Jake McCarthy

Astros Interested In Dylan Cease

By Darragh McDonald | July 30, 2025 at 10:22pm CDT

TODAY: Cease is the Astros’ “main target,” a source tells MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

JULY 29: The Astros have Padres right-hander Dylan Cease atop their deadline wish list, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Houston is also known to be looking for a bat and the report lists Willi Castro of the Twins, Jesús Sánchez of the Marlins and Jake McCarthy of the Diamondbacks as names the Astros are considering. MLBTR covered Houston’s interested in Castro earlier this week.

The Houston rotation has had a rough go in terms of health this year. They started the season with Luis Garcia, J.P. France and Cristian Javier on the injured list due to surgeries in previous years. They’re all still on the shelf. Since the start of the season, Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski have required Tommy John surgery, putting them out for the rest of the year. Spencer Arrighetti suffered a fractured thumb in a freak accident, getting hit during batting practice, and has been out for almost three months now. In the past two weeks, Lance McCullers Jr. hit the IL with a blister and Brandon Walter was sidelined by elbow inflammation.

They still have a strong one-two punch atop the rotation with Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown but things get dicey after that. Currently, Colton Gordon, Ryan Gusto and Jason Alexander are filling in. The Astros will naturally want to add some arms and push those guys down the depth chart. It’s possible they could get some guys off the IL in the coming months, but it’s understandable that they don’t want to rely on that.

Cease has been one of the most reliable pitchers in the game. Since getting promoted in 2019, he hasn’t gone on the injured list, apart from a two-day stint on the COVID list in 2021. He made 12 starts in the shortened 2020 season. He has made at least 32 starts in each full season since. He’s already up to 22 this year.

That reliability would certainly be attractive to the Astros amid all the injuries, though the quality has often been quite strong as well, as Cease has regularly struck out roughly 30% of batters faced. His earned run average has oscillated over the years thanks to some wobbles in his batting average on balls in play, strand rate and home run rate. His advanced metrics have held more steady. For his career, he has a 3.69 FIP and 3.82. In a full season, he’s never had a SIERA higher than 4.10 or a FIP higher than 3.72.

This year’s 4.79 ERA in on the high side, though at least part of that seems to be beyond Cease’s control. His .323 BABIP, 68.5% strand rate and 13.3% homer to fly ball rate are all to the unfortunate side. His 3.64 FIP and 3.37 SIERA suggest he’s largely been the same guy as in previous seasons. His ERA is also inflated a bit by a nine-run shellacking in his third start of the year.

Though Cease makes plenty of sense for the Astros on the field, there are other matters to consider. He is making $13.75MM this year, which leaves about $4.5MM left to be paid out. The Astros have clearly tried to avoid the competitive balance tax this year, dumping money in the offseason by trading Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly. RosterResource currently pegs the club’s CBT number at $236MM, just $5MM from the base threshold of the tax. That’s just an estimate and it might be off by a few million in either direction.

Perhaps the Astros can add Cease and stay under the line but they also want to add a bat, which could make it tricky. On the other hand, the report from The Athletic suggests that owner Jim Crane likes star players and might be willing to cross the line in order to get someone like Cease. He was reportedly willing to cross the line in the offseason in order to re-sign Alex Bregman, though Bregman ultimately landed with the Red Sox.

The Astros will also have to offer the Padres something they would like. The Friars aren’t selling in the commonly understood sense. Their plan with dealing Cease is to perhaps save some money, add a left fielder or a catcher, or prospects, or some combination of those goals. They could then use either the prospects or the saved money to acquire another starting pitching to replace Cease.

Houston doesn’t have a strong farm system, so perhaps the prospect part will be hard for them to pull off, though they could help out in some of the other areas. Catcher Victor Caratini is having a good year, though Yainer Diaz is struggling, so perhaps the Astros wouldn’t want to part with Caratini. Though if they did, Caratini is making $6MM this year, so flipping him would give the Astros some extra CBT space.

In the outfield, the Astros are currently without Jake Meyers and Yordan Alvarez. Their current mix includes Cam Smith, Taylor Trammell, Jose Altuve, Jacob Melton, Cooper Hummel and Chas McCormick. Houston’s not giving a ton of playing time to McCormick, who has some decent seasons on his track record. However, he hasn’t been good for a couple of years now, so the Padres probably don’t have too much interest. Trammell has been hitting well lately but while striking out in more than 30% of his plate appearances. Hummel has been DFA fodder all year. Altuve and Smith aren’t going anywhere. Melton might be hard to pry loose because he hits left-handed, something the Astros lack, and is covering center field with Meyers out.

The report from The Athletic points out that the Astros traded three notable prospects to get a rental pitcher at last year’s deadline, flipping Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner to the Jays for Yusei Kikuchi. Perhaps they could do so again, though it’s unclear if they have the farm system to do it.

If they have some guys the Padres like, it’s theoretically possible that the Friars could then use those guys to upgrade elsewhere. A sequence of events like this helped them land Cease in the first place. They traded Juan Soto to the Yankees for a bunch of pitchers, including Michael King and Drew Thorpe. They then quickly put Thorpe in a package to send to the White Sox to get Cease. Perhaps the Astros can make it work but they will have competition. Cease has also been connected to the Mets, Cubs, Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees.

As for the hitters, the Astros have also suffered a number of injuries to the lineup. As mentioned, Alvarez and Meyers are on the shelf, as well as shortstop Jeremy Peña, third baseman Isaac Paredes and others. Astros general manager Dana Brown has said the club would love to get a lefty bat, ideally one who could play the infield and/or left field. Players like Altuve, Mauricio Dubón and Zack Short have some defensive versatility, giving the Astros a bit of flexibility in what kind of bat they add.

Sánchez has been a roughly league average bat in his time with the Marlins. He has a .243/.310/.425 career batting line and a wRC+ of exactly 100. He is making $4.5MM this year, which leaves about $1.5MM left to be paid out. He can be controlled via arbitration for another two seasons. He’s been far better against righties in his career, which could appeal to Houston. He has a .179/.228/.287 slash against southpaws but a .258/.330/.459 line otherwise. The rebuilding Marlins likely aren’t clinging too tightly to him.

McCarthy has been good in the past but not this year. He slashed .285/.349/.400 for a 110 wRC+ in 2024, also adding 25 steals and quality defense. This year, he has a brutal .158/.232/.277 line and was sent to the minors for a few months. He did hit well in Triple-A, slashing .314/.401/.440, so perhaps the Astros see a path to getting him back on track. He still hasn’t qualified for arbitration and is being paid around the league minimum, which would be attractive for the Astros.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

D-backs Have Listened To Offers On Outfield Depth

By Steve Adams | July 14, 2025 at 10:35am CDT

The Diamondbacks remain on the fringes of the NL postseason picture, sitting five and a half games out in the Wild Card chase. General manager Mike Hazen has said he hopes the team performs well enough to position itself as a late buyer, but the GM has also at least been listening to offers on some of his outfielders, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. That does not include star Corbin Carroll, unsurprisingly, but Heyman suggests names like Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk have likely been discussed.

Of the four outfielders, Grichuk is the most obvious trade candidate. He’s playing the 2025 season on a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll unlock a $250K bonus when he reaches his 200th plate appearance — he’s currently at 174 — and another $250K if he reaches 275 plate appearances.

Grichuk’s contract is structured such that Grichuk is owed a $2MM salary and a $3MM buyout on a $5MM mutual option for next year. That makes him a bit more expensive for the rest of the season than a standard one-year, $5MM contract would imply; he’d have about $634K in salary remaining at the time of the trade deadline but also that $3MM buyout and some potential incentive pay. Of course, the D-backs could make a trade more appealing by including cash to offset some of that backloaded 2025 salary.

The 2025 season hasn’t been Grichuk’s best, but he’s still hitting for power. The 33-year-old is batting .242/.282/.466 with seven homers, 13 doubles and a triple in his 174 trips to the plate. His 5.7% walk rate is right in line with his career mark. His 21.6% strikeout rate is down from his career level of about 25% but noticeably higher than the personal-best 16.5% clip he turned in last year in a more productive season with the Snakes.

Gurriel, 31, is a tougher sell from a trade standpoint. He’s being paid $14MM this season and is guaranteed $13MM in 2026 plus at least a $5MM buyout on a $14MM club option for the 2027 season. His .251/.299/.421 batting line (98 wRC+) already represents a down year, and any team to acquire him would know Gurriel will either opt into the remaining $18MM he’s guaranteed beyond the current season or go on a second-half tear and opt out. It’s not an appealing structure, and the Diamondbacks would probably need to eat a significant portion of the remaining money he’s owed to facilitate a trade.

Thomas and McCarthy are both controllable lefty-swinging outfielders, but neither is having a good season at the plate. Thomas, once touted as one of the top outfield prospects in baseball, has yet to hit in parts of four major league seasons. He’s an above-average runner and strong defensive center fielder, but this year’s .245/.295/.366 batting line (84 wRC+) is actually the best of the 25-year-old’s young career. He’s a lifetime .230/.276/.360 hitter in just under 1200 big league plate appearances.

McCarthy, on the other hand, has had plenty of big league success at the plate — just not in 2025. He hit .283/.342/.427 in 99 games back in 2022 (116 wRC+) and slashed .285/.349/.400 (110 wRC+) as recently as last season. He had a down year in 2023, however, and the 27-year-old has struggled to a career-worst .144/.228/.244 line (33 wRC+) in 102 trips to the plate this season.

That’s a relatively small sample, of course, and McCarthy has had some demonstrably poor luck. He’s hitting just .151 on balls in play — less than half the .328 career mark he carried into the season and some 130 points lower than the league average. McCarthy isn’t hitting the ball hard at all (83.9 mph average exit velocity, 23.7% hard-hit rate), but he also had poor batted-ball metrics even in his more productive 2022 and 2024 seasons. His 15.7% strikeout rate remains excellent, and McCarthy has walked at a solid 8.8% rate.

The D-backs optioned McCarthy to Triple-A after a rough three-week start and only recalled him back in late June. He batted .314/.401/.440 in 237 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks’ top affiliate in Reno and has put together an improved (albeit still diminished) .222/.300/.400 slash in his past 51 major league plate appearances.

Both Thomas and McCarthy are controllable for an additional three seasons. Both are eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason. The Diamondbacks burned McCarthy’s final option year when they sent him down to Triple-A back in April. He’ll be out of minor league options next year. Thomas also entered 2025 with one option year remaining, but his is still intact, as he hasn’t been sent down at any point this season.

D-Backs Notes: McCarthy, Barrosa, Puk, Alexander

By Anthony Franco | April 21, 2025 at 8:51pm CDT

The Diamondbacks are optioning Jake McCarthy to Triple-A Reno, per the MLB.com transactions log. John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix suggests that Jorge Barrosa is likely to be recalled tomorrow to replace McCarthy in the outfield.

McCarthy has had a terrible start to the season. He has managed just three hits in his first 41 at-bats. The 27-year-old is coming off arguably the best year of his career. McCarthy hit .285/.349/.400 with eight homers and 25 stolen bases through a career-high 495 plate appearances last season. He earned the Opening Day assignment in center field as a result. His slump quickly cut into his playing time, as Alek Thomas has gotten the nod in center for five of the past six contests.

A good contact hitter, McCarthy has continued to put the ball in play. He has only fanned in six of 47 plate appearances, but he’s simply doing no damage. He only has one extra-base knock, a double, with five hard-hit balls (ones with an exit velocity of 95 MPH or better) on the season. McCarthy has never had imposing batted ball metrics, but the results became too much to ignore. He will be able to play every day in Reno rather than work in a fourth outfield role as he tries to get on track.

That’ll seemingly afford an MLB opportunity for the switch-hitting Barrosa. He made a brief major league debut last season, collecting three hits in eight games. He hit .270/.360/.421 over 75 Triple-A games last season. The Venezuela native is out to a stronger start in 2025, batting .295/.362/.495 with a trio of homers over 105 plate appearances in the Pacific Coast League.

Elsewhere on the roster, reliever A.J. Puk is scheduled for an MRI today (link via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers). The southpaw landed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The Snakes will presumably provide a return timeline after getting the imaging results. Puk has been brilliant since the D-Backs acquired him from Miami at last summer’s deadline. He owns a 1.78 ERA with 55 strikeouts through 35 1/3 frames in an Arizona uniform.

On the other side of the injury ledger, Arizona activated Blaze Alexander from the 10-day IL and optioned him to Reno on Sunday. The 25-year-old infielder suffered an oblique strain early in his camp and only appeared in two Spring Training games. He played eight games on a rehab assignment. Rookie Tim Tawa and speedster Garrett Hampson are splitting the second base playing time with Ketel Marte on the injured list. Alexander would probably have gotten those reps had he been fully healthy throughout camp, but he’ll remain in Triple-A for the time being.

Diamondbacks’ Outfielders Drawing Trade Interest

By Steve Adams | November 22, 2024 at 10:26am CDT

The Diamondbacks are no stranger to dealing from their perennial outfield depth, and GM Mike Hazen tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that his stock of center fielders is again drawing interest. Hazen wouldn’t rule out a trade eventually coming together. It doesn’t sound as though Arizona is actively shopping any of its outfield options but rather listening to fairly robust interest, given the lack of center field options in free agency and elsewhere on the trade market. Diamondbacks fans, in particular, will want to check out Piecoro’s piece for a full slate of quotes and insight from Hazen.

The Snakes have Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy lined up as their likely outfield heading into the 2025 season, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. mixing into left field as well. There’ll likely be some rotation of that bunch through the outfield and DH spots throughout the season. (Gurriel, it should be noted, is not a center fielder and is not seemingly among the players most heavily inquired about at this time.)

Of the D-backs’ trio of center field-capable outfielders, only Thomas and McCarthy stand as feasible trade candidates. Carroll, the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year, had a slow start in 2024 but bounced back to form as the season went on, slashing .256/.348/.522 (136 wRC+) over his final 425 plate appearances. He signed an eight-year, $111MM extension after a brief but excellent 32-game cup of coffee late in the 2022 season. He’s a cornerstone player in Arizona. Other clubs have probably inquired all the same, but Carroll is staying put.

Thomas and McCarthy, however, are at least a bit more plausible as trade candidates. The former ranked as one of the game’s top prospects for years but has yet to solidify himself as a viable everyday player in the majors. He’s a plus defender and runner when healthy but has mustered only a .226/.271/.359 batting line in 916 trips to the plate in the majors.

Thomas, 24, doesn’t strike out at an alarming clip (19.3%) but also ranks third among 251 big league hitters (min. 900 plate appearances) with a 57.2% ground-ball rate dating back to 2022. That penchant for grounders has undercut what scouting reports tabbed as above-average raw power. Thomas did pop 18 homers between Double-A and Triple-A a couple seasons back, but he has only 20 homers in his 916 big league plate appearances. Without elevating the ball more regularly, he’s unlikely to hit for much power in the majors. That said, he did make plenty of hard contact this past season (91.6 mph average exit velocity, 48.6% hard-hit rate). Even if much of that happens on the ground, a player with Thomas’ speed should see a far better average on balls in play than both the .200 he posted in 2024 and the .260 he’s notched in his career. There’s plenty to like about Thomas, and there are surely teams in need of a center fielder who are hoping they can buy low.

McCarthy, 27, is another solid defender — perhaps not quite to the extent of a healthy Thomas — who turned in a sharp .285/.349/.400 batting line in 2024. He smacked eight homers, swiped 25 bags (in 31 tries) and showed very strong contact skills (15.8% strikeout rate). He doesn’t have much power but also doesn’t possess glaring platoon splits. McCarthy doesn’t walk as much as one would prefer from a prototypical leadoff hitter (6.3% in 2024, 7.1% career), but he makes enough contact and runs well enough to profile as a table-setter who can handle all three outfield spots.

Both Thomas and McCarthy have one minor league option remaining and are controllable for another four seasons, which only adds to their appeal for win-now and rebuilding clubs alike. The Royals, Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Mets and Yankees are just some of the teams that could be in the market for outfield help this winter (though some of those obviously depend on the outcome of more pressing free agent pursuits).

As notably, Hazen indicated that any trades from his big league roster would be made with an eye toward improving another area of the MLB squad. The D-backs could lose Christian Walker to free agency, for instance, leaving a potential void at first base. Hazen has already publicly indicated that he hopes to add another high-leverage reliever/closer, though Piecoro specifically calls out the fact that the D-backs aren’t likely to move multiple years of a controllable outfielder in a straight-up swap for a reliever.

Fans may speculate on the potential to effectively purchase someone like Thomas or McCarthy by taking on some or even all of the remaining $22.5MM on Jordan Montgomery’s contract. That seems overwhelmingly unlikely. Four years of either Thomas or McCarthy would surely be valued at more than the remaining $22.5MM on that contract, and even Montgomery himself would probably still command several million dollars on a bounceback deal in free agency. Taking on his contract probably amounts to somewhere in the vicinity of $15MM in underwater money, and that sum isn’t nearly enough to persuade a team to part with a controllable big league outfielder.

Diamondbacks Option Alek Thomas

By Darragh McDonald | August 14, 2024 at 12:50pm CDT

The Diamondbacks have recalled infielder Blaze Alexander from Triple-A Reno. Going the other way in a corresponding move is outfielder Alek Thomas, who has been optioned to Reno. Prior to the official announcement, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic was among those to relay on X that Alexander was in the clubhouse while Thomas’s locker was being cleared out.

Thomas, 24, gets sent to the minors for the first time in over a year, as he was last optioned in May of 2023. As of a few years ago, he was considered one of the top prospects in baseball based on his potential ability to be an all-around contributor. While he has shown some speed and some strong defense at times, he has been consistently subpar at the plate.

From his 2022 debut to the present, Thomas has now stepped to the plate 915 times at the major league level. He has 20 home runs in that time but his 5.2% walk rate is a few ticks below average and his overall batting line of .226/.271/.359 translates to a wRC+ of 71, indicating he’s been 29% worse than league average overall. That includes a .191/.248/.362 line and 67 wRC+ here in 2024.

Thomas has some encouraging signs on his Statcast page in terms of how hard he hits the ball, so it might seem like bad luck that he has a .261 batting average on balls in play, which is well below par. However, he’s also continually struggled to get underneath the ball, with a 57.2% ground ball rate in his career and a 60% rate here in 2024.

In previous seasons, Thomas has made up for his lack of offense by providing value in center field, but that hasn’t been the case this year. He came into 2024 with 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 11 Outs Above Average in the outfield but both of those metrics have put a mark of -1 on him this year. Perhaps he hasn’t been fully healthy, as he spent some time on the injured list due to a left hamstring strain and his sprint speed of 27.9 feet per second is down from previous years. He was at 29.3 in 2022 and 28.8 last year.

Whether his health has played a factor or not, he’s essentially been a replacement level player this year and Jake McCarthy has forced his way into more playing time. McCarthy is hitting .311/.380/.458 this year for a wRC+ of 135 while stealing 17 bases and and getting solid marks for his outfield work. Those all-around contributions have led FanGraphs to credit him with 2.7 wins above replacement on the year already.

The Snakes have an outfield mix that consists of McCarthy, Corbin Carroll and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. with Joc Pederson in the designated hitter slot most days. Randal Grichuk is often Pederson’s short-side DH platoon partner and is also capable of serving as a fourth outfielder. McCarthy has played all three outfield positions but could perhaps become the regular in center now while Thomas gets regular at-bats in Reno and tries to get in a groove down there.

He is still quite young and still has time to find himself at the plate but the Diamondbacks are trying to win now and need to put their best club on the field. They are currently 68-53 and tied with the Padres for the top National League Wild Card spot. Both clubs are also just 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the West division.

Speaking of platoons, subbing in Alexander could help the club in that regard. Each of Thomas, Carroll, McCarthy and Pederson are lefties and all of them have notable platoon splits except for McCarthy, who has reverse splits. Alexander hits right-handed could perhaps cover third base against southpaws while Eugenio Suárez, also a righty, moves into the DH slot, allowing Grichuk to move to the outfield and perhaps shield Carroll from time to time. When Christian Walker returns from the IL and takes over at first base, the switch-hitting Josh Bell could be a factor as well. Alexander will also give the club a bit of extra cover at second while Ketel Marte is banged up with a left ankle injury.

Turning back to Thomas, the move has the potential to impact his earning power. He came into this season with one year and 132 days of service time. If he had stayed up in the majors all year, he would have gone into the offseason at 2.132 and with a very good chance at qualifying for arbitration as a Super Two player, based on past cutoffs. This year’s cutoff won’t be determined until the end of the year but each day he stays down in the minors will decrease his chances of crossing it. If he falls short of the line, he will get the usual three arbitration seasons, while getting to Super Two status would have given him a fourth chance at a salary bump.

Phillies Showing Trade Interest In Jake McCarthy

By Mark Polishuk | June 9, 2024 at 4:59pm CDT

As the Phillies look to put some final touches on a talented roster, Philadelphia is “keeping an eye on” Jake McCarthy as possible outfield help, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes. Such a trade would naturally depend on whether or not the Diamondbacks are still in the playoff race by the deadline, and even if not, Arizona would still be hesitant about moving an outfielder who is controlled through the 2028 season.

McCarthy has been been frequently mentioned in trade rumors in the past, even if his stock has ebbed and flowed over his first two full MLB seasons. McCarthy finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 and was subsequently a much-discussed figure that offseason as the D’Backs looked to sell from their surplus of left-handed hitting outfielders. (Daulton Varsho ended up being the outfielder moved in the December 2022 trade that brought Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to the desert.)

However, McCarthy ran into a sophomore slump last year, hitting .243/.318/.326 over 312 plate appearances and he was demoted to Triple-A, before an oblique injury then sidelined him for the Diamondbacks’ playoff run. As per a report from Nightengale in February, Arizona offered the White Sox either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher in a trade for pitching prospect Cristian Mena this past winter, with Chicago opting to take Fletcher.

If McCarthy’s Diamondbacks tenure really was that close to coming to an end, he has done well in his second act with the club. McCarthy hit his third homer of the season in today’s game against the Padres, and entered Sunday’s action hitting .268/.354/.370 over his first 160 PA. Today’s home run was a rarity for a player who hasn’t shown much power and whose barrel and hard-hit ball rates are both mediocre — McCarthy’s 22.5% hard-hit ball rate ranks only in the second percentile of all batters.

A .327 BABIP has accounted for a good chunk of McCarthy’s success, but his excellent speed has also been a benefit in turning some of those balls in play into extra hits. His strikeout and walk rates are both above average, and on the defensive side, McCarthy has been roughly average to slightly below average as a right fielder. The D’Backs have deployed McCarthy in left and center field on occasion, but he has mostly been used in a right field platoon with the right-handed hitting Randal Grichuk. Oddly, McCarthy has hit southpaws much better than he has right-handed pitchers this season, with a .917 OPS in 32 PA against lefties and a .674 OPS in 128 against righties.

Between his years of control, his age (27 next month), and his past draft pedigree as the 39th overall pick in 2018, McCarthy would be far from a rental piece for the Phillies for any team looking to pry the outfielder away from Arizona. The Phils’ acquisition of Brandon Marsh from the Angels at the 2022 trade deadline could be a comp here, as that deal also saw Philadelphia land a left-handed hitting outfielder with some past prospect appeal who hadn’t quite gotten it all together at the MLB level. That one-for-one deal saw the Phillies land Marsh for Logan O’Hoppe, another well-regarded young player who was blocked at catcher by J.T. Realmuto, so the Phils and Angels mutually addressed each other’s needs for outfield and catching help.

Marsh has gone on to become a solid regular in the Philadelphia outfield, this season acting as the strong side of a left-field platoon with Whit Merrifield. Marsh is currently on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury that isn’t considered too serious, so in the event that McCarthy was acquired, the Phillies would likely view him as a left-handed hitting complement to Johan Rojas in center field and even Nick Castellanos in right field.

Rojas hasn’t hit at all this season and his once-impressive center field glove has been much closer to average. Castellanos’ defensive limitations are well-known but the bigger issue has been his bat, as Castellanos is hitting .215/.275/.360 with nine homers over 269 PA. The veteran is on pace for the second negative-fWAR season in his three years with Philadelphia, which isn’t a great sign considering that Castellanos is still owed $40MM over the remaining two years of his five-year, $100MM contract.

The lack of production from Castellanos or Rojas hasn’t much slowed the Phillies down in their run to the NL’s best record, but the outfield does stand out as a natural area to address as one of the club’s relatively few weak links. Acquiring a rental player at the deadline might be a more logical idea for the Phils given how Castellanos will still be in the mix for the next two years, and trading for a shorter-term outfielder would come at a much lesser prospect cost than McCarthy’s price tag.

Since only four National League teams are above the .500 mark, the Diamondbacks are still just outside the wild card picture despite their unimpressive 30-35 record. There is still plenty of time for the reigning NL champions to turn things around, and the D’Backs would have to be pretty decidedly out of the running at the deadline for the front office to turn to selling, considering that the team has invested heavily in trying to remain a top contender.

Even if Arizona does sell, impending free agents and veteran players figure to be the team’s first options for trade candidates before getting around to considering moving controllable players like McCarthy. Even if it’s true that the D’Backs were willing to take Mena (not a highly-touted pitching prospect) for McCarthy last winter, Arizona might be in a position to demand more in return for McCarthy now, given his improved numbers and some extra leverage the Diamondbacks might hold in shopping him to needy contenders come July 30.

NL West Notes: McCarthy, Barnhart, Molina, Slater

By Mark Polishuk | March 24, 2024 at 5:43pm CDT

The Diamondbacks have gotten a lot of trade interest in outfielder Jake McCarthy but Arizona isn’t yet interested in dealing the 26-year-old, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes. This isn’t the first time McCarthy’s name has surfaced in trade rumors, though the buzz quieted after McCarthy turned in a lackluster 2023 season. The outfielder finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022, but followed up that breakout campaign by hitting only .243/.318/.326 over 312 plate appearances last season. McCarthy’s struggles resulted in a loss of playing time and even a demotion to Triple-A, plus an oblique injury kept him from being a part of Arizona’s postseason rosters during the team’s run to the World Series.

Randal Grichuk is expected to begin the season on the injured list, so McCarthy should probably land a job as the Diamondbacks’ fourth outfielder for at least the start of the year. He also has a minor league option remaining, so the D’Backs could stash him back at Triple-A if necessary. It is worth noting that the D’Backs were reportedly open to moving either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher in February’s trade with the White Sox that sent Fletcher to Chicago, though in the wake of that deal, Arizona might not be willing to further deplete their stock of young outfielders by also moving McCarthy in another trade. Nightengale feels McCarthy might be more of a trade chip later in the season, if the Diamondbacks are having trouble finding playing time or a roster spot available for him.

Chicago Notes: White Sox, Cubs, McCarthy, Junis

By Mark Polishuk | February 11, 2024 at 9:32am CDT

The White Sox acquired outfielder Dominic Fletcher in a trade with the Diamondbacks last week, though the deal may have been something of an either-or proposition. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Sox had the option of picking either Fletcher or Jake McCarthy in the deal, with pitching prospect Cristian Mena still headed back to the D’Backs as the return piece in the one-for-one trade.

Fletcher and McCarthy share a similar profile as 26-year-old, left-handed hitting outfielders who can play any of the three positions on the grass. McCarthy was the 39th overall pick of the 2018 draft and has more Major League experience, with a .261/.331/.380 slash line over 736 plate appearances in the Show. A fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 seemed to hint at McCarthy’s potential as a building block for the Snakes, yet a tough 2023 season saw him relegated to the minors and then to the Diamondbacks’ bench as the year developed. Arizona’s willingness to move on from either player and the Southsiders’ decision to take Fletcher provides some interesting wrinkles to this trade, and it might be interesting to revisit this deal in a few years’ time once we see how the careers of Fletcher, McCarthy, and Mena have developed.

Here’s more from the Windy City’s two teams…

Though the top four in the Cubs rotation seems set and several candidates are vying for the fifth starter’s job, Jakob Junis “recently” drew some interest from Wrigleyville, as per The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma. The depth of the interest isn’t known, though it might’ve been something of a due diligence move by the Cubs since no formal offer was made. Junis’ experience as a swingman means that he wouldn’t have necessarily even been in the rotation, so the Cubs could’ve been looking at Junis to bolster the bullpen and also add even more depth to the starting mix. In any case, Junis is no longer an option, as the right-hander signed a one-year, $7MM contract with the Brewers last week.
In another piece from Mooney and Sharma, they look at the Cubs’ unsettled third base situation. Patrick Wisdom and Nick Madrigal seem poised to get the bulk of playing time, with Christopher Morel getting the occasional start at the hot corner, and Miles Mastrobuoni or rookie Luis Vazquez providing further depth. There’s enough uncertainty here that Mooney/Sharma feel the Cubs might again make a trade deadline move at the position, akin to their deal for Jeimer Candelario this past summer. Of course, the Cubs have also been linked to Matt Chapman this winter if the team still had a bigger-ticket free agent upgrade in mind, though a longer-term answer might block top prospect Matt Shaw, who has been working out as a third baseman this offseason.
Reports surfaced last month that the White Sox were speaking with development company Related Midwest about the potential of building a new ballpark on a portion of land in Chicago’s South Loop area. Related Midwest recently released a series of artist renderings to media (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) about what this new stadium and the associated “ballpark village” area might look like alongside the Chicago River, as well as some proposed renderings of how the area around Guaranteed Rate Field could be developed if the Sox moved to a new site. Obviously a lot of hurdles still have to be crossed with the White Sox, developers, civic and state officials, and many other parties before this proposed ballpark could become a reality, and the earliest possible opening date would seem to be 2030, since the team’s lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through the 2029 season.

Injury Notes: McCarthy, Pham, Giants, Hoskins

By Nick Deeds | October 3, 2023 at 10:32pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced this evening that outfielder Jake McCarthy had been removed from the club’s playoff roster prior to tonight’s opener of the Wild Card series against the Brewers, with infielder Jace Peterson taking McCarthy’s place on the roster. Per Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic, McCarthy sustained an oblique injury during batting practice just before the game. McCarthy will be ineligible to play in both the Wild Card series and the NLDS, though he could return to the club’s postseason roster for the NLCS in the event he makes it that far.

McCarthy had a breakout season for the Diamondbacks last year, with a .283/.342/.427 slash line in 99 games with the club. Unfortunately for both Arizona and McCarthy, he struggled to live up to his rookie campaign during his age-25 season this year. Over 312 trips to the plate in 2023, McCarthy hit just .243/.318/.326 as his power nearly completely evaporated- after slugging 27 extra base hits including eight home runs in 2022, he managed just 14 extra base hits with two home runs this year. Replacing McCarthy as a left-handed bat off the bench is Peterson, who has batted .211/.304/.307 in 133 games this year split between Oakland and Arizona.

More injury news from around the league…

Sticking with the Diamondbacks, fellow outfielder Tommy Pham has been dealing with injury struggles of his own, telling MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert that he’s currently battling turf toe and left open the possibility that he would receive an injection to help alleviate the pain before the game earlier tonight. Pham’s slashed a solid .256/.328/.446 over 129 games with the Mets and Diamondbacks this year but has largely been limited to playing DH since the start of September, perhaps due in part to his current ailment.
During the end-of-season press conference for the Giants today, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi provided updates on a pair of injured players. As relayed by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, outfielder Austin Slater is set to undergo arthroscopic elbow surgery this offseason after several years of discomfort in the area. Slater, who slashed .270/.348/.400 in 89 games for San Francisco this season, figures to be ready for Spring Training in February. Pavlovic also relays that right-hander Alex Cobb is set to get a second opinion on the hip impingement that left him on the injured list for the last few weeks of the season in the near future. Cobb, who turns 36 later this week, was the club’s only regular starter behind ace Logan Webb and performed well in that role when healthy enough to take the field, posting a 3.87 ERA and 4.01 FIP in 151 1/3 innings of work.
Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who has been out all season due to a torn ACL, threw out the first pitch prior to the club’s win over the Marlins in Game 1 of the Wild Card series this evening. That might not be his only part in Philadelphia’s postseason run if the club makes it back to the World Series, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki noted today that Hoskins is set to head to the club’s stay-ready camp in Clearwater, Florida to begin facing pitchers in live batting practice. The news represents a major step in Hoskins’ recovery and leaves the door open for Hoskins to return at the end of the club’s postseason run if they can make it that far, much like how teammate Kyle Schwarber made it back from a torn ACL of his own to DH for the Cubs during the 2016 World Series.

NL West Notes: Kim, Doyle, Cessa, McCarthy, Fletcher

By Mark Polishuk | May 25, 2023 at 10:16pm CDT

X-rays were negative on Ha-Seong Kim’s left knee, Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune) after Kim had to be helped off the field during today’s game. In the second inning of the Padres’ 8-6 win over the Nationals, Kim fouled a pitch off his knee, knocking him to the ground in obvious pain. Despite the relatively good news from the imaging, Kim isn’t expected to play on Friday and might end up on the 10-day injured list unless the swelling and discomfort subsides quickly.

Now in his third season with the Padres, Kim is hitting a modest .237/.316/.382 over 172 plate appearances, which works out to a 97 wRC+. Even this slightly below-average number might be generous considering that Kim’s 22.3% hard-hit ball rate is among the lowest in the league, though he has provided a lot of defensive value to San Diego as a second baseman and, more recently, as a third baseman in place of the injured Manny Machado. The Padres’ depth would take another hit if both Machado and Kim are out, and Rougned Odor (whose bat has been on fire as of late) would be the likeliest candidate for regular time at third base. Odor and Brandon Dixon could split time between second and third, Jake Cronenworth could also play second base, and Matt Carpenter could see more time as a first baseman.

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