Jose Siri

Mets To Place Jose Siri On Injured List With Tibia Fracture

By Anthony Franco | April 14, 2025 at 9:44pm CDT

Mets center fielder Jose Siri was diagnosed with a fractured left tibia, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters following tonight’s win over Minnesota (relayed by Newsday’s Tim Healey). He’ll go on the 10-day injured list tomorrow and is surely in line for a lengthy absence.

Siri suffered the injury on Saturday when he fouled a ball off his leg (video via SNY). He came out of the game and was replaced by Tyrone Taylor. Siri remained day-to-day when initial testing suggested it may be a shin contusion, but today’s follow-up imaging diagnosed the fracture. The IL placement will represent the Mets’ first in-season roster move aside from the DFA trade of Alexander Canario. New York has carried the same 26-man active roster since Opening Day.

It had been a frustrating start for Siri even before the injury. The righty-hitting outfielder collected just one hit in his first 20 at-bats. He has drawn four walks and stolen a couple bases, but he’d punched out eight times over 24 plate appearances. Siri’s glove is much more his calling card. He’s coming off a .187/.255/.366 showing over a career-high 130 games as a member of the Rays. The Mets acquired him in an offseason trade despite those numbers because he’s one of the best defensive center fielders in the game.

Siri and Taylor have each started eight games apiece. The latter should now be in line for more or less everyday center field work. Taylor is out to a frigid start in his own right. An 0-4 showing tonight dropped his season slash to .158/.179/.211 across 39 plate appearances. He has struck out nine times and has yet to take a walk. Taylor managed a league average .248/.299/.401 showing over 345 trips to the dish in his first season as a Met.

Brandon Nimmo started 22 games in center field as recently as last season. He has played exclusively left field this year. The Mets could kick him back over to center on occasion if they want Starling Marte to draw in left to push Taylor out of the lineup. Luisangel Acuña also logged over 250 Triple-A innings in center field last season. The Mets have only used him in the middle infield at the major league level, but he’s athletic enough to potentially get some reps in center if Taylor continues to struggle.

Mets Acquire Jose Siri

By Anthony Franco | November 19, 2024 at 3:22pm CDT

The Mets and Rays announced a one-for-one trade sending outfielder Jose Siri to New York for reliever Eric Orze. Both players were on their teams’ 40-man roster, so the trade doesn’t have any impact on tonight’s Rule 5 protection deadline.

Siri, 29, spent two and a half seasons in Tampa Bay. The Rays acquired him from the Astros in a three-team trade at the 2022 deadline. Siri has been Kevin Cash’s primary center fielder going back to the start of the ’23 season. He connected on 25 home runs in only 364 plate appearances that year. While the power was enough to make Siri a productive player, he hit .222 with a .267 on-base percentage.

Those already poor marks fell even further in 2024. Siri hit .187/.255/.366 in a career-high 448 plate appearances. He popped another 18 homers but ranked last in OBP among the 207 hitters with at least 400 trips to the plate. Only Mitch Garver had a lower batting average. Since the start of the ’23 season, Siri owns a .203/.260/.424 batting line.

An extreme free swinger, Siri has issues making contact against pitches both within and outside the zone. He went down on strikes at a massive 37.9% rate this year and has fanned in nearly 36% of his career plate appearances. Siri strikes out far too often to be a consistently effective hitter, but he has 20+ homer potential at the bottom of a lineup.

More importantly, Siri has elite athleticism that makes him one of the best defensive players in baseball. He’s a top-of-the-scale runner with elite arm strength. Siri has posted excellent numbers for his glovework in center field. Defensive Runs Saved credited him as 12 runs above average in a little over 1000 innings this past season. Statcast was even more bullish, rating him 15 runs above par. By measure of Statcast’s Outs Above Average, Siri was tied for second with Cardinals rookie Michael Siani among outfielders in defensive value. Only Washington’s Jacob Young narrowly surpassed him. Brenton Doyle and Daulton Varsho are the only outfielders with more Outs Above Average since the start of 2023.

Siri probably slots behind Tyrone Taylor on New York’s center field depth chart. Both players are right-handed hitters, so they don’t make for a natural platoon. Taylor has much better contact skills than Siri brings to the table. He’s coming off a solid .248/.299/.401 showing in his first year as a Met.

There are clear parallels between Siri and Harrison Bader, to whom the Mets gave 437 plate appearances this year. They’re each fantastic defensive outfielders with some power but subpar on-base skills. Bader is again a free agent after playing on a $10.5MM deal. Siri is much more affordable. He’s in his first of three arbitration seasons and is projected for a $2.3MM salary (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz). If the Mets again find themselves in the top tier of luxury tax penalization, they’ll pay roughly $2.53MM in taxes on top of that salary. They control him through the 2027 campaign.

While Siri remained affordable, the Rays were evidently prepared to move on because of his lackluster offense. Their only other player who got an extended look in center field this year was Jonny DeLuca. Acquired from the Dodgers in the Tyler Glasnow trade, DeLuca hit just .217/.278/.331 in his first extended MLB look. He’s nearly as fast as Siri and could be a plus defensive center fielder in his own right, but he doesn’t bring much offensive juice.

While Dylan Carlson once looked like a potential everyday center fielder in St. Louis, his bat has never developed as hoped. Josh Lowe is probably better suited in a corner, though he could theoretically move back to center if the Rays add another bat or want to play Christopher Morel and Richie Palacios in the corner outfield on a regular basis.

As they look to sort out center field, the Rays add to their bullpen depth. Orze, 27, was a fifth-round pick in the shortened 2020 draft. His only big league experience consists of two games for the Mets in July. He was blown up in that limited look, surrendering four runs in 1 2/3 innings.

The 6’4″ righty had a solid year at Triple-A Syracuse. He tossed 61 2/3 innings of 2.92 ERA ball, striking out nearly a third of opponents behind an excellent 15.4% swinging strike rate. Orze walked more than 12% of batters faced and has struggled with his command throughout his pro career. That could relegate him to a middle relief role. Orze uses his changeup as his primary pitch and sits in the 93-94 MPH range with his fastball. He barely has any major league service and can be optioned for another two seasons, so he’ll likely bounce between Tampa Bay and Triple-A Durham on multiple occasions over the next couple years.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com first reported the terms of the trade. Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

MLB Announces Suspensions For Rays-Brewers Brawl

By Darragh McDonald | May 1, 2024 at 2:55pm CDT

2:55pm: Rays manager Kevin Cash said after today’s game that Siri’s suspension was reduced to two games and he already started serving it, per Topkin.

1:05pm: Major League Baseball announced several suspensions today in relation to last night’s confrontation between the Rays and the Brewers. Milwaukee right-handers Freddy Peralta and Abner Uribe got suspensions of five and six games, respectively. Their manager Pat Murphy got a two-game suspension. Outfielder Jose Siri of the Rays got three games. All four parties also received undisclosed fines.

Murphy is serving his suspension starting today but both of the Milwaukee hurlers are appealing, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Siri will also be appealing his suspension, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Siri homered off Peralta in the third inning and then was plunked by Peralta in the sixth. The umpires conferred and ejected Peralta, despite the fact that no warnings had been issued in the game to that point. Murphy objected to the ejection and he was also ejected.

Siri came up again in the eighth with Uribe pitching. Siri hit a grounder to Rhys Hoskins at first base, who flipped the ball to Uribe as he covered first and recorded the out. Siri and Uribe exchanged words by first base before Uribe took a swipe at Siri. The two tried throwing punches towards each other as various parties tried to intervene with the benches emptying. Both were ejected after the fracas died down.

Adam McCalvy and Adam Berry of MLB.com spoke to the relevant parties after the game and relayed some natural differences of opinion about what transpired. Crew chief Chris Guccione said the umpires thought it was “clear-cut” that Peralta intentionally threw at Siri, though the pitcher denied it. “How many homers did I give up in seven years? A lot, and I never did something after,” Peralta said. “It’s my first time I got ejected from a game in seven seasons and there’s no reason for me to hit him.”

For his part, Siri denied that he celebrated his home run in any outlandish way. “I didn’t take too much time,” Siri said through Rays interpreter Manny Navarro. “I hit the ball, took a couple of steps and then I started running like normal.”

As for the later incident at first base, Uribe had this to say: “There were some words shared that didn’t have much to do with the game that probably shouldn’t have been shared there in that exchange.”

His sparring partner described it thusly: “When I went to first base, I just went there normal, and he kind of hit me on the shoulder,” Siri said. “So I asked him why did he do that? And he just said, ‘Because I felt like it.’”

As mentioned, Murphy is serving his suspension immediately while the players are all appealing. Their suspensions will be held in abeyance until the appeal process is complete, though players in this situation will often drop an appeal at a convenient time, such as when they were planning to have an unrelated day off.

AL East Notes: Judge, Yankees, Rays, Siri, Raley, Cora

By Mark Polishuk | October 1, 2023 at 8:03pm CDT

Aaron Judge spoke with MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters about what the Yankees should do differently in 2024, including “some bigger picture ideas and philosophies that I think maybe need to change.” The communication of analytical information seems to be one of Judge’s sticking points, since the slugger has no issue with the use of analytics themselves. “The Yankees are top-notch in the numbers we get. I think we’re the best in the game at that,” Judge said. “I think it’s about funneling those down to the players in the right format….I think it’s just looking at the right numbers. I think maybe we might be looking at the wrong ones. We need to value some other ones that people might see as having no value.”

The reigning AL MVP also put some pressure on the clubhouse, saying “I think a level of urgency and an understanding [is needed that] just because you get to the big leagues and you get to New York, you’ve still got to improve. You’ve still got to make adjustments.” Judge gave a full endorsement of Aaron Boone as the club’s manager, though as Hoch put it, “Judge was less effusive” in speaking about GM Brian Cashman in comparison to his praise of Boone.

AL East Notes: Volpe, Martin, Siri

By Nick Deeds | September 28, 2023 at 10:38pm CDT

It’s been an up-and-down rookie season for Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, who made the Opening Day roster and has stuck as the club’s everyday shortstop despite offensive struggles. Overall, he’s slashed .207/.283/.383 in 587 plate appearances this year while manning shortstop in 153 of the club’s games so far this year. Defensive metrics disagree on his glovework this year, with Statcast’s Fielding Run Value placing Volpe tenth among fifteen shortstops with at least 1,000 innings of work with a +1 figure, while Fielding Bible’s Defensive Runs Saved places him behind only Dansby Swanson in that same group.

According to SNY’s Andy Martino, the Yankees are pondering Volpe’s role headed into the 2024 season thanks to Oswald Peraza, who scouting reports typically grade as the superior defensive shortstop of the two, with Martino suggesting the club’s best defensive alignment involves Volpe at second base with Peraza at shortstop. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to such a change would be Gleyber Torres, the club’s incumbent second baseman. Torres has no defensive experience outside of the middle infield, but has been the club’s best hitter in 2023 this side of Aaron Judge with a solid .272/.345/.455 slash line.

Given Torres’s importance to the club this year, it’s hard to imagine the Yankees displacing him to accommodate Peraza, who has yet to establish himself with the bat in the majors. After all, Peraza has slashed just .194/.275/.275 in 178 trips to the plate in the majors this year, though his .268/.357/.479 slash line in 300 Triple-A plate appearances this year could indicate another level to the 23-year-old youngster’s game.

More from around the AL East…

Prior to today’s game in Baltimore, the Red Sox placed veteran right-hander Chris Martin on the 15-day injured list with a viral infection. Right-hander Nick Robertson was recalled in a corresponding move. The move closes the book on what has been a sensational season for Martin after he signed with the Red Sox on a two-year, $17.5MM deal this past offseason. In 51 1/3 innings of work this year, Martin sports an astonishing 1.05 ERA that leads the majors among pitchers with at least 30 innings of work, just barely edging out Josh Hader’s 1.16 figure. Martin figures to be a key piece of the Boston bullpen headed into the 2024 campaign.
The Rays received good news yesterday regarding center fielder Jose Siri, according to MLB.com. Siri, who suffered a fractured right hand after being hit by a pitch earlier this month, underwent imaging earlier this week and received encouraging results, with manager Kevin Cash indicating that Siri could resume baseball activities as soon as today in an effort to return to the club this postseason. Siri has combined excellent outfield defense with a solid bat this season, slashing .222/.267/.494 with 25 home runs in 364 trips to the plate.

Jose Siri Sustains Hand Fracture

By Anthony Franco | September 12, 2023 at 1:50pm CDT

September 12: The Rays officially placed Siri on the IL today, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, recalling Curtis Mead in a corresponding move.

September 11: Rays center fielder Jose Siri suffered a fracture in his right hand during this evening’s win over the Twins, manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’ll land on the 10-day injured list, though the Rays are hopeful he could return in around three weeks.

Siri was injured in the fifth inning when he was hit by a Dylan Floro pitch. He finished that half-inning but was subbed out for the following defensive frame. Vidal Bruján came into the game to play right field, pushing Josh Lowe over to center.

Lowe has spent the vast majority of his season in right but could move to center while Siri is sidelined. Luke Raley could move more frequently into right field, potentially clearing a path for Harold Ramírez and/or Jonathan Aranda to pick up a few extra at-bats at designated hitter. However the Rays play it, they’ll face a defensive downgrade.

Siri is one of the better defensive center fielders in the game. He consistently rates highly with the glove, with Statcast crediting him as nine runs above average over 830 2/3 innings entering play tonight. He’s a streaky offensive player but is amidst a respectable second full season at the big league level. Siri has rather quietly popped 25 home runs and is slugging .494 over 364 trips to the plate. A dismal strikeout/walk profile has led to him hitting .222 with a well below-average .267 on-base percentage, but he has rare power potential for an impact defensive outfielder.

The Rays are all but mathematically assured of a playoff spot. They’re three games behind the Orioles in the race for the AL East title (and likely the league’s top seed). Tracking down Baltimore was already an uphill battle and becomes a little more challenging with today’s news.

More notable is the possibility that Siri’s injury could linger into the postseason. The playoffs begin exactly three weeks from tomorrow. The club’s recovery timetable puts him right on the border of being ready by then, likely without the benefit of many lower-leverage at-bats to get back to game speed. It’s possible that Siri could miss a playoff round, especially if the Rays don’t track down Baltimore and therefore have to play in a Wild Card series instead of securing a first-round bye.

Rays Select Heath Hembree

By Darragh McDonald | April 25, 2023 at 2:00pm CDT

The Rays made a series of roster moves today, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Right-hander Taj Bradley and infielder Vidal Bruján have been optioned to the minors, making room for outfielder Jose Siri to be activated from the injured list and right-hander Heath Hembree to have his contract selected. A spot for Hembree on the 40-man was already opened when the club designated righty Hector Perez for assignment on the weekend. Topkin adds that Perez has now cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham.

Hembree, 34, has appeared in the past 10 MLB seasons and will make it 11 in a row as soon as he gets into a game. He had many good seasons for the Red Sox earlier in his career, racking up double-digit holds in 2017 and 2018, but he’s gone into journeyman mode more recently. Since the start of the 2020 season, he’s suited up for the Red Sox, Phillies, Mets, Reds, Pirates and Dodgers. He registered a 6.64 ERA over those three seasons with an 11.1% walk rate but also struck out 27.3% of batters faced.

The Rays took a flier on him by signing him to a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s made eight appearances for the Bulls so far this year with a 1.29 ERA, though a 90.9% strand rate has surely helped him keep that down. He’s struck out 25% of batters faced thus far but walked 15.6%. He hasn’t been at his best over the past few years but the Rays have a knack for getting pitchers into peak form and will try to do that with Hembree.

The optioning of Bradley comes as a bit of a surprise because he’s been pitching well, registering a 3.52 ERA through three starts. Topkin and Kristie Ackert report that the move is more about transitioning him to the traditional five-day rotation of the majors, as he had previously been working on a six-day routine and the club didn’t want him to make the adjustment in the big leagues. Without Bradley, the Rays are down to a three-man rotation of Shane McClanahan, Zach Eflin and Drew Rasmussen. They are generally not afraid to do bullpen games, including multi-inning pitchers like Josh Fleming or Yonny Chirinos, though those guys could also make some traditional starts as well. Bradley will likely be back later in the season, once he’s properly made the workload switch.

Perez was selected to the roster on the weekend but designated for assignment a day later without getting into a game. That means his big league résumé still consists of just one game with the Blue Jays in 2020. Since he has a previous career outright, he had the right to reject another such move and elect free agency, but it seems he’ll stick with the Bulls and try to work his way back to the majors.

Rays Notes: Ballpark, Eflin, Siri, Thompson, Glasnow

By Mark Polishuk | April 22, 2023 at 5:37pm CDT

The Rays “seem to be making progress” on a new ballpark, principal owner Stuart Sternberg told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. While the organization has still been talking with Tampa officials about the possibility of building a long-awaited new stadium in that city, Sternberg said “we’ve been focused on” remaining in St. Petersburg, and a proposed plan that would see the Rays’ new home built near the current site of Tropicana Field.

The stadium would be the centerpiece of a major redevelopment project similar to other recent “ballpark villages” in Atlanta and St. Louis, as the Rays’ new yard would be surrounded by new housing, shopping centers, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Nothing has been finalized about either the ballpark project or the larger revitalization project, as Sternberg said “We’re working at both and neither one is easy….The county and the city are really working beautifully together, so that’s part of the reason why we’re all optimistic.”

While the Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field runs through the 2027 season, there has long been a push from ownership to figure out a new ballpark situation sooner rather than later, with the Rays at one point even exploring an idea to split their home schedule between Tampa and Montreal (in new ballparks in both cities). However, it does now appear that at least some momentum seems to be building towards the Rays staying in St. Pete, which must count as some relief to fans after years of speculation about a possible move.

With the Athletics now on the verge of officially moving from Oakland to Las Vegas, Sternberg commented on the situation, saying that “It’s in all of baseball’s interests to have the A’s and any baseball team on the firmest footing possible.” By this same logic, Sternberg supported commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision to waive a relocation fee, noting that to help a team regain stability, it doesn’t fit for the league “to say ‘Look, we’re going to let you move and your revenues are going to go up but we’re going to take them all from you.’ ”

In some Rays news on the field, the team will get some reinforcements back from the injured list starting tomorrow, when Zach Eflin will activated to start Sunday’s game against the White Sox. Eflin’s placement on the 15-day IL was retroactive to April 8, but since his bout of back tightness proved to be minor, he’ll be able to return on the first day of eligibility. After signing a three-year, $40MM free agent deal with Tampa Bay during the offseason, Eflin looked sharp in his first two starts with his new club, posting a 3.27 ERA with 12 strikeouts and one walk over 11 innings.

Jose Siri was also off to an impressive start before beginning an IL stint on April 8, as a hamstring strain put the center fielder on the sidelines. Manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times) that Siri will be re-evaluated following a two-game minor league rehab assignment. Siri played the first of those two games yesterday as a DH with Triple-A Durham, and he’ll take today off before playing center field for Durham in Sunday’s contest.

If all goes well, Siri might be activated as early as Monday, when the Rays begin a series against Houston. By coincidence, the Astros were also the team who dealt Siri to Tampa last year at the trade deadline, and after showing his mettle as a defender, Siri has now started to break out at the plate. He hit .318/.333/.682 with two home runs in his first 24 plate appearances before suffering his hamstring strain.

Ryan Thompson also looks to be facing a “very minimal” IL stint, Cash said, which could mean the reliever might return from the 15-day injured list on April 28, when first eligible. Thompson suffered a right lat strain after posting a 3.18 ERA over his first 5 2/3 innings of work out of Tampa’s bullpen.

The timeline isn’t as clear for Tyler Glasnow, who was given an initial window of 6-to-8 weeks when he first suffered his Grade 2 oblique strain at the end of February. Cash said Glasnow was slated for two innings of live batting practice in extended Spring Training work on Monday, which comes on the heels of a pair of bullpen sessions earlier this month. The Rays are aiming for Glasnow to be ready by around the middle of May, once he is fully ramped up after missing such a big chunk of Spring Training work.

Rays Place Jose Siri On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | April 8, 2023 at 1:58pm CDT

The Rays have placed outfielder Jose Siri on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. Utilityman Vidal Brujan has been called up from Triple-A to take Siri’s place on the active roster.

Siri is one of several players off to a great start for the unbeaten Rays. The 24-year-old Siri has blasted out of the gates with a .318/.333/.682 slash line and two home runs in his first 24 plate appearances of the season, while starting six of seven games as Tampa Bay’s apparent top choice in center field. There wasn’t much doubt that Siri’s glovework was worthy of a regular lineup spot, though his breakout (albeit in a small sample size) is extremely promising to his overall ceiling.

Siri had shown some intriguing hitting potential in his minor league days with the Reds and Astros, but after an impressive 49-PA stretch in his 2021 MLB debut season, Siri hit a far more modest .213/.268/.339 over 325 combined PA with Houston and Tampa in 2022. The Rays acquired Siri as part of the three-team swap last trade deadline that saw Trey Mancini head from the Orioles to the Astros.

Not much has gone wrong for the Rays in amassing their 7-0 record, but the club is certainly hope that Siri can be back on the field sooner rather than later. As usual, Tampa Bay has depth options in place to fill in for injured players, as any of Manuel Margot, Josh Lowe, or Brujan are likely to see time in center field until Siri returns. Brujan isn’t far removed from being a regular on top-100 prospect lists, though he has batted only .150/.207/.231 in 188 PA since making his big league debut in 2021.

Astros Acquire Trey Mancini In Three-Team Trade; Jose Siri Dealt From Houston To Rays

By Anthony Franco | August 1, 2022 at 5:10pm CDT

The Astros have landed the offensive upgrade they’d been seeking, acquiring first baseman Trey Mancini from the Orioles as part of a three-team trade. Center fielder José Siri goes from Houston to Tampa Bay, while a trio of pitching prospects also find themselves on the move. The Rays send Seth Johnson to the Orioles, while they move Jayden Murray to Houston. Chayce McDermott heads from the Astros to the Orioles to complete the deal. In order to clear a spot for Siri on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay designated outfielder Brett Phillips for assignment.

Mancini has a .268/.347/.404 line through 401 plate appearances. He’s connected on just ten home runs, a bit shy of the 21-plus homer pace he posted in every healthy season between 2017-21. Despite the decreased power production, Mancini has an above-average 10% barrel rate and 89.6 MPH average exit velocity that are each in line with his career marks. It seems Mancini’s dip in longballs is more tied to changes in the ball and the Orioles’ deepening of the left field wall than an indication his power has truly taken a step back.

The right-handed hitting Mancini also has a typically solid blend of strikeouts and walks. He’s fanning in 21.4% of his plate appearances, a bit less than league average and among the lower rates of his career. Mancini’s a well-rounded bat who’ll presumably cut into the playing time of Yuli Gurriel. The reigning AL batting champion is a longtime member of the Houston organization, but he has an underwhelming .243/.293/.392 line on the year. Houston has reportedly been on the hunt for offensive upgrades who could supplant Gurriel on the depth chart. While the club was previously tied to Josh Bell and Willson Contreras, they’ve pivoted to Mancini.

It’s another addition to a Houston club that already boasts one of the league’s top lineups. The Astros enter play Monday with a .240/.318/.425 line that translates to offense 13 percentage points better than league average, according to wRC+. Houston’s raw run-scoring total is a bit less impressive, though, as the club ranks 12th in the majors with 461 runs scored.

Mancini has a bit of experience in the corner outfield, but he’s primarily an option at first base or designated hitter. The Astros have Kyle Tucker as their primary right fielder, but left fielder Michael Brantley has been on the injured list for over a month and still has an uncertain recovery timeline. Yordan Álvarez has designated hitter accounted for, leaving first base and perhaps some occasional fill-in work in left as the clearest path to playing time.

For the past few months, Mancini has looked like one of the better bats who might be available this summer. The Orioles, though, have gone 16-7 this month to pull themselves back to .500. Baltimore is within three games of the final Wild Card spot in the American League, seemingly at least raising some questions about how motivated they’d be to deal players off the MLB roster. At least in the case of Mancini, they remain committed to their goal of bolstering the roster for 2023 and beyond, but it’s a move that’s likely to disappoint at least some segment of the clubhouse and fanbase.

Mancini had been a career-long member of the organization, one of the few productive big leaguers to remain on the MLB roster throughout the franchise’s recent rebuild. He’s long been well-regarded in the community, and that’s become particularly true in the wake of his overcoming colon cancer in 2020. He was deservedly named the AL’s Comeback Player of the Year last season.

The 30-year-old Mancini is likely to be a free agent at season’s end, making him a rental pickup for the Astros. He’s playing this year on a $7.5MM salary, around $2.72MM of which is still to be paid out. Houston will assume that tab as well as the $250K buyout on a $10MM mutual option for 2023. (Mutual options are almost never exercised by both player and team, and Mancini seems likely to forego his end in search of a multi-year pact this winter).

Despite being at least vaguely in playoff contention, the Orioles will continue to look towards the future. They’ll add a pair of young arms, neither of whom is going to impact the club in 2022. Johnson is the more well-known of the duo. The 40th overall pick in the 2019 draft, he’s a former college shortstop who has flashed impressive stuff and dominated low level hitters in his limited time on the mound. Baseball America recently ranked him as the #9 prospect in a deep Rays system, praising his mid-upper 90s fastball and a slider that sometimes earns plus-plus grades (a 70 on the 20-80 scale) from evaluators. An excellent athlete, the 23-year-old is generally regarded as a possible mid-rotation starter, although he’s yet to reach Double-A.

Johnson pitched to a 2.88 ERA in 93 2/3 innings at Low-A last season, striking out an excellent 29% of opposing hitters. He’d fanned an even better 37.3% of batters faced through his first seven starts at High-A this year, but he’s been out since May 20 with an injury that’ll reportedly require Tommy John surgery. Johnson will have to be added to the 40-man roster at the end of this season or be exposed to the Rule 5 draft. As he faces an extended injury absence and not especially close to big league readiness, devoting him an offseason 40-man spot could be easier for the O’s than it’d have been a Tampa Bay team with plenty of upper level depth.

The Rays also part ways with Murray, whom they selected in the 23rd round of the 2019 draft. A Dixie State product, the right-hander has made a brief cameo at Triple-A but spent the bulk of the season at Double-A Montgomery. He owns a 2.83 ERA over 16 appearances (15 starts), offsetting a modest 20.5% strikeout rate with a tiny 7.3% walk percentage while inducing grounders on almost half the balls in play against him. He adds a volume strike-thrower and possible back-of-the-rotation arm to the upper levels of the Houston farm system; he’ll have to be added to the 40-man roster this winter or made available in the Rule 5 draft.

In exchange, Tampa Bay bolsters its immediate outfield mix. Siri, 27, is a former top Reds prospect who stalled out towards the end of his time in the Cincinnati system. He’s appeared in the majors in each of the past two seasons since signing a minor league deal with Houston over the 2020-21 offseason. Siri raked in a 21-game stint late last year, but he’s struggled over a longer follow-up this season. Through 196 cumulative plate appearances, he’s hitting .210/.265/.381 with a massive 33.2% strikeout rate as a big leaguer.

At the same time, it’s easy to see why he’s of interest to a Rays team that — even after picking up David Peralta over the weekend — is fairly short-handed in the outfield after losing Manuel Margot, Kevin Kiermaier and Harold Ramírez to injury. Siri has big power and speed, and he’s obliterated Triple-A pitching over 16 games this year. He hit .318/.369/.552 through 397 plate appearances at the minors top level last year, and he can be optioned to Triple-A Durham for the remainder of this season.

That isn’t the case for Phillips, who is out of minor league options. A gifted defensive outfielder, Phillips appeared in 75 games for Tampa Bay this season across all three spots on the grass. He’s hitting just .147/.225/.250 with a strikeout rate north of 40%, though, and the struggles at the plate became too much for the Tampa Bay front office to ignore. The Rays can deal Phillips over the next day, or he’ll find himself on waivers. He’s making $1.4MM, but his power, defense and affable clubhouse presence could lead another team to take a shot on him as a depth option.

McDermott, meanwhile, is the final piece of the deal from the Orioles perspective. A fourth-round pick out of Ball State last year, the 23-year-old righty has spent the season in High-A. He has a huge 35.4% strikeout rate through 72 innings there, starting 10 of his 19 outings. That has come with an alarming 13.4% walk rate, though. Baseball America recently named him the #6 prospect in a thin Houston farm system, praising his 92-96 MPH fastball and a pair of possible above-average breaking pitches in his slider and curveball.

Dan Connolly of the Athletic first reported Mancini was being traded to Houston. Roch Kutbako of MASNsports.com reported the Orioles were receiving multiple pitching prospects. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic was first to report it was a three-team trade that would send Siri to Tampa Bay; Rosenthal was also first to report Johnson going to the Orioles. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the Rays’ designation of Phillips for assignment. Jeff Passan of ESPN was first with Baltimore’s acquisition of McDermott.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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