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Giants Acquire Logan Porter From Royals

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The Royals announced via their player development account on X that they have traded catcher Logan Porter to the Giants for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Porter was not on the Royals’ 40-man roster and won’t need to be added to that of the Giants.

Porter, now 28, has a small amount of major league experience. He got into 11 games for the Royals last year while both Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were battling injuries. Porter hit just .194/.324/.323 in his 38 plate appearances. He was non-tendered after the season and re-signed on a minor league deal.

He has generally performed well in the minor leagues but slumped last year, though he now seems to be back in good form here in 2024. From 2018 to 2022, he hit .293/.428/.497 across various minor league levels, drawing walks 16.6% of the time while being struck out at just a 21.9% rate.

Last year, his batting line fell to .232/.339/.377 in 110 Triple-A contests, but he’s cranked that up to .319/.428/.575 in 32 games this year. He isn’t going to maintain a .400 batting average on balls in play forever but he has six home runs and is drawing walks at a 15.9% clip. His overall production this year translates to a 157 wRC+, indicating he’s been 57% above league average.

Porter would have had a hard time making it back to the majors with the Royals this year, with Fermin and Perez healthy. The club also has Austin Nola on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment, as well as having Brian O’Keefe around as non-roster depth. It seems they decided to give Porter a path to playing time elsewhere while perhaps pocketing a bit of cash.

For the Giants, they have been playing a bit of musical chairs at the catcher position this year. Offseason signee Tom Murphy has a significant knee sprain and an uncertain future. It was about six weeks ago that a timeline of four to six weeks was provided but there hasn’t been an update since then and he hasn’t started a rehab assignment. Patrick Bailey missed some time on the concussion injured list but has been back for about three weeks now. Curt Casali has replaced Murphy as Bailey’s backup but is hitting just .161/.297/.161 this year. Blake Sabol is on optional assignment but plays other positions. Jakson Reetz got a brief look while both Bailey and Murphy were hurt but has since been removed from the 40-man.

There are a lot of moving parts in that group but it’s possible Porter will be the next man up if there’s an injury or if Casali keeps struggling. If Porter gets a roster spot, he has a full slate of options and won’t be able to get to one-year of service time this year.

White Sox Select Chad Kuhl

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Chad Kuhl from Triple-A Charlotte. Chicago also reinstated outfielder Tommy Pham from the injured list and optioned righty Jordan Leasure and outfielder Zach DeLoach to Charlotte in a pair of corresponding moves.

Kuhl, 31, is a veteran of seven big league seasons who joined the South Siders on a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s made 13 appearances in Charlotte, 11 of them starts, and posted a 4.34 ERA in that time. Kuhl’s 17.3% strikeout rate is considerably below-average, while his 13.6% walk rate with the Knights is substantially higher than average. He’s turned in a strong 53.5% grounder rate and done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, averaging 0.8 homers per nine frames.

Kuhl spent the 2023 season with the Nationals organization but struggled through 16 appearances before being cut loose. He announced shortly thereafter that while he’d received contract offers to sign elsewhere, he was taking a leave from the game to support his wife, Amanda, as she battled Stage 3 breast cancer. She announced via social media in November that she’d completed her cancer treatments. The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt chronicled the couple’s journey through that harrowing ordeal this past April, revealing within that Amanda is thankfully in the “maintenance” phase of her treatment and no longer showing any sign of cancer.

Prior to Kuhl’s time with the Nats, he spent five seasons with the Pirates and a sixth with the Rockies. In all, he’s totaled 615 big league innings and pitched to a 4.98 ERA, though that number is skewed to an extent by last year’s grisly 8.45 mark while quietly dealing with that terrifying family issue away from the field. Kuhl’s best season came with the ’17 Pirates, when he started 31 games and logged a 4.35 ERA over the course of 157 1/3 innings.

The White Sox don’t have an immediate opening in the rotation, but Kuhl can provide a long relief option and perhaps step up next week if the Sox want to get their starters some extra rest. Top starter Garrett Crochet, notably, has already established a new career-high in innings pitched after shifting from a relief role to the rotation this season. For now, the Sox have Chris Flexen, Erick Fedde and top prospect Drew Thorpe lined up to make the next three starts in their road series with the Diamondbacks.

Red Sox Release Garrett Cooper

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The Red Sox have released first baseman Garrett Cooper, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive on X. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He’s now free to sign with any club.

Cooper, now 33, has had some strong results in the past but this hasn’t been his year. He came into the campaign with a career batting line of .268/.337/.435, production that translates to a wRC+ of 110. But he slumped a bit in 2023, as his .251/.304/.419 slash was a bit below his previous work and led to a subpar 96 wRC+.

It was an unfortunate time for a dip, as he was entering free agency for the first time and had to settle for a minor league deal with the Cubs. He cracked that club’s Opening Day roster and hit a solid .270/.341/.432, but with a .391 batting average on balls in play. Since he was striking out 31.7% of the time, it seems the Cubs figured his batted ball luck wouldn’t continue and they decided to quit while they were ahead, designating him for assignment.

The Red Sox were playing without first baseman Triston Casas and decided to take a chance on Cooper, sending cash to the Cubs to bring him aboard. Then designated hitter Masataka Yoshida also got hurt, prompting the Sox to add Dominic Smith as well.

But Cooper’s luck faded after joining Boston, as he had a .250 BABIP and a line of .171/.227/.229. Smith hasn’t been amazing but his .222/.333/.324 line is obviously far less bleak than what Cooper managed to produce. Cooper has played the outfield corners a little bit in his career but is mostly a first baseman. He’s considered a decent glove at first but obviously needs to hit more than that.

Cooper has now been set free by the Sox and can look for his next opportunity. The results have clearly been poor this year but he’s sure to be able to find a minor league deal somewhere based on his previous track record. It’s been a rough day for struggling first base/designated hitter types. In addition to Cooper, the Astros released José Abreu, the Rays released Harold Ramírez and the Blue Jays designated Daniel Vogelbach for assignment.

Rays Release Harold Ramirez

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The Rays have released designated hitter/outfielder Harold Ramirez following last week’s DFA, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’s now a free agent who can sign with any club.

Ramirez always seemed likely to end up on the open market after his DFA. As we noted when he was designated for assignment, the 29-year-old’s combination of offensive struggles and relatively notable salary obligation made him a virtual lock to pass through either outright waivers or release waivers. And since he surpassed five years of major league service time earlier this season (and thus gained the right to retain his salary even upon rejecting an outright assignment), there was no real distinction between the two types of waivers in his case.

The Rays will remain on the hook for the balance of Ramirez’s $3.8MM salary. There’s about $2.19MM of that sum left to be paid out as of this writing. A new team would only owe Ramirez the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster (about $426K from now through season’s end, or just shy of $4K per day). That sum would be subtracted from what Tampa Bay owes Ramirez, but the Rays are stuck with the significant majority of his salary regardless.

Tampa Bay explored trades involving Ramirez both at the offseason’s non-tender deadline and again during spring training but didn’t find a deal to their liking. That came in spite of a big 2022-23 showing that saw Ramirez slash .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, with a particular knack for pummeling left-handed pitching. Strong as that offensive output was, Ramirez lacks defensive value — he’s a poor defender in the outfield corners and at first base — and is a free-swinger who rarely draws a walk. He’s been primarily a designated hitter with the Rays.

The 2024 season has been a challenge for Ramirez. He’s hitting .268, a perfectly fine mark, but has coupled that with an ugly .284 on-base percentage and a punchless .305 slugging percentage. He’s hitting .310 in a small sample of 58 plate appearances against lefties but has only one walk and a .379 slugging percentage in those matchups. Effectively, Ramirez has been a singles-hitting, short-side platoon designated hitter. Because of his lack of walks and power, his overall offensive output has been 27% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+.

Given those struggles, it’s not at all surprising that no team wanted to commit nearly $2.2MM to Ramirez by placing a waiver claim. But now that he’s a free agent who’d cost the prorated minimum, Ramirez becomes a far more interesting flier who should draw broad-reaching interest — especially from teams who have been lacking production against left-handed pitching. Speculatively speaking, each of the Reds, Nationals, Rangers and Cardinals rank in the bottom-third of the league in terms of both DH production and production against left-handers. But, given the low cost of acquisition now associated with Ramirez — who can be controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration — it’s easy to make a case for the majority of teams taking a no-risk roll of the dice on his right-handed bat.

Cubs’ Ben Brown Diagnosed With Stress Reaction In Neck

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Cubs right-hander Ben Brown was placed on the injured list with a neck strain last week, but the team has now diagnosed him with a more ominous-sounding stress reaction in his neck, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (X link). It’s expected that Brown will be out longer than the 15-day minimum on his current IL stint, though a firm timetable isn’t yet known.

“We’re still trying to figure out how long and what it means and what he can do,” manager Craig Counsell told the Cubs beat regarding Brown’s updated diagnosis. “It’s a unique injury for a pitcher, so we’re trying to just get some more opinions.”

Acquired from the Phillies in the 2022 trade sending David Robertson to Philadelphia, the now-24-year-old Brown made his big league debut this season. He’s been quite good in 15 appearances with the Cubs — eight of them starts. In 55 1/3 frames, Brown has pitched to a 3.58 ERA with a terrific 28.8% strikeout rate, a solid 8.6% walk rate and a 38.9% grounder rate. Brown has only yielded 0.81 homers per nine frames. He’d recently stepped into a consistent rotation role — his last four outings were starts — and posted a 3.60 ERA with a 25-to-6 K/BB ratio in 20 innings.

Brown’s injury dovetails with the return of fellow rookie Jordan Wicks, who was out for six weeks due to a forearm strain. Also 24 years old, the left-handed Wicks came on in long relief of Brown when Brown exited after four innings. He tossed 3 1/3 frames that day and held the Reds to one run in that time. With Brown shelved, Wicks seems likely to step into the No. 5 spot in the rotation behind Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad.

Wicks made seven starts last season and barely kept his rookie eligibility intact. He’s up to 61 innings in his big league career (26 1/3 of them this year) and owns a 4.43 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 43.3% ground-ball rate. Wicks tossed 126 innings last season and, after missing six weeks of the current year, shouldn’t need to worry about soaring past that workload. But given his own injury earlier this season and some questionable depth in the rotation — particularly in light of veteran Kyle Hendricks’ struggles — it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cubs look into some rotation help at next month’s deadline, assuming the team is still in contention for a Wild Card spot. Chicago is currently 7.5 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central but just one game out in the NL Wild Card chase.

Blue Jays Designate Daniel Vogelbach For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Addison Barger, while designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster drops to 38.

For a second consecutive Friday, the Jays have cut a hitter struggling in the majors and replaced him with one hitting well in Triple-A as they look to generate some more offense. Infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio was cut from the roster one week ago, eventually getting traded to the Dodgers, with Spencer Horwitz taking his spot. This time, Vogelbach makes way for Barger.

Vogelbach, 31, is a fairly limited player as he is one of the slowest in the league and generally isn’t trusted defensively. He has appeared in 154 games at first base but hasn’t played the field since 2022 and it was only five innings that year. But he has tantalized clubs with his power from the left side and keen eye at the plate.

In 1,957 career plate appearances to this point, he has drawn walks in 15.1% of them. For reference, league average is typically around 8% or 9% and is at 8.3% this year. He has also hit 81 home runs, with a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2019, though that was the “juiced ball” season. He also got to double-digit home run tallies in 2022 and 2023 with far fewer plate appearances.

Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there this year. Vogelbach signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and made the Opening Day roster, but has received just 79 plate appearances in over two months on the roster. He was still drawing walks at a decent 11.4% rate but had just one home run, leading to a line of .186/.278/.300. His exit velocity and hard hit rates were still pretty strong but he was hitting the ball on the ground at a 49.1% clip, a career high apart from his eight-game rookie season.

Like with Biggio, the Jays have decided change was needed. Biggio was hitting just .202/.331/.289 when he was nudged off the roster. Horwitz was slashing .335/.456/.514 in Triple-A and has a line of .389/.476/.444 through five games since being recalled.

Barger was recalled for five games earlier this year and currently has a dismal line of .056/.056/.056, but he’s hitting .256/.380/.467 in Triple-A. He has drawn walks 15.2% of the time for the Bisons and also has eight home runs, perhaps giving the Jays some hope he can produce the kind of offense they were hoping to get from Vogelbach.

Even if he can’t quite produce those kinds of results against big league pitchers, he can provide more to the Jays in other facets of the game. During his brief time up with the club, his sprint speed was ranked in the 60th percentile, compared to Vogelbach being in the 2nd percentile. Barger has also played shortstop and the four corner positions for Buffalo this year, giving manager John Schneider far more options for getting him into the lineup.

Vogelbach and Joey Votto were in competition for a job this spring, as both were on minor league deals and looking to serve as a lefty bench bat/designated hitter. Votto got hurt during the spring while Vogelbach hit three home runs in spring contests, which essentially made the decision for the Jays. Now that Vogelbach is off the roster, that could open a path for Votto, but not in the immediate future. After rolling his ankle on an errant bat during the spring after one plate appearance, he’s still not one hundred percent. Schneider told reporters this week that Votto is getting close to playing in games, as relayed by Keegan Matheson on X. But after missing so much time, he’ll effectively have to restart spring training from scratch and will likely need a few weeks to get into form.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Vogelbach or pass him through waivers. There will likely be teams willing to take a chance on his bat, but they will probably wait until Vogelbach clears waivers. He is making a salary of $2MM this year but has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping that money. Based on his poor results this year, he will probably wind up on the open market and be free to sign with any club. If he gets a roster spot somewhere, that club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays owe him.

Marlins Designate Burch Smith For Assignment

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The Marlins announced Friday that right-hander Burch Smith has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Shaun Anderson, who has been recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.

Smith, 34, has pitched 29 2/3 innings out of the Miami bullpen this season and logged a respectable 4.25 earned run average with a subpar 17% strikeout rate but strong walk and ground-ball rates of 6.7% and 47%, respectively. He’s hit a rough patch of late, however, yielding five runs over his past 4 1/3 innings. Opponents have scored against him in three straight appearances.

This run with Miami marked Smith’s first big league work since the 2021 season. He spent the 2022 season with Japan’s Seibu Lions and the 2023 campaign with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles. Smith has previously pitched for the Padres, Royals, Brewers, Giants and A’s. In all, he’s pitched 220 2/3 innings at the MLB level and recorded a 5.79 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.

Burch signed with the Rays on a minor league deal back in January but exercised an upward mobility clause in that contract — a clause intended to give veteran players on minor league deals the option to opt out of their contract if another team is willing to place him on its 40-man roster. That scenario played out late in spring, when the Marlins showed interest in Smith. He made their Opening Day roster and has generally been used in low-leverage settings this season.

Smith will surpass five years of service time while in DFA limbo, meaning even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of this year’s $1MM salary. Miami will either trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers within the next week.

Pirates Outright Ben Heller

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Right-hander Ben Heller went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Pirates and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s been outrighted previously in his career, which will give Heller the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency if he so chooses.

Heller, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Bucs in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster after punching out an eye-popping 43% of his opponents in 18 1/3 innings down in Indianapolis. His brief big league look with the Pirates could scarcely have gone worse, however. The former Yankees and Braves righty was rocked for five runs in an inning of work during his team debut and struggled even more considerably in his second appearance, yielding seven runs (six earned) in another inning. Heller’s ERA with the Pirates sits at a stratospheric 49.50.

Stunning as that number is, Heller entered the 2024 season with a career 3.06 earned run average in 50 innings. That includes 18 2/3 frames of 3.86 ball with Atlanta just last season. He’s fanned 20.4% of his big league opponents against an 11.3% walk rate and has generally kept the ball on the ground at an above-average level (45.1%). The Milwaukee native also has had plenty of success in the upper minors, pitching to a sharp 3.15 ERA with a 32.5% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in parts of six Triple-A campaigns — a span of 163 innings.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today at 2:00pm central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on Luis Robert's trade value, late-game bullpen possibilities for the Yankees and Cubs, the Astros' decision to move on from José Abreu, Alex Bregman's free agent projection, the cost to extend Tarik Skubal and much more.

 

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Michael Kopech Drawing Interest From Several Teams

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The White Sox are one of the game’s few clear sellers with the trade deadline still six weeks out, and teams have been showing recent interest in closer Michael Kopech, reports Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. Among the interested clubs are the Royals, Phillies and Yankees, each of whom has sent scouts to watch the hard-throwing righty in the past few weeks. Levine adds that rival clubs believe the Sox are seeking controllable pitching in return.

Kopech, 28, is in his first season as a full-time reliever after making a combined 52 starts with the ChiSox in 2022-23. He’s taken up the role of the team’s primary closer, though given Chicago’s dismal results this season, he’s only picked up five saves on the year. Kopech’s bullpen tenure got out to a strong start, but he’s hit a rough patch of late, yielding eight earned runs over his past 6 1/3 frames. That rocky stretch has ballooned his ERA from 3.18 to 4.91.

Despite that lackluster mark, there’s plenty to like about Kopech. Once touted as one of the game’s elite pitching prospects — he and Yoan Moncada headlined the White Sox’ return for Chris Sale during their last rebuild — Kopech boasts a power arsenal that helps him miss bats in droves. He’s averaged a blazing 98.7 mph on his heater this season and punched out a gaudy 32.3% of his opponents. Kopech’s 14.1% swinging-strike rate is well north of the league average. That power arsenal, as is often the case, comes with notable command issues; Kopech has walked 13.5% of his opponents in 2024 and sports an unsightly 13.6% mark dating back to 2022.

Beyond his bat-missing ability, Kopech is both affordable and controllable. He’s earning $3MM in 2024 and would be arbitration-eligible once more this winter before reaching free agency following the 2025 season. Adding Kopech for a pair of pennant chases would give any contending club a power arm with an often triple-digit heater, bat-missing slider and a newly implemented cutter that’s been a plus pitch thus far.

With regard to the interested parties, none of the three teams listed by Levine comes as a surprise. The Royals have already been canvassing the bullpen market in early June, though their status as a division rival to the White Sox might make it tougher to complete a deal with Kansas City than with Philadelphia, New York or any of the surely yet-unnamed clubs who have interest in prying Kopech from the South Siders. That said, the Royals rank 22nd in the majors with a 4.32 ERA from their relievers. Their bullpen’s collective 93.5 mph average fastball velocity (per Statcast) is 27th in the majors, while its 17.7% strikeout rate is the worst in MLB. Kopech would add the type of power, bat-missing repertoire the Royals currently lack.

The Phillies (3.55, ninth) and Yankees (3.19, third) both rank among MLB’s ten best teams in terms of bullpen earned run average. They’ve gotten there in slightly different ways, with the Phillies focusing on strikeouts (26.5%, third in MLB) while the Yankees have a below-average 21.9% strikeout rate but also possess the third-best ground-ball rate of any team (46.8%). Both teams are among the three best in baseball at limiting home runs, with the Philly bullpen sitting at 0.68 HR/9 and the Yankees narrowly trailing at 0.74 HR/9. Both clubs are luxury-tax payors in 2024, making Kopech’s relatively modest $3MM salary all the more appealing.

It stands to reason that the Royals, Phillies and Yankees are just three of many clubs looking at Kopech as the trade deadline looms next month. Bullpen help is on every postseason hopeful’s deadline wishlist every summer, and Kopech is the type of power arm that any team would love to try to maximize. While velocity is up throughout the game, and triple-digit fastballs are no longer the rarities they once were, that doesn’t take away from Kopech’s impressive repertoire. The only pitchers in MLB (min. 10 innings) who throw harder on average are Oakland’s Mason Miller, Minnesota’s Jhoan Duran, Milwaukee’s Abner Uribe, Arizona’s Justin Martinez and St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley. Kopech’s bottom-line run prevention numbers may not stand out, but other teams surely covet the upside and feel there’s a potentially elite reliever to be unlocked with a few tweaks.

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