Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Royals Release Nick Gordon

By | at

The Royals have released infielder/outfielder Nick Gordon, who’d been with their Triple-A affiliate in Omaha, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s free to explore opportunities with other teams.

Gordon, 29, has spent time with the Triple-A affiliates for both the Orioles and Royals already in 2025. Kansas City acquired him from Baltimore in exchange for cash early in the season. He’s tallied 20 games on the whole and turned in a .270/.333/.333 batting line with an 8.7% walk rate and 31.9% strikeout rate in 69 trips to the plate.

Selected with the No. 5 overall pick by the Twins back in 2014, Gordon hasn’t lived up to his prospect status but has seen action in parts of four MLB seasons — including a particularly solid 2022 run with Minnesota (.272/.316/.427 in 443 plate appearances). That solid year has been an outlier in his big league career, however. Gordon carries a lifetime .243/.283/.386 batting line in the majors and hit just .227/.258/.369 in 275 plate appearances with the Marlins last year.

Gordon was originally a shortstop but has greatly expanded his defensive profile as his professional career has progressed. He’s now seen significant time at shortstop, second base and across all three outfield spots. He was near-exclusively an outfielder in Miami last season, logging only 15 innings at second base. Though shortstop was his original position, it’s now generally regarded as his worst; he’s played only 4 1/3 innings there — majors and minors combined — since Opening Day 2023.

Giants Place Tyler Fitzgerald On 10-Day Injured List

By | at

The Giants placed infielder Tyler Fitzgerald on the 10-day injured list earlier today due to a left rib fracture. The club called up infielder Brett Wisely from Triple-A Sacramento to replace Fitzgerald on the active roster.

Fitzgerald, 27, broke out in a big way down the stretch last year in the first run of regular playing time of his career. After becoming an everyday player after the All-Star break, Fitzgerald slashed .281/.333/.519 with ten steals, 15 doubles, and 13 homers in just 255 plate appearances. That impressive combination of power and speed, along with his ability to play solid defense up the middle, was enough to earn him a regular role despite a 31.4% strikeout rate. Fitzgerald played shortstop late last year for the Giants, but has moved to second base thanks to the club’s decision to sign Willy Adames.

So far this year, Fitzgerald’s offense has been a mixed bag. He’s managed to cut his strikeout rate down to just 22.2% in 90 trips to the plate this year while actually slightly increasing his walk rate, though he’s hitting for much less power with a meager 4.8% barrel rate. Overall, he’s hitting .284/.341/.432 (118 wRC+) this year. That’s a solid figure, though it’s elevated by a .356 BABIP. Whether that’s sustainable remains to be seen, but that question will have to wait for at least the time being now that he’s headed for the shelf.

It seems as though Fitzgerald’s initial injury may have happened almost a week ago. It was reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday that Fitzgerald was scratched from the lineup after suffering a chest contusion the day prior, but after sitting for a couple of days he returned to the lineup. That changed this afternoon, as Fitzgerald told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Standard) that he underwent an MRI today that revealed the rib fracture, prompting his placement on the shelf. Fitzgerald suggested that he was feeling the fracture when swinging a bat and as such will be down for a couple of days without baseball activity to rest up.

With that being said, it seems as though Fitzgerald is hoping for a relatively brief absence. The infielder told Shea that he hopes to be back with the Giants after just two weeks, which would be just barely over the minimum stay of ten days on the injured list. Whether Fitzgerald will be able to hit that target or not remains to be seen, of course, but San Francisco would surely love to have him back as quickly as possible amid their efforts to keep the brilliant 19-12 start they’ve managed to put together going in an extremely competitive duel not only for the NL West but also the three NL Wild Card spots.

In the meantime, the Giants will likely turn to a combination of Wisely and Christian Koss at the keystone. Koss, 27, made his MLB debut earlier this year and so far has hit just .217/.280/.217 with a 30.8% strikeout rate during his time in the majors. Those lackluster numbers have come in just 28 plate appearances, however, and Koss hit quite well at Triple-A last year with a 134 wRC+ in 88 games. Joining Koss in the mix for starts at second is Wisely, who hit .238/.278/.345 (75 wRC+) across 91 games in a part-time role with the Giants last year. He’s spent the 2025 season at Triple-A so far, where his .235/.325/.431 slash line in 118 trips to the plate has been exactly league average (100 wRC+).

Rangers Sign Ty Blach To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Rangers have signed southpaw Ty Blach to a minor league deal, MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports. The veteran elected free agency shortly after the 2024 regular season came to a close abut is now set to join a new organization for just the fourth time in his career. He’s represented by Sports Pro Services.

Blach, 34, has pitched in the majors in parts of seven MLB seasons. A fifth-rounder drafted by the Giants all the way back in 2012, the lefty didn’t make his big league debut until the 2016 campaign. That initial cup of coffee went extremely well, as Blach pitched to a 1.06 ERA and 3.62 FIP in 17 innings of work across two starts and two relief appearances. He took on a much larger role with the Giants over the next two years and turned in slightly below-average results as the club’s primary swingman. From 2017 to 2018, Blach pitched to a pedestrian 4.56 ERA (89 ERA+) despite a 4.18 FIP but made up for that lack of impressive rate production with volume. He threw 282 1/3 innings total while splitting time between the rotation and bullpen, making 37 starts and 44 relief appearances in total.

The southpaw started the 2019 season with San Francisco as well, but he was designated for assignment and found himself claimed off waivers by the Orioles not long after. Unfortunately, Blach’s time in Baltimore did not go especially well and he finished the year with a 12.00 ERA in 27 innings of work between his two clubs. That lackluster performance led the Orioles to outright him off their 40-man roster following the 2019 season but he re-signed with the organization on a minor league deal ahead of the 2020 season. Between the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign and Tommy John surgery that summer, Blach wound up not pitching for the Orioles at all in his second season with the organization.

After rehabbing in the minors with the Orioles during the 2021 season, Blach latched on with the Rockies on a minor league deal entering the 2022 campaign. It was in Colorado that he’d make his return to the majors, and he wound up spending three years in the organization on minor league deals, shuttling between Triple-A and the majors as dictated by the Rockies’ pitching needs. Blach didn’t exactly take well to pitching with the Rockies in that up-and-down role, and he’s struggled to a 6.14 ERA in 193 2/3 innings at the big league level since first signing with the Rockies prior to the 2022 season. Lackluster as that figure is, it should be noted that it’s nearly half a run higher than Blach’s FIP. On the other hand, Coors Field may not have been as big of an issue for Blach as one might expect given that his road ERA was higher than his ERA at Coors in all three of his seasons with Colorado.

Whether he’ll be able to improve in a new organization with more pitcher-friendly conditions in the majors remains to be seen, but the Rangers appear to be betting on just that by bringing him into the fold. At the very least, he should be a serviceable non-roster depth option for the club, helping to back up a rotation that’s currently relying on Patrick Corbin as its fifth starter due to injuries suffered by Kumar Rocker, Jon Gray, and Cody Bradford. That starting depth took a potential additional hit earlier this week when the club designated Dane Dunning for assignment, though Dunning has already cleared waivers previously this year. Even if Blach isn’t being brought in as a potential replacement for Dunning on the depth chart, he’s still a useful arm to have in the mix in case fo further injuries in the majors.

Jose Urena Elects Free Agency

By | at

Right-hander Jose Urena has elected free agency, according to a report from MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Urena was designated for assignment by the Mets earlier this week to make room for Kevin Herget on the active roster. Evidently, Urena has cleared waivers and opted to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. A player with at least three years of service time or a previous outright at any point in his career has the opportunity to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment. Both of those situations apply to Urena, who will now have the opportunity to explore opportunities with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

The 33-year-old righty has now appeared in parts of 11 seasons in the majors. He began his career as a member of the Marlins and mostly pitched in a swing role to below average results, though he did manage to post a solid 3.90 ERA (100 ERA+) in 343 2/3 innings of work from 2017 to 2018. Since departing the Marlins following the shortened 2020 season, Urena has bounced around the league as a mostly below-average depth option primarily used on non-contending teams, with a 5.13 ERA (84 ERA+) and a matching 5.13 FIP across the past five seasons while pitching for the Tigers, White Sox, Rockies, Brewers, Rangers, and Mets.

His stint with the Rangers last year is by far the most interesting of his stops along the way. Urena returned to his familiar swing-man role with Texas but mostly pitched in multi-inning relief last year. Overall, he posted a rather pedestrian 3.80 ERA (103 ERA+) with a 4.62 FIP, but a closer look reveals that an excellent 2.92 ERA in 64 2/3 as a reliever, as opposed to his lackluster 5.08 ERA in nine starts. Urena’s 16.4% strikeout rate while pitching in relief last year was still far enough below average to be a potential red flag, but his ability to pitch multiple innings and solid run prevention numbers were enough to make him at least an intriguing depth candidate heading into this offseason.

Unfortunately for the journeyman, teams weren’t interested enough in seeing what he could do to give him a major league deal this winter. That left him to sign a minor league pact with the Mets over the offseason, though he initially failed to make the club’s roster out of camp. He stuck in the organization afterwards and was selected to the roster a few days ago, but he surrendered five earned runs in just three innings of work during his lone appearance before being designated for assignment. Whether he’ll re-sign in the Mets org and return to Triple-A Syracuse or look for a deal elsewhere remains to be seen, but despite his generally below-average results Urena’s ability to be a versatile and durable depth option should be enough to earn him attention from at least some teams around the league.

Tigers Designate Kenta Maeda For Assignment

By | at

The Tigers announced that they have designated right-hander Kenta Maeda for assignment. Right-hander Tyler Owens has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported Maeda’s DFA prior to the official announcement.

Maeda landed with Detroit going into the 2024 season. The two sides agreed to a two-year, $24MM deal in November of 2023. In hindsight, that’s obviously a move the Tigers wish they could undo, though there was decent logic to it at the time.

The veteran didn’t go into free agency with a ton of juice. He had a 4.66 earned run average with the Twins in 2021, then missed the 2022 recovering from UCL surgery. He returned to the mound in 2023 and tossed 104 1/3 innings but with a middling 4.23 ERA.

Under the hood, there was a bit more reason for optimism. His 2023 season started awfully but he finished strong. He landed on the IL in late April due to a right triceps strain, sitting on an ERA of 9.00 at that time. In his last start before hitting the IL, he had allowed ten runs in three innings. Given the subsequent IL stint, it was fair to conclude that he wasn’t right. He came off the IL in June and then tossed 88 1/3 innings the rest of the way with a 3.36 ERA, 29% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate.

It appeared to have a chance at being a sneaky value play for the Tigers. That did not come to pass at all. Maeda posted a 7.26 ERA through his first 16 starts last year. His strikeout rate had dropped to a paltry 17.1%. The Tigers moved him to the bullpen at that point and he did improve from there. He tossed 46 2/3 innings in a long relief role the rest of the way with a 4.44 ERA and a 23.8% strikeout rate.

Over the winter, president of baseball operations Scott Harris said that Maeda would have a chance to earn a rotation spot in 2025. However, the club eventually bumped him to a long relief role yet again, going with a rotation of Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Casey Mize and Jackson Jobe to start the season.

Though Maeda did well out of the ’pen last year, he hasn’t carried that over into this year. He has a 7.88 ERA through eight innings. Some of that is due to a low 60.2% strand rate but his strikeout rate has also fallen to 18.6% and he has walked 14% of batters faced. Manager A.J. Hinch has clearly been reluctant to use him, with Maeda only making six appearances in the month of April. He twice went over a week without getting into a game.

Teams generally don’t like to give up on players when they’ve already committed significant sums of money to them, but the writing was on the wall with Maeda. He will likely end up on the open market in the coming days. The Tigers could try to trade him but they would surely have to eat basically all of his remaining contract in order to interest any other club. He is making $10MM this year, with roughly $8MM still to be paid out. No team will want to take that on, meaning Maeda would clear outright waivers. As a veteran with at least five years of service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping all of that money. The Tigers may skip the formalities and release him.

Assuming he does end up a free agent, any club could sign him at that point and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Tigers owe. It’s conceivable that some clubs might have interest in that scenario, since there would be no financial risk. With several teams dealing with mounting injuries, one of them might give it a shot.

Owens, 24, gets to the majors for the first time. Drafted by Atlanta, he was traded to the Rangers for J.P. Martínez in January of 2024, then to the Tigers in the deadline deal that sent Carson Kelly to Texas. The Tigers added him to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

He worked both as a starter and a reliever earlier in his career but worked exclusively out of the bullpen last year with good results. He tossed 51 2/3 Double-A innings with a 2.96 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. He has been with Triple-A Toledo to start this year but the numbers haven’t been as good. He has a 4.50 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate through 14 innings.

He might be in for a short stint, as Beau Brieske is on a rehab assignment and eligible to come off the injured list in Saturday. Regardless, he’s up in the majors today and has a chance to make his debut.

Photos courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Nationals Sign Andrew Chafin To Major League Deal

By | at

6:15pm: Chafin’s contract with the Nationals guarantees him $1MM, according to Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post.

5:45pm: The Nationals announced that they have signed left-hander Andrew Chafin to a one-year major league deal. Fellow lefty Colin Poche has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Chafin was with the Tigers on a minor league deal but had an opt-out in that pact. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Chafin was signing with the Nats prior to the official announcement.

Chafin, 35 next month, is a veteran with over a decade of solid relief work. He has logged 508 1/3 innings for various clubs, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 25.9% of batters faced, given out walks at a 10% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a 48.1% pace. He had a strong performance in 2024, with a 3.51 ERA between the Tigers and Rangers. His 12.6% walk rate was quite high but he also bumped his strikeout rate up to 28.5%.

Despite those good numbers, he lingered unsigned through the winter and somewhat surprisingly had to settle for a minor league deal with Detroit in late February. It still seemed like the Tigers would add him to the roster at the end of camp but that didn’t come to pass.

Chafin was an Article XX(b) free agent this winter, which is any player with at least six years of major league service who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list. Such players get uniform opt-out dates on minor league deals, provided they sign more than ten days prior to Opening Day. The opt-outs are five days prior to Opening Day, May 1st and June 1st.

Though he didn’t break camp with the club, Chafin decided to report to Triple-A Toledo. He put up great numbers for that club, tossing 12 2/3 innings with a 2.13 ERA, 31.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate. That’s obviously a small sample of work but, as mentioned, Chafin also has a lengthy résumé of big league success.

Despite that strong performance, the Tigers never called him up. They are seemingly content with their lefty relievers Tyler Holton, Brant Hurter and Sean Guenther. Chafin apparently triggered his opt-out and landed with a club that has a greater need for his services. The Nationals have used Poche and Jose A. Ferrer as their southpaw relievers this year, with disastrous results so far. Poche has an 11.42 ERA through 8 2/3 innings, with Ferrer at 7.36 through 14 2/3.

The Nats aren’t really expected to contend this year, currently sporting a record of 13-18. Regardless, Chafin can give them a veteran lefty presence in the bullpen for now. If he performs well for the next few months, they will be able to trade him for a prospect or two at the deadline.

Poche should end up on waivers in the coming days. As mentioned, he has had a rough start to the season. He has walked 12 batters faced already, an awful rate of 26.1%. Given those struggles, he’s likely to clear. He had to settle for a minor league deal in the offseason and obviously hasn’t improved his stock since cracking Washington’s Opening Day roster.

He will likely be able to find a minor league deal somewhere based on his previous track record. With the Rays from 2022 to 2024, he tossed 156 2/3 innings with a 3.27 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Carl Edwards Jr. Elects Free Agency

By | at

Right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been outrighted by the Angels to Triple-A Salt Lake a few days ago but exercised his right to reject that assignment and head to the open market instead.

Players have the right to reject an outright assignment if they have at least three years of major league service time or a previous career outright. Edwards qualifies on both counts, as a veteran with over seven years of service time, but also plenty of outrights during the ups and downs of his career.

It’s possible he will re-sign with the Angels on a new deal with renegotiated terms, such as opt-out dates, but he will also have the chance to speak to the 29 other clubs. Just under two months ago, he signed the Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League, though he landed a minor league deal with the Angels shortly thereafter.

He reported to Triple-A Salt Lake and tossed 11 2/3 innings over seven appearances with a 1.54 earned run average. His 25% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 58.8% ground ball rate were all strong numbers in that small sample. He got called up to the big leagues just over a week ago and threw three innings over two appearances. He allowed three earned runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out two.

Edwards has a lengthy track record, with a 3.59 ERA in 283 big league innings, though much of that was with the Cubs from 2015 to 2019. His ERA exploded to 8.47 in the last year of that stretch, then he struggled to get big league playing time in the next two seasons. He got another decent run with the Nationals in 2022 and 2023, with a 3.07 ERA over those two years, but a stress fracture in his shoulder ended the latter campaign in August. He only got into one major league game with the Padres last year.

Despite only having that one appearance in the big leagues last year, he had a passable 4.11 ERA in Triple-A. As mentioned, he got out to a decent start in Triple-A this year as well. With a number of pitchers around the league suffering injuries, Edwards should be able to get himself a minor league deal somewhere to add some veteran non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images

Dodgers Acquire Ryan Loutos, Claim J.P. Feyereisen

By | at

The Dodgers have acquired right-hander Ryan Loutos from the Cardinals in exchange for cash and claimed righty J.P. Feyereisen off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. The Loutos trade was previously reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Dodgers moved righties Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech to the 60-day injured list to open 40-man roster spots for the two pickups.

Loutos, 26, has had a somewhat unusual trajectory to the big leagues, as explored in this profile from Goold last year. Due to his computer science background, the Cards hired him to develop an app to help minor leaguers use data, and let him pitch as well. “I know what I need to do to improve. I know what I could do,” Loutos said. “But I also know from their shoes what they see: ‘OK, let him play for a while. See what happens. Worst-case scenario, we maybe offer him a job in the front office. Best-case scenario, maybe he’s in the big leagues someday.’”

So far, the playing part has worked out okay. He made his major league debut last year, though it was brief. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings over three appearances. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has logged 134 innings on the farm with a 5.10 earned run average, 24.2% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate.

Feyereisen, 32, has a much longer big league track record. In 2021, he tossed 56 innings between the Brewers and Rays with a 2.73 ERA. He managed to top that performance in 2022, tossing 24 1/3 scoreless innings, with a 29.1% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. However, a shoulder injury intervened and stopped him from building on those numbers.

He underwent shoulder surgery and was traded to the Dodgers ahead of the 2023 season. He hasn’t been able to fully re-establish himself in the majors since then. He eventually spent that entire 2023 season on the IL, not making an official appearance anywhere. The Dodgers shuttled him to Triple-A and back in 2024. He only got to pitch 11 big league innings, with an 8.18 ERA in those. His 5.48 ERA in Triple-A wasn’t especially impressive either.

He was outrighted off the roster last year, allowing him to elect free agency and sign a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks coming into 2025. He got called up a couple of weeks ago after posing a 0.96 ERA in Triple-A. He then allowed two earned runs in two innings for the Snakes before getting designated for assignment and put on waivers.

For the Dodgers, they are likely happy to have some fresh arms, one of which they are already familiar with. With Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow both on the IL due to shoulder inflammation, they are down to a four-man rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. The club is keeping Sasaki and Yamamoto on the weekly schedule the pitchers are accustomed to from their time in Japan.

That situation, plus plenty of other injuries, have led to a great deal of creativity in cobbling the staff together. Pitchers like Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller and Ben Casparius have made spot starts. Yoendrys Gómez, recently claimed off waivers from the Yankees, is working a long relief role. Both Loutos and Feyereisen have options, so the Dodgers are adding some arms with some roster flexibility. The team is about to start a stretch of playing ten straight games. After one off-day, they will play another nine straight.

To open spots for those two, Kopech and Treinen hit the 60-day IL. Kopech’s move isn’t especially surprising. He’s been on the 15-day IL all year long due to a shoulder impingement and still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment. Even if he were to start one now, he would need a few weeks as a sort of delayed spring training. He could be reinstated from the IL in a couple of weeks but that doesn’t seem to be likely.

The move for Treinen is more notable. He started the season healthy but landed on the 15-day IL April 19th due to right forearm tightness. This transfer to the 60-day IL indicates the Dodgers don’t expect him back before the middle of June. He is 36 years old, turning 37 in June, and has a recent history of arm injuries. He only tossed five innings in 2022 due to shoulder problems and then underwent surgery which wiped out his 2023 campaign.

He got back on track last year with a 1.93 ERA in 46 2/3 innings, plus another 12 1/3 postseason innings with a 2.19 ERA, helping the Dodgers win the World Series. The team believed in that bounceback enough to give him a two-year, $22MM deal in free agency, the largest deal for a reliever going into his age-37 season or older since Mariano Rivera’s deal with the Yankees back in 2010.

Shortly after Treinen landed on the IL last month, manager Dave Roberts described the injury as a “low-grade sprain of the forearm” and downplayed the severity by saying “we’re in the dodged-a-bullet category.” It’s unclear if Roberts was just masking the extent of the injury or if something changed, but Treinen now appears to be slated for an absence of at least a couple of months.

Photo courtesy of John Geliebter, Imagn Images.

Braves Outright Ian Anderson

By | at

The Braves announced today that right-hander Ian Anderson has been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. That indicates he passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment earlier this week.

Anderson came into the year out of options, due to a few factors. Though he found much success in 2020 and 2021, he struggled in 2022 and was optioned in August of that year. An oblique strain prevented him from returning late in the season. Going into 2023, he didn’t re-earn a big league job and was optioned before the start of the season. He then required Tommy John surgery in April, which put him out of action for an extended period of time. Since he underwent that surgery while in the minors, he burned through his final two options while recovering.

He came into camp this year looking to hold onto a roster spot, perhaps as a long reliever. Atlanta traded him to the Angels just before Opening Day, a one-for-one swap which sent José Suarez the other way. Both out-of-options pitchers struggled with their new clubs and were DFA’d after a few appearances. Atlanta passed Suarez through waivers unclaimed and also claimed Anderson back from the Angels. Now Anderson has cleared as well and will join Suarez in Gwinnett.

Although Anderson debuted way back in 2020, he has just over two years of major league service time. As mentioned, he has been in the minor leagues for the past two-plus years, spending most of that time recovering from his surgery. He wasn’t collecting any big league service during that stretch. That’s now notable because players need three years of service, or a previous career outright, in order to have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Anderson is shy of that line and therefore has to accept this assignment.

Presumably, he and Atlanta will use this opportunity to get him stretched out and back on track. He’s a former third overall pick and top prospect with past success in the majors as well. Over 2020 and 2021, he logged 160 2/3 innings with a 3.25 earned run average. His 10% walk rate was a tad high but he punched out 24.5% of opponents and got grounders at a 49.9% clip. He also made four postseason starts in each of those seasons, with a 0.96 ERA in 2020 and a 1.59 ERA in 2021, helping the club win the World Series in the latter campaign.

As mentioned, it’s been tough sledding since then. He had an ERA of 5.00 in 2022, getting nudged to the minors. He has largely been derailed by injuries since. After recovering from his surgery, he made 15 minor league starts last year with a 3.44 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate.

Atlanta currently has Reynaldo López and Spencer Strider on the injured list, with López potentially done for the year. Their current rotation consists of Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and AJ Smith-Shawver. Schwellenbach is the only guy in that group with an ERA below 4.26 at the moment. Hurston Waldrep and Dylan Dodd are on the 40-man roster but each has an ERA above 6.00 at Triple-A this year.

If Anderson could get in a groove and start to look like the version he showed a few years back, he could quickly jump back up the depth chart. Despite the twists and turns in his career, he’s still only 26 years old, turning 27 tomorrow.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Yankees Claim Bryan De La Cruz

By | at

The Yankees have claimed outfielder Bryan De La Cruz from the Braves, according to announcements from both clubs. The Yanks optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and transferred Giancarlo Stanton to the 60-day injured list as the corresponding 40-man move.

There was no previous indication that Atlanta had designated De La Cruz for assignment, but it appears they quietly put him on waivers in recent days in an attempt to get him off the 40-man. It didn’t work, with the Yanks scooping him up. Atlanta’s 40-man roster count drops from 39 to 38.

Atlanta signed BDLC to their roster in the offseason and he started the season in the majors with the Atlanta outfield in flux this year. Ronald Acuña Jr. is still working back from last year’s ACL tear. Jurickson Profar tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug early in the season and received an 80-game suspension. The club signed Alex Verdugo to help out but that deal got done so late that Verdugo had to start the season on optional assignment as a sort of delayed spring training.

De La Cruz got 50 plate appearances with Atlanta but was punched out in 36% of them as he produced a dismal .191/.240/.213 line. He was optioned down to Triple-A Gwinnett when Verdugo was ready to join the big league club. The team later signed Eddie Rosario and optioned Jarred Kelenic. With Acuña slated to be back in the next month or so and Kelenic available in Triple-A, De La Cruz didn’t have great odds of getting back to the majors, which is surely what prompted the club to push him onto the waiver wire.

For the Yankees, they effectively had an open roster spot. Stanton has been on the 10-day injured list all year due to problems in both elbows. He has been trying to get healthy but still isn’t ready for game action. Even once cleared to get into a lineup somewhere, he will need a rehab assignment of a few weeks to get into game shape. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he will be eligible to be reinstated later this month if he’s able to get healthy by then.

For now, they have used Stanton’s roster spot to add some extra outfield depth. Their big league outfield group is currently strong, consisting of Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger and Jasson Domínguez. But De La Cruz has options and there’s little harm in stashing him in Triple-A to see how things go.

As mentioned, his 2025 is out to a brutal start, but he’s been better in the past. He stepped to the plate 574 times for the Marlins over 2021 and 2022 with a combined .269/.318/.430 line and 103 wRC+ over those seasons. However, a .333 batting average on balls in play helped him out a lot there and his production has tailed off since. Since the start of 2023, he has a .243/.285/.390 line and 81 wRC+. Strikeouts have become a growing problem, with a 28% rate of punchouts since the start of 2024.

Even as he was struggling last year, he was still able to be useful in a platoon setting. A right-handed hitter, he put up a .285/.309/.425 line and 99 wRC+ versus lefties, so perhaps that is part of the appeal. Grisham and Bellinger are both lefties, though Grisham has reverse splits in his career. Domínguez is a switch-hitter but has been vulnerable to southpaws so far. He has a .277/.353/.529 line against righties but just .100/.239/.150 against lefties.

For now, De La Cruz can get regular playing time with the RailRiders and try to get in a good groove. If he succeeds or if the Yankees suffer an injury, he could get find himself getting another crack at the majors.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Show all

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

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top