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Nicky Lopez Elects Free Agency

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Infielder Nicky Lopez went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated for assignment by the Cubs, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Chicago sent him outright to Triple-A Iowa, but Lopez has instead elected free agency. He can now sign with any team.

The 30-year-old Lopez is a versatile, glove-first utility player who’s seen considerable time at shortstop, second base and third base in his professional career. He grades as a plus defender at second base and third base, in particular, and is a roughly average runner by measure of Statcast’s sprint speed metric.

Lopez had a nice season at the plate with the 2021 Royals when he hit .300/.365/.378 in 565 plate appearances, but that’s been a clear outlier in an otherwise lackluster career with the bat. Since that time, the 2016 fifth-rounder (Royals) has mustered a meager .229/.300/.283 batting line (66 wRC+, or 34% worse than league-average offensive output). He’s played a combined 19 games between the Cubs and Angels this season but produced just one hit in 24 at-bats. He’s only struck out four times and has also drawn four walks.

Lopez isn’t going to return to that 2021 peak, but he can plausibly be expected to provide more with the bat than he’s managed in 2025’s small sample thus far. A team looking for some depth at any of the three infield positions left of first base — particularly some defensive-minded help — figures to give him a look before long.

The Cubs scooped him up on a major league deal and plugged him right onto the big league roster last time he was a free agent. It’s possible another team will do the same in the coming days, but signed a minor league deal in the offseason and could need to bide his time in Triple-A with whatever club takes a flier on him next. In 91 career games at the top minor league level, he’s a .304/.399/.444 hitter with more walks (50) than strikeouts (35) through 407 plate appearances.

Giants Sign Andrew Knizner To Minor League Deal

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The Giants signed catcher Andrew Knizner to a minor league contract. The deal was first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He has already made his organizational debut, collecting hits in each of his first three at-bats with Triple-A Sacramento.

Knizner is picking up where he’d left off as a member of the Nationals organization. The 30-year-old had raked at a .382/.516/.500 clip with more walks than strikeouts over 23 games for their top affiliate. Washington nevertheless granted him his release over the weekend. Knizner was set to trigger an opt-out. The Nats preferred to stick with their current catching tandem of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams rather than override the opt-out by calling him up.

While Knizner obviously isn’t going to keep up this pace, he’s a productive minor league hitter. He carried a .287/.379/.435 batting line over parts of four Triple-A seasons into play tonight. He has had a far tougher time against MLB pitching. Knizner is a career .210/.279/.317 hitter in almost 900 plate appearances at the big league level. He spent parts of five seasons backing up Yadier Molina and Willson Contreras, respectively, in St. Louis.

Knizner moved to Texas on a $1.825MM free agent deal heading into 2024. He spent most of the year as Jonah Heim’s backup, but he didn’t perform especially well. Knizner hit .167/.183/.211 over 35 games. Texas acquired Carson Kelly at the deadline and designated Knizner for assignment not long after. He landed with the Diamondbacks via waiver claim. His time in Arizona consisted of 22 Triple-A games. The Snakes outrighted him off their 40-man roster without getting him into a big league contest.

Patrick Bailey is entrenched as the starting catcher in San Francisco. Sam Huff hasn’t provided much in sporadic playing time as the backup. He’s hitting .200 with one homer and 22 strikeouts in 49 plate appearances. Knizner joins Max Stassi and Logan Porter as non-roster depth at Triple-A. Knizner has been the most productive of that trio in the minors this year, potentially positioning him as the top challenger if the Giants decide to move on from the out-of-options Huff at any point.

Tayler Scott Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Tayler Scott, who was designated for assignment by the Astros a week ago, has cleared waivers but has rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency. He has that right as a player with a previous career outright. Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle was among those to relay the news.

Scott, 33 in June, had the best season of his career in 2024. Prior to that, he was a journeyman, spending years bouncing around to various affiliated clubs, indy ball teams and even spent a season in Japan. He signed a minor league deal with the Astros going into 2024 and made the Opening Day roster. He then posted a 2.23 earned run average across 68 2/3 innings on the year. His 12.4% walk rate wasn’t great but he managed to punch out 25.2% of opponents.

There was probably a bit of luck in there. His .230 batting average on balls in play and 84.9% strand rate were both on the fortunate side. Still, his 4.13 FIP and 4.04 SIERA suggested he could be a serviceable big league arm even if the baseball gods stopped treating him so nicely.

He wasn’t able to carry that forward into 2025. The Astros kept him around but he posted a 5.40 ERA in 16 2/3 innings. His fortune flipped, as his .313 BABIP and 65.2% strand rate this year have been on the unlucky side. He also hasn’t done himself any favors with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 15.4% walk rate.

That performance understandably nudged him off the Astros’ roster. He is out of options, so they had little choice but to designate him for assignment. The fact that he cleared waivers suggests that no other club wanted to give him a roster spot either.

Based on his solid performance last year, he should be able to get a minor league deal somewhere. That could be a reunion with the Astros but he’ll also have the chance to explore opportunities with the 29 other clubs.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Shea, Imagn Images

Angels, Sammy Peralta Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Sammy Peralta, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’d been pitching with El Aguila de Veracruz in the Mexican League and will head to Triple-A Salt Lake for the time being. He’s represented by Premier Talent Sports & Entertainment.

Peralta, 27, has spent the majority of his career in the White Sox system. He reached the majors in both 2023 and 2024, logging a combined 35 innings of 4.37 ERA ball with a 17.9% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 41.7% ground-ball rate. The soft-tossing southpaw has averaged just 89.3 mph on his four-seamer in the majors and complements that pitch with a slider sitting just north of 78 mph and a changeup that averages just under 82 mph.

Peralta opened the 2025 season with a strong showing in an intensely hitter-friendly setting in Mexico — interestingly doing so as a starting pitcher. The 6’2″ lefty has spent nearly his entire professional career as a reliever but started four games with Veracruz and notched a 2.53 ERA with a 22-to-2 K/BB ratio in 21 1/3 innings (26.5 K%, 2.4 BB%). All 25 of Peralta’s major league appearances have been relief outings, and only nine of his 150 minor league games have been starts. He’d never pitched more than four innings in a single professional appearance prior to signing in Mexico.

It’s not yet clear which role Peralta will hold with the Halos. I’m told he stretched out in Mexico not necessarily due to a preference to move to a starting role but just to expand his versatility. Angels starters rank 19th in the majors with a 3.99 ERA, though both Jack Kochanowicz (4.71 ERA) and Kyle Hendricks (5.32 ERA) have struggled in nine starts apiece. The Angels’ bullpen is dead last in the majors with a 6.82 ERA, and they recently lost Ben Joyce to season-ending shoulder surgery. Peralta posted a 4.44 ERA in 50 2/3 relief innings at the Triple-A level in 2025 and carries a career 4.80 earned run average, 21.1% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate in 125 2/3 innings at the top minor league level.

Nationals Recall Robert Hassell III For MLB Debut, Place Dylan Crews On Injured List

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2:34pm: The Nationals have formally recalled Hassell from Triple-A Rochester and placed Crews on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain.

May 21, 8:20am: Nats GM Mike Rizzo confirmed in an appearance on the Sports Junkies radio show this morning that Hassell is being promoted today (hat tip to TalkNats). He did not specify whether Crews or Young would be placed on the injured list.

May 20:  The Nationals are recalling outfielder Robert Hassell III for his MLB debut, as first reported by Chase Ford of MiLB Central. The Nats are dealing with a pair of injuries in their outfield. Jacob Young has been day-to-day with shoulder soreness since crashing into a wall on Saturday. More alarmingly, Dylan Crews exited tonight’s win over Atlanta with left side discomfort after a swing. Manager Dave Martinez said postgame that Crews would go for imaging tomorrow (via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com).

Hassell becomes the fourth young player of the 2022 Juan Soto trade to suit up for the Nats. James Wood, MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams all look like foundational pieces. (Veteran first baseman Luke Voit also played in 53 games down the stretch that year.) MLBTR’s Steve Adams looked back at the massive haul in a post for Front Office subscribers earlier this month.

Hassell was the #8 overall pick out of high school in 2020. He was batting .299 in High-A during his second full minor league season when he was traded. The 23-year-old’s prospect stock has dropped over the past few years. Hassell posted an OPS below .650 in consecutive seasons in 2023-24. He hit below .250 in each year with single-digit home run totals. He still ranked 12th among Washington prospects at Baseball America over the winter, but he’d been as high as #2 in the organization immediately after the trade.

Hassell is hitting .277/.327/.384 through 171 plate appearances this season with Triple-A Rochester. It’s his highest batting average since his 2021 season in the low minors, but there’s still an overall lack of impact. Hassell has four homers with a 7% walk rate. The average International League hitter owns a .251/.340/.402 batting line. Hassell is below that in both on-base percentage and slugging. To his credit, he has heated up since the calendar flipped to May. The lefty hitter has mashed at a .339/.381/.559 clip this month after putting up a .242/.296/.286 line through the end of April.

That hot streak combined with the Nats’ outfield injuries to get Hassell his first big league call. He’s already on the 40-man roster, as the Nats selected his contract last November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’s the only center fielder who is on the 40-man and on optional assignment, making him a logical choice to come up. The Nats are holding out hope that Young will avoid the injured list, but a Crews IL stay seems likely.

Dodgers Release Austin Barnes

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The Dodgers have released catcher Austin Barnes, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll be free to sign a contract with any club once he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already done so.

This was the most likely outcome when Barnes was designated for assignment last week as the Dodgers chose to promote Dalton Rushing to the majors. Barnes is making a $3.5MM salary this year. It was unlikely that another club would claim him off waivers and take that on as he’s hitting .214/.233/.286 this season. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency. The Dodgers are skipping that formality and sending Barnes to the open market more directly.

As a free agent, he should garner more interest. The Dodgers remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary. Any other club could sign him and would only owe him the prorated version of the major league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Dodgers pay.

Barnes has never been a superstar but has been able to carve out a career of more than a decade as a solid big leaguer. The Dodgers sent him to the plate 1,757 times from 2015 to the present season. He hit 35 home runs in that time while drawing walks at a solid 11.2% clip and only striking out at a 22.3% pace. His .223/.322/.338 slash line translates to a wRC+ of 85. That indicates he has been 15% below league average at the plate overall. However, catchers usually come in about 10% below the league-wide par, so Barnes’ production has been pretty decent for a backup at that position.

Defensively, the marks have been strong. He has been credited with 33 Defensive Runs Saved in his career overall. Outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have graded him as a strong framer and blocker behind the plate. He also appeared to have a strong reputation in the clubhouse for his game-planning and work with pitchers in general, particularly Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers have clearly been fond of Barnes. He was set to reach free agency after the 2022 season but they signed him to an extension that August. That deal paid him $7MM over 2023 and 2024 with a $3.5MM club option for 2025. They triggered that option back in November.

But as mentioned, his production tailed off this year as Rushing’s ascent could no longer be ignored, which led to Barnes getting bumped off the roster. Some other club in need of catching depth is sure to be intrigued by Barnes, given his overall track record and low acquisition cost. It’s also possible that he and the Dodgers decide to reunite on a minor league deal, though he’ll have a chance to scour the market for other options.

If he gets a major league deal elsewhere, he will suit up for a team other than the Dodgers for the first time. He was drafted by the Marlins but was traded to the Dodgers as a minor leaguer in December of 2014 and has been in the Dodger organization until this week.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

Mariners Designate Casey Lawrence For Assignment, Select Jesse Hahn

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The Mariners announced that they have designated right-hander Casey Lawrence for assignment. Fellow righty Jesse Hahn has been selected to the roster in a corresponding move. Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times reported the moves prior to the official announcement.

MLBTR readers should not be surprised to see Lawrence bumped off the roster again. The Mariners selected his contract yesterday, the fourth time this year they have done so. In each instance, Lawrence pitched in a game or two before being designated for assignment. The first two resulted in him clearing waivers, electing free agency and re-signing with the M’s on a new minor league deal. The third time they put him on waivers, the Blue Jays claimed him. That club also used him once before putting giving him the DFA treatment. That led Lawrence back to the Mariners on yet another minor league deal.

Yesterday, Lawrence served as the bulk pitcher in a bullpen game, which was necessary due to rotation injuries. The M’s have had George Kirby and Logan Gilbert on the injured list for a while and Bryce Miller recently joined them. That leaves them with a four-man rotation core of Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock.

Yesterday, Casey Legumina officially started the game but went just one inning as an opener. Lawrence then came in and tossed five innings, allowing one earned run. That was enough for a tough-luck loss as the M’s fell to the White Sox 1-0.

Based on the circumstances, it always seemed likely that Lawrence would be bumped off the roster yet again and that has indeed come to pass. Per Condotta, Kirby will be reinstated from the IL to start tomorrow’s game, bringing the M’s back to a five-man rotation.

Lawrence will be placed on waivers again in the coming days. Based on recent history, it’s fair to assume that he will clear and then return to the M’s on another minor league deal. Though it’s also possible that some club in need of a fresh arm puts in a claim, as the Jays did a few weeks back. After yesterday’s outing, Lawrence now has a 4.08 earned run average in 17 2/3 innings on the year. He has a career ERA of 6.42 in 141 2/3 innings spread over five seasons.

Hahn, 35, gets a roster spot for now. In a similar situation to Lawrence, he had his contract selected earlier this year but made just two appearances before being designated for assignment. He logged four scoreless innings in those appearances before getting the DFA treatment. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and re-signed with the M’s on another minor league deal. Shortly after re-signing, he landed on the minor league injured list but he has evidently returned to health. He’s made four scoreless Triple-A appearances in the past two weeks.

The M’s will need to open an active roster spot for Kirby’s activation tomorrow. Perhaps Hahn is slated for a short stay but they could also opt to send down Troy Taylor, who has options and is struggling, with a 12.15 ERA so far.

Hahn has a 4.17 career ERA in 315 1/3 big league innings but this is his first season with major league work since 2021. A shoulder injury cost him the 2022 and 2023 seasons and then he was stuck in the minors last year. As mentioned, he’s been putting up zeroes so far in 2025 but in a small sample.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Owen Miller Elects Free Agency

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Infielder Owen Miller, who was recently designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A by the Rockies, has rejected that outright assignment in favor of free agency, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.

Colorado originally acquired the now-28-year-old Miller from the Brewers in exchange for cash back in November. Milwaukee had designated him for assignment and passed him through outright waivers last summer, but the Rox selected him back to the majors in April. Miller went 2-for-14 with a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch during 17 plate appearances with Colorado before being designated for assignment again. Because of that prior outright, he had the option to elect free agency upon clearing waivers this time around.

Miller opened the 2025 season with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque. He tallied 90 plate appearances and batted .244/.322/.372 with two homers, two steals, a 10% walk rate and a 15.6% strikeout rate. It’s the fourth season in which Miller has seen time at Triple-A, where he’s a combined .279/.353/.427 batter in 793 plate appearances.

Miller has also seen major league time in five seasons now, previously suiting up for a pair of seasons with the Brewers and another two with the Guardians. He’s picked up 1032 plate appearances and hit .238/.287/.342 with 15 home runs, 52 doubles, a triple, 18 steals (in 20 tries), a 5.8% walk rate and a 21.3 strikeout rate.

Defensively, Miller is something of a jack-of-all-trades. He’s not necessarily proficient at any one position, but he’s recorded more than 1100 innings at each of shortstop, first base and second base, in addition to 815 innings at third base. He’s seen more sparse time in the outfield, logging a combined 204 innings across all three positions. Miller hadn’t played shortstop since 2021 until this season, but the Rockies gave him four games there in Triple-A this season — one of seven positions he played while in their system.

Miller will take that versatile defensive skill set and solid Triple-A track record back to the open market and search for a new opportunity with a club that could use a right-handed bat and/or some depth at multiple positions.

White Sox Release Omar Narvaez

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The White Sox released catcher Omar Narváez from his minor league deal, according to an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate. He’d signed one month ago, his second non-roster contract of the year with the Sox.

Narváez has played in 15 games for Triple-A Charlotte, where he’d paired with top prospect Kyle Teel. The veteran hit .218/.317/.345 with a pair of homers in 63 plate appearances. Narváez had a brief stint on the big league roster immediately after Korey Lee went down with an ankle sprain. He only appeared in four games before the team pivoted to prospect Edgar Quero. Narváez was waived, elected free agency, then returned on the aforementioned second minor league deal.

Lee has been on a rehab assignment with Charlotte since May 9. Teams can keep an injured position player on a rehab stint for up to 20 days. The Sox will need to activate him by next week at the latest. They’ll need to decide whether to keep him in Charlotte on an optional assignment or carry him on the MLB roster, likely at the expense of out-of-options backup Matt Thaiss.

They could also option Quero back out, but he’s holding his head above water in his first MLB action (.267/.357/.302 in 98 plate appearances). Keeping him in the majors allows both Quero and Teel to continue developing defensively with the respective lion’s shares of playing time at catcher in MLB and Triple-A.

Narváez figures to look for a minor league opportunity elsewhere. The 33-year-old has appeared in 10 big league seasons. He developed into a solid #1 catcher for the Mariners and Brewers midway through that run, though his production has tanked over the past few seasons. He owns a .201/.278/.286 slash line since the start of 2022.

Phillies Sign Lucas Sims To Minor League Deal

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6:21pm: Philadelphia also added righty Wil Crowe on a minor league contract and assigned him to Double-A Reading, as reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. A former Nationals draftee, Crowe owns a 5.30 ERA over parts of four MLB seasons. He spent last year in Korea with the Kia Tigers, putting up a 3.57 mark with 43 strikeouts across 40 1/3 innings.

6:02pm: The Phillies have signed right-hander Lucas Sims to a minor league deal, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. Gelb adds that Sims will initially report to the Phillies’ pitching lab in Florida. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after that, though it’s unclear how long he’ll be in the lab.

Sims, 31, started the season with the Nationals. He had signed a one-year, $3MM deal with Washington, though it quickly turned sour. He made 18 appearances but logged only 12 1/3 innings, allowing 19 earned runs. He issued 14 walks, a massive 19.4% of batters faced, which doesn’t even tell the whole story. He also hit seven batters in that time and threw three wild pitches. The Nats released him earlier this month.

Presumably, that’s why the Phils will start Sims with a trip to the lab, to try to find out what’s wrong with him. If they can get him back on track, he could be a nice buy-low pickup. From 2019 to 2023, Sims did a lot of good work for the Reds. He tossed 183 1/3 innings over that time. His 12.2% walk rate was certainly high but he offset that somewhat by striking out 31.9% of batters faced.

He’s been in a tough stretch more recently. In 2024, he was largely his old self for a while, posting a 3.57 ERA through 43 appearances with the Reds. But he was traded to the Red Sox at the deadline and immediately floundered. He logged 14 innings for Boston around an IL stint for a lat strain, with a 6.43 ERA. He had a 14.8% strikeout rate and 16.4% walk rate for the Sox. That was a small sample size of work with an injury in the middle, but his struggles carried forward into 2025.

If the Phils can get him back to his 2019-2023 form, he’ll be a low-cost addition to their bullpen. Since the Nats released him, they are on the hook for the rest of his salary for this year. If the Phils call Sims up at any point, they would only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Nats pay.

The Phils are a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and are above the top tier, meaning they face a 110% tax rate on anything they add to the payroll. They also have concerns in their bullpen. Philly relievers have a collective 4.48 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of the league. One of their most effective relievers this year has been José Alvarado, but he just got hit with an 80-game PED suspension.

The club will surely be looking for various ways to bolster the bullpen in the coming months, including with trades as the July 31st deadline approaches. Not many teams are selling this early, so it makes sense to take a flier on a guy like Sims to see what happens.

Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images

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