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Rays Release Harold Ramirez

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The Rays have released designated hitter/outfielder Harold Ramirez following last week’s DFA, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’s now a free agent who can sign with any club.

Ramirez always seemed likely to end up on the open market after his DFA. As we noted when he was designated for assignment, the 29-year-old’s combination of offensive struggles and relatively notable salary obligation made him a virtual lock to pass through either outright waivers or release waivers. And since he surpassed five years of major league service time earlier this season (and thus gained the right to retain his salary even upon rejecting an outright assignment), there was no real distinction between the two types of waivers in his case.

The Rays will remain on the hook for the balance of Ramirez’s $3.8MM salary. There’s about $2.19MM of that sum left to be paid out as of this writing. A new team would only owe Ramirez the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster (about $426K from now through season’s end, or just shy of $4K per day). That sum would be subtracted from what Tampa Bay owes Ramirez, but the Rays are stuck with the significant majority of his salary regardless.

Tampa Bay explored trades involving Ramirez both at the offseason’s non-tender deadline and again during spring training but didn’t find a deal to their liking. That came in spite of a big 2022-23 showing that saw Ramirez slash .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, with a particular knack for pummeling left-handed pitching. Strong as that offensive output was, Ramirez lacks defensive value — he’s a poor defender in the outfield corners and at first base — and is a free-swinger who rarely draws a walk. He’s been primarily a designated hitter with the Rays.

The 2024 season has been a challenge for Ramirez. He’s hitting .268, a perfectly fine mark, but has coupled that with an ugly .284 on-base percentage and a punchless .305 slugging percentage. He’s hitting .310 in a small sample of 58 plate appearances against lefties but has only one walk and a .379 slugging percentage in those matchups. Effectively, Ramirez has been a singles-hitting, short-side platoon designated hitter. Because of his lack of walks and power, his overall offensive output has been 27% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+.

Given those struggles, it’s not at all surprising that no team wanted to commit nearly $2.2MM to Ramirez by placing a waiver claim. But now that he’s a free agent who’d cost the prorated minimum, Ramirez becomes a far more interesting flier who should draw broad-reaching interest — especially from teams who have been lacking production against left-handed pitching. Speculatively speaking, each of the Reds, Nationals, Rangers and Cardinals rank in the bottom-third of the league in terms of both DH production and production against left-handers. But, given the low cost of acquisition now associated with Ramirez — who can be controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration — it’s easy to make a case for the majority of teams taking a no-risk roll of the dice on his right-handed bat.

Cubs’ Ben Brown Diagnosed With Stress Reaction In Neck

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Cubs right-hander Ben Brown was placed on the injured list with a neck strain last week, but the team has now diagnosed him with a more ominous-sounding stress reaction in his neck, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (X link). It’s expected that Brown will be out longer than the 15-day minimum on his current IL stint, though a firm timetable isn’t yet known.

“We’re still trying to figure out how long and what it means and what he can do,” manager Craig Counsell told the Cubs beat regarding Brown’s updated diagnosis. “It’s a unique injury for a pitcher, so we’re trying to just get some more opinions.”

Acquired from the Phillies in the 2022 trade sending David Robertson to Philadelphia, the now-24-year-old Brown made his big league debut this season. He’s been quite good in 15 appearances with the Cubs — eight of them starts. In 55 1/3 frames, Brown has pitched to a 3.58 ERA with a terrific 28.8% strikeout rate, a solid 8.6% walk rate and a 38.9% grounder rate. Brown has only yielded 0.81 homers per nine frames. He’d recently stepped into a consistent rotation role — his last four outings were starts — and posted a 3.60 ERA with a 25-to-6 K/BB ratio in 20 innings.

Brown’s injury dovetails with the return of fellow rookie Jordan Wicks, who was out for six weeks due to a forearm strain. Also 24 years old, the left-handed Wicks came on in long relief of Brown when Brown exited after four innings. He tossed 3 1/3 frames that day and held the Reds to one run in that time. With Brown shelved, Wicks seems likely to step into the No. 5 spot in the rotation behind Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad.

Wicks made seven starts last season and barely kept his rookie eligibility intact. He’s up to 61 innings in his big league career (26 1/3 of them this year) and owns a 4.43 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 43.3% ground-ball rate. Wicks tossed 126 innings last season and, after missing six weeks of the current year, shouldn’t need to worry about soaring past that workload. But given his own injury earlier this season and some questionable depth in the rotation — particularly in light of veteran Kyle Hendricks’ struggles — it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cubs look into some rotation help at next month’s deadline, assuming the team is still in contention for a Wild Card spot. Chicago is currently 7.5 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central but just one game out in the NL Wild Card chase.

Blue Jays Designate Daniel Vogelbach For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Addison Barger, while designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster drops to 38.

For a second consecutive Friday, the Jays have cut a hitter struggling in the majors and replaced him with one hitting well in Triple-A as they look to generate some more offense. Infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio was cut from the roster one week ago, eventually getting traded to the Dodgers, with Spencer Horwitz taking his spot. This time, Vogelbach makes way for Barger.

Vogelbach, 31, is a fairly limited player as he is one of the slowest in the league and generally isn’t trusted defensively. He has appeared in 154 games at first base but hasn’t played the field since 2022 and it was only five innings that year. But he has tantalized clubs with his power from the left side and keen eye at the plate.

In 1,957 career plate appearances to this point, he has drawn walks in 15.1% of them. For reference, league average is typically around 8% or 9% and is at 8.3% this year. He has also hit 81 home runs, with a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2019, though that was the “juiced ball” season. He also got to double-digit home run tallies in 2022 and 2023 with far fewer plate appearances.

Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there this year. Vogelbach signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and made the Opening Day roster, but has received just 79 plate appearances in over two months on the roster. He was still drawing walks at a decent 11.4% rate but had just one home run, leading to a line of .186/.278/.300. His exit velocity and hard hit rates were still pretty strong but he was hitting the ball on the ground at a 49.1% clip, a career high apart from his eight-game rookie season.

Like with Biggio, the Jays have decided change was needed. Biggio was hitting just .202/.331/.289 when he was nudged off the roster. Horwitz was slashing .335/.456/.514 in Triple-A and has a line of .389/.476/.444 through five games since being recalled.

Barger was recalled for five games earlier this year and currently has a dismal line of .056/.056/.056, but he’s hitting .256/.380/.467 in Triple-A. He has drawn walks 15.2% of the time for the Bisons and also has eight home runs, perhaps giving the Jays some hope he can produce the kind of offense they were hoping to get from Vogelbach.

Even if he can’t quite produce those kinds of results against big league pitchers, he can provide more to the Jays in other facets of the game. During his brief time up with the club, his sprint speed was ranked in the 60th percentile, compared to Vogelbach being in the 2nd percentile. Barger has also played shortstop and the four corner positions for Buffalo this year, giving manager John Schneider far more options for getting him into the lineup.

Vogelbach and Joey Votto were in competition for a job this spring, as both were on minor league deals and looking to serve as a lefty bench bat/designated hitter. Votto got hurt during the spring while Vogelbach hit three home runs in spring contests, which essentially made the decision for the Jays. Now that Vogelbach is off the roster, that could open a path for Votto, but not in the immediate future. After rolling his ankle on an errant bat during the spring after one plate appearance, he’s still not one hundred percent. Schneider told reporters this week that Votto is getting close to playing in games, as relayed by Keegan Matheson on X. But after missing so much time, he’ll effectively have to restart spring training from scratch and will likely need a few weeks to get into form.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Vogelbach or pass him through waivers. There will likely be teams willing to take a chance on his bat, but they will probably wait until Vogelbach clears waivers. He is making a salary of $2MM this year but has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping that money. Based on his poor results this year, he will probably wind up on the open market and be free to sign with any club. If he gets a roster spot somewhere, that club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays owe him.

Marlins Designate Burch Smith For Assignment

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The Marlins announced Friday that right-hander Burch Smith has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Shaun Anderson, who has been recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.

Smith, 34, has pitched 29 2/3 innings out of the Miami bullpen this season and logged a respectable 4.25 earned run average with a subpar 17% strikeout rate but strong walk and ground-ball rates of 6.7% and 47%, respectively. He’s hit a rough patch of late, however, yielding five runs over his past 4 1/3 innings. Opponents have scored against him in three straight appearances.

This run with Miami marked Smith’s first big league work since the 2021 season. He spent the 2022 season with Japan’s Seibu Lions and the 2023 campaign with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles. Smith has previously pitched for the Padres, Royals, Brewers, Giants and A’s. In all, he’s pitched 220 2/3 innings at the MLB level and recorded a 5.79 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.

Burch signed with the Rays on a minor league deal back in January but exercised an upward mobility clause in that contract — a clause intended to give veteran players on minor league deals the option to opt out of their contract if another team is willing to place him on its 40-man roster. That scenario played out late in spring, when the Marlins showed interest in Smith. He made their Opening Day roster and has generally been used in low-leverage settings this season.

Smith will surpass five years of service time while in DFA limbo, meaning even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of this year’s $1MM salary. Miami will either trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers within the next week.

Pirates Outright Ben Heller

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Right-hander Ben Heller went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Pirates and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s been outrighted previously in his career, which will give Heller the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency if he so chooses.

Heller, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Bucs in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster after punching out an eye-popping 43% of his opponents in 18 1/3 innings down in Indianapolis. His brief big league look with the Pirates could scarcely have gone worse, however. The former Yankees and Braves righty was rocked for five runs in an inning of work during his team debut and struggled even more considerably in his second appearance, yielding seven runs (six earned) in another inning. Heller’s ERA with the Pirates sits at a stratospheric 49.50.

Stunning as that number is, Heller entered the 2024 season with a career 3.06 earned run average in 50 innings. That includes 18 2/3 frames of 3.86 ball with Atlanta just last season. He’s fanned 20.4% of his big league opponents against an 11.3% walk rate and has generally kept the ball on the ground at an above-average level (45.1%). The Milwaukee native also has had plenty of success in the upper minors, pitching to a sharp 3.15 ERA with a 32.5% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in parts of six Triple-A campaigns — a span of 163 innings.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today at 2:00pm central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on Luis Robert's trade value, late-game bullpen possibilities for the Yankees and Cubs, the Astros' decision to move on from José Abreu, Alex Bregman's free agent projection, the cost to extend Tarik Skubal and much more.

 

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Michael Kopech Drawing Interest From Several Teams

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The White Sox are one of the game’s few clear sellers with the trade deadline still six weeks out, and teams have been showing recent interest in closer Michael Kopech, reports Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. Among the interested clubs are the Royals, Phillies and Yankees, each of whom has sent scouts to watch the hard-throwing righty in the past few weeks. Levine adds that rival clubs believe the Sox are seeking controllable pitching in return.

Kopech, 28, is in his first season as a full-time reliever after making a combined 52 starts with the ChiSox in 2022-23. He’s taken up the role of the team’s primary closer, though given Chicago’s dismal results this season, he’s only picked up five saves on the year. Kopech’s bullpen tenure got out to a strong start, but he’s hit a rough patch of late, yielding eight earned runs over his past 6 1/3 frames. That rocky stretch has ballooned his ERA from 3.18 to 4.91.

Despite that lackluster mark, there’s plenty to like about Kopech. Once touted as one of the game’s elite pitching prospects — he and Yoan Moncada headlined the White Sox’ return for Chris Sale during their last rebuild — Kopech boasts a power arsenal that helps him miss bats in droves. He’s averaged a blazing 98.7 mph on his heater this season and punched out a gaudy 32.3% of his opponents. Kopech’s 14.1% swinging-strike rate is well north of the league average. That power arsenal, as is often the case, comes with notable command issues; Kopech has walked 13.5% of his opponents in 2024 and sports an unsightly 13.6% mark dating back to 2022.

Beyond his bat-missing ability, Kopech is both affordable and controllable. He’s earning $3MM in 2024 and would be arbitration-eligible once more this winter before reaching free agency following the 2025 season. Adding Kopech for a pair of pennant chases would give any contending club a power arm with an often triple-digit heater, bat-missing slider and a newly implemented cutter that’s been a plus pitch thus far.

With regard to the interested parties, none of the three teams listed by Levine comes as a surprise. The Royals have already been canvassing the bullpen market in early June, though their status as a division rival to the White Sox might make it tougher to complete a deal with Kansas City than with Philadelphia, New York or any of the surely yet-unnamed clubs who have interest in prying Kopech from the South Siders. That said, the Royals rank 22nd in the majors with a 4.32 ERA from their relievers. Their bullpen’s collective 93.5 mph average fastball velocity (per Statcast) is 27th in the majors, while its 17.7% strikeout rate is the worst in MLB. Kopech would add the type of power, bat-missing repertoire the Royals currently lack.

The Phillies (3.55, ninth) and Yankees (3.19, third) both rank among MLB’s ten best teams in terms of bullpen earned run average. They’ve gotten there in slightly different ways, with the Phillies focusing on strikeouts (26.5%, third in MLB) while the Yankees have a below-average 21.9% strikeout rate but also possess the third-best ground-ball rate of any team (46.8%). Both teams are among the three best in baseball at limiting home runs, with the Philly bullpen sitting at 0.68 HR/9 and the Yankees narrowly trailing at 0.74 HR/9. Both clubs are luxury-tax payors in 2024, making Kopech’s relatively modest $3MM salary all the more appealing.

It stands to reason that the Royals, Phillies and Yankees are just three of many clubs looking at Kopech as the trade deadline looms next month. Bullpen help is on every postseason hopeful’s deadline wishlist every summer, and Kopech is the type of power arm that any team would love to try to maximize. While velocity is up throughout the game, and triple-digit fastballs are no longer the rarities they once were, that doesn’t take away from Kopech’s impressive repertoire. The only pitchers in MLB (min. 10 innings) who throw harder on average are Oakland’s Mason Miller, Minnesota’s Jhoan Duran, Milwaukee’s Abner Uribe, Arizona’s Justin Martinez and St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley. Kopech’s bottom-line run prevention numbers may not stand out, but other teams surely covet the upside and feel there’s a potentially elite reliever to be unlocked with a few tweaks.

Yankees’ Everson Pereira To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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June 14: Pereira will undergo UCL surgery, SNY’s Andy Martino reports. That clearly indicates a tear of some degree in the outfielder’s ulnar collateral ligament. The Yankees have yet to formally announce the news, though when they do, the team will presumably provide more details and an expected timeline for Pereira’s return in 2025.

Martino suggests that Pereira could undergo the same type of internal brace procedure that teammate Jasson Dominguez required last year, which would come with a shorter timeline for recovery than a full reconstruction (i.e. Tommy John surgery). Dominguez had his surgery in September and was reinstated from the injured list and optioned to Triple-A earlier this week — a period of about nine months. If Pereira is on a similar trajectory, he could conceivably be ready at some point during spring training 2025.

June 13: The season is over for Yankees depth outfielder Everson Pereira. The 23-year-old has been on the seven-day minor league injured list since May 30. As noted by Conor Foley of the YES Network (X link), New York’s Triple-A affiliate announced this week that they’ve placed Pereira on the full-season IL. It’s not clear what the injury is or whether he requires any kind of surgery, but his season comes to a close after 40 Triple-A contests.

Pereira and the recently optioned Jasson Domínguez are the only outfielders on the 40-man roster behind the MLB quartet of Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham. Pereira would have had a hard time cracking that group even if he were healthy, but it’s not ideal to lose another four months of development reps. Pereira garnered attention towards the back half of Top 100 prospect lists at Baseball America and ESPN when he earned his first MLB call last August. The Venezuela native was coming off a huge showing between the top two levels of the minor leagues.

His stock has dipped since that point. Pereira couldn’t run with his initial major league opportunity. The Yankees played him as their primary left fielder once they’d fallen out of the playoff race in the final month. He hit .151/.233/.194 without a home run while striking out 40 times in 103 trips to the plate. Between Pereira’s rough September and Domínguez’s late-season Tommy John procedure, the Yankees went into the offseason needing to overhaul the outfield around Judge. They acquired Soto, Verdugo and Grisham to push Pereira towards the back of the depth chart.

Pereira entered the 2024 season as a divisive player on prospect lists. Keith Law of the Athletic ranked him only behind Domínguez in the Yankees system and kept him in the back half of his overall Top 100. Pereira landed sixth in the organization and in the top 100 overall at Baseball America but dropped to 17th on Eric Longenhagen’s write-up of the Yankee system at FanGraphs. Evaluators were unanimous in their praise for Pereira’s raw power and athleticism but divided as to whether he’d make enough contact to be a regular.

His first six weeks of 2024 were more of the same. Pereira drilled 10 homers with a .265/.346/.512 batting line over 182 plate appearances for Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He fanned in nearly a third of his trips to the plate, though, pushing his strikeout rate to 29.9% in 150 games at the top two levels of the minor leagues. Pereira’s injury history is also now a mounting concern. An ankle injury cut his 2019 season short and he was limited to 49 games in 2021 (after losing the ’20 season because of the pandemic).

New York added Pereira to their 40-man roster during the 2021-22 offseason. He has spent time on optional assignment in each of the following three seasons. Most players are out of options, and therefore can no longer be sent down without first clearing waivers, after being optioned in three separate seasons. Teams are sometimes granted a fourth option year for players who have missed substantial time. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Yankees pursue an extra option on Pereira next offseason, though they won’t know for certain whether that’s in play until the winter. He’ll continue to count against their 40-man roster while he’s on the minor league injured list.

The Opener: Rangers, Mariners, Cole, Pitchers’ Duel

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As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:

1. Series Preview: Rangers @ Mariners

It’s been a struggle for the reigning World Series champion Rangers this year, as they’ve played to just a 33-35 record that places them 5.5 games back of the Mariners for the AL West lead and 3.5 games back of the Twins for the final AL Wild Card spot. Texas has begun to heat up recently with a 9-6 record over their past 15 games, a stretch that includes swiping two of three from the Dodgers in L.A. earlier this week. With a three-game set against Seattle on the docket this weekend, the Rangers will turn to lefty Andrew Heaney (4.06 ERA), veteran Nathan Eovaldi (2.68 ERA), and righty Dane Dunning (4.80 ERA) opposite the three-headed monster at the front of the Mariners rotation: Luis Castillo (3.35 ERA), George Kirby (3.81 ERA), and Logan Gilbert (3.19 ERA).

The coming series will be crucial to the defending champs’ chances of turning things around, particularly in the division standings, prior to the trade deadline next month. The  Rangers won’t play the Mariners again until September. A sweep of the series by Texas would place them just 2.5 games back of Seattle in the division and back over .500, while the Mariners would be able to create even more distance in the AL West with a sweep of their own, giving them at least an eight-game lead over their closest competitor. The series kicks off tonight in Seattle and 7:10pm local time.

2. Cole continues rehab:

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is scheduled to make his third rehab start at the Triple-A level today, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including those at MLB.com). Boone added that Cole is expected to throw around 70 pitches, and Cole himself said following his last start that he expected to make one more before returning to the majors. That could signal that Cole will be ready to be activated as soon as next week, assuming there are no hiccups during his rehab outing today.

The reigning AL Cy Young winner has been sidelined since Spring Training due to a bout of elbow inflammation but has looked like his usual dominant self in two rehab starts at the Double-A level. In a combined eight innings of work, Cole has struck out nine batters (32.4% strikeout rate) while issuing zero walks and allowing just one earned run. Cole’s return to the rotation should allow the Yankees to return right-hander Cody Poteet to his role as an occasional spot starter rather than a fixture of the rotation, though the 29-year-old has impressed with a 2.40 ERA in three starts since replacing an injured Clarke Schmidt.

3. 2021 NL Cy Young Award rematch:

Sunday’s game between the Phillies and Orioles will be a particularly interesting one, even aside from the inherent intrigue of seeing two of the league’s heavyweights square off in a hypothetical World Series preview. Right-handers Corbin Burnes and Zack Wheeler are set to face off in Baltimore starting at 1:35pm local time. It will be the first time the pair have faced each other since finishing as the top two in a close 2021 NL Cy Young Award vote that saw each hurler get 12 out of 30 first place votes. Ultimately, Burnes bested Wheeler by a narrow margin to take home the award.

Burnes was traded to Baltimore over the winter and upon joining the Orioles has enjoyed his best campaign since he was crowned the best pitcher in the NL three years ago. In 86 2/3 innings, he’s notched  2.08 ERA and 3.22 FIP, though his 23.6% strikeout rate is a far cry from the 35.6% figure he posted in 2021. Meanwhile, Wheeler recently signed an extension to stay in Philadelphia through 2027. His 2.16 ERA in 87 2/3 frames this season would be a career best, and he sports an excellent 2.90 FIP with a 27.7% strikeout rate.

Astros Could Pursue Multiple Starting Pitching Additions

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The Astros are in danger of missing the postseason for the first time in eight years. Houston has not only made the playoffs in each year since 2016, they’ve won at least one round in every season and picked up a pair of World Series. This year’s squad is seven games under .500 halfway through June, carrying a 31-38 record that has them above only the Angels, A’s and White Sox in the American League.

Houston has a franchise-high payroll and an aging core that has had ample success. They’re uninterested in giving up on 2024. General manager Dana Brown said at the start of the month that he “(didn’t) see any scenario” where the team sells. Brown indicated he expected to add at the deadline despite their current place in the standings. To that end, Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that the team would like to add two starting pitchers before the deadline.

The rotation has been arguably the team’s biggest weakness, so it’s a straightforward target. They’ve been hit hard by injuries that have exposed a lack of upper minors depth. Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia have yet to make their season debuts after undergoing arm surgeries in 2023. The Astros lost Cristian Javier and José Urquidy to Tommy John surgeries within the past couple weeks. Those procedures were announced after Brown declared that he couldn’t envision selling, but both pitchers were headed for testing at the time. The GM presumably knew that season-ending surgery was at least a realistic possibility.

That leaves Houston with a rotation of Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti. Valdez and Verlander are assured of season-long rotation spots so long as they’re healthy. Hunter Brown has righted the ship after a terrible April with a 3.05 ERA and a 27.4% strikeout rate over his past seven starts. Blanco has a 2.67 ERA while punching out nearly 24% of opponents in 12 outings.

It’s a reasonable front four, particularly if Brown continues pitching like an upper mid-rotation arm. The depth remains perilously thin. Arrighetti has had an up-and-down rookie campaign, allowing 5.33 earned runs per nine over his first 11 MLB starts. His run prevention has improved over the past month. Arrighetti has allowed three or fewer runs in five of his last six outings. He hasn’t been especially efficient, though, issuing multiple walks in all 11 appearances. The 24-year-old has shown the stuff to miss bats against big league hitters, yet his debut season hasn’t been seamless.

Even if Houston isn’t actively looking to nudge Arrighetti from the starting five, they’d be ill-prepared to handle any other injuries. J.P. France is on the minor league injured list. Eric Lauer has allowed 14 runs in 15 Triple-A innings since signing a minor league deal. Arrighetti was the only upper minors pitching prospect whom most evaluators regarded highly in a thin farm system. Garcia and McCullers could return around the trade deadline. There’s some level of risk with both pitchers finishing rehabs from lengthy absences — particularly McCullers, who has an extended injury history.

It’s not clear how highly the Astros might aim in their search for starting pitching. It’s unlikely they’ll land multiple mid-rotation or better arms, particularly without a ton of top talent to shop from the farm system (and a probable need to acquire first base help). Landing one mid-rotation starter and an innings-eating depth arm could be attainable. It’s debatable whether the Astros should subtract from their minor league pipeline to upgrade the 2024 roster — MLBTR’s Steve Adams argued for Houston to be more amenable to dealing away veterans in a piece for Front Office subscribers this evening — but the front office is clearly still looking for short-term help.

Garrett Crochet could be the prize of this summer’s rotation trade market. The White Sox would need to be blown away to deal him with two more seasons of club control. They’re likelier to trade Erick Fedde, who is under contract through 2025. The Marlins will probably move Jesús Luzardo and could trade one of Trevor Rogers or Braxton Garrett. The likes of Zach Eflin, Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Austin Gomber and Cal Quantrill could also come available closer to the deadline.

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