Rockies Place Kris Bryant On Injured List
The Rockies made a few moves before tonight’s series opener in Arizona. Most notably, Kris Bryant is headed back to the injured list. Colorado placed the former MVP on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 11, with a back strain. Colorado recalled rookie outfielder Jordan Beck in his place. The Rox also brought up righty Bradley Blalock, whom they acquired from Milwaukee in the Nick Mears trade, while optioning southpaw Josh Rogers to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Bryant goes on the injured list for the eighth time in his Colorado tenure. It’s his third such stint of the season. Bryant lost a month last year to a different back strain. He dealt with another core issue this summer, as an internal oblique strain kept him out between June 3 and July 23. Bryant hit .277/.352/.340 over 13 games before landing back on the shelf.
Since signing with Colorado on a seven-year free agent deal, Bryant has hit .250/.332/.382 across 671 plate appearances. He has appeared in 159 of the Rox’s 443 games (just under 36%) since signing. That’s not the only reason that Colorado is headed for a fourth consecutive last place finish, yet it’s hard to envision a much worse start to the biggest free agent investment in franchise history.
Colorado has alternated Bryant and Charlie Blackmon between right field and designated hitter over the last few weeks. Blackmon is at DH with Jake Cave and Sam Hilliard splitting the corner outfield work tonight. The 23-year-old Beck — a former top 40 draft pick out of Tennessee — rejoins the group and should probably get regular playing time down the stretch. Beck hasn’t hit over his first 23 major league games, but he’s raking at a .319/.402/.558 clip over 39 contests in Albuquerque. That’s excellent production even in an extremely hitter-friendly setting.
As for Blalock, he’s in position to make his team debut. He has made two starts with Double-A Hartford since the trade. Blalock made his big league debut with Milwaukee in June. He has otherwise spent the season in Double-A, turning in a 4.36 ERA over 18 starts. He could work as rotation depth or in a long relief capacity for whatever time he’s on the MLB roster.
Padres Reinstate Joe Musgrove, Designate Carl Edwards
As expected, the Padres reinstated Joe Musgrove from the 60-day injured list to start tonight’s game against the Pirates. San Diego designated reliever Carl Edwards Jr. for assignment to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters.
Musgrove has been sidelined since the end of May on account of elbow inflammation. This was his second elbow-related IL stint of the season. He hasn’t looked like himself around the injuries, struggling to a 5.66 ERA over 10 starts. His 92.4 MPH fastball speed was a bit below last season’s 93.1 MPH average. Opponents teed off on both his four-seam and cutter. Musgrove allowed nearly two home runs per nine innings and saw his strikeout rate fall to 20.6% — his lowest clip in six seasons.
After a few months away, Musgrove will try to recapture his 2021-23 form. The San Diego-area native combined for a 3.05 ERA across 459 2/3 innings over his first three seasons with his hometown club. While Musgrove’s 2023 campaign was cut short by a shoulder issue, he looked like a #2 or high-end #3 starter over the preceding two and a half seasons. He steps back into the Friars rotation as they look to at least hang onto a Wild Card spot. They currently occupy the second NL Wild Card spot and are four games clear of the #6 seed Braves. San Diego is tied with the Diamondbacks for second place in the NL West. They’re 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the division.
Musgrove’s return nudges Randy Vásquez out of the rotation. San Diego already optioned Vásquez last week with the knowledge that their All-Star righty would get the ball tonight. Musgrove slots behind Dylan Cease and Michael King and in front of Matt Waldron and Martín Pérez in the starting five. The Padres have been without Yu Darvish for five weeks as he attends to a family matter. Dennis Lin of the Athletic reported this afternoon that Darvish set up a live batting practice session at a local high school over the weekend. It’s still not clear whether he’ll be able to return this season, but the veteran righty is keeping his arm in shape in case he can get back.
Edwards was just selected onto the MLB roster late last week. He pitched once and failed to retire any of three batters faced. The 32-year-old righty has otherwise spent this season in Triple-A. Splitting his time between the Cubs and Padres organizations, he owns a 3.30 ERA across 46 1/3 frames in the minors. His 22.2% strikeout rate and lofty 14.3% walk percentage aren’t great, though, so he hasn’t gotten much of an MLB opportunity this year.
San Diego will put Edwards on waivers in the next couple days. He has more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment if he goes unclaimed, though he’d likely be limited to minor league offers if he elects free agency.
Brewers Option DL Hall
The Brewers optioned left-hander DL Hall to Triple-A Nashville this evening. The move creates an active roster spot for southpaw Bryan Hudson, who returns from the 15-day injured list.
Hall went to Milwaukee alongside Joey Ortiz as the secondary piece in the Corbin Burnes deal with Baltimore. The southpaw entered the season in the rotation but only made it through four starts. He sprained his left knee in April and wound up missing over three months. The Brewers just reinstated him from the 60-day IL yesterday. Hall got the start against the Reds, allowing three runs across 4 2/3 frames with nine strikeouts but a trio of walks.
That pushes Hall’s season earned run average to 7.29, albeit in a modest 21-inning sample. He’s striking out a slightly below-average 20.8% of opponents compared to a lofty 12.3% walk rate. Hall has never had great command, but he’s shown huge bat-missing potential throughout his minor league career. That was also the case in his limited big league work with Baltimore but has yet to materialize in Milwaukee. Hall is only getting swinging strikes on 8.6% of his offerings this season. His velocity was well down early in the year, though his fastball sat at a more customary 94.6 MPH yesterday.
Regardless, the Brewers will go without Hall for at least the next couple weeks. Barring injury to another player, he cannot be recalled for at least 15 days. Milwaukee still has a five-man rotation comprising Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, Colin Rea and trade acquisitions Frankie Montas and Aaron Civale.
Hudson’s return gives skipper Pat Murphy an eight-man bullpen again. The 27-year-old missed just a few weeks because of an oblique strain. Acquired from the Dodgers in a seemingly minor offseason trade, Hudson has authored a breakout 2024 season. He has fired 50 2/3 frames of 1.60 ERA ball behind a strong 28.4% strikeout rate. The former third-round draftee had a few rocky appearances preceding his IL stint last month but had been utterly dominant for most of the season’s first half. If he returns to that form, he’ll be a key high-leverage piece in a strong Milwaukee relief group.
Blue Jays Select Will Wagner
The Blue Jays announced they have selected infielder Will Wagner to their roster, his first time cracking a big league roster. Infielder Luis De Los Santos was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo in the corresponding move. @LoperBloss reported the Wagner move on X yesterday. After yesterday’s game, Julia Kreuz of MLB.com relayed on X that De Los Santos had been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. “They want to see some new players in the organization,” De Los Santos said. “But it’s OK. I’ll keep working, doing my part and I’m hoping to come back soon.” The Blue Jays had a vacancy on their 40-man roster but it is now full.
Wagner, 26, is the son of long-time closer Billy Wagner. The elder Wagner had spent much of his career with the Astros and it was that organization that drafted the younger Wagner, using an 18th-round selection on him in 2021. Houston flipped Wagner, outfielder Joey Loperfido and right-hander Jake Bloss to the Blue Jays in the recent trade that sent left Yusei Kikuchi the other way.
In his professional career, Wagner has continually put up solid numbers at the plate, though in a hit-over-power fashion. He has 1,273 minor plate appearances across multiple levels with just 25 home runs in that time. But he has only been punched out in 17.1% of those trips to the plate while drawing walks at a strong 13.9% clip. Despite the limited pop, his .297/.402/.441 combined batting line translates to a 125 wRC+, indicating he’s been 25% better than league average overall.
That includes strong work at the Triple-A level. He was promoted to the top minor league plateau in September of last year and has since slashed .337/.445/.465 for a 136 wRC+ in 383 plate appearances. There are only six home runs in there but he has walked more than he has been struck out by a hefty margin, drawing a free pass in 15.9% of his appearances compared to a 10.2% strikeout rate.
That quality plate discipline was enough for the Jays to target him in trade talks with the Astros and they will now promote him to the majors after giving him a seven-game close-up look at Triple-A Buffalo. Baseball America ranked him the #17 prospect in the Astros’ system coming into the year, complementing his hit tool but noting that he’s not a strong defender. He’s currently listed 25th in the Jays’ system at BA. In June, FanGraphs put him 26th in the Astros’ system and currently lists him 30th in Toronto’s organization.
The Jays are out of contention and using the remainder of the season to assess some current players and make decisions about how to tackle their offseason. The club plans to return to contention in 2025 and is currently giving playing time to young guys like Loperfido, Spencer Horwitz, Leo Jiménez, Addison Barger and now Wagner, seeing which positions are the most or least in need of addressing during the winter.
Wagner has played all three non-shortstop infield positions this year, though the Jays mostly have had him at second base since the trade. The Astros gave him a lot of playing time at first, but that might have been a reflection of that club’s struggles at that position, whereas Jose Altuve has the keystone locked up.
The Jays have been giving Horwitz a lot of time at second this year but could perhaps have him and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. split first base and designated hitter now that Justin Turner has been traded and is no longer in the DH spot. Or perhaps Wagner will see significant time as the DH since his glovework isn’t highly regarded. Guerrero has also been playing a bit of third base this year and could move over to that side of the diamond, with Jiménez and Ernie Clement also in the mix for some infield playing time. Barger and Davis Schneider can also play some infield, though the Jays have George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Loperfido getting regular playing time out there.
There are plenty of moving parts but there’s lots of versatility in the group, so manager John Schneider will probably spend the rest of the year rotating guys around and spreading out the opportunities so that the club can assess each of the players at the plate and in the field.
Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast
On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been able to take questions, as we were in the thick of the trade deadline for a while. Now that we are firmly in the post-deadline part of the calendar, it’s time to open things up again. If you have a question about something that happened at the deadline, a look ahead to the offseason or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.
Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.
In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Guardians To Activate Matthew Boyd
The Guardians will reinstate left-hander Matthew Boyd from the 15-day injured list prior to tomorrow’s game, reports Mandy Bell of MLB.com. He’ll make his team debut when he starts for the Guards on Tuesday evening against the Cubs. Cleveland will only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction involving a pitcher, as Boyd is already on the 40-man roster.
Cleveland signed Boyd to a big league deal earlier this summer. He’s spent the season to date rehabbing from Tommy John surgery performed last June and is now ready to step back onto a big league mound. The longtime Tigers southpaw has been sensational during his minor league rehab stint. In 21 2/3 innings across three levels — Rookie ball, Double-A, Triple-A — he’s pitched to a 0.83 ERA with a mammoth 35.1% strikeout rate against a minuscule 2.6% walk rate. We’re looking at small samples against far, far less experienced competition, but Boyd certainly hasn’t shown much in the way of signs of rust.
Boyd’s appearance tomorrow will be his first major league outing since June 26 of last year. The elbow procedure ended what had been a return stint in Detroit. Boyd looked the part of a mid-rotation starter at times during his first run with the Tigers. The first stint also unfortunately concluded with an arm surgery, as Boyd required a flexor repair in September 2021. He was limited to 10 relief outings late in the ’22 campaign as a member of the Mariners. Boyd returned to the Motor City the ensuing winter, signing a $10MM free agent pact.
Even before the Tommy John surgery, Boyd didn’t get the results he wanted last season. He was tagged for a 5.45 ERA across 15 starts. An abnormally low 62% strand rate was the biggest culprit. Boyd had solid strikeout (24.1%) and walk (8.3%) numbers and induced swinging strikes on an excellent 14% of his pitches. He had a hard time keeping the ball in the yard, though, especially against right-handed opponents. That has been an issue throughout Boyd’s career. It’s perhaps the biggest reason he only has one full season with a sub-4.00 ERA despite a consistently strong strikeout and walk profile.
The Guardians signed Boyd in late June, one year to the day after Detroit announced he was headed for Tommy John surgery. The 33-year-old started a minor league rehab stint just after the All-Star Break. He built up to six innings and 63 pitches during his start with Triple-A Columbus last Wednesday. He’ll presumably be on a pitch count for his first couple appearances, but Cleveland will happily take whatever contribution they can get.
Cleveland took the final two games of their four-game weekend set with Minnesota, earning a split in the process. That pushed their division lead back to 3.5 games on the Twins and four up on the Royals. That’s despite their patchwork rotation. Tanner Bibee and, more surprisingly, Ben Lively have been their most reliable starters this season. Gavin Williams has made eight starts since returning from an extended IL stay to open the year. The Guardians welcomed deadline acquisition Alex Cobb back from injury for his team and season debut on Friday. Boyd can step into the rotation spot opened when Carlos Carrasco landed on the shelf that same day. Bibee, Williams and Cobb would probably line up as the top three in Cleveland’s ideal playoff rotation, but Boyd has a chance to push Cobb or Lively for a start in the middle of a series come October.
Red Sox Select Chase Shugart, Mickey Gasper; Designate Jamie Westbrook For Assignment
The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves today. Righty Brayan Bello has been reinstated from the paternity list and left-hander Bailey Horn has been recalled, while the club selected the contracts of right-hander Chase Shugart and catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper. It was reported last night that left-hander James Paxton suffered a right calf strain and he now lands on the 15-day injured list. Lefty Brennan Bernardino has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester, as has righty Brad Keller. A fourth active roster spot was opened with the Jarren Duran suspension, reported earlier today. To open a 40-man roster spot, infielder/outfielder Jamie Westbrook has been designated for assignment. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported Shugart’s promotion on X prior to the official announcement.
Shugart, 27, gets the call to the big leagues for the first time. A 12th-round pick of the Sox in 2018, he has been working his way up the minor league ladder since then. He worked exclusively as a starter through 2021 but has primarily been working out of the bullpen since then.
His initial forays into Triple-A ball didn’t go well, as he posted a 6.82 earned run average at that level in 2022 and then an 8.22 ERA there last year. He’s had more success here in 2024, with a 4.98 ERA in 59 2/3 innings. That’s largely come in a multi-inning capacity, as he’s logged those frames over 28 appearances, including five starts. His 10.9% walk rate is a bit on the high side but he has punched out 26.6% of opponents this year and gotten grounders on 46.8% of balls in play.
Baseball America had Shugart on the back end of their organizational top 30 list back in 2019 and 2020 but not in recent years. The Sox are likely going to be leaning on him for a long man role in the coming days. Paxton suffered his injury after recording just two outs, forcing the bullpen to do yeoman’s work. Bernardino tossed an inning a third while each of Lucas Sims, Luis García and Cam Booser tossed two innings. First baseman Dominic Smith pitched a scoreless ninth with the Sox down 10-2 to the Astros. The Sox also did a bullpen game the day before, with Josh Winckowski covering three innings, Brad Keller eating up four, while Zack Kelly and Chris Martin picked up one each.
All told, the pitching staff is fairly taxed and the Sox don’t have another off-day until August 22, over a week from now. Righty Cooper Criswell went on the COVID IL recently and has an unknown timeline. With Paxton now out as well, the rotation is down to Bello, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Nick Pivetta. Perhaps Winckowski will get another shot after throwing three innings on the weekend, or perhaps Criswell can make a quick return. The club also has Quinn Priester on optional assignment and could recall him at some point. But in the meantime, Shugart can sop up some innings, if needed.
Gasper, 28, was also selected in the 2018 draft, but by the Yankees. He came to the Red Sox via the minor league phase of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. He has generally put up positive numbers in a hit-over-power fashion, though he’s always been old for whatever level he’s been playing at. He didn’t reach Triple-A until last year, his age-27 season, and hit .191/.295/.265 in his first 22 games at that level.
This year has gone much better. He’s played 44 Double-A games and 40 at Triple-A. Between those two clubs, he has a 15.9% walk rate, 11% strikeout rate and .341/.458/.559 batting line that translates to a wRC+ of 175.
Despite the massive batting line, Gasper’s not really considered a top prospect, though it would make for a great story if he could engineer a late-bloomer breakout. He has played catcher, first base and second base this year, in addition to a bit of third base time in previous seasons. He figures to slot into the club’s bench mix, giving them depth at various spots.
Westbrook, 29, signed a minor league deal with Boston in the offseason. They selected his contract in June, his first time cracking a major league roster. He has received 48 big league plate appearances so far, hitting just .150/.234/.350 in that small sample. He has always hit well in the minors and that’s still true this year. He has a line of .291/.381/.475 in 71 Triple-A games, drawing walks at a strong 12% clip and limiting his strikeouts to a 17.2% clip.
Defensively, he has played the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as right field this year. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Sox will have no choice but to put him on waivers in the coming days. If any team puts in a claim, Westbrook still has a full slate of options and just a few days of service time.
Red Sox Announce Two-Game Suspension For Jarren Duran
The Red Sox announced that they have suspended outfielder Jarren Duran for two games. During yesterday’s game, the outfielder was caught on microphone using a homophobic slur in response to a heckler (X link with video, including audio of the slur, from Awful Announcing).
“In consultation with Major League Baseball, the Red Sox today issued an unpaid two-game suspension to outfielder Jarren Duran beginning with tonight’s game against the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park,” the club statement says. “Additionally, Duran’s salary from the two-game suspension will be donated to PFLAG (Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), the United States’ largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people and those who love them.”
The two-game suspension is the same length as one received by outfielder Kevin Pillar in 2017, then with the Blue Jays, for using the same slur. Duran spoke with members of the media, including Alex Speier of The Boston Globe (X link), apologizing for the incident. He said the suspension is less important than the hurt he caused. “It’s on me. It’s my fault. … it’s a dumb mistake on my part and I’m going to learn from it.”
The Red Sox will be able to add a replacement to their roster and play with a full 26-man squad, per Christopher Smith of MassLive on X. It’s not immediately clear who will be replacing Duran on the roster.
Cardinals Recall Jordan Walker
Jordan Walker is back in the big leagues. The Cardinals on Monday announced that they’ve recalled the former top prospect from Triple-A Memphis and placed Matt Carpenter on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain. Carpenter’s IL placement is retroactive to Aug. 9.
Walker made his big league debut as a 20-year-old in 2023 and did so to considerable fanfare. The 2020 first-rounder entered last season ranked as a consensus top-five prospect in the entire sport, due largely to the potency of his bat. He pounded eight extra-base hits (three homers, five doubles) in 67 spring plate appearances and landed on the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as their starting right fielder.
The learning curve for Walker proved fairly steep as he attempted to skip Triple-A entirely. He began his career on a 12-game hitting streak but soon fell into a slump at the plate. Given that he was already struggling to adapt to a shift to the outfield — his natural position, third base, is of course spoken for in St. Louis — the Cards optioned him near the end of April. He was sent down with a roughly average .274/.321/.397 batting line at the time.
Walker returned in June and looked like a new hitter. From June 2 through season’s end, he effectively maintained the same batting average but did so with a notable bump in OBP and considerably more power. Over his final 387 plate appearances, he hit .277/.346/.455 with 14 homers, 16 doubles, a pair of triples, an improved 8.8% walk rate and a 21.7% strikeout rate that sat lower than league average. For a player with minimal Triple-A experience who turned 21 in May, it was a highly encouraging finish to his rookie campaign.
Entering the current season, Walker had a lineup spot locked up. However, his ’24 campaign started out with a protracted swoon at the plate that saw him hit just .155/.239/.259 in 67 plate appearances before being optioned back to Memphis. He’s been there since, due primarily to the fact that his struggles have persisted since being sent back down. Through his first 252 plate appearances back in Memphis, Walker managed only a .234/.300/.357 batting line. His 8.3% walk rate and 19.1% strikeout rate were both solid, if unspectacular marks, but he’s had the same grounder-heavy approach that he’s shown in the major leagues. For a player with above-average but not elite speed — especially one whose calling card is 70- or 80-grade raw power — hitting nearly half your batted balls on the ground is a sub-optimal outcome.
Over the past few weeks, the now-22-year-old Walker has begun to turn things around in Memphis. He’s belted five homers and tallied a dozen extra-base hits over his past 16 games. It’s only a sample of 67 plate appearances, but Walker has sizzled with a .343/.400/.687 slash in that time — far and away his best stretch of the season at any level.
The Cardinals will be hoping to see more of that level of output from Walker as they push to get back into Wild Card position. Though St. Louis has spent a good portion of the summer in possession of a Wild Card spot in the National League, they’ve dropped a game and a half behind the Braves, who currently hold the third spot. The Mets are a game ahead of the Cardinals and are also vying for the final spot.
St. Louis has struggled against left-handed pitching throughout the season, currently ranking as one of the worst lineups in baseball versus southpaws. Their combined .233/.296/.359 slash against lefties translates to an 85 wRC+ (suggesting they’re 15% worse than league-average at the plate). Walker will give them another right-handed bat to help attack opposing lefties, but it’s worth pointing out that he’s struggled tremendously against lefties both in the majors last year and in Triple-A this season. Walker batted .231/.294/.389 against southpaws in ’23 and has a combined .234/.304/.378 slash against them between Memphis and St. Louis this season.
Braves Place A.J. Minter On Injured List
The Braves announced today that left-hander A.J. Minter has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left hip inflammation. Fellow lefty Dylan Lee has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move.
At this point, it’s unclear how serious Minter’s injury is or how long the club expects him to miss, but it’s perhaps noteworthy that this is his second IL stint for this issue this year. He landed on the IL due to left hip inflammation May 31, missing just over a month before being reinstated July 1. Per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Minter is still undergoing evaluation for his current status and the club isn’t sure if he’ll be able to return this season.
Despite the hip issue, he’s managed to post good results when on the mound, as he has thrown 34 1/3 innings with 2.62 earned runs allowed per nine. His 26.1% strikeout rate is a few ticks below his rate from the previous two seasons, but he’s also getting more ground balls.
There might be a bit of good luck in that ERA as he has a .222 batting average on balls in play and 94.2% strand rate, which are both on the fortunate side. But his 16.7% home run per fly ball ratio is essentially double his rate from the two preceding campaigns. FIP gives a pitcher blame/credit for home runs, so that metric has Minter at 4.46 this year, far worse than his ERA. But a metric like SIERA, which normalizes home run rate, is more kind and has Minter at 3.39. That’s still a noticeable gap from his ERA but it’s not far off from the 3.06 SIERA he had last year.
Regardless of how one feels about Minter’s stats this year, it’s a rough development for the Atlanta bullpen. The relief corps should still be in decent shape without him, as the club’s relievers have a collective 3.38 ERA on the year that trails only the Guardians and Brewers. But they’re in a place now where incremental differences might loom large. Their recent skid has dropped them to 61-56, barely clinging to the final National League Wild Card spot with the Mets just half a game back and several other teams within striking distance.
Manager Brian Snitker has been using Minter in key situations. Minter is second on the team in holds behind Joe Jiménez and his average leverage index is third behind Jiménez and closer Raisel Iglesias. Subtracting Minter will make it more challenging for Snitker to navigate the ends of tight games. Lee has strong numbers on the year, with a 2.00 ERA in 45 innings, but mostly in lower-leverage spots.
It also could be a rough development for Minter himself, as he’s an impending free agent. He has a strong career track record with a 3.28 ERA over his 384 appearances with a 29.3% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 39.9% ground ball rate. But he’s already had one IL stint of over a month this year and another lengthy absence could tamp down his offseason contract offers. He’ll celebrate his 31st birthday on September 2.