- Hey everyone, hope you're doing well!
- Looking forward to another of these, let's get it going
Tony
- What moved do you see the cards making at the deadline? They seem to think hesley will form down a QO but I think fedde would take it. I would trade fedde and some mix of Gorman, Burleson and Scott/Siani
Gadzooks
- There are 3 NL Central teams between 2.5 and 4 games of the last Wild Card spot; Milwaukee, St Louis, and Cincinnati. Who's most likely to be a seller come the Deadline?
Anthony Franco
- Cards have hit the skids here a little bit, which makes sense since it felt they were playing above their level in May. I still lean towards them as soft sellers and think they should move the rentals
- Definitely wouldn't QO Fedde (that'd be an easy accept) and probably wouldn't do it for Helsley either. Decent chance he'd accept and a $21M+ salary for a very good but not top-tier reliever is rich, especially for a team that pulled back spending over the winter
- As for the broader division picture, I think Milwaukee will try to straddle the line (shop Hoskins while acquiring MLB talent elsewhere), though Civale was the most obvious candidate for that even before he asked out. Cincinnati doesn't have a ton of short-term pieces beyond Nick Martinez, who is good but expensive since he's playing on a QO salary. I think they'll be soft buyers as long as they're within five or six games of a Wild Card spot
Wandering Chief
- Heyman suggests that the Braves are studying the shortstop and outfield markets. I can see a couple of outfield options - I love Durran - but I don't think there's an outfield market to study. What say you?
Sam
- Let's say that you're Alex Anthopoulos and Braves ownership has told you that you must buy at the trade deadline and attempt to compete this year. What steps would you take to improve the Braves' roster?
Anthony Franco
- Outfield has a little more than shortstop. I'd be really surprised if the Braves made a massive push for Duran when they're this far out of it. Taylor Ward might be available, Ryan O'Hearn could play some outfield (though there'll be a lot of completion for him). Maybe someone takes a flier on Chas McCormick when he comes back from an oblique injury
- Braves need bullpen help too. I don't really agree that they should buy unless they really turn things on over the next six weeks, but they're a potential Bednar fit to stabilize the ninth
Bo Knows Deadlines
- Obviously with the Blue Jays now leading the wild card chase in the AL Bichette isn't likely going anywhere but if the unthinkable happens and the Jays drop out of the running between now and the deadline what would a package for a Bo rental look like given the nice bounce back season he's current enjoying?
Anthony Franco
- I think they could pull a 50 FV prospect (a back of the top 100 type) and a mid-level guy for a Bichette rental -- especially given the lack of alternatives at shortstop. They'd need to absolutely tank over the next month to do it though
Matt
- Do you think Taylor Walls will be DFA’d when Kim gets activated? On a related note, how good of a defender do you have to be in order for teams to overlook the fact that you can’t hit? I’m flummoxed that he’s kept his roster spot for this long.
Anthony Franco
- He'd feel redundant with Kim and Caballero. Still has options so it doesn't necessarily need to be a DFA. They could demote Mead instead, I guess. Not like either of them (or Morel for that matter) have done much
- Plus glove at shortstop gets you a decent leash as long as you're not making any money and have options. Teams like that profile a lot less when you don't have any roster flexibility
RAGBRAI
- Are the Brewers gambling a bit by letting Civali go? Or is the depth good enough to withstand an injury loss?
GBS42
- Do you think the Brewers sending Civale to the White Sox was simply a matter of doing their best for the team and player while fulfilling his request, or was there some, "Well fine, enjoy your time with the hapless Southsiders!" Reminds me of the Cardinals spitefully trading Rolen to the Blue Jays, the last place he wanted to go. (It could have been worse for Civale, they could have seen him to the Rockies.)
Anthony Franco
- Eh he asked his way out and I just don't think he's all that good to begin with. I was surprised they tendered him a contract for $8M in all honesty
- Low-90s velocity with declining whiff rates, inconsistent durability history, escalating home run issues. I like him more as a swingman than as a fourth or fifth starter
- As for the trade itself, definitely wouldn't have predicted it but I guess I get it. Vaughn wasn't getting another chance in Chicago. Sox can give Civale six or seven starts and try to get a 40 FV prospect for him at the deadline, which was less likely with Vaughn. I don't see a whole lot in it for the Brewers but it felt like they just wanted to get this over with before it became a distraction and maybe there's a 5-10% chance that a change of scenery gets something out of Vaughn
Rhys Hoskins
- Can I find myself back in Philly? I would boost the offense, let Harper DH a bit if Schwarber plays some LF, and bring good vibes to friends and teammates alike.
Anthony Franco
- Tough for me to see that one with the number of bat-first players they've got already
- I kind of get the vision but you're putting a lot on Schwarber's plate defensively and more or less pulling the plug on Kepler, who hasn't been productive but is a guy they signed for $10M over the winter
Chris
- Can you see Schwarber getting more than 90M this offseason?
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Freddy Peralta Has Tried To Get New Extension With Brewers
Right-hander Freddy Peralta is in the final guaranteed year of his deal, though the Brewers have a club option to keep him around for 2026. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that Peralta has tried to get an extension done to keep him in Milwaukee longer but hasn’t yet been successful.
Peralta and the Brewers have already signed one extension. In February of 2020, they agreed to a five-year deal that guaranteed him $15.5MM over the 2020-24 campaigns. That bought out his remaining pre-arbitration and arbitration seasons. The club added two extra years of potential control via affordable $8MM club options for 2025 and 2026. They already triggered the first of those options.
Another extension would cost far more. At the time of the first one, Peralta wasn’t even established as a bonafide major league starter. He had 163 1/3 innings under his belt, over 22 starts and 33 relief appearances. His 30% strikeout rate was high but he had walked 11% of batters faced and was sporting a 4.79 earned run average. He was still two years away from qualifying for arbitration.
Things have certainly changed since then. Peralta has not only established himself as a starter, but he’s proven himself to be a great one. He stayed primarily in a relief role in 2020 but has been almost exclusively in the rotation since then, with just one relief appearance in both 2021 and 2022. On the whole, from 2021 to 2025, he has thrown 638 2/3 innings for the Brewers with a 3.40 ERA, 29.3% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. He hasn’t been on the injured list since 2022. FanGraphs has credited him with 12.6 wins above replacement for that span, putting him in the top 20 of all pitchers in the majors.
He is at a point where he could rightly ask for a nine-figure deal. In the past five years, six other pitchers have hit the century mark on extensions as they neared free agency, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. Zack Wheeler’s deal is a bit of an outlier in the group, since that was for his age 35- to -37 seasons. As for the other five, Garrett Crochet got $170MM over six years, José Berríos $131MM over seven, Tyler Glasnow $111.6MM over four, Luis Castillo $108MM over five and Joe Musgrove $100MM over five. In each case, the player was within two years of reaching free agency.
Crochet got to another level presumably because of his age, as he was slated to hit free agency just after his 27th birthday. Berríos also had youth on his side, as he was slated for free agency ahead of his age-29 season. Castillo and Musgrove were 30 in the first years of their respective pacts. Glasnow’s deal started with his age-31 season. Peralta is currently 29, so he’ll be 30 next year, the final club option on his current deal.
Peralta’s stats put him in a similar range to those guys. He doesn’t have Crochet’s youth but his major league track record is longer. Glasnow had a 3.03 ERA in the five years prior to signing his deal but obvious workload concerns. Berríos, Musgrove and Castillo were more reliable but had respective ERAs of 3.74, 3.61 and 3.64 in the five-year stretch leading up to their pacts, fairly close to Peralta’s 3.40 mark.
Assuming Peralta is looking for a similar guarantee to those players, it’s not surprising that the Brewers haven’t given it to him. They have only twice gone into nine-figure territory on a contract, doing so for position players both times. Ryan Braun got $105MM way back in 2011 and Christian Yelich got $188.5MM in 2020.
On the pitching side, they have been far more conservative. Matt Garza’s $50MM deal in 2014 is still the franchise record. In the past decade, Peralta’s first deal is actually near the top of the list. Aaron Ashby also signed an early-career extension, getting to $20.5MM, which is the most the Brewers have spent on a pitcher in the past ten years.
The lack of a deal will naturally lead to speculation about a Peralta trade. It’s well known that the Brewers aren’t afraid to trade players who are nearing the open market. Josh Hader and Corbin Burnes are two of the most notable examples. Hader was traded at the 2022 deadline, when he was 15 months from free agency. Burnes was traded going into the 2024 season, his final year of club control.
The Brewers also suddenly have a loaded rotation, despite dealing with a number of injuries earlier in the season. The current logjam is such that Aaron Civale, a solid veteran starter, got bumped to the bullpen. He asked to be traded and that request was granted, as he was flipped to the White Sox earlier today.
Trading Peralta now would be a much different matter, however. Civale is more of a back-end guy and he may not have been on track for being part of a postseason rotation. Peralta, on the other hand, is the club’s ace the most surefire postseason starter they have. Jacob Misiorowski has exciting stuff but has just one major league start under his belt. Chad Patrick and Quinn Priester are also fairly inexperienced. Jose Quintana is a veteran soft tosser at this point in his career. Nestor Cortes and Brandon Woodruff are currently on the injured list.
The Brewers understandably felt they could survive without Civale. Woodruff could be back in the mix soon. They also have Logan Henderson, who pitched well in the majors earlier this year, on optional assignment. Tobias Myers, who had a good year in 2024, is in Triple-A as well.
But subtracting an ace would be much more of a white flag for the season. The Brewers are currently just 2.5 games out of a playoff spot and probably wouldn’t consider a Peralta trade unless they fell further back in the standings. Heyman writes that there is belief in the industry that the Brewers will hold Peralta and pick up his option for next year, though it’s always possible they are compelled to change their minds by an offer that is too good to pass up.
The Brewers did deal Hader when he was at this stage of his club control, though the short-term results on that deal were bad. It was reported that the move didn’t go over especially well in the clubhouse and the club faded down the stretch. In the long run, it worked out well, however. The Brewers got Robert Gasser and Esteury Ruiz in that deal, later using Ruiz to get catcher William Contreras.
Perhaps a Peralta trade becomes more likely in the offseason when he’s a year away from the open market, as that was when they flipped Burnes. By that time, perhaps they feel better about Misiorowski, Patrick or Gasser stepping up to replace Peralta at the front of the rotation.
There are many variables at play, but with a new contract unlikely, Peralta rumors are likely to swirl until he is traded.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Braves Evaluating Shortstop, Outfield Markets
The Braves have been among the most disappointing teams in MLB. They’re nine games under .500 entering this weekend’s series against the Rockies. They’d lost seven straight before taking two of three in Milwaukee.
On paper, that all points toward Atlanta as likely deadline sellers. Yet the Braves entered this season with a top 10 payroll in MLB and have made the playoffs in seven straight years. They’re not going to wave the white flag unless they feel it’s unavoidable. Jon Heyman of The New York Post wrote last night that the Braves are still positioned as buyers, reporting that the front office is looking for help in the outfield and at shortstop.
If the Braves were to buy, those would each be natural targets. Left field has been an issue since Jurickson Profar was suspended following a positive performance-enhancing drug test. Alex Verdugo is hitting .247/.301/.312 across 166 plate appearances — arguably even worse than last year’s .233/.291/.356 showing as a member of the Yankees. Eli White hasn’t been much better, running a .235/.275/.383 season line. White had carved out semi-regular playing time with a productive April, but he’s hitting .202/.231/.288 in 109 plate appearances dating back to the beginning of May.
While left field is the clearest weakness in the outfield, the Braves have gotten similarly poor production in center. Michael Harris II has had a dismal first half. He carries a .233/.261/.346 line through 275 trips to the plate. Harris is a productive baserunner and an elite defender, so he’s still providing some value, but the Braves need much more from him offensively. He entered this season with a .285/.325/.469 slash over his first three years. The track record and the defense should keep Harris on solid ground as an everyday player, but his down year has essentially placed the entire burden on Ronald Acuña Jr. to get any kind of offensive contributions from the outfield.
Profar has fewer than 20 games remaining on his suspension. He’ll return early next month, though that’ll be clouded with uncertainty about what they can expect from him. Even if he plays well, he wouldn’t be an option if the Braves make an improbable playoff push. Players cannot participate in the postseason during the year in which they were suspended for PED use.
Shortstop has been almost as much of a struggle. Opening Day starter Orlando Arcia is gone, having been released last month (and subsequently signing with Colorado). Nick Allen has taken the everyday role there. He’s an elite defensive infielder who provides very little at the plate. The 5’8″ infielder has yet to hit a home run and owns a .234/.309/.269 mark through 191 trips.
Allen’s all-glove profile would be easier to tolerate if they were getting more from their non-Acuña outfielders. Having multiple positions that don’t contribute offensively is a tougher sell. Atlanta’s .243/.317/.386 team batting line is middling, and they’ve been terrible this month (.216/.296/.360). They’d love to deepen the offense, but they’ve also seen their bullpen melt down far too often and have spotty rotation depth after losing AJ Smith-Shawver to Tommy John surgery. There are a lot of areas to address.
Of course, how aggressively they’ll do so depends in large part on the next six weeks. The front office’s impulse may be to add, but that’d be difficult to pursue if the team is still well below .500 and nine games out of a playoff spot in late July. At that point, they’d have little choice but to entertain offers on impending free agent DH Marcell Ozuna (with a case for listening on ace Chris Sale).
The Opener: Paredes, Giants, Dodgers, Pitchers’ Duel
Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Paredes nursing hamstring issue:
Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes is dealing with an issue in his left hamstring, manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Chandler Rome of The Athletic) last night. It’s unclear whether the Astros plan to send Paredes for testing or simply see how he’s feeling today before making a decision on his status, but Espada indicated the club will have more information on Paredes today. Paredes is enjoying what would be a career year during his first season with the Astros, slashing .255/.353/.478 with a wRC+ of 136 in 67 games. That’s a tough bat to lose from the lineup for any amount of time, but Mauricio Dubon seems to be the most likely candidate to fill in for Paredes if he’s set to miss a day or two. A longer absence that requires a trip to the IL could be more complicated for the Astros to cover, as they have no extra infielders on their 40-man roster at present. Luis Guillorme and Zack Short are among the club’s non-roster depth options at Triple-A who could be called upon if Paredes is going to be out for a while.
2. Series Preview: Giants @ Dodgers
The NL West’s second-place team is headed to Dodger Stadium in L.A. for a three-game set this weekend. The Giants sit just one game behind the Dodgers in the division and will have the opportunity to take control of the NL West for the first time since 2021. In order to do so, they’ll need to beat a Los Angeles team that managed to swipe a series win from San Diego this week despite getting outscored 14-20. The series figures to start with a bang at 7:10pm local time when the club’s ace pitchers face off. Both Logan Webb (2.58 ERA) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.20 ERA) could find themselves in the NL Cy Young award conversation this year, and both are coming off big games after Yamamoto struck out nine Cardinals across six scoreless innings while Webb punched out ten in Atlanta. The series will continue on Saturday with youngster Landen Roupp (3.29 ERA) and veteran Clayton Kershaw (4.35 ERA) on the mound, and things will wrap up on Sunday when lefty Kyle Harrison (4.56 ERA) faces off against righty Dustin May (4.46 ERA).
3. Pitchers’ Duel in Arizona:
Dodgers/Giants isn’t the only noteworthy series in the NL West this weekend, as the Padres are headed to Phoenix for a three-game set against the Diamondbacks. That series will conclude with a pair of veteran pitchers in the midst of excellent seasons on the mound on Sunday. For the Padres, free agent addition Nick Pivetta (3.43 ERA) is taking the mound for his 14th start of the year. Pivetta will hope to turn things around after back-to-back difficult outings and put together his first quality start of June, and he’ll do so against veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly (3.18 ERA). The 36-year-old is set to make his 15th start of the season this weekend as he eyes a return to free agency in the fall, and he’ll look to build on two phenomenal outings against the Braves and Mariners so far this month where he struck out 15 batters across 13 scoreless innings.
Brewers’ Aaron Civale Requests Trade
The Brewers moved right-hander Aaron Civale to the bullpen yesterday in order to accommodate the promotion of top prospect Jacob Misiorowski. At the time, skipper Pat Murphy openly acknowledged that Civale — an impending free agent who’s never made a relief appearance in the majors or minors — was “not happy” about the role change. Less than 24 hours later, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that Civale has requested a trade.
Civale’s agent, Jack Toffey, tells Rosenthal and Sammon that the conversation he had with the Brewers baseball operations staff was “very professional” and that Civale would prefer to continue his career as a starter, especially with free agency on the horizon. It’s an understandable position, particularly since Civale has generally been pitching well out of the rotation recently. The 30-year-old righty landed on the injured list due to a hamstring strain after one start this season but has returned with 19 innings of 3.32 ERA ball. He’s fanned 21.3% of his opponents against a 7.5% walk rate in that time and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of those four appearances.
The Brewers bought low on Civale in an early-July trade with the Rays last year. He’d gotten out to a rocky start to the 2024 campaign with Tampa Bay but righted the ship upon his trade to Milwaukee. In 14 starts over the season’s final three months, Civale logged a 3.53 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. Coupled with this year’s five starts, he’s pitched 96 innings as a Brewer and turned in a 3.84 earned run average with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate — all solid numbers for any team’s fourth or fifth starter.
Civale has generally averaged five innings per start, but that’s due in large part to the Brewers’ own tendency to hook their pitchers quickly. Milwaukee lets pitchers face opponents a third time in a game less often than all but one other team in baseball (Miami), and Civale’s career splits the second and third trip through a batting order are nearly identical; opponents hit him at a .257/.307/.451 clip their second time facing him in a game and .255/.310/.451 the third time. He’s markedly better facing opponents the first time in a game, but that’s true of virtually any starting pitcher. During Civale’s four-plus seasons in Cleveland — the club that originally selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft — he averaged 5 2/3 frames per start and more regularly worked into or completed six innings.
Two months ago, the Brewers having a glut of starting pitching — so much so that one of their veterans requested a trade — would have seemed laughable. Milwaukee was hit hard enough by injuries early in the year that they swung an extremely rare early-April trade to bring in some rotation help, picking up righty Quinn Priester from the Red Sox.
In the nine-plus weeks since that time, Milwaukee has gotten healthier and has seen several young arms emerge — Priester among them. Righty Chad Patrick is one of the front-runners for NL Rookie of the Year honors. Logan Henderson was brilliant in his first four MLB starts but was already optioned back to Triple-A Nashville because of Milwaukee’s depth. Misiorowski’s production in Nashville (2.13 ERA, 31.6 K%) has forced his way into the big league picture. Meanwhile, veterans like Jose Quintana and Civale himself have gotten healthy. Young lefties DL Hall and Aaron Ashby are also back from the IL and are working in multi-inning relief roles. (Hall has also had a pair of three-inning “starts” as an opener ahead of Priester.)
I took a look at the Brewers’ surprising wealth of pitching two weeks ago, noting that some tough decisions were likely on the horizon. Moving Civale to the bullpen falls into that category, particularly since a shift like that can come with precisely this type of ramification. Many fans will find a public trade request off-putting, which is a fair stance to take — just as is the case with Civale’s trade request. As a 2016 draftee, he’s been working nearly a decade to get to free agency and understandably does not love the idea of pitching in a new role that could impact his efficacy on the mound and/or his earning power on the market.
Civale is earning $8MM in 2025, his final year before free agency. As of this writing, there’s about $4.645MM of that sum yet to be paid out. In 122 major league starts, he’s pitched 658 1/3 innings with a 4.06 ERA, a 21.8% strikeout rate, a 6.5% walk rate and a 39.8% ground-ball rate.
Cole Ragans To Go For Second Opinion On Injured Shoulder
It seems the Royals will be without Cole Ragans for a while. Manager Matt Quatraro tells Anne Rogers of MLB.com that the lefty will go for a second opinion on his ailing shoulder next week. Kansas City placed Ragans on the 15-day injured list with a rotator cuff strain yesterday. Quatraro indicated that the team does not expect the issue will require surgery but suggested that Ragans will be shut down from throwing for a decent amount of time.
It’s the second injured list stint of the season for the All-Star lefty. Ragans missed a few weeks between late May and early June with a groin strain. He returned for one start and was tagged for five runs in three innings against St. Louis on June 5. Ragans didn’t feel right during his between-starts routine, leading to the testing that revealed the rotator cuff strain. He’ll surely miss more time with this injury than he did for the groin.
The Royals will operate with a five-man starting staff comprising Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic, Michael Wacha, Michael Lorenzen and rookie Noah Cameron. It’s still a good group overall, but it’s obviously far better when Ragans is at full strength. He finished fourth in Cy Young balloting while recording 223 strikeouts over 32 starts a season ago. While he was on an even better strikeout pace this season, an unsustainably high .382 average on balls in play had led to an earned run average north of 5.00.
Kansas City will have a better idea of Ragans’ timetable next week. It’s hard to envision him returning before the All-Star Break. The front office is unlikely to pour many resources into the rotation even if Ragans is out into or beyond the end of July.
A top three of Lugo, Bubic and Wacha remains excellent. Cameron pitched well over his first five MLB starts before the Yankees knocked him around on Tuesday. Lorenzen has been up-and-down but is generally a serviceable fifth starter. Kyle Wright has made four rehab starts and might not be far away from his team debut; he could work in long relief or push Lorenzen or Cameron for the final rotation spot. Improving a punchless bottom half of the lineup figures to be the top priority if the Royals — who have dropped below .500 after being swept by the Yankees — remain close enough to contention to add.
Angels To Promote Christian Moore
The Angels are calling up second base prospect Christian Moore, as first reported by @kat_wrld and confirmed by multiple outlets. The Halos optioned rookie outfielder Matthew Lugo during today’s off day, according to the MLB.com transaction log. They will need to make a 40-man roster move tomorrow.
This kind of aggressive promotion for top prospects is par for the course for the Angels. They skew extremely towards the college side in the draft and push their most talented minor leaguers as quickly as any organization. Each of the Halos’ past three first-round picks (Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel and Moore) were college hitters who were in the majors within the opening half of their first full professional season. Neto was drafted in 2022 and promoted the following April. Schanuel went from Florida Atlantic to the big leagues within two months during the ’23 season.
While Moore took the longest of the three, he’s now slated for his MLB debut around 11 months after being selected. A Tennessee product, he impressed amateur scouts by hitting .375 with 34 homers during his junior season with the Vols. Evaluators have had concerns about his defense, but he has a chance to provide rare power from an up-the-middle position.
The Halos almost immediately pushed Moore to Double-A, where he hit .322 with five homers in 23 games during his draft year. That established him as the top offensive player in a weak Halos farm system. He ranked among the sport’s top 100 talents over the winter at each of Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN.
Moore returned to Double-A to open this season. He got out to a rough start in a pitcher-friendly environment. The righty hitter only managed one homer while striking out at a 27.4% clip through 146 plate appearances. The Angels nevertheless moved him to Triple-A Salt Lake on May 13. Moore has thrived in the much more favorable Pacific Coast League, collecting four homers while hitting .350 in 20 games. He has posted consecutive multi-hit games with a home run in each of his two most recent outings.
It’s a tiny sample, but it was enough to convince the ever-aggressive Halos front office to bring him up. There’s a relatively low bar to clear to upgrade the second base position. Chris Taylor went on the injured list on Tuesday with a broken left hand. Luis Rengifo has mostly been filling in at third base for the injured Yoán Moncada. The Halos have given Scott Kingery three of the past four starts at second base. He has had a monster season in Salt Lake but has played seven MLB games since the start of the 2022 campaign.
The Angels have hung around .500 through the season’s first few months. They’ve been outscored by 50 runs, but they’re coming off a sweep of the A’s that pulled them back into second place in the AL West. They’ll hope for Moore to provide an offensive spark. He joins Jac Caglianone, Nick Kurtz and Cam Smith as members of last year’s first round to reach the big leagues. He’s the second member of the Halos’ 2024 class to get there. Second-rounder Ryan Johnson broke camp in the bullpen before being optioned to High-A last month.
Moore meets the eligibility for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He’d earn a full year of service time if he manages a long shot top two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting. (The Angels would not receive a pick in that scenario.) Moore would otherwise remain under club control for at least a full six seasons after this one. That timeline could be delayed if he requires any more time in the minors after his first look at MLB pitching.
Image courtesy of Imagn Images.
Cubs Outright Tyson Miller
Right-hander Tyson Miller has been outrighted by the Cubs to Triple-A Iowa, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he will exercise that right.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see no one take a flier on Miller as he’s coming off a strong season. He logged 62 innings for the Mariners and Cubs last year, allowing just 2.32 earned runs per nine. His 23% strikeout rate was around league average for a reliever while he only gave out walks to 4.7% of batters faced.
He hasn’t yet had a chance to build on that showing here in 2025. He went to Japan with the Cubs for the Tokyo Series but didn’t pitch in the official big league games. He landed on the injured list due to a left hip impingement prior to domestic Opening Day. He had been rehabbing in recent weeks, with a 2.77 ERA in 13 Triple-A innings, but the Cubs didn’t want to plug him back onto the active roster. Since he’s out of options, that meant bumping him from the 40-man.
It’s possible that major league clubs don’t have much faith in Miller being able to replicate last year’s results. There was likely some luck in his numbers, as his .203 batting average on balls in play and 81.9% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. He also averaged less than 90 miles per hour on both of his fastballs last year, a level where it’s tough to succeed in the modern game.
During his recent rehab outings, though his 2.77 ERA was good, his 19% strikeout rate and 15.5% walk rate were both subpar figures. He managed to keep runs off the board by not allowing any home runs, a feat that would not be sustainable over a larger sample.
It now seems that Miller is destined for more minor league work, since no club is currently willing to give him a big league job. That could be for Iowa if he accepts his assignment or he could head to free agency and look for opportunities elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Emmanuel Rivera Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles
The Orioles announced that infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who they designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll stay in the organization and provide them with some non-roster depth.
This was the expected outcome once Rivera was bumped off the 40-man roster. Players with at least three years of major league 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 to exercise that right.
Rivera has a bit more than three years of service. He and the O’s avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $1MM salary. They passed him through waivers in February. He could have elected free agency at that time but made the obvious choice to accept, as it kept that $1MM salary on the table for this year.
He got his roster spot back in April when Jordan Westburg landed on the injured list. Rivera got 76 plate appearances, hitting .232/.303/.275 for a wRC+ of 70. Westburg returned from the IL a couple of days ago. Since Rivera is out of options, he was bumped off the 40-man. Similar to his last outright, it’s logical for him to accept the assignment to keep his salary flowing.
He’ll give the O’s a bit of experienced non-roster infield depth. In his career, he has hit .243/.306/.363 for a wRC+ of 86. However, his grades for his third base defense have been strong. Thanks mostly to that glovework, FanGraphs has credited him with 1.9 wins above replacement in 367 games.
The O’s are having a disappointing season, with a 27-39 record that leaves them eight games out of a playoff spot at the moment. Unless they charge ahead in the coming weeks, they will go into the deadline as sellers. Players like Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías, Ryan Mountcastle and others may end up on the move, which could open some late-season playing time for Rivera. Even without trades, another injury situation could pop up at any time.
If he’s not added back before the end of the year, he would be able to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are outright off a 40-man roster during the season.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images
Yankees Release Brandon Leibrandt To Sign In CPBL
The Yankees announced that they have released left-hander Brandon Leibrandt to sign with the CTBC Brothers of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. That move was previously reported by CPBL Stats.
Leibrandt, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason. He logged 41 Triple-A innings over nine starts and one long relief outing, allowing 2.85 earned runs per nine. He probably got a bit of help from his .245 batting average on balls in play and 87.8% strand rate, but his 22.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate were both solid figures while his 50.5% ground ball rate was quite strong.
Despite that cromulent performance, his path to big league playing time in the Bronx was steep. Despite several injuries, the Yankee rotation is in decent shape. They have Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough. They could get Marcus Stroman and JT Brubaker back soon, as both are on rehab assignments. Luis Gil is tossing bullpens and could be on his own rehab assignment in the coming weeks.
Leibrandt was therefore likely to be stuck in the minors but will head overseas instead. Presumably, he’ll be getting a bit of a pay bump while being able to explore the other side of the globe. It’s also possible that he could be exposed to scouts from other Asian leagues and earn himself future opportunities if he performs well. His major league track record currently consists of 15 1/3 innings with a 5.28 ERA.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
