Braves Acquire Rafael Montero From Astros
April 9: Houston is covering $7.7MM of Montero’s remaining salary, Charles Odum of the Associated Press reports. That’s on top of the $804K they’ve already paid him this year. In total, the Astros are paying about $8.5MM of Montero’s $11.5MM salary, leaving Atlanta on the hook for just a hair under $3MM. Montero joined the team today, per a club announcement, with Thompson optioned to open an active roster spot.
April 8: The Astros announced a trade sending reliever Rafael Montero and an undisclosed amount of cash to the Braves for a player to be named later. Houston recalled lefty reliever Bennett Sousa to take the vacated bullpen spot. Atlanta has not announced any corresponding moves. They had an opening on their 40-man roster after waiving Chadwick Tromp and do not need to make an active roster transaction until Montero reports to the team.
Montero, 34, is in the final season of a three-year free agent deal. He’s playing on an $11.5MM salary. The Astros are surely paying down the majority of that contract, though specifics on the cash have not been reported. Owner Jim Crane struck early in the 2022-23 offseason to re-sign Montero on a $34.5MM investment. That was in between the dismissal of former general manager James Click and the hiring of current GM Dana Brown. It did not work out.
The veteran right-hander was rocked for a 5.08 earned run average over 67 1/3 innings in the first season. He posted a 4.70 ERA while walking nearly as many hitters as he struck out last year. The Astros designated him for assignment around the trade deadline. That seemed like it would officially end his tenure in the organization. Montero had more than enough service time to elect free agency while collecting the rest of his contract.
Montero instead accepted an assignment to Triple-A after clearing waivers. He tossed 16 1/3 frames of four-run ball there to finish the season. Houston didn’t call him up last season but brought him back to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Montero allowed six runs (five earned) with 10 strikeouts and seven walks across 8 2/3 innings to earn his way back onto the MLB roster. He has made three regular season appearances, working four frames of two-run ball with five punchouts.
The 11-year big league veteran sits in the 95-96 MPH range with his four-seam fastball. He tweaked his pitch mix this year, according to Statcast. Montero added a mid-80s splitter while scrapping his low-90s changeup. That’s now his top offspeed pitch against lefty hitters. It’s too early to glean much from the results, but opponents have whiffed on five of 12 swings against it.
Atlanta evaluators were intrigued enough by Montero’s form to plug him into the middle innings. Daysbel Hernández and long man Zach Thompson each have options remaining. Lefty José Suarez is out of options but has a pedestrian 5:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio through his first four appearances. Montero figures to displace someone from that group — most likely Thompson — once he joins the team.
It’s purely a salary dump for Houston. They were never going to be able to shed the majority of Montero’s contract. Getting out from under even a small portion of the deal should give them more flexibility for deadline acquisitions. They’re within a few million dollars of the $241MM luxury tax threshold, which they seem disinclined to surpass. Whatever portion of Montero’s salary that the Braves assume will come off the Astros’ tax bill.
Image courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images.
Orioles Place Zach Eflin On Injured List With Low-Grade Lat Strain
April 9: Eflin has formally been placed on the injured list, retroactive to yesterday, the team announced this morning. Righty Colin Selby is up from Triple-A Norfolk for the time being, giving Hyde an extra arm in the bullpen.
April 8: The Orioles are shutting Zach Eflin down for a week after he was diagnosed with a low-grade lat strain, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters following tonight’s loss in Arizona (relayed by Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner). The righty will land on the 15-day injured list.
Eflin felt the discomfort during Monday evening’s start. He tossed six innings of one-run ball before departing at 73 pitches. Baltimore announced that he was battling shoulder fatigue and sent him for imaging. A one-week shutdown is far from the worst case scenario, but the O’s will go at least a couple weeks without their Opening Day starter.
Baltimore is now operating without arguably their three best pitchers. They knew they wouldn’t get much, if anything, from Kyle Bradish this year after he underwent Tommy John surgery last June. Grayson Rodriguez went down in Spring Training with elbow inflammation. He’s throwing but hasn’t progressed to a minor league rehab assignment.
The O’s have Charlie Morton, Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and Cade Povich in the rotation. They brought back Kyle Gibson on a one-year contract late in Spring Training. He isn’t yet ready for major league action. Gibson agreed to begin the season with Triple-A Norfolk to continue his build-up. He’ll make his first start there on Thursday.
Aside from Gibson, the O’s have prospect Brandon Young as their only depth starter on the 40-man roster. Young has only allowed two unearned runs while striking out 11 over his first two Triple-A starts this year. Thaddeus Ward, who made 26 relief appearances as a Rule 5 pick for the Nationals two seasons ago, is also working out of the Norfolk rotation. Cody Poteet and Roansy Contreras are working out of the bullpen in Triple-A but have some starting experience in the majors. The O’s have off days on Thursday and Monday, so they could get by with four starters into the second half of next week.
None of those pitchers can be expected to match Eflin’s production, of course. The 31-year-old righty managed an earned run average around 3.50 in both 2023 and ’24. He’d posted an even 3.00 ERA while working six innings per start over his first three appearances of this season.
Cubs Place Justin Steele On Injured List
11:05am: Steele tells ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that he first felt discomfort during his most recent start against the Rangers. He gutted through another couple innings, but the discomfort lingered in the days following that appearance. He believes it’ll be a minimum IL stint.
10:22am: The Cubs placed lefty Justin Steele on the 15-day injured list due to tendinitis in his left elbow, per a team announcement. Righty Ethan Roberts has been recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his spot on the roster.
It’s something of a surprise IL placement for the excellent 29-year-old southpaw. The Cubs hadn’t previously acknowledged any elbow troubles for Steele — at least not publicly — and he’s coming off the best results of his season to date. He fired seven shutout innings with three hits, two walks and eight punchouts against the Rangers just two days ago.
Steele’s fastball averaged just 90.2 mph during that outing, however, tying him for the lowest mark of his career. At first glance, that could’ve been chalked up to frigid low-30s temperatures at Wrigley Field, but it seems there’s at least some degree of elbow trouble at play. On the whole, Statcast has measured Steele’s average heater at 90.8 mph this season — a career-low mark that’s down even relative to his early work in prior seasons.
The Cubs haven’t given any sort of timetable for Steele’s absence. He’ll be sidelined into late April at the very least, joining fellow starter Javier Assad on the injured list. The Cubs still have Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd and Ben Brown locked into rotation spots. Veteran swingman Colin Rea seems likely to step into the starting five in place of Steele, though lefty Jordan Wicks gives Chicago a healthy option who’s on the 40-man roster down in Triple-A. Fellow Triple-A starter Caleb Kilian, also on the 40-man roster, was placed on the minor league IL over the weekend after giving up six runs in 2 1/3 innings during his 2025 debut.
The Cubs have an off-day tomorrow — one of five remaining off-days on their schedule in the month of April. They still have six consecutive days with a game from April 11-16, so they’ll need a fifth starter during that stretch, but they can plug Rea or Wicks in as the starter in a de facto bullpen game and navigate the rest of the month with only four starters, pending the rest of the group’s health.
Roberts, 27, has pitched in a pair of big league seasons with the Cubs but has yet to cement himself as a regular in the bullpen. He’ll give manager Craig Counsell a fresh arm for now, and his early work in Iowa is certainly eye-catching; he’s appeared in three games, tallied 4 1/3 innings and held opponents scoreless on four hits and no walks with eight strikeouts.
Jake Rogers Diagnosed With Oblique Strain, Could Miss More Than One Month
April 9: Manager A.J. Hinch said this morning that Rogers was diagnosed with a strained oblique and noted that it’ll be more than a minimal IL stint, adding that strains of this nature often take a month or more to heal (via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News).
April 8: The Tigers announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran catcher Tomas Nido from Triple-A Toledo and placed fellow catcher Jake Rogers on the 10-day IL with tightness in his left oblique. Infielder/outfielder Wenceel Perez has been transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot. Perez’s 60-day stint includes the time he’s already missed; he’ll be eligible to return in late May.
Rogers, 30 next week, was scratched from the lineup less than an hour ago. He felt the discomfort in his oblique area while taking swings in the batting cage prior to today’s game, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. The Tigers — whether influenced by the frigid temperatures at today’s home opener or not — will take the cautious route. They have not yet provided a timetable for his return or specified whether Rogers will head for an MRI. At this point, they’re using the term “tightness” and not “strain,” which suggests Rogers could escape with a relatively minimal IL stay.
Rogers has appeared in six games thus far and is out to a .222/.364/.333 start. He’s seeking a rebound from a down year in 2024, hopeful of returning to the 2023 form that saw him belt a career-best 21 homers while providing his typical brand of plus-plus defense behind the dish. Evan Woodbery of MLive.com pointed out earlier thiat his IL placement will snap a stretch of 37 straight Tarik Skubal starts caught by Rogers.
Nido doesn’t have the same power upside as Rogers, but he’s a plus defender with plenty of big league experience under his belt — most of it coming with the Mets. The 30-year-old veteran (31 this weekend) is a .210/.245/.309 hitter in 945 big league plate appearances accrued over parts of eight MLB seasons. Nido is just over seven weeks shy of six years of big league service time, and this new stint with Detroit will help him inch closer to the six-year mark. He appeared in 49 games between the Mets and Cubs last year, slashing a combined .192/.219/.315 with four homers.
Though Nido has never hit much outside a tiny seven-game sample in the shortened 2020 season, he’s consistently drawn above-average marks for his framing, his ability to block balls in the dirt and his prowess in controlling the running game. His throwing numbers did dip a bit below-average in 2022-23, but he bounced back with a 22.7% caught-stealing rate in 2024 — a couple ticks higher than the league-average 20.4% mark.
The Opener: Langford, López, Orioles Rotation
Here are three things we’ll be paying attention to around baseball today:
1. Rangers await MRI results for Wyatt Langford:
Sophomore slugger Wyatt Langford exited last night’s game with tightness in his right side, the team revealed to reporters (including Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). According to Landry, Langford is optimistic the injury isn’t too serious, and he noted that it is not as painful as the left oblique strain he dealt with in spring training. Still, the 23-year-old will go for an MRI today, and the Rangers will know more about the severity of the issue after that. Langford is off to a strong start this season, with four home runs and an .894 OPS through his first 12 games. Losing his bat would be a tough blow to a Texas team that is already dealing with several injuries on the pitching front.
2. Pablo López exits with hamstring tightness:
Twins ace Pablo López left his start on Tuesday with what the team later told reporters (including Dan Hayes of The Athletic) was right hamstring tightness. Hayes reports that the right-hander will go for an MRI today. López’s description of the injury doesn’t exactly sound promising – his word of choice was “weird” – but he said he hopes to avoid the IL and make his next start as scheduled. However, he also mentioned that he has never experienced discomfort like this before. Thankfully for the Twins, they have some starting depth at Triple-A, should they need to call upon it. Former top prospect Zebby Matthews is pitching well and seems like the natural first choice for a call-up. Even so, there is no doubt that losing López for any amount of time would be a punch to the gut. Through 16 2/3 innings this season, he has pitched to a 1.62 ERA and 3.34 SIERA.
3. How will the Orioles replace Zach Eflin?
On Tuesday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde confirmed that the team would briefly shut down Zach Eflin and place him on the 15-day IL. The right-hander is nursing a low-grade lat strain. Presumably, Baltimore will announce Eflin’s IL stint, and a corresponding active roster move, at some point before this afternoon’s rubber match with the Diamondbacks.
When it comes to replacing Eflin in the starting rotation, the O’s have a little more time to make their decision. As MLB.com’s Jake Rill explains, the Orioles can take advantage of two upcoming off days to put off choosing a fifth starter until April 19. At that time, however, they will have to make a difficult decision. Baltimore currently has an entire rotation’s worth of arms on the IL. Grayson Rodriguez, Trevor Rogers, Albert Suárez, and Chayce McDermott all suffered injuries before the season, while Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are recovering from elbow surgeries last June. The only other healthy starters on Baltimore’s 40-man roster are late-offseason signing Kyle Gibson, who has not stretched out enough to pitch in the majors; Cody Poteet, who has been pitching out of the bullpen in the minors this season; and Brandon Young, who has no major league experience. Thus, Young seems to be the most likely choice for the start on April 19. He has thrown 11 1/3 scoreless innings over his first two Triple-A starts this season, striking out 11.
Octavio Dotel Dies In Roof Collapse Tragedy
Former major leaguer Octavio Dotel has died in a tragic accident, Major League Baseball confirmed. The news was first reported by multiple outlets in the Dominican Republic, including Diario Libre. The roof of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday night, at least 98 people have lost their lives while nearly 200 more were injured, according to The Associated Press. Dotel was 51 years old.
Exact details of the tragic situation are difficult to pin down, but it appears hundreds of people were in the venue for a concert when the collapse happened. Dozens of people have been pulled out alive but many have died and the figures are likely to change. Dotel was reportedly trapped for about 11 hours before being rescued and initially survived, but was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.
Dotel was well known to baseball fans because he pitched in the majors for over a decade and bounced around to various teams. He made his major league debut with the Mets in 1999, working in a swing role. He was traded to the Astros ahead of the 2000 season and continued to work both out of the rotation and the bullpen for a while.
He eventually moved into a primary relief role and had more success. Though his earned run average was over 5.00 in both 1999 and 2000, he posted a 2.66 ERA in 2001. He tossed 105 innings over 61 appearances, only four of those being starts.
He continued working as a solid reliever for years after that, bouncing to the Athletics, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Tigers. He finished his career with a 3.78 ERA in 758 games. He recorded 109 saves and 127 holds. He won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. He was a part of a combined no-hitter with the Astros in 2003. He retired in 2014.
We at MLB Trade Rumors send our deepest condolences to Dotel’s family, friends and fans, as well as the hundreds of others who have been impacted by this awful event.
Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images
Travis Jankowski Elects Free Agency
Travis Jankowski elected free agency after being outrighted by the White Sox, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Chicago designated the veteran outfielder for assignment over the weekend when they activated Mike Tauchman from the injured list.
Jankowski started Spring Training with the Cubs. He was granted his release and signed with the White Sox in mid-March. Jankowski broke camp and appeared in seven games. He had three hits (all singles) and a walk in 14 at-bats. The lefty-hitting outfielder didn’t produce much offensively last season. He hit .200/.266/.242 in 207 plate appearances with the Rangers.
Texas got much better production out of Jankowski during their World Series season. He hit .263 with a .357 on-base percentage and stole 19 bases across 287 trips to the plate in 2023. Jankowski doesn’t provide any kind of power but he’s a patient hitter who has walked at a solid 10.1% clip over his career. His speed allows him to cover all three outfield positions.
Jankowski should find interest on another minor league deal. It wouldn’t be especially surprising if he circles back to the White Sox on a non-roster contract. First-year manager Will Venable was also the associate manager in Texas for the last two seasons.
Twins Sign Richard Lovelady To Minor League Deal
The Twins added reliever Richard Lovelady on a minor league contract. The move was announced by the team’s Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, where the left-hander was assigned. Zone Coverage’s Theodore Tollefson reported the signing before the announcement.
Lovelady elected free agency over the weekend after being designated for assignment by the Blue Jays. He’d only made two appearances with Toronto, allowing four runs across 1 2/3 innings. Lovelady had pitched in eight Spring Training contests. He struck out eight but gave up seven runs on nine hits (including three homers) and a trio of walks over 8 1/3 frames.
The Jays were Lovelady’s fifth big league team. He spent the first few seasons of his career in Kansas City and subsequently bounced to the A’s, Cubs and Rays. He pitched fairly well over 28 appearances with Tampa Bay late last season, turning in a 3.77 ERA across 28 2/3 frames. He got ground-balls at a strong 53.5% clip but had a mediocre 16.8% strikeout rate. The Rays opted not to keep him on the roster and non-tendered him.
Lovelady owns a 5.26 ERA in 101 major league innings over six seasons. His fastball sits in the low-90s and he doesn’t miss a ton of bats. Lovelady has gotten grounders on half the batted balls he has allowed while keeping left-handed hitters to a .232/.325/.345 line over 194 career plate appearances.
He’s a sensible depth add for a team with a heavily right-handed bullpen. Danny Coulombe is the only southpaw on the active roster. Kody Funderburk is in St. Paul on optional assignment. Lovelady and Anthony Misiewicz join him in Triple-A without occupying a 40-man roster spot. Lovelady is out of options, so the Twins could not send him back to the minors without running him through waivers if they call him up.
Padres Place Jackson Merrill On Injured List
The Padres announced that they’ve placed Jackson Merrill on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 7, due to a right hamstring strain. Fellow outfielder Oscar González was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to take the active roster spot.
There’s no indication it’ll be an extended absence, but this will pause a fantastic start to Merrill’s sophomore season. He’s hitting .378 with a trio of home runs across 41 trips to the plate. Merrill signed a $135MM extension last week. That followed an excellent rookie year in which he hit .292/.326/.500 with 24 homers while playing strong defense in his first season as a center fielder.
Brandon Lockridge has drawn into the lineup for the past two days. That’s likely to continue, as he’s the only real center fielder on the active roster. The Padres have kept Fernando Tatis Jr. in right field. Jason Heyward could theoretically slide over from left on occasion but won’t play center regularly. González, who is in line for his team debut after signing an offseason minor league deal, is a corner outfielder. San Diego added him to the 40-man roster last week, presumably to keep him from opting out of that contract.
Jose Iglesias is alongside Lockridge and Tatis in the outfield tonight. He’ll start in left field against A’s southpaw Jeffrey Springs. It’ll be the first outfield work of Iglesias’ 13-year major league career. He has more than 8000 innings at shortstop and a decent amount of work at both second and third base.
Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the moves before the team announced them.
Orioles Reportedly Offered Four-Year, $180MM Deal To Corbin Burnes
The Orioles made a four-year proposal to retain Corbin Burnes during free agency, the former Cy Young winner told reporters (relayed by Jake Rill of MLB.com). Burnes himself did not specify the dollar figure. However, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports that Baltimore’s final offer was for $180MM over four seasons.
Burnes ended up with the Diamondbacks on a six-year, $210MM contract that allows him to opt out after the ’26 season. Geography was a major factor. Burnes is a California native who now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. He told reporters in January that he preferred to pitch close to home, especially because he and his wife welcomed twins last June. Burnes and agent Scott Boras initiated conversations with D-Backs owner Ken Kendrick in late December and quickly hammered out the deal.
Could the Orioles have dissuaded him from going to Arizona if they’d made a longer offer? Burnes didn’t directly answer that, though he implied that it may not have mattered. “The dollars (in Arizona) were more than what they were (in Baltimore),” the righty said (video provided by Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun). “I just don’t think we matched up on the years it was going to take to get to a dollar amount for me to stay there. Now, I can’t guarantee I would have gone there had those offers come around just because … with us living here, if (the Diamondbacks) were going to be serious and have a fair offer, then this is where we were going to be. It’s tough to play the ‘what-if’ game.”
Nevertheless, Burnes said that Boras remained in negotiations with the Orioles until a few days before his agreement with the Snakes. He noted that the Arizona deal came together “within a matter of 72 hours,” so conversations with other clubs had stretched close to the end.
If the Orioles’ offer to Burnes did not include any deferred money, it would have featured a massive $45MM average annual value. That would have been the largest AAV for a pitcher (not counting Shohei Ohtani) and third overall behind the $51MM which Juan Soto received from the Mets and the approximate $46MM annual net present value on the Ohtani deal. Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Zack Wheeler hold the top annual salaries for non-Ohtani pitchers. They all landed in the $42-44MM range on three-year contracts.
Burnes took a good amount less on an annual basis. His $35MM per-year salary is tied for 14th overall, but the contract included $64MM in deferred money that dropped the NPV below $194MM (equivalent to just over $32MM per year). It contained a $10MM signing bonus and $30MM salaries ($10MM deferred) for the two seasons before the opt-out decision. Burnes has given up eight runs, six of them earned, over 9 1/3 innings through his first two starts in an Arizona uniform.