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The Opener: Brewers, Blue Jays, Yankees, Trade Activity

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:

1. Brewers go for 11 in a row:

The Cubs have been leading the pace in the NL Central this year thanks largely to the breakout of Pete Crow-Armstrong and their offseason acquisition of Kyle Tucker. The Brewers have been on an incredible tear in recent weeks, however, and now sit in a first-place tie with Chicago. After going 16-9 in June, Milwaukee has gone 12-3 in July — including wins in each of their last ten games. They completed a sweep of the NL West-leading Dodgers last night that pulled them even with the Cubs at 59-40 on the season.

Milwaukee technically remains in second place after dropping three of five games played in the season series between the two clubs so far, but with more than 60 games left to play for both teams (including eight against each other), we’re in for a close battle down the stretch. In the short-term, the Brewers will look to keep their win streak rolling against the Mariners and star righty George Kirby. An early-season injury and a rough return from the IL have left Kirby with a pedestrian 4.50 ERA in ten starts, but he’s looked more like himself since the start of June with a 3.18 ERA and 3.07 FIP in 45 1/3 innings. The Brewers will counter with right-hander Brandon Woodruff, who has made just two starts following a long road to recovery from his own injury woes but has pitched to a sterling 2.61 ERA in 10 1/3 frames.

2. Series Preview: Yankees @ Blue Jays

The Yankees have fallen out of first place in the AL East, and they’re set to get the opportunity to fight their way back to the top this week with a three-game set in Toronto. The Blue Jays have a three-game lead over New York, meaning a sweep for the Yanks would pull them into a tie for the division lead. That effort starts tonight with southpaw Carlos Rodon (3.08 ERA) on the mound versus veteran righty Kevin Gausman (4.19 ERA). Rookie Cam Schlittler will make the second start of his career tomorrow opposite Max Scherzer, who’s just a week from his 41st birthday. The series will conclude with Yankees ace Max Fried (2.43 ERA) on the mound against veteran righty Chris Bassitt (3.89 ERA).

3. Trade activity on the horizon:

The month of July has been relatively quiet in terms of the trade market so far, but that figures to change in the coming days with just ten days left until the trade deadline. While plenty of teams are still weighing whether to buy or sell, signals about the impending decisions are becoming more clear. Milwaukee’s recent hot streak was enough for GM Matt Arnold to more or less take trading Freddy Peralta off the table, for example, while on the other end of the spectrum recent struggles in Cleveland have led the Guardians to at least listen on high-end relievers Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith. Orioles GM Mike Elias effectively confirmed yesterday that he’s in active discussions regarding his club’s impending free agents. With the deadline creeping closer every day, the dam could break and unleash a flurry of deals any day now.

Elias: Orioles’ Trade Talks Focused On Players “Towards The End Of Their Contracts”

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The Orioles managed to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Rays earlier today but are still 10 games under .500 with a -99 run differential. They’re 13.5 games out of first place in the American League East and 8.5 games back of an AL Wild Card spot — with seven teams they’d need to leapfrog to get there. They already traded righty Bryan Baker to the Rays earlier in the month, and general manager Mike Elias suggested in an interview on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that further players are likely to be shipped out. The GM made clear, however, that he’s focused on trading short-term pieces and not players who are under club control well beyond the current season.

“When we’re at this point in the standings and 11 days away from the trade deadline, we’ve got to be realistic about our situation,” Elias said. “The conversations I’m having right now are more oriented toward what’s out there for some of our available major league players. We’re not blowing up the team. We think we’re going to be very good again in 2026 and have that intention. We’re not interested in changing the foundation of the team, but to the degree that we have players that interest other clubs, who are coming towards the end of their contracts, we’ve got to listen to that. That’s what we’re spending our time on now.”

Whether it’s Elias who has an aversion to long-term contracts or the two ownership groups under which he’s worked — the Angelos family sold the Orioles to a group led by David Rubenstein prior to the 2024 season — the Orioles don’t have many players signed long-term. Elias has only signed one free agent (Tyler O’Neill) to a multi-year contract and has not brokered extensions with any of the team’s young core. They have a very appealing group of young players who are still controlled via arbitration, but Baltimore’s proclivity for one-year contracts gives them plenty of players to market in the next couple weeks.

First baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn, center fielder Cedric Mullins and corner outfielder Ramon Laureano are all in their final guaranteed seasons in Baltimore. (Laureano does have a reasonable $6.5MM club option for 2026). Catcher Gary Sanchez is also on a one-year deal, although he’s likely out until September due to a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

On the pitching side of things, starters Zach Eflin, Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano are all free agents at season’s end, as are relievers Gregory Soto and Seranthony Dominguez. Right-hander Andrew Kittredge, like Laureano, is on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2026 season. His is valued at $9MM.

O’Hearn, earning $8MM this season, is hitting .282/.378/.458 with a dozen homers. He’d be one of the best rental bats on the market. Mullins is earning $8.725MM and hitting just .218/.300/.4o5 with 13 homers and 14 steals, but he’s one of very few center field options who could be available. The resurgent Laureano is having a career-best year at the plate, hitting .276/.340/.498 through 247 plate appearances while earning just a $4MM salary.

Eflin has been out for nearly a month due to a back injury, which presumably contributed to him surrendering 17 runs in his final nine innings before being placed on the injured list. That ugly stretch ballooned his ERA all the way to 5.95, but he had a 4.08 mark prior to that stretch and is coming off a 2023-24 run in which he tossed 343 innings with a 3.54 ERA and terrific strikeout/walk rates. He’s making $18MM this season. Eflin has posted a 1.50 ERA in three minor league rehab starts, and he told Jake Rill of MLB.com yesterday that he feels like he’s ready to rejoin the rotation.

Morton’s struggles earlier this season were in many ways emblematic of the team’s struggles as a whole. He’s righted the ship after being dropped to the bullpen for a few weeks, though. While the 41-year-old righty is still sporting a grisly 5.58 ERA, he has a 3.47 mark in his past 47 innings. Morton was trounced for seven runs in his most recent outing versus Tampa Bay, but he’d pitched 51 2/3 innings of 2.61 ERA ball prior to that. Even with the ugly last start, he looks largely back on track, though his $15MM salary is another impediment.

Sugano, 35, is in his first big league season. A longtime star in Japan’s NPB, his year has been the inverse of Morton’s: a terrific start followed by an extended rough patch. Sugano carried a 3.04 ERA into June despite possessing one of the lowest strikeout rates in the sport (14.2%), but his lack of missed bats has caught up to him. He has a 7.94 ERA and has been torched for seven home runs over his past six starts (28 1/3 innings). He’s on a $13MM salary.

The left-handed Soto and right-handed Dominguez both miss plenty of bats and have shaky command, although Soto has his walk rate down to a more passable 10.1% this year. Both average better than 97 mph on their heaters, and their ERAs (3.67 for Soto, 3.72 for Dominguez) are nearly identical. Fielding-independent metrics grade them similarly as well, pegging them both in the mid-3.00s. Soto is making $5.35MM to Dominguez’s $8MM. The 35-year-old Kittredge missed the first two months of the season due to a knee procedure he required during spring training but has been solid since returning: 3.86 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate.

It’s not clear from Elias’ comments whether the Orioles will at least entertain offers on players controlled beyond the current season. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported last week that Elias has at least heard out other teams who’ve called on lefty Trevor Rogers and closer Felix Bautista, but that could be mere due diligence. Bautista, controlled two more seasons via arbitration, would be a particular shock if moved. The Dodgers are among the teams who’ve called, but a deal feels decidedly unlikely.

The O’s have some buy-low bats, but it’s hard to imagine anyone taking on even a portion of O’Neill’s contract when he’s signed through 2027 and hitting just .182/.270/.327. Ryan Mountcastle is an interesting buy-low option, but he hit just .246/.280/.348 before a hamstring tear sent him to the 60-day IL. He’ll begin a rehab assignment soon and could be a non-tender candidate with a poor finish, so perhaps there’s more willingness to listen there. Baltimore’s core seems unlikely to be available in any capacity, however. It’d be a true stunner if any of Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser or Jackson Holliday wound up being seriously discussed.

Daniel Bard Retires

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Veteran reliever Daniel Bard is ending his comeback bid and will retire, reports WEEI’s Rob Bradford. The 40-year-old Bard signed a minor league contract with the Mariners earlier this summer and had pitched well in a limited look with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk with nine punchouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Originally a first-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2006, Bard made his big league debut in 2009 and quickly became a star reliever in Boston. In his first three seasons, the righty pitched 197 innings of  2.88 ERA ball and piled up 79 holds and five saves. Along the way, he fanned nearly 27% of his opponents. That’d be a strong mark even in today’s game, but at the time, the league-average strikeout rate sat around 18% (compared to this year’s 21.9%). Bard ranked 21st among all relievers in strikeout rate over that three-year period and, despite not debuting until mid-May in ’09, tallied the third-most holds in MLB from ’09-’11.

In 2012, the Red Sox tried moving Bard into the rotation, hoping some of that single-inning dominance would carry over to lengthier stretches. It didn’t pan out. Bard made ten starts and was hit hard, yielding a 5.30 ERA in 54 1/3 innings and showing some alarming command troubles. The lanky right-hander walked more hitters (36) than he struck out (34) and plunked eight batters. He was moved back into the bullpen later in the season.

Bard’s command struggles had actually begun in September of 2011. They continued in 2012 during that shift to the rotation, and reached a tipping point the following season. Bard pitched just one major league inning in 2013, plus another 15 1/3 frames in the minors — during which he walked one-third of the batters he faced and threw 11 wild pitches. Bard would eventually learn that he’d also been pitching with an undiagnosed case of thoracic outlet syndrome — he underwent surgery in 2014 — and he’s also been candid throughout his career about his ongoing battle with anxiety.

A series of minor league deals with the Rangers, Cubs, Pirates, Cardinals and Mets didn’t pan out, and by 2017 Bard had opted to call it a career and move onto the next phase of his baseball journey. He took a job with the D-backs, serving as a player mentor/mental skills coach who worked with young players throughout the organization. Bard held that position for a couple years but found that with some time off, his velocity, command and desire to pitch all returned. He worked out for clubs ahead of the 2020 season, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and embarked on one of the more improbable comebacks in recent memory.

Bard was heading into his age-35 season and hadn’t pitched in the majors for seven years when he went to camp with the Rockies. He wound up not only earning a spot on the roster in the shortened 2020 season — he was named National League Comeback Player of the Year. Bard pitched 24 2/3 innings with the Rockies that season and logged a 3.65 ERA with a 25.5% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate, six saves and two holds. His fastball, which had sat 93-94 in 2012-13 while he was unknowingly pitching with thoracic outlet syndrome, averaged a hearty 97.3 mph.

Bard had a tough 2021 season but was brilliant in 2022 when he saved 34 games and pitched to a 1.79 earned run average. The Rockies signed him to a two-year, $19MM extension that summer rather than ship him out when he would’ve been one of the most popular rental arms on the trade market. That contract didn’t work out, as Bard struggled again in 2023 and missed the 2024 season recovering from a pair of surgeries: one to repair a torn meniscus and another to repair a torn flexor tendon. He’d hoped to make one final run in the majors, but he’ll now wrap up one of the more interesting career arcs this generation of baseball has seen.

All told, Bard pitched in parts of five seasons with the Red Sox and four with the Rockies — plus minor league appearances with the Rangers, Cardinals and Mets. He pitched 457 1/3 big league innings, saved 66 games, tallied 91 holds and recorded a 3.74 ERA. Bard set down just over 24% of the hitters he faced on strikes over the course of his career, and he earned more than $31MM in salary, thanks largely to that late-career extension in Colorado.

Bard has already taken one non-playing job with the Diamondbacks. It stands to reason that plenty of clubs would welcome someone with Bard’s background to their organization, be it in a coaching role, a player development role or a baseball operations role — should he choose to again look for new opportunities to stay involved in the game.

D-backs Agree To Terms With Top Picks Kayson Cunningham, Patrick Forbes

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The D-backs have agreed to terms on a deal with No. 18 overall pick Kayson Cunningham, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com. Cunningham, a high school shortstop out of Texas, will receive a $4,581,900 bonus — full slot value for his selection. Arizona also agreed to a $3MM bonus with No. 29 overall pick Patrick Forbes, a right-hander out of Louisville (also via Callis). That’s $191K under slot value.

Cunningham, 19, was regarded as a clear first-round talent and considered the best pure hitter among this year’s high school ranks — if not the best pure hit tool in the pool overall. He’ll forgo his commitment to Texas and begin his professional career. Cunningham landed as highly as No. 8 on FanGraphs’ rankings of the top prospects in this year’s draft. Baseball America ranked him 12th, while MLB.com had him 14th and Keith Law ranked him 15th over at The Athletic. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked him 25th heading into the draft.

Scouting reports on Cunningham laud his feel for hitting and above-average speed, but there are questions about whether he’ll stick at shortstop or have to move over to second base, where the bar for offense is higher. He’s also perhaps generously listed at 5’10”, leading to some questions about his size, but Cunningham has the makings of a hit-over-power middle infielder with good speed.

Forbes ranked 29th at FanGraphs, 31st at MLB.com, 32nd at The Athletic, 33rd at ESPN and 47th at Baseball America. He’s a 6’3″, 220-pound righty who’d previously been a two-way player but is now focused on the mound, where he boasts an upper-90s heater and an above-average slider. Forbes has missed time due to injuries and pitched just 29 innings in 2024. He bounced back with 71 1/3 frames this year, and while his 4.42 ERA was lacking, he fanned nearly 37% of his opponents.

The Diamondbacks also agreed to an under-slot deal with third-round pick Brian Curley and over-slot deals with fourth-rounder Dean Livingston and 11th-rounder Luke Dotson (all per Callis). Curley’s $700K bonus checks in about $139K under slot value. Livingston’s $1MM bonus is nearly $400K over his slot value of $611K. Dotson secures a $500K bonus — $350K of which will count against Arizona’s draft pool. (All picks in rounds 11-20 come with a standard $150K slot value, and only money that exceeds that figure counts toward the team’s pool.)

Dodgers Pursuing High-End Bullpen Upgrades

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The Dodgers are known to be in the market for bullpen help after injuries to Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen have thinned their relief corps. They’re focused on several of the market’s most high-profile names, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who reports that L.A. has inquired on Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, Pirates closer David Bednar, Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley and Orioles closer Felix Bautista (in addition to previously reported interest in Minnesota’s Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax).

Los Angeles was active on the relief market over the winter, signing Tanner Scott to a four-year deal, Treinen to a two-year contract and Kirby Yates to a one-year pact. Neither Scott (4.00 ERA) nor Yates (4.08) have performed up to expectations, however, and Yates has also missed some time due to a hamstring strain (though he’s been healthy for the past month and a half). Dodgers relievers rank 24th in the majors with a 4.38 earned run average, and they’re at an ugly 5.28 mark over the past month.

Of the names listed, Bednar is the likeliest to change hands. The Pirates, in last place in the NL Central, were swept by the White Sox this weekend and are surefire sellers. Bednar is earning $5.9MM this year and is owed one final raise in arbitration this winter before becoming a free agent in the 2026-27 offseason. The 30-year-old struggled through a down season in 2024 and pitched poorly enough early in 2025 to be optioned to Triple-A; he’s been in vintage form since returning from a brief two-week demotion.

Over his past 31 innings, Bednar boasts a 1.74 ERA with a massive 36.4% strikeout rate against a 5.8% walk rate. He’s currently in a 17 1/3-inning streak without allowing an earned run — his last earned run was on May 24 — and has posted a 23-to-4 K/BB ratio in that time. Pirates ownership has reportedly nixed some trade talks on Bednar, a Pittsburgh native, in the past. That’s not expected to be the case this time around.

Helsley has a good chance of moving as well. The Cardinals dropped their first two games coming out of the All-Star break and are three back in the NL Wild Card chase. They’ve outperformed all expectations this season after an offseason of inactivity, but they entered the season expecting this to be a transition year as their baseball operations staff turns over. If the Cards win several games in a row and nudge further up the standings, they could wind up hanging onto Helsley, whom Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently highlighted as a potential qualifying offer candidate. Nightengale writes that the Cards don’t plan on making a QO to Helsley, though that could simply indicate there are differing opinions within the front office on whether that’d be prudent.

Helsley, 31, certainly makes sense as a potential QO candidate. He’s been among the best relievers in the National League over the past four seasons, working to a combined 2.06 ERA with 101 saves. This year’s numbers have dipped a bit. He’s sitting on a 3.27 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate. It’s still  a strong performance overall, but not up to the lofty standards he’d set from 2022-24. He’ll still command sizable interest — Nightengale writes that five contenders have been in touch with the Cardinals about him — and should be able to net the Cardinals greater value  (and certainly more MLB-ready talent) than they’d net with a compensatory draft pick if Helsley rejected his QO and signed elsewhere.

The other relievers highlighted are less likely to be traded. Cleveland is reportedly listening on Clase and teammate Cade Smith, but both players will have exorbitant asking prices. Clase is signed cheaply through 2026 and has a pair of affordable club options. Bautista is arbitration-eligible in 2026 and 2027, and the Orioles are far likelier to trade short-term rentals than players controlled multiple years beyond the current season. Both Duran and Jax are controlled through 2027 as well, and the Twins are still on the fringes of the AL Wild Card race as well.

Brewers PBO Matt Arnold Downplays Freddy Peralta Trade Possibilities

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Because Freddy Peralta is in the final guaranteed year of his contract, the Brewers right-hander has been mentioned as a speculative trade candidate for some time, given how the Brew Crew have often dealt star players before they reach free agency.  Peralta is still under team control via an $8MM club option for 2026, though that option year only adds to the righty’s trade value, as rival teams would be willing to give up more to have Peralta for two pennant races instead of one.

Then again, that $8MM price tag for a frontline pitcher also makes Peralta incredibly valuable to the Brewers themselves, as Milwaukee again finds itself in the thick of playoff contention.  Speaking with Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold praised Peralta as “one of the most important parts of our organization” and made a trade sound very unlikely, if not entirely impossible.

“Obviously it’s important for us to never close the door, but Freddy means the world to our franchise and all of us,” Arnold said.  “I would expect him to be a big part of this going down the stretch.  It’s something that we can never exclusively say no on anything.  But he just means so much to so many people here.  I’m thrilled to have him as a part of this team.”

While the Brewers have enough rotation depth that they could conceivably trade a starter to address other needs before the deadline, it is fair to say that Jacob Misiorowski is probably the only pitcher more untouchable than Peralta.  Over 116 2/3 innings this season, Peralta has produced a 2.85 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate, and excellent hard-contact numbers.  The bottom-line numbers are a bit more flattering than the reality, as Peralta has a 3.78 SIERA and his 8.4% walk rate is nothing special, plus his strikeout rate is actually a career low.

Still, Peralta is the type of pitcher any club would feel comfortable starting in a playoff game, and he would be Milwaukee’s top starter for heading into what the team hopes will be another dose of October baseball.  As deep as the Brewers’ rotation may be, it would suddenly look a lot thinner without Peralta stabilizing things up top.

[Related: Milwaukee Brewers Trade Deadline Outlook, for MLBTR Front Office subscribers]

A trade probably wouldn’t be on the radar at all if it wasn’t for the Brewers’ past history, and the team’s payroll limitations.  The contract extension Peralta signed prior to the 2020 season has proven to be a huge bargain for the Brewers, and the reported lack of talks involving a new contract could be a hint that Peralta ultimately isn’t in Milwaukee’s long-term plans.

This could explain Arnold’s hesitance to absolutely rule out the possibility of a Peralta trade, just in case a rival team stepped forward with an incredible offer.  But with the Brewers rolling and making a run at another NL Central crown, it’s hard to imagine that anything short of an outlandish trade package would get Arnold to budge on moving his ace.  The specter of the 2022 deadline trade of Josh Hader still looms in recent memory, as the Brewers’ controversial decision to deal the closer seemed to sap the morale of a team that was leading the division at the time, and Milwaukee ended up missing the postseason entirely.

Arnold seemed to acknowledge that history in telling Hogg that “I think we have a really good group, and chemistry matters.  You can remove a piece of this and it changes the dynamic, potentially.  We’re certainly sensitive to that.  At times we’ve had to make unpopular decisions just to make sure our team is variable for not just this year but a long time.  It’s important to try to find that right balance, and we’re trying to do that every single day.”

Brewers Place Jake Bauers On 10-Day Injured List

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The Brewers announced that first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left shoulder impingement.  Infielder Tyler Black has been called up from Triple-A to take Bauers’ spot on the active roster.

With Rhys Hoskins sidelined until roughly mid-August due to a Grade 2 thumb strain and a bone bruise, losing Bauers further depletes Milwaukee’s first base picture.  The Brewers called up Andrew Vaughn to pair with Bauers in a righty-lefty platoon, and on paper, that platoon can be preserved with the left-handed hitting Black now in the majors to join forces with Vaughn.

It helps that Vaughn has been on fire at the plate during his brief time with the Brew Crew, and Black is a former top prospect who might yet break out in his first taste of MLB action in 2025.  Black had a modest .561 OPS over his first 57 career plate appearances in 2024, and his work this season was put on hold when he fractured his right hamate bone at the end of Spring Training.  Black didn’t make his season debut until mid-May, and he has hit only .191/.301/.303 over 103 plate appearances at Triple-A Nashville, perhaps indicating that he isn’t back to 100 percent.

Bauers has been used primarily as a platoon bat over his two seasons in Milwaukee, though he has still hit a modest .198/.306/.359 over 497 PA in a Brewers uniform.  More details on Bauers’ injury and recovery timeline should be known later today, but barring a minimal 10-day absence, he’ll be out of action beyond the July 31st trade deadline.

First base figured to be a target area for the Crew even before Bauers’ injury, even if the club’s preferred goal was probably a player that can play first base amongst other positions, rather than a pure first base-only type.  The Brewers still have plenty of time before the deadline to monitor Hoskins and Bauers’ recoveries, and to see if Vaughn can keep rolling.  Beyond just first base, the Brewers could make more of a move to obtain a left-handed hitting outfielder, with Bauers and Sal Frelick both hitting the IL in the last few days.

Astros Place Isaac Paredes On 10-Day IL Due To Hamstring Strain

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12:37PM: The Astros officially placed Paredes on the 10-day IL due to a right hamstring strain, and also optioned catcher Cesar Salazar to Triple-A.  Whitcomb was called up and Singleton’s contract was selected, and Brendan Rodgers was moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for Singleton.

8:11AM: Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes left Saturday’s 7-6 loss to the Mariners with what was described as right hamstring discomfort.  The injury occurred in the third inning, when Paredes hit a line drive off the left field wall that resulted in only a single, as he started limping partway down the first base base line.

Paredes is going from Seattle to Houston today to undergo testing, and a trip to the injured list seems inevitable.  MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports that infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb and first baseman Jon Singleton are joining the Astros from Triple-A Sugar Land prior to today’s game, so the club is already arranging its next set of roster moves.  Singleton isn’t on the 40-man roster, so another transaction is forthcoming apart from the shuffle of Paredes for Whitcomb.

This isn’t the first time Paredes has dealt with hamstring problems this season, as some soreness in his left hamstring forced him to miss three games last month but he was able to return none the worse for wear.  This new injury “hurts more than the other one,” Paredes told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters, as he said “I just feel like it pulled as I started running and I couldn’t run anymore.”

While the Astros maintain a three-game lead in the AL West, the club has lost seven of its last eight games, as a mountain of injuries may be catching up to the roster.  Assuming Paredes will indeed be sidelined, he’ll become the 16th different player on Houston’s IL, and the ninth position player.  The long list of injuries includes arguably Houston’s three top hitters in Paredes, Yordan Alvarez, and Jeremy Pena.

Acquired from the Cubs as part of last winter’s blockbuster Kyle Tucker trade, Paredes has hit .259/.359/.470 with 19 homers over 409 plate appearances in his first season in Houston.  Since his .362 wOBA significantly outpaces his .332 xwOBA, some good fortune has been involved in Paredes’ performance, and he isn’t making much hard contact.  On the plus side, Paredes is making a lot of contact overall, and posting very strong strikeout and walk rates.  It all added up to Paredes’ second straight All-Star nod, as he also made the Midsummer Classic last year when he was still a member of the Rays.

In short, Paredes is basically just about the last player the Astros could afford to lose, but it now looks like he’ll be out of action for (in a best-case scenario) at least the next 10 days.  Any of Whitcomb, utilityman Mauricio Dubon, or rookie Brice Matthews could get time at third base with Paredes out, and if Dubon ends up getting the bulk of time at third base, Zack Short will probably take over at shortstop until Pena is able to return.  Matthews has primarily played second base since making his MLB debut last week, and the keystone could remain his primary position if Jose Altuve is needed more in left field to help cover the Astros’ long list of outfield absences.

Some good news may be on the horizon, as Alvarez is with the team in Seattle and has started taking swings.  Alvarez hasn’t played since May 2 due to what was initially described as right hand inflammation, though follow-up tests in late May revealed a slight fracture in the slugger’s right ring finger.  He received two injections after a consultation with a hand specialist at the start of July, and while Alvarez’s IL stint has gone on much longer than expected, his return could be on the horizon.

A’s Rebuffing Trade Interest In Mason Miller

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The Athletics are lined up to be sellers at the deadline, but their July 31 moves won’t extend to a certain long-term closer.  Mason Miller appears to be more or less untouchable, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes that the A’s are telling interested teams that the reliever isn’t available in trade talks.

While things could conceivably change if a particular club makes an outsized offer, it makes sense that the A’s have no interest in moving Miller, who is under team control through the 2029 season.  The right-hander has yet to even reach salary arbitration, though he’ll hit that milestone a year early since Miller is on pace to easily qualify for Super Two status.  This means he’ll gain four years of arbitration eligibility instead of the usual three.

Since traditional counting statistics are weighed more heavily in arbitration cases than more advanced analytics, a closer who racks up big save totals can put himself in line for some increasingly hefty paydays through the arb process.  As such, Miller stands to cash in given that that he already posted 47 saves (out of 53 chances) over his three MLB seasons.  While this rising price tag might make the Athletics more open to dealing Miller at some point during his arbitration years, there isn’t any urgency for the A’s to make a move just yet, even if he has been whispered in trade speculation for over a year.

[Related: Athletics Trade Deadline Outlook, for MLBTR Front Office subscribers]

After making his big league debut in 2023, Miller was installed as the Athletics’ closer at the start of the 2024 campaign and he essentially hasn’t looked back.  The righty has a 3.22 ERA and a stunning 37.5% strikeout rate over 134 career innings, with an average fastball velocity of 100.2mph.  That high-octane fastball is paired with an 87.2mph slider that has been one of the more effective pitchers in baseball over the last two seasons.  Control is a question mark, as Miller’s below-average walk rate in 2024 has sunk to a troubling 12% in 2025.

Between this control issue and the general volatility of relief pitching, an argument can be made that the A’s would be well served to sell high on Miller while he is at peak trade value.  Miller dealt with some early-career injuries that necessitated his move from starting pitching to the bullpen in the first place, so this health history is another reason the front office could reasonably consider a trade at some point.

On the flip side, the Athletics have shown indications that they’re ready to end their rebuild, even if their results in 2025 have been disappointing.  The club locked up Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker to long-term extensions this past spring, and signed Luis Severino to a team-record $67MM free agent deal this past offseason.  This counts as a massive spending splurge by the Athletics’ traditionally low-spending standards, though it appears as though their extension discussions didn’t extend to Miller, who said in mid-March that the club had yet to broach the subject of a long-term extension.  Some sort of multi-year agreement might be a wise move for the A’s to gain some cost certainty through Miller’s arbitration years, even if the club might be hesitate about a commitment beyond the 2029 campaign.

Reds Start Noelvi Marte In Right Field

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The Reds unveiled a new wrinkle in their lineup for today’s game against the Mets, as Noelvi Marte is batting seventh as the starting right fielder.  This marks the first time in Marte’s pro career that he has played in the outfield, as he has primarily played third base in the majors and second base in the minors, with some additional action at second base.

Reporter Charlie Goldsmith shared some background on the rather sudden position change, as the Reds started working Marte out in the outfield just yesterday.  The idea is that playing the outfield will both add some versatility to the 23-year-old’s skillset and give Cincinnati more flexibility in setting lineups.

“Especially against a lefty, it gives us a chance to put [Santiago] Espinal at third and get all of our righties out there [in the lineup],” outfield coach Collin Cowgill said.  “You’ve seen [Marte] play, he’s a good enough athlete to get it figured out.  He has a cannon.  He has all of the physical attributes.  Now, it’s about practicing.”

Cowgill further noted that Marte’s arm strength in particular makes him an asset in right field, and creates more margin for error in throwing accuracy than Marte found at third base.  Ten of Marte’s 22 career Major League errors have come on throws, all from the hot corner.  By comparison, Espinal has made 13 errors total in 1749 2/3 career innings as a third baseman, while Marte has logged only 929 2/3 frames at third.

Espinal has himself seen some time in both corner outfield spots this season as the Reds continue to look for some steady right-handed balance within an outfield mix that tilts heavily to the left side.  TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, Gavin Lux, and Will Benson are all left-handed hitters, and the team’s plan to have the right-handed hitting Austin Hays as a regular corner outfielder has been limited by Hays’ injuries, as Hays is now getting a lot of DH action.  Connor Joe is another righty-swinging outfield option, but putting Marte into the outfield picture opens up more avenues for manager Terry Francona.

It could also help Marte cement his place in the Reds’ lineup after a number of ups and downs at the start of his big league career.  Formerly a star prospect, Marte performed well in 35 games during his 2023 rookie season, but his 2024 campaign was marred by an 80-game PED suspension and then poor results in the majors once he was activated.  The Reds began Marte at Triple-A to begin the 2025 season, and after he was called up, faced another lengthy absence when an oblique strain led to a two-month IL stint.

When he has been able to play, however, Marte looks to have found his hitting form, batting .272/.327/.515 over 103 plate appearances this season.  Obviously the Reds want to get that bat into the lineup, and getting Marte regular playing time in the outfield allows both Espinal more time at third base, but it also gets Lux back into more regular duty at the hot corner.  As Goldsmith observes, Lux has been struggling defensively in left field, and would likely benefit from a return to his natural infield position.

Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain have the middle infield spots spoken for in Cincinnati, leaving Marte with third base as his most logical pathway to big league playing time.  With top prospect Sal Stewart now looming as a third baseman of the future (and even perhaps as early as a 2025 MLB debut), the outfield could become Marte’s more regular position going forward.  Cowgill even suggested that Marte has the athleticism to handle center field, which would give the Reds extra depth at the position behind Friedl.

The Reds are solidly in the wild card race with a 52-47 record, and are known to be looking for hitting help at the deadline.  The exact nature of their position-player targets is yet to be determined, as if Marte can hold his own in right field, Cincinnati might not need to look specifically at the outfield market.

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