Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Red Sox Outright Reese McGuire, Yohan Ramirez

By | at

The Red Sox had a few DFA resolutions this afternoon (relayed on X by Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic). Boston confirmed the perviously reported news that Chase Anderson was headed to free agency. The Sox also outrighted catcher Reese McGuire and reliever Yohan Ramírez while releasing left-hander Brandon Walter.

Boston pushed McGuire off the roster with the Danny Jansen acquisition. The lefty-hitting catcher had backed up Connor Wong all season. McGuire started the season hot but his offense has plummeted over the past few months. He’s hitting .209/.280/.295 through 158 plate appearances overall. Acquired from the White Sox at the 2022 trade deadline, McGuire has a .264/.315/.370 slash in parts of three seasons with Boston.

The 29-year-old McGuire has just under five years of major league service. That’s the cutoff at which a player can decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency while keeping the guaranteed money on his contract. For McGuire to test the market now, he’d need to forfeit the nearly $500K remaining on his $1.5MM arbitration salary. That makes it likely he’ll report to Triple-A Worcester and serve as non-roster catching depth for the rest of the season. He’d be a minor league free agent next winter if the Sox don’t put him back on the MLB team.

Ramírez, also 29, finally goes unclaimed after hitting the waiver wire for the fifth time in his career. The out-of-options righty has played for four teams this year alone. He’s logged 45 innings — most of them with the Dodgers — across 38 appearances. Despite roughly league average strikeout and walk numbers, Ramírez has been tagged for a 6.20 earned run average. He spent less than a week on Boston’s MLB roster. Claimed off waivers from L.A. on July 28, he was designated for assignment three days later so the Sox could call up infielder Nick Sogard.

After crossing the three-year service threshold this summer, Ramírez earned the right to elect free agency in lieu of an outright assignment. The Sox didn’t announce whether he’ll do so. Unlike McGuire, Ramírez was playing on a pre-arbitration deal, so he wouldn’t be leaving any kind of guaranteed money on the table if he wanted to explore other opportunities. If he reports to Worcester, he’d also be eligible for minor league free agency in the offseason unless the Sox reselect his contract.

Walter’s release was an inevitability once Boston designated him for assignment on Tuesday. The left-hander has been on the minor league injured list all season. Teams are not allowed to place injured players on outright waivers and Walter can’t be traded after the deadline since he had been on the 40-man roster. That left a release as the only outcome.

The Sox could try to bring him back on a minor league contract if he clears release waivers, but he’d be free to explore other opportunities. The 27-year-old Walter appeared in nine games for Boston last season in his first MLB action. He allowed a 6.26 ERA through 23 innings in a long relief capacity. The University of Delaware product has a solid 3.61 mark over parts of four minor league seasons, working mostly from the rotation.

Mariners Claim Jonathan Hernandez

By | at

The Mariners announced they’ve claimed reliever Jonathan Hernández off waivers from the division-rival Rangers. Seattle designated righty Brett de Geus for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The M’s also announced that trade pickup JT Chargois has joined the team and will step into the MLB bullpen. Gregory Santos lands on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 1, with biceps inflammation.

Hernández, 28, changes teams for the first time in his career. He spent more than a decade as a member of the Rangers organization after signing in January 2013. Hernández reached the big leagues in the second half of the 2019 season, not long after his 23rd birthday.

The right-hander had a couple solid seasons to start his MLB career. He turned in a 2.90 ERA across 31 innings during the shortened 2020 schedule. He lost the entire following season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April ’21. Hernández returned for the second half in 2022 and looked to be picking up where he’d left off. He tossed 30 1/3 frames of 2.97 ERA ball for the stretch run. He picked up four saves and 10 holds while finishing 16 games as a medium-leverage reliever.

Things have gone downhill over the past two seasons. Hernández struggled to a 5.40 earned run average a year ago. Texas shuttled him back and forth between Triple-A on a few occasions, burning his final minor league option in the process. That meant the Rangers needed to keep him on the MLB roster this season.

Texas gave Hernández plenty of runway, affording him 41 innings across 26 appearances, but his results didn’t turn around. He allowed a 5.05 ERA with a career-worst 19.9% strikeout percentage and a lofty 14.4% walk rate. The Rangers pushed him out of their bullpen (and thus off the 40-man roster) on Tuesday with their deadline pickup of Andrew Chafin from the Tigers.

Seattle will try to help Hernández right the ship. They’ll also need to keep him on the big league roster unless they decide to designate him for assignment themselves. Hernández still averages nearly 97 MPH on his sinker and misses a decent number of bats with his slider. That solid raw stuff has too often been undercut by poor command, but there’s minimal cost for the M’s in taking a look. They’re assuming a little less than $400K on his $1.245MM salary for the stretch run. Hernández would be under arbitration control for another two seasons if he holds his bullpen spot in Seattle.

The Mariners added de Geus to their 40-man roster back in April. He has made four big league appearances, working 3 1/3 frames of one-run ball. Seattle has mostly kept the 26-year-old on optional assignment to Triple-A Tacoma, where he has allowed a 6.60 ERA across 30 innings in the Pacific Coast League.

de Geus is a former teammate of Hernández with the ’21 Rangers, who plucked him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. He combined for 50 innings of 7.56 ERA ball between the Rangers and Diamondbacks that season and didn’t get back to the big leagues until this year. Seattle will likely put him on waivers this weekend.

As for Santos, the offseason trade pickup missed most of the first half due to a lat strain. He returned to make six appearances before leaving Wednesday’s appearance with biceps soreness. He’ll miss at least the next two weeks, though Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times fortunately tweeted this afternoon that imaging came back clean.

White Sox Place Drew Thorpe On IL With Flexor Strain

By | at

The White Sox announced they’ve placed rookie starter Drew Thorpe on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 1, with a flexor strain. Chicago recalled Prelander Berroa to take his spot on the MLB roster before tonight’s game against the Twins.

Thorpe told reporters this evening that imaging didn’t reveal anything serious (X link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). He expressed hope he could be back on an MLB mound within a few weeks. The 23-year-old is nine starts into his MLB career. His first crack at major league hitters hasn’t gone well, as he’s allowing 5.48 earned runs per nine over 44 1/3 innings. Thorpe’s 13.2% strikeout rate is well below average and his 11.1% walk rate is a few points higher than the league mark. It’s a rough start, but the former second-round pick was a top prospect coming into the year.

The 6’4″ Thorpe was at the center of two of last winter’s biggest trades. He went from the Yankees to the Padres as one of the key pieces in the Juan Soto blockbuster at the Winter Meetings. San Diego flipped him to the Sox as the headliner of the Dylan Cease return halfway through Spring Training. Thorpe started his Sox tenure in Double-A and dominated to the tune of a 1.35 ERA in 11 starts before being promoted directly to the big leagues.

Chicago is 27-84. They’ve lost 17 in a row and have three wins since the end of June. They’re likely to end up with one of the worst records in league history, with the only question for this season being whether they’ll avoid joining the 1962 Mets as the only team since 1900 to lose 120 games. Beyond that, the next couple months are solely about keeping everyone healthy and evaluating players whom the Sox hope to be long-term pieces.

Thorpe certainly qualifies given his prospect pedigree. The Sox figure to be exceedingly careful with a forearm injury for an important young arm in a lost season. Thorpe has logged 104 1/3 frames between Double-A and the majors this year after throwing 139 1/3 innings in his first professional season. He might have stayed in the rotation for the rest of the season if not for the injury since he wasn’t coming up on any kind of innings limit.

Rangers Place Max Scherzer On Injured List

By | at

The Rangers announced that right-hander Max Scherzer has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder fatigue. Left-hander Walter Pennington was recalled in a corresponding move.

It’s been a challenging season for Scherzer, who just celebrated his 40th birthday last week. He underwent back surgery in the offseason and initially hoped to return some time in the middle to the end of May, but then he was delayed by some nerve irritation in his thumb and didn’t make his season debut until June 23.

He has since made eight starts for the club but questions surrounding his health popped up recently. He only lasted two innings on July 20 and later told the media he was experiencing arm fatigue, with Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News among those to relay the message along on X. He felt good enough to make his next start on July 25, tossing six innings against the White Sox. But on July 30, he only lasted four innings and 68 pitches against the Cardinals with manager Bruce Bochy relaying that arm fatigue was again present, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News on X.

All year long, it has seemed like the Rangers would have a rotation that would get gradually healthier over the course of the year. Scherzer was coming back from his back surgery while Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle were lined up to join the mix in the second half of the season after recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. The reigning World Series champions were hoping to ride a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Michael Lorenzen, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford until that trio returned.

That was sort of going according to plan when Scherzer returned back in June but has kind of gone off the rails since. Dunning was on the IL for most of July due to shoulder soreness and recently returned in a relief role. Bradford missed a few months due to a low back strain but, like Dunning, returned recently in a relief role. Gray hit the IL due to a groin strain last week. The club felt good enough about the rotation depth to trade Lorenzen to the Royals for Pennington prior to the deadline.

With Scherzer now out of the mix, the healthy rotation is down to Heaney and Eovaldi. Bochy says Mahle could be back and start on Tuesday, per McFarland on X. José Ureña has been oscillating between the rotation and bullpen this year and is starting tonight’s game. Tomorrow’s starter is still listed as TBD with Eovaldi scheduled for Sunday. Perhaps Dunning or Bradford will have to take the lead tomorrow as part of a bullpen game.

All together, it’s a less than ideal situation as they try to cobble a rotation together for the next few weeks. The club is 52-57 and eight games back in the Wild Card picture. Some struggles from the Mariners and Astros mean that the Rangers are only 4.5 games away from the West division lead but they would have to catch both clubs in order to nab that spot. Doing so with a patchwork rotation for the next weeks will be tricky. The trade deadline has now passed, limiting the options for finding external help.

It’s also less than ideal for Scherzer personally, as he is heading towards free agency at the end of this season. Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post hinted on X tonight that the veteran righty is uncertain how much longer he can keep pushing his body to its limits. Perhaps he would consider retiring after this season, which would be understandable given his age and this mounting ailments. But he also has a reputation as a fierce competitor so it’s anybody’s guess as to when he’ll decide to hang up his cleats. In either case, he’ll undoubtedly be doing everything he can to get over his arm issues and find a way back on the mound in the coming months.

Padres To Select Lake Bachar

By | at

The Padres are going to select right-hander Lake Bachar to their 40-man roster and option him to Triple-A El Paso, reports Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune on X. The righty triggered an opt-out in his contract but the Friars will stop him from getting away by adding him to their roster. They have an open 40-man spot after designating Austin Davis for assignment earlier this week.

Bachar, 29, gets a major league roster spot for the first time. The Padres drafted him with a fifth-round pick back in 2016 and had climbed as high as Double-A by the end of 2019. But then the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020 and he missed all of 2021 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

He was able to return to a mound in 2022 but struggled initially. He tossed 45 1/3 Double-A innings that year with a 6.15 earned run average. In a piece at Baseball America earlier this year, Sanders relays that a splitter camp run by Hideo Nomo in the spring of 2023 seemed to help Bachar unlock something. The righty posted a 2.69 ERA at Double-A last year, striking out 27.5% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 10% clip.

Per Bachar’s transactions tracker at MLB.com, he reached free agency at the end of 2023 but re-signed with the Friars on a minor league deal. It seems there was an opt-out in that minors pact, which has allowed Bachar to get himself a 40-man roster spot. He has thrown 57 2/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.06 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate.

Cubs Claim Trey Wingenter

By | at

The Cubs have claimed right-hander Trey Wingenter off waivers from the Red Sox, as first relayed by Hunter Noll of Beyond the Monster on X. The righty was designated for assignment by Boston in the trade deadline transactions frenzy earlier this week. The Cubs have optioned him to Triple-A Iowa, per Taylor McGregor of the Marquee Sports Network on X.

Wingenter, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason. In early July, he triggered an assignment clause in his contract that forced the Tigers to trade him if some other club was willing to give him a 40-man roster spot. The Sox were willing to give him that spot and acquired him for righty CJ Weins.

Though Wingenter spent almost a month on Boston’s roster, he was mostly on optional assignment and only made two appearances for the big league club. Those two outings did not go well, as he allowed seven earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. When combined with his previous work with the Padres and Tigers, he now has a 5.84 earned run average in 89 1/3 major league innings with a strong 31.9% strikeout rate but high walk rate of 12.3%.

After their deadline deals, the Cubs had an open roster spot to work with and have used it to grab Wingenter. His major league results haven’t been great but there are reasons he’s worth a flier. His fastball velocity has averaged in the 95-97 miles per hour range. Though he’s had trouble harnessing it at times, he’s also been able to get punchouts. He’s also been in good form in the minors this year, with a 3.03 ERA in 38 2/3 innings at that level. Though he’s walked 11.1% of Triple-A hitters he’s faced this year, he’s also struck out 34.5% of them.

He’s in his final option year and can be kept at Iowa for the rest of the year if the Cubs want, but he’ll be out of options next year. He has just over four years of service time and will be eligible for arbitration in the offseason.

Athletics Reinstate Darell Hernaiz

By | at

The Athletics announced today that infielder Darell Hernaiz has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, infielder Brett Harris was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas and right-hander Luis Medina was transferred to the 60-day IL. The club’s 40-man roster count stays at 40.

Acquired from the Orioles in the 2023 Cole Irvin trade, Hernaiz was added to Oakland’s 40-man roster in November of last year to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He then made the club’s Opening Day roster here in 2024 but hit just .182/.243/.182 in his first 75 major league plate appearances. In early May, he landed on the IL due to a severe left ankle sprain that has kept him out of action for roughly the past three months.

The A’s will naturally be hoping for more offense now that he’s healthy. Considering he’s slashed .300/.376/.418 at the Triple-A level between last year and this year, it’s a reasonable expectation on their part. He’s capable of playing second base, third base and shortstop and will likely rotate between those spots.

As for Medina, this transfer was inevitable as it was reported last week that he would require Tommy John surgery. He’ll remain on the 60-day IL for the remainder of the year but will need to be reinstated after the season is over, as there’s no IL between the World Series and Spring Training.

Diamondbacks Outright Brandon Hughes, Thyago Vieira

By | at

The Diamondbacks announced that both right-hander Thyago Vieira and left-hander Brandon Hughes have been sent outright to Triple-A Reno. Vieira was already off the 40-man roster because he was designated for assignment last week when the club acquired lefty A.J. Puk, but there was no similar reporting about Hughes, so this move drops the club’s 40-man roster count to 39.

Hughes, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. He was selected to the club’s roster in late April but has mostly been on optional assignment this year. When he has been up in the majors, it hasn’t gone well, as he’s allowed 16 earned runs in 14 innings thanks to eight home runs allowed.

His time in Triple-A has naturally gone much better than that. He has a 2.08 ERA in his 34 2/3 innings for the Aces. His 18.4% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are both a bit subpar, so his 82.6% strand rate probably gets a big assist in producing that ERA.

Hughes was evidently freely available to all clubs in the past few days but they all passed. This is his first career outright and he lacks three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to reject this outright assignment but he’ll qualify for minor league free agency if not added back to the roster by season’s end.

Vieira, as mentioned, was designated for assignment last week. He was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks in early June. He had a 2.87 ERA in 15 2/3 innings but undoubtedly benefited from a .220 batting average on balls in play and 81.4% strand rate. Since all teams passed on the chance to claim him, they probably focused more on his 21.2% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate, which are both subpar.

Like Hughes, this is his first career outright and he’s shy of three years of major league service time. He doesn’t have the right to elect free agency and will have to report to Reno to work in a non-roster capacity.

Marlins Claim John McMillon

By | at

The Marlins have claimed right-hander John McMillon off waivers from the Royals, according to announcements from both clubs. The righty was designated for assignment when Kansas City acquired infielder Paul DeJong. Miami had open roster spots after its deadline selloff and their 40-man roster count goes to 39.

McMillon, now 26, wasn’t selected in the shortened five-round 2020 draft and then signed with the Royals as an undrafted free agent. He is a pitcher who was been considered to have a wide range of potential outcomes because he can regularly send batters back to the dugout but also to first base. He has 129 2/3 innings on his minor league résumé with a 4.79 earned run average. He has struck out 35.2% of batters faced in that time but also given out walks at a massive 17.7% clip.

He was selected to the Royals’ roster in August of last year and pitched four major league innings for them. He allowed one earned run and struck out eight opponents without issuing a walk. But he’s been on optional assignment for all of this year, pitching 30 1/3 innings of the minor league total mentioned above. He’s still walking 17.7% of batters that step into the box but his 23.8% strikeout rate is a bit of a dip from previous seasons, leading to a 6.53 ERA.

It’s understandable that the Royals gave up on a pitcher that clearly still needs some fine tuning, while he’s a sensible flier for the Fish. McMillon can still be optioned for the rest of this season and two more campaigns. They just traded away A.J. Puk, Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing, JT Chargois and Huascar Brazobán in the past few days, blowing a huge hole in their bullpen. McMillon is an upside flier with plenty of time for the Marlins to unlock it.

Orioles Promote Coby Mayo

By | at

Aug. 2: The O’s formally announced Mayo’s promotion. Infielder Livan Soto was optioned to Norfolk to open a spot on the active roster. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.

Aug. 1: Top prospect Coby Mayo is joining the Orioles, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (X link). The 22-year-old will be making his MLB debut. Mayo is not yet on the 40-man roster but the O’s have an opening, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction.

Baltimore took Mayo out of high school in the fourth round of the truncated 2020 draft. He signed for an above slot $1.75MM bonus and has ripped through minor league pitching at every level. The 6’5″, 230-pound corner infielder had pushed his way towards the top of a loaded O’s system by the start of the 2022 campaign. He had good but not elite numbers as a 20-year-old between High-A and Double-A that season.

A monster showing in the upper minors last year vaulted Mayo to the top of the overall league prospect rankings. He hit .307/.424/.603 with 17 homers in 78 games for Double-A Bowie. The O’s bumped him to Triple-A Norfolk late last season. Mayo responded with an excellent .267/.393/.512 slash across 62 contests.

Mayo entered the year as a top 30 minor league talent in the eyes of most evaluators. He has done all he can to reinforce that acclaim with another excellent year in Norfolk. Mayo has popped 20 homers over 335 plate appearances. He’s hitting .294/.370/.581 with a strong 10.1% walk rate. While his 24.5% strikeout percentage is a bit higher than average, it’s not a major concern for one of the best power-hitting prospects in the league.

The righty-hitting Mayo is tied for fourth in the International League in home runs. Among 83 hitters with 300+ plate appearances, he leads the league in slugging percentage. Mayo is 10th among that group in average and 25th in on-base percentage despite being one of the league’s youngest hitters.

Mayo ranks as the sport’s #12 prospect at Baseball America and FanGraphs. Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Mayo 18th on his recent update of the sport’s top 60 prospects. All three outlets have him as either the #2 or #3 player in the Baltimore system. He’s behind Jackson Holliday and alongside catcher Samuel Basallo at the top of an organization that is still loaded with high-end young talent.

BA and FanGraphs each credit Mayo with 70-grade power (plus-plus) on the 20-80 scouting scale. FanGraphs writes that Mayo could be susceptible to strikeouts early in his MLB career, but evaluators generally feel he shouldn’t have any problem getting to his impact power while drawing plenty of walks.

Mayo’s defense is more of a question. He has played exclusively on the corner infield in his minor league career. The vast majority of that experience has come at third base. Most scouting reports peg him as a fringe-average defender there despite excellent arm strength. FanGraphs’ report suggests Mayo may be best suited moving off the position to right field, but the O’s have not given him any outfield work in the minors.

He’ll break into the majors as a third baseman. Baltimore lost Jordan Westburg to a broken hand yesterday. The O’s have yet to provide a clear timeline on the All-Star’s return, yet he’s certainly in for a lengthy absence. Baltimore played Ramón Urías at the hot corner today. With Urías hitting a league average .244/.318/.381 in 195 plate appearances, they’ll turn to Mayo in the hope that the youngster provides above-average offense right out of the gate.

That’s no guarantee for any prospect, as Holliday’s struggles after his first big league call demonstrated early in the season. Yet there’s nothing more for Mayo to prove in the minors, as he now owns a .283/.380/.552 slash with 36 doubles and 32 homers in 602 career Triple-A plate appearances (the equivalent of one full season). Mayo would probably have gotten a look by now if he were in most other organizations. The O’s have such an impressive collection of infielders that they could afford to wait for him to comprehensively dominate minor league pitching.

Baltimore fans can dream on a future infield comprising Mayo, Holliday, Gunnar Henderson and Westburg from right to left. For now, Mayo will stick at the hot corner with Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn continuing to share first base and designated hitter. Urías should kick into a utility role which could bump recent trade pickup Livan Soto to Norfolk.

Barring a herculean start to his MLB career that earns him a top two finish in Rookie of the Year balloting, Mayo will not get a full service year this season. The O’s control him through at least the 2030 campaign; he won’t reach arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason. If Baltimore options him back to the minors at any point, that could delay his path to arbitration and free agency.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top