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Nationals Claim Sauryn Lao, Designate Darren Baker For Assignment

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The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever Sauryn Lao off waivers from the Mariners. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Infielder/outfielder Darren Baker was designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.

The 26-year-old Lao made his major league debut with Seattle this summer but has only pitched 3 1/3 innings in the bigs. He’s allowed three runs with a 4-to-1 K/BB ratio in that tiny sample of work but has otherwise spent the season in Triple-A Tacoma, where he’s pitched quite well. In 69 innings of relief with the Mariners’ top affiliate, Lao logged a 3.13 ERA with a hearty 25.9% strikeout rate against a 6.7% walk rate.

Originally signed by the Dodgers as an amateur, Lao is a former third baseman who’s still relatively new to pitching. He moved to the mound full-time in 2023 and has shown a quick aptitude for relief work. He’s posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his three minor league seasons since transitioning to the mound, and he hasn’t shown the type of command troubles that are common for former position players. To the contrary — he’s faced 748 hitters in his three minor league seasons and only walked 51 of them (6.8%).

Lao isn’t a flamethrower but sits at a roughly average 93.5 mph on his four-seamer. He pairs that pitch with a sinker that also sits 93 mph as well as a slider and changeup both in the mid-to-upper 80s. Since he was just selected to a 40-man roster for the first time this year, Lao is in his first minor league option season and will be optionable for two more years. If he can carve out a role for himself in D.C., the Nats can control him all the way through the 2031 season.

Baker, 26, is the son of Hall of Famer and former Nationals skipper Dusty Baker. He made his big league debut as a September call-up with Washington last year, going 7-for-14 with a pair of doubles. He’s spent the past three seasons in Triple-A with the Nats, regularly hitting for average but contributing virtually no power. Baker has only walked at a slightly above-average clip as well, leaving him with an overall .274/.345/.336 batting line in nearly 1300 Triple-A plate appearances. Baker runs well, evidenced by an 83-for-99 showing in stolen base attempts across 309 Triple-A contests.

Defensively, he’s spent the majority of his career at second base, with more than 2500 innings at the position. He’s also logged a bit more than 1000 innings in the outfield — 968 of them coming in left and 58 in center field. Washington selected him in the 10th round of the 2021 draft.

Now that Baker has been designated for assignment, he’ll head to outright waivers. He hasn’t cleared previously and doesn’t have the service time to reject a minor league assignment, so if he goes unclaimed he’ll stick with the Nats as a depth option.

Red Sox To Place Roman Anthony On Injured List

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Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony exited yesterday’s game due to soreness in his left oblique. He’ll be placed on the 10-day injured list, manager Alex Cora revealed in a radio appearance on WEEI today. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported not long beforehand that Anthony was likely to be placed on the IL and that the Sox would recall utilityman Nick Sogard from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.

Cora didn’t provide a timetable for Anthony specifically, speaking instead in general terms while pointing out that oblique strains often take four to six weeks to heal. Obviously, there’s a chance that Anthony’s regular season is over.

It’s terrible timing for the Red Sox (not that there’s a “good” time to lose a player of Anthony’s caliber). Boston is 2.5 games back of the division-leading Blue Jays in the American League East. They’re veritable playoff locks by now, but the Red Sox have a real chance of moving to the top of the division and potentially securing a bye through the first round of postseason play. Attempting to do so without Anthony will make that task far more daunting.

Since making his big league debut on June 9, Anthony has been Boston’s best offensive performer. Through 303 plate appearances, he’s hitting .292/.396/.463 with eight homers, 18 doubles, a triple, a 13.2% walk rate and four stolen bases (in five tries). The resulting 138 wRC+ indicates that Anthony has been 38% better than an average hitter at the plate. Among Red Sox hitters, only newcomer Nathaniel Lowe has a better mark, and that comes in a sample of just 41 plate appearances.

Further complicating matters for the Sox is that Anthony will join Wilyer Abreu on the injured list. He’s been out since mid-August with a calf strain and doesn’t appear close to a return. Cora said just last night that Abreu has yet to even resume running (link via the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey). That leaves Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela in two of the three outfield spots, and a rotating cast of characters to mix and match in the third. Masataka Yoshida, Rob Refsnyder, Nate Eaton and the aforementioned Sogard are among the possibilities. Yoshida has played the field just four times this year after offseason shoulder surgery.

It’s possible Anthony heals abnormally quickly and is back on the field before season’s end, but based purely on the history of oblique injuries in recent years, it’s far likelier that he won’t be ready to return until the postseason is underway. The Red Sox will have to hope that they’re still alive when Anthony is cleared to return, and even then, he might need to jump right back into the mix after a lengthy layoff and without the benefit of a true minor league rehab assignment. At the very least, they’ll hope to have Abreu back by that point, but Boston’s outfield look far less formidable now than it did three weeks ago.

Mariners, Guillo Zuñiga Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Guillo Zuñiga, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The former Cardinals and Angels reliever had been with the Phillies on a minor league deal but was granted his release earlier in the week.

Zuñiga, 26, has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons, totaling 19 2/3 frames between St. Louis and Anaheim. He’s allowed 11 earned runs (5.03 ERA) on 16 hits and eight walks with a dozen strikeouts. The big 6’5″, 230-pound righty has posted similar numbers in Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2025, logging a 5.14 ERA, a 23.5% strikeout rate and a 10.9% walk rate in 42 innings of relief.

While Zuñiga has yet to find much success in the majors or even in Triple-A, he still has plenty of appealing traits. He’s averaging 96.9 mph on his four-seamer this season in Triple-A and is sporting a 12.3% swinging-strike rate that’s north of the major league average. He’s not inducing enough chases off the plate, but opponents have made contact at a well below average 73.7% clip overall — including a weak 79.5% on pitches within the strike zone.

Opponents also had a hard time making high-impact contact against Zuñiga, evidenced by a tepid 87.7 mph average exit velocity and 32.5% hard-hit rate. This year’s 46.9% grounder rate is a strong mark that’s notably higher than his recent seasons in the upper minors, perhaps due to throwing fewer fastballs and ramping up the usage of his slider and changeup.

The Mariners already have a strong back end of the bullpen. Closer Andrés Muñoz (1.69 ERA) and setup men Matt Brash (1.86), Gabe Speier (2.39), Eduard Bazardo (2.65) and Carlos Vargas (3.66) have all posted strong run-prevention numbers on the season. The other few spots in the ’pen are a bit in flux, however. Caleb Ferguson has struggled since coming over from the Pirates at the trade deadline. Tayler Saucedo has given up 11 runs in 10 1/3 innings this season. Starter-turned-reliever Emerson Hancock and veteran Luke Jackson were added to the mix when rosters expanded Monday.

Zuñiga won’t necessarily get a look in the majors, but if he impresses in his first few looks over in Tacoma, it’s feasible that he could pitch his way into a big league audition. He didn’t sign with the Mariners until Sept. 2, so he won’t be postseason-eligible even if he does push his way to the big leagues, but he’s a hard-throwing 26-year-old with a minor league option remaining and six additional seasons of club control, so he’s a sensible enough flier — especially for a team with a long track record of converting bargain-bin relief pickups into quality members of the major league bullpen.

Mets Notes: Senga, Taylor, Marte

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The Mets’ rotation has gotten a huge helping hand from rookies Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong over the past few weeks, which has helped paper over a series of underwhelming performances from the veterans who were expected to hold down key roles. Frankie Montas pitched in only nine games and recorded a 6.28 ERA before going down with a UCL injury that will require surgery. Sean Manaea’s three-year, $75MM deal began with a lengthy IL stint for an oblique strain, and he’s now pitched in 10 games with a 5.60 ERA.

On the surface, it may seem odd to lump Kodai Senga and his excellent 3.02 ERA in with those other struggling veterans, but Senga has floundered through his past eight starts. The 32-year-old righty has totaled just 35 2/3 innings in that time while being tagged for a 6.56 earned run average. He’s walked 13% of his opponents in that stretch and surrendered a woeful 2.02 homers per nine innings pitched.

Senga’s struggles have been significant enough that the Mets have at least considered the possibility of sending him to the minors, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports. That’s not as straightforward of a decision as it would be with most pitchers; Senga’s five-year, $75MM contract stipulates that he cannot be optioned to the minor leagues without his consent. Sammon notes that Senga said Tuesday that he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to turn things around.

Still, it’d be a surprising development, given not only Senga’s prior runner-up finish in 2023 Rookie of the Year voting but also his general excellence to begin the season. Senga started 13 games before a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list on June 13. In those 13 games, he pitched 73 2/3 innings (5 2/3 innings per start) and recorded an immaculate 1.47 ERA. His rate stats didn’t support that level of dominance (23.9 K%, 10.6 BB%), but metrics like FIP (3.24) and SIERA (4.27) didn’t think he was due for the type of regression he’s since experienced.

Perhaps that hamstring strain led him to develop some bad mechanical habits, or perhaps he’s still feeling some discomfort. It’s also feasible that there could simply be some fatigue setting in after Senga missed nearly all of the 2024 season due to shoulder and calf injuries. Whatever the cause, this is the most sustained stretch of struggles that Senga has encountered since making the move from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball. With the Mets overwhelmingly likely to reach the postseason, it’d make sense to take any measures necessary to get Senga back to form ahead of the playoffs.

Elsewhere on the roster, injuries continue to pile up. The Mets placed outfielder Tyrone Taylor on the 10-day IL due to a left hamstring strain yesterday, recalling Jared Young from Triple-A Syracuse in his place. The IL placement was backdated to Aug. 30. Manager Carlos Mendoza expressed optimism that Taylor wouldn’t require a long stint on the shelf but said the team felt it had little choice after Taylor was rested for three days but still unable to run close to full speed Monday (link via Steve Kornacki of MLB.com).

Taylor had struggled at the plate for most of the season but finally appeared to be turning a corner. He’d collected three multi-hit performances in his past seven games, going 10-for-21 with four doubles and three walks (.476/.542/.667). It’s a small sample, of course, and Taylor is still hitting just .218/.277/.315 overall, but getting his bat going in the season’s final month would’ve been a nice perk headed into postseason play. He’s provided outstanding defense throughout the year and also gone 11-for-13 on the basepaths.

With Taylor sidelined, it’s possible that Starling Marte could see some occasional reps in the outfield. He’s been a designated hitter 65 times this season, compared to just eight games in the field, but the 36-year-old has had a resurgent season at the plate. After hitting just .258/.314/.357 from 2023-24, Marte has turned back the clock with a .280/.358/.432 batting line in 272 plate appearances. This year’s eight home runs are already more than he hit in either 2023 or 2024 (despite considerably more plate appearances those seasons). His 18.4% strikeout rate is his lowest since 2020.

While Marte’s downturn in performance from 2023-24 might’ve led to some speculation about whether he’d continue playing after his four-year contract concludes at the end of the 2025 season, this year’s performance shows he still has something left in the tank. There may not be a great fit with the Mets — Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto are in the outfield corners, and the Mets have several infield options to cycle through the DH spot — but Marte tells MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo that he plans to continue playing beyond the ’25 season.

Marte, 37 in October, isn’t going to find the same kind of lucrative multi-year deal in free agency that he did when he signed a four-year, $78MM contract with the Mets, but he’s hitting well enough that he should still command a major league contract. Marte’s once-plus speed has faded, and he’s now in just the 29th percentile of big leaguers for sprint speed, per Statcast, but his arm strength still grades out quite well. Another limited outfield role with frequent DH work would make sense for him moving forward, even if it’s with another team.

The Opener: Anthony, Judge, Tucker

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:

1. Anthony exits with injury:

The Red Sox mounted an impressive comeback win in their game against the Guardians yesterday, but the mood was dampened by the fact that budding star Roman Anthony exited the game due to an oblique injury. After the game, Anthony spoke to reporters (including Tim Healey of the Boston Globe) and noted that this oblique injury is “definitely worse” than the day-to-day back injury he dealt with a few weeks ago. It’s unclear what sort of timeline for return to action Anthony might be facing. With a .292/.396/.463 batting line (138 wRC+) since being called up to the majors, Anthony has been the team’s most consistent hitter of the second half. Losing Anthony for any amount of time when the Sox are trying to erase a 2.5-game deficit to chase down the division-leading Blue Jays could be backbreaking for the team.

2. Judge pushes into Yankees history:

Aaron Judge rounded out the month of August in a big way by crushing his 43rd homer of the season on Sunday. That blast, as noted by MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, pushed Judge into a tie with Yogi Berra for fifth place in Yankees history. Judge’s next blast will not only give him sole possession of fifth place in franchise history — it’ll leave him just three homers shy of surpassing the great Joe DiMaggio, who sits fourth with 361 round-trippers. Though that fourth-place spot is within reach for Judge this season, he still has a long way to go before he can even think of cracking the top three. Lou Gehrig, currently third all-time in Yankee homers, finished his career with 493. For now, Judge will continue hunting for No. 359 against Astros righty Jason Alexander and his 4.61 ERA later today.

3. Tucker exits with injury:

After a lengthy slump that led to a brief benching, Kyle Tucker appears to be back to his usual self. Since returning to the Cubs’ lineup on Aug. 21, he’s batting .364/.462/.727 (227 wRC+) in 52 plate appearances, capping that stretch off by crushing a three-run homer against Atlanta last night. Unfortunately, he’s hit a bit of a speed bump in that turnaround. MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian notes that Tucker was pulled from yesterday’s game due to soreness in his calf.

Manager Craig Counsell said after the game that Tucker would be out of Wednesday’s lineup ahead of a Thursday off-day, thus giving him two full days to rest before he’s reevaluated Friday. The Cubs are virtual playoff locks — they’re five games back of the Brewers in the NL Central but ten games up on the Reds in the Wild Card scene — so they can afford to be a little more cautious than other contenders who are fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Diagnosed With Torn ACL

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The Diamondbacks announced today that right-hander Taylor Rashi and infielder Connor Kaiser have been recalled from Triple-A Reno. In corresponding moves, they have optioned Juan Burgos to Reno and placed outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list with a torn right ACL.

It was apparent that Gurriel was injured last night. He and center fielder Blaze Alexander were both chasing a ball in the gap. Gurriel hopped to avoid his teammate but then collapsed on the ground in obvious pain. He eventually had to be carted off, unable to properly put weight on his leg.

Today’s diagnosis is obviously awful for both Gurriel and the Snakes. They haven’t announced an expected timeline but a torn ACL can often require something close to a year of recovery before the player is back to full strength. Gurriel will certainly miss the remainder of this season and a notable chunk of 2026 as well.

Gurriel was initially acquired ahead of the 2023 season alongside Gabriel Moreno, as part of the trade which sent Daulton Varsho to the Blue Jays. Gurriel was an impending free agent at the time but re-signed after one good season in Arizona. He returned via a three-year, $42MM pact with a club option for 2027 and an opt-out chance for him after 2025.

Triggering the opt-out wasn’t especially likely. He is only hitting .248/.295/.418 this year, with that line translating to a 94 wRC+. However, he does have 19 home runs and it’s possible the overall lack of production is due to a .254 batting average on balls in play. That’s well below this year’s .291 league average and Gurriel’s personal career rate of .305.

His decision would have effectively come down to whether he felt he could beat one year and $18MM. His current contract pays him $13MM next year, with a $5MM buyout on the $14MM club option for 2027. Perhaps a hot finish could have made him think about walking away from that money but it’s a moot point now. Since he’s going to miss some amount of next year, he’ll surely forgo his opt-out chance.

For the Diamondbacks, this adds to their 2026 body count well before the season has even begun. Corbin Burnes required Tommy John surgery in June and will therefore miss most or perhaps all of the upcoming campaign. Tommy Henry, Blake Walston, A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez also underwent UCL surgeries this year and are facing lengthy absences. Now Gurriel adds another name to the list.

Those other names are all pitchers while Gurriel subtracts a key part of the club’s outfield mix. Without him, the 2026 outfield consists of guys Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Jorge Barrosa and Alexander. Carroll is a star but it’s a questionable group after that. Thomas is in his fourth season and has good defensive grades but he hasn’t hit. McCarthy has shown occasional flashes of competency at the plate but his good seasons may have been fuelled by BABIP luck and he’s been awful this year. Alexander is having a nice run right now but he strikes out a lot and has only recently moved from the infield to the outfield. Barrosa has just 58 big league plate appearances and hasn’t impressed yet.

Going into the winter, the Diamondbacks have a lot to do. Given their injuries, deadline trades and impending free agents, they need to remake almost their entire pitching staff. They have question marks at the infield corners after trading Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez at the deadline. Those spots could be filled by guys like Jordan Lawlar and Tyler Locklear but neither is a lock yet. Gurriel could have been a solid regular on next year’s team but now there’s one more thing on the to-do list.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images

Rangers Notes: Garcia, Latz, Mahle

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Adolis García is out of the Rangers’ lineup today in Arizona. He pulled up while beating out a force play in the ninth inning of last night’s contest. He gingerly came around to score on Jake Burger’s RBI triple but was lifted for defensive replacement Alejandro Osuna in the next half-inning.

Manager Bruce Bochy revealed this evening that García has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right quad strain (via the MLB.com injury tracker). That’s one of moderate severity and often merits an injured list stint. However, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News points out that the Rangers’ lack of upper minors position player depth is a reason they’ve held off on making a roster move.

Texas already has Marcus Semien, Evan Carter, Corey Seager and Sam Haggerty on the injured list. Infielder Justin Foscue is their only healthy position player who is on optional assignment. He has three hits in 51 career big league at-bats and doesn’t have any kind of outfield experience. The Rangers already have Burger, Ezequiel Duran and Dylan Moore as infielders on the MLB bench. Foscue wouldn’t play much even if they recalled him.

They could select a non-roster outfielder like Billy McKinney or Dustin Harris. They’re operating with at least one free 40-man roster spot since Jon Gray can be transferred to the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. Ideally, neither McKinney nor Harris would get much playing time as Texas tries to run down a Wild Card spot. They’ll hold out hope for a quicker return from García rather than bringing anyone else up, although Bochy conceded the veteran outfielder is unlikely to play for at least a few days.

García has had a middling season. He’s been on a hot streak since returning from a minimal IL stay due to an ankle sprain, however. He’s hitting .368 with four doubles and a couple home runs in his past nine games. Texas will need to rely on Osuna in right field for at least a few games, while Michael Helman is playing center field in Carter’s stead. They’re using another rookie, Cody Freeman, at second base with Semien on the shelf.

The Rangers have overcome the injuries of late, feasting on a soft schedule to keep their season alive. Going back to August 22, they’ve swept the Guardians and A’s while taking two of three from the Angels. They were down to their final strike but came back to beat the Diamondbacks yesterday. They’ve pulled within a game of the reeling Mariners and still have an outside chance at catching the division-leading Astros, who are 4.5 games up and likely to lose to the Yankees tonight.

Texas also took a huge hit on the pitching side two weeks ago. Nathan Eovaldi’s potentially season-ending rotator cuff strain seemed like a nail in the coffin. The Rangers didn’t have a clear option to fill the vacated rotation spot. Kumar Rocker is sorting through mechanical adjustments and not pitching in minor league games.

Texas appears to have settled on lefty Jacob Latz to round out the starting five behind Jacob deGrom, Jack Leiter, Merrill Kelly and Patrick Corbin. Latz started and worked 4 1/3 innings on 66 pitches against the Halos last Wednesday. He’s on the mound again tonight at Chase Field. The 29-year-old southpaw had made a trio of spot starts throughout the season but has mostly worked from the bullpen. He’d been pitching short relief stints in Triple-A for the first few weeks of August. Latz has done well when called upon, taking a 3.13 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate into today’s start.

It might not be long before the Rangers get a rotation reinforcement. Tyler Mahle, out since mid-June with a rotator cuff strain of his own, may finally be nearing a return. He began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Round Rock this evening. The results weren’t good — he got knocked around for five runs while only completing one inning in a brutal pitching environment in Albuquerque — but logging game action at all is a big development. It raises the possibility of Mahle getting back on an MLB mound within the next couple weeks, potentially to work in some kind of tandem with Latz rather than building all the way to a traditional starter’s workload.

Twins’ David Festa Suffers Season-Ending Shoulder Injury

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Twins starter David Festa is done for the season after suffering a setback while working back from a shoulder injury, relays Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star-Tribune. Festa is headed for a consultation with noted orthopedist Dr. Keith Meister.

The 25-year-old Festa has been out since the middle of July. Minnesota sent him to Triple-A St. Paul for a rehab start on August 28. Festa struck out five over 2 2/3 scoreless innings. It seems he came out of the appearance with renewed shoulder pain. That’ll shut him down for the year. The Twins will hope there’s nothing structurally amiss that’ll impact his availability for 2026.

Festa is in his second big league season. He has missed bats at an above-average rate but given up a few too many home runs, contributing to a 5.12 ERA through his first 25 appearances. Festa surrendered 5.40 earned runs per nine across 53 1/3 frames this year. The 6’6″ righty was one of Minnesota’s better pitching prospects before his debut. He’s one of a handful of mid-20s pitchers whom the Twins hope will be long-term rotation pieces.

Zebby Matthews, Simeon Woods Richardson and deadline acquisition Taj Bradley are in the current starting five. Mick Abel, acquired from Philadelphia in the Jhoan Duran deal, has been hit hard in his first two appearances as a Twin and was optioned back to Triple-A yesterday. Festa is on the 15-day injured list, so the Twins can transfer him to the 60-day IL if they need to open a 40-man roster spot before the end of the season. He crossed the one-year service line this season and is under club control through at least 2030.

Cubs Sign Austin Gomber To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs signed left-hander Austin Gomber to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa. He’s on the mound tonight against Kansas City’s top affiliate in his organizational debut. The MLB.com transaction tracker indicates he signed the contract on August 26 even though it wasn’t announced until today.

That’s a relevant distinction because it keeps open the long shot possibility that Gomber could get a look in the postseason. He was in the organization before the beginning of September, so he’ll be eligible for the playoff roster even though he’s not currently on the 40-man roster. That obviously wouldn’t be Plan A for the team, but the southpaw provides rotation depth for a team that is without Michael Soroka and Jameson Taillon at the moment. The Cubs also brought in Joe Ross on a minor league deal.

Gomber was released by the Rockies last month. The soft-tossing southpaw missed the first couple months with shoulder discomfort. He was tattooed for a 7.49 earned run average in 12 starts since being activated from the injured list in the middle of June.  Gomber didn’t pitch well at home or on the road. He struggled to miss bats no matter the venue, posting a career-worst 12.5% strikeout rate across 57 2/3 innings. Gomber’s fastball averaged a little over 89 MPH, down a tick from last year and three miles per hour from the first few seasons of his career. He was a passable fifth starter last year, turning in a 4.75 ERA while making 30 starts.

The Rockies are on the hook for what remains of Gomber’s $6.35MM salary. The Cubs would owe him the prorated $760K league minimum for any time he spends in the big leagues. He’ll be a free agent again at the beginning of the offseason.

Jesse Winker Shut Down, Likely Out For Season

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The Mets don’t expect Jesse Winker to return this season, manager Carlos Mendoza tells reporters (including Mike Puma of The New York Post). Winker has been sidelined since the middle of July with a lower back injury. He began a rehab assignment last week but has been shut back down from baseball activity, suggesting he suffered some kind of setback.

Winker had a productive 2024 season, batting .253/.360/.405 between the Nationals and Mets. Most of that production came early in the season with Washington. New York nevertheless brought Winker back on a $7.5MM free agent deal. They expected him to take the majority of the designated hitter playing time against right-handed pitching.

Injuries cost him that opportunity. Winker suffered a significant oblique strain in early May. That kept him out of action until shortly before the All-Star Break. He returned for two games and three plate appearances before going back on the shelf. His rehab stint in Low-A last week lasted two games.

Winker’s season probably comes to a close with a .229/.309/.400 slash in 81 plate appearances. He’ll return to free agency this winter and might be limited to minor league offers. The Mets will continue giving Mark Vientos and Starling Marte the majority of the DH at-bats. They’ve each been very good in the second half. Winker probably wouldn’t have pushed them for a ton of playing time even if healthy, but he could’ve played a meaningful run as a left-handed bat off the bench.

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