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Tigers Designate Buddy Kennedy For Assignment, Release Keston Hiura

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The Tigers announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contract of outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy, which was reported on yesterday. To open a spot on the active roster, they optioned first baseman Spencer Torkelson, a move that was also previously reported. To open a 40-man spot for Malloy, infielder Buddy Kennedy was designated for assignment. The Tigers also released first baseman Keston Hiura, with Torkelson taking over as the regular first baseman for Triple-A Toledo. Evan Woodbery of MLive was among those to relay the Hiura news on X.

Kennedy, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals in February. He has spent most of this year on optional assignment, only stepping to the plate 13 times in the big leagues. In 163 plate appearances for the Mud Hens, he has drawn walks at a strong rate of 11.7% but produced a tepid line of .234/.331/.383. That translates to a wRC+ of 88, indicating he’s been 12% below league average.

The Tigers will now have a week to trade Kennedy or pass him through waivers. If the past year is any indication, he should have plenty of interest around the league. Kennedy spent most of his career with the Diamondbacks until he was designated for assignment in September of last year. He then bounced to the Athletics, Cardinals and Tigers via waiver claims in the next few months.

The interest is understandable when looking at Kennedy’s combination of plate discipline and positional versatility. He’s always drawn a fair amount of walks, taking a free pass 16.8% of the time with Arizona’s Triple-A club last year. He slashed .318/.444/.481 for Reno last year, a mark that led to a 133 wRC+ even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He’s also spent time at all four infield spots, though just two innings at shortstop, and has appeared in left field as well.

He is in his final option year but could be stashed in the minors for the next few months by any club willing to give him a 40-man roster spot. The offense hasn’t been quite as impressive this year but it’s been a fairly small sample and he’s just a few months removed from being a popular waiver claim target. If he were to clear waivers, he has a previous career outright, which will give him the right to elect free agency rather than accept another outright assignment.

Hiura, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason and has been playing regularly for the Mud Hens. He has hit six home runs but also been punched out in 28.1% of his plate appearances. His .232/.312/.401 line translates to an 83 wRC+. That has generally been the formula with Hiura throughout his career. He has 50 major league home runs in 1,057 plate appearances but also has a massive 36% strikeout rate in the big leagues.

With Torkelson now taking over the first base gig for Toledo, Hiura will return to the open market and see what opportunities are out there for him. He hasn’t been in especially good form this year but the power potential is always intriguing.

Jose Urquidy May Require Season-Ending Surgery

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Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy will soon see Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas and may need a second Tommy John surgery, per a report from Alden González and Jeff Passan of ESPN, relayed by González on X.

The 29-year-old Urquidy has yet to pitch this season, opening the year on the injured list with a forearm strain. He went out on a minor league rehab assignment last month, but he was pulled from his latest appearance after experiencing renewed discomfort in his forearm area. Houston skipper Joe Espada said late last week that Urquidy and fellow right-hander Cristian Javier were seeking opinions from other doctors for their respective forearm issues — always an ominous development for a pitcher when dealing with a forearm/elbow injury.

This marks the third time in four seasons that Urquidy has spent time on the injured list, though this would obviously be the most significant injury of the bunch. Shoulder troubles limited him to 20 starts and 107 innings back in 2021, and he missed more than three months of the 2023 campaign with another shoulder injury.

When healthy, Urquidy is a solid big league arm. He was tagged for a 5.29 ERA last year, perhaps due to that shoulder injury, but has otherwise posted a sub-4.00 ERA mark in every big league season he’s pitched. He’s totaled 405 MLB frames and logged a 3.98 ERA. Urquidy’s 19.6% strikeout rate is about three percentage points shy of the league average, but he’s also posted an excellent 5.8% walk rate in the majors which has helped him to offset the relative lack of whiffs. He’s been prone to homers, as one might expect from an undersized right-hander with average fastball velocity, but his changeup has been an excellent pitch that’s helped him to hold left-handers to a woeful .203/.255/.364 slash in his career.

Urquidy is one of several Houston rotation options who’s missed time this year. Both Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez are healthy now but have had stays on the injured list. The aforementioned Javier just landed on the 15-day IL recently. The ’Stros have also been without righties Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. all season, with the former recovering from Tommy John surgery performed last May and the latter on the mend from flexor surgery performed last June.

The litany of injuries, paired with major steps back for right-handers J.P. France and Hunter Brown, has left Houston in what’s been an unfamiliar position for them in recent years: one of possessing a clear deficiency in the starting rotation. Starting pitching has been a hallmark of recent Astros clubs, but Houston starters rank 26th in baseball with a 4.69 ERA in 2024.

Brown has begun to right the ship after incorporating a new two-seamer into his repertoire, but he opened the season with 26 runs in 23 innings, so he has a ways to go before his numbers look respectable once again. France posted an ERA north of 7.00 and was optioned to Triple-A, where he’s since gone on the injured list with a shoulder injury. Rookie Spencer Arrighetti has been knocked around for a 5.98 ERA in his first nine MLB starts.

The quartet of Verlander, Valdez, Javier and breakout righty Ronel Blanco has combined for strong results this season, but Javier’s outlook is up in the air at the moment. Brown is holding down a rotation spot and can hopefully continue his recent stretch of productivity, but the depth behind the current group is suspect. Expected returns of Urquidy, McCullers and Garcia have been viewed as critical to the Astros as the summer wears on, but it now seems there’s a real chance Urquidy won’t make it back to the mound at all in 2024. Lefty Eric Lauer recently inked a minor league deal with the Astros but was hit hard in his first Triple-A start with the organization.

If Urquidy does go under the knife for the second Tommy John surgery of his career, he’ll miss the remainder of the 2024 season and likely the majority of the 2025 campaign as well. It seems quite possible that a surgery would end his tenure in Houston. He entered the 2024 season with 4.049 years of MLB service and will be paid $3.75MM this season, potentially spending the entire year on the injured list. He’d then be arbitration-eligible one final time this offseason before qualifying as a free agent post-2025. However, if Urquidy is going to miss the bulk of next season, the Astros would likely non-tender him rather than pay him what’d likely be a repeat of this year’s $3.75MM salary just to pitch the final couple months of next season in a best-case scenario.

Phillies Select David Dahl

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The Phillies announced a series of roster moves today, placing outfielder Brandon Marsh and infielder Kody Clemens on the 10-day injured list. Marsh has a right hamstring strain and Clemens has low back spasms. The latter’s move is retroactive to May 31. In corresponding moves, they selected the contract of outfielder David Dahl and recalled infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson. To get Dahl onto the 40-man, right-hander Michael Rucker was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Marsh was removed from last night’s game due to his hamstring issue, and manager Rob Thomson said after the game that the 26-year-old was considered day-to-day. It seems the club has decided to let Marsh take it easy for at least ten days to get over the issue, though it may not be a long stint on the IL if it was a borderline case. The club also has the best record in the National League at 41-19, perhaps giving them the luxury of being cautious. Clemens was initially in last night’s lineup before being scratched due to the spasms. It’s unknown how serious his issue is but he will sit out for over a week alongside Marsh.

The subtraction of two position players from the Philadelphia roster will create an opening for Dahl. The 30-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in the offseason and he has been playing for Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year, utterly mashing so far. He has 12 home runs in 166 plate appearances and has walked 11.4% of the time. His .340/.416/.660 slash line leads to a ludicrous 171 wRC+.

It’s been quite some time since this was the case, but Dahl, the No. 10 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2012, was once touted as one of the sport’s top all-around prospects. He hit the ground running in the majors, posting a .315/.359/.500 slash in 63 games as a rookie and batting .297/.346/.521 through his first 921 MLB plate appearances from 2016-19. Injuries have ravaged Dahl’s career, however, and for several years rendered him a shell of the once-dynamic talent he once looked to be.

Dahl suffered a lacerated spleen in a violent outfield collision and wound up needing to have the organ removed entirely. He’s also battled through a stress fracture in his ribcage, a broken foot, a high ankle sprain, a shoulder strain, multiple back injuries and a quad strain in his big league career. It’s an eye-opening injury history, highlighted by that splenectomy procedure — one that obviously took its toll on Dahl’s body. From 2020-23, he appeared in only 91 big league games and hit just .199/.235/.303 in that time. Even his Triple-A output was often lackluster along the way, but Dahl’s standout production in Lehigh Valley this season marks his strongest run of minor league play since the one that led to his original MLB call-up back in 2016.

Whether Dahl can find a second act in his career after so many physical ailments, the mere fact that he’s played his way back to the majors yet again after so many setbacks is a testament to his perseverance and passion for the game. For now, he’ll give the Phils a short-term option to help cover Marsh’s absence, but the Triple-A power surge is also genuinely intriguing. If Dahl proves he’s once again a big league-caliber bat, he’d be controllable via arbitration through the 2025 season, making him a potential multi-year outfield/bench piece for the Phils in an ideal scenario.

Mariners To Sign Víctor Robles

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The Mariners are signing outfielder Víctor Robles, per Ty Dane Gonzalez of the Locked on Mariners podcast on X. The Mariners optioned Jonatan Clase earlier today, opening an active roster spot for Robles but they will need a corresponding move to open a 40-man spot.

Robles, 27, was once a top prospect with the Nationals but has repeatedly struggled in recent years, both with underwhelming performance and injury absences. The Nats finally decided to move on last week and designated him for assignment. They seemingly explored trades but couldn’t find a deal to their liking and eventually released Robles. The Nats remain on the hook for his $2.65MM salary, meaning the Mariners will only have to pay him the prorated portion of the $740K league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Nats pay.

That makes it a fairly low-risk move for the Mariners, who will surely be hoping Robles can revert to his earlier career form. A few years ago, he was one of the top prospects in the whole league, with Baseball America giving him the #5 spot going into 2018 and the #11 slot the year after.

He seemed to be delivering on that prospect hype in 2019, when he was just 22 years old. He hit 17 home runs for the Nats that season and stole 28 bases while also providing elite defense in center field. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 3.7 wins above replacement that year and his strong performance helped the club reach the postseason, eventually winning the World Series.

Unfortunately, his performance slipped after that season and he hasn’t been able to get it back on track. He hit just .220/.293/.315 in the shortened 2020 season and produced fairly similar numbers in the two full seasons that followed, leading to a batting line of .216/.291/.306 over the 2020-22 period.

The fortunes of the club also faded in that time and the Nats entered a rebuilding phase. That should have left Robles with plenty of chances to turn things around but his health didn’t cooperate. He only got into 36 games last year due to back spasms in the lumbar spine and missed about a month of the current campaign due to a left hamstring strain. He managed to show some encouraging signs last year, hitting .299/.385/.364 despite the back problems, but has produced a brutal line of .120/.281/.120 so far this year.

Despite all the struggles, Robles is still young and could engineer a comeback. As mentioned, he was hitting okay last year. That didn’t carry over into this season, but he won’t maintain a .176 batting average on balls in play and it’s perhaps a good sign that he has drawn walks at a strong rate of 15.2% this year. That’s in a small sample of 33 plate appearances but it’s more than double his career rate of 6.2%, so it could be a nice step forward even if it regresses a bit.

The Mariners currently have an outfield/designated hitter mix consisting of Julio Rodríguez, Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone and Mitch Haniger. It’s possible that Robles will be utilized in the short side of a platoon. The right-handed hitter has slashed .262/.353/.373 against lefties and .226/.293/.349 against righties, leading to respective wRC+ counts of 101 and 72. Both Raley and Canzone are lefties with notable platoon splits. Raley has a 119 wRC+ against righties and 84 otherwise, with Canzone’s numbers at 86 against southpaws and 65 versus righties.

The M’s can use Robles to shield Raley and/or Canzone from some lefties while also perhaps using Robles for pinch running duties or as a late-game defensive replacement. For his part, Robles will get a chance to reinvent himself with a chance of scenery before he’s slated for free agency this winter.

Brewers Outright Mitch White

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Brewers right-hander Mitch White went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Nashville, reports Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He’s been outrighted once in the past, so he’ll have the opportunity to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, if he prefers to look for opportunities elsewhere.

The Brewers acquired White from the Giants in exchange for cash last month. San Francisco had also designated the right-hander for assignment prior to that swap. White made six appearances with the Brewers, pitching 8 1/3 innings and yielding six earned runs on eight hits and four walks (two of them intentional). He punched out six batters. On the season as a whole, White has tossed 23 2/3 innings and been roughed up for a 7.23 ERA between the Blue Jays, Giants and Brewers. He’s fanned just 11.8% of his opponents against a matching 11.8% walk rate.

Once a prospect of note within the Dodgers organization, the now-29-year-old White has pitched in parts of five big league seasons. The 2016 second-rounder had a nice early-career run in L.A. but has struggled since being traded away from Los Angeles. In 105 2/3 frames as a Dodger, White recorded a 3.58 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate. He’s since pitched to a 5.45 ERA with a diminished 17.7% strikeout rate between the Blue Jays, Giants and Brewers.

If he accepts his outright assignment, he’ll stick with the Brewers organization and suit up for their Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, while hoping to pitch his way back into another major league opportunity. If he opts to test free agency, he’ll likely find some interest on minor league deals from clubs seeking to stockpile experienced pitching depth.

Orioles Designate Thyago Vieira For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Thyago Vieira for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to top infield prospect Connor Norby, whose previously reported promotion to the big leagues has now been formally announced by the team. Baltimore also placed infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo on the 7-day concussion list and recalled left-hander Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk.

The Orioles only recently acquired the 30-year-old Vieira in a trade with the Brewers, who’d also designated him for assignment. Baltimore added Vieira and righty Aneuris Rodriguez, sending minor league right-hander Garrett Stallings back to Milwaukee. Based on the way things played out with Vieira, it seems Rodriguez was the more interesting component of that swap for the O’s.

Vieira made only one appearance as a member of the Orioles, and went about as poorly as a debut could go. The right-hander faced five hitters but didn’t retire any of them, yielding a hit and four walks before being lifted from the game. He wound up being charged with three runs in what could very well end up an extremely brief stay in the organization.

Vieira is one of baseball’s hardest throwers, averaging 98 mph on a fastball that has often touched triple digits. He’s now appeared in 17 big league games this season and yielded runs in ten of them, however. In 22 1/3 frames between the Brewers and O’s, he’s logged an ugly 6.85 ERA. Despite his premium velocity, Vieira’s shaky command has undercut his ability to pile up strikeouts. This year’s 22.5% strikeout rate is effectively league-average (22.3%), but his 15.3% walk rate is one of the highest marks in baseball. He’s also struggled with home runs, yielding an average of 2.42 big flies per nine innings.

Though his MLB experience is limited, Vieira had a mostly solid run with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball from 2020-22. Command was still a problem for him even when pitching overseas, but he notched a 3.61 ERA there and whiffed 26.2% of his opponents. His pre-NPB track record in the majors was nearly as spotty as his results so far in 2024, however. Overall, he’s totaled 51 MLB innings but posted a 6.71 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 13% walk rate. The Orioles will have a week to trade Vieira, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

As for Mateo, he’ll head to the concussion list on the heels of a freak injury. He was clipped in the head by teammate Cedric Mullins’ bat when Mateo reached into the on-deck circle to grab a weight for his bat (X link with video). Ramon Urias subsequently pinch-hit for Mateo.

Once the Orioles’ primary shortstop, Mateo has instead seen the bulk of his action at second base this year, in addition to four appearances in center and two at his now-former shortstop slot. He’s hitting .246/.294/.447 with three homers and ten stolen bases in 128 plate appearances on the year.

Submit Your Question For This Week’s Episode Of The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast!

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 season is now into June, which means we are less than two months away from the trade deadline. If you have a question about the ongoing 2024 season, a future transaction, a look ahead to the offseason, or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Orioles To Promote Connor Norby

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The Orioles are calling up infield/outfield prospect Connor Norby, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN on X. Members of the Baltimore beat, including Jake Rill of MLB.com on X, had previously noted that Norby was en route to Toronto with the rest of the team. Norby isn’t yet on the club’s 40-man roster but the O’s have a vacancy there after recently losing Kaleb Ort off waivers to the Astros. They will need to make a move to get Norby onto the active roster. Infielder Jorge Mateo is in concussion protocol, per Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com, and could perhaps wind up on the injured list.

It’s a nice early birthday present for Norby, who turns 24 on Saturday. His call-up is yet another step in the march of exciting prospect that the Orioles have graduated in recent years. The O’s finished last in the American League East in each full season from 2017 to 2021 losing 108 games or more in three of those seasons. In the process, they managed to use high draft picks to stockpile exciting youngsters such as Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, Kyle Stowers, Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, DL Hall and Grayson Rodriguez, all of whom were taken with a first- or second-round pick.

Norby can be counted in that group as well, with the O’s grabbing him in the second round of the 2021 draft. He got a brief professional debut in the months after that draft selection and then tore through three levels in 2022. Going from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, he hit 29 home runs in 547 plate appearances. He also drew walks in 10.1% of those trips to the plate while only getting punched out 20.8% of the time. His combined slash line of .279/.360/.526 led to a 137 wRC+, or 37% above average overall, and he also stole 16 bases.

That performance was enough to get him on the back of some top 100 prospect lists going into 2023. Baseball America gave him the #93 slot while ESPN put him at #92. His results last year were still solid but not quite as overwhelming as the prior season. He spent all of 2023 in Triple-A, getting into 138 games. He still hit 21 home runs and walked in 9% of his trips to the plate, but the offensive environment was quite strong in Triple-A last year, thanks in part to some robo-ump shenanigans. Norby’s .290/.359/.483 batting line produced a 109 wRC+, still above average but not by a massive margin, and his 10 steals were a slight drop-off from the year before.

He didn’t get as much prospect love coming into this year but has been performing quite well for Norfolk. Through 51 contests in 2024, he already has nine home runs and seven steals. His 30.7% strikeout rate is quite high but he’s also drawing walks at an 11.3% clip. His .286/.374/.510 line translates to a 127 wRC+ on the year so far.

Defensively, Norby came up as a second baseman but the O’s have had him spend a bit more time in the outfield corners since the infield is fairly crowded by the presence of Henderson, Westburg, Holliday, Mateo and others. That gives the club a bit of flexibility in how they slot him into the lineup, though the outfield mix is pretty crowded with Cowser, Stowers, Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and Austin Hays all sharing time there while Ryan O’Hearn is the regular in the designated hitter slot and Ryan Mountcastle at first base.

Mateo has been the regular second baseman for the O’s lately, so that position could be open if he is indeed going to miss some time due to a concussion. Norby could slot in there or the O’s could also move Westburg from third base, as he has plenty of second base experience, with Ramón Urías taking over at the hot corner. That latter scenario would leave Norby in a backup role, which wouldn’t be ideal treatment for a notable prospect, but the O’s have also called up guys like Stowers and Kjerstad without finding significant playing time for them.

However it plays out, it continues to highlight the embarrassment of riches that the Orioles have in terms of young position player talent. They have so many of these exciting youngsters that even finding playing time for all of them is a challenge. In the long run, that is something that could be worked out organically. Santander is an impending free agent while Mullins, Hays and Mateo are all slated to hit the open market after 2025. That will open up plenty of opportunities for the youngsters in the long run while it’s also feasible that the O’s use some of these young players in deadline trades to bolster the pitching staff for a postseason push.

For now, Norby will get the call to the big leagues for the first time and start his service time clock. Even if he stays up for the rest of the year, he won’t be able to get a year of service in 2024, meaning the earliest he could reach free agency is after 2030. He could perhaps reach Super Two status if he stays in the majors from now and through the end of the 2026 campaign, but it’s also possible that he winds up back in Norfolk after Mateo is healthy. Holliday and Kjerstad are also playing well in Triple-A at the moment and could force their way back to the big leagues down the line. There are many moving parts that will impact the long-term plans but it’s undoubtedly a great day for Norby.

Twins Option Edouard Julien; Royce Lewis Expected To Return Tuesday

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The Twins have optioned second baseman Edouard Julien to Triple-A St. Paul, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported last night that the move was likely on the horizon, as the Twins need to clear roster space for the return of infielder Royce Lewis, who’s expected to join the team tomorrow for their series opener against the Yankees.

Julien, 25, graduated from top prospect status to the Twins’ apparent everyday second baseman last year when he hit .263/.381/.459 with 16 homers in 408 plate appearances as a rookie. Minnesota felt comfortable enough with the Canadian-born slugger at second base that they traded stalwart infielder Jorge Polanco to the Mariners this offseason when looking for ways to pare back the payroll.

Julien hit .223/.330/.500 with seven homers through the end of April, but he’s since fallen into a slump that’s seen him post a bleak .169/.274/.181 slash over a span of 95 trips to the plate. He’s still walking at a hefty 12.6% clip but has also fanned at a 38% rate during that slump (and in 34% of his plate appearances on the season overall). Julien’s extremely patient approach has helped him walk in nearly 15% of his MLB plate appearances, but that patience can border on passivity as well. Jonathan India is the only qualified hitter in baseball who’s swung at fewer pitches than Julien’s 37%.

The monthlong slump will make Julien the roster casualty for the return of Lewis, who’s been Minnesota’s best hitter when healthy dating back to his 2022 debut. Injuries have marred Lewis’ career to date — he’s twice torn his right ACL and has been out since Opening Day due to a quad strain — but the 2017 No. 1 overall draft pick is a .313/.369/.564 hitter (159 wRC+) in 282 MLB plate appearances. He also swatted four homers in 26 postseason playoff appearances last year (in addition to homering in his first at-bat of the 2024 regular season).

With Lewis reclaiming the regular third base job and Julien headed to St. Paul, the Twins’ infield will take on a different look. Jose Miranda has been the team’s primary third baseman and, after a lost 2023 season, has reemerged as a key contributor. The 25-year-old Miranda (26 later this month) is another former Twins top prospect who impressed as a rookie in 2022, popping 15 homers and batting .268/.325/.426 in 483 plate appearances. He tried to play through a shoulder impingement that eventually required surgery last season, hitting just .211/.263/.303 in 40 big league games.

Now that his shoulder is back at full strength, Miranda looks like his old self. He’s taken 151 turns at the plate and delivered a quite-productive .280/.311/.469 slash with six homers and nine doubles. Miranda doesn’t walk much (3.3% this season, 5.3% career) but puts the ball in play at a very high rate (14.6% strikeout rate this year, 17.4% career) and has plenty of extra-base pop. Though he played some second base in the minors, it doesn’t seem likely he’ll do so at this point. He’ll rotate between the infield corners and designated hitter, but utilityman Willi Castro figures to pick up the bulk of playing time at second base. The switch-hitting Castro is out to a .260/.335/.420 start and has experience playing all over the diamond.

The Twins could’ve made a more aggressive roster decision, cutting ties with a struggling veteran instead. But Carlos Santana has rebounded from an awful start to bat .253/.340/.434 over the past 30 days. Kyle Farmer and Manuel Margot both have ugly numbers on the whole, but as Hayes notes, Margot is hitting left-handers fairly well and Farmer is valued both for his defensive versatility and his leadership in the clubhouse. Optioning Julien also preserves depth in a way that parting with someone like Farmer or Margot would not; both players could reject outright assignments to the minors in favor of free agency.

The Twins’ infield crunch falls into the “good problem to have” bucket of cliches. Julien’s demotion certainly doesn’t change the organization’s view that he can be a valuable long-term contributor, but he’ll head to Triple-A for what’s likely to be a relatively short-term reset. Presumably, in the event of an injury in the infield or at just about any non-catcher spot among the team’s position-player corps, Julien would be the first man back up. (Castro could slide right back into a super-utility role or into an everyday outfield role.)

From a service time vantage point, Julien’s slump could potentially cost him, however. He entered the season with 135 days of MLB service. Had he stayed in the majors for good, he’d have been a slam-dunk Super Two player following the 2025 season. It’s still possible he reaches that designation but is now far from a sure thing. Julien has already reached one full year of MLB service, so this assignment won’t impact his timeline to free agency, but it could potentially cost him a fourth trip through the arbitration process.

The Opener: Tigers, Snell, Middleton

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With the calendar now flipped to June, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Tigers roster moves incoming:

The Tigers are set to promote third base/outfield prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy to the big leagues today. Corresponding moves to clear space on the active and 40-man rosters will be needed, though one of those has already come to light, as Detroit will reportedly option former No. 1 overall draft pick Spencer Torkelson to Triple-A Toledo.

Torkelson, 24, enjoyed what appeared to be a breakout second half last year with the Tigers as he slashed .261/.345/.576 with 16 home runs in his final 48 games. That strong production unfortunately has not carried over into the 2024 campaign, and the slugger has hit a paltry .201/.266/.330 with just four home runs in 54 games so far this season. Veterans Gio Urshela and Mark Canha are among the first base-capable options who could step into Torkelson’s shoes.

Malloy is in his second season with the Tigers organization after coming over from the Braves in the Joe Jimenez trade and has done nothing but hit at the Triple-A level since arriving in Toledo. He slashed .277/.417/.474 last season and has delivered a very similar .252/.410/.473 slash line in 45 games this season. Malloy has plenty of experience at the hot corner, but the Tigers said prior to the season that he’d play the outfield exclusively this year.

2. Snell to the IL?

Reigning NL Cy Young award winner Blake Snell’s 2024 campaign has been nothing short of disastrous. The San Francisco southpaw has already spent time on the injured list due to an adductor strain and has an ugly 9.51 ERA with an 11.8% walk rate against a 26.1% strikeout rate across six starts this season. That all came before Snell suffered a groin injury yesterday that required him to leave his start against the Yankees in the fifth inning.

Snell is set to undergo an MRI today and appears poised to make a second trip to the injured list since signing with the Giants. With Alex Cobb, Robbie Ray, Keaton Winn, and Tristan Beck already on the IL, the Giants will have just three regular starters left in their rotation: Logan Webb, Kyle Harrison, and Jordan Hicks. Long reliever Spencer Howard could pitch in a bulk role during bullpen games for the Giants, and Triple-A arms Mason Black, Landen Roupp, and Kai-Wei Teng could all be options to replace Snell in the club’s rotation.

3. Middleton meeting with Tommy John specialist:

The Cardinals have been without veteran reliever Keynan Middleton, who signed with the club on a one-year, $6MM pact over the offseason, for the entire regular season to this point. It now appears possible that Middleton’s absence from the club’s bullpen could last the entire season. Middleton is reportedly poised to meet with UCL expert Dr. Christopher Ahmad for a second opinion. In addition to costing Middleton the remainder of the season, surgery would also surely prompt the Cardinals to decline their $6MM 2025 club option on the veteran right-hander in favor of a $1MM buyout.

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