Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Royber Salinas

Braves Re-Sign Ray Kerr, Royber Salinas To Minor League Deals

By | at

The Braves have re-signed left-hander Ray Kerr and Royber Salinas to minor league deals, according to the transaction trackers on the pair’s profile pages at MLB.com. According to that same source, the Braves have brought left-hander Kolton Ingram into the organization on a minor league deal.

Kerr and Salinas were both non-tendered by the Braves prior to last week’s deadline, but the duo will now return to the organization as non-roster depth. Kerr began his big league career with the Padres and posted solid numbers for San Diego in 2023, with a 4.33 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 27 innings that saw him strike out an excellent 30.3% of opponents. That relatively small sample of success was enough to convince the Braves to trade for him last winter, and the club took on the final year of Matt Carpenter’s underwater contract with San Diego in order to facilitate the deal. Unfortunately, Kerr struggled to a 5.64 ERA in 10 early season appearances before undergoing Tommy John surgery back in June. Now that he’s back with Atlanta, he’ll be able to rehab with the organization as he eyes a possible second-half comeback in 2025.

As for Salinas, he only joined the Braves organization earlier this month after being claimed off waivers from the A’s. It’s not Salinas’s first stint in the organization, however, as he actually signed out of Venezuela with Atlanta as an international amateur. After spending the first years of his pro career with the Braves, Salinas was traded to the A’s as part of the Sean Murphy deal prior to the 2023 season. The right-hander’s two year sojourn to Oakland saw him struggle to establish himself in the upper minors. After struggling to a 5.48 ERA in his first taste of Double-A action last year, he saw improved results (including a 3.68 ERA) in a repeat of the level this year but was torched to the tune of seven runs in 6 1/3 Triple-A frames. Looking ahead to 2025, Salinas figures to serve as non-roster depth for the club’s bullpen, which currently stands to be without A.J. Minter after the lefty hit free agency earlier this month and Joe Jimenez after the right-hander underwent surgery that will cause him to miss at least the majority of the 2025 campaign.

That role of non-roster depth also figures to apply to Ingram, who spent the 2024 season shuffling between four different organizations at the Triple-A level. In 51 2/3 innings of work at the level across the affiliates of the Giants, Mets, Rangers, and Cardinals, Ingram posted a solid 3.66 ERA while striking out 23.7% of opponents. The southpaw received his only big league exposure in 2023 as a member of the Angels. While he had impressed with a 2.95 ERA at the Double- and Triple-A levels that year, he was shelled to the tune of an 8.44 ERA in 5 1/3 frames during his first cup of coffee in the majors. Now more than a year removed from that frustrating debut, Ingram figures to look for an opportunity to break back into the big leagues with Atlanta next season.

Braves Non-Tender Ramón Laureano, Griffin Canning

By | at

The Braves made five non-tenders this evening. Most notably, they parted ways with outfielder Ramón Laureano and recent trade pickup Griffin Canning. Atlanta also dropped lefty reliever Ray Kerr and righties Huascar Ynoa and Royber Salinas.

Laureano caught on with the Braves in May after being released by the Guardians. He had a surprisingly strong finish, hitting .296/.327/.505 with 10 homers across 226 plate appearances. Laureano’s dismal early-season production with Cleveland left his season batting line right around league average: .259/.311/.437 with 11 homers through 309 trips to the plate.

The late-season turnaround was Laureano’s best extended stretch since his 2021 suspension for performance-enhancing drugs while a member of the A’s. It’s fair to wonder if that was more than a small sample mirage. He struck out at an elevated 28.3% clip while walking only 3.5% of the time with the Braves. Laureano has never been an elite contact hitter, but he drew walks more consistently during his best years in Oakland. Atlanta wasn’t sufficiently convinced to retain him at a salary which MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected at $6.1MM.

Canning’s non-tender may come as a bit of a surprise. The Braves just acquired him three weeks ago in a one-for-one swap that sent Jorge Soler to the Angels. That was far more about shedding Soler’s salary than an indication that the Braves valued Canning in particular. The Angels were willing to assume the remaining two years and $26MM on Soler’s contract, which wasn’t a tenable price for an Atlanta team that has Marcell Ozuna locked in at designated hitter.

Indeed, MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted within our Soler writeup that the Braves could cut bait with Canning entirely if they didn’t agree to a deal below his $5.1MM projected salary. Atlanta could’ve viewed the righty as a candidate for a “pre-tender” deal that checks in below his projection so as to avoid a non-tender. Whether the Braves never pursued that or Canning simply didn’t have interest in signing at a discounted rate, the result is the same. He’ll hit free agency, which probably would’ve been the case had he not been traded. The Angels would likely have non-tendered him themselves.

Canning will look elsewhere for a landing spot after struggling to a 5.19 ERA in 32 appearances for the Halos last year. The UCLA product has battled injuries over his five-year career, though he’s intermittently flashed mid-rotation potential. He had a 4.32 ERA with a near-26% strikeout rate in 127 frames a year ago. Canning should be able to find an MLB deal, presumably with a lower base salary than the arbitration projection, now that he’s a free agent.

The other cuts were about clearing roster space rather than shedding salary. Kerr and Salinas have yet to reach arbitration. Ynoa was arb-eligible but projected for a salary barely above the league minimum. Kerr underwent Tommy John surgery in June and will miss the bulk of next season. Ynoa hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2022, while Salinas has yet to make his MLB debut. Atlanta could look to re-sign any of them to minor league deals. They’ll likely try that route with Salinas, in particular, as they just claimed the 23-uyear-old off waivers from the A’s three weeks ago.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24

By | at

The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on National League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

  • The Braves non-tendered outfielder Ramón Laureano, left-hander Ray Kerr, as well as right-handers Griffin Canning, Huascar Ynoa and Royber Salinas, which you can read more about here.
  • The Brewers parted ways with lefty reliever Hoby Milner, who’d been projected at $2.7MM for his final arbitration season. The typically reliable southpaw was tagged for a 4.73 ERA in 64 2/3 innings this year.
  • The Cardinals have non-tendered right-hander Adam Kloffenstein, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (Bluesky link). The righty only just made his major league debut in 2024 and was not yet arb-eligible. He immediately becomes a free agent without being exposed to waivers.
  • The Cubs have non-tendered infielder Nick Madrigal, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). Madrigal has hit .251/.304/.312 for a 76 wRC+ over the last three seasons with the Cubs and was projected for a $1.9MM salary next year. Chicago also announced they non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, which comes as a bit of a surprise after he reached base at a .357 clip this year. Patrick Wisdom, Adbert Alzolay, Brennen Davis and Trey Wingenter — all of whom were designated for assignment earlier this week — were also dropped.
  • The Diamondbacks non-tendered lefty reliever Brandon Hughes, per a club announcement. The 28-year-old southpaw allowed 16 runs over 17 2/3 big league innings this year. He wasn’t eligible for arbitration but would’ve occupied a 40-man roster spot if offered a contract.
  • The Dodgers are non-tendering right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. and left-hander Zach Logue, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (X link). Both pitchers are still in their pre-arbitration years, so this was more about the Dodgers sending them to free agency without exposing them to waivers, as opposed to cost cutting. Perhaps the club will look to re-sign them on minor league deals.
  • The Giants only made two non-tenders, parting with lefty Ethan Small and righty Kai-Wei Teng. Teng had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Small, who was in his pre-arbitration years, spent the season in the minors or on the injured list.
  • The Marlins had zero non-tenders. They offered contracts to everyone on the 40-man roster.
  • The Mets dropped a trio of players from the 40-man roster: relievers Grant Hartwig and Alex Young and outfield prospect Alex Ramirez. Young was the only member of that group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The southpaw pitched well in a depth role, but the Mets didn’t want to keep him around at a $1.4MM projection. Hartwig made four appearances this year, while the 21-year-old Ramirez (a former top prospect) had a .210/.291/.299 showing in Double-A.
  • The Nationals announced that they have non-tendered right-hander Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey, which you can read more about here.
  • The Padres dropped four players from the roster: righties Luis Patino and Logan Gillaspie, outfielder Bryce Johnson and infielder Mason McCoy. Patino, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, was the only member of the group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The other three cuts are simply about roster maintenance. The Padres could try to bring anyone from that group back on minor league deals.
  • The Phillies will not be tendering a contract to outfielder Austin Hays, which MLBTR covered earlier today.
  • The Pirates are expected to non-tender first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, per Alex Stumpf of MLB.com (Bluesky link). They are also non-tendering right-hander Hunter Stratton, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). Joe was projected for a salary of $3.2MM next year and De La Cruz $4MM. Stratton had not yet qualified for arbitration. Joe has been around league average at the plate in his career but doing more damage against lefties. De La Cruz has hit .253/.297/.407 in his career for a wRC+ of 90. Startton had a 3.58 ERA this year but his season was ended by knee surgery, giving him an uncertain path forward.
  • The Reds have non-tendered right-hander Ian Gibaut, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Bluesky link). The righty was projected for a salary of $800K. He spent the vast majority of 2024 on the injured list due to arm trouble and only made two appearances on the season.
  • The Rockies moved on from starter Cal Quantrill and second baseman Brendan Rodgers, which MLBTR covered here.

Braves Claim Royber Salinas

By | at

The Braves announced that they have claimed right-hander Royber Salinas off waivers from the Athletics. The A’s evidently tried to clear a roster spot by passing him through waivers but Atlanta swooped in to grab him.

Salinas, 24 in April, now returns to his original organization. An international signing of Atlanta out of Venezuela, he posted some intriguing results in the lower levels of the club’s system before getting flipped to the A’s as part of the December 2022 trade that sent catcher Sean Murphy to Atlanta.

At the time of that deal, Salinas had just wrapped up a 2022 season that he finished with 109 minor league innings between Single-A and High-A, allowing 3.55 earned runs per nine. His 37.6% strikeout rate was quite strong but he also gave out walks at a high rate of 13.5%.

In 2023, he threw 71 2/3 innings on the farm with a 5.40 ERA. His walk rate improved to 10.2% but his strikeout rate fell to 30.2%. There was surely a bit of bad luck in there, as his 59.7% strand rate was on the unfortunate side and his 4.19 FIP was far better than his ERA.

He was added to the 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He made ten starts this year between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.60 ERA and 25.3% strikeout rate but a big walk rate of 17.2%.

His last start of the year was at the end of May. In July, Martín Gallegos of MLB.com relayed on X that Salinas had undergone season-ending shoulder surgery.

It’s unclear how long it will take the righty to get healthy in the wake of that procedure but Atlanta gets to reunite with a prospect they once signed and are plenty familiar with. Whenever he gets back on the mound, he’ll give the club some optionable rotation depth.

For the A’s, the Murphy trade continues to look like a big whiff for them. Of the five players they received in return, they have already parted ways with Salinas, Freddy Tarnok and Manny Piña. They still have Kyle Muller and Esteury Ruiz but neither inspires much confidence at the moment. Muller is out of options and has a 5.90 ERA while Ruiz is a threat on the bases but has subpar offense thus far.

Athletics Select Three Players To 40-Man Roster

By | at

The Athletics announced that they have selected left-hander Brady Basso, right-hander Royber Salinas and infielder Darell Hernaiz to the 40-man roster. Today is the deadline to add Rule 5 eligible players and therefore prevent them from being selected by other clubs.

Hernaiz, 22, came over to the A’s from the Orioles in the Cole Irvin trade. In his time with the O’s, he had a speed and contact approach but with minimal power, trends that he carried over to his new organization. In 131 games, between Double-A and Triple-A this year, he hit just nine home runs but struck out in just 13.4% of his plate appearances and slashed .321/.386/.456 for a wRC+ of 117. Defensively, he primarily played shortstop but also saw time at second and third base.

Salinas, 23 in April, was one of five players that the A’s acquired in the three-team Sean Murphy trade. He tossed 67 1/3 innings at the Double-A level this year over 18 appearances, 16 starts, with a 5.48 earned run average. However, the underlying numbers were more encouraging than that ERA would indicate, as he struck out 30.9% of batters faced at that level. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but a low 59.9% strand rate perhaps pushed some extra runs across the board, which is why his 4.21 FIP was more than a full run better than his ERA.

Basso, 26, was selected by the A’s in the 16th round of the 2019 draft. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2022 but he got back on the mound in 2023 and had some encouraging results. He tossed 63 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A with a 2.42 ERA over 20 appearances, 17 starts. He struck out 26.3% of batters faced while walking 6.2%.

Baseball America currently ranks Hernaiz as the club’s #9 prospect, with Salinas at #17 while Basso doesn’t crack the top 30. The A’s are perhaps the club furthest from contention, so these players should have a chance to earn their way into major league opportunities if they are healthy and productive in future seasons.

Braves Acquire Sean Murphy, Brewers Acquire William Contreras In Three-Team Trade

By | at

The Braves, Brewers and A’s have agreed to a three-team blockbuster that will see each team get a new catcher with nine players involved in total. The full trade is as follows:

Braves get catcher Sean Murphy, giving up Kyle Muller, Royber Salinas, Justin Yeager, Freddy Tarnok, Manny Piña and William Contreras.

Brewers get William Contreras, Joel Payamps, Justin Yeager, giving up Esteury Ruiz.

A’s get Kyle Muller, Esteury Ruiz, Freddy Tarnok, Royber Salinas and Manny Piña, giving up Sean Murphy and Joel Payamps.

The deal is official, with the clubs all making announcements.

This move finally brings an end to a trade saga that has been going on for about a year now. After the 2021 season, the A’s leaned hard into a rebuild that saw them trade away Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt before Opening Day, with Frankie Montas getting flipped at the 2022 deadline.

Murphy was widely seen as the next to go for a number of reasons. Firstly, he just crossed three years of MLB service time in 2022 and will now be making higher salaries via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected that Murphy will jump to $3.5MM in 2023 with two further bumps before reaching free agency after 2025. Secondly, the A’s received a highly-touted catching prospect from Atlanta in the Olson deal in Shea Langeliers. He had an excellent season in Triple-A and carried himself well in a 40-game debut in the majors. Given all those factors, it seemed more and more likely that the A’s would hand the job over to Langeliers and trade Murphy for improvements elsewhere on the roster.

By taking this path, the A’s are parting with one of the best catchers in the game. The 28-year-old Murphy has 330 games in the big leagues under his belt thus far and has performed well in just about every facet of the game. He’s hit 46 home runs and has a combined batting line of .236/.326/.429. That production leads to a wRC+ of 116, indicating he’s been 16% above the league average hitter and even further ahead of the average catcher, since they generally come in a bit lower than others. He also took a step forward at the plate in 2022, striking out in just 20.3% of his plate appearances after being above 25% in his career prior to that.

Defensively, Murphy gets rave reviews as well. Since the start of 2020, he’s posted 13 Defensive Runs Saved behind the plate, a number that places him in the top 10 in the league. FanGraphs’ framing metric gives him a 19.5 in that timeframe, the third-highest such tally. Those all-around contributions have allowed him to produce 10 wins above replacement in those three seasons, according to FanGraphs, second among all MLB catchers with only J.T. Realmuto ahead of him.

Taking all that into consideration, it’s hardly surprising that Murphy garnered plenty of interest around the league. The Diamondbacks, Astros, Cubs, Guardians, Twins, White Sox, Red Sox, Rays, and Cardinals were some of the teams connected to him at various points in recent months. It was reported about a week ago that the Braves were getting close to acquiring him but president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos shot down those reports, saying that he didn’t anticipate a trade. That was either a bluff or something drastically changed in the past week since Atlanta have now indeed closed the deal. This is now the third huge deal Anthopoulos has negotiated with the A’s, though David Forst has since taken over baseball operations from Billy Beane. He acquired Josh Donaldson when he was working for the Blue Jays and has now nabbed Olson and Murphy for the Braves.

Atlanta always seemed a curious fit for Murphy given that they already had three viable catchers on the roster in Contreras, Piña and Travis d’Arnaud. They have cleared out that logjam and acquired Murphy in one fell swoop by including two of those catchers in the deal. On the surface, it seems that the club was keen to swap out Contreras for Murphy as a way of improving behind the plate. However, since the A’s seem set to give Langeliers a shot, it’s possible they were less interested in Contreras, which necessitated Milwaukee’s involvement.

That’s not to say that Contreras isn’t an exciting young catcher in his own right. It’s just that, as mentioned, Murphy is one of the best in the game. Contreras will now join his older brother Willson Contreras, who recently signed with the Cardinals, in the NL Central. The younger Contreras has gotten into 153 games in his career so far, hitting 28 home runs and producing an overall batting line of .260/.338/.471 for a wRC+ of 121. His defensive work isn’t as highly rated as his bat, but he’s still quite young, turning 25 later this month. Even with subpar defense, he’s produced 2.5 fWAR in his brief career thus far, meaning any developments in that department would make him tremendously valuable. It had been recently reported that the Brewers were interested in catching upgrades, but since the club has been paring back a tight payroll, they never seemed like candidates for a big free agent splash. Instead, they’ve acquired a young backstop who has yet to reach arbitration eligibility and has five years of club control remaining. The club has also added a couple of depth arms in Payamps and Yeager.

For the A’s, it’s been reported that they have been prioritizing MLB-ready talent in their trade talks and they have achieved that here. Muller, 25, has appeared in each of the past two major league seasons, logging 49 innings so far. He has an unimpressive 5.14 ERA in that time, but he’s fared much better in the minors. He’s made 40 Triple-A starts in the past two years and has a 3.40 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. Baseball America recently ranked him the top prospect in Atlanta’s system.

Ruiz has spent most of his career in the Padres’ system but he went to the Brewers in the Josh Hader trade last year. He has some MLB experience, having played in 17 games this year between the two clubs. In 114 minor league games, he hit .332/.447/.526 while stealing 85 bases in 114 games. BA has not yet published their list of top Milwaukee prospects for this offseason, but Ben Badler of BA tweets that Ruiz was going to be in the #8 slot.

Tarnok also has very limited MLB experience, with 2/3 of an inning on the books so far. He threw 106 2/3 innings in the minors this year with a 4.05 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. He ranked #9 on the BA list of top Atlanta prospects. Piña is a 35-year-old veteran who is likely to serve as insurance in case Langeliers struggles or needs some veteran guidance. He signed a two-year, $8MM deal with Atlanta but required season-ending wrist surgery in May. He’ll earn $4.5MM in 2023 with a $4MM club option for 2024 with no buyout.

The one prospect who isn’t likely to help the big league club immediately is Salinas. He turns 22 in April and split the most recent season between Single-A and High-A. He posted a 3.55 ERA over 25 starts with a huge 37.6% strikeout rate but a 13.5% walk rate. Baseball America recently placed him #7 on their list of Atlanta prospects.

The Braves were facing a challenge in the NL East despite having won the division in five straight seasons. The Mets and Phillies have been been spending wildly to upgrade for the coming season. The Mets have added Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, José Quintana and David Robertson, in addition to re-signing Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz. The Phillies have signed Trea Turner, Taijuan Walker and Matt Strahm. The Braves were going to face a challenge in keeping up with that pace since they were nearing the luxury tax. As is his wont, Anthopoulos has turned to the trade market to make his upgrades. The club still has a question mark at shortstop, with Dansby Swanson having departed for free agency. They could always bring him back though they reportedly haven’t been talking much this offseason. After this trade, the club’s CBT figure is at $229MM, per Roster Resource, just shy of the $233MM luxury tax threshold for next year.

For the Brewers, they’ve parted with an outfield prospect they just acquired but have added an exciting young catcher, something they would be challenged to do in free agency with their payroll constraints. For the A’s, they have parted with yet another established major leaguer, adding to the list of quality players they’ve sent out the door. In exchange, they’ve brought in one veteran backstop and four young players that they hope can be a part of forming the next competitive core in Oakland.

Talkin’ Jake of Jomboy Media first reported that the Braves, Brewers and A’s were lining up on a deal, as well as the involvement of Contreras (Twitter links). Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported Murphy going to the Braves, as well as the involvement of Piña and the eventual final deal. Robert Murray of FanSided first mentioned Ruiz and Tarnok (Twitter links). Joel Sherman first mentioned Payamps and Yeager on Twitter. Kiley McDaniel first had Muller’s name on Twitter.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top