MLBTR Chat Transcript
Mark P
- After a two-week hiatus due to some shift rescheduling, the Weekend Chat is back!
Thomas
- Twins need to sell some pieces at the deadline. What would a trade package for Duran look like?
Mark P
- It would be pretty substantial, yet I’m not sure I see Minnesota making that big of a move if they do sell. Trading Duran would say something about the team’s plans for 2026 and beyond, and I think the Twins expect (hope?) to reload for next year if this season ends up going off the rails by the deadline
YamaPhoto
- You predict the Braves to be sellers at the deadline?
Mark P
- Anthopoulos pretty firmly closed the door on the idea of trading Chris Sale or anyone at the deadline, unless the team absolutely cratered. These statements were made before Sale’s IL placement, however, which dealt another big blow to Atlanta’s chances.I don’t see the Braves selling (or fully deciding to sell) until close to the deadline, if at all.
Die Hard Rox Fan
- What would a Jake Bird return look like. 2 top 100s?
Mark P
- Bird’s having a great season, but that is a very, VERY optimistic hope for a reliever who hasn’t shown a whole lot prior to 2025
Andrew Abbott
- Am I firmly in the Cy Young conversation?
Mark P
- Too many NL pitchers having better years, and the advanced metrics hint at some regression coming for Abbott. That doesn’t detract from the fact that he’s pitched really well this year, and greatly helped Cincinnati’s rotation
….
Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day Injured List
7:45PM: Dobbins didn’t receive an MRI, as he downplayed the seriousness of the elbow strain when speaking with reporters (including the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey). “Just some tightness that we’ve been grinding through for a little bit. It hasn’t been bouncing back how we would like, so [we’re] just trying to give it a couple for weeks,” Dobbins said, noting that his elbow soreness increased in his last start and didn’t get better in the subsequent days. Regardless, Dobbins said he expects to resume throwing bullpen sessions in “a couple of days.”
3:34PM: The Red Sox announced that right-hander Hunter Dobbins has been placed on the club’s 15-day injured list due to right elbow strain. Righty Richard Fitts was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
The placement is retroactive to June 21, a day after Dobbins allowed four earned runs on five walks and four hits over a four-inning start against the Giants. It is fair to guess that Dobbins’ elbow issue impacted his performance, as he was throwing with less velocity than usual and his control was uncharacteristically off — the rookie had issued just 11 walks over his previous 55 1/3 innings and 11 games prior to Friday’s struggles.
Multiple injuries in Boston’s rotation opened the door for Dobbins to make his MLB debut this season, and (Friday’s start notwithstanding) he has made a solid showing for himself in his first taste of the majors. Dobbins has a 4.10 ERA over 59 1/3 frames, with an above-average 47.1% grounder rate and 6.5% walk rate, though he doesn’t miss many bats with a modest 17.3% strikeout rate.
An eighth-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2021 draft, Dobbins would likely have been selected earlier had his junior year at Texas Tech not been wiped out by a Tommy John surgery. That past procedure adds a bit of extra weight to another elbow-related injury for Dobbins, though the severity of the strain isn’t yet known.
Fitts has made five starts for the Sox this year and will at least the short-term replacement for Dobbins in the rotation. Tanner Houck is on a Triple-A rehab assignment but is expected to make at least two more minor league appearances before returning from the injured list, so Fitts will have to hold down the fort until Houck is ready. That might also roughly line up with a potential return date for Dobbins, though one would imagine that even a minor elbow sprain would keep him out beyond the minimum 15 days just for precautionary reasons.
Astros Sign Jon Singleton To Minors Contract
The Astros have reunited with first baseman Jon Singleton on a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Chandler Rome reports. Singleton had been a free agent since the Mets released him from a previous minors deal earlier this week.
This marks the third separate stint for Singleton with the Astros. Initially obtained in a trade with the Phillies back in July 2011, Singleton rose to prominence as a highly-touted prospect in Houston’s farm system, and even signed a five-year extension worth $10MM in guaranteed money before he had even made his MLB debut. However, Singleton didn’t live up to those big expectations, and hit .171/.290/.331 over 420 plate appearances in 2014-15 before disappearing off the big league map for the better part of a decade. He didn’t play at all from 2018-20 as he served a 100-game suspension and battled substance abuse problems, and then played in the Mexican League in 2021 and then back in affiliated ball in the Brewers’ farm system in 2022.
Returning to the Show with Milwaukee in 2023, Singleton was released partway through that season and returned to Houston for the next two years. Singleton ended up receiving quite a bit of playing time at first base in the wake of Jose Abreu‘s struggles and eventual release partway through the 2024 campaign, and Singleton hit a respectable .234/.321/.386 with 13 homers over 405 PA in 2024. This offensive production translated to a decent 105 wRC+, but Singleton was still a -0.1 fWAR player overall due to a lack of glovework or baserunning.
Christian Walker‘s signing seemingly locked down the Astros’ first base position for the next three years, and Houston released Singleton at the end of Spring Training prior to Singleton landing with the Mets about a week later. Despite an upward mobility clause Singleton triggered in his minors deal in May, New York never called up him to the big leagues, and the Mets eventually decided to part ways entirely with the infielder.
Though Walker hasn’t hit up to expectations, there isn’t much chance Singleton will be stepping back into regular duty at first base. With seven position players currently on the injured list, the Astros are thin on experienced roster depth, so Singleton provides a familiar face and some experience at Triple-A Sugar Land. Singleton is also a left-handed hitter, which could get him a relatively quick call to the Show to help out an Astros lineup that is very heavy in right-handed bats.
Diamondbacks Sign James McCann
The Diamondbacks have signed James McCann to a Major League contract, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. McCann’s MLB.com profile page indicated earlier today (hat tip to the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka) that the catcher had been released from his minor league deal with the Braves in order to facilitate the move to Arizona. McCann is represented by the Ballengee Group.
As Rosenthal reported earlier this month, McCann’s Atlanta contract contained a rolling opt-out clause that would trigger if another team offered the catcher a guaranteed deal. The Braves could then either keep McCann by selecting his contract to their active roster, or release him to his next opportunity. Since Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin are both receiving regular playing time as Atlanta’s catching combo and both Sandy Leon and Jason Delay are providing further depth at Triple-A, it didn’t seem like McCann was going to get much of a shot in Atlanta, despite a .297/.331/.493 slash line in 160 plate appearances in Gwinnett.
However, Gabriel Moreno‘s recent finger fracture suddenly left the D’Backs with a need for experienced catching help. Moreno is expected to be on the injured list for “weeks, not days” in the words of manager Torey Lovullo, leaving Jose Herrera, Aramis Garcia and Triple-A depth options Adrian Del Castillo and Rene Pinto as the makeshift catching corps. This group combined has far less MLB experience than McCann’s 11 seasons and 917 games in the Show, and the 35-year-old McCann will now slide right into at least a part-time role in the Diamondbacks lineup.
McCann’s big league career was highlighted by two big seasons with the White Sox in 2019-20, which included an All-Star selection in 2019. His overall career slash line is a modest .241/.293/.380 over 3307 plate appearances, as McCann has only shown brief flashes of the offensive form he showed in Chicago. McCann spent the last two seasons as Adley Rutschman‘s backup with the Orioles, helping out as a veteran mentor for the up-and-coming star and with the Baltimore pitching staff. The advanced metrics haven’t thought much of McCann’s blocking and framing work, though he is well-regarded for his ability to work with pitchers.
The signing is a fairly low-risk move for a D’Backs team that is hanging in with a 39-38 record, despite a swath of injuries and under-performance from the Arizona pitchers. The Diamondbacks’ impressive offense is helping keep the team afloat, and McCann’s veteran presence might help coax some slightly more respectable results out of an increasingly makeshift rotation and bullpen.
Giants, Yankees Monitoring Isiah Kiner-Falefa
The Giants and Yankees “are keeping a close eye on” Isiah Kiner-Falefa as a potential trade acquisition, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes. Nightengale reported two weeks ago that IKF was drawing attention from interested teams, though no clubs were specifically cited at the time.
It is worth noting that Kiner-Falefa’s bat has gone cold in the time between Nightengale’s two reports. The veteran infielder has only a .389 OPS over his last 42 plate appearances for the Pirates, and he is hitting .275/.319/.342 over 241 total PA this season, translating to an 84 wRC+. This being said, Kiner-Falefa’s offense has always been the lesser part of his value, as his quality defense and versatility has long been IKF’s calling card.
The Yankees have plenty of first-hand experience with Kiner-Falefa, who played for the team in 2022-23 first as the starting shortstop, and then in a multi-positional role once Anthony Volpe took over shortstop duties in the second of those two seasons. Re-acquiring Kiner-Falefa could reinstall him back into this utility role, with IKF providing more of an experienced hand than Oswald Peraza in a backup position.
Rumors have swirled for months that New York would be targeting infield help at the deadline, with an eye towards landing a second baseman or third baseman and then installing Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the other position. There is nothing preventing the Yankees from acquiring a clear-cut starter as well as a backup option like Kiner-Falefa, though that would further crowd a depth chart that also includes Peraza, DJ LeMahieu, and Ben Rice being toggled between first base, DH, and catcher (when starters Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton, and Austin Wells aren’t playing). Having plenty of depth can be a good problem to have, of course, especially since several Yankees players have checkered health histories.
San Francisco’s infield picture also got a bit more complicated with the blockbuster addition of Rafael Devers last weekend, as Devers will eventually factor into the first base picture. Third baseman Matt Chapman has missed the last two weeks with a hand sprain and is no longer wearing a split, though his return timetable remains unclear. Casey Schmitt has hit so well as Chapman’s replacement that the Giants might be able to make do while Chapman is sidelined, but adding a player like IKF would help out the depth chart as well, probably pushing Christian Koss or Brett Wisely to the minors.
Kiner-Falefa would be a pure rental piece for a new team, as the infielder is in the final season of his two-year, $15MM deal that he initially signed with the Blue Jays prior to the 2024 season. Kiner-Falefa is owed a little over $4MM remaining on his $7.5MM salary for 2025, and that initial $7.5MM number was actually around $6.28MM, as Toronto kicked in some extra money to the Pirates as part of the trade that sent IKF to Pittsburgh at last year’s trade deadline. While Kiner-Falefa’s salary is modest, even a relatively small sum could factor into the equation for a team like the Yankees that is already over the higher level of luxury tax penalization, so they’ll pay a $110% tax rate on any more salary assumed.
The Pirates certainly appear to be sellers as they approach what looks like the club’s seventh straight losing season. Kiner-Falefa is a logical trade candidate as an impending free agent, and it remains to be seen if the Bucs might wait until closer to the actual July 31 deadline to move the infielder, or if they’ll make an earlier move if a rival club makes an acceptable offer.
NPB’s Rakuten Eagles Sign Luke Voit
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball have signed Luke Voit to a contract for the remainder of the 2025 season. News of the signing first emerged a couple of weeks ago, and Voit just this weekend arrived in Japan once terms were finalized.
Voit is best known for his torrid stretch of hitting with the Yankees from 2018-2020. Acquired at the 2018 trade deadline in a deal with the Cardinals, Voit immediately caught fire once donning the pinstripes, and quickly became a lineup fixture as a first baseman and DH. Voit’s huge run was highlighted by a 22-homer season in 2020, which led the major leagues during the pandemic-shortened campaign.
Injuries limited Voit to just 68 games in 2021, however, and the Yankees parted ways with Voit by dealing him to the Padres during the spring of 2022. Since that deal, Voit hit only .225/.305/.386 with 22 homers over 642 plate appearances with San Diego, Washington, and Milwaukee over the 2022-23 season, and he hasn’t appeared in the majors since his brief stint with the Brewers in 2023.
Voit signed a pair of minor league contracts with the Mets that didn’t result in any time in the big leagues, and his pro experience in 2024-25 has consisted of 122 games with two different Mexican League clubs. Since the 34-year-old Voit has been crushing Mexican League pitching, he might have something to offer the Golden Eagles as a veteran bat. The Eagles are last in NPB in home runs, with only 25 long balls over 66 games this season.
Athletics Select Jack Perkins
The A’s selected Jack Perkins‘ contract from Triple-A Las Vegas today, putting the right-hander potentially in line to make his MLB debut today as a reliever during the Athletics’ game with the Guardians. In corresponding moves, right-hander Anthony Maldonado was optioned to Triple-A, and right-hander Gunnar Hoglund was moved from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. (Hoglund’s move to the 60-day IL was expected at some point, as he recently underwent a season-ending hip surgery.)
The 25-year-old Perkins was a fifth-round pick for the Athletics in the 2022 draft, and his numbers have steadily improved as he has climbed the minor league ladder. Reaching Triple-A for the first time this year, Perkins has a 2.86 ERA, 11.3% walk rate, and an eye-opening 38.4% strikeout rate across 44 innings and nine starts for Las Vegas in 2025. Most recently, Perkins has a tiny 0.55 ERA and 29 strikeouts in his last 16 1/3 frames, and this hot streak was enough to punch Perkins’ first ticket to the Show.
While he’ll begin as a reliever for now, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the A’s give Perkins a look or two in the rotation, as he has worked primarily as a starter over his four pro seasons. Control has been a persistent issue for Perkins in the minors, as his fastball (which sits in the 94-97mph range) and slider are the only pitches in Perkins’ arsenal that he has consistently thrown for strikes.
These two plus pitches might mean that Perkins could end up in the bullpen over the long run, though better results with his cutter or curveball would help Perkins’ overall repertoire and increase his chances of sticking as a rotation arm in the big leagues. Baseball America ranked Perkins as the fourth-best prospect in the Athletics’ farm system, while MLB Pipeline ranked him ninth.
Padres Activate Jackson Merrill From Concussion IL
Center fielder Jackson Merrill has been activated from the concussion-related IL, according to an announcement by the Padres. Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was optioned to the minors in a corresponding move.
Merrill initially went on the shelf last week after he was struck by a hard tag from Ketel Marte when trying to steal second base. It was his second trip to the injured list of the year after missing a month due a hamstring strain, but this one fortunately ended up only requiring a minimal absence. Merrill is back just one week after being shelved thanks to the nature of the concussion-related IL, which comes with a minimum stay of just seven days to encourage players and clubs to be more proactive with its usage.
When healthy, Merrill has more or less followed up his sensational rookie season with an exact replica. Across 44 games this year, he’s slashed .304/.349/.474 with a wRC+ of 131. He’s striking out a bit more than last year (22.0%) but is also walking more frequently (6.5%) to go with his five homers and ten doubles. Merrill’s return to action should provide a huge boost to a Padres team that has scuffled a bit while relying on Tyler Wade and Bryce Johnson to handle center field in his absence. While they managed to score more than 4.5 runs per game during Merrill’s time away from the club, they dropped three of four in a crucial series against the Dodgers and have lost four of their last six games overall.
That may seem like a fairly minor skid, but in a hotly contested NL playoff picture it was enough to put them half a game out of the final Wild Card spot and five games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. With trade season just around the corner, the next few weeks of play will be crucial for clubs on the bubble of playoff contention like San Diego. Adding Merrill back to the middle of the lineup alongside Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado should go a long way to bolster the offense enough to help it carry a beleaguered pitching staff, to say nothing of what Merrill’s strong glove in center field could do for the Padres’ run prevention after they allowed 30 runs in seven games last week.
Departing the roster to make room for Merrill is Lockridge. The 28-year-old made his big league debut with San Diego last season and has made it into 59 total games, though he’s slashed a lackluster .210/.248/.280 (50 wRC+) to this point in his MLB career. He’s primarily been used as a defensive replacement and pinch runner thanks to his impressive speed, and in that role he’s done quite well with a 10-for-11 record on the basepaths and +3 career Outs Above Average in the outfield. He’ll head back to Triple-A and serve as depth for the Padres’ bench moving forward.
Red Sox Notes: Crawford, Bregman, Second Base
The Red Sox have been without right-hander Kutter Crawford all year after he began the season on the injured list due to soreness in his knee, and today the righty was dealt a frustrating setback. As noted by Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, manager Alex Cora told reporters yesterday that Crawford has been shut down from throwing. That’s not due to a flare up in his knee, however, but due to a wrist issue that’s cropped up during his rehab. Crawford began experiencing pain in his wrist earlier this month, and while he spent the past few weeks attempting to work his way back in spite of the issue Cora told reporters that the organization became worried that it would create additional arm issues if Crawford continued trying to push through it.
It’s a frustrating setback for Crawford, who pitched through soreness in his knee last year and has now spent over a year impacted by that issue. The right-hander pitched to a 4.23 ERA and 4.31 FIP in 313 innings across the 2023 and ’24 seasons, serving as a solid back-of-the-rotation arm for the Red Sox in that time. It’s fair to wonder if his numbers could’ve been even stronger if he was healthy given his excellent performance in the first half last year, when he pitched to a 3.00 ERA with a 3.77 FIP and a 24.3% strikeout rate in 114 innings. Regardless, he’ll now be sat back down for the foreseeable future until the wrist soreness that had developed dissipates and he can once again resume his attempt to return to the big league mound. Fortunately, the Red Sox have a deep group of starting options that has allowed them to weather the loss of Crawford so far this year.
Turning to the position player side of things, Healey relayed comments Cora told reporters this afternoon that suggested star third baseman Alex Bregman could be returning “sooner rather than later.” Cora did not provide a specific timeline, but he did acknowledge that Bregman probably wouldn’t return this coming week or the week after. Even so, that leaves the door open for the Red Sox to have their third baseman back in the lineup before the All-Star break. Bregman was tentatively expected to miss around two months due to the injury, and has so far been out for just over a month. For the idea of the infielder returning to the lineup to be floated by Cora at this stage suggests he could beat that initial timeline.
It would be a huge boost to the Boston lineup, particularly after the loss of Rafael Devers in a trade with the Giants last weekend. Bregman has a 158 wRC+ through 51 games this year, but his return could also take a lesser hitter out of the lineup. Following Kristian Campbell‘s recent demotion to the minor leagues, Cora told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) that David Hamilton would likely see the lion’s share of reps at the keystone for the time being due to his superlative defense. Hamilton is hitting just .180/.212/.300 (33 wRC+) in 106 plate appearances this year, however, and Bregman’s return could open the door for rookie Marcelo Mayer to shift over to second base and offer a stronger offensive option.
As for Campbell, the youngster told reporters (including Katie Morrison O’Day of MassLive) yesterday that learning first base is his “priority” while he’s at Triple-A, although he acknowledged that he would continue to get reps at second base and in center field as well. Campbell was in the conversation for starts with the big league club and had begun taking grounders there prior to his demotion, so it’s hardly a shock that he would continue those efforts in the minors. Still, the possibility for Campbell to start at first on a regular basis when he returns to the big leagues would seemingly open the door even more widely for Mayer to handle the keystone upon Bregman’s return to action.
Braves Outright Jose Ruiz
June 22: Ruiz has been assigned outright to Triple-A, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic.
June 19: The Braves are designating reliever José Ruiz for assignment, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. That’ll open both the active and 40-man roster spots necessary to promote Didier Fuentes. Atlanta will call up the 20-year-old righty to start tomorrow’s series opener against the Marlins.
Ruiz had a brief stint on the Braves’ roster. Atlanta claimed him off waivers from the Phillies on June 7. He carried an 8.16 earned run average at the time. He worked around a walk to toss a scoreless inning during his team debut. He had a much tougher second appearance, giving up three runs on two hits and walks apiece in one inning during Sunday’s blowout loss to the Rockies. The Braves didn’t use him during their sweep of the Mets.
The 30-year-old Ruiz now owns an 8.82 ERA across 16 1/3 innings for the season. He was a reasonably effective middle reliever for Philadelphia a year ago, turning in a 3.71 ERA with a 24% strikeout rate in 52 appearances. Ruiz’s chase and whiff rates have each taken a step back this year, while his walks have climbed from roughly 8% to an 11.4% clip. He also missed a couple weeks in May due to neck spasms.
Atlanta will likely place him on waivers this weekend. Ruiz is out of options, so another team would need to plug him into the MLB bullpen if they were to place a claim. He’s playing on a $1.225MM arbitration salary. Ruiz crossed the five-year service threshold earlier this season, so he could elect free agency and retain that salary if he goes unclaimed on waivers.