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Tigers Designate John Brebbia For Assignment

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The Tigers have designated right-hander John Brebbia for assignment, according to multiple Detroit beat writers.  Right-hander Tyler Owens was called up from Triple-A Toledo in the corresponding move.

Brebbia signed a one-year, $2.75MM free agent contract with the Tigers in February, earning $2.25MM in 2025 with a $500K buyout of a $4MM club option for the 2026 season.  It seemed like a decent investment in a veteran who has been a fairly reliable bullpen arm for most of his career, and Brebbia’s shakier results in 2024 (a 5.86 ERA in 55 1/3 innings) could be partially ascribed to Brebbia spending most of his season with an infamously bad White Sox team.

Unfortunately for Brebbia, things haven’t worked out in 2025.  The righty has a 7.71 ERA over 18 2/3 innings for Detroit, with a lot of hard contact allowed and an 11.8% walk rate that is far beyond the career 7.3BB% Brebbia had posted heading into the season.  Beyond these rougher advanced metrics, Brebbia has also run into some bad luck for the second straight season, in the form of a .339 BABIP and a very low 56.6% strand rate.  Brebbia’s 4.32 SIERA is much more flattering than his real-world ERA, and comparable to how his 3.29 SIERA in 2024 was far lower than his 5.86 ERA.

He also spent just shy of three weeks on the injured list due to a triceps strain, and that IL stint appears to have thrown Brebbia’s season off-kilter.  The reliever had a sparkling 1.00 ERA in nine innings (eight appearances) prior to his IL stint, but he has been torched for a 13.97 ERA in 9 2/3 innings and 11 appearances since his return to the mound.  Things really particularly went south for Brebbia in his last two outings, as he has allowed six runs over 1 1/3 innings in the last two days.

This was apparently enough to convince Detroit to move on, and in all likelihood the Tigers will eat the remaining money owed on Brebbia’s contract.  If another club trades for Brebbia during his DFA period or puts in a waiver claim, the new team would assume the rest of his salary.  Should Brebbia clear waivers, Detroit is on the hook for the remaining salary, and a new team who signed Brebbia afterwards would owe him just the prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary.  Brebbia has enough of a resume that he’ll probably soon land elsewhere on a minor league deal, as the 35-year-old will try to get his season on track with a change of scenery.

D-Backs Sign Matt Foster To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks signed reliever Matt Foster to a minor league contract. The move was announced by their Triple-A club in Reno.

Foster, 30, had been pitching for the Algodoneros del Unión Laguna in Mexico for the past month and a half. He thrived in that extremely hitter-friendly setting, allowing only two runs (one earned) through 13 2/3 innings. The righty punched out 13 and didn’t walk any of the 51 batters he faced. It didn’t take long with that kind of production for the Alabama product to find his way back to affiliated ball.

The D-Backs are only the second MLB organization of Foster’s career. He was drafted by the White Sox in 2016 and pitched parts of four seasons for Chicago. Foster’s best season came in 2020, when he turned in a 2.20 ERA while striking out 28% of opponents across 28 2/3 innings. His production tailed off between 2021-22 and he underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023. Foster missed the entire season and only managed 6 2/3 big league frames late last year. Those came with a 91.9 MPH average fastball velocity that was down two ticks from where he’d been sitting before the surgery.

Arizona’s bullpen has been decimated by injury. Justin Martinez, Cristian Mena, A.J. Puk, Kendall Graveman and Christian Montes De Oca are all on the shelf. Martinez and Montes De Oca have undergone surgeries, and Mena is out for multiple months. Puk was recently shut back down from throwing and is headed for further evaluation due to lingering soreness as he rehabs a flexor strain.

Yankees’ Jake Cousins Weighing Elbow Surgery

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June 14: Boone said Saturday that while no decision has been finalized, Cousins appears to be trending towards Tommy John surgery (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

June 12: Yankees reliever Jake Cousins has yet to pitch in the majors this season due to a flexor strain. He’d recently set out on a minor league rehab assignment in hopes of a return in the near future but was pulled from his most recent appearance in High-A with a setback. It’s the second setback in his rehab — he also dealt with a pectoral issue last month — and manager Aaron Boone revealed yesterday that Cousins is now dealing with what “seems to be a UCL injury” (link via Jackson Stone of MLB.com).

The Yankees and Cousins are still in the process of gathering opinions, but it’s an unwelcome development. At the time of the 30-year-old right-hander’s initial forearm/flexor injury in early spring training, imaging showed that Cousins’ ligament was intact (as noted by the New York Post’s Greg Joyce back in February). The pitcher himself told the Yankees beat back then that doctors had said his ulnar collateral ligament “looked great” in the MRIs he’d undergone.

Cousins was quietly excellent for New York in 2024 after coming over from the White Sox in a spring trade that sent cash to Chicago. He wound up pitching 37 games for the Yanks and logged a 2.37 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but an unsightly 12.9% walk rate across 38 innings. Cousins had previously seen time in parts of three big league seasons with Milwaukee but bounced from the Brewers to the Astros via waivers before becoming a minor league free agent, signing a minor league deal with the South Siders, and finally making his way back to the majors in the Bronx.

When healthy, Cousins has regularly looked the part of a useful bullpen arm — he just hasn’t been healthy all that often in recent years. Dating back to the 2021 season, the former Nationals draftee has missed time with a biceps strain, elbow effusion/bursitis, shoulder inflammation and a pectoral strain, among other maladies. He’s pitched to a 2.78 ERA in 90 2/3 innings and fanned just shy of one-third of the batters he’s faced since making his MLB debut as a Brewer back in 2021. However, he’s pitched only 169 2/3 innings — majors and minor leagues combined — over the past four-plus seasons because of frequent trips to the injured list.

Most of Cousins’ injuries have occurred while on the major league roster, so despite his limited innings tally in the big leagues, he’ll cross three years of major league service in 2025. That’ll qualify him for arbitration in the coming offseason, although if he’s unable to get on a big league mound this year, his price tag would still be close to the minimum. For now, the hope will obviously be that Cousins can avoid surgery, as a Tommy John procedure or internal brace operation could cost him a year or more. Presumably, the Yankees will have more information on the extent of Cousins’ injury and a treatment plan in the coming days, but it seems unlikely he’ll be able to return to a major league mound anytime soon.

Christian Montes De Oca To Undergo Lower Back Surgery

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Just one day after Diamondbacks closer Justin Martinez underwent Tommy John surgery, fans in Arizona received more troubling news about the status of the bullpen when manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of AZ Sports) that right-hander Christian Montes De Oca is set to undergo lower back surgery that could keep him out of commission for the remainder of the 2025 season. Montes De Oca was placed on the injured list earlier this week due to inflammation in his right elbow, but is now ticketed for an unrelated procedure on top of that issue.

It’s a brutal turn of events for the 25-year-old, who made his big league debut just last week and has one scoreless outing of long relief under his belt in the majors at this point. The right-hander looked great in that debut, with zero hits and one walk allowed as he struck out two in 2 2/3 innings of work. It appears that may be his only appearance in his debut season unless he’s able to both overcome the elbow inflammation he’s been battling and his upcoming back surgery in time to get back on the mound for the Diamondbacks before the end of the year. If there’s a silver lining in the announcement, it’s that Montes De Oca will be able to try and address both issues at once rather than dealing with multiple prolonged layoffs.

Montes De Oca signed with Arizona out of the Dominican Republic and made his pro debut during his age-22 season back in 2022. A pure relief prospect from the jump who has never started a game as a pro, Montes De Oca nonetheless moved through the Arizona system quite quickly. He began his second pro season at the Double-A level and spent barely any time at Double-A in his third pro season before making the jump to Triple-A. He struggled in that first taste of the Pacific Coast League last year, but in 2025 he managed a solid 4.07 ERA and 3.66 FIP with a 25.5% strikeout rate and a walk rate of just 5.9%.

Montes De Oca joins Martinez, A.J. Puk, Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Walston, and Cristian Mena on a rapidly growing list of Diamondbacks pitchers facing extended absences. Impressive rotation depth has allowed them to weather the storm in terms of starting pitching, but the club’s relief depth has been whittled down to the point where closer Shelby Miller and lefty Jalen Beeks are the only two reliable leverage arms at Lovullo’s disposal until another option emerges internally, an external addition is made, or Puk returns from his own bout of elbow inflammation. Pitching woes are a major piece of what’s left Arizona 3.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, although the club remains one game over .500 and could theoretically look to shore up its pitching depth this summer if the team’s internal options can keep them in the race until trade season begins in earnest.

IL Activations: Walker, Sanchez

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Here’s the rundown of some prominent names returning from the injured list today…

  • The Cardinals activated Jordan Walker from the 10-day IL, with fellow outfielder Michael Siani optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Walker returns to action after a little over two weeks on the IL, as the former top prospect was bothered by inflammation in his left wrist.  Operating as the Cards’ everyday right fielder, Walker has hit only .215/.273/.310 in 172 plate appearances this season, though his bat had been starting to heat up in the few games just prior to his injury.
  • The Orioles activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day IL, and optioned catcher Maverick Handley to Triple-A Norfolk.  Like Walker, Sanchez was also sidelined with wrist inflammation, though his issue was more severe since Sanchez hasn’t played in a big league game since April 27.  Sanchez will now resume his role as Adley Rutschman’s backup and hope that his IL stint essentially resets his season, as Sanchez had only three hits in his first 35 plate appearances in a Baltimore uniform.  The O’s signed Sanchez to a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal back in December.

Tyler O’Neill Returned From Rehab Due To Renewed Shoulder Soreness

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Outfielder Tyler O’Neill was returned from his minor league rehab assignment by the Orioles today, per a club announcement. O’Neill was placed on the shelf due to a shoulder impingement nearly a month ago, but began his rehab assignment last week and seemed to be nearing a return to action prior to today’s news. He had sat out recent games due to renewed soreness in his shoulder, however, and now has been pulled off his rehab assignment entirely. MASN’s Roch Kubatko relays that O’Neill will be shut down from all baseball activity for one week and has already received an injection in his AC joint.

The news is a clear sign that the Orioles should not expect O’Neill’s return anytime soon. While an estimated timetable for his return to the field won’t be known until after this shutdown period ends, it should be expected he’ll need to resume building up with lighter baseball activities before he’s in position for the Orioles to consider a new rehab assignment. Position players can be on a rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days before they have to be pulled back or activated from the IL, so once he begins playing in rehab games again the countdown to his return can resume in earnest.

Until then, Baltimore’s outfield will be without its top right-handed option. The team signed O’Neill to a three-year, $49.5MM deal in free agency over the offseason as a way to help make up for the loss of Anthony Santander from their lineup and complement a heavily left-handed outfield mix that features Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser, and Heston Kjerstad on a regular basis. O’Neill made plenty of sense as a complement to that trio given his excellent numbers against left-handed pitching, but things haven’t worked out so well in year one of his contract with the Orioles. The outfielder has been limited to just 24 games by injuries this year, and even when he’s been healthy enough to take the field he’s hit a paltry .188/.280/.325 (70 wRC+) with just two home runs in 93 plate appearances.

It’s a far cry from the production he offered the Red Sox last year, when he slugged 31 homers in 113 games and posted a 131 wRC+ overall. While that sort of performance can obviously be transformational for a lineup, the Orioles would likely benefit from even a more modestly productive version of O’Neill as long as he can get healthy enough to return to the outfield. The Orioles have been the least productive offense against left-handed pitching in the American League this year, and their 62 wRC+ is ahead of only the lowly Rockies in the majors as a whole. O’Neill is a career .261/.366/.524 hitter against southpaws, so even a diminished version of him could be a huge boost to the lineup.

Until he returns, however, the Orioles appear likely to continue relying on Ramon Laureano to fill O’Neill’s role as a lefty-mashing outfielder. Laureano has excelled in Baltimore this year with a 139 wRC+ in 133 plate appearances, though the longtime lefty masher has actually gotten most of his production against right-handed pitching this year with below-average numbers against opposite-handed pitching. That makes him an imperfect complement to the Orioles’ otherwise all-lefty outfield, but until O’Neill returns the club doesn’t have many clearly better options.

Shaun Anderson Elects Free Agency

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TODAY: Anderson cleared waivers and elected free agency over an outright assignment to Triple-A, the Angels announced.

JUNE 13: The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of infield prospect Christian Moore and recalled right-hander Sam Bachman. In corresponding moves, outfielder Matthew Lugo has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake and righty Shaun Anderson has been designated for assignment. MLBTR covered the Moore/Lugo swap yesterday. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported today’s full slate of moves prior to the official club announcement.

Anderson, 30, has been on and off the Angels’ roster this year. He signed a minor league deal in the offseason and was called up in early May. He was designated for assignment later that month, cleared waivers, elected free agency, re-signed with the club and was added back to the roster a few days ago. Around those transactions, he has logged 10 2/3 innings over six appearances. He allowed nine earned runs on 16 hits, giving out three walks while striking out ten opponents.

Broadly speaking, Anderson has usually been able to put up decent Triple-A numbers that haven’t translated to the big leagues. He made his major league debut in 2019 and now has 162 2/3 innings under his belt with a 6.20 earned run average. In that same time frame, he has a 3.93 ERA in 307 Triple-A frames. He also spent a season in Korea and put up a 3.76 ERA there.

Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent back down to the minors. The last time he lost his roster spot with the Halos, he cleared waivers and circled back to them, so it’s possible that same sequence will play out in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

Reds Claim Ryan Vilade, Designate Jacob Hurtubise

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The Reds announced that infielder/outfielder Ryan Vilade has been claimed off waivers from the Cardinals, and Vilade was optioned to Triple-A.  To create roster space, Cincinnati designated outfielder Jacob Hurtubise for assignment.

St. Louis designated Vilade two days ago, after Vilade had appeared in seven games during a brief stint on the Cards’ roster.  Signed to a minor league contract in December, Vilade hit an impressive .280/.375/.476 over 192 plate appearances with Triple-A Memphis to earn a selection to the Cardinals’ active roster at the end of May, though he had only one hit in 15 PA on the Cards’ active roster.

To some extent, this has been the story of Vilade’s pro career, as he had a .141/.200/.188 slash line in 71 PA over 27 career games in the majors with the Rockies, Tigers, and Cardinals.  His career .272/.353/.406 slash in 2093 Triple-A appearances is much more impressive, yet it hasn’t stood out quite enough for Vilade to get much in the way of regular playing time in the Show, nor has he hit anywhere near well enough to capitalize on his small sample.

While Vilade has played only as an outfielder and in one single game as a first baseman in the majors, he has some experience at all four infield positions, including time as a first, second, and third baseman with Memphis this year.  This expanded defensive repertoire seems like a logical way for Vilade to improve his usefulness to big league teams, and it might help him earn some bench time on a Reds team that is somewhat unsettled in teams of everyday regulars.  In particular, Vilade’s right-handed bat might help him become a complement within a Reds outfield overloaded with left-handed hitters.

That crowded outfield may have factored into the limited playing time that Hurtubise received in his first two MLB seasons, though the left-handed hitter has batted only .167/.291/.212 over 83 PA in the bigs.  This season, he made the Reds’ Opening Day roster but didn’t last long before being optioned, and then briefly returned to the majors in May.

An undrafted free agent for the Reds in 2020 (the year of the pandemic-shortened five-round draft), Hurtubise reached Triple-A for the first time in 2023, but his numbers at Cincinnati’s top affiliate have gone steadily downward over the last three years.  He has hit just .144/.336/.186 in 133 PA in Louisville this season, making him an expendable piece on the Reds’ 40-man roster despite some tremendous speed and base-stealing ability (124 steals in 147 chances in his minor league career).  Hurtubise can’t reject an outright assignment, so he would remain in the Reds’ organization if he clears waivers.

Angels Return Rule 5 Pick Garrett McDaniels To Dodgers

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The Angels announced that left-hander Garrett McDaniels has been returned to the Dodgers, as per his status as a Rule 5 Draft pick.  McDaniels was designated for assignment earlier this week, and since he went unclaimed on waivers, the Angels were required to offer him back to the Dodgers for $50K (teams that select players away in the R5 give a $100K fee to the club losing the player).

Rule 5 picks must spend an entire season on their new team’s active roster before the new team can fully obtain their rights, and McDaniels’ stint in Anaheim ended after 10 relief appearances and an IL stint for biceps tendinitis that lasted over a month.  McDaniels posted a 5.91 ERA over his first 10 2/3 career innings as a big leaguer, as he had never pitched above the Double-A level before making his MLB debut this season.  In fact, even McDaniels’ Double-A resume consisted of only two appearances and three innings with the Dodgers’ Tulsa affiliate in 2024.

A 30th-round pick for the Marlins in the 2018 draft, McDaniels chose to attend Coastal Carolina instead of starting his pro career out of high school, and a subsequent Tommy John surgery limited his college ball experience.  He went undrafted entirely and didn’t join the Dodgers until May 2022, but then made a relatively quick climb up their minor league ladder.  McDaniels has a 3.43 ERA in 99 2/3 career minor league innings, and he recorded a good number of strikeouts while working mostly as a reliever, though he made a handful of starts in A-ball.

This was enough to get the Angels’ attention in the Rule 5 Draft, but McDaniels didn’t quite seem ready for the majors.  He’ll now return to the Dodgers’ farm system to continue his development, and another trip back to the big leagues might not be out of the question in 2025 given how the injury-plagued Dodgers are constantly churning through arms.

White Sox Outright Bryse Wilson To Triple-A

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TODAY: Wilson cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte, the White Sox announced.

JUNE 10: The White Sox announced that they have selected right-hander Grant Taylor to the roster, a move that was reported yesterday. Fellow righty Bryse Wilson has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Wilson, 27, was signed in December to a one-year deal that guaranteed him $1.05MM. He was a sensible pickup for Chicago since he had experience as both a starter and a reliever. With the Brewers over 2023 and 2024, he tossed 181 1/3 innings with a 3.42 earned run average. The rebuilding Sox came into the year with a fairly young and inexperienced pitching staff and could deploy Wilson as needed, depending on how he and everyone else performed.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t really provided the club with much in either role. He has made five starts and 14 relief appearances so far this year, logging 45 1/3 innings with a 6.95 ERA. That includes a 6.23 ERA as a starter and a 7.61 mark in relief work. His 8.7% walk rate is right around average but his 12.4% strikeout rate is barely half of league par.

That performance has nudged Wilson off the roster and into DFA limbo, which can last for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Sox can theoretically take five days to explore trade interest. However, given Wilson’s salary and performance this year, there isn’t likely to be strong interest.

If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he will likely stick with the Sox as non-roster depth. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit their remaining salary in order to exercise that right.

Wilson came into this year with four years and 36 days of service. By my count, he has added 75 days so far in 2025, putting him at 4.111. That’s still 61 days shy of the five-year mark. Assuming he wants to keep the rest of that $1.05MM flowing, he would choose to report to Charlotte as opposed to electing free agency.

The Sox are 22-44 this year and will clearly be deadline sellers. Any pitcher with limited control who is putting up decent numbers should be available in the coming weeks. That includes guys like Adrian Houser, Dan Altavilla and Steven Wilson. That could further thin out the pitching staff and open further opportunities for Bryse later in the year.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Gorski, Imagn Images

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