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Rays Claim Jesse Scholtens

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The Rays announced that they have claimed right-hander Jesse Scholtens off waivers from the White Sox and sent him to Triple-A Durham. Chicago designated him for assignment yesterday. The Rays also announced that catcher Matt Thaiss, who was designated for assignment a few days ago, has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham. Scholtens effectively takes the 40-man spot recently vacated by Thaiss.

Scholtens, 31, made his major league debut in 2023 but hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since then. He underwent Tommy John surgery in February of 2024, which led to him missing that entire season. He spent a decent chunk of 2025 on the injured list as well. Once he was ready to come off the IL, the Sox optioned him to the minors.

His major league track record consists of 85 innings tossed in a swing role a couple of years ago. He made 11 starts and 15 relief appearances for the Sox with a 5.29 earned run average, 15.4% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate.

Since those numbers don’t jump off the page, the Rays are presumably more interested in his minor league work. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 231 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Most of that was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, as Scholtens was in the Padres’ system through the end of 2022. Over those three years, he had a 4.58 ERA but his 24.3% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate were both better than average.

He hasn’t yet been able to get back to that level. This year, he has thrown 36 minor league innings with a 5.25 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. But as mentioned, he’s coming back from Tommy John and is perhaps still ramping up. Scholtens still has options and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration, so he’ll give the Rays some cheap Triple-A pitching depth for now. The club has a decent track record of helping pitchers maximize their results, so perhaps they can sprinkle some of their magic dust on Scholtens in the coming years.

Thaiss, 30, was also acquired by the Rays from the White Sox. Chicago had a bit of a squeeze behind the plate and sent Thaiss to the Rays in May for minor league outfielder Dru Baker. Thaiss got into 25 games for the Rays, backing up Danny Jansen, but he slashed just .225/.304/.282 for a wRC+ of 69.

Tampa shook up their catching spot recently. They traded Jansen to the Brewers but also acquired Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia, squeezing Thaiss out of the picture. Since he’s out of options, he got pushed off the 40-man.

His offense has occasionally been intriguing since he draws so many walks but he also strikes out a lot and his defense behind the plate isn’t especially well regarded. There has been enough interest for him to bounce around the league in the past year, going from the Angels to the Cubs, White Sox and Rays in small deals, but every club declined to give him a roster spot this week.

Thaiss has a service clock between three and five years. That means he has the right to reject an outright assignment but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to do so. He is making $1MM this year, with roughly $300K still to be paid out. Understandably, he had accepted this assignment to keep collecting the rest of that money. He’ll give the Rays some non-roster catching depth for now.

If he’s not added back to the 40-man by the end of the season, he’ll have the right to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man roster during a season.

Photo courtesy of David Reginek, Imagn Images

Pirates Designate Genesis Cabrera For Assignment

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The Pirates have designated left-handed reliever Genesis Cabrera for assignment, manager Don Kelly tells the team’s beat (link via Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). That’ll be the corresponding move to open a 26-man roster spot for righty Johan Oviedo, who’ll make his first major league start in nearly two years after undergoing Tommy John surgery in the 2023-24 offseason.

Pittsburgh signed the 28-year-old Cabrera to a major league contract back in June. He’d opened the year on a minor league deal with the Mets, was added to the roster and was subsequently designated for assignment. The Cubs signed Cabrera to a big league deal shortly thereafter, and a similar sequence played out as he was designated, became a free agent, and signed a big league deal with the Buccos.

In 28 innings this season, Cabrera has pitched to a 5.79 ERA. That includes a 4.91 earned run average in 11 innings as a Pirate. Cabrera yielded six runs on a dozen hits and a walk with seven strikeouts during his five to six weeks in Kelly’s bullpen.

The hard-throwing Cabrera has been erratic in his career, but the bottom-line results in 303 2/3 big league frames are decent. He sports a lifetime 4.06 ERA in the majors, and his 22.1% strikeout rate isn’t too far shy of league-average for a reliever. Cabrera’s 10.9% walk rate is high but not quite egregiously so. He’s typically posted above-average swinging-strike rates and slightly below-average ground-ball rates.

Cabrera will now head to either outright waivers or release waivers. Since the trade deadline has come and gone, there’s no alternative for the Bucs to explore. He’ll be made available to the league’s other 29 times in reverse order of leaguewide standings.

As for Oviedo, he’ll finally get back on a big league mound and hope to seize a rotation spot. The former Cardinals prospect had done just that prior to his injury, tossing 233 2/3 innings of 4.03 ball from 2022-23. That includes a career-high 177 2/3 innings in 2023, when he logged a respectable 4.31 ERA. Oviedo typically sits 95-97 mph with his fastball. Both his strikeout and walk rates have been a bit worse than average, but he’s been adept at dodging hard contact and keeping the ball in the yard. He ought to get a real look down the stretch, and Pittsburgh controls him for an additional two seasons via arbirtation.

Marlins Designate Jack Winkler For Assignment

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The Marlins announced that infielder Jack Winkler has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding 40-man move for their previously reported claim of outfielder Joey Wiemer off waivers. It also opens an active roster spot for outfielder Derek Hill, who has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list.

Winkler, 26, was just added to Miami’s roster at the end of May. Since then, he has been rarely used as a bench player or down in the minors on optional assignment. He has appeared in just 11 major league games and has been sent to the plate just 12 times, mostly getting put into game as a pinch runner. He has two singles and four strikeouts, giving him a career .167/.167/.167 line in that tiny sample of work.

He now heads into DFA limbo. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Marlins will have to put him on waivers in the coming days. If he garners any interest, it would naturally be based on his larger body of work in the minors.

His offense has generally been subpar but he’s been able to steal bases and bounce around the diamond. In 51 Triple-A games this year, he has a .241/.304/.379 batting line and 84 wRC+. He has stolen 17 bases without getting caught and played all four spots on the infield. He has a small amount of experience in the outfield corners in previous seasons as well.

If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Marlins as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of big league experience nor a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency.

Photo courtesy of Rhona Wise, Imagn Images

Phillies, Lou Trivino Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran right-handed reliever Lou Trivino, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. They’ll be the third organization of the season for the Pro Edge Sports client.

Trivino, 34 in October, has suited up for both the Dodgers and Giants in 2025. He’s pitched a combined 38 1/3 major league innings and logged a 4.42 ERA with a well below-average 15.7% strikeout rate but a strong 7% walk rate. That marks Trivino’s first big league work since the end of the 2022 season. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and has also had a notable shoulder injury in the two years he was off the mound.

This version of Trivino didn’t look nearly as sharp as the pre-injury iteration. His fastball, which averaged 97.3 mph at its peak and 95.6 mph in the three years leading up to his surgery, has sat at 94.7 mph thus far. Trivino’s 1.40 HR/9 is a career-high, and his opponents’ chase rate and swinging-strike rate are both considerably lower than at his best.

That said, there’s no risk in taking a minor league flier on a pitcher with a track record like that of Trivino. He made his MLB debut with 74 innings of 2.92 ERA ball for the 2018 Athletics and, from ’18-’22, picked up 52 holds and 37 saves while working to a 3.86 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.

Philadelphia won’t really be counting on Trivino for anything. He’s a depth add after president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski & Co. made a pair of splashy deadline upgrades, signing free agent David Robertson and trading prospects Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel to pry star closer Jhoan Duran away from the Twins. Trivino could eventually work his way to the majors, but with Duran, Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks leading the way, Robertson soon to join and the return of lefty Jose Alvarado looming later this month, there are far fewer paths to the majors in Philly than there might’ve been even two to three weeks ago.

Mets Select Dom Hamel

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The Mets announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Dom Hamel. Fellow righty Austin Warren has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had a vacancy with righty Rico Garcia being designated for assignment yesterday.

Hamel, 26, gets called up to the big leagues for the first time and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He was picked by the Mets in the third round of the 2021 draft. As he climbed the minor league ladder, he worked as a starter and got some love from prospect evaluators. The short version of his scouting report is that he doesn’t have overpowering stuff but has a five-pitch mix that allows him to get outs against batters from either side of the plate.

For his first few professional seasons, Baseball America ranked Hamel as one of the Mets’ top 11 or 12 prospects. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 246 innings over various levels with a 3.51 earned run average, 30.4% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. However, he hit a wall last year, with a 6.79 ERA in 27 Double-A starts. His strikeout rate fell to 21.3% while his walk rate climbed to 13.2%. That got him bumped out of BA’s top 30 coming into 2025.

He’s been in more a swing role at Triple-A this year, having started eight of his 22 appearances. In his 53 1/3 innings, he has a 4.73 ERA, not amazing but much better than last year. His 25.8% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate are also encouraging. At the end of June, FanGraphs ranked him as the #22 prospect in the system, noting that he should be able to serve as a decent bulk reliever.

The Mets got crushed yesterday, losing 12-4 to the Giants. Even though starter Frankie Montas was getting hit around, he was pushed through four innings. Then Warren came in and saved the bullpen by tossing four innings of relief, tossing 68 pitches in the process. Ryne Stanek came in to get the ninth but struggled badly, allowing five earned runs while only getting two outs. Catcher Luis Torrens came in to get the final out of the ninth.

Warren wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so he’s been subbed out for Hamel. If tonight’s game turns out to be a laugher, then Hamel will likely be the one tapped to soak up some innings out of the bullpen. Since this is his first big league call, he has a full slate of options and could easily be sent back to the minors when the Mets again want to bring in a fresh arm.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Twins Select Darren McCaughan

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The Twins announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Darren McCaughan and placed right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson on the 15-day injured list due to an illness. No additional corresponding moves were needed, as the Twins’ 40-man roster had been sitting at 37 players following last week’s fire sale.

It’s the second big league stint of the season for McCaughan, though his surroundings this time around will be much different than they were when he was briefly summoned to the majors back in late March. He tossed 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball for a team that then harbored postseason aspirations. He’ll now return to a club that saw its roster — the pitching staff in particular — gutted ahead of last week’s deadline.

McCaughan, 29, has pitched 72 1/3 innings in Triple-A this season and been knocked around for a 5.35 ERA. The overall results aren’t particularly pretty, though they’re skewed a bit by a pair of nine-run implosions amid an otherwise serviceable year. He’s set down 20.1% of his Triple-A opponents on strikes and walked a lower-than-average 7.6% of the batters he’s faced.

McCaughan has a long track record as an innings-eating starter in the Mariners’ system, though he only ever received 14 major league frames with Seattle. He’s since pitched in Cleveland, Miami and Minnesota. In a total of 61 1/3 big league innings, he’s struggled to a 6.02 ERA. McCaughan sits 89-90 mph with both his four-seamer and sinker. He doesn’t miss many bats and has been homer-prone throughout his time in Triple-A, but he also typically avoids walks and takes the ball every five days. McCaughan has never been on the injured list in the big leagues or in the minors.

For now, McCaughan will add some length to a Twins bullpen that traded Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Danny Coulombe, Brock Stewart and Louis Varland for a combined seven younger players last week. There are plenty of innings to go around, and with Minnesota lined up for a bullpen game today, McCaughan could be in line for multiple innings behind scheduled opener Travis Adams.

Marlins Claim Joey Wiemer

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The Marlins have claimed outfielder Joey Wiemer off waivers from the Royals and optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald. He was designated for assignment by Kansas City last week.

Wiemer, 26, once ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects during his time in the Brewers system. The 2020 fourth-rounder had a huge season between Class-A and High-A in 2021 and hit well as a 23-year-old between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022.

Wiemer made his big league debut in 2023, showing off some of the power, speed and defense that made him a well-regarded prospect but also some of the red flags that troubled scouts. He popped 13 homers and swiped 11 bags in 410 plate appearances but also hit just .204/.283/.362. Nearly all of his production came against left-handed pitching. He received only 28 plate appearances the following season, and he’s since been traded to the Reds and the Royals before now landing in Miami.

It’s a small sample, but in 139 major league plate appearances, Wiemer has hit .263/.295/.481 (108 wRC+) against left-handed pitching. He’s still fanned in nearly 32% of his plate appearances versus southpaws, however, and he’s just a .169/.271/.281 hitter in 299 plate appearances versus righties. Wiemer can handle all three outfield positions and draws positive marks from both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average.

Wiemer hasn’t had much success in Triple-A this year, and it’s fairly damning that a team with outfield struggles as pronounced as those we’ve seen in Kansas City never game him a look in the majors. In 296 Triple-A plate appearances this year, he’s hitting .182/.291/.312 with nine homers and 12 steals.

This is Wiemer’s final minor league option year. He’ll need to stick on a big league roster in 2026 or else be designated for assignment (assuming, of course, he sticks on a 40-man roster until next year, which is no sure thing). He’ll give the Fish some depth in the outfield for the time being but could eventually emerge as a bench option/fourth outfielder if he can turn things around in Jacksonville between now and season’s end.

Giants Release Austin Barnes

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The Giants released veteran catcher Austin Barnes from their Triple-A affiliate, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d signed a minor league deal with San Francisco after being designated for assignment and released by the Giants’ archrival Dodgers back in June.

Barnes, 36 in the offseason, played in parts of 11 seasons with the Dodgers but got into only 13 games this season before being cut loose. He tallied 44 plate appearances, during which he batted just .214/.233/.286. He totaled a similar 46 plate appearances with the Giants’ top affiliate after signing there and posted a .205/.326/.205 slash in that short audition. He’ll now head back to the market in search of other opportunities.

Barnes has always been more of a glove-first catcher, whose primary offensive contributions have come via his plate discipline. He’s a career .223/.322/.318 hitter who’s walked in just over 11% of his plate appearances in the majors. Barnes had a passable year at the plate in 2024 but hasn’t been an average or better hitter since 2022. Over his past 400 plate appearances in the big leagues, he’s batted .217/.283/.272 (57 wRC+).

Though he can’t be expected to return to even his modest career rate stats with the bat at this stage of his career, Barnes is a seasoned backstop who has worked with dozens of high-profile pitchers over his career — most notably, of course, Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw. That experience, paired with his reputation as a teammate and game-caller, figures to get him a look with a team in need of some catching depth down the stretch.

Brewers Place Jacob Misiorowski On 15-Day Injured List

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The Brewers announced this morning that they’ve placed right-hander Jacob Misiorowski on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to July 31) due to a left tibia contusion. Right-hander Logan Henderson was recalled to replace Misiorowski on the active roster.

Misiorowski was expected to start today’s game against the Nationals, but instead will head to the shelf. That the right-hander’s injury doesn’t involve his arm is surely heartening news for fans in Milwaukee, but it’s nonetheless worrisome for such a key piece of the club’s recent surge to miss any time at all while the team is locked in a heated division race with the Cubs. Any amount of time missed by such a talented arm will be a blow, but if Misiorowski misses only the minimum he could be back on the mound for the club’s series opener against the Reds on August 15.

The rookie was somewhat controversially named an All-Star this year despite having just five appearances in the majors under his belt prior to this year’s All-Star game, but Misiorowski has done everything in his power to justify that honor with a 2.70 ERA, 3.10 FIP, and an absurd 36.4% strikeout rate in 33 1/3 innings. Misiorowski’s huge strikeout numbers are somewhat balanced out by a 10.9% walk rate, but his overpowering stuff (which includes a fastball that averages 99mph on the radar gun) is more than enough to make up for those pitfalls when it comes to control.

Misiorowski isn’t the only injury of note the Brewers have suffered in recent days. Star outfielder Jackson Chourio is on the injured list due to a hamstring strain and might not be back until September. Another major piece of the club’s outfield puzzle, Sal Frelick, was pulled from yesterday’s game due to knee soreness in what the Brewers described (according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) as “precautionary.” With Chourio and Misiorowski out of commission for the time being and Frelick’s status uncertain, the Brewers are looking very banged up after a quiet trade deadline that saw them add only backup catcher Danny Jansen from the Rays and injured right-hander Shelby Miller of the Diamondbacks while trading away starter Nestor Cortes in a deal with the Padres.

The 21-year-old Henderson is another impressive young arm, as he made his big league debut earlier this year and has looked quite good in four spot starts. He’s posted a 1.71 ERA and a 3.05 FIP in 21 innings of work at the big league level this year while striking out 35.8% of his opponents, though a 3.59 ERA and 27.9% strikeout rate in 16 appearances at Triple-A is slightly less impressive. Regardless, Henderson will have the opportunity to further establish himself as the next man up in a crowded rotation mix that has sent arms like Chad Patrick and Tobias Myers to Triple-A as depth.

Phillies Release Oscar Mercado

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Outfielder Oscar Mercado enacted an opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Phillies, MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams reports.  The Phils have subsequently released Mercado, who now returns to the open market after inking his deal just at the start of Spring Training.

A veteran of five Major League seasons, Mercado hit .237/.289/.388 over 973 plate appearances with the Guardians, Phillies, and Cardinals from 2019-23.  Most of his success remains limited to his impressive 2019 rookie year in Cleveland.  Mercado then struggled to stay productive at the MLB level, and now has gone over two years since his last appearances in a big league game.

Subsequent minor league stints with the Padres, Dodgers, Tigers, and Phillies haven’t led to any more playing time in the majors, though Mercado’s .252/.373/.385 slash line over 378 PA at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2025 is respectable, and he has stolen 35 bases in 43 attempts.  The right-handed hitter has also mashed lefties to the run of a .941 OPS this season, but didn’t get a call-up since the Phils opted to stay with in-house right-handed outfield options until landing Harrison Bader at the trade deadline.

It could be that Bader’s acquisition inspired Mercado’s decision to opt out, as his path to Philadelphia’s roster got even more crowded.  The post-deadline roster landscape could mean more openings for the 30-year-old Mercado, if trades have opened up some roster holes and created some teams in need of outfield depth.

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