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The Opener: Yankees, Nationals, Verlander, Sheehan

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

1. Yankees offense goes cold:

It’s been a tough few days in the Bronx, as the Yankees have lost five straight after getting swept by the Red Sox over the weekend. The culprit of this recent dry spell is clearly the offense, as New York has been shut out in each of its last three games with 29 consecutive scoreless innings. Virtually the entire team has been cold; Jazz Chisholm Jr. is the only player with more than three hits during this five-game stretch, and even superstar Aaron Judge has gone just 2-for-21 with 12 strikeouts. They’ll need to stop the bleeding soon, as they’ve fallen to just 2.5 games up on the Rays for control of the AL East, the team’s smallest lead in the division since May 11. They’ll try to break out of this offensive malaise later today against Angels youngster Jack Kochanowicz, who has  a 5.53 ERA in 14 starts this year.

2. Nationals lose ten straight:

While the Yankees may be the contender struggling the most right now, they’re far from the team in the most difficult spot at the moment. The Nationals weren’t far from contention at the beginning of June but are currently in the midst of a ten-game skid that’s dropped their record to 30-43. They’ve been buried 15 games behind the Mets in the NL East, and even a Wild Card spot is falling out of reach as they sit 9.5 games back. If there’s a silver lining for the Nats, it’s that the Rockies are in town and they’ll get the opportunity to snap this streak today when right-hander German Marquez and his 6.62 ERA in 14 starts this year take the mound. Marquez has endured an extremely difficult season but is entering today after tossing one of his best starts of the year against Atlanta last time out. He struck out seven Braves across five-innings of one-run ball in that showing.

3. Verlander to return:

Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander hasn’t pitched in a month due to a strained pectoral muscle that sent him to the injured list. The 42-year-old righty is scheduled to be activated from the shelf and take the mound for the Giants at 6:45pm local time. Verlander’s on the 15-day injured list, so a corresponding move will only be necessary to clear an active roster spot for the veteran. His opponent today will be a Guardians club with plenty to play for, as they currently sit just half a game out of an AL Wild Card spot. Southpaw Logan Allen will be on the mound for Cleveland and sports a 4.28 ERA across 13 outings this year.

4. Sheehan back from Tommy John surgery:

Elsewhere in the NL West, the Dodgers are set to welcome an arm of some note back to their staff. Righty Emmet Sheehan, out since May 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, is listed as tonight’s probable starter for Los Angeles. He’ll need to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, but L.A. has an open spot on the 40-man roster, so only a corresponding active roster move will be required. Now 25 years old, Sheehan ranked as one of the system’s top pitching prospects before making his debut in 2023, when he pitched 60 1/3 frames with a 4.92 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. He posted a 2.43 ERA with an outrageous 41% strikeout rate in a similar sample of minor league work that season, and he’s tossed 11 1/3 innings with a 44.7% strikeout rate on his current rehab stint. Sheehan isn’t fully stretched out yet, but he climbed to 63 pitches in his final rehab outing and is expected to join the Dodgers’ rotation.

Rafael Devers To Start Work At First Base With Giants

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The Giants held a press conference today to introduce Rafael Devers and one key question about his future in San Francisco was answered. The Giants plan to have him serve as the designated hitter but also as a first baseman going forward. He’ll start taking grounders in preparation for the position change in the next few days. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to relay the news.

“They’re the men in charge,” Devers said today, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “I’m here to play wherever they want me to play.”

It’s obviously a notable shift from where things stood with the Red Sox. Devers had been almost exclusively a third baseman coming into this year, though he has been considered a poor defender. Over the winter, the Sox were connected in rumors to third basemen like Nolan Arenado and Alex Bregman. Members of the Red Sox such as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Álex Cora downplayed the possibility of Devers being moved off the hot corner.

The Sox eventually signed Bregman, but even in the initial wake of that deal, the club didn’t firmly declare that Devers was done as a third baseman. “He’s a Gold Glove third baseman,” Cora said of Bregman in February. “He hasn’t played second base in the big leagues. I do believe he can be a Gold Glove second baseman, too.”

A few days later, Devers spoke to the media and was adamant about not moving. “It’s my decision,” he said at the time. “My position is third base. Whatever it is they want to do is what they want to do. But my position is third base.” He had apparently been promised he could be a long-term third baseman when signing his ten-year extension in 2023, though Cora dismissed that promise. “That was under Chaim,” Cora said, referring to previous CBO Chaim Bloom. The Sox fired Bloom late in 2023 and later hired Breslow to replace him.

As spring training went on, it became clear that the Sox intended to have Bregman at third, with Devers moved to a DH role. While Devers was clearly frustrated and reportedly considered asking for a trade, he eventually relented and accepted his fate. Whatever emotions he was feeling were not impacting his performance, as Devers has hit .272/.401/.504 for a 148 wRC+ this year.

The situation with the Red Sox grew even more complicated in early May when first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury. Devers taking up that spot seemed like a logical next step, as many subpar third basemen have successfully moved across the diamond over the years. Doing so also would have helped the Sox with positional logjams elsewhere. Outfield prospect Roman Anthony has been blocked in Triple-A for most of the season but an open DH spot would have helped the club find more playing time for him and others.

The Sox did indeed ask Devers to consider a move to first base, but Devers refused and also seemed offended that he was even asked. “They talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove, that I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH,” Devers said of the conversation during spring training. “So right now, I just feel like it’s not an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.” He went on to seemingly take a shot at the club’s brass in the process: “Now I think they should do their job essentially and hit the market and look for another player (to play first base). I’m not sure why they want me to be in between the way they have me now.”

The Sox went on to try other options at first, including utility players like Romy González and Abraham Toro. Rookie Kristian Campbell also started some pre-game work at first, though he has yet to appear there in actual game action.

All of this drama seemed to lead to this weekend’s shocking trade which sent Devers to the Giants. Back on May 10th, it was reported that Breslow, owner John Henry and CEO Sam Kennedy all flew to Kansas City to meet with Devers and discuss the situation as the Sox played the Royals. In the wake of the trade, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said that he had been discussing the deal with the Sox for three to four weeks. In other words, not long after that Kansas City meeting.

Breslow also spoke to the media yesterday and said that “It’s the willingness to step up and sacrifice at times of need and essentially do whatever is necessary to help the team win,” speaking broadly about successful teams he’d been a part of during his playing days. “I think that’s the identity, this relentless pursuit of winning, that we’re looking for.”

Looking at how Devers fit onto the roster in San Francisco raised similar questions to his time in Boston. Matt Chapman is currently on the injured list but is one of the best defensive third basemen in the league and is under contract through 2030. The club’s top prospect is Bryce Eldridge, a first baseman who recently got promoted from Double-A to Triple-A.

Given the standoff in Boston, it was fair to wonder where Devers fit but now there’s an answer. Eldridge will continue playing first base in the minors, per Pavlovic, though Devers will learn the position in the meantime. If Eldridge succeeds as a major leaguer, the two could share the roster for a long time. Devers’ contract goes for eight more years after the current season. Eldridge will be under club control until he accrues six season of service time.

Eldridge might still be the long-term first baseman and Devers the long-term DH, though at least having Devers as a viable player at that position is obviously valuable. It will provide more flexibility if Eldridge ever needs a stint on the injured list during his career, or perhaps doesn’t pan out. As heralded as he is, even the top prospects don’t always succeed when promoted to the majors.

The shift in tone from Devers will naturally lead to questions about why. It’s possible that he bore a grudge against the Sox about the broken promise or perhaps didn’t like the way they went about communicating their plans to him. Perhaps he just wants to start this new opportunity on the right foot, as opposed to kicking it off with another dispute.

That’s all speculative, though that’s all that can really be done unless further reporting sheds more light on the subject or Devers decides to open up about it. “I’m moving forward from the situation in Boston and looking forward to being a San Francisco Giant,” Devers said today, per Cotillo.

In the short term, Devers will presumably need some time to feel comfortable at first, having never played there in his career. The Giants recently moved on from first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. and have been using Dominic Smith there, with Wilmer Flores in the DH spot. Devers is DHing tonight with Smith at first and Flores on the bench, though Flores has first base experience and could factor in there as well. Though Chapman is currently on the IL, the club doesn’t plan to use Devers at third, per Justice delos Santos of Mercury News.

Flores and Smith are both impending free agents. If Eldridge starts thriving in Triple-A, perhaps he gets called up later in the year, with Flores and/or Smith becoming trade candidates prior to the deadline. In the long run, it seems the Giants hope for a Devers/Eldridge duo in the first base/DH mix, though that will naturally depend upon Devers taking to the new position and Eldridge developing.

Meanwhile, Boston fans will be left with the hypotheticals. If playing first base wasn’t really the problem, then was there a way this could have all played out differently? What if the club had asked Devers to play first base back in November, prior to signing Bregman, and given him a full offseason/spring to prepare? What if they held him through this year and then broached the subject again ahead of the 2026 season? Those questions are all moot now as the club once again grapples with a star player leaving Boston for California.

Photos courtesy of Dale Zanine, Gregory Fisher, Jerome Miron, Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images

A’s Notes: Ginn, Gelof, Fisher

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The A’s activated J.T. Ginn from the injured list on Tuesday, but the 26-year-old righty is not immediately returning to the rotation. Manager Mark Kotsay said before Tuesday’s game that Ginn would be available out of the bullpen (via Jessica Kleinschmidt). He’s already made his first relief appearance, firing three scoreless innings behind Mitch Spence last night.

Ginn had started his first four appearances of the season. He posted a 5.60 ERA across 17 innings while missing time to both elbow inflammation and a quad strain. The former second-round pick started six of his eight MLB outings last year as a rookie, allowing 4.24 earned runs per nine through 34 frames. The A’s evidently prefer him in multi-inning relief in the short term rather than bumping someone — likely Spence or Jacob Lopez — out of the starting five.

Zack Gelof is also nearing a return, as he began a rehab stint at Triple-A Las Vegas tonight. He took three plate appearances as a designated hitter in his first game action in over six weeks. Gelof has missed the entire season. He fractured his wrist on a Spring Training hit-by-pitch and required hamate surgery. That knocked him out for a month. He began a rehab assignment in early May but quickly suffered a rib injury that cost him another month and a half. He’ll need a while to get up to MLB readiness but should make his season debut within the next couple weeks. Position players can spend up to 20 days on a rehab assignment.

Luis Urías has stepped in as the regular second baseman in Gelof’s absence. He’s having a decent year, hitting .249/.338/.407 with seven homers through 207 plate appearances. Urías is playing on a cheap one-year deal and is an impending free agent. The 30-45 A’s will presumably try to drum up trade interest before next month’s deadline.

In an A’s-adjacent development, Sportico’s Kurt Badenhousen reports that owner John Fisher is pursuing a sale of his Major League Soccer franchise, the San Jose Earthquakes. Fisher has owned the MLS franchise for nearly two decades. According to Sportico, he intends to sell the majority stake of the soccer organization and has contracted an investment bank to facilitate the sale. Sportico valued the team around $600M in January.

That sale comes in the first year of what is expected to be a three-year process for the construction of the A’s new stadium in Las Vegas. The A’s secured upwards of $350MM in public funding towards an estimated $1.75 billion cost estimate. Fisher has reportedly sought to raise at least half a billion dollars in private funding through selling minority shares of the Athletics. It’s unclear whether and to what extent his desire to sell the Earthquakes is related to the A’s stadium plan. Last week, Mick Akers of The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the A’s have scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for their new facility on June 23 — though that’s largely an aesthetic measure after construction crews began preliminary work at the site in April.

Brewers Trade Wes Clarke To Astros

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The Brewers traded minor league first baseman Wes Clarke to the Astros, reports Francys Romero. He was not on the Brewers’ 40-man roster and will not occupy a roster spot with Houston. It’s not clear what Milwaukee received in exchange, though most trades of this nature are typically for cash considerations.

Clarke, 25, was a 10th-round draftee in 2021. A college catcher at South Carolina, he has moved off the position to full-time first base/designated hitter work this year. Clarke showed big power in college and hit 26 home runs in Double-A two seasons ago. He ranked among Milwaukee’s top 20 prospects at Baseball America going into the ’24 campaign as a result. His stock has dropped since then, as his already high strikeout rates reached untenable levels since he was promoted to Triple-A Nashville.

The righty-hitting Clarke posted a .243/.340/.458 mark with 18 homers in 87 contests last year. That’s a solid enough slash line, but he struck out in more than 35% of his plate appearances. Clarke has slightly improved the strikeout rate this year (30.2%) but has dropped to a .216/.352/.358 slash with six longballs in 182 trips to the dish. His exit velocities aren’t much different from last season, so perhaps the Astros feel he’s been a bit unlucky on batted balls. Clarke has plus power and an extremely patient approach, but the swing-and-miss and limited defensive value make for a difficult profile.

Marlins To Recall Adam Mazur

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The Marlins will recall righty Adam Mazur to start tomorrow evening’s game against Philadelphia, manager Clayton McCullough told reporters (including Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase). He’ll go against Ranger Suárez in his team debut. SportsGrid’s Craig Mish first reported that Mazur was likely to get the call. He’s already on the 40-man roster, so the Fish only need to make an active roster move involving a pitcher.

It’s not a big league debut for the 24-year-old Mazur. He took the ball eight times for the Padres last summer. The former second-round pick struggled in his first look at MLB hitters, giving up a 7.49 ERA through 33 2/3 innings. He’d only had five Triple-A starts at the time, as San Diego was pressed into calling him up by injuries to their more established starters. The Padres optioned him back to Triple-A just before the trade deadline.

Three days later, Mazur was on the move. The Marlins acquired him as part of the return for Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing last July. Mazur has been on optional assignment to Triple-A Jacksonville for the better part of a calendar year. He struggled over eight starts there last year but has posted better numbers this season. Mazur owns a 3.62 ERA with a 22.2% strikeout percentage and tidy 6.5% walk rate. He has allowed home runs at an elevated rate, but it’s a generally solid performance to earn him his first call to loanDepot Park.

Miami has been operating with a four-man rotation of Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Cal Quantrill and Edward Cabrera. They lost Max Meyer and Ryan Weathers to injury and have been utilizing bullpen games to handle the fifth starter role. McCullough didn’t specify whether Mazur will get more than one start for this recall, but it stands to reason that he’ll get a real rotation opportunity at some point this year. Alcantara, Quantrill and potentially Cabrera could all be in trade discussions this summer. Quantrill also left tonight’s start early with a leg issue, though McCullough said postgame that it was just a cramp (via Isaac Azout of Fish on First).

Angels Re-Sign Shaun Anderson To Minor League Contract

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The Angels brought back righty Shaun Anderson on another minor league contract, as reflected on the MiLB.com transaction log. The tracker also indicates that the Halos released Buck Farmer and Andrew Vasquez from their minor league deals. Anderson will head to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Anderson has signed three separate minor league deals with the Halos this year. They’ve called him up twice but needed to designate him for assignment to take him off the active roster, as he’s out of options. Anderson elected free agency both times and has returned to the organization on new minor league pacts.

Around the transactions, the 30-year-old Anderson has made six big league relief appearances. He has surrendered nine runs on 16 hits (including a trio of homers) in 10 2/3 innings. He’s been pitching out of the rotation in Salt Lake, allowing 5.74 earned runs per nine through 42 1/3 innings. Anderson has an ERA just under 4.00 in seven Triple-A campaigns but has allowed a 6.20 ERA through 162 2/3 MLB frames.

Farmer and Vasquez each signed with the Angels last month. Farmer allowed 12 earned runs in as many innings for the Bees. Vasquez allowed nine earned across 13 frames with 10 strikeouts and five walks. Neither pitcher has logged any MLB action this year.

White Sox Outright Joshua Palacios

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Outfielder Joshua Palacios has been sent outright to Triple-A Charlotte, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the White Sox last week. He has the right to elect free agency but the tracker doesn’t indicate if he will do so.

Palacios, 29, burned his final option year in 2024. He therefore came into 2025 out of options with the Pirates. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster and eventually elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. He landed a minor league deal with the White Sox but was up in the big leagues again by April 10th.

He got into 51 games for the Sox and stepped to the plate 145 times but produced a tepid batting line of .203/.292/.305. That got him nudged off the roster and he unsurprisingly has cleared waivers yet again.

Palacios has generally performed well at the Triple-A level over the years, with a slash of .302/.389/.482 across 720 plate appearances. That has led to sporadic big league opportunities that he hasn’t been able to capitalize on. Having previously appeared for the Blue Jays, Nationals, Pirates and now the White Sox, he has received 578 major league plate appearances over five separate seasons with a .223/.287/.349 line and 75 wRC+.

As mentioned, Palacios can elect free agency but would surely be limited to minor league offers. If he stays with the White Sox, more outfield playing time should open up later in the year. Mike Tauchman, Austin Slater and Michael A. Taylor are all impending free agents, making them natural trade candidates on a bad White Sox club. Luis Robert Jr.’s deal has $20MM club options for 2026 and 2027 but those are unlikely to be picked up with the way he’s played over the past year and a half, so he’ll surely be flipped in the next six weeks for whatever the Sox can get. The team would also surely love to unload the final two and a half years of Andrew Benintendi’s contract, though it will be tough to find another club willing to absorb it.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Mets Place Tylor Megill On IL With Elbow Sprain

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4:25pm: Manager Carlos Mendoza tells Anthony DiComo of MLB.com that the best-case scenario for Megill is a return in four to five weeks. The club plans to have a spot starter on Friday and Montas perhaps joining the rotation after that, depending on how his next rehab outing goes.

3:05pm: The Mets announced that right-hander Tylor Megill has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 15th, due to a right elbow sprain. Fellow righty Justin Garza has been recalled in a corresponding move.

Megill told members of the media, including Laura Albanese of Newsday, that he just has inflammation and no ligament damage. That doesn’t fully align with the official announcement, as a sprain involves some degree of stretching or tearing, by definition. Regardless, it seems like Megill doesn’t expect a lengthy absence. He says he’ll be shut down for seven to ten days before being reevaluated.

Assuming that ends up being the case, that would obviously be good news, as he was on the road to having a personal-best season here in 2025. He has largely been a serviceable back-end starter for the Mets, with a 4.56 earned run average coming into the campaign. This year, prior to this IL stint, he has made 14 starts with a 3.95 ERA. His 10.8% walk rate would be higher than any other season in his career, but barely. Meanwhile, his 29.2% strikeout rate is quite strong and is way ahead of his 24.3% career rate.

He qualified for arbitration for the first time in the most recent offseason and is making $1.975MM this year. He will be due a raise this coming winter but a notable absence would obviously cut into his earning power, so he’ll naturally be hoping to bounce back quickly.

For the Mets, this is the latest domino to fall in a quickly-changing rotation picture. Last week, it was reported that the Mets were getting calls on righty Paul Blackburn, on account of a fairly crowded starting mix. But within minutes of that report coming out, Kodai Senga suffered an injury and was later placed on the 15-day IL due a strained hamstring.

In the modern game, any pitching surplus is a temporary thing, which is clearly demonstrated here. The Mets are now down to David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Griffin Canning and Blackburn as their rotation options. Frankie Montas has been on a path to join that group but his rehab assignment has been shaky. He has been on the IL all year due to a lat strain and has a 13.17 ERA over his five rehab outings. In the most recent one, he allowed eight earned runs without getting out of the second inning.

Due to those struggles, there’s been some speculation that the Mets might push Montas into the bullpen, though the Megill injury might make him more needed in the rotation. On the other hand, Sean Manaea is also on a rehab assignment and should be in the mix soon as well. His rehab assignment also hasn’t gone super well so far in terms of results, but he’s earlier in the process, having only made three appearances thus far.

Time will tell how the Mets play it. Peterson, Blackburn and Holmes are the scheduled starters for the next three games. Megill was originally scheduled to get the ball on Friday. Canning could perhaps start that one instead but they would still need to someone for Saturday’s game. Guys like Blade Tidwell, Justin Hagenman and Brandon Waddell are on the 40-man roster and could factor in at some point, at least until the Mets get some guys back from the IL.

It will be a situation worth monitoring for other clubs, especially with the trade deadline just over a month away. As recently as a week ago, the Mets looked to have enough starting options where selling was a possibility but perhaps buying will become a consideration.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

D-backs To Sign Anthony Gose

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The Diamondbacks have agreed to a deal with lefty reliever Anthony Gose, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Gose has spent the season thus far with the Mets organization, but the MiLB transaction log reflects that he was quietly released yesterday. Whether that was an opt-out clause, an upward mobility clause or a straight release remains to be seen, but Gose is headed to a new organization. If it’s a big league deal, the Diamondbacks will need to make a corresponding move, as their 40-man roster is currently at capacity. The team has not yet formally announced the signing.

Gose, 34, began his career as an outfielder back in 2008, when the Phillies selected him in the second round of the draft. He quickly became one of the game’s top prospects and wound up seeing action in parts of five major league seasons as an outfielder — all between the Blue Jays and Tigers. Gose’s career looked to have stalled out, but the former two-way star in high school reinvented himself as a relief pitcher back in 2017-19 and has now pitched in parts of three MLB seasons — all with Cleveland.

Gose made his major league debut as a full-time pitcher in 2021 and has now pitched 32 MLB frames with a 4.78 ERA, a 29.7% strikeout rate and a 12.3% walk rate. Injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, have limited his time on the mound and impacted him when healthy. He’s also missed time with a triceps strain, a calf strain and shoulder soreness since moving to the mound.

Between those injuries and the fact that he’s now approaching his 35th birthday, perhaps it shouldn’t be all that surprising that Gose’s heater has lost some life. When he first moved to the mound, he was brandishing a blazing four-seamer that averaged better than 99 mph and reached triple digits at times. He sat 95.7 mph in both Triple-A and the big leagues last year, and he’s dipped further to an average of 94.6 mph in 2025.

Gose has pitched 23 innings with the Mets’ affiliate in Syracuse and logged a 4.30 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 13.7% walk rate and 30.6% ground-ball rate. He started the season pitching quite well, yielding a 3.31 ERA through his first 16 1/3 innings, but he’s been hit hard over the past few weeks; dating back to May 17, Gose pitched in six games and was rocked for seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.

The D-backs are starved for arms, having recently lost Justin Martinez to Tommy John surgery, Christian Montes De Oca to back surgery and Kendall Graveman to a hip injury. Lefty A.J. Puk has been out since early April due to elbow troubles. Over in the rotation, Corbin Burnes recently suffered a UCL tear that necessitated Tommy John surgery as well. The D-backs have added righties Anthony DeSclafani and Tayler Scott in recent weeks, and Gose will now add another left-handed option to the depth chart.

Blue Jays Designate Erik Swanson For Assignment, Place Bowden Francis On IL

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The Blue Jays announced today that right-hander Paxton Schultz has been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo. Left-hander Justin Bruihl was also selected to the roster. In corresponding moves, the club placed right-hander Bowden Francis on the 15-day injured list due to a right shoulder impingement and designated right-hander Erik Swanson for assignment.

Swanson, 31, was acquired from the Mariners ahead of the 2023 season as part of the trade that sent outfielder Teoscar Hernández to Seattle. Swanson’s first season with the Jays was excellent, as he posted a 2.97 earned run average over 66 2/3 innings. He struck out 28.6% of opponents while only giving out walks at an 8% clip. He became a key cog in the bullpen, earning four saves and 29 holds.

That version of Swanson hasn’t appeared much since then. His 2024 got out to a scary start when his son Toby was hospitalized after being struck by a car during spring training. Fortunately, Toby was released from hospital within two weeks, but Swanson also faced some more traditional baseball challenges at that time. He was dealing with some forearm inflammation and started the season on the 15-day IL. After being reinstated, he struggled enough to get optioned to the minors, having a 9.22 ERA through the end of May.

He did finish 2024 on a high note, as he was recalled at the end of June and posted a 2.81 ERA the rest of the way, but his 2025 has started similarly to last year. He started the season on the IL due to a right median nerve entrapment and has struggled since being reinstated. He has tossed 5 1/3 innings with nine earned runs allowed, surrendering five walks while striking out just three opponents.

That’s obviously a tiny sample size but the Jays presumably don’t have faith in Swanson getting back on track. His fastball velocity is down by a mile per hour relative to last year, 92.9 compared to 93.9 in 2024. His splitter has fallen even farther, from 84.9 mph to 83.3 mph. On his rehab assignment before being activated, he allowed six earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Swanson now has over five years of major league service time, meaning he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent, so the Jays can’t give him a break in Triple-A like they did last year. Instead, they’ve bumped him off the 40-man completely. Surpassing five years of service also means he can reject an outright assignment while retaining this year’s salary commitments. He and the Jays avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $3MM salary.

DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Jays can take up to five days to explore trade interest. Based on his salary and his recent performance, there’s not likely to be a ton of interest unless they want to eat some of the money to facilitate a deal. If Swanson clears waivers and elects free agency, the Jays will remain on the hook for that money. Any other club would then be able to sign him and pay him just the prorated portion of the league minimum salary, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays are paying.

The loss of Francis to the IL is a notable development for the Jays, even though there’s little information about his expected injury absence, as it opens a hole in their rotation. Francis hasn’t been good this year, with a 6.05 ERA in 14 starts, but he has continued to get starts largely due to a lack of better options.

The Jays have a solid veteran trio in Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt but those three have been joined by a struggling Francis and a patchwork of swingmen. Guys like Eric Lauer, Easton Lucas, Jose Urena, Spencer Turnbull and Schultz have been making spot starts or multi-inning relief appearances.

That’s due to Max Scherzer landing on the injured list after just one start due to right thumb inflammation. He tossed 4 1/3 innings on a rehab start on Friday and could perhaps rejoin the big league club after one more.

Starting tonight, the Jays play six straight and have one off-day before a 16-game stretch, making for 22 games in 23 days. Heading into that with only three true starters is obviously less than ideal. Perhaps Scherzer and/or Francis could return to the roster before that’s all done, but the Jays will be cobbling things together for now. Lauer and Turnbull are still on the roster and Schultz has now joined them, giving them three potential bulk guys. Lucas and Adam Macko are on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment, so they may end up getting recalled in the coming weeks as well. Urena recently elected free agency after a stint with the Dodgers, so perhaps the Jays will give him another call.

Despite all the rotation challenges, the Jays currently hold a Wild Card spot and figure to be in the market for starting pitching ahead of the deadline. That was true before Francis landed on the IL but it presumably only exacerbates the need.

Also providing the bullpen with a fresh arm is Bruihl. The 27-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Jays in March and has been pitching in Triple-A since then, with a 3.81 ERA in 28 1/3 innings. His 10% walk rate is a bit high but he has struck out 30% of opponents while getting grounders on 61.5% of balls in play.

He also has some major league experience under his belt, though without that kind of strikeout stuff. He logged 76 innings between the Dodgers, Rockies and Pirates over the past few years with a 4.62 ERA and a 15.9% strikeout rate. He still has an option remaining so the Jays could send him back to Buffalo fairly easily if they want to cycle some more fresh arms through the roster.

Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline, Imagn Images

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