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Pirates Re-Sign Nick Solak To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates brought Nick Solak back on a minor league contract, relays Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. He was briefly a free agent after being placed on waivers this week.

Solak spent a couple weeks on the big league bench after being called up in the middle of May. He went 1-11 with two strikeouts over the four games he played. He started twice at first base and one time in left field. It marked his first MLB action in two years. The Bucs dropped him from the roster when Nick Gonzales returned from an ankle fracture. Solak is out of options, so Pittsburgh needed to run him through waivers to take him off the MLB roster.

While Solak didn’t make an impact in his MLB cameo, the former second-round pick has destroyed Triple-A pitching this year. He’s hitting .393/.452/.625 with six homers across 126 plate appearances with their Indianapolis affiliate. He’s a career .291/.379/.472 hitter over parts of six Triple-A seasons. Solak has never found a great defensive home and has not gotten an extended MLB opportunity since his 2021 season with the Rangers. He’ll try to maintain his blistering early-season pace in the International League to earn another big league look later in the year.

Royals, Justin Dunn Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Royals are in agreement with righty Justin Dunn on a minor league contract, reports Jaylon Thompson of The Kansas City Star. The former first-round pick had been pitching in Triple-A with the White Sox but was released last week.

Dunn signed an offseason minor league deal with Chicago. He had a tough run in Triple-A, allowing a 7.64 ERA across 33 innings. He walked more than 15% of opponents while allowing hard contact on half the batted balls against him. He’d started his first seven appearances before moving to the bullpen. Dunn tossed a scoreless outing in his first relief appearance but gave up seven runs (five earned) over the next 2 1/3 frames and was released.

The 29-year-old last appeared in the majors with Cincinnati in 2022. He battled shoulder problems the following season and was limited to three minor league appearances. That culminated in surgery that cost him the entire ’24 campaign. Dunn has averaged 92.4 MPH in this year’s Triple-A work, which is in line with his velocity from his most recent MLB action. He has 32 big league starts to his name between the Mariners and Reds, posting a 4.44 ERA in 133 2/3 innings.

Astros Sign Omar Narvaez To Minor League Contract

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The Astros signed veteran catcher Omar Narváez to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Sugar Land, the team announced (relayed by Ari Alexander of KPRC 2). The ISE client was granted his release by the White Sox last month.

While the White Sox are in a full rebuild, they had a crowded depth chart behind the plate. Edgar Quero made his MLB debut in April. Fellow top prospect Kyle Teel will do the same tomorrow. Former Astro Korey Lee remains on the Sox’s roster as a defensive specialist. Matt Thaiss, who had operated as the backup catcher early in the season, was traded to Tampa Bay. Teel and Quero are the potential long-term answers for the White Sox, so Narváez was never going to get more than a stopgap run.

The 33-year-old did spend a week on the MLB roster in mid-April. Lee had recently sprained his ankle and the Sox had yet to promote Quero. Narváez went 2-7 with a couple walks in four games before being cut loose. He returned to the organization on a new minor league deal and spent a month in Triple-A. He hit .218/.317/.345 over 15 games.

Narváez has some familiarity with the Astros organization. He signed a minor league deal with Houston last June — a move that came a few weeks after he’d been released by the Mets. He only hit .196 over 42 games in Sugar Land and never received a big league call. Narváez hasn’t hit much at either the MLB or Triple-A levels over the past few seasons, but the Astros evidently value him as a defender and clubhouse presence.

Houston is carrying each of Yainer Diaz, Victor Caratini and Cesar Salazar on the active roster. Narváez is unlikely to get a look unless one or two players from that trio suffers an injury. They didn’t have much in the way of non-roster catching depth in the upper minors, though. Joe Hudson, the only other backstop in the organization with MLB experience, is a 34-year-old who has appeared in 19 big league games and is hitting .129 in Triple-A.

Cooper Hummel Elects Free Agency

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The Orioles yet again announced that outfielder/first baseman Cooper Hummel elected free agency after going unclaimed on outright waivers. He was designated for assignment on Monday when Colton Cowser returned from the injured list.

Hummel had two stints in Baltimore that lasted a combined four days. He signed an MLB deal with the O’s after opting out of a non-roster contract with the Yankees. They designated him for assignment a day later when they needed a third catcher. He cleared waivers and re-signed on a fresh major league deal. Hummel spent three more days on the active roster. He struck out in his only at-bat and played two innings in right field.

It has presumably been a frustrating sequence, but Hummel picked up a little over a week of big league pay between his stint on the active roster and in DFA limbo. He’ll now return to the market and should at least find another minor league deal if no team is willing to plug him directly onto the MLB roster.

The switch-hitting Hummel appeared in 66 MLB contests for the Diamondbacks during his 2022 rookie season. He’s only made 17 big league appearances in the two-plus years since then. A career .159/.254/.274 hitter, he’s shown more offensive ability in the minors. Hummel has a .284/.419/.475 slash line over parts of five Triple-A seasons. He reached base at a .415 clip in 10 games with the Yankees’ affiliate before opting out.

Red Sox Outright Blake Sabol

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The Red Sox have sent utility player Blake Sabol outright to Triple-A Worcester, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago.

Sabol, 27, was acquired from the Giants in January. He had been designated for assignment by that club but some international bonus pool space was sent from Boston to San Francisco in order to add Sabol to the Red Sox’ roster. That gave the Sox some extra depth at various positions, with Sabol capable of playing catcher, first base and the outfield.

Boston started the year with Connor Wong and Carlos Narváez as their big league catching duo, with Sabol optioned to Worcester. Wong suffered a finger fracture a week into April. That got Sabol up to the majors for close to a month while Wong recovered. However, they didn’t put him in the lineup often, as he only got into eight games and was only sent to the plate 18 times. He struck out seven times, a 38.9% clip, and produced a line of .125/.167/.188.

Sabol was once a nice Rule 5 pickup of the Giants. Going into 2023, he was technically plucked from the Pirates by the Reds, but Cincinnati flipped him to San Francisco for cash. He went on to appear in 110 games for the Giants that year, slashing .235/.301/.394 for a wRC+ of 91 while splitting his time between catcher and left field.

It seemed like he had a path to being a useful utility player but it hasn’t quite panned out that way. He spent most of last year on optional assignment, having a fine-but-unexceptional season. He slashed .246/.340/.388 for a wRC+ of 96 at the Triple-A level and was only called up for 11 big league games. In his 25 Triple-A games this year, he has a .193/.304/.341 line while striking out in a third of his trips to the plate.

The 29 other clubs passed on the chance to grab Sabol off waivers. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he doesn’t have the right to reject the outright assignment. He’ll stick with the Sox as non-roster depth and try to earn his way back to the majors.

Narváez and Wong are the only two catchers on the 40-man so Boston is probably happy that Sabol is sticking around as non-roster depth. Yasmani Grandal was in Triple-A on a minor league deal but it seems like he might be retiring.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Braves To Designate Scott Blewett For Assignment

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The Braves are shaking up their bullpen after a heartbreaking loss. David O’Brien of The Athletic reports that the club is going to select right-hander Craig Kimbrel and recall left-hander Dylan Dodd. In corresponding moves, right-hander Daysbel Hernández will land on the 15-day injured list while righty Scott Blewett will be designated for assignment. The Kimbrel move was reported earlier today.

Blewett unfortunately lived up to his name today, leading to a deluge of social media jokes at his expense. Atlanta was leading this afternoon’s game against Arizona 9-3 through seven innings. Blewett was put into the game in the eight and allowed one run, making it 9-4. Atlanta got that run back in the bottom of the eighth, making it 10-4. Blewett was sent back out for the ninth with a six-run lead to protect and three outs to get. He struck out the first batter he faced but the next four reached. With the score having narrowed to 10-7, Atlanta went to closer Raisel Iglesias to get the final two outs. Unfortunately, he allowed Arizona to take an 11-10 lead before getting out of the inning. Atlanta couldn’t score in the bottom of the ninth to stay alive.

It was a heartbreaking loss in what has already been a rough stretch for the club. It was their fourth straight L and they are now 3-11 in their past 14 contests. Their overall record is 27-34, putting them behind all the other National League contenders in the standings. Blewett was charged with five earned runs in an inning and a third in today’s dagger.

Blewett, 29, is out of options. That’s led him to bounce around the league. He started the season with the Twins on a minor league deal and was added to that club’s roster for a few days in April before getting designated for assignment. He was then claimed off waivers by the Orioles, though that club also designated him for assignment a few days later. That led him to Atlanta on a cash deal.

He had a pretty decent run prior to today’s unpleasantness. Between those three clubs, he came into today with 24 innings and a 2.25 earned run average. His 22.8% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate were both around league average while his 58.5% ground ball rate was quite strong. The ERA climbed to 3.91 after today’s game but it’s been a solid season overall.

But since he’s out of options and the club is looking to shake things up by adding Kimbrel, a 40-man roster spot was needed, so Blewett heads into DFA limbo. That can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, meaning Atlanta could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Though he’s out of options, he’s still in his pre-arbitration seasons, meaning he’s cheap. As mentioned, he’s been having a good year, today’s results notwithstanding.

As for Hernández, it’s unclear exactly what his injury is but he departed yesterday’s game and appeared to be in discomfort. More information should be revealed when he is officially placed on the injured list.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Phillies Non-Tender José Rodríguez, Re-Sign Him To Minor League Deal

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5:10 pm: Rodríguez has already agreed to re-sign with Philadelphia on a minor league contract, reports Francys Romero. He’ll be assigned to Low-A for now as he gets back into game shape but will presumably head to Double-A or Triple-A at some point.

4:24pm: Infielder José Rodríguez has been reinstated from the restricted list and non-tendered by the Phillies, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The Phillies had an opening on their 40-man roster and could have optioned Rodríguez to the minors while keeping him on the 40-man. However, Gelb suggests the Phils may want to use that roster spot on a pitcher in the coming days.

Rodríguez was one of four players serving a one-year ban for breaking MLB’s regulations about betting on baseball games. Rodríguez wagered a total of $749 on baseball games while he was playing Double-A ball in the White Sox’ system. Some of his bets included MLB games though he was not on Chicago’s 40-man roster on the time.

Non-tenders are usually reserved for a specific date in the offseason. Any player on a roster in-season was already tendered a contract by his club over the winter or signed as a free agent. However, MLBTR has confirmed that because Rodríguez was on the ineligible list in the offseason, he could not be tendered a contract or non-tendered. That decision had to wait until he was eligible for reinstatement.

Today marks the expiration of the one-year bans on Rodríguez, A’s right-hander Michael Kelly, D-backs lefty Andrew Saalfrank and Padres left-hander Jay Groome. Kelly and Saalfrank were each reinstated by their respective clubs today. Groome and Rodríguez were both non-tendered.

Because Rodríguez is being non-tendered, he won’t have to pass through waivers. He’ll immediately become a free agent. He’s eligible to re-sign with the Phillies on a minor league deal but can also explore opportunities with any team around the league.

Rodríguez has spent most of his career with the White Sox. He was added to that club’s 40-man roster in November of 2022, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. His major league career consists of one game in 2023. He entered as a pinch runner and scored but did not get a plate appearance. He was designated for assignment in April of 2024 and traded to the Phils for cash considerations.

In the minors, he has generally been good for 30-40 steals per year while splitting his time between the three infield spots to the left of first base. He has a batting line of .282/.324/.444 over his minor league career, which translates to a 103 wRC+. He still has one option year remaining.

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Padres Non-Tender Jay Groome

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The Padres plan to reinstate left-hander Jay Groome from the ineligible list and non-tender him today, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Groome was one of four players serving a one-year ban for breaking MLB’s regulations about betting on baseball games. Groome’s bets were placed in 2020-21, when he was not on a 40-man roster. In its official press release at the time, the league noted that Groome wagered a total of $453 over the course of 30 bets — none pertaining to games he played or to games involving the Red Sox (his team at the time).

It’s an oddity of a transaction. Non-tenders are reserved for the offseason; any player on a roster in-season was already tendered a contract by his club over the winter or signed as a free agent. However, MLBTR has confirmed that because Groome was on the ineligible list in the offseason, he could not be tendered a contract or non-tendered. That decision had to wait until he was eligible for reinstatement. Today marks the expiration of the one-year bans on Groome, A’s right-hander Michael Kelly, D-backs lefty Andrew Saalfrank and Phillies infielder José Rodríguez. Groome is out of minor league options and hasn’t pitched in more than a year, making the decision straightforward for San Diego.

Because Groome is being non-tendered, he won’t have to pass through waivers. He’ll immediately become a free agent. He’s eligible to re-sign with the Padres on a minor league deal — not uncommon among non-tendered players, particularly pre-arbitration ones like Groome — but can also explore opportunities with any team around the league.

The now-26-year-old Groome was the 12th overall pick by the Red Sox in the 2016 draft. He was a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport for two years thereafter, despite injuries limiting his time on the mound. Groome wound up opening the 2018 season on the injured list due to a flexor strain, and five weeks later the team announced that he’d require Tommy John surgery. That cost him his entire 2018 season and limited him to just four minor league innings in 2019. The canceled minor league season in 2020 did no favors for the towering 6’6″ left-hander’s development.

By the time the 2021 season rolled around, Groome was nearly five years removed from being drafted but had only 66 professional innings under his belt. He wound up making 21 starts between High-A and Double-A, totaling 97 1/3 innings with a 4.81 ERA, a huge 32.3% strikeout rate and a solid 8.7% walk rate. He struggled considerably with men on base, leading to a 65% strand rate and that bloated ERA, but the bat-missing ability and command were impressive — particularly given the long layoff from pitching on a regular basis.

In 2022, Groome was beginning to look like a potential big league starter again. He piled up 144 innings in the minors, pitching to a combined 3.44 ERA. His 22.8% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate both needed some work, but he was healthy and putting up generally solid results. The Red Sox shipped him to the Padres as part of the trade that brought Eric Hosmer (at league-minimum salary) and prospects Corey Rosier and Max Ferguson to Boston.

Groome fared well down the stretch in ’22 with the Padres’ Triple-A club, but his 2023 season was a nightmare. He managed to make a full slate of 30 starts in Triple-A, but there weren’t many other positive takeaways. Groome was torched for an 8.55 earned run average, walked nearly 17% of his opponents and surrendered an average of 1.67 homers per nine frames. He plunked another four batters and tossed nine wild pitches. A four-seamer that used to sit 92-94 mph tanked and sat at 91 mph on the season, and by measure of Statcast, Groome threw only 42.5% of his pitches on the entire season within the strike zone.

Groome landed on the minor league injured list after pitching just five innings last year. He had not been activated by the time the suspension was announced. The Padres had been granted a fourth option year on Groome due to the injuries and canceled minor league season, but he exhausted that during the 2024 campaign. Because he’s out of minor league options, San Diego would’ve had to carry him on the big league roster or tender him a contract and immediately designate him for assignment upon reinstating him. They’re instead going the non-tender route, perhaps in hope of quickly re-signing to a minor league contract.

Cubs Designate Tyson Miller For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated right-hander Tyson Miller for assignment after reinstating him from the 60-day injured list, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. He had been pitching on a rehab assignment of late but it seems the club didn’t want to add him back to the roster. Since he is out of options, he has been sent into DFA limbo. Their 40-man roster count stays at 40.

Miller, now 29, is a bit of a surprising roster cut. The Cubs acquired him from the Mariners in May of last year, after Seattle had designated him for assignment. But he went on to finish out the year well with the Cubs. Between the two clubs, he finished 2024 with a 2.32 earned run average in 62 innings. He struck out 23% of batters faced and only walked 4.7% of opponents.

He hasn’t yet had a chance to build on that here in 2025. He traveled with the Cubs to Japan but didn’t pitch in the major league portion of the Tokyo Series. He then landed on the IL ahead of domestic Opening Day due to a hip impingement. He was transferred to the 60-day IL in mid-May when Moises Ballesteros was added to the roster.

Miller started a rehab assignment a few weeks ago and has tossed 13 Triple-A innings with a 2.77 ERA. However, his 19% strikeout rate and 15.5% walk rate in that sample are both poor numbers. He’s only been averaging 88.6 miles per hour on his fastball during this rehab, a drop from last year’s 89.6 mph, though that’s perhaps understandable for a guy working back from a long absence.

As mentioned, Miller is out of options. That’s also true for essentially everyone in the Cubs’ bullpen. Of the eight relievers currently on the active roster, Daniel Palencia is the only one who can be optioned to the minors. He has become the club’s closer of late, so he’s not at risk of getting sent down.

Rather than cut anyone currently on the team, the Cubs have decided to cut Miller. He’ll head into DFA limbo, which can last for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cubs could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Based on the success Miller had last year, it’s possible some other club takes a shot on him, presumably one with a less rigid bullpen construction. He’s still cheap, having not yet qualified for arbitration. Though he’s out of options, he can be controlled for the rest of this season and potentially four more if he sticks somewhere.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Cubs To Sign Jake Woodford To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are signing right-hander Jake Woodford to a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Woodford, a client of Excel Sports Management, is heading to Triple-A Iowa and will start for that club tomorrow night.

Woodford, 28, just opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees a few days ago. Prior to opting out, he had logged 39 2/2 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre over seven starts and three long relief appearances. He allowed 4.54 earned runs per nine with a 21.5% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 42.4% ground ball rate.

That wasn’t enough to get called up to the Yankees. They had suffered injuries to starters Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman but guys like Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough have stepped up to stabilize the group.

The Cubs have their own slate of rotation injuries at the moment. Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad are all on the injured list at the moment. Steele required UCL surgery in April and won’t come back this year. That leaves them with a rotation of Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea, Ben Brown and Cade Horton. Boyd is having a good year but is up to 68 2/3 innings. The last time he hit 79 in a season was in 2019. Rea is a swingman who has been thrust into the rotation by the injuries. Horton is a big prospect but has only five big league appearances thus far.

In terms of depth, Chris Flexen was previously in the Triple-A rotation but is now in the big league bullpen. Jordan Wicks is on the 40-man but has a 4.86 for Iowa this year. The Cubs will likely be looking for starting pitching prior to the deadline but adding Woodford gives them an experienced arm to call upon if their rotation suffers another injury in the coming weeks.

He has had some major league success as a swingman in the past, mostly by keeping the ball on the ground. With the Cardinals in 2021 and 2022, he logged 116 innings with a 3.26 ERA. He only punched out 15.4% of opponents but got opponents to hit the ball into the dirt at a 45.6% clip. His ERA spiked to 6.23 in 2023, which pushed him towards journeyman mode. He posted a 7.97 ERA last year between the White Sox and Pirates. Here in 2025, he signed a minor league deal with the Rockies but opted out at the end of spring. That led to his Yankee deal, which he also opted out of.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

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