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Latest On Pablo Lopez

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Pablo Lopez suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right teres major muscle in early June, and the Twins right-hander has now missed a little over 10 weeks of action.  This puts him within the projected 8-to-12 week timeline initially attached to his recovery, and Lopez has steadily been taking steps towards a September return, including five bullpen sessions and a simulated inning.  The next step comes tomorrow, as Lopez told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Minneapolis Star Tribune) that he’ll face live hitters for the first time over two simulated innings.

Should all go well on Friday, Lopez will advance to a Spring Training-esque schedule of an additional inning every five or six days.  It can be assumed a minor league rehab assignment will be part of this plan given how much time Lopez has missed, but is aiming to be back in Minnesota’s rotation by early September.

Since the Twins had a virtual fire sale of their roster at the trade deadline and only faintly remain in wild card contention, it isn’t likely that Lopez will be returning to any meaningful games.  However, Lopez isn’t at all considering a shutdown, as he is intent on making “four or five, maybe six starts” in what remains of the 2025 campaign.

“Because time allows, I want to do it.  Also, peace of mind,” Lopez said.  “I want to be able to tell myself I was able to come back from this injury and pitch and perform at the level I know I can perform.”

Between this shoulder strain and a minimal 15-day absence due to a hamstring strain in April, Lopez has been limited to only 60 2/3 innings this season.  This injury-riddled year has interrupted a string of workhorse performances for Lopez, who tossed 559 1/3 IP over the 2022-24 seasons — the seventh-highest innings total of any pitcher in baseball over that three-season span.

The righty also posted a 3.83 ERA over that span, and the bottom-line results were even sharper this year since Lopez had a 2.82 ERA across his 60 2/3 frames in 2025.  The Twins were already impressed enough by Lopez’s first season in Minnesota to sign the righty to a four-year, $73.5MM extension in April 2023 that covers the 2024-27 seasons.  He is set to earn $21.5MM in each of the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Speculatively speaking, it is worth wondering if Lopez and the Twins could be viewing any September starts as an audition for potential trade suitors.  Lopez and Byron Buxton are Minnesota’s highest-paid players now that Carlos Correa has been dealt to the Astros, and Buxton has already made it clear that he won’t be waiving his no-trade protection.  That leaves Lopez as the most natural candidate for a trade if the Twins continue to explore payroll cuts, and a few more outings in 2025 would also provide some evidence for rival teams that Lopez is fully healthy.  Since the Twins explored trading the less-expensive Joe Ryan at the deadline, it stands to reason that they would also be open to moving a pricier rotation option in Lopez, though naturally the front office would want a significant return rather than just a salary dump.

Wednesday’s surprising news that the Pohlad family was abandoning plans to sell the team threw another curveball into what has been a tumultuous few weeks for the organization.  It is possible the addition of two new minority owners has provided enough of a cash influx that payroll cuts are no longer a priority, yet we’ll have to wait until the offseason to see how things truly play out, and what types of rebuild-or-reload moves president of baseball operations Derek Falvey will be considering.

Yankees Re-Sign Andrew Velazquez

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The Yankees have signed infielder Andrew Velazquez to a new minor league contract, according to his MLB.com profile page.  Velazquez was released from his previous minors deal on August 3, and he’ll now return to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after testing the open market.

A veteran of six MLB seasons, Velazquez hit .189/.244/.293 over 624 plate appearances and 275 games with five different teams from 2018-23.  Most of his playing time (179 games) came with the Angels during the 22-23 seasons, and Velazquez had close to a starting role as the Halos’ shortstop in the 2022 campaign.  His time in Los Angeles ended when he was claimed off waivers by the Braves in September 2023, and Velazquez hasn’t been back to the majors since, playing with Atlanta’s Triple-A team in 2024 and then spending all of 2025 in SWB.

This latest contract represents the fourth time Velazquez has signed with the Yankees, and the Bronx native saw some big league action with his hometown team in the form of 28 games in the pinstripes in 2021.  While the local flavor doesn’t hurt, Velasquez is a known quantity to the New York organization who can provide defensive versatility even if he doesn’t offer much at the plate.  Velasquez has primarily played shortstop during his career, but he has a lot of experience at second base, third base, and all three outfield positions (primarily center).  His work on the grass this year has been limited to a single appearance in center field, indicating that the Yankees view him as an emergency outfielder at best.

Joe Jimenez Shut Down For Rest Of 2025 Season; Lopez, Schwellenbach Not Likely To Return

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Joe Jimenez was shut down from throwing last week due to renewed soreness in his surgically repaired left knee.  This seemed like a major obstacle to Jimenez’s chances of returning to action before the end of the 2025 season, and Braves manager Brian Snitker confirmed today to reporters (including Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that Jimenez indeed won’t be back in action this year.  It also seems like injured starters Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach have thrown their last pitches of 2025, as Snitker was doubtful either right-hander would be activated from the 60-day injured list before season’s end.

After pitching through knee soreness through much of 2024, Jimenez underwent surgery in late October to address what ended up being rather significant cartilage damage.  Jimenez was given a broad recovery timeframe of 8-12 months, so an entirely lost season was always a possibility for the veteran right-hander.  Some hopes were raised for a return when Jimenez started throwing bullpen sessions in early July, yet he wasn’t able to advance to the minor league rehab stage before his knee again began bothering him.  It doesn’t appear as if the issue is anything beyond mere discomfort, so Jimenez should still be on pace to be fully healthy by the start of Spring Training.

Following six mostly inconsistent seasons with the Tigers, Jimenez hit a new level of performance after Atlanta acquired the reliever in a trade during the 2022-23 offseason.  Jimenez posted a 3.04 ERA over 56 1/3 innings with the Braves in 2023, which earned him a three-year, $26MM extension to remain in Atlanta just before he was about to test the free agent market.  The first season of that extension saw Jimenez deliver a 2.62 ERA over 68 2/3 frames in 2024, giving him an overall 2.81 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate, and 7.2% walk rate over 125 total innings in a Braves uniform.

Jimenez’s knee surgery ended up being a harbinger for an injury-riddled season for the Atlanta pitching staff.  Spencer Strider (who began the year on the IL recovering from an internal brace surgery) is the only member of the Braves’ first-choice rotation that is currently healthy, as Lopez, Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver, and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale are all on the 60-day injured list.  Sale is the only one of that group that might pitch again in 2025, as he is set to make his second minor league rehab start on Sunday as he tries to work his way back from a ribcage fracture.

Smith-Shawver underwent a Tommy John surgery in June, so his entire 2026 season could be in jeopardy as well as what remained of his 2025 campaign.  There isn’t much surprise that Lopez and Schwellenbach have also both been unofficially ruled out, as since the Braves are out of the playoff race, there isn’t much value in having either pitcher go through a full rehab process just to pitch a few meaningless innings in late September.

Lopez made just a single start before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in early April.  This came with a shutdown period of 8-12 weeks, and while Lopez has started throwing, he won’t have time to build up his arm for a full starter’s workload.  Burns suggests that if Lopez is able to return, it would only be in a relief role, which might only happen if the Braves are considering moving the right-hander back to the bullpen in the wake of his injury situation.  Lopez’s return to a full-time starter’s role in 2024 worked brilliantly when he was healthy (1.99 ERA in 135 2/3 IP), but he dealt with forearm and shoulder issues in the latter part of that season, prior to the surgery that has entirely marred his 2025 season.

Schwellenbach helped paper over some of Atlanta’s rotation woes when he produced a 3.09 ERA over 110 2/3 innings this year, but the injury bug bit him too in the form of a small right elbow fracture in early July.  He was almost immediately moved to the 60-day IL in the wake of that injury and isn’t eligible to return until the first week of September at the earliest, but it instead looks like the right-hander will get an early jump on his offseason.

In better injury news, Ronald Acuna Jr. could be activated from the 10-day IL as early as tomorrow.  Acuna hasn’t played since suffering a calf strain on July 29, but the star outfielder seems to be on the verge of a relatively quick return.  Though Acuna has been limited to 55 games due to his calf injury and his recovery from the torn ACL that prematurely ended his 2024 season, the former NL MVP has still looked to be in superstar form, hitting .306/.429/.577 with 14 home runs in 238 plate appearances.

Rays To Promote Bob Seymour

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The Rays are planning to call up first base prospect Bob Seymour from Triple-A Durham prior to Friday’s game, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Since Seymour isn’t on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay will have to make at least one corresponding move to create space on both the 40-man and 26-man rosters.

The 26-year-old Seymour will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game.  A 13th-round pick for the Rays in the 2021 draft, Seymour has been productive at every level of the minor league ladder, including big numbers in Durham in each of the last two seasons.  Seymour has hit .263/.327/.553 with 30 home runs over 443 PA at Triple-A this year, and his 30 homers lead the International League.  Just this past Tuesday, Seymour highlighted his huge year with a three-homer game against Triple-A Nashville.

As evidenced by his 89 homers over 1736 career PA (and 410 games) in the minor leagues, there’s a lot of pop in Seymour’s bat.  There was also a lot of swing-and-miss, though Seymour has significantly reduced his strikeout rate from 34.9% in 2024 (in 218 PA with Durham) to 25.7% over his 443 PA this season.  He also enjoyed some inflated BABIPs in past seasons, yet a more neutral .292 BABIP in 2025 indicates that the first baseman isn’t just relying on a lot of good fortune.

Despite all this power, neither MLB.com or Baseball America list Seymour among the top 30 prospects in Tampa’s farm system.  It seems as though Seymour is viewed in limited terms as a first base-only player who has only big power and hard-contact skills as calling cards, yet evaluators may doubt that those abilities can translate into production against Major League pitching.

Still, it’s hard to argue that Seymour’s big 2025 campaign hasn’t earned him at least a look in the Show.  Seymour is a left-handed hitter who could replace Jonathan Aranda in the lineup to some extent, playing mostly as a designated hitter since Yandy Diaz is locked in at first base.  Aranda is one of five Rays position players on the injured list, so with Tampa Bay a little thin on the bench, there are worse ideas than calling up a 30-homer slugger.

White Sox Outright Corey Julks

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Outfielder Corey Julks has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Charlotte, reports Scott Merkin of MLB.com. The White Sox designated him for assignment earlier this week. Since this is his second career outright, he has the right to reject the assignment and elect free agency, though Merkin didn’t indicate he would do so.

Julks, 29, has put up plenty of intriguing numbers in the minors. That has led to a few limited looks in the big leagues, but he hasn’t been able to do much with those. He has a .236/.290/.340 line in 520 career plate appearances, which translates to a wRC+ of 76, indicating he’s been 24% worse than the league average hitter.

The minor league track record is greater in both quality and quantity. Dating back to the cancelled 2020 season, he has stepped to the plate 1,630 times on the farm with a .278/.361/.486 batting line and 120 wRC+. He’s also stolen 63 bases and lined up at all three outfield spots.

That minor league track record wasn’t enough for any club to give him a 40-man spot. He still has an option remaining and could have been stashed in the minors but all clubs passed on that chance. As mentioned, since he has been outrighted before, he could decide to head to the open market now. If he passes on that opportunity, he’ll qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end.

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Shaun Anderson Elects Free Agency

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The Angels announced that right-hander Shaun Anderson has cleared waivers and elected free agency. The Halos designated him for assignment earlier this week. He has the right to reject the outright assignment because he has a previous career outright.

Anderson, 30, has gone down this road before. The Angels signed him to a minor league deal in the winter. He was selected to the roster in May. He lasted about two weeks before getting bumped off the roster. Since he is out of options, he was designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and elected free agency but then re-signed with the Angels on a new minor league deal. The same sequence of events played out the next month, with Anderson on the roster for a few days in June.

The same script was followed this week, though at a quicker pace. Anderson was added to the roster on Monday. The Halos were leading the Dodgers 7-0 after seven innings. They put in Anderson to try to save their top bullpen arms, but it didn’t work out. Home runs by Shohei Ohtani and Max Muncy led to four runs going on the board, with Anderson only recording two outs.

The next day, he was designated for assignment for the third time this year. Like in the previous two instances, he has cleared waivers and exercised his right to test the open market. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he returns to the Angels on a new deal, as he has before. He has thrown 163 1/3 major league innings with a 6.39 earned run average. His minor league work has been better overall but he hasn’t been putting up great numbers this year. Pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, he has a 6.44 ERA in 81 innings in 2025.

Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images

Phillies Re-Sign Óscar Mercado To Minor League Deal

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Outfielder Óscar Mercado is back with the Phillies. He opted out of a minor league deal with the Phils just over a week ago but his transactions tracker at MLB.com indicates he has re-signed with the club on a new minor league deal.

Mercado signed the deal he recently opted out of back in February. Before opting out, he got into 92 Triple-A games and stepped to the plate 378 times. His 14.6% walk rate was better than his 13.8% strikeout rate. That led to a .252/.373/.385 batting line and 107 wRC+. He also stole 35 bases while playing all three outfield spots.

That performance was solid but not enough to get called up to Philadelphia. The club has had an outfield rotation of Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler for most of the year, with others chipping in on occasion. They added Harrison Bader into the mix at the deadline and also have prospect Justin Crawford knocking on the door.

The path to a big league job isn’t great. Mercado took a few days to look around for other offers but has decided to return to the Phillies. He’ll provide them with some non-roster depth but it could take a few injuries for his services to be required in the majors.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Latest On Broadcast Package Carried By ESPN

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Back in February, Major League Baseball and ESPN opted out of the final three years of their contract together. That deal is still in place through 2025, with ESPN carrying this year’s rights to Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and the Wild Card round of the playoffs, but the rights for those events are up for grabs for the 2026-28 seasons. In May, it was reported that NBC had made an offer on that package.

Now it appears that the package may be split up and sold in separate parts, per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Nothing is finalized yet but Marchand reports that the league is in negotiations with several different broadcasters about the pieces that ESPN is currently carrying. He says that NBC/Peacock and Apple TV+ are the frontrunners for Sunday Night Baseball and the playoff games, while Netflix seems likely to get the Derby. ESPN, meanwhile, could stay in the baseball broadcast business by picking up some weekday games. Marchand adds that ESPN has interest in MLB.TV but doesn’t indicate if that interest is reciprocal. John Ourand of Puck also reports that Netflix is hoping to acquire the Japanese rights for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Breaking up broadcast rights into pieces is nothing new for the league. They have had deals with many broadcasters over the years and currently have deals in place with ESPN, Fox, ABC, TBS, Apple and Roku. Peacock/NBC had the rights to the early Sunday game not too long ago, before Roku took over that slot.

MLB was set to receive about $550MM annually from the ESPN deal. ESPN was looking to renegotiate, pointing out that Apple is only playing $85MM for its Friday night rights while Roku is only forking over $10MM annually. The ESPN package has more appeal. Like Apple and Roku, they get one game per week, but there’s only one game on Sunday nights while Apple/Roku have competition from the other contests. The Derby and the playoff games obviously make the package more valuable. Still, ESPN didn’t feel the price gap was appropriate. Per the May reporting linked above, ESPN was willing to pay about $200MM per year but not more.

MLB evidently felt it could beat that $200MM and perhaps may do so by splitting up the package into pieces. Time will tell if they can succeed. As mentioned, these deals are still being negotiated and Marchand doesn’t provide any specifics about the numbers being discussed.

One thing that has been consistent in stories about broadcast deals is that MLB doesn’t want to sign anything beyond 2028. Multiple reports have indicated that the league’s various broadcast deals expire after the 2028 season. As various clubs saw their regional deals collapse with Diamond Sports Group, now known as Main Street Sports, some re-signed but always on short-term deals. It seems the league hopes to be able to market a very large package, or packages, of broadcast components to various companies for the 2029 season and beyond. Marchand reports that the current negotiations are consistent with that approach, with nothing beyond 2028 being discussed.

There are many moving parts and it’s a notable situation to monitor going forward. Broadcast revenue is naturally a huge part of the game’s economic landscape and there could be many twists and turns in the coming years. The baseball world is expecting a lockout in the 2026-27 offseason, once the current collective bargaining agreement expires. Many believe that commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners would like to push the MLB Players Association to get a salary cap. A staredown between the league and the union could lead to cancelled games in 2027.

Manfred and the owners would have to balance their desire for that cap against their leverage in these deals. MLB has seen an uptick in popularity lately, including increased viewership ratings, often attributed to pace-of-play rule changes such as the pitch clock. Having that momentum would help the league in negotiations with broadcasters but a lengthy work stoppage and missed games would almost certainly hurt baseball’s popularity and cut into the league’s leverage in broadcast negotiations.

Angels Notes: Anderson, Mederos, Campero, Stephenson

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Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson has had a shaky season, and the 35-year-old southpaw tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he’s been playing through a back injury throughout the year. Anderson’s most recent start was pushed from Tuesday back to Saturday in order to afford him some extra rest. Anderson described the discomfort as “on and off” but generally something he’s been able to pitch through. However, he acknowledged that it “flared up probably the worst it had been” this season after his most recent outing.

Anderson was tagged for four runs in four innings against the Rays in said start. That marked his sixth time in the veteran southpaw’s past ten trips to the mound that he yielded at least four runs. His ERA over that span is an unsightly 5.50 and has ballooned his season-long mark from 3.99 to its current 4.63.

This is the final season of Anderson’s three-year, $40MM deal with the Halos. At the time, it was the first multi-year deal for a free agent starting pitcher that owner Arte Moreno had authorized in a decade (though the Angels have since signed Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year deal as well). It’s not a promising note on which to end his season, though Anderson will hope that the extra rest can help him get back on track for a strong finish.

Anderson is far from the only struggling member of the Angels’ rotation. Righty Jack Kochanowicz has been optioned twice within the past month, understandably so after turning in a grisly 6.19 ERA with a 14.5% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate in 107 2/3 innings spread across 22 starts.

The struggles from the 24-year-old Kochanowicz have prompted a rotation change with some permanence. Another 24-year-old righty, Victor Mederos, appears set to serve as the Halos’ fifth starter for the time being, per Fletcher. The right-hander changed his arm slot and pitch mix this year, most notably swapping out his four-seamer for a sinker, and he’s found strong results in the upper minors thus far.

While Mederos has allowed five runs in eight big league innings, he’s sporting a 3.41 ERA in the hitter-friendly Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He’s not missing tons of bats (19% strikeout rate) but is sporting roughly average walk and ground-ball rates. Opponents have struggled to make hard contact against the righty, and he’ll get some opportunities to show he can stick on the big league staff down the stretch.

On the injury front, the Angels will be without outfielder Gustavo Campero for a significant period — perhaps the rest of the season. The 27-year-old was carted off the field with a lower-half injury earlier this week. He’s avoided a catastrophic injury, thankfully, but has still been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports. The team hasn’t formally ruled Campero out for the rest of the year, but there’s a chance he won’t be able to make it back to the field.

In brighter Angels injury news, right-hander Robert Stephenson is setting out on a minor league rehab assignment today. Stephenson tells Erica Weston of FanDuel Sports West that he’ll make appearances with the Angels’ Triple-A club today and again on Sunday.

Stephenson, 32, signed a three-year, $33MM deal with the Angels in the 2023-24 offseason but missed the entire ’24 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. He briefly returned earlier this summer but pitched only one inning before heading back to the injured list — this time due to inflammation in his right biceps. He’s since been moved back to the 60-day IL but now finally appears to be nearing a return.

Stephenson’s rise from journeyman DFA candidate to high-leverage standout in 2023 was rapid. He was designated for assignment by the Rockies late in 2022, claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh and, in 2023, was flipped from the Pirates to the Rays in a minor June swap for minor league infielder Alika Williams.

While Stephenson had long proven capable of missing bats at a high level, he never put it all together until that trade to Tampa Bay. In 38 1/3 innings with the Rays, he posted a 2.35 ERA while punching out a colossal 42.9% of his opponents against just a 5.7% walk rate. Stephenson was averaging 96.8 mph on his four-seamer, and his gargantuan 24.8% swinging-strike rate (28.9% with the Rays) was the highest single-season mark by any pitcher (min. 40 innings) since Brad Lidge’s 25.1% mark back in 2004.

The first two years of that sizable free agent contract will go down as a wash, by and large, but if Stephenson can finish the year on a high note, it’d give the Angels a bit more optimism regarding their bullpen heading into the 2026 campaign.

Braves Release Jackson Stephens To Sign With CPBL Team, Sign Anderson Pilar To Minor League Deal

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1:00pm: MLBTR has learned that Stephens was released to sign with a team in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.

12:49pm: Right-hander Jackson Stephens has been released by the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. On the flip side, the Braves have signed right-hander Anderson Pilar to a minor league deal and he’s been assigned to Gwinnett.

Stephens, 31, signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason. He’s actually been putting up good numbers in the minors in a swing role. He has logged 49 Triple-A frames this year over four starts and 18 relief appearances. He has a 2.57 earned run average, 22.2% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 41.5% ground ball rate.

Atlanta has needed plenty of arms at the big league level this year, which each of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Joe Jiménez missing significant time. Despite the need for innings, they haven’t given Stephens the call. With his decent numbers, it’s possible he opted out his minor league pact.

Whether he triggered some kind of opt-out or this is a straight release, the result is the same. He’ll head out to the open market and assess his opportunities. He has 132 1/3 innings of major league experience with a 4.15 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.

As for Pilar, it’s not a surprise that Atlanta has scooped him up. They took him from the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft back in December. He came into camp with the club but couldn’t make the most of the opportunity. He tossed 5 2/3 spring innings, allowing nine earned runs on ten hits and six walks while striking out ten.

Atlanta returned him to the Marlins prior to Opening Day. He’s having a decent but not spectacular season. He tossed 44 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.26 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate. His .311 batting average on balls in play and 62.3% strand rate are a bit to the unfortunate side. His 3.11 FIP is more than a full run better than his ERA. The Marlins released him earlier this week and Atlanta has quickly pounced on him. This time, they aren’t bound by the Rule 5 restrictions and don’t even need to give Pilar a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

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