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Braves Release Jackson Stephens To Sign With CPBL Team, Sign Anderson Pilar To Minor League Deal

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1:00pm: MLBTR has learned that Stephens was released to sign with a team in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.

12:49pm: Right-hander Jackson Stephens has been released by the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. On the flip side, the Braves have signed right-hander Anderson Pilar to a minor league deal and he’s been assigned to Gwinnett.

Stephens, 31, signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason. He’s actually been putting up good numbers in the minors in a swing role. He has logged 49 Triple-A frames this year over four starts and 18 relief appearances. He has a 2.57 earned run average, 22.2% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 41.5% ground ball rate.

Atlanta has needed plenty of arms at the big league level this year, which each of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Joe Jiménez missing significant time. Despite the need for innings, they haven’t given Stephens the call. With his decent numbers, it’s possible he opted out his minor league pact.

Whether he triggered some kind of opt-out or this is a straight release, the result is the same. He’ll head out to the open market and assess his opportunities. He has 132 1/3 innings of major league experience with a 4.15 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.

As for Pilar, it’s not a surprise that Atlanta has scooped him up. They took him from the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft back in December. He came into camp with the club but couldn’t make the most of the opportunity. He tossed 5 2/3 spring innings, allowing nine earned runs on ten hits and six walks while striking out ten.

Atlanta returned him to the Marlins prior to Opening Day. He’s having a decent but not spectacular season. He tossed 44 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.26 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate. His .311 batting average on balls in play and 62.3% strand rate are a bit to the unfortunate side. His 3.11 FIP is more than a full run better than his ERA. The Marlins released him earlier this week and Atlanta has quickly pounced on him. This time, they aren’t bound by the Rule 5 restrictions and don’t even need to give Pilar a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Brusdar Graterol Unlikely To Return In 2025

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Flamethrowing Dodgers setup man Brusdar Graterol underwent shoulder surgery back in November and hoped to be able to pitch in the season’s second half, but manager Dave Roberts indicated to the Dodger beat yesterday that the big right-hander’s chances of making it back to a big league mound in 2025 are slim (link via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times). Graterol is with the team’s staff at their spring complex in Arizona but has not yet resumed throwing a ball, with just over six weeks of the season left.

It’s been a discouraging couple years for the 26-year-old Graterol, whom the Dodgers acquired in a 2020 trade that sent righty Kenta Maeda to the Twins. Graterol was one of Minnesota’s top young arms at the time, but the Twins felt comfortable dealing him due to the remaining four years on Maeda’s contract and perhaps in part due to concerns about shoulder troubles with Graterol.

Early on, it looked like a win-win for both parties. Maeda was the AL Cy Young runner-up in the shortened 2020 season. Graterol immediately seized an important role in manager Dave Roberts’ bullpen. Injuries to both pitchers would significantly cut their workload with their new clubs, however.

From 2020-23, Graterol pitched 173 2/3 innings of 2.69 ERA ball for the Dodgers. He’s never missed bats the way one might expect from a pitcher who sits 99 mph with his sinker and regularly ramps it up into triple-digit territory, but the big righty is also one of the sport’s premier ground-ball pitchers. During that 2020-23 peak, he fanned just 18.9% of his opponents but also turned in a terrific 5.5% walk rate and an elite 62.5% ground-ball rate.

Strong as the results were in that time, Graterol was also on the injured list five different times for elbow or shoulder troubles with the Dodgers before finally undergoing surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. He pitched just 7 1/3 innings last year and seemingly won’t get back on the mound in 2025.

Graterol is being paid $2.8MM this season and is under club control via arbitration for one more year. Arb-eligible players who miss an entire season due to injury typically agree to sign for the same amount the following year, assuming they’re tendered a contract. Given Graterol’s strong results when healthy and minimal cost to the deep-pocketed Dodgers, they’ll likely retain him and hope for a healthy year in 2026 (assuming there haven’t been any notable setbacks in his rehab).

It’s not all bad news with regard to the Dodger bullpen, however. Roberts told reporters last night that righty Michael Kopech will begin a minor league rehab assignment today (link via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya). Kopech opened the 2025 season on the injured list due to a shoulder impingement that ultimately sent him to the 60-day IL. He returned in June and came roaring out of the gates with seven shutout frames, but something was clearly off in his final appearance, as he walked three of the four batters he faced before being lifted and placed on the injured list to inflammation in his knee.

Kopech initially downplayed the severity, but once the inflammation subsided, imaging revealed a torn meniscus. He underwent surgery and was quickly transferred back to the 60-day IL. He’s been on the injured list since July 1, so Kopech isn’t eligible to be activated until the very end of the month. It’s encouraging that he’s already setting out on a rehab stint, as he’ll have a runway of more than two weeks to build up before he’s first eligible to return.

Rafael Ortega Opts Out Of Mets Deal

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Veteran outfielder Rafael Ortega triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Mets and was granted his release, MLBTR has learned. He’s a free agent who can sign with any club.

The 34-year-old Ortega signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason, kicking off his second stint with the team. He also spent the 2023 campaign with the Mets, hitting .219/.341/.272 in 136 big league plate appearances and .230/.379/.398 in 140 Triple-A plate appearances.

Ortega has picked up more than three years of major league service time and played in parts of eight big league seasons. He’s a career .245/.322/.349 hitter in 1301 plate appearances as a big leaguer, highlighted by a 2021-22 run with the Cubs that saw him slash .265/.344/.408 (110 wRC+) in semi-regular action (701 plate appearances over 221 games).

Ortega has spent the majority of the current season on the injured list due to a significant hamstring strain. He went on a low-level rehab stint in late July and was activated on the Triple-A roster earlier this month. He started only four of the nine games for the Mets’ Triple-A Syracuse club since his reinstatement, however, and received 18 total plate appearances in that time. Top outfield prospect Carson Benge’s recent promotion to Syracuse would surely further reduce Ortega’s playing opportunities, so he’ll return to the open market in search of a new landing spot.

In parts of 10 seasons at the Triple-A level, Ortega is a .286/.370/.446 hitter. He’s a left-handed bat who can handle all three outfield positions. He’ll be an option for any club looking for some experienced outfield depth.

Braves Designate Carlos Carrasco For Assignment

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The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve designated right-hander Carlos Carrasco for assignment. Right-handed reliever Hunter Stratton has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to take Carrasco’s spot on the roster.

Atlanta picked up Carrasco in a cash swap with the Yankees prior to the trade deadline. The Braves were simply in need of arms to log innings with so many members of their rotation on the injured list, and Carrasco had been pitching well with New York’s Triple-A club in Scranton. Carrasco’s tenure with the Braves kicked off decently, as he tossed a quality start in a no-decision against the Reds on deadline day.

The next two outings for Carrasco, however, were brutal. The 38-year-old righty was tagged for six runs in 5 2/3 innings versus the Marlins on Aug. 7 and was torched for another six runs in only two innings against his former Mets club just yesterday. Overall, he’s pitched 13 2/3 innings with Atlanta and recorded a 9.88 ERA: 15 runs on 22 hits (three homers) and seven walks with only nine strikeouts.

Carrasco made 29 solid starts for the 2022 Mets (3.97 ERA, 152 innings) but has now struggled greatly in three consecutive major league seasons. He’s pitched 239 1/3 MLB frames dating back to 2023 but logged only a 6.36 earned run average as his velocity, strikeout rate, walk rate and home run rate have all trended in the wrong direction. The Braves are likely to place Carrasco on release waivers within the next couple days, and he’d become a free agent upon clearing.

With Carrasco dropped from the staff, Atlanta will give starts to Spencer Strider, Erick Fedde, Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz and Hurston Waldrep. Reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale is on the mend from the ribcage fracture that’s sidelined him for nearly two months and pitched two innings Tuesday in the first of what’ll be multiple minor league rehab starts.

The Opener: Goldschmidt, Muncy, Cubs

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Here are three things to keep an eye on around MLB today…

1. Goldschmidt injury watch:

Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was unavailable for yesterday’s game after suffering a knee injury in Tuesday’s rout of the Twins. The team announced yesterday that Goldschmidt has a low-grade sprain with some inflammation. Goldschmidt told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he’s hoping for a “short-term” absence and thinks there’s a chance he could avoid the injured list entirely. The Yankees are off today, though it’s hardly uncommon for clubs to provide medical updates even on off-days. Goldschmidt, who’ll turn 38 next month, has cooled considerably since a blistering start to the season. He’s still hitting .276/.331/.422 overall (108 wRC+), but nearly all of his production came in April and May. Since June 1, he’s hitting just .207/.259/.340 (63 wRC+) in 203 trips to the plate.

2. Muncy being evaluated for potential injury:

Max Muncy was scratched from yesterday’s game after feeling discomfort in his right side, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. He’ll be further evaluated today. Muncy’s season has been the opposite of Goldschmidt. The 34-year-old slugger got out to a brutal start but caught fire in late April and has been in vintage form ever since. Muncy drew the ire of Dodgers fans when he opened the season with a woeful .167/.283/.231 performance through his first 25 games (92 plate appearances). Since then? Things look a little different. Muncy has turned in a mammoth .294/.427/.592 batting line with 17 home runs and more walks (18.8%) than strikeouts (15.7%) in his past 255 plate appearances. He’s averaging 91.6 mph off the bat in that time and sporting an enormous 53.3% hard-hit rate. By measure of wRC+, he’s been 80% better than average at the plate since late April.

Obviously, an absence of any note would sting terribly for Los Angeles, particularly in light of the team’s recent slide in the standings. The Dodgers have dropped four games in a row and are just 12-21 over their past 33 games. Making matters worse for L.A. is that the red-hot Padres have won five straight games, leapfrogging the Dodgers for sole possession of first place in the National League West.

3. Top Cubs prospect set for debut in home country:

Cubs fans should get their first look at top outfield prospect Owen Caissie today, as he’s reportedly set to be recalled from Triple-A as catcher Miguel Amaya heads to the injured list. As if his first call to the majors isn’t sweet enough, the Canadian-born Caissie will get the opportunity to make his debut in his home country, as the Cubs wrap up a road series against the Jays in Toronto.

Caissie’s name has kicked up in trade rumors both in the offseason and at the recent trade deadline, but the Cubs held onto him — and all of their other most highly regarded prospects — amid a surprisingly quiet deadline. Caissie, a 2020 second-round pick, has slashed .289/.389/.566 (143 wRC+) with 22 homers, 26 doubles and two triples in 404 plate appearances during his second run through the Triple-A level. While his production has improved in his second stint at the level, Caissie’s problematic strikeout rate remains largely unchanged. He fanned in 28.4% of his plate appearances in 127 Triple-A games last year and is at 28.2% through 93 games in 2025.

Read The Transcript Of Nicklaus Gaut’s Fantasy Baseball Chat

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Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 11 am Central time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!

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Cubs To Promote Owen Caissie For MLB Debut

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The Cubs are planning to promote top prospect Owen Caissie, as reported by Kiley McDaniel and Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The young outfielder is already on the 40-man, and he will presumably take Miguel Amaya’s spot on the active roster. Amaya sprained his ankle tonight and will require an IL stint. As for Caissie, the Ontario native is expected to make his MLB debut tomorrow against the Blue Jays.

The Padres selected Caissie in the second round of the 2020 draft, and they flipped him to the Cubs that winter as part of the trade package that brought Yu Darvish to San Diego. He has since worked his way up Chicago’s minor league system, turning into one of the team’s most promising prospects. Baseball America ranked him 21st in the organization in 2021, eighth in 2022, 13th in 2023, fifth in 2024, and second in 2025. He has also ranked among BA’s overall top 100 prospects in each of the past three years. Not every source was quite as high on Caissie entering the 2025 campaign; FanGraphs dropped him off their top 100 list after ranking him 65th in 2024, while The Athletic’s Keith Law has never included Caissie among his top 100 prospects. Yet, none ever doubted Caissie’s huge raw power – the question was whether he could translate that power into success at the highest level.

That question loomed larger than ever after Caissie slashed .278/.375/.472 with a .195 isolated power and a 115 wRC+ in his season at Triple-A in 2024. Those are solid but hardly earth-shattering numbers, especially not for a bat-first corner outfielder. However, the lefty slugger has taken a massive step forward this year, with 22 home runs and 50 extra-base hits in 92 games for the Iowa Cubs. His .281 ISO and 145 wRC+ both rank fifth among qualified hitters in the International League. His strikeout rate is still high – that has always and probably will always be an issue – but a 28.0% K-rate certainly isn’t fatal, at least not if he keeps drawing his walks and crushing home runs.

None of this is to say that Caissie is a sure-thing, middle-of-the-order jolt for the Cubs’ lineup. He’s still just a 23-year-old prospect who has to prove his swing-and-miss issues won’t sink him against MLB pitching and, in particular, left-handed MLB pitching. Still, it’s exciting that he’s joining the team for the stretch run as they look to hold on to the NL’s top Wild Card spot and try to challenge the seemingly unstoppable Brewers for the NL Central crown. Any offensive boost he can provide will be much appreciated. The Cubs rank among the league’s best offensive teams on the season, but they’ve struggled as of late, scoring just 34 runs in 11 games since the trade deadline.

With that said, it’s worth wondering where Caissie would fit into Chicago’s lineup. He can play the corner outfield or DH, and the Cubs are set at those positions with Kyle Tucker, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki. Tucker bats lefty like Caissie, while Happ is a switch-hitter with stronger splits against righty pitching. Suzuki bats right-handed, but he doesn’t have any trouble facing same-handed pitching. Ultimately, as the cliché goes, this is the best kind of problem for manager Craig Counsell to have. He can take advantage of Caissie’s presence on the roster to give his veterans a bit more rest, particularly the slumping Tucker. As long as Caissie hits, it will work out quite nicely. On the other hand, this means there’s quite a bit of pressure on the youngster to perform right away. The Cubs are as competitive as they’ve been in several years, and they can’t afford to take away reps from Tucker, Suzuki, and Happ if Caissie isn’t producing.

The roster fit isn’t perfect, but the Cubs only had four healthy minor leaguers on the 40-man roster to choose from, and it’s hard to argue that Caissie didn’t earn this opportunity over fellow top prospects Kevin Alcántara and Moisés Ballesteros, or the less-heralded Ben Cowles.

Image in post courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports.

Zach Eflin Interested In Returning To Orioles In 2026

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Zach Eflin made his three-year, $41MM contract look like an absolute bargain in 2023 and ’24. The right-hander produced a 3.54 ERA and 3.62 SIERA over 59 starts in the two most productive seasons of his career. Unfortunately, the final year of that deal has been nothing short of disastrous. He has taken three trips to the injured list, the first with a lat strain and the latter two with back discomfort. On Tuesday, Orioles manager Tony Mansolino announced that Eflin would undergo a lumbar microdiscectomy procedure, ending his season. In and around his three IL stints, the righty stumbled to a 5.93 ERA. His 16.2% strikeout rate was his worst since 2017, while his 40.2% groundball rate was his lowest since his rookie season the year before. Meanwhile, he gave up home runs at the highest rate of his career.

If Eflin had returned to free agency last winter, he could have commanded something like the three-year, $75MM deals that Nathan Eovaldi and Sean Manaea signed. Considering his age (he’s still only 31), perhaps he could have earned even more. Now, he will most likely have to settle for a single-year pillow contract – one that might not even reach eight figures – as he looks to rebuild his value.

Exactly what kind of contract he ultimately signs will depend on his timeline to recover from the lumbar microdiscectomy procedure, which is scheduled for Monday (per Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner). Eflin told reporters (including Allentuck) that he’s hopeful he can have a relatively normal offseason after 12 weeks; that timeline would have him resuming his regular offseason activities right around the GM Meetings. However, he acknowledged that recovery from this particular procedure can take anywhere from four to eight months. An eight-month recovery would put his return sometime in mid-April. 

Regardless of when exactly he’s back to full strength, whichever team signs Eflin will be taking a risk on an injury-prone starter. The payoff could be substantial; at his best, Eflin is the kind of pitcher who can start game two of a playoff series, like he did for the Rays in 2023 and the Orioles in 2024. On the other hand, the downside is just as plain to see: He could have another season like this one.

Could the Orioles be the team that takes that risk? It feels unlikely. They could certainly use the help in their starting rotation, but they already have three injured starters they’re hoping will contribute significantly in 2026: Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, and Tyler Wells, as well as swingman Albert Suárez. If they’re going to add a starter, it would make sense for GM Mike Elias to make a safer choice. That said, if the Orioles do reach out, it seems like Eflin would be interested in a reunion.

“Absolutely,” Eflin replied when asked if he could see himself back in Baltimore for 2026 (per Allentuck). It’s not uncommon for a pending free agent to express loose, noncommittal interest in re-signing with his current team. Yet, Eflin’s language was direct, and the reporters he spoke to conveyed the impression that he genuinely hopes to return. It would be hard to blame him if he were ready to move on after such a disappointing season for both himself and his team, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Says Eflin, “I told pretty much everyone that we’ve had a conversation about that, I told them I love this place and I’d love to be here.”

MLB Mailbag: Grisham, Elly De La Cruz, Brewers, Bregman

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This week's mailbag gets into a qualifying offer for Trent Grisham, the likelihood of the Reds signing Elly De La Cruz long-term, preseason projections consistently whiffing on the Brewers, how a lockout might affect free agency in 2026-27, what it might take to extend Alex Bregman, and much more.

Dmitry asks:

I keep seeing that the Yankees wont re-sign Trent Grisham. What is the downside to a QO? is 22 million for a 3 win CF in his prime on a one year deal really that bad?

Grisham, 29 in November, is on pace for a 2.8 WAR season in about 139 games.  He's missed some time on the paternity list and a few games due to a hamstring issue.

Grisham was widely seen as a non-tender candidate in the offseason, but instead accepted a $500K pay cut to land at $5MM on a pre-tender deal.  He had an 87 wRC+ from 2022-24 over 1,288 plate appearances.  Despite avoiding the IL in 2024, Grisham played in only 76 games for the Yankees, who had an outfield of Alex Verdugo, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto.

Prior to this year, Grisham was more of a sub-2-WAR backup outfielder or bottom of the order regular who was not considered worthy of a $6MM salary.

The main wart on Grisham's season is that he's only hit like this (126 wRC+) once before, in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.  But Grisham has a career-low strikeout rate with career-best power, plus good Statcast metrics. Though he owes some of his success to a huge April, he's still managed a 113 wRC+ since.  The Yankees sat Grisham a fair bit against lefties last year, but not this year, and he's been tolerable against them.

Once one of the faster players in baseball, Grisham lost several steps in 2023 and now sits in the 33rd percentile for sprint speed.  That might partially explain why the two-time Gold Glover has a negative Outs Above Average mark for the first time in his career.  Defensive runs saved shows a similar story.

When it hasn't been Grisham in center field for the Yankees this year, it's been Cody Bellinger.  Bellinger figures to take a $5MM buyout over his final $25MM salary for 2026, meaning both outfielders will be free agents.  Assuming the Yankees don't want to give Harrison Bader another try, their main free agent alternative would be Cedric Mullins.  The trade market could feature Luis Robert Jr. and little else at center.

Internally, Spencer Jones would be the main option if both Bellinger and Grisham depart.  Jones, 25 in May, has torched both Double-A and Triple-A pitching this year, dropping his strikeout rate from 33.7% to 26.0% at the higher level.

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Cubs To Place Miguel Amaya On Injured List With Sprained Ankle

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Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya had to be carted off the field during tonight’s matchup with the Blue Jays. He hurt his left ankle running to first base in the eighth inning. After the game, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times) that Amaya’s X-rays thankfully came back negative for a broken bone, but the backstop still sprained his ankle and will require a trip to the IL. While he has avoided the worst, this is nonetheless a tough blow for Amaya, who was playing in his first game back after suffering an oblique strain in May.

Chicago’s decision to keep Reese McGuire on the roster after reinstating Amaya now seems almost eerily prescient. The Cubs signed the veteran backup catcher to a minor league deal in the offseason and selected his contract when Amaya first went on the IL in May. One might have expected they would designate McGuire for assignment went Amaya returned, but instead, it was utility man Jon Berti who lost his roster spot.

Now the Cubs can simply go back to the catching setup they had been using for the past few months, a setup that was working perfectly well. Carson Kelly will remain the primary catcher with McGuire as his backup. Kelly has cooled down after a red-hot start, but he’s still hitting perfectly well for his position, as is McGuire. The two combined for a .723 OPS and 103 wRC+ during Amaya’s first IL stint, and they’ve both played strong defense behind the plate as well.

None of this is to say the Cubs won’t miss Amaya. The 26-year-old produced an .819 OPS and 126 wRC+ in 27 games prior to his oblique injury. He has a .797 OPS and 122 wRC+ in 83 games dating back to last July. A high BABIP and a low xwOBA suggest that degree of success is unsustainable, and the jury is still out on his defense, but that’s just the thing: Amaya is four years younger than Kelly or McGuire, with a lot less experience under his belt. He still has room to grow, and the Cubs want to figure out what kind of role he can play for their club over the next several years. It’s a lot harder to do that when he’s stuck on the shelf.

The Cubs have not yet addressed Amaya’s timeline, but it is certainly possible, and probably quite likely, that he’ll be back before the end of the year. Once rosters expand from 26 to 28 in September, it will be easier for the team to roster all three of Kelly, McGuire, and Amaya, should McGuire still be playing well if/when Amaya is ready to return.

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