Royals Place Cole Ragans On IL With Rotator Cuff Strain
The Royals announced a series of roster moves today. Right-hander Lucas Erceg has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list and righty Jonathan Bowlan has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha. In corresponding moves, right-hander Trevor Richards has been designated for assignment while lefty Cole Ragans has been placed on the 15-day IL due to a left rotator cuff strain, retroactive to June 8th.
The Royals have not yet announced how long they expect Ragans to be out of action but it’s obviously a concern whenever a pitcher’s throwing shoulder is injured. It’s also the second IL stint for Ragans in as many months. A left groin strain sent him to the shelf in mid-May. He just came off the IL recently and started on Thursday. His velocity was down a bit and his results weren’t great but that wasn’t necessarily alarming since it was his first start in three weeks due to the groin injury.
Now it’s possible there’s a more serious issue at play, which could be awful news for the Royals. Ragans had a tremendous breakout last year, posting a 3.14 earned run average over 186 1/3 innings. His ERA has jumped to 5.18 this year, though all signs point to that being bad luck. His 36.4% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate are both improvements over last year’s 29.3% and 8.8% figures. This year’s .382 batting average on balls in play and 62.1% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side, which is why his 2.40 FIP and 2.46 SIERA suggest he’s actually been pitching better than last year.
For the Royals, they started strong but have been in a bit of a skid lately. From May 10th to the present, they have gone 10-17, dropping them out of playoff position. Pulling out of that skid will be a little more difficult without Ragans in the mix.
What will be working in the club’s favor is that they should still have a strong rotation even without Ragans. The club has a collective 3.32 ERA from their starters this year, one of the top five marks in the majors. Kris Bubic, Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and Michael Lorenzen are a fine quartet. Rookie Noah Cameron was recently called up while Ragans and Lugo were both on the IL. He has decent numbers through six starts, although he was just torched by the Yankees in his most recent outing. Kyle Wright is also on a rehab assignment and could rejoin the club shortly. Veteran Rich Hill is also in the system on a minor league deal, though he could opt-out of that deal in a few days.
One thing that will also help the Royals is that their bullpen gets Erceg back. He was dealing with a lower back strain in late May and landed on the IL because of it. He has a 1.96 ERA on the year while working as the primary setup guy to closer Carlos Estévez and can continue building on that performance after a brief rest period.
Richards, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Royals last month and was only added to the roster a few days ago. He tossed three innings over three appearances but allowed four earned runs while recording just two strikeouts. He issued two walks and three wild pitches.
As a veteran with years of experience, Richards can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent, so he’s been bumped off the 40-man entirely. He’ll likely end up on waivers in the coming days and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him clear.
He has had some good results at times in his career but struggled late last year, which is why he had to settle for minor league deals this year. In Triple-A with the Cubs and Royals, he has a 4.19 ERA this year, giving out walks at a 13.3% clip with three wild pitches. After being traded from the Jays to the Twins at last year’s deadline, he walked 11 batters, an 18.6% clip. He also hit another couple of opponents and threw seven wild pitches. He was passed through waivers late in the year and hasn’t gotten on a better track here in 2025.
Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images
Royals Select Trevor Richards
The Royals announced that right-hander Trevor Richards‘ minor league contract has been selected to the 26-man roster. Right-hander Jonathan Bowlan was optioned to Triple-A Omaha in the corresponding move.
It was almost exactly a month ago K.C. signed Richards, shortly after the reliever had been released from a previous minors deal with the Cubs. Since Richards wasn’t called up to the majors during his brief tenure in Wrigleyville, his first appearance with the Royals will mark his season debut, and an eighth straight season of MLB action for the 32-year-old.
It has been some time, however, since Richards has been particularly effective at the big league level. Since Opening Day 2022, Richards has a 4.95 ERA and a 12% walk rate over 202 innings with the Blue Jays and Twins. While Richards managed an impressive 31.4% strikeout rate during the 2022-23 seasons, that statistic plummeted to 22.4% over 65 1/3 frames with Toronto and Minnesota last year.
The struggles carried over into Richards’ minor league performance this season, though he has somewhat righted the ship since joining the Royals organization. Richards had a 7.27 ERA in 8 2/3 innings with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate, but a far more impressive 1.69 ERA in 10 2/3 innings over 10 innings in Omaha. With a 22.4K% and a 10.2BB% rate for the Royals’ top affiliate, Richards isn’t exactly in top form, yet it was enough to get him a look in the Show with Kansas City in need of a fresh arm.
Bowlan pitched 1 1/3 innings in yesterday’s 7-2 Royals loss to the White Sox, and he was charged with five runs (three earned) while allowing four walks and two hits. Richards has often been a multi-inning reliever over his career, so he can eat some innings should circumstances arise this weekend.
Royals Sign Trevor Richards To Minor League Deal
The Royals have signed right-hander Trevor Richards to a minor league deal, according to an announcement from the Omaha Storm Chasers, Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate. The righty has been assigned to Omaha and will give the Royals some non-roster bullpen depth.
Richards, 32 next week, hasn’t been in good form lately. The Twins acquired him from the Blue Jays at last year’s deadline, sending minor league infielder Jay Harry the other way. Richards logged 13 innings for Minnesota but he gave out 11 walks in that time, an awful rate of 18.6% of batters faced. He also hit two opponents and threw seven wild pitches. Less than a month after being acquired, he was designated for assignment and outrighted to the minor leagues.
He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Cubs coming into 2025, which didn’t pan out. He tossed 8 2/3 innings for Triple-A Iowa with a 7.27 earned run average in that small sample. He struck out 29.3% of batters faced but with a 17.1% walk rate. The Cubs released him earlier this week.
The Royals will surely be hoping for a bounce back, as Richards had some success prior to this rough patch. He tossed 201 big league innings over the 2021 to 2023 seasons, mostly with the Jays but also with the Rays and Brewers. His 4.61 ERA in that time wasn’t amazing but he had a huge 31.3% strikeout rate. His 10.9% walk rate was still a bit high but far more acceptable than his recent work.
For the Royals, there’s no harm in adding another arm on a minor league deal. Their bullpen is in good shape this year, with a collective 2.93 ERA, fifth-best in the majors. But pitcher injuries are fairly inevitable, so it’s nice to have some experienced non-roster depth on hand.
Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images
Cubs Release Trevor Richards
The Cubs released reliever Trevor Richards from his minor league deal over the weekend, according to Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. He’d been pitching with Triple-A Iowa.
Richards, who turns 32 later this month, signed with Chicago in January. He pitched five times in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, striking out six while working five innings of two-run ball. He didn’t pitch as well during his seven appearances with Iowa. Richards gave up eight runs (seven earned) through 8 2/3 frames. He fanned 12 but walked seven of 41 opponents (a 17.3% rate).
A fastball-changeup reliever, Richards has spent most of the past four seasons in the big leagues. He posted big strikeout numbers with the Blue Jays between 2021-23, though he also allowed walks and home runs at higher than average rates. Toronto traded Richards to the Twins last summer. He only spent around a month in Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen. Richards walked 11 batters and hit two more while throwing seven wild pitches in 13 innings as a Twin. Minnesota designated him for assignment in late August; he finished the season in Triple-A after clearing outright waivers.
Richards should be able to find another minor league opportunity despite the inconsistent control. He has been durable, topping 60 relief innings in each season between 2021-24. Richards punched out more than 29% of opposing hitters over that stretch, allowing 4.60 earned runs per nine in 266 1/3 cumulative innings.
Cubs, Trevor Richards Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Trevor Richards, reports Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. Richards, a client of Apex Baseball, will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.
The 31-year-old Richards has spent the bulk of the past four seasons with the Blue Jays but was traded to the Twins just prior to the 2024 trade deadline. He posted a 4.55 ERA with a 22.4% strikeout rate and a career-high 12.6% walk rate between Toronto and Minnesota this past season and carries a 4.60 earned run average over the past four seasons.
Richards has posted a combined 29.1% strikeout rate in 266 1/3 innings dating back to 2021, showing a clear ability to miss bats. He’s battled command troubles along the way, however, both in terms of finding the strike zone at all (11.3% walk rate, 29 wild pitches) and in terms of precision when he does put the ball over the plate (1.39 HR/9).
Although Richards is right-handed, he’s been far more effective against lefties than against righties, due in large part to his top secondary offering being a plus changeup. Lefty batters have hit just .220/.315/.371 against Richards in his career, while righties have a more productive .248/.320/.433 slash.
The Cubs have worked to add to their bullpen this offseason but thus far have made primarily marginal acquisitions. Chicago bid aggressively on top closer Tanner Scott — a notable departure from president Jed Hoyer’s aversion to multi-year deals for relievers — but were reportedly the runner-up prior to the Dodgers. The Cubs have signed Caleb Thielbar and acquired Eli Morgan from the Guardians. They’ll both be in the Opening Day bullpen. Other offseason pickups include DFA additions Matt Festa (acquired for cash) and Rob Zastryzny (claimed off waivers). Richards joins a group of non-roster signings also featuring Phil Bickford, Ben Heller and Brooks Kriske.
34 Players Elect Free Agency
As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.
Catchers
- Alex Jackson (Rays)
- Andrew Knapp (Giants)
- Andrew Knizner (D-Backs)
- Reese McGuire (Red Sox)
- Jakson Reetz (Giants)
- Ali Sánchez (Marlins)
- Brian Serven (Blue Jays)
Infielders
- Diego Castillo (Twins)
- José Devers (Marlins)
- Thairo Estrada (Giants)
- Danny Mendick (White Sox)
- Cole Tucker (Angels)
- Jason Vosler (Mariners)
Outfielders
- Billy McKinney (Pirates)
- Cristian Pache (Marlins)
Designated Hitter
- Willie Calhoun (Angels)
Pitchers
- Phil Bickford (Yankees)
- Ty Blach (Rockies)
- Nick Burdi (Yankees)
- John Curtiss (Rockies)
- Kent Emanuel (Marlins)
- Cole Irvin (Twins)
- Casey Kelly (Reds)
- Matt Koch (Rockies)
- Steven Okert (Twins)
- Yohan Ramírez (Red Sox)
- Gerardo Reyes (A’s)
- Trevor Richards (Twins)
- Ryder Ryan (Pirates)
- Kirby Snead (Mariners)
- Touki Toussaint (White Sox)
- Tanner Tully (Yankees)
- Jordan Weems (Nationals)
- Mitch White (Brewers)
Trevor Richards, Caleb Boushley Accept Outright Assignments With Twins
Right-handers Trevor Richards and Caleb Boushley both passed through waivers unclaimed following their recent DFAs by the Twins, tweets Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Either could’ve rejected an outright assignment to the minors, but they’ve accepted assignments to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul.
Richards, 31, was the Twins’ lone pickup at this summer’s trade deadline. The right-hander tossed scoreless outings in seven of his 10 relief appearances as a Twin and posted a respectable, if unspectacular 4.15 ERA in 13 innings overall. However, Richards also walked 11 of the 59 batters he faced following the trade (18.6%), plunked another pair of hitters and unleashed a staggering seven wild pitches in his 13 frames with Minnesota. The command woes were glaring enough that Minnesota opted to put him on waivers.
While Richards could’ve rejected the outright and retained his salary because he has more than five years of major league service, the timing of his DFA might’ve made it hard to latch on with another club. He’s a free agent at season’s end, so non-contending clubs would have little reason to bring him in for just a few weeks. Contending clubs who feel they might be able to get him back on track with a few tweaks on a minor league deal also would’ve likely passed, as even if that proved true, Richards would’ve been ineligible for a new club’s postseason roster. As such, he’ll head to St. Paul and hope to get back on track and pitch his way into a late look with the Twins. Failing that, he’ll become a free agent when the season draws to a close.
Boushley, 30, is a depth arm who inked a minor league deal with Minnesota over the winter and has twice been selected to the big league roster this season. He’s passed through waivers both times and remained with the organization’s top affiliate in St. Paul. Boushley has pitched four innings with the Twins and allowed a pair of runs on six hits and two walks with one strikeout. He’s spent most of the season in the Saints’ rotation, pitching to a 4.97 ERA in 22 starts and 116 innings at the Triple-A level.
Twins Designate Trevor Richards For Assignment
The Twins announced their waiver claim of right-hander Michael Tonkin, which was previously reported. To open a 40-man spot, righty Trevor Richards has been designated for assignment. To take the active spot of Richards, the club has selected the contract of righty Caleb Boushley. To open a 40-man spot for Boushley, righty Joe Ryan has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Richards was the Twins’ lone deadline pickup a month ago, coming over from Toronto in exchange for minor league infielder Jay Harry. The right-hander had scoreless outings in seven of his ten appearances with Minnesota but also had three shakier outings, leading to a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings overall.
That may not seem particularly poor at first glance, but Richards walked a massive 18.6% of his opponents during his time with the Twins and even more incredibly uncorked seven wild pitches during those 13 frames. He also hit two batters. Overall, the lack of command he showed proved too alarming for the team to continue on with the right-hander.
Richards has had some big league success in the past, both as a starter (261 2/3 innings of 4.22 ERA ball in 2018-19) and a reliever (3.50 ERA, 31.1 K% in 64 1/3 innings in 2021). However, even though he’s shown a consistent ability to miss bats and regularly flummoxed lefties with a plus changeup, he’s struggled with command and been far too hittable against fellow righties.
Richards came to the Twins as a rental who’d been struggling with his former team, so the cost of acquisition to acquire him was quite low. Still, the Twins surely hoped for better results, particularly given their lack of other deadline additions. Instead, he’ll give way to Tonkin, who’s back for a second 2024 stint with the team that originally drafted him in the 30th round back in 2008. Richards will now hit waivers and presumably clear, as a team would need to be willing to pay the remaining $358K on his $2.15MM salary in order to place a claim.
As for the 30-year-old Boushley, this’ll be his second stint with the Twins this year as well. He pitched two innings and allowed two runs a few months back, but has spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, where he has a 4.97 ERA in 116 innings. That earned run average is skewed in part by a calamitous nine-run shellacking at the hands of the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate back on July 3, but Boushley has been struggling in general as of late. Even setting aside that nine-run bonanza, he’s been tagged for a 6.55 ERA in his past seven starts with the Saints.
Twins Acquire Trevor Richards
The Twins have acquired right-hander Trevor Richards in a trade with the Blue Jays, as per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes (via X). Minor league infielder Jay Harry is heading to Toronto on the other end of the deal, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi report (X link).
A veteran of seven MLB seasons, Richards has now been traded four times in his career, and came to the Jays along with Bowden Francis in a July 2021 deal that saw Rowdy Tellez swapped to the Brewers. 2021 was also the year that saw Richards fully assume a bullpen role after working mostly as a starter earlier in his career, and Richards has been a long relief option (with the occasional start in a bullpen game) over his stint in Toronto.
Richards’ performance has been inconsistent, as he leaves the Jays with a 4.75 ERA over his 221 2/3 total innings with the team. This season, Richards has a 4.64 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with a subpar 11% walk rate and a 22.5% strikeout rate that is around league average. The latter number is way down from the 31.3K% Richards posted in 2021-23, though his barrel rate is much improved from the previous three seasons.
It should be noted that Richards had a 2.44 ERA as recently as July 3, but he has been torched for 15 runs over his last eight appearances. Richards might’ve had somewhat limited trade value anyway as a rental reliever who isn’t usually used in high-leverage situations, but this rough stretch in the last few weeks certainly didn’t help the Blue Jays’ efforts to move the 31-year-old.
Richards has about $710K remaining on his $2.1MM salary for the 2024 season, making him a pretty inexpensive addition to Minnesota’s relief corps. Recent reports indicated that the Twins don’t have much money to work with for deadline upgrades, as their estimated (as per RosterResource) $128.5MM payroll could represent something closer to the upper limits of what ownership is willing to spend. Concerns over broadcasting revenue have been a big story for the Twins over the last year, resulting in both a pretty quiet offseason and what had been a quiet deadline push — the Twins were the last team to swing a trade within the week.
These financial limitations add another layer of difficulty to the Twins’ plans to upgrade a team that is in possession of an AL wild card berth. For the Jays, their deadline semi-fire sale continues, as Richards joins Yusei Kikuchi, Justin Turner, Yimi Garcia, Danny Jansen, and Nate Pearson as players moved in the last couple of weeks.
Harry was a sixth-round pick for the Twins in the 2023 draft, and he just turned 22 years old within the last couple of weeks. The Penn State product has a .214/.306/.349 slash line over 340 plate appearances for high-A Cedar Rapids this season, playing primarily at shortstop and second base while also getting some time at third base and in all three outfield positions. This versatility might help Harry’s chances of climbing the minor league ladder as a super-utility man, though naturally he’ll need to show a bit more at the plate.
Blue Jays Reportedly Expressing Openness To Moving Rentals
After another tough loss in San Francisco last night, the Blue Jays enter play this evening at 41-50. They’ve dropped nine games behind the Red Sox for the American League’s final postseason spot. Only the Angels, A’s and White Sox have a worse record in the AL.
With less than three weeks until the deadline, time is running out for the Jays to avoid selling. On June 27, GM Ross Atkins called the next few weeks “exceptionally important” in determining the team’s direction. The Jays have gone 5-7 since then.
Unsurprisingly, that looks like it’ll leave the front office to contemplate dealing short-term pieces. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote last night that the Jays have indicated to other teams that they’re willing to move impending free agents. Feinsand suggested that Toronto is still disinterested in dealing players who are under team control beyond this season. Feinsand left open the possibility of Toronto holding onto players if they author a dramatic turnaround in the next couple weeks, but he noted that the Jays “are prepared to sell” if they don’t reverse course quickly. Including tonight, they have 16 games until the deadline.
A reluctance to trade controllable players aligns with Atkins’ prior public comments. The GM said in early June that moving Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Bo Bichette — each of whom are slated for free agency at the end of next season — “just doesn’t make any sense for us.” While Atkins didn’t categorically shoot down the idea of moving any other players, a reluctance to deal Guerrero and Bichette indicates the team expects to rebound in 2025.
Even if the Jays focus trade discussions on rentals, the roster could look very different in a few weeks. Toronto has six impending free agents, each of whom has a realistic chance to go. That group is headlined by Yusei Kikuchi, who slots alongside Jack Flaherty as the top rental starting pitchers who should be available.
Kikuchi is coming off one of the best outings of his career. The lefty set a personal high with 13 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball in San Francisco yesterday. He has allowed an even four earned runs per nine through 101 1/3 innings. Kikuchi has fanned an above-average 26.1% of opponents while cutting his walks to a career-low 5.4% clip. Home runs have always been an issue for the veteran southpaw, particularly against right-handed hitters. Yet Kikuchi is working on a second straight season with an ERA around 4.00 with plus strikeout and walk numbers.
This is the final season of his three-year, $36MM free agent deal. The contract was frontloaded, so Kikuchi is making just $10MM this year. Around $3.28MM would remain at the deadline. That should be affordable for most contenders. Kikuchi would be a realistic qualifying offer candidate if the Jays don’t trade him. If Toronto exceeds the luxury tax threshold, they’d only receive a compensation pick after the fourth round in the 2025 draft if a qualified free agent signs elsewhere.
That’s also a potential factor for Danny Jansen, who is the top impending free agent catcher. Jansen’s free agent and trade appeal looked a lot stronger as recently as a month ago. The righty-hitting backstop carried a .287/.371/.535 batting line into June. He has hit an ill-timed power outage in the past six weeks. Jansen has gone without a homer while running a .122/.241/.162 slash since the end of May. His season line (.217/.315/.377 over 203 plate appearances) is exactly league average, as measured by wRC+.
Despite the slump, the Jays should still get calls on Jansen. There aren’t likely to be many starting caliber catchers available this summer. Jansen has shown that kind of talent throughout his career, though his value has generally been undercut by a lengthy injury history. Even if he’s not currently in top form, Jansen has excellent strike zone discipline with double-digit home run power. He’s a quality receiving catcher but doesn’t have a great arm. The 29-year-old is making $5.2MM in his final arbitration season.
Kevin Kiermaier and Justin Turner are both playing on one-year free agent deals, respectively valued at $10.5MM and $13MM. They’re established veterans who could generate some interest for a bench role on a contender. The Jays would likely need to pay down most of the money to facilitate a trade of either player, though. Kiermaier remains an excellent defensive center fielder but has a career-worst .187/.232/.295 batting line over 181 plate appearances. The 39-year-old Turner is hitting .240/.347/.360 with five homers over 294 trips to the plate. He is working mostly as a designated hitter with sporadic reps at the corner infield spots.
Relievers Yimi García and Trevor Richards are the final two impending free agents. García, who is playing on a $6MM salary, got out to an excellent start to the year. He fired 28 innings of 2.57 ERA ball with a huge 34.6% strikeout rate over 27 appearances. An elbow issue sent him to the injured list in mid-June. García is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo. Keegan Matheson of MLB.com tweets that neck stiffness has delayed him but the Jays are hopeful that García will be ready for reinstatement this weekend.
Richards, who is making just $2.15MM in his last arbitration season, owns a 3.40 earned run average in 47 2/3 frames. The changeup specialist has fanned a quarter of opponents against a 9% walk rate. Richards doesn’t have eye-popping velocity and this year’s 10% swinging strike rate is the lowest of his career. He’s best suited for a middle relief role but should have some appeal on the trade market as an affordable multi-inning arm.
Moving the bulk or all of those players could have significant financial ramifications for the organization. RosterResource estimates the organization’s luxury tax commitments just north of $247MM. Cot’s Baseball Contracts calculates the team’s CBT mark closer to $250MM. Those outside projections put the team $10-13MM above this year’s $237MM base tax threshold. An organization’s competitive balance tax number is calculated at the end of the season.
If the Jays commit to selling, they could get close to or below the tax line. They should be able to offload the prorated portions of Kikuchi’s $12MM and Jansen’s $5.2MM respective CBT numbers. If García is healthy, they could probably find a taker for what remains of his contract. Depending on what portion of the Kiermaier and Turner money another team might be willing to eat, there may be a path to getting their CBT number under $237MM. That would reset the team’s tax bracket and free them from the escalating penalties as a repeat payor if they decided to spend back above the tax line in 2025.
Getting under the CBT marker would be much easier if the Jays were willing to go beyond the rentals. Guerrero, Bichette, Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chad Green are all on notable arbitration or multi-year salaries. Moving anyone from that group would make a return to competitiveness in 2025 more of an uphill battle, of course. It doesn’t seem that’s an avenue the front office is eager to take. It remains to be seen if they’ll more seriously consider that kind of roster overhaul over the coming weeks.