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Sung-Mun Song Hoping To Be Posted For MLB Teams

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KBO infielder Sung-Mun Song could be available for MLB teams this winter. A few weeks ago, he told Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News Agency that he will ask the Kiwoom Heroes to post him after the current season. Yoo notes that MLB teams began scouting him last year. Yoo also published another piece for Yonhap this week wherein Mark Pieper of ISE Baseball, Song’s agency, spoke about the player’s desire to make the move this winter.

Song, 29, is characterized by Yoo as a late bloomer. It’s noted that he didn’t become an everyday player until 2019. He then had his career sidetracked by his military service, which led to him missing the entire 2020 season and part of 2021 as well.

He has since seen a huge uptick in his performance in recent years. Over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he had a combined .253/.311/.366 line and a 85 wRC+. Since the start of 2024, he has a .330/.402/.528 batting line, production which translates to a 146 wRC+. He hit 19 home runs last year and is already up to 24 this season. He also stole 22 bases last year and is at 21 so far in 2025. Defensively, he is primarily a third baseman but has also spend significant time at second and first base.

Song and his representatives feel he is ready for a move to North America. The Heroes don’t have to post him and have actually signed him to a six-year extension, but Yoo notes they have also said they will support him if he wants to make the move to Major League Baseball. Assuming they do eventually post him at some point this winter, that will open up a 30-day posting window where Song can negotiate will all 30 MLB clubs.

If he signs with one of them, the Heroes will be entitled to a posting fee, the size of which would depend upon the specifics of his MLB deal. The fee will be calculated as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter. Additional earnings, such as performance bonuses/incentives or salaries on option years fall under that purview once they are unlocked or exercised.

His market will naturally be dependent on whether or not clubs think he can have success in North American ball. His most recent results are impressive but the track record of success is still fairly short. As a point of comparison, Ha-Seong Kim hit 19 home runs in 2019 and then 30 in 2020, his final two KBO seasons. He had a combined .307/.393/.507 line and 142 wRC+ over those two seasons. That’s fairly similar to Song’s two recent campaigns but Kim also slashed .290/.364/.488 for a 112 wRC+ over the 2015-2018 campaigns. He therefore had a longer track record of decent production and also provided more defensive value as a plus shortstop. Yoo notes that Kim, who also played for the Heroes, had a conversation with Song and convinced him to try the leap to MLB.

Kim secured a four-year, $28MM deal from the Padres ahead of the 2021 season. Arguably, he was a better player at that time compared to Song now, though a few years of inflation could work in Song’s favor. This winter’s third base market will likely be headlined by Alex Bregman, assuming he opts out of his deal with the Red Sox, and Eugenio Suárez. At second, Gleyber Torres should be the main attraction. Teams looking for help at first base will likely be looking at Pete Alonso, who can opt out of his Mets deal, as well as Luis Arráez, Josh Naylor, Rhys Hoskins, Ryan O’Hearn and others.

Song will be more affordable than many of the guys in that group, even with the posting fee, though he will also come with the natural uncertainty surrounding a player with no previous major league experience.

Photo courtesy of Evan Habeeb, Imagn Images

Poll: Can The Astros Hold On To Win The AL West?

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Fangraphs gives each current division leader at least a 60% chance of maintaining that lead through the end of the regular season, per their latest playoff odds. Not all of those chances are equal, however, and two division leaders are far less likely to hold onto their title than the rest.

One is the Blue Jays, who around 45% of MLBTR readers view as likely to hold onto the division as of yesterday’s poll. The other is the Astros, who took control of the division off the back of a dominant 19-7 month of June but since then have struggled to keep pace. They’re 26-29 since the start of July and 16-21 since July 24. Houston’s managed to fend off the Mariners and Rangers in the AL West until now, however, and actually has a larger lead (three games) over Seattle now than they did in mid-August, when they were briefly tied for the division lead at one point.

That rebound in recent weeks has helped them stay afloat, but there’s still cause for concern. What was once a dominant front two in the rotation has now dropped to one; while Hunter Brown is still excelling amid a campaign that’s likely to earn him legitimate consideration for the Cy Young award, Framber Valdez is struggling badly of late with an ERA north of 6.00 since the start of August. The bullpen took a major hit when Josh Hader was sidelined by a sprained shoulder, and the lineup simply isn’t scoring enough runs. The Astros are 29th in the majors since the start of August when it comes to runs scored, and 21st since the start of July. Cam Smith hasn’t sustained his strong start to the year, Isaac Paredes and Jake Meyers are on the injured list, and Jeremy Pena is no longer hitting like a potential MVP candidate.

All of those flaws in the roster have left Houston vulnerable, and their +14 run differential is not just lower than those of the Mariners and Rangers, it’s the lowest of any team currently in playoff position. With six games against Texas and three more against Seattle still on the schedule for September, they’ll need to duke it out with those teams outright in order to hold onto the division. That provides an opportunity for those clubs to make up a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time. And with the toughest strength of schedule remaining in the division, Houston can’t necessarily bank on cleaning up against weaker teams in their other games.

All of that may make it seem as though the Astros have their work cut out for them if they want to hold onto their lead in the AL West. While that could certainly be true, it’s not as if they don’t also have significant advantages working in their favor. For one thing, much of that rough injury luck has been balanced out by other players returning. Yordan Alvarez and Cristian Javier, in particular, figure to be impactful pieces for Houston down the stretch. And while players like Smith and Pena have cooled off to varying degrees, Jose Altuve and Christian Walker have turned back the clock in the second half after tough starts to the season. Carlos Correa is already hitting better now that he’s back in Houston than he had been in Minnesota, and perhaps a veteran core of Altuve, Walker, Correa, and Alvarez will be able to turn things around for the offense over the season’s final month.

The other thing working in Houston’s favor is the reality that Seattle and Texas aren’t exactly behemoths, either. While the Mariners lineup has put up respectable numbers led by Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, and Randy Arozarena, their vaunted starting rotation has looked much more vulnerable this season than in previous years. They’ll get help from a flimsy schedule that pits them against the likes of St. Louis, Colorado, and Atlanta over the season’s final weeks, but without George Kirby and Logan Gilbert posting better numbers than their league-average season figures, that might not be enough. As for the Rangers, injuries to Nathan Eovaldi, Marcus Semien, and Corey Seager have dismantled the team’s veteran core for the foreseeable future. The losses of Semien and Seager, in particular, are forcing them to rely on a far less reliable group of position players for the stretch run as they look to take advantage of their aforementioned six games against the Astros this month.

How do MLBTR readers view Houston’s odds of making it to October with the AL West crown in hand? Will their veteran core be able to score enough runs going forward, or will the Mariners or perhaps even the Rangers sneak in to take over? Have your say in the poll below:

Shelby Miller Likely Headed For Tommy John Surgery

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3:00pm: Miller spoke with the Brewers beat in the dugout today and suggested that a second Tommy John procedure is likely (video link via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The veteran righty effused praise for the Brewers organization and said he’d be on hand to support the club however he can. Asked about the possibility of this being a potential career-ending injury, Miller said there’s “no doubt” in his mind that he can come back — likely in 2027 — and continue to pitch effectively, but that’ll be a conversation he has with his family when he’s further down the road.

Notably, the right-hander acknowledged that surgery was mentioned as a possibility when he was on the injured list with the D-backs. That would have been an internal brace and flexor repair, but a full UCL replacement now seems like it could be on the table. The Brewers surely knew of that possibility at the time of the swap (hence the purely financial cost of acquisition), but that doesn’t make his loss any less impactful.

Fans will want to check out Rosiak’s full five-minute video clip, as Miller provides a wealth of candid quotes on his career, his current mindset, his injury, his time with the Brewers and more.

2:12pm: The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve placed right-hander Shelby Miller on the 60-day injured list due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The 34-year-old exited a game earlier this week after telling manager Pat Murphy that he’d felt a “pop” in his elbow, and it seems he’s encountered a worst-case scenario. Milwaukee has selected the contract of righty Joel Payamps to take Miller’s spot on the 40-man roster and in the big league bullpen.

The Brewers haven’t specified whether Miller will undergo Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure, but surgery is the most common outcome when pitchers suffer UCL sprains. If Miller does require Tommy John surgery, it’d be the second time in his career. He also underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2017 while pitching with the Diamondbacks.

Losing Miller is another notable blow for a Milwaukee bullpen that is also without closer Trevor Megill (flexor strain), lefty DL Hall (oblique strain) and righty Grant Anderson (ankle tendinitis). The Brewers acquired Miller at the trade deadline, knowing there were some health risks. He was on the injured list with a forearm strain at the time. Perhaps in a reflection of that uncertainty, Milwaukee effectively purchased Miller rather than sending any prospects to the D-backs; they took on the remainder of Miller’s deal and $2MM of the roughly $7MM still owed to injured starter Jordan Montgomery — a free agent at season’s end.

Miller has pitched 9 2/3 innings with the Brewers and sports an unsightly 5.59 ERA, though that’s a bit misleading. Prior to the outing when he felt that “pop,” he’d pitched in 10 games with the Brewers and held opponents scoreless in eight of them. The main blemish was a three-run hiccup against the Bucs on Aug. 13, but generally, Miller had been strong: a 3.72 ERA with a 14-to-4 K/BB ratio in those 9 2/3 frames. He was tagged for two runs without recording an out in what will go down as his final appearance of the season, however, and he’ll close out the 2025 campaign with a 2.74 ERA, 10 saves and nine holds in 46 innings.

In place of Miller, the Brewers will take another look at the veteran Payamps. The 31-year-old righty was a rock-solid bullpen arm for the Brew Crew in 2023-24, pitching a combined 129 2/3 innings with a 2.78 ERA, a 26.1% strikeout rate, a 6.7% walk rate, a 42.6% ground-ball rate and just 1.04 HR/9. He saved nine games along the way and piled up 48 holds between those two excellent seasons.

Payamps got out to a miserable start in 2025, however, allowing 17 runs in his first 18 1/3 innings of work. The Brewers designated him for assignment and placed him on waivers. His $2.995MM salary made it easy to pass him through outright waivers, and Payamps has shown signs of righting the ship with Milwaukee’s top affiliate in Nashville. His numbers are somewhat skewed thanks to a six-run meltdown in his third-most-recent appearance, on Aug. 23, but Payamps carried a tidy 3.04 ERA into that outing and has bounced back with a pair of perfect frames during which he punched out five of his six opponents.

Overall, Payamps has a 4.73 ERA in 26 2/3 innings, with a disproportionate amount of the damage against him coming in that Aug. 23 hiccup. He’s posted a sharp 30-to-6 K/BB ratio with Nashville and allowed only two home runs. If he’s back to his 2023-24 form, or even 80-90% of the way there, Payamps could be an impactful bullpen addition for the final few weeks of the regular season — and perhaps even into the postseason if he shows well enough.

Mariners Claim José Castillo, Designate Joe Jacques For Assignment

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The Mariners announced that they have claimed left-hander José Castillo off waivers from the Mets. The latter club designated him for assignment a few days ago. To open a 40-man roster spot, fellow lefty Joe Jacques has been designated for assignment. Castillo is out of options, so the M’s will need to make a corresponding active roster move once he reports to the team. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reported the claim prior to the official announcement.

Castillo, 29, has logged 21 2/3 innings this year between the Diamondbacks and Mets. He has allowed 4.98 earned runs per nine but with better underlying metrics. His 21% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate are both close to average, while his 52.9% ground ball rate is quite strong.

That performance hasn’t been enough to keep him in the majors for an extended stretch. Since he is out of options, he has been designated for assignment multiple times this year. Arizona gave him his first DFA of the season in May and then flipped him to the Mets for cash. Since then, the Mets have given him the DFA treatment three times. The first two resulted in him clearing waivers and sticking with the Mets, later getting selected back to the roster. Around the transactions, he also tossed 16 Triple-A innings with a 1.69 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate.

On this third Mets DFA, the Mariners have swooped in to grab him. They already have three lefties in their bullpen, with Gabe Speier, Caleb Ferguson and Tayler Saucedo back there, but adding Castillo will give them even more balance in their relief corps. He has between four and five years of big league service time, so they can retain him for 2026 via arbitration if he still has a roster spot at season’s end.

Jacques, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason. He was traded to the Mariners in early July. The M’s added him to their 40-man roster and then immediately optioned him to Triple-A. It’s likely that his deal with the Dodgers had some sort of opt-out or upward mobility clause. The Dodgers evidently weren’t willing to give him a 40-man spot but the M’s were.

In the minors this year, he has posted poor surface-level results with better underlying numbers. He has thrown 47 innings in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with a 6.51 ERA. His 23.6% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate are close to par while his 59.7% ground ball rate has been quite good. He has seemingly been undone by a .393 batting average on balls in play and 57.7% strand rate, which are both on the unlucky side. His 4.61 FIP this year is far more optimistic than his ERA.

Despite the positive indicators, the M’s are moving on. Jacques is in his final option year and will therefore be out of options going into 2026. That would have made it harder for them to roster him going forward, so they are cutting him loose now.

Since the trade deadline has passed, he’ll be on waivers in the coming days. It some team believes he can post better numbers going forward, perhaps away from the PCL, then they could put in a claim. He can still be stashed in the minors for the rest of this year. He has less than a year of service time and theoretically has years of control, though as mentioned, he’ll be out of options next year. He has 29 2/3 major league innings with a 5.46 ERA, 15.9% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 61.9% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Angels Claim Logan Davidson

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The Angels announced that they have claimed infielder Logan Davidson off waivers from the Astros. The latter club designated him for assignment earlier this week. In a corresponding 40-man move, the Angels have transferred right-hander Víctor Mederos to the 60-day injured list.

Davidson, 27, was a first-round pick of the Athletics back in 2019. He was initially one of that club’s top prospects but his stock faded. Even back in his college days, his power came with concerns about his penchant for strikeouts. Those concerns popped up again in affiliated ball. From 2021 to 2023, he stepped to the plate 1,437 times in the minors with an 11% walk rate but a 27.6% strikeout rate. He produced a combined line of .246/.332/.379 in that span, leading to a wRC+ of 85.

Going into 2024, he had largely fallen off prospect lists, but he ended up having a decent season. He still struck out in 31.1% of his Triple-A plate appearances but he managed to produce a .300/.366/.535 line and 111 wRC+ anyway. Given his ability to play every position outside of the battery, it was possible to imagine him serving as a useful utility guy.

Here in 2025, he had a strong .303/.452/.428 line in mid-May, again with a strikeout rate over 30%. The A’s then gave him his first big-league call but it didn’t last long. He hit .150/.261/.200 in his first 24 plate appearances and was quickly optioned back down to the minors. He was designated for assignment in July and was claimed by the Astros. They kept him in Triple-A but he hit .207/.290/.390 there and got the DFA treatment again.

This claim makes it three American League West clubs in a span of a few months for Davidson. For the Halos, they are about to lose Yoán Moncada, Chris Taylor and Luis Rengifo to free agency, cutting into their position player depth. They could get Anthony Rendon back next year but surely don’t want to be relying on him for anything since he has missed so much time, including all of the 2025 season due to hip surgery.

Going into 2026, they should have Zach Neto at shortstop and Nolan Schanuel at first base, but openings at second and third base. Prospect Christian Moore got a shot to take over at the keystone but just got optioned after struggling in his initial major league action. Guys like Scott Kingery, Oswald Peraza, Chad Stevens and Kyren Paris are on the roster. The Halos will likely make some offseason moves to address their infield but Davidson gives them another depth option for now. He has just a few days of service time and will still have two option years remaining after this one.

Mederos, 24, landed on the 15-day IL a little over a week ago due to shoulder inflammation. His current status is unclear but this move indicates the Halos don’t expect him back this season. He’ll be on the 60-day IL for the rest of the year, though there’s no IL in the offseason.

Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images

White Sox Claim Ben Cowles

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The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder Ben Cowles off waivers from the Cubs. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. They already had multiple 40-man roster vacancies, so no corresponding transactions were needed. The White Sox’ 40-man roster is now up to 39 players.

Cowles, 25, has a good minor league track record overall but is having a down year. Drafted by the Yankees back in 2021, he went on to produce a combined .268/.365/.426 batting line across various minor league levels from 2021 to 2024. That production translated to a 124 wRC+, indicating he was 24% better than league average at the plate. His 25.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but he drew walks at an 11.5% pace. He also provided double-digit steals annually in the latter three of those years while bouncing between shortstop, third base and second base, plus two thirds of an inning in left field.

The Cubs acquired him in July 2024, one of two players they got when sending Mark Leiter Jr. to the Bronx. The Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. But as mentioned, his results haven’t been great this year. He has stepped to the plate 462 times at the Triple-A level. His 28.6% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate are subpar, both compared to league average and his previous production. His .238/.304/.382 batting line translates to a 74 wRC+.

That performance got him nudged off the Cubs’ roster but he’s a sensible flier for the White Sox. He can still be optioned for two more seasons after this one, so the Sox can send him to Charlotte and see if he gets back on track. Even with his down year at the plate, he has stolen 16 bases and provided his typical defensive versatility.

The Sox are currently getting breakout seasons from Colson Montgomery and Lenyn Sosa. Montgomery should be at shortstop for the foreseeable future while Sosa will likely be at second or first. The rest of their infield mix includes some intriguing but unproven players like Miguel Vargas, Chase Meidroth, Bryan Ramos and Curtis Mead. Cowles gives the Sox another guy to put in that group as they see who separates themselves from the pack.

Photo courtesy of Cody Scanlan, Imagn Images

Nationals Claim Sauryn Lao, Designate Darren Baker For Assignment

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The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever Sauryn Lao off waivers from the Mariners. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Infielder/outfielder Darren Baker was designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.

The 26-year-old Lao made his major league debut with Seattle this summer but has only pitched 3 1/3 innings in the bigs. He’s allowed three runs with a 4-to-1 K/BB ratio in that tiny sample of work but has otherwise spent the season in Triple-A Tacoma, where he’s pitched quite well. In 69 innings of relief with the Mariners’ top affiliate, Lao logged a 3.13 ERA with a hearty 25.9% strikeout rate against a 6.7% walk rate.

Originally signed by the Dodgers as an amateur, Lao is a former third baseman who’s still relatively new to pitching. He moved to the mound full-time in 2023 and has shown a quick aptitude for relief work. He’s posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his three minor league seasons since transitioning to the mound, and he hasn’t shown the type of command troubles that are common for former position players. To the contrary — he’s faced 748 hitters in his three minor league seasons and only walked 51 of them (6.8%).

Lao isn’t a flamethrower but sits at a roughly average 93.5 mph on his four-seamer. He pairs that pitch with a sinker that also sits 93 mph as well as a slider and changeup both in the mid-to-upper 80s. Since he was just selected to a 40-man roster for the first time this year, Lao is in his first minor league option season and will be optionable for two more years. If he can carve out a role for himself in D.C., the Nats can control him all the way through the 2031 season.

Baker, 26, is the son of Hall of Famer and former Nationals skipper Dusty Baker. He made his big league debut as a September call-up with Washington last year, going 7-for-14 with a pair of doubles. He’s spent the past three seasons in Triple-A with the Nats, regularly hitting for average but contributing virtually no power. Baker has only walked at a slightly above-average clip as well, leaving him with an overall .274/.345/.336 batting line in nearly 1300 Triple-A plate appearances. Baker runs well, evidenced by an 83-for-99 showing in stolen base attempts across 309 Triple-A contests.

Defensively, he’s spent the majority of his career at second base, with more than 2500 innings at the position. He’s also logged a bit more than 1000 innings in the outfield — 968 of them coming in left and 58 in center field. Washington selected him in the 10th round of the 2021 draft.

Now that Baker has been designated for assignment, he’ll head to outright waivers. He hasn’t cleared previously and doesn’t have the service time to reject a minor league assignment, so if he goes unclaimed he’ll stick with the Nats as a depth option.

Red Sox To Place Roman Anthony On Injured List

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Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony exited yesterday’s game due to soreness in his left oblique. He’ll be placed on the 10-day injured list, manager Alex Cora revealed in a radio appearance on WEEI today. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported not long beforehand that Anthony was likely to be placed on the IL and that the Sox would recall utilityman Nick Sogard from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.

Cora didn’t provide a timetable for Anthony specifically, speaking instead in general terms while pointing out that oblique strains often take four to six weeks to heal. Obviously, there’s a chance that Anthony’s regular season is over.

It’s terrible timing for the Red Sox (not that there’s a “good” time to lose a player of Anthony’s caliber). Boston is 2.5 games back of the division-leading Blue Jays in the American League East. They’re veritable playoff locks by now, but the Red Sox have a real chance of moving to the top of the division and potentially securing a bye through the first round of postseason play. Attempting to do so without Anthony will make that task far more daunting.

Since making his big league debut on June 9, Anthony has been Boston’s best offensive performer. Through 303 plate appearances, he’s hitting .292/.396/.463 with eight homers, 18 doubles, a triple, a 13.2% walk rate and four stolen bases (in five tries). The resulting 138 wRC+ indicates that Anthony has been 38% better than an average hitter at the plate. Among Red Sox hitters, only newcomer Nathaniel Lowe has a better mark, and that comes in a sample of just 41 plate appearances.

Further complicating matters for the Sox is that Anthony will join Wilyer Abreu on the injured list. He’s been out since mid-August with a calf strain and doesn’t appear close to a return. Cora said just last night that Abreu has yet to even resume running (link via the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey). That leaves Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela in two of the three outfield spots, and a rotating cast of characters to mix and match in the third. Masataka Yoshida, Rob Refsnyder, Nate Eaton and the aforementioned Sogard are among the possibilities. Yoshida has played the field just four times this year after offseason shoulder surgery.

It’s possible Anthony heals abnormally quickly and is back on the field before season’s end, but based purely on the history of oblique injuries in recent years, it’s far likelier that he won’t be ready to return until the postseason is underway. The Red Sox will have to hope that they’re still alive when Anthony is cleared to return, and even then, he might need to jump right back into the mix after a lengthy layoff and without the benefit of a true minor league rehab assignment. At the very least, they’ll hope to have Abreu back by that point, but Boston’s outfield look far less formidable now than it did three weeks ago.

Mariners, Guillo Zuñiga Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Guillo Zuñiga, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The former Cardinals and Angels reliever had been with the Phillies on a minor league deal but was granted his release earlier in the week.

Zuñiga, 26, has pitched in the majors in each of the past two seasons, totaling 19 2/3 frames between St. Louis and Anaheim. He’s allowed 11 earned runs (5.03 ERA) on 16 hits and eight walks with a dozen strikeouts. The big 6’5″, 230-pound righty has posted similar numbers in Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2025, logging a 5.14 ERA, a 23.5% strikeout rate and a 10.9% walk rate in 42 innings of relief.

While Zuñiga has yet to find much success in the majors or even in Triple-A, he still has plenty of appealing traits. He’s averaging 96.9 mph on his four-seamer this season in Triple-A and is sporting a 12.3% swinging-strike rate that’s north of the major league average. He’s not inducing enough chases off the plate, but opponents have made contact at a well below average 73.7% clip overall — including a weak 79.5% on pitches within the strike zone.

Opponents also had a hard time making high-impact contact against Zuñiga, evidenced by a tepid 87.7 mph average exit velocity and 32.5% hard-hit rate. This year’s 46.9% grounder rate is a strong mark that’s notably higher than his recent seasons in the upper minors, perhaps due to throwing fewer fastballs and ramping up the usage of his slider and changeup.

The Mariners already have a strong back end of the bullpen. Closer Andrés Muñoz (1.69 ERA) and setup men Matt Brash (1.86), Gabe Speier (2.39), Eduard Bazardo (2.65) and Carlos Vargas (3.66) have all posted strong run-prevention numbers on the season. The other few spots in the ’pen are a bit in flux, however. Caleb Ferguson has struggled since coming over from the Pirates at the trade deadline. Tayler Saucedo has given up 11 runs in 10 1/3 innings this season. Starter-turned-reliever Emerson Hancock and veteran Luke Jackson were added to the mix when rosters expanded Monday.

Zuñiga won’t necessarily get a look in the majors, but if he impresses in his first few looks over in Tacoma, it’s feasible that he could pitch his way into a big league audition. He didn’t sign with the Mariners until Sept. 2, so he won’t be postseason-eligible even if he does push his way to the big leagues, but he’s a hard-throwing 26-year-old with a minor league option remaining and six additional seasons of club control, so he’s a sensible enough flier — especially for a team with a long track record of converting bargain-bin relief pickups into quality members of the major league bullpen.

Mets Notes: Senga, Taylor, Marte

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The Mets’ rotation has gotten a huge helping hand from rookies Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong over the past few weeks, which has helped paper over a series of underwhelming performances from the veterans who were expected to hold down key roles. Frankie Montas pitched in only nine games and recorded a 6.28 ERA before going down with a UCL injury that will require surgery. Sean Manaea’s three-year, $75MM deal began with a lengthy IL stint for an oblique strain, and he’s now pitched in 10 games with a 5.60 ERA.

On the surface, it may seem odd to lump Kodai Senga and his excellent 3.02 ERA in with those other struggling veterans, but Senga has floundered through his past eight starts. The 32-year-old righty has totaled just 35 2/3 innings in that time while being tagged for a 6.56 earned run average. He’s walked 13% of his opponents in that stretch and surrendered a woeful 2.02 homers per nine innings pitched.

Senga’s struggles have been significant enough that the Mets have at least considered the possibility of sending him to the minors, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports. That’s not as straightforward of a decision as it would be with most pitchers; Senga’s five-year, $75MM contract stipulates that he cannot be optioned to the minor leagues without his consent. Sammon notes that Senga said Tuesday that he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to turn things around.

Still, it’d be a surprising development, given not only Senga’s prior runner-up finish in 2023 Rookie of the Year voting but also his general excellence to begin the season. Senga started 13 games before a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list on June 13. In those 13 games, he pitched 73 2/3 innings (5 2/3 innings per start) and recorded an immaculate 1.47 ERA. His rate stats didn’t support that level of dominance (23.9 K%, 10.6 BB%), but metrics like FIP (3.24) and SIERA (4.27) didn’t think he was due for the type of regression he’s since experienced.

Perhaps that hamstring strain led him to develop some bad mechanical habits, or perhaps he’s still feeling some discomfort. It’s also feasible that there could simply be some fatigue setting in after Senga missed nearly all of the 2024 season due to shoulder and calf injuries. Whatever the cause, this is the most sustained stretch of struggles that Senga has encountered since making the move from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball. With the Mets overwhelmingly likely to reach the postseason, it’d make sense to take any measures necessary to get Senga back to form ahead of the playoffs.

Elsewhere on the roster, injuries continue to pile up. The Mets placed outfielder Tyrone Taylor on the 10-day IL due to a left hamstring strain yesterday, recalling Jared Young from Triple-A Syracuse in his place. The IL placement was backdated to Aug. 30. Manager Carlos Mendoza expressed optimism that Taylor wouldn’t require a long stint on the shelf but said the team felt it had little choice after Taylor was rested for three days but still unable to run close to full speed Monday (link via Steve Kornacki of MLB.com).

Taylor had struggled at the plate for most of the season but finally appeared to be turning a corner. He’d collected three multi-hit performances in his past seven games, going 10-for-21 with four doubles and three walks (.476/.542/.667). It’s a small sample, of course, and Taylor is still hitting just .218/.277/.315 overall, but getting his bat going in the season’s final month would’ve been a nice perk headed into postseason play. He’s provided outstanding defense throughout the year and also gone 11-for-13 on the basepaths.

With Taylor sidelined, it’s possible that Starling Marte could see some occasional reps in the outfield. He’s been a designated hitter 65 times this season, compared to just eight games in the field, but the 36-year-old has had a resurgent season at the plate. After hitting just .258/.314/.357 from 2023-24, Marte has turned back the clock with a .280/.358/.432 batting line in 272 plate appearances. This year’s eight home runs are already more than he hit in either 2023 or 2024 (despite considerably more plate appearances those seasons). His 18.4% strikeout rate is his lowest since 2020.

While Marte’s downturn in performance from 2023-24 might’ve led to some speculation about whether he’d continue playing after his four-year contract concludes at the end of the 2025 season, this year’s performance shows he still has something left in the tank. There may not be a great fit with the Mets — Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto are in the outfield corners, and the Mets have several infield options to cycle through the DH spot — but Marte tells MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo that he plans to continue playing beyond the ’25 season.

Marte, 37 in October, isn’t going to find the same kind of lucrative multi-year deal in free agency that he did when he signed a four-year, $78MM contract with the Mets, but he’s hitting well enough that he should still command a major league contract. Marte’s once-plus speed has faded, and he’s now in just the 29th percentile of big leaguers for sprint speed, per Statcast, but his arm strength still grades out quite well. Another limited outfield role with frequent DH work would make sense for him moving forward, even if it’s with another team.

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