing the opportunity to take him off the 40-man roster without running him through waivers. He has been with Worcester all season, working to a 3.89 ERA in 39 1/3 frames. His 19.1% strikeout rate is well below-average, but he’s throwing strikes and getting a decent number of ground balls. His average fastball velocity is in the 94-95 MPH range after sitting a little above 93 while he battled injuries a year ago. Campbell still has an option remaining, so the Sox can send him back to Worcester without placing him on waivers.
Hendriks has been sidelined for over a month by inflammation in his right hip. He doesn’t have a clear timetable for a return. The 60 days reverts to his original IL placement on May 28. Hendriks is eligible for reinstatement in the final week of July but may not be ready by then, as he has yet to begin a rehab assignment. Between this hip issue and an extended recovery from 2023 Tommy John surgery, Hendriks has been limited to 14 appearances in a Boston uniform. He has surrendered 11 runs (10 earned) across 13 2/3 innings.
Royals Select Cam Devanney, Transfer Cole Ragans To 60-Day IL
The Royals announced today that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Cam Devanney. In a corresponding active roster move, outfielder Mark Canha has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to left elbow epicondylitis. To open a 40-man spot, left-hander Cole Ragans was transferred to the 60-day IL.
Devanney was a 2019 Brewers draftee (15th round) who landed in the Royals organization by way of 2023’s Taylor Clarke trade. He’s posting career-best numbers in Triple-A this year, albeit as a 28-year-old who’s in his fourth season at that level.
Devanney has taken 288 turns at the plate and logged a .272/.366/.565 batting line with 18 homers, 14 doubles, a pair of triples, three steals (in four tries), an 11.8% walk rate and a 24.3% strikeout rate. He’s primarily played shortstop but also logged time at second base, at third base and in left field. The outfield work is largely new to him, but Devanney has 608 career innings at second and 806 career frames at third (plus more than 3100 innings as a shortstop).
This will be Devanney’s first action at the big league level. He’ll give the Royals some versatility and a right-handed bat to replace that of Canha, who’s posted a career-worst .212/.272/.265 slash in 125 plate appearances with Kansas City so far in 2025. Canha was sporting a league-average batting line into late May, but it’s fair to wonder how long his elbow has been bothering him, given that he’s recorded an anemic .104/.137/.188 line over his past 51 trips to the plate.
Ragans has already missed more than a month due to a rotator cuff strain and only recently resumed throwing. He’ll need to progress through multiple checkpoints — throwing off a mound, facing live hitters — before he commences a minor league rehab assignment that’ll likely span multiple starts. It was already known that he was likely to be out beyond the All-Star break.
The move to the 60-day injured list doesn’t reset Ragans’ IL clock but rather pushes back the earliest possible activation date. Given that only just starting to play catch after a four-week shutdown period, there wasn’t much chance he’d have been ready for activation before early-to-mid August anyhow. He can now be activated no earlier than Aug. 7.
Dodgers To Recall Alexis Díaz For Team Debut
The Dodgers are calling up right-hander Alexis Díaz, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The former Reds closer was acquired in a trade earlier this year but has been in the minors since that deal. He is on the 40-man roster, so the Dodgers will only need to make a corresponding active roster move to open a spot.
Díaz will get his first look in Dodger blue. L.A. acquired the 2023 All-Star from Cincinnati in late May. It was essentially a salary dump for the Reds. The Dodgers agreed to cover the nearly $3MM remaining on Díaz’s $4.5MM salary for this season. Between that and the associated 110% luxury tax figure, it was a sizable bet on a rebound. Díaz had given up eight runs with more walks than strikeouts through his first six MLB innings this year. He was pitching in Triple-A at the time of the trade.
The Dodgers opted for a complete reset, assigning Díaz to their Arizona complex for a couple weeks. They presumably felt they could iron out some kind of repertoire or mechanical issues before sending him back to a minor league affiliate. He has been at Triple-A Oklahoma City for the past two weeks. The results haven’t been any better, as he’s allowed five runs while issuing seven walks and hitting two more batters in only 4 2/3 innings.
Díaz has always had below-average command, but he showed big swing-and-miss ability over his first two MLB seasons. His velocity and strikeout rate each dipped last year, though he managed a respectable enough 3.99 ERA across 56 1/3 frames. Díaz combined for 65 saves between 2023-24 but won’t be in position for high-leverage work unless he begins missing bats again. He remains a project but will get a look in Dave Roberts’ middle innings group, likely bumping one of Will Klein or Julian Fernández back to Triple-A. Díaz is trending towards a non-tender but would be eligible for arbitration for another three seasons if he pitches well enough to hold his roster spot.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Steve Adams
- Good morning! I’ll get started at the usual 1pm CT time, but feel free to send in questions ahead of time.
- Greetings! Sorry for the slight delay. Let’s get going
Yankees
- -3.5 on the Blue Jays, 9-16 over the last 25. Time to panic?
Steve Adams
- Panic? No. Time to go upgrade both the lineup and the rotation? Yeah. Losing Clarke Schmidt really hurts that staff. There’ll be several options to discuss with regard to third base. Yankees fans seem to really want Suarez, but Ryan McMahon fits them really nicely also and would be a manageable CBT hit for the next few seasons.
s45d64
- Who are the sure bets to be moved in Pittsburgh?
Steve Adams
- I’ll be surprised if all of Andrew Heaney, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and David Bednar aren’t traded. Dennis Santana only slightly less so.
- Caleb Ferguson will go, too.
Steve Cohen
- Shouldn’t the Marlins call up Deyvison De Los Santos to play first base? Ramirez has worked out very nicely.
Steve Adams
- He’s not really hitting well overall this season, and his best work came earlier in the year. He’s at .199/.287/.365 over the past two months.I like that De Los Santos is chasing a lot less and walking a little bit more, but his contact rate is still in the gutter. I’m more bullish on Ramirez in general.
Johnny Mo
- Surely the Cards are sellers now?
Steve Adams
- Losing 5 of 6, including a sweep at the hands of the Pirates, can’t feel good … but they’re five over .500 and 1.5 back of a Wild Card spot. That’s not a team that’s going to sell aggressively. If they spiral out of control from here and are suddenly 3-4 under .500 and 5+ games back of a Wild Card spot in 2-3 weeks, then sure.
Austin Jackon’s Catch In Boston
- Do guys like Santana, Thomas, and Sewald have any trade value? It’s looking like a lost season in Cleveland
Steve Adams
- Santana is still hitting at an average-ish level and is generally beloved in clubhouses. He’s overpaid, but if Cleveland eats some of the money left on his contract, I can see him netting a modest prospect return.I thought the Guards should’ve non-tendered Thomas — said to underscore my low expectations, not pat myself on the back or anything — and even I’m stunned by how far he’s fallen this year. He’s a DFA/release candidate more than a trade candidate.Sewald’s ERA is ugly, but the K%, BB% and SwStr% are all good and we’re talking a small sample of innings. They won’t get a ton, but yeah, he’s tradeable.
Nationals Name Henry Blanco Bench Coach
The Nationals announced that Henry Blanco is now the club’s bench coach. Blanco was already on the staff as a catching and strategy coach. Also, Bob Henley has been added to the staff with the title of major league field coordinator.
The moves are domino effects of the club’s recent shakeup. On the weekend, they fired president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez. Yesterday, bench coach Miguel Cairo was given the position of interim manager, which created a bench coach vacancy. In essence, the firing of Martinez has led to Cairo taking his seat, Blanco bumping up to Cairo’s spot and now Henley slotting in to even things out and presumably take up some of Blanco’s previous duties.
Blanco, 53, played in the majors from 1997 to 2013. He immediately pivoted to coaching once his playing days were done, joining the Diamondbacks staff in 2014. He then spent three seasons on the Cubs’ staff as quality assurance coach, winning a World Series ring in 2016. Going into 2018, he joined Washington’s staff as bullpen coach, winning another ring in 2019. He pivoted to catching and strategy coach ahead of the 2022 season.
Henley, 52, got a brief major league run as a player. He appeared in 41 games for the 1998 Expos, the franchise which would later become the Nationals. He joined Montreal’s minor league ranks as a coach back in 2003 and stayed with the organization when they relocated to Washington in 2005. He worked his way up to the big league staff for the 2014 season. He stayed on the staff through various managerial changes but his last season was 2021. He stayed in the org but was moved to a player development role for the 2022 season.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Tigers Agree To Minor League Deal With Devin Smeltzer, Release Manuel Margot
The Tigers have agreed to a minor league deal with southpaw Devin Smeltzer and released veteran outfielder Manuel Margot, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Smeltzer has been assigned to Triple-A Toledo.
Smeltzer, 29, has seen big league time in parts of five major league seasons — nearly all with the division-rival Twins. The Vayner client is a former Dodgers fifth-round pick who went from L.A. to Minnesota a deadline swap for Brian Dozier. Smeltzer has worked both as a starter and long reliever in the big leagues, compiling a total of 162 1/3 innings with a 4.32 ERA. He’s only fanned 16.5% of his opponents but boasts a sharp 6% walk rate.
Smeltzer posted a 3.99 ERA in 140 innings with Minnesota from 2019-22, but his inability to miss bats and his susceptibility to home runs led fielding-independent metrics to cast a far more bearish outlook on his performance (4.82 FIP, 4.78 SIERA). Smeltzer’s 2023 season with the Marlins indeed brought a good bit of regression; he pitched 22 1/3 innings but was rocked for a 6.45 ERA as he served up seven round-trippers in that limited role.
That 2023 season in Miami saw Smeltzer regularly designated for assignment, passed through waivers, and outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville. The Fish designated Smeltzer for assignment four different times, and he accepted an outright on each occasion. He also returned on a minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason and pitched well (3.69 ERA) in 31 2/3 innings with Jacksonville in 2024 before being released.
Smeltzer has been pitching for los Dorados de Chihuahua in the Mexican League this year, logging a 5.17 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate in an extremely hitter-friendly setting, where the league-average ERA is a staggering 6.01. He’d been working as a starter, averaging better than six innings per outing across 13 starts, so Smeltzer will provide Detroit some depth for the rotation or a swingman candidate.
The Tigers currently have Sawyer Gipson-Long, Alex Cobb, Jackson Jobe, Ty Madden and Jose Urquidy on the injured list. Jobe’s season is over due to Tommy John surgery. Cobb has yet to pitch for the major league club since signing a one-year deal over the winter. Madden, the No. 32 pick in 2021, has been out all season with a shoulder strain. Gipson-Long has been out since late June due to a neck injury. Urquidy signed a free agent deal over the winter while recovering from Tommy John surgery and will likely be an option in the second half.
As for the veteran Margot, he appeared in six games with the Tigers earlier this year and went 6-for-19 (all singles) in 20 plate appearances. He’s had a very rough showing in Toledo, slashing only .211/.299/.266 in 144 plate appearances for the Mud Hens.
Now 30 years old, Margot is a former top prospect who had a solid run from 2017-22 between the Padres and Rays, slashing .254/.309/.386 with plus baserunning, elite defense and quality production against left-handed pitching. He suffered a severe strain of the patellar tendon in his right knee back in 2022, however, and his sprint speed, baserunning and defensive grades have all plummeted since that injury. (He also missed time earlier this season with an injury in his other knee.) When Margot debuted late in the 2016 season, Statcast credited him with 99th percentile sprint speed — an average of 30 feet per second. In his brief look with the Tigers earlier this season, he was covering 25.3 feet per second, all the way down in the ninth percentile of MLB players.
Since returning from that career-altering knee injury in 2022, Margot has taken 862 plate appearances in the majors. His average hasn’t changed much, but he’s walked less often and seen the minimal power he previously possessed dry up. He’s a .250/.395/.348 hitter (82 wRC+) in that time, and this year’s bleak minor league showing doesn’t create a lot of reason for optimism. He’ll be an option for teams seeking some righty-swinging outfield depth, but it’s been years since Margot has performed at peak levels.
Mets To Select Alex Carrillo
The Mets are selecting the contract of hard-throwing righty Alex Carrillo, as first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make multiple transactions to facilitate the 28-year-old’s first call to the majors.
Carrillo’s journey to the majors is fairly remarkable. The California native went undrafted out of Alabama’s Faulkner University in 2019 and briefly signed with the Rangers that summer. He pitched 4 1/3 innings with their Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League but, like many low-level minor leaguers, was cut loose the following year as teams released large swaths of young talent in the early stages of the pandemic.
Up until Opening Day 2025, those 4 1/3 innings in the Rangers system was Carrillo’s only experience in affiliated ball. He’s since pitched for two different teams in the independent Frontier League and has also pitched in two seasons for los Tigers de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League. The Mets scouted him this past winter when he was pitching for los Tigres de Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League, and Carrillo impressed enough to land a minor league contract.
Carrillo was not invited to major league spring training and was assigned to Double-A to begin his Mets tenure. He’s proven to be a terrific under-the-radar pickup thus far. The 6’2″, 220-pound righty posted a 4.19 ERA in 19 1/3 Double-A frames but did so with an eye-catching 36.6% strikeout rate. That 4.19 earned run average also included a rocky start that was followed by a huge finish; Carrillo pitched 14 1/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA and a 24-to-3 K/BB ratio before being promoted to Triple-A. He’s responded with another 5 2/3 innings of nearly perfect pitching in Syracuse. Carrillo hasn’t allowed a hit or a walk there but did plunk one batter. He’s fanned ten opponents and averaged 98.5 mph on his heater.
Setting aside Carrillo’s first four appearances with the Mets — he allowed six runs in five innings during that initial stretch — he’s riding a 20-inning streak of 1.35 ERA ball with just three runs on nine hits and three walks. He’s punched out 34 batters in that time and has shown the ability to reach triple digits with his four-seamer.
Since this is Carrillo’s first call to the majors, he’ll have a full slate of minor league options. The Mets will be able to shuttle him up and down between Syracuse and Queens for the remainder of this season and two subsequent seasons. He’ll have the standard six full seasons of club control, meaning that if he can continue to shatter expectations, he can be controlled all the way through 2031.
Yankees To Promote Cam Schlittler
July 8: Schlittler will indeed be promoted for his major league debut tomorrow, per SNY’s Andy Martino. The team has not yet formally announced the move or any corresponding 40-man or 26-man roster moves.
July 5: The Yankees are currently planning to add pitching prospect Cam Schlittler to the big league roster on either Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Joel Sherman and Dan Martin of the New York Post. Multiple transactions will be required in advance since Schlittler isn’t on the 40-man roster, though 40-man space can be easily created by moving Clarke Schmidt to the 60-day injured list. Schmidt will miss the rest of the season due to an expected Tommy John surgery, which has opened the door for Schlittler to make his Major League debut.
Allan Winans was only just optioned to Triple-A last Sunday and thus his minimum 15-day stay in the minors isn’t yet up, unless another injury arises in the next few days to allow New York to bring Winans back to the Show. Should a forthcoming injury create a path back for Winans, the Yankees might change course, which is why Sherman and Martin note that the club hasn’t yet absolutely decided to call Schlittler up.
Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Will Warren comprise the top four pitchers in a rotation that has now taken another big injury hit with the loss of Schmidt, on top of Gerrit Cole‘s Tommy John surgery in March. Luis Gil has missed the entire season due to a lat strain and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break, while Sherman/Martin write that swingman Ryan Yarbrough is expected to be out until August while recovering from an oblique strain. This means Schlittler might get a bit of an extended audition beyond just a start in New York’s upcoming series with the Mariners, unless Winans is recalled or if the Yankees perhaps acquired another pitcher.
A seventh-round pick for the Yankees in the 2022 draft, Schlittler has a 3.33 ERA over 243 1/3 career pro innings, starting 50 of his 54 games. This year, he has a 2.38 ERA over 53 innings of Double-A ball and a 3.80 ERA in 23 2/3 innings at Triple-A. Schlittler has an impressive 31.9% strikeout rate over his 76 2/3 total innings this season, as well as an 8.4% walk rate and a 47.8% grounder rate. The right-hander has consistently done a good job of keeping the ball on the ground, though this does leave him open to some batted-ball variance, such as his .350 BABIP in the minors this season.
Baseball America ranks the 6’6″, 210-pound Schlittler fifth on their list of the Yankees’ minor league prospects, while he sits tenth on MLB Pipeline’s Yankees farm rankings. Both outlets put a 60-grade on Schlittler’s fastball, which averages around 94mph and can hit as high as 97-98mph, plus BA’s scouting report cites the pitch’s “15 inches of induced vertical break.” BA’s report is also a big fan of the sweeper Schlittler has been developing, which nicely complements his more standard slider. This combination of pitches hints that Schlittler could be a very promising reliever if his future as a starter doesn’t work out, but evaluators feel he has a chance to stick as at least a back-end rotation member.