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Yankees Select Tim Mayza

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The Yankees announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Tim Mayza. They signed the lefty to a minor league deal after he was released by the Blue Jays last month. They optioned Will Warren after Wednesday’s game and designated Enyel De Los Santos earlier this week, meaning they already had a vacancy on both the active and 40-man rosters.

It’s been a strange year for Mayza, who had a strong run for the Jays before everything seemed to come off the rails this year. From 2017 to 2023, he made 317 appearances for the Jays, despite missing the 2020 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. In that stretch, he allowed 3.47 earned runs per nine innings. He struck out 25.7% of batters faced, walked just 7.8% of opponents and got ground balls on 54.4% of balls in play. He racked up four saves and 77 holds in that period.

But here in 2024, his 35 appearances for the Jays were disastrous, leading to an 8.04 ERA. He surely wasn’t helped by a .367 batting average on balls in play or his 54.8% strand rate, but he also only struck out 13.2% of batters faced.

He was designated for assignment by the Jays at the end of June. Since he had passed five years of service time this year, he earned the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining his $3.59MM salary. The Jays skipped that formality and released him, leaving them on the hook for the rest of that money.

The Yankees signed him to a minor league deal and sent him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He has since made nine appearances for the RailRiders, allowing two earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. He has struck out eight opponents against three walks.

That will get him another shot in the big leagues, giving manager Aaron Boone a second left-handed option alongside Tim Hill. Now that Mayza has more than five years of service, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. But if he manages to stick around, he can be retained via arbitration for the 2025 season.

For now, it’s a fairly low-risk move, as the Yankees will only have to pay Mayza the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount will be subtracted from what the Jays pay, which will make a small dent in their competitive balance tax calculation. Last week, Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro said the Jays were just under the tax line but that the situation was “fluid”.

Nationals Outright Jordan Weems

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The Nationals announced Friday that right-hander Jordan Weems cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment a couple days back. Weems has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, should he choose.

The 31-year-old Weems has logged 136 innings out of the Nats’ bullpen dating back to 2022, sandwiching a sharp 2023 campaign between a pair of tough seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s been tagged for a grim 6.70 ERA with career-worst 17.9% and 12.2% strikeout and walk rates, respectively, in 2024. He’s just one year removed from a 3.62 earned run average, 25.9% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate in 54 2/3 innings, however. In 155 2/3 career innings between the A’s, D-backs and Nats, Weems has a 5.26 ERA.

Now that he’s cleared waivers, Weems can choose between free agency and reporting to Rochester. If he stays in the Nats organization, he’d have the right to become a minor league free agent at season’s end anyhow, as is true of all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a major league roster and not added back by the end of the season.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat this afternoon, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

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Yankees Hopeful Jazz Chisholm Jr. Can Return In September

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Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been prescribed rest and rehab for the UCL injury in his left elbow and is expected to play again this season, per Jon Heyman and Greg Joyce of the New York Post. He’ll likely still be sidelined into September, but it’s clearly good news for the Yanks that their most impactful deadline pickup won’t require immediate surgery and could return down the stretch.

Chisholm hit the injured list just two days ago after suffering a left elbow strain on a slide into home plate. As we’ve seen in the past with position players, it’s possible to play through ligament damage in the non-throwing elbow without being greatly impacted at the plate. (Both Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper have had productive stretches at the plate despite ligament injuries that required eventual surgery.) That’ll be the goal for the Yankees and Chisholm in the short term. There has yet to be any indication that eventual offseason surgery has been expressly ruled out. Presumably, that’ll hinge on how Chisholm’s elbow responds to the rest. Most — but certainly not all — sprains of the UCL do eventually require surgical repair.

The 26-year-old Chisholm has been a force in the Yankees’ lineup since being acquired from the Marlins in exchange for a prospect package headlined by young catcher Agustin Ramirez. In 14 games and 61 plate appearances, he’s ripped an incredible seven home runs while batting .316/.361/.702. That surge propelled Chisholm to 20 homers, and the five bases he’s swiped along the way have him at 27 steals on the year. It’s the first 20-20 season of the Bahamian-born infielder’s career.

Chisholm’s power-speed blend and potential for a 20-20 or even 30-30 season have long been apparent, but he’s been too prone to injury to realize that type of production until the 2024 campaign. He’s previously dealt with shoulder, back, foot and oblique injuries that limited him to a total of 281 games in three seasons from 2021-23. His latest injury appears that it’ll lead to another absence of some note, but if Chisholm is back for even half of September, he’d have time to surpass his previous career-high 124 games in a big league season.

The Yankees control Chisholm via arbitration through the 2026 season. He’s earning $2.625MM in 2024 and will be due a pair of raises in the next two offseasons. Chisholm has served as their primary third baseman since being acquired, although with Gleyber Torres slated to become a free agent at season’s end, a return to second base for Chisholm next season could be in the cards. His hot streak with the Yankees has boosted his season line from roughly average to a more productive .257/.328/.445, and Chisholm now touts a similar .254/.319/.468 slash with 53 long balls and 61 stolen bases through 1115 plate appearances dating back to 2022.

Red Sox Expected To Activate Triston Casas

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The Red Sox are expected to reinstate first baseman Triston Casas from the 60-day injured list today, reports MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The slugger should be back in the lineup for tonight’s matchup with the Orioles and ace Corbin Burnes.

Casas, 24, had a slow start in 2023 before finding his stride with a breakout five-month finish to last season. He largely picked up where he left off early in 2024, popping six homers in 90 plate appearances and slashing .244/.344/.513 before sustaining fractures on the left side of his ribcage and enduring a lengthy shutdown from baseball activities. The Sox have eased Casas back into action with an 11-game run in Triple-A Worcester, during which he’s turned in a hearty .300/.404/.550 slash in 47 trips to the plate.

The return of Casas should provide a thunderous boon to a Sox lineup that has received middling production from Dominic Smith in his absence. Smith hasn’t been an abject liability but has turned in a tepid .237/.317/.390 batting line that checks in 5% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. Others like Romy Gonzalez, Garrett Cooper and Bobby Dalbec have filled in at times but have struggled to produce overall. (Cooper is no longer with the organization.)

While Casas’ return isn’t likely to turn the tides in the division race — at least not directly, though he could certainly impact the Orioles/Yankees battle for first place — he could very much be a difference-maker in Boston’s pursuit of a Wild Card berth. The Red Sox are eight games behind the Yankees and O’s, who are tied for the AL East lead, but they’re a more manageable 2.5 games back in the hunt for the third Wild Card slot. Getting a legitimate 30-homer bat back into the middle of the lineup — Casas has popped 30 homers while batting .260/.363/.493 in 154 games dating back to last season — has major ramifications for the remainder of the Red Sox’ schedule.

Casas is on the 60-day injured list, so Boston will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move in order to reinstate their prized young slugger. They don’t have an obvious candidate to replace him on the 60-day IL, unless they’ve quickly determined that James Paxton’s partial calf tear is indeed a season-ender, so a DFA or waiver placement could be in the offing.

The Opener: Tigers, Díaz, Waiver Watch

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Here are a few things we’ll be watching around baseball heading into the weekend:

1. MLB debuts for Tigers prospects:

The Tigers are set to add two potential infielders of the future — Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney — to their big league roster. Jung, the No. 12 pick in the 2022 draft, is widely ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects and has slashed .257/.377/.454 with 14 homers, 23 doubles, a triple, two steals and a massive 16.1% walk rate in 91 Triple-A games this season. He’s split his time between third base and second base, with an emphasis on the former, and could slot in as the Tigers’ long-term option at the hot corner. If he can manage to do so, he’ll join his brother — the Rangers’ Josh Jung — as a cornerstone third baseman for an American League team.

Sweeney, twice traded in the past seven months, has gone from the Yankees to the Dodgers to Detroit — most recently as one of two players in the Jack Flaherty trade. Sweeney, 24, was the No. 20 overall pick in 2021. Considered a surefire shortstop defender with a more questionable offensive profile, Sweeney’s bat has erupted since joining the Tigers organization. He’s appeared in 11 games, taken 47 plate appearances and turned in an outrageous .381/.447/.667 slash with a pair of homers, six doubles and four steals. He’s now hitting .267/.345/.450 with 15 home runs and 20 steals on the season. Javier Baez is only halfway through a six-year contract, but he’s hit .222/.264/.349 in more than 1400 plate appearances with Detroit and shouldn’t stand in the way of Sweeney in the long-term if the younger shortstop option proves capable of handling big league pitching.

2. Will Elias Díaz still be a Rockie tonight?

The Rockies placed Elias Diaz on waivers Wednesday, a move that could trim $1.45MM off their payroll and position a respected veteran to join a contending club. The 2023 All-Star Game MVP, Diaz isn’t hitting for as much power as he did in ’23 but sports a .270/.315/.378 slash (80 wRC+) that could at the very least be an upgrade over several teams’ backup options behind the plate. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so it’ll become clear today whether Diaz was claimed or whether he’ll stick with the Rockies for now.

Even if he goes unclaimed, the Rox could put him back on waivers again later this month. Trying a second or even third time could work out differently; Diaz will be owed less money the closer we get to the Aug. 31 postseason eligibility deadline, and it’s always possible that a contending club could incur an injury behind the dish between now and the end of the month, which would alter their interest level.

3. Other waiver outcomes to watch:

Diaz isn’t the only notable veteran on waiver watch this weekend. The Dodgers designated Amed Rosario for assignment on Monday, and the Yankees designated veteran reliever Enyel De Los Santos for assignment on Wednesday. Neither has been claimed or cleared waivers yet. Both teams have up to five days to place their respective players on waivers, and waiting those maximum five days trims the amount of money a new team would need to commit in making a claim. There should be a resolution on Rosario this weekend, and it’s possible we’ll find out what’s next for De Los Santos as well.

Rosario is playing on an affordable one-year, $1.5MM deal and was hitting .305/.331/.415 in 287 plate appearances (with particularly stout numbers against lefties), but the Dodgers opted for superior defenders when making room for Mookie Betts’ return from the IL earlier this week. Rosario has $363K remaining on his salary as of this writing and has a good chance to be claimed. De  Los Santos was rocked for 10 runs in 6 1/3 innings with the Yankees after being acquired at the trade deadline, but he has a solid big league track record and is still averaging better than 95 mph on his heater. With $278K remaining on this year’s $1.15MM salary and two additional seasons of club control remaining, he could be viewed as a worthwhile flier —  even from someone who’s not an immediate contender. In 159 innings from Opening Day 2022 through the day he was traded to the Yankees last month, De Los Santos posted a 3.50 ERA with a 26.4% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate.

Astros To Promote Shay Whitcomb

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The Astros are planning to select Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston. He has played all over the diamond for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys this season, seeing the bulk of his time at second base, third base, and shortstop. However, his best path to playing time with the Astros will be as a first baseman and occasional corner outfielder and DH. The team will need to make a corresponding move to free up space for Whitcomb on the 40-man roster.

Whitcomb, now 25, joined the Astros organization as the final pick in the shortened 2020 draft. Exclusively a shortstop during his time at UC San Diego, he has also played plenty of second and third base at every level in the minors. In 2024, he began seeing more playing time at first base and the outfield corners, presumably because second base (Jose Altuve), third base (Alex Bregman), and shortstop (Jeremy Peña) are all currently blocked at the big league level. While Whitcomb’s glove might be more valuable at second, third, or short, he has performed well enough at Triple-A this year (25 HR, 26 SB, 122 wRC+) that it’s worth seeing if he can team up with Jon Singleton to make a productive first base platoon. Singleton has played 77 games at first base for the Astros this year, and while he has a 113 wRC+ against right-handed pitching, he is all but unplayable against southpaws (32 wRC+ in 71 PA). The righty-batting Whitcomb has relatively neutral platoon splits at Sugar Land this year, with an .890 OPS against righties and a .979 OPS against lefties.

Earlier this month, Astros GM Dana Brown suggested the team would call up either Zach Dezenzo or Whitcomb to help out at first base. Just two days later, Denzenzo made his MLB debut. While Dezenzo, 24, is a more highly regarded prospect than Whitcomb, the former has had a rough go of it so far with Houston, going just 5-for-25 with a .591 OPS and 64 wRC+. Yet, although Whitcomb’s promotion comes on the heels of Dezenzo’s struggles, manager Joe Espada could still find playing time for both, considering how badly the Astros could use a productive right-handed bat at first and in the outfield.

Tim Dierkes’ MLB Mailbag: Nationals, Cardinals, Cubs, Ray

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In today's mailbag, we get into the Nationals' needs, the Cardinals' situations with Nolans Arenado and Gorman, how the Cubs might approach the offseason, whether Robbie Ray will opt out, and much more.

Kevin asks:

The Nats have a lot of talented youngsters ready to join the team but opening the window will require some veterans. Should they: Make us whole and try to sign Juan Soto, use that money to hire two or three solid veterans, or try several shorter term contracts because the window will really first open in 2026?

Soto returning to the Nats is an intriguing idea.  A lot of the best free agent signings have been for young superstars, though it's unclear whether the Nationals would offer even more than the $440MM Soto turned down two years ago.  Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has said he made three offers to Soto within a year, and none of them were countered.  Since then, the Lerners decided not to sell the Nationals, so you could say there's more certainty with ownership.

One question is whether the Lerners will return to the days of a top-ten payroll.  I don't know the answer to that, but they have almost nothing on the books after this year aside from the Stephen Strasburg contract.

As it relates to Soto, it's worth asking whether the Nationals committing to an outfielder is a good use of resources.  A Hall of Fame talent like Soto would be a great addition to any team, but if James Wood, Dylan Crews, and Robert Hassell III all become productive Major League outfielders as the Nationals expect, something would have to give.

Here's a look around the diamond to assess what the Nats might need:

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KBO’s Samsung Lions Sign Lewin Diaz

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The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve signed first baseman Lewin Díaz (relayed on X by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). The CAA Sports client receives a $50K salary with up to $20K in incentives for the stretch run. The Lions also paid a $100K release fee to the Diablos Rojos del Mexico, the Mexican League team with which Díaz had been playing. Samsung waived outfielder Ruben Cardenas in a corresponding move.

Díaz, 27, was an MLBTR staple during the 2022-23 offseason. He changed teams via waivers or minor trade four times that winter. The Orioles eventually succeeded in sneaking him through waivers and kept him in Triple-A for all of last season. Díaz had a decent year in the minors, hitting .268/.362/.442, but never got an MLB look from Baltimore. He qualified for minor league free agency over the winter and signed a non-roster deal with the Nationals.

Washington released Díaz at the end of camp. He didn’t land another affiliated deal, instead making the move to Mexico. The left-handed hitter has mashed at a .376/.452/.647 clip with 19 homers across 75 games in that very hitter-friendly league.

Díaz was a fairly well-regarded prospect with the Twins early in his pro career. Minnesota dealt him to the Marlins as part of a deal for reliever Sergio Romo in 2019. Díaz didn’t hit major league pitching over parts of three seasons in Miami, running a .181/.227/.340 slash in 112 games. He has been an above-average Triple-A batter, posting a .258/.341/.479 mark in nearly 1200 plate appearances at the level.

Tigers To Promote Jace Jung

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The Tigers are calling up top infield prospect Jace Jung from Triple-A Toledo, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. The 12th overall pick of the 2022 draft will make his major league debut tomorrow evening against the Yankees.

Jung joins what’ll be a suddenly younger Detroit infield. The Tigers are also bringing up deadline acquisition Trey Sweeney, a 2021 first-round pick whom they acquired in the Jack Flaherty deal. That duo will join rookie second baseman Colt Keith as the Tigers evaluate young players who could be key pieces of next year’s team. Keith has had an up-and-down debut campaign at the keystone, as he’s had very poor months of April, June, and August around huge performances in May and July.

Once Detroit moved Keith from third to second base, they slid Jung to the hot corner. He has started 68 games there this season against 17 starts at second base, which had been his primary position at Texas Tech and for his first two years in pro ball. Detroit has used Gio Urshela as their primary third baseman. His bat has started to come around following a rough first half, but the Tigers seem to be turning their attention toward next season. Despite an ongoing four-game win streak, they’re 7.5 back of the American League’s last playoff spot.

Jung, the younger brother of Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, adds a high-upside offensive talent. He ranks fourth among Detroit prospects and 75th overall on Baseball America’s most recent ranking of the farm system. BA credits the left-handed hitter with plus power and a patient approach. While there’s some concern about his pure hit tool, the walks and power give him a chance to hit in the middle third of a lineup.

The 23-year-old is having a nice season in Toledo. He’s hitting .257/.377/.454 with 14 homers, 23 doubles and a triple through 415 plate appearances. Jung is drawing walks at a massive 16.1% clip while striking out at a roughly average 22.4% rate. While he has fallen into a bit of a slump of late, Jung has hit very well with the platoon advantage over the course of the season. He’s hitting .272/.402/.510 in 321 plate appearances against righty pitching.

Jung has predictably had a tougher time with left-handed arms. Detroit has a few righty-hitting infielders who could take some starts against southpaws, but Jung figures to play regularly over the season’s final six weeks. Urshela is on a one-year free agent deal and always felt like a bridge until Jung was ready to take over at third base. The Tigers should give him near everyday reps to gauge whether they can pencil him in as their starter going into 2025.

Jung will not come close to a full year of service or the time necessary to reach early arbitration as a Super Two player. He’s under team control for at least six seasons beyond this one and won’t get to arbitration for three years. A future optional assignment to Triple-A could push that timeline back.

The timing of Jung’s promotion, likely not coincidentally, comes just after the cutoff for him to preserve his rookie eligibility going into next season. From tomorrow, there’ll be 45 days remaining on the regular season calendar. A position player remains a rookie so long as they’ve spent 45 days or fewer on an MLB active roster and have not topped 130 at-bats. So long as the Tigers keep him below the at-bat threshold, Jung would be eligible for Rookie of the Year consideration going into next season.

That’s a relevant factor thanks to the Prospect Promotion Incentive introduced in the most recent round of collective bargaining. A team can earn a bonus draft pick if they carry a rookie top prospect (one who made the offseason Top 100 on at least two of the lists at Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline) for a full service year. If that player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes in the top three in MVP balloting during his pre-arbitration seasons, the team would get an extra pick after the first round of the following draft.

Jung could be in consideration for the prospect criteria, as evidenced by his placement on BA’s current Top 100. There’s no guarantee he’ll make two of the three lists next winter — and it’s certainly not a lock that he’ll win Rookie of the Year — but the Tigers would at least keep the possibility open if they plan for Jung to break camp in 2025. The Cardinals timed their promotion of top shortstop prospect Masyn Winn right at this time last season, for instance.

Sweeney isn’t the same caliber of prospect, but Detroit could give him a look at shortstop in place of the struggling Javier Báez. They’ll need to add both players to the active and 40-man rosters. They don’t have any obvious candidates to land on the 60-day injured list, so they might need to designate multiple players for assignment tomorrow.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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