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Tigers Acquire Codi Heuer From Rangers

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The Rangers announced they’ve traded reliever Codi Heuer to Detroit for cash. This opens a 40-man roster spot for Texas, who will likely acquire some kind of relief help in the coming hours. Detroit designated lefty Dietrich Enns for assignment and optioned Heuer to Triple-A Toledo.

Heuer signed an offseason minor league deal with Texas. The Rangers called him up on June 1 but optioned him back to Triple-A a couple days later. He made one appearance, working an inning and a third while giving up a home run. That was the 6’5″ righty’s first major league action in four years. Heuer has had a nice season in the upper minors, working to a 3.43 ERA with a 31% strikeout rate over 35 appearances.

Texas probably viewed the 29-year-old Heuer as a DFA candidate if they’re able to make a more notable bullpen move today. Rather than wait until finalizing an acquisition, they preemptively cleared a spot while picking up a bit of cash. Detroit jumps the waiver order to get a pitcher with options who is having a good Triple-A season. Heuer sits around 96 MPH with his fastball and has a mid-80s slider. He has a history of elbow injuries, including 2022 Tommy John surgery and a ’23 fracture that required another operation.

Enns was called up last month. The 34-year-old southpaw has logged 17 2/3 innings with a 5.60 ERA across seven outings. He has posted excellent numbers with Toledo, turning in a 2.89 ERA with a 26.7% strikeout rate over 14 starts. He’ll likely end up on waivers in the next few days.

Phillies Acquire Harrison Bader

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The Phillies announced the acquisition of outfielder Harrison Bader from the Twins. Minnesota receives two prospects: outfielder Hendry Mendez and right-hander Geremy Villoria. Philadelphia designated reliever Brett de Geus for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Bader, 31, has been a solid big leaguer for years. He is one of the best outfield defenders in the league, with career tallies of 63 Defensive Runs Saved and 76 Outs Above Average. That DRS total is fifth-best among outfielders since the start of 2017, while the OAA total tops the leaderboard.

His offense has been up-and-down but he’s currently on pace to have his best season at the plate. In 307 plate appearances, he already has 12 home runs. Only once in his career has he hit more than that, which was the 16 he hit in 2021. His 26.4% strikeout rate is a bit high but his 8.8% walk rate is his best mark in years.

On the whole, he has a .258/.339/.439 line this year. His 117 wRC+, a career high, indicates he has been 17% better than league average at the plate this year. Thanks to ten stolen bases and some quality glovework, he’s already been worth 2.0 wins above replacement on the year, in the eyes of FanGraphs.

The Twins have pivoted to sell mode recently. They are 51-57 and 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. This the second deal they have lined up with the Phillies, as they already sent Jhoan Durán to Philadelphia. They also traded Chris Paddack to the Tigers and Brock Stewart to the Dodgers.

Bader has long been seen as likely to go, since he’s an impending free agent. He signed a one-year, $6.25MM deal with the Twins in the offseason. That guarantee came in the form of a $750K signing bonus, a $4MM salary, and a $1.5MM buyout on a mutual option. Mutual options are essentially never picked up by both sides, which is why Bader has been viewed as a rental. His buyout can also increase via plate appearance incentives. He would add $200K at 400, 425 and 450 plate appearances, then $450K at 475 and 500. As mentioned, he’s currently at 307 plate appearances.

His deal also has a $500K assignment bonus if he’s traded. Per Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune, the Twins aren’t including any money in this deal, so it seems the Phils will take on the remaining salary and the buyout on the option. There’s about $1.3MM of salary left. The buyout, as mentioned, is $1.5MM but can increase.

Money aside, Bader is a great fit for the Phillies. They have been looking for outfield help and right-handed bat. Bader ticks both boxes. Nick Castellanos is cemented in right, but he’s a league-average bat with horrible defensive metrics. Johan Rojas is the opposite, as he’s a great defender who doesn’t hit. Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler are a bit less extreme. They’re both good defenders in a corner but a bit stretched in center. They both can hit but are left-handed hitters who do more damage with the platoon advantage. Kepler is also now battling a triceps injury, per Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bader has largely been playing left field for the Twins out of deference to Byron Buxton. He should be able to pivot back to center for the Phils. That should allow for Rojas, Kepler and Marsh to all be used more selectively. Bader has pretty even platoon splits this year but his career splits are more extreme, with a .248/.315/.461 line versus lefties and a .242/.307/.374 slash against righties. Kepler recently expressed some dissatisfaction with being platooned but he hasn’t helped his cause with a .196/.250/.314 line against southpaws this year.

Mendez, 21, was originally a Brewers prospect. He came to the Phils in a November 2023 trade which sent infielder Oliver Dunn to the Brewers. Dunn was a minor league Rule 5 pick out of the Yankees’ system, making a fairly unusual trade tree for this move.

Since Mendez has come over the Phils, he’s been great at the plate. He spent last year at High-A and has been at Double-A this year. He has stepped to the plate 722 times in those two seasons with a 12.7% walk rate, 13.3% strikeout rate, .287/.380/.412 batting line and 131 wRC+. Baseball America lists him as the #17 prospect in the system. Their report notes that he hits the ball incredibly hard but too often into the ground. He’s not considered a strong outfield defender, so his development as a hitter will be key.

He is eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. Perhaps the Phils weren’t going to add him to their 40-man roster or were on the fence about it. The Twins will need to add him this fall if they don’t want him to be exposed.

Villoria, 16, was an international signing of the Phils out of Venezuela. He just signed with the Phils this year out of for a $425K bonus and has 14 professional innings under his belt in the Dominican Summer League. His youth and inexperience naturally make him a long-term play. Baseball America notes that he can already get up to the mid-90s with his fastball and he also has a high-spin slider as well as a changeup.

For the Phils, they’re adding a bit of money to their books but they’re usually not afraid to do that and they’ve clearly got a foot on the gas pedal here. Their core players are mostly in their mid-30s, so they made a bold strike by giving up notable prospects in the Durán deal. Here, they’ve given up a few prospects but not top guys.

They are a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and over the top tier, meaning they will face a 110% tax rate on Bader’s remaining salary and the buyout. Between the salary and buyout, he’s owed at least $2.8MM, so the Phils will also have to pay over $3MM in taxes on that.

For the Twins, they add a couple of extra prospects from a player who was set to depart in free agency anyway. It’s possible that saving money is a goal for them this week. They could have included money here to ask for a greater prospect return but didn’t do so. They also included Randy Dobnak’s contract in the Paddack deal, seemingly to save a few million bucks. They could still move Willi Castro, Danny Coulombe, Ty France and Christian Vázquez before the day is done, as they are all impending free agents. If they’re willing to move another controllable player like they did in the Duran deal, Griffin Jax could be on the move as well.

Teams like the Mets, Yankees and Dodgers were also connected to Bader in recent weeks. Those teams could pivot to guys like Steven Kwan, Luis Robert Jr., Cedric Mullins and/or Ramón Laureano, who are thought to be available today.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Phillies were closing in on a Bader deal for an outfield and pitching prospect. Matt Gelb of The Athletic had the return.

Photo courtesy of Matt Blewett, Jordan Johnson, Imagn Images

Tigers Acquire Kyle Finnegan

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The Tigers announced the acquisition of right-hander Kyle Finnegan from the Nationals. Detroit sent righty pitching prospects Josh Randall and R.J. Sales back to Washington. The Tigers transferred newly-acquired reliever Paul Sewald to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding roster move. Sewald has been out since mid-July with a shoulder strain and is not expected back until the middle of September.

Finnegan, 33, has been the Nationals’ primary closer in each of the past three seasons after sharing the role with Brad Hand and Tanner Rainey in 2021 and ’22. A 2024 All-Star, the righty has racked up 108 saves over the past five seasons but does not have the elite run prevention numbers typically associated with the closer role. For his career, he’s posted a 3.66 ERA and 4.16 FIP across 329 1/3 innings of work. Those numbers have been trending downward as well, with a 3.87 ERA and 4.24 FIP since the start of the 2023 season. He’s struck out just 21.5% of batters in that time while walking 8.6%, and while his walk rate has stayed steady this year his strikeouts have dipped further to a clip of just 19.6%.

Overall, it’s closer to a middle relief profile than that of a top-of-the-line closer, but Finnegan’s experience in the ninth inning could still be valuable for a club like the Tigers without an established ninth-inning guy. Will Vest is currently getting the majority of the opportunities in the ninth, but perhaps Finnegan could help ease the load on Vest’s shoulders. There are some things to like in Finnegan’s numbers this season, as well; he’s generating grounders at a strong 48.2% clip, his 64.1% strand rate suggests poor sequencing luck that could lend to strong results going forward, and his 38.8% hard-hit rate is his best figure since 2021.

Finnegan joins what increasingly appears to be a bulk approach to overhauling the bullpen in Detroit. In addition to the veteran closer, the Tigers have traded for Randy Dobnak, Rafael Montero, and Paul Sewald to bolster their bullpen in recent days. Dobnak and Montero are both generally regarded as fringe relievers at this stage of their careers, while Sewald has impressive strikeout rates and closing experience but is expected to be on the injured list with a shoulder strain until September.

Finnegan figures to be the most impactful piece of the group, but he’s a clear step down from some of the more well-regarded arms that have been bandied about as available this summer like David Bednar and Pete Fairbanks, to say nothing of elite closers like Jhoan Duran and Mason Miller who have already been moved. That’s not to say a bigger splash couldn’t be coming down the pipeline at some point before the deadline this afternoon, but with the price tag on top relievers soaring it’s at least possible that Scott Harris’s front office isn’t interested in giving up top talent to acquire bullpen help.

They managed to avoid paying a premium for Finnegan’s services in this deal. In exchange for Finnegan, the Nationals will receive a pair of pitching prospects. Randall is the headliner of the pair, ranked as Detroit’s 15th best prospect by MLB Pipeline. A 22-year-old who was recently promoted to High-A, Detroit’s third-round pick from the 2024 draft has posted a 3.92 ERA in 17 starts across the Single- and High-A levels this year. While Randall is currently starting, there’s some relief risk in his profile due to questions on whether or not his changeup will develop. Sales, meanwhile, was the club’s tenth-round pick in last season’s draft and is unranked within the Tigers’ top 30 prospects at Pipeline.

After posting solid numbers for UNC Wilmington as an amateur, Sales has 2.71 ERA in 66 1/3 innings of work so far this year while striking out 24.1% of his opponents. Both Sales and Randall figure to be in the mix to help out the Nationals’ pitching staff as soon as late next year, though it would hardly be a shock if either hurler didn’t debut until 2027. They join infield prospect Ronny Cruz and outfield prospect Christian Franklin as deadline additions for the Nats after that duo was acquired from the Cubs in exchange for right-hander Michael Soroka last night. Right-hander Clayton Beeter and outfield prospect Browm Martinez have also joined the organization in recent days after the Yankees swung a deal with D.C. to acquire Amed Rosario.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the Tigers were acquiring Finnegan. Andrew Golden of The Washington Post had the return. Image courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images.

Tigers Designate Matt Manning For Assignment

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The Tigers have designated right-hander Matt Manning for assignment, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. The former top prospect’s spot on the roster will go to newly acquired reliever Paul Sewald.

Manning, 27, was the ninth overall pick in the 2016 draft and for years ranked among the game’s top pitching prospects. At one point, he was part of an untouchable trio of pitching prospects in Detroit, alongside former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize and 2024 AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. Things for Manning haven’t panned out. That’s in part due to injuries, but the right-hander has had several opportunities in the majors and has yet to deliver on his former prospect status.

Manning logged big league time each season from 2021-24, starting a total of 50 games for Detroit over those four years. He posted sub-4.00 ERAs in 2022-23 but did so with bottom-of-the-scale strikeout numbers and plenty of hard contact allowed. On the whole, Manning has a 4.43 ERA, 16.4% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 40.4% ground-ball rate in 254 MLB frames.

That collective output is decent, but Manning struggled to a 4.88 ERA in 27 2/3 big league innings last year and has been shelled in Triple-A thus far in 2025. He’s spent the entire year in Toledo but turned in a 6.04 ERA with a gruesome 15.9% walk rate in 50 2/3 innings. Detroit dropped him from the Mud Hens’ rotation back in April and has been using Manning in short relief since May 1, but the results have still been uninspiring: 5.12 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 15.1% walk rate.

This is Manning’s final minor league option year. He can spend as much time in Triple-A for the remainder of the season as a new team would like, but he’ll have to stick on the major league roster with any club that claims/acquires him beginning next season. Manning has four seasons of club control remaining. He can be traded at any point up until this afternoon’s deadline, but after that he’ll need to be placed on waivers. Even with his struggles of late, it seems likely another club would at least take a no-risk flier on him just given his former pedigree — particularly a rebuilding or selling club that frees up several 40-man roster spots with trades of veteran players today.

Tigers Acquire Paul Sewald

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The Tigers are acquiring right-hander Paul Sewald from the Guardians, according to a report from Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Cleveland will receive a player to be named later or cash from Detroit to complete the deal. Buster Olney of ESPN reports that the Tigers are taking on the remainder of Sewald’s contract in its entirety, which Olney estimates is about a $2MM commitment.

Sewald, 35, was one of the better closers in the league with the Mariners just a few short years ago. After debuting with the Mets all the way back in 2017 and spending some time in New York as an up-and-down middle reliever with mediocre results, Sewald came to Seattle in 2021 and pitched to a 2.88 ERA with a 3.34 FIP across 171 2/3 innings of work with the club while racking up 52 saves across parts of three seasons. He was swapped to the Diamondbacks at the 2023 trade deadline and began to struggle after leaving the Pacific Northwest. While he remained a closer for the majority of his time in Arizona and managed to pick up an additional 29 saves during that time, his results were pedestrian as he pitched to a 4.08 ERA with a 4.29 FIP. After striking out 35.0% of his opponents with the Mariners, that figure dropped to just 25.7% during his time with Arizona.

That middling performance in the desert left Sewald to enter free agency last winter in a less than ideal spot. He ended up signing with the Guardians on a one-year, $7MM guarantee back in January but has not lived up to that contract so far. The right-hander has been placed on the injured list due to a right shoulder strain two separate times this year; once back in April and once just two weeks ago. He’s only managed to make 18 appearances around those injury woes, and hasn’t exactly impressed during those outings with a 4.70 ERA and 4.07 FIP across 15 1/3 innings of work. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press writes that Sewald is currently expected to return in early September, meaning he’ll be a late-season addition to the club’s bullpen at best.

All of that explains why the Tigers were able to take Sewald off Cleveland’s hands for little more than salary relief, but it’s still not hard to see why Detroit would be intrigued. The veteran righty is still punching out batters at a high level, with a 29.0% strikeout rate this year. He was managing to keep his walks under control as well, allowing free passes at a 6.5% clip that leaves him with his best K-BB% since 2022. A .297 BABIP that’s slightly elevated by his standards and an extremely low 65.2% strand rate suggest there could be some poor fortune when it comes to batted balls and sequencing baked into Sewald’s lackluster results, offering optimism for better days ahead. Perhaps most importantly, the elevated home run rates that have dogged Sewald throughout his career could be mitigated in Detroit given the cavernous outfield of Comerica Park.

Sewald is the fourth pitcher Detroit has added in recent days, joining relievers Rafael Montero and Randy Dobnak as well as starter Chris Paddack. All four of those additions are relatively low-impact veterans, with Paddack slotting firmly into the back of Detroit’s rotation while Montero and Dobnak are both little more than middle relievers. Sewald has the upside of a quality set-up man, but won’t be able to pitch at all for another month at least. Overall, it’s a volume approach to the deadline for a club that entered the summer with a clear need in the bullpen. Sewald won’t unilaterally solve the Tigers’ need for a late-inning reliever to pair with Will Vest, but he could represent a viable fallback option in case a larger deal for a more impactful piece doesn’t ultimately come together in the final hours before this afternoon’s deadline.

Braves Select Carlos Carrasco

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The Braves announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Carlos Carrasco. The move comes just days after Carrasco was acquired from the Yankees. Additionally, recently-acquired Tyler Kinley has reported to the club and is now active. A corresponding roster move wasn’t necessary to accommodate Carrasco after Atlanta traded right-hander Rafael Montero to the Tigers last night.

Carrasco, a 16-year MLB veteran, was brought in to help the Braves’ beleaguered rotation.  The 38-year-old was picking up Cy Young votes for Cleveland a decade ago, but now he’ll serve as a placeholder for a Braves club that has been decimated by injuries.  Carrasco’s bat-missing days are gone, but he has gone seven innings in each of his last three starts for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Carrasco joined the Yankees in a minor league deal in February, making the team’s Opening Day roster given injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt.  He made six starts and two relief appearances and was designated for assignment by the first week of May.  The Yankees re-added him to the 40-man in June, but bumped him back off before he could make an appearance.  Three days ago, Carrasco was flipped to the Braves for cash considerations.

Carrasco is set to start for the Braves tonight in Cincinnati, one of only three MLB games on the docket for trade deadline day.  That Carrasco and other recent pickups Erick Fedde and Joey Wentz make up 60% of the Braves’ rotation speaks to the injuries the club has accumulated in a disastrous season.  The Braves have a full rotation on the shelf: Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes, Reynaldo Lopez, and AJ Smith-Shawver.  Smith-Shawver is out for the season with Tommy John surgery, and it’s unclear what the team will get this year from the others.

Cubs To Acquire Andrew Kittredge

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July 31: The return for Kittredge is Dominican shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. De La Cruz was just signed by the Cubs earlier this year, securing a $2.3MM bonus, the highest of their 2025 international class. Baseball America lists him as the #20 prospect in the Cubs’ system. He’s a 17-year-old switch-hitter. Listed at 6’3″, BA speculates that he might end up at third base in the long run.

July 30: The Cubs are addressing a need in their bullpen by acquiring Andrew Kittredge from the Orioles, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Kittredge signed a one-year, $9MM deal with the O’s last winter that also includes a $9MM club option (with a $1MM buyout) for the 2026 season.  He has pitched well enough that the Cubs would likely be inclined to exercise that option, and this extra year of control made Kittredge a particularly intriguing asset in the relief market this deadline season.

A minor knee surgery during Spring Training kept Kittredge from making his Baltimore debut until May 21, when the Orioles’ awful start to the season had already made them seem like possible deadline sellers.  Kittredge has a 3.56 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, and 6.5% walk rate over 30 1/3 relief innings for the O’s, with that strikeout rate a notch above his career average from his first eight big league seasons.

Kittredge is 35, and between his age and his lack of a big fastball or big strikeout numbers, this could explain why he had to settle for a relatively modest contract despite a 2.47 ERA over 182 innings during the 2020-24 seasons with the Rays and Cardinals.  Still, Kittredge brings plenty of high-leverage experience to a Chicago relief corps that has been more solid than truly reliable this season.  The emergence of closer Daniel Palencia has been a huge story for the Cubs, and the team has now backed up their young stoppage with a veteran set-up man.

Chicago has been looking far and wide for all sorts of starting and relief options, and in addition to Kittredge, brought Michael Soroka into the fold earlier tonight after a trade with the Nationals.  As pitchers in particular have been flying off the market, the Kittredge/Soroka moves will add depth to the Cubs’ staff, while still allowing the team flexibility to land one more bigger arm before tomorrow’s deadline.

The Orioles have played a big role in the pitching market, as Kittredge joins Gregory Soto, Bryan Baker, and Seranthony Dominguez as relievers dealt in the last few weeks.  Dominguez and Soto were pretty easy calls as trade candidates since they were impending free agents, but Kittredge, Baker, and infielder Ramon Urias (dealt to the Astros tonight) all had years of control remaining, indicating that Baltimore is taking a broad approach to its deadline dealings.  With several other trade chips still on the roster, Baltimore will be one of the more fascinating teams to monitor as the Orioles try to reload for 2026 after a very disappointing 2025 campaign.

Red Sox Acquire Steven Matz

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July 31st: The trade has been officially announced by the Red Sox. Righty Hunter Dobbins has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. Dobbins suffered a season-ending ACL tear earlier this month.

July 30: The Red Sox and Cardinals have agreed to a trade that will send left-hander Steven Matz to Boston, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports.  Corner infield prospect Blaze Jordan is headed to the Cards in return, according to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.  The deal will become official once both sides sign off on the medicals of the players involved.

Matz is a pure rental for the Sox, as the veteran southpaw’s four-year, $44MM contract is up at season’s end.  St. Louis inked Matz to that free agent deal on the heels of his successful 2021 season as a starter with the Blue Jays, but Matz has only started 36 of his 84 career games with the Cards.  Injuries and ineffectiveness have hampered his time in St. Louis, leading the Cardinals to move Matz into more of a swingman role, and he came essentially a full-time reliever this year (save for two spot starts in April).

While Matz didn’t live up to the expectations of his contract, he pitched pretty well in both 2023 and during this season, as the southpaw has a 3.44 ERA over 55 frames in 2025.  Typically a good control pitcher, Matz has taken it a step further with an elite 4.0% walk rate this season, and his 5.3% barrel rate is also excellent.  This ability to limit mistakes and keep the ball on the ground (44.3% grounder rate) has helped balance out more ordinary strikeout and hard-contact rates.

Left-handed batters have only a .442 OPS against Matz this season, while righty hitters have a much more productive .814 OPS.  The gap in splits will be somewhat hard for manager Alex Cora to work around since Matz has so much value as a multi-inning reliever, yet that same durability will help out a Boston pen that has logged a lot of innings bailing out its shaky rotation.  It’s possible the Sox could even turn to Matz again as a part-time starter, though the Red Sox are expected to land more significant starting help prior to tomorrow’s deadline.

Matz is now the fifth left-hander in Boston’s pen, along with Aroldis Chapman, Justin Wilson, Brennan Bernardino, and Chris Murphy.  This depth could give the Sox some flexibility in swinging a trade to a team in need of relief help, with Boston then addressing another need in return.

Chaim Bloom was Boston’s chief baseball officer back when Jordan was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft, and now that Bloom will be taking over at the Cards’ president of baseball operations starting next season, this familiarity undoubtedly helped pave the way for tonight’s trade.  Jordan ranks 17th on MLB Pipeline’s list of Boston’s best prospect, and MLB Pipeline had the corner infielder 24th in their ranking.

Jordan struggled at the Double-A level in both 2023 and 2024 before hitting well this season, and earning his first promotion to Triple-A.  This transition went more smoothly, as Jordan has hit .289/.333/.476 over 177 plate appearances with Worcester while seeing a lot of time at both corner infield slots (primarily third base).  Scouts feel first base is his better position, so Jordan’s future potential will hinge on how well he can keep developing at the plate.  His production in 2025 is a step in the right direction, as the 22-year-old has been much better at turning his raw power into results.

This is the second big bullpen trade of the day for the Cardinals, after Ryan Helsley was shipped to the Mets.  Both deals have brought more young talent into the St. Louis pipeline, which seemed to be the organization’s stated goal heading into last offseason, yet Bloom and current PBO John Mozeliak chose to retain almost all of the Cards’ veteran talent.  In Matz’s case, he wasn’t generating much trade interest given his $12MM salary and his rough 2024 production, so at least Matz’s bounce-back year rebuilt some of his value.

As for future trades, Phil Maton and JoJo Romero have both been rumored to be generating interesting, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see St. Louis move at least one or both relievers before the deadline.  While the Cards are in sell mode, the Red Sox are pushing for at least a wild card slot and hope to make a run at the AL East title, with pitching known to be Boston’s primary target.

Mariners To Acquire Eugenio Suarez

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The Mariners and Diamondbacks are reportedly in agreement on a trade that’ll send Eugenio Suárez back to Seattle. The D-Backs are getting rookie first baseman Tyler Locklear, reliever Juan Burgos and minor league pitcher Hunter Cranton in return. The deal is expected to be officially announced on Thursday.

Seattle has made a Suárez reunion their top deadline priority. They’ll get their man, bringing back a two-time All-Star who combined for 53 home runs in a Mariners uniform between 2022-23. The M’s made the regrettable decision to trade Suárez away after the ’23 season. That netted hard-throwing middle reliever Carlos Vargas but was primarily motivated by a desire to shed the $13MM that remained on the third baseman’s contract at the time.

While Suárez started his Arizona tenure slow, he’s been one of the best hitters on the planet dating back to the middle of last summer. Over the past calendar year, Suárez has hit 53 home runs with a .273/.332/.589 slash line. He’s tied with Kyle Schwarber and teammate Cal Raleigh for third in MLB in homers during that stretch. Only Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have hit more. Suárez went on such a tear in the second half last year that the D-Backs had an easy call to bring him back on a $15MM club option that once looked likelier to be bought out.

Suárez has shown no signs of slowing down at age 34. He has mashed at a .248/.321/.577 clip across 433 plate appearances. He and Raleigh are tied for the MLB lead with 87 runs batted in. Only Raleigh, Ohtani, Judge and Schwarber have more home runs. He’d led the American League in strikeouts during both seasons in his first run with Seattle. The 12-year big league veteran has trimmed his strikeout rate by a few percentage points in Arizona. There’s still a decent amount of swing-and-miss, but it’s not at the same rate that surely alarmed the M’s front office a couple years ago.

The Diamondbacks were on the fringe of the NL Wild Card race as recently as two weeks ago. A sweep at the hands of the Astros sealed their fate as deadline sellers. Houston’s division rivals have ironically been the big beneficiary. The D-Backs began their sell-off by dealing Josh Naylor to Seattle last week. He displaced Luke Raley as the starting first baseman. Suárez rejoins him as an impact corner infield tandem. It’ll likely push light-hitting rookie infielder Ben Williamson back to Triple-A.

Seattle now runs out a lineup including Raleigh, Suárez, Naylor, Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford. Right fielder Dominic Canzone has mashed since being called up from Triple-A in early June. It’s the imposing lineup that Seattle has tried for years to build alongside their elite rotation.

The M’s are nevertheless far from guaranteed to make the playoffs. They’re currently tied with the Rangers for the AL’s last Wild Card spot and sit five games back of Houston in the division race. They’ve poked around the market for another late-inning reliever. Seattle added left-hander Caleb Ferguson to the bullpen on Wednesday evening, but he’s more of a complementary piece. If the Mariners have another big move in them, it’d probably be in the late innings.

The Mariners are taking on nearly $5MM in salary still owed to Suárez for the stretch run. They assumed almost $4MM on Naylor and close to $1MM for Ferguson. It’s a significant change from an offseason in which ownership left the front office without much budgetary flexibility. They’re all-in as they try to capitalize on Raleigh turning in one of the greatest seasons ever by a catcher. Suárez and Naylor might be the two best impending free agent hitters to move. The acquisition should be very well received in the clubhouse, as Suárez is a highly-regarded teammate with whom much of the roster is familiar.

Seattle gave up a trio of players to make that happen. Locklear, 24, is the most intriguing. He’s a righty-hitting first baseman who could replace Naylor as Arizona’s long-term answer at that position. Seattle took the Virginia Commonwealth product in the second round in 2022. The 24-year-old doesn’t have much big league experience. He appeared in 16 games last season, hitting .156 while striking out 20 times in 49 plate appearances.

Plenty of hitters struggle in their first look at MLB pitching. Locklear has posted excellent minor league numbers. He’s a career .291/.392/.502 hitter against minor league arms. That includes a huge .316/.401/.542 showing in Triple-A this season. Locklear has connected on 19 home runs in 434 plate appearances. Seattle just recalled him this afternoon to replace Raley, who went down with back spasms. Instead, he’s off to Arizona, where he’ll probably jump directly onto the MLB roster.

Burgos, 25, could also get an MLB look in the near future. Seattle called up the 6’0″ righty in late June. Burgos didn’t get much of a look over a three-week stint in the big league bullpen. He made four appearances, working 6 2/3 frames of three-run ball with eight strikeouts. Burgos showed a five-pitch mix built around a low-90s cutter and a mid-90s sinker.

He doesn’t have elite velocity for a bullpen prospect, but he has punched out an above-average 26.1% of batters faced over 31 innings between the top two minor league levels. Burgos has an absurd 0.87 earned run average in that stretch. Baseball America ranked him 25th among Seattle prospects, while he placed 17th at MLB Pipeline. Both outlets feel he’s a low-variance middle relief type.

Cranton is further off. Seattle drafted him in the third round last summer out of the University of Kansas. He was an underslot signee as a senior draft pick. MLB Pipeline ranked the 6’3″ righty as the #16 prospect in the Seattle system. He placed 23rd on Eric Longenhagen’s writeup at FanGraphs last month. He did not rank among BA’s top 30. Cranton has an upper-90s fastball and a slider. He was on the minor league injured through the end of June after being struck in the head by a comebacker during Spring Training, Longenhagen notes.

None of the three players are top-end prospects. The lack of a true headliner might come as a disappointment to Arizona fans, but it reflects teams’ general reluctance to give up elite young talent for rentals. The D-Backs added a pair of controllable players who could play meaningful roles as they try to return to competitiveness in 2026. In the meantime, they’ll eventually get their first real look at third base prospect Jordan Lawlar. Lawlar isn’t quite ready to return from a June hamstring injury that sent him to the Triple-A injured list, but he should get 4-6 weeks of everyday playing time to close the season.

Arizona has traded three impending free agents: Naylor, Suárez and Randal Grichuk. They’ll move at least one and possibly both of Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly tomorrow. They could also try to move an outfielder or short-term relievers like the currently injured Shelby Miller or Kevin Ginkel. There’s plenty more to come from the Snakes over the next 18 hours.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Mariners were reacquiring Suárez. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com had the return going to Arizona. Images courtesy of Imagn Images.

Astros Re-Sign Luis Guillorme

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TODAY: The Astros re-signed Guillorme to a new minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Sugar Land.

JULY 28: Infielder Luis Guillorme is a free agent, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. He cleared waivers, and the Astros outrighted him off their 40-man roster earlier today. The veteran rejected the outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Guillorme, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Astros in the offseason and spent the first three months of the 2025 season at Triple-A Sugar Land, eventually getting the call back to the majors mid-June. He went 3-for-20 (.150) over 12 games with Houston before he landed on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. After he played two games on a rehab assignment last week, the Astros decided they didn’t have a role for him and cut him from their 40-man roster.

Although he has never made much of an impact at the plate, Guillorme made a name for himself over his tenure with the Mets thanks to an above-average glove and valuable versatility. He has played at least 50 career games at second base, third base, and shortstop, racking up a total of 9 OAA. That has helped him earn MLB playing time in each of the past eight seasons despite a career .248/.333/.318 batting line (88 wRC+). Following a six-year stint in Queens from 2018-23, Guillorme bounced between the Braves, Angels, and Diamondbacks in 2024. After departing the Astros organization, he will now be able to try to bounce his way into another big league opportunity.

By removing Guillorme and Jon Singleton from their 40-man roster, the Astros now have a pair of open spots to play with. That will make it easier for them to make some major league additions at the trade deadline and/or to reinstate some of their many players on the 60-day IL.

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