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Diamondbacks To Select Trevor Richards

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The Diamondbacks are selecting the contract of right-hander Trevor Richards from Triple-A Reno, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports. Alex Weiner of AZSports.com noted yesterday that Richards had a locker set up in the big league clubhouse during yesterday’s optional team workout at Chase Field. Catcher Adrian Del Castillo is also being recalled from Reno. Gambadoro adds that third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who had an injury scare when he was plunked on the hand in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, will be in tonight’s lineup for the D-backs.

Richards is now with his third organization of the season, having also spent time with the Royals and Cubs. He tossed three big league innings with Kansas City but was tagged for four runs in that small sample. That’s his only big league time this year. He’s spent the rest of the season between the Triple-A affiliates for those three clubs, pitching to a collective 5.12 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.

The 32-year-old Richards has pitched in each of the past eight major league seasons, though he hasn’t had much success since 2021. He sports a 5.05 ERA in 205 innings dating back to Opening Day 2022. He’s set down 28.2% of his opponents on strikes in that time but has also issued walks to 12% of the hitters he’s faced and surrendered an average of 1.27 homers per nine innings pitched.

Arizona’s bullpen has been decimated by injury. A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez both underwent UCL surgeries last month. Jalen Beeks is out with a lower back issue, and Ryan Thompson hit the 15-day IL due to a shoulder injury a couple weeks back. Shelby Miller is on the 15-day IL due to a forearm strain.

Richards doesn’t have a strong recent track record, but he’s bee a serviceable middle reliever at various points in his career and at the very least can miss bats at a solid clip. His above-average changeup makes him a quality option against lefties — more so than versus righties — which probably holds extra appeal to the D-backs with both Puk and Beeks out of action. Andrew Saalfrank and 27-year-old rookie Kyle Backhus are the only lefties in manager Torey Lovullo’s bullpen and the only healthy left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster at the moment, so adding a righty who has a nice track record against southpaws makes some sense.

As for Del Castillo, it’s not yet clear what sort of corresponding move there is with regard to the catching corps. He’d be an upgrade offensively over Jose Herrera, who has been sharing catching duties with veteran James McCann while Gabriel Moreno’s broken finger heals. Neither Herrera nor McCann can be optioned — Herrera because he’s out of minor league options and McCann because players with five-plus year of MLB service cannot be sent down without their consent. McCann has more than 10 years of major league service time.

The 25-year-old Del Castillo made his MLB debut last year and hit .313/.368/.525 with four homers in 87 plate appearances. He’s slashing .288/.386/.559 in 70 plate appearances but has spent the bulk of the season on the minor league injured list. Herrera (.197/.302/.268) has struggled greatly at the plate but is a better defensive option. McCann has just 31 plate appearances since signing in the wake of that Moreno injury but has gone 9-for-24 with a pair of homers and a pair of doubles (.375/.516/.708).

Mets Reinstate Brooks Raley, Designate Richard Lovelady For Assignment

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The Mets announced that left-hander Brooks Raley has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Fellow lefty Richard Lovelady has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Raley, 37, has been a solid lefty reliever for a few years now. He was working as a starter in Korea from 2015 to 2019 but returned to affiliated ball after that. He spent time with the Reds, Astros and Rays before coming to the Mets for the 2023 season.

His first season as a Met was a good one. He pitched 54 2/3 innings with a 2.80 earned run average. His 10.6% walk rate was a bit high but he punched out 25.8% of opponents and got grounders at a 43% clip. That was impressive enough that the Mets picked up his $6.5MM club option for 2024. Unfortunately, he made just eight appearances last year. He landed on the injured list due to elbow inflammation and eventually required Tommy John surgery.

He remained unsigned throughout this offseason but re-signed with the Mets in late April, a one-year deal with a $1.85MM guarantee. That comes in the form of a $1.5MM salary this year followed by a $300K buyout on a $4.75MM club option for 2026. There are also bonuses in the deal, including a $250K roster bonus that he unlocked by being added to the active roster today.

The Mets came into the year with A.J. Minter and Danny Young as their lefty relief contingent. Shortly after the Raley deal was agreed to, both Minter and Young hit the IL. Minter required season-ending lat surgery while Young required Tommy John surgery.

As Raley has been rehabbing, the Mets have cycled through a number of stopgap lefties, including Lovelady, Génesis Cabrera, José Castillo and Colin Poche. Ideally, Raley can get back to his pre-surgery form and give the club a reliable southpaw out of the ’pen. For what it’s worth, he just threw nine scoreless innings in the minors during his rehab assignment, with a 36.1% strikeout rate, 2.8% walk rate and 52.6% ground ball rate. Regardless of how he performs over the next few weeks, the Mets will likely look to add another lefty or two prior to the deadline.

Lovelady, 30, is out of options and has been been on the fringes of a few rosters this year. He started with the Blue Jays but made just two appearances for them before getting designated for assignment. He elected free agency and landed a minor league deal with the Twins, though he opted out of that in mid-June.

Since then, he has twice signed with the Mets. After the first signing, he made one appearance before being designated for assignment and electing free agency. He re-signed a few days later and the second stint lasted a bit longer, allowing him to make five appearances.

On the whole, he has a 10.80 ERA this year, though it’s a small sample of 8 1/3 innings and most of the damage came in his second outing of the season. During his stint with the Twins, he tossed 20 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.31 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 60.4% ground ball rate. Based on his recent track record, it’s possible he will again clear waivers and elect free agency in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

Giants To Select Matt Gage

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The Giants are selecting the contract of left-handed reliever Matt Gage, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. They’ll need to open spots on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters to make his promotion official.

Gage, 32, signed a minor league deal with San Francisco early this month after he elected free agency following an outright by the Tigers. He’s tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings with the Giants’ Triple-A club — a nice follow-up to the 5 2/3 shutout innings he delivered for Detroit’s big league club this season. Gage has pitched in parts of three MLB campaigns but has only 25 1/3 innings under his belt despite a tidy 1.42 earned run average in that time. He’s fanned 22.5% of his opponents against a 10.8% walk rate.

With Erik Miller on the injured list due to an elbow sprain, the Giants have veterans Joey Lucchesi and Scott Alexander as lefty options in skipper Bob Melvin’s bullpen. Lucchesi has pitched well, holding opponents to three runs in 10 innings. Alexander has pitched just 1 1/3 innings through two appearances and allowed one run. The Giants just added him to the roster shortly before the break.

Gage is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to either stick in the big league bullpen or else be designated for assignment and placed back on waivers. The Giants have a clear need for some left-handed bullpen help, so he should have an opportunity, though president of baseball operations Buster Posey and general manager Zack Minasian could also look to the trade market in the next two weeks to bring in a more established left-handed bullpen presence.

Cubs To Sign Spencer Turnbull

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The Cubs are in agreement on a deal with right-hander Spencer Turnbull, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He was released by the Blue Jays late last month. It’s not yet clear whether the Boras Corporation client is headed to the Cubs on a big league contract or a minor league deal. Either way, he’ll provide some depth to a rotation that has seen several injuries this season.

The 32-year-old Turnbull enjoyed a strong showing with the 2024 Phillies, pitching to a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings but missing ample time on the injured list. He lingered in free agency throughout the entire offseason and only signed with Toronto in early May, well after the season was underway, for a prorated $1.27MM salary. The Jays ultimately received only three appearances for that modest investment. Turnbull struggled in the minors while ramping up and couldn’t get on track in his limited MLB work either, yielding five runs on 12 hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 big league frames.

Turnbull’s velocity never got up to its typical levels, though that’s perhaps not a huge surprise for a late signee who went through an accelerated buildup. The right-hander sat 89.7 mph with his four-seamer in the minors and was up to 90.9 mph in the majors — both noticeably south of the 92 mph he averaged in Philadelphia last year and the 92.9 mph at which he sat with the Tigers in 2023.

Although this year’s performance doesn’t stand out, Turnbull has been a generally productive pitcher when healthy enough to take the mound. He posted a 4.61 ERA and 3.99 FIP in his first full season at the majors with Detroit back in 2019, tossing 148 1/3 frames. From 2020-24, Turnbull improved to a 3.84 ERA with a 22% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate –albeit in a sample of just 192 innings over that five-year period.

Injuries have regularly interrupted Turnbull’s path to establishing himself as a credible big league starter. He missed the entire 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery and has also had notable Il stints in his career for lat, back, shoulder, forearm and neck injuries. Turnbull has worked primarily as a starter in the majors — 68 starts, 13 relief outings — but still has only 363 innings under his belt due to that deluge of health troubles.

The Cubs aren’t going to blindly count on Turnbull to hold down a rotation spot from this point forth, but he’ll give them another option to evaluate at a time when Justin Steele is done for the season and when Javier Assad (oblique) and Jameson Taillon (calf) are on the injured list. Assad has yet to pitch this season. Chicago also recently optioned young righty Ben Brown to Triple-A amid some notable struggles.

At the moment, the Cubs’ rotation includes Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton and Colin Rea. Swingman Chris Flexen made a spot start last Friday but has otherwise been used in long relief, where he’s been excellent. The Cubs are widely expected to add at least one starter — if not two — between now and the July 31 trade deadline. The signing of Turnbull doesn’t change that likelihood but does add some further depth in the event of additional injuries to the current staff.

Rangers Trade Dane Dunning To Braves

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The Rangers announced they’ve traded Dane Dunning to the Braves for minor league reliever José Ruiz and cash. Atlanta designated Jesse Chavez for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Ruiz was outrighted last month. Texas’ roster count technically drops to 38 but will climb back to 39 tomorrow when they select the contract of first baseman Rowdy Tellez.

It’s a salary dump for the Rangers. Dunning has fallen out of favor over the past two seasons. The former first-round pick tossed 172 2/3 innings of 3.70 ERA ball during the World Series season two years ago. He only managed a 5.31 mark in 95 frames last season. While Texas tendered him a contract, Dunning had to take a very rare arbitration pay cut to ensure the Rangers didn’t move on.

That didn’t get him a spot on the Opening Day roster. The 30-year-old Dunning gave up 10 runs in 11 innings during Spring Training. Texas waived him at the end of camp in the hope that another team would take his $2.66MM salary. No one bit, and he has spent most of the year in Triple-A.

Dunning was called up in April, again cleared waivers in May, and was selected back onto the roster last month. He has been limited to five MLB appearances, all out of the bullpen, and has allowed four runs across 10 2/3 innings. He has worked as a starter in the minors, pitching to a 4.47 ERA over 46 1/3 frames in the Pacific Coast League. Dunning has punched out 24% of Triple-A opponents against a 9% walk rate.

The Rangers were unlikely to give Dunning anything more than mop-up work. He had fallen behind Patrick Corbin, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker at the back of the rotation. Texas expects to get Jon Gray back from a wrist fracture in the next week or two. Dunning has a much better path to a rotation spot on an Atlanta team that has been decimated by injuries.

They’re without Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo López and AJ Smith-Shawver. They’ve given 15 starts to Bryce Elder, who has a near-6.00 ERA. Davis Daniel made his first start of the season just before the All-Star Break. He’s the nominal fourth starter behind Spencer Strider, Grant Holmes and Elder. They pressed 20-year-old Didier Fuentes into MLB work for which he was clearly not ready. He’s now back in Triple-A.

Dunning has been a capable back-end starter in the past. It seems he’ll work in long relief initially, as the Braves tabbed swingman Joey Wentz to start on Saturday against the Yankees. Dunning still has an option remaining. He’ll be eligible for arbitration at least once more. There’s a decent chance the Braves will non-tender him regardless, but they didn’t give up anything of note to acquire him.

Ruiz, 30, is a journeyman reliever. He managed a 3.71 ERA while striking out 24% of opponents over 52 appearances for the Phillies last season. Things went off the rails this year, as he has allowed 17 runs in 16 1/3 MLB innings. Atlanta claimed him off waivers from Philadelphia but waived him themselves after he gave up three runs in one inning during his second appearance with the club. He has since tossed 7 2/3 innings of four-run ball in Triple-A. The Rangers assigned him to their top affiliate in Round Rock.

The Phillies and Ruiz agreed to a $1.225MM arbitration salary. The Braves assumed that when they claimed him. Atlanta is paying down an unspecified portion of that sum. Dunning is owed roughly $1MM for the rest of the season, while Ruiz is owed about $450K. A direct swap without cash considerations would’ve knocked about $550K off the Rangers’ books. They’ll save a bit more than that depending on the amount of money that the Braves are covering.

It’s a small amount by MLB standards. However, as MLBTR pointed out in tonight’s preview of the Rangers deadline for Front Office subscribers, Texas should be motivated to cut spending around the fringe of the roster. Ownership clearly wants the front office to remain below the $241MM base luxury tax threshold. RosterResource calculated their CBT number a little above $234MM before tonight’s deal. That’s an unofficial estimate that doesn’t account for incentives that’ll add to the team’s tax number as they’re unlocked down the stretch.

The Rangers need to add at least one impact bat if they’re going to make a playoff push. They should probably acquire multiple hitters and would benefit from bringing in a power arm at the back of the bullpen. Dunning was the most obvious player for a pure salary dump as deadline season approaches. Gray, Adolis García and Jonah Heim could be candidates for a payroll-cutting trade as well, though they have (or will have, in Gray’s case) a bigger role than Dunning was playing.

As for Chavez, he’ll go back on waivers for the third time this year. There’s a good chance he’ll clear, elect free agency, then re-sign with Atlanta on a minor league contract. The 41-year-old righty has given up eight runs in as many innings over four MLB appearances this season. He has a 2.05 ERA across 30 2/3 innings in the minors.

Image courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images.

Brewers Outright Drew Avans

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Brewers outfielder Drew Avans was outrighted to Triple-A Nashville, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Milwaukee designated him for assignment on Sunday when Blake Perkins returned from the 60-day injured list.

Milwaukee picked up Avans on a waiver claim from the A’s last month. The rookie outfielder went 0-2 in his only big league appearance before being optioned. He has made 23 appearances with Nashville, hitting .261/.358/.391 in 106 trips to the plate. While that’s serviceable production on the surface, Avans has struck out 32 times. He’d only punched out in 14% of his plate appearances with the A’s top farm team earlier in the year.

Before this season, the 29-year-old Avans had played in the Dodgers’ system. He’s a former 33rd-round draft pick who has stolen a decent number of bases but struggled to make contact in his minor league career. Avans signed an offseason minor league contract with the A’s and earned an MLB call by hitting .328/.414/.444 in Triple-A. This is his first career outright, so he’ll remain in the Milwaukee organization and try to play his way back onto the roster. He would become a free agent at the end of the season if the Brewers don’t reselect his contract.

Red Sox, Ronaldo Hernandez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox are bringing catcher Ronaldo Hernández back to the organization on a minor league contract, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The 27-year-old was released from a minor league deal with the Yankees a couple weeks ago. He had a three-day stint in the Mexican League before returning to the affiliated ranks. He’ll report to Triple-A Worcester.

Hernández was once a highly-regarded prospect in the Tampa Bay system. The Rays dealt him to the Red Sox in advance of the 2021 season. That turned out to be a lopsided deal in Tampa Bay’s favor, as they landed Jeffrey Springs in that four-player swap. Boston also acquired infielder Nick Sogard, while the Rays picked up reliever Chris Mazza. Hernández spent a couple seasons on Boston’s 40-man roster but went through outright waivers after the ’22 campaign.

The Colombia native played the ’23 season in Worcester. He spent last year in the Arizona system and made 25 Triple-A appearances in the Yankees organization earlier this year. He hit .221 with a pair of home runs. Hernández now carries a .264/.324/.453 slash line in nearly 1200 plate appearances at the top minor league level. He has been called to the majors twice (both by the Red Sox in 2022) but hasn’t made it into a game.

Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong are Boston’s only catchers on the 40-man roster. The Sox traded depth catcher Blake Sabol to the White Sox over the weekend. Hernández backfills alongside defensive specialist Seby Zavala in Worcester. Zavala would probably be the first man up if either Narváez or Wong sustain an injury.

Corbin Martin Elects Free Agency

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The Orioles announced Thursday that right-hander Corbin Martin, whom they designated for assignment this past Sunday, has cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’s now a free agent.

The 29-year-old Martin appeared in one game for the O’s — his first time on a big league mound since the 2022 season with the D-backs. The former second-round pick was one of four players traded by the Astros to Arizona in 2019’s Zack Greinke trade. Martin was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time of that trade and was ultimately unable to establish himself with the Diamondbacks. He’s pitched 57 2/3 innings in the big leagues to this point in his career (including his quick look with the O’s) and carries a 6.56 ERA, a 19.4% strikeout rate and a 13.4% walk rate.

The Orioles claimed Martin off waivers from the Brewers last June. He’s pitched 32 1/3 innings with a 5.29 ERA in Triple-A Norfolk this year. That includes a strong run from May 30 to the time of his call to the majors, during which he rattled off 12 innings of one-run ball with an 11-to-4 K/BB ratio. Overall, Martin has set down 23% of his opponents on strikes against a 10.4% walk rate. In parts of five Triple-A seasons, Martin has a 5.18 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate in a total of 217 1/3 innings.

Rays Select Joey Gerber

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1:35pm: Gerber indeed had an upward mobility clause in his contract, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. That provision forces the Rays to either grant Gerber his release or add him to the 40-man roster if there’s another team willing to sign him to its own 40-man roster. Gerber seemingly had interest from another team, then, and forced the issue with the Rays.

1:15pm: The Rays have selected the contract of right-hander Joey Gerber and transferred fellow righty Hunter Bigge from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to clear space on the 40-man roster, per a team announcement. Gerber was immediately optioned back to Triple-A Durham, where he’d previously been pitching.

An addition to the 40-man and immediate option back to the minors — the A’s made the same move with outfielder Carlos Cortes yesterday — likely indicates that Gerber’s minor league contract contained a mid-July opt-out clause. Such provisions are common at the season’s midpoint and typically give the team 24 to 48 hours to decide whether to add the player to the 40-man roster or grant him his release.

Gerber, 28, made a brief major league debut with the 2020 Mariners — the team that originally drafted him in the eighth round back in 2018. He pitched 15 2/3 innings and logged a 4.02 ERA but with a dismal 9.7% strikeout rate against a solid 8.1% walk rate.

Gerber’s minor league run-prevention and strikeout numbers were excellent and would likely have gotten him a look in subsequent seasons had he remained healthy. That wasn’t the case. He missed all of 2021 following back surgery and pitched just one inning in 2022 due to a forearm strain that eventually resulted in Tommy John surgery that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign as well.

After a nearly three-year layoff from pitching, Gerber signed a minor league deal with the Yankees for the 2024 season. He pitched 33 1/3 innings of 2.43 ERA ball across four levels, fanning 28.2% of his opponents and issuing walks at a 12.2% rate. He didn’t get a call to the majors and wound up becoming a minor league free agent, ultimately signing with Tampa Bay in mid-December.

Gerber’s earned run average is up to 4.73 with the Rays in 2025, but his strikeout and walks numbers are better than they were in the Yankees’ system. He’s punched out a comparable 28.6% of his opponents but trimmed his walk rate to a much leaner 8.9% mark. The 93.8 mph Gerber is averaging on his four-seamer in 2025 is actually a half-mile improvement over the 93.3 mph he averaged during his brief debut effort with the 2020 Mariners.

This is the second of Gerber’s three option years. Now that he’s on the 40-man roster, he can be shuttled freely between the Rays’ major league club and Triple-A Durham affiliate both this year and next. He’ll be in the mix the next time the Rays need a fresh arm and could be an option to claim a larger role depending on what happens at the trade deadline.

Tampa Bay is three games over .500 and 1.5 back from a Wild Card spot. They’re generally expected to operate primarily on the buy side, but they rode a four-game losing streak into the All-Star break and are generally open to listen on veterans even during contending seasons. A trade of an impending free agent like starter Zack Littell, for instance, could push a current bullpen member like Ian Seymour or Joe Boyle into the rotation. Ace Shane McClanahan is on the mend from a triceps injury and could step into any rotation vacancy that opens up, but further injuries and/or a trade of a veteran reliever with dwindling club control (e.g. Pete Fairbanks, Garrett Cleavinger) could lead to additional opportunities for Gerber and other depth arms.

The 27-year-old Bigge’s move to the 60-day IL is a formality. He’s been out since May 1 due to a lat strain and has thus already spent more than 60 days on the injured list. He’s pitched to a 2.51 ERA in 32 1/3 MLB frames between the Cubs and Rays since making his debut with Chicago last year and being traded to Tampa Bay at the 2024 deadline. He resumed baseball activity late last month and will continue to work toward a late-season return.

Rangers To Select Rowdy Tellez

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The Rangers will select the contract of first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez to the major league roster to start the second half, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’ll step into the active roster spot of first baseman Jake Burger, who hit the injured list yesterday due to a strained left quadriceps. Texas has an open spot on the 40-man roster to facilitate that move.

Tellez, 30, opened the season with the division-rival Mariners but was designated for assignment and released earlier in the summer. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers on July 5 and has gone 5-for-15 with a pair of long balls in his brief time with their Triple-A Round Rock affiliate.

Tellez hit for power with the Mariners but struggled to get on base and turned in poor defensive marks at first base. He hit .208/.249/.434 and popped 11 round-trippers in 185 plate appearances. All but 14 of those turns at the plate for Tellez, who has pronounced career platoon splits, came against right-handed pitching. He’ll likely require a right-handed-hitting complement of some sort. Utilityman Ezequiel Duran presents an option in that regard, though he’s been more productive against fellow righties than in traditional platoon matchups in his career. Down in Triple-A, Blaine Crim and Justin Foscue offer righty bats with experience at first base.

Tellez has appeared in parts of eight MLB seasons and has more than six years of major league service. He’s a career .232/.299/.436 hitter in 2490 plate appearances. Tellez’s best season came with the 2022 Brewers, when he slugged 35 home runs in 599 plate appearances. He’s slashed just .226/.286/.394 (86 wRC+) with 37 home runs in 957 trips to the plate since that time.

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