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Marlins Acquire Michael Petersen From Braves

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The Marlins announced that they’ve acquired reliever Michael Petersen from the Braves for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville. Miami transferred righty reliever Jesus Tinoco to the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot. According to the MLB.com transaction log, the Fish also outrighted veteran catcher Rob Brantly to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. Brantly was quietly designated for assignment earlier this week.

Atlanta had designated Petersen for assignment last week. The 31-year-old righty pitched four times for the Braves. He tossed 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball, striking out five with a pair of walks. Petersen has spent more of the season with their top affiliate in Gwinnett. He has turned in a 3.13 ERA with a solid 25.7% strikeout rate and a 7% walk percentage in the minors. It’s his second straight impressive Triple-A season. He fired 33 innings of 1.64 ERA ball while punching out more than a third of opponents there last year.

This will be Petersen’s second stint with Miami. The Fish grabbed him off waivers from the Dodgers last September. Petersen pitched five times, giving up four runs (three earned) through 5 2/3 frames. He was in the major league bullpen for the final two and a half weeks of the season. They lost him on waivers to the Blue Jays at the beginning of the offseason. Petersen subsequently made his way to the Angels and Braves in minor transactions before heading back to Miami.

Petersen stands at 6’7″ and averages 97 MPH with his fastball. He uses the heater and a low-90s cutter as his two offerings. While he hasn’t missed many bats in his scattered MLB action, he has shown notable strikeout upside in Triple-A. He’s in his second of three option years and has less than one year of MLB service.

Tinoco has been out since June 3 due to a forearm strain. He has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment, though he has been throwing for the past couple weeks (via the MLB.com injury tracker). This is a procedural transfer that officially rules him out until the first week of August. Tinoco is multiple weeks away from a return anyways, as he’ll need to progress through bullpen and batting practice sessions before he goes on a rehab stint.

MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola first reported that the Marlins were acquiring Petersen for cash and optioning him.

A’s Select Carlos Cortes

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The A’s have selected the contract of outfielder Carlos Cortes from Triple-A Las Vegas and immediately optioned him back to Vegas, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s now on the 40-man roster but is not yet getting a call to the major leagues for his debut. Right-hander Grant Holman was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Cortes, 28, was a 2018 third-rounder with the Mets. He became a minor league free agent following the 2024 season and signed a minor league contract with the A’s back in November. The unusual nature of today’s addition to the 40-man roster and immediate option back to Triple-A suggests that Cortes may have had an opt-out in his contract.

The Athletics’ signing of Cortes has worked out well so far. He’s turned in a terrific .321/.418/.603 slash (140 wRC+) in 299 plate appearances thus far in Triple-A. Cortes’ 16 home runs tie a career-high, and his 13.7% strikeout rate is an even match with his career-low 13.7% strikeout rate. He’s been on a tear of late, including a Pacific Coast League Player of the Week nod in late June (on the heels of a week in which he recorded back-to-back four-hit games). Over his past 30 games, Cortes boasts a ridiculous .403/.500/.773 batting line.

That huge production and his selection to the 40-man roster now has Cortes on the cusp of a potential big league debut. He’s played the outfield corners exclusively this season. The A’s are generally set there for the time being, with Lawrence Butler in right and Tyler Soderstrom handling left field on most days. Cortes could eventually emerge as a bench option, particularly if the A’s wind up trading veteran bench players Gio Urshela and/or Miguel Andujar before this month’s deadline.

Holman, 25, was placed on the 15-day IL in mid-June due to tendinitis in his rotator cuff. He’s pitched 23 2/3 innings for the A’s this season and yielded a 5.09 ERA with a 16.5% strikeout rate, an 8.7% walk rate and a 43.4% ground-ball rate. He’s tossed a total of 38 2/3 MLB frames dating back to last year’s debut and has a 4.66 ERA in that time. Holman posted a dazzling 0.55 ERA in 48 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last season and has fired 9 1/3 shutout innings in Triple-A this year. The move to the 60-day IL doesn’t reset his timetable; he’s already been out close to a month and will now be eligible to return on Aug. 18.

Orioles Claim Elvin Rodriguez

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The Orioles announced Wednesday that they have claimed right-hander Elvin Rodriguez off waivers from the Brewers and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. Milwaukee designated Rodriguez for assignment last week. Baltimore now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.

Milwaukee signed Rodriguez, 27, to a split major league contract in the offseason. He’d spent the 2023-24 seasons pitching well enough in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to command a 40-man spot in his return to North American ball, but his time with the Brewers organization has been a struggle. He’s pitched in six big league games (two of them starts) and been tattooed for 18 runs on 23 hits and seven walks in 18 2/3 innings. A whopping seven of those hits were long balls.

Rodriguez has fared far better in Triple-A, where he’s pitched 29 2/3 innings and notched a respectable 4.25 ERA. His 20.3% strikeout rate in Nashville effectively matches his 20.2% mark in the majors, but he’s also logged a tidy 4.9% walk rate in Triple-A. Homers have been an issue there as well, however; he’s yielded another seven round-trippers in those 29 2/3 frames (2.12 HR/9). Rodriguez sits around 94 mph with his four-seamer and pairs that pitch with a cutter, slider, curveball and changeup.

Prior to his time with the Brewers, Rodriguez made his MLB debut with the 2022 Tigers (29 2/3 innings) and pitched even more briefly with the 2023 Rays (3 1/3 innings). He’s allowed more than a run per inning in his 51 2/3 big league frames but has a nice track record in Triple-A and turned in a sparkling 1.80 ERA in 45 innings pitching in Japan. He’s worked both as a starter and reliever but has been used primarily in stints of one to two innings recently. The righty’s last appearance of more than two innings, in either Triple-A or the big leagues, was back on May 7 when he tossed 3 1/3 innings.

Rodriguez is in the second of three minor league option years and will give the Orioles some flexible bullpen depth for the time being. If the O’s wind up trading rental arms like Charlie Morton, Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano, he could stretch back out as a depth option for the rotation in the season’s second half. He’ll also be a candidate to fill some innings in the ’pen if the O’s trade Gregory Soto, Andrew Kittredge or Seranthony Dominguez — all of whom are potential free agents at season’s end (though Kittredge has a 2026 club option).

Marlins Designate Rob Brantly For Assignment

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The Marlins have reinstated catcher Rob Brantly from the 60-day injured list, per their transaction log at MLB.com. Rather than add him back to the active roster — Brantly is out of minor league options and thus can’t simply be sent to Triple-A Jacksonville — Miami has designated the veteran catcher for assignment.

Brantly, 36, appeared in three games for the Fish back in April, going 3-for-7 at the plate. It was a brief run back in the big leagues, but Brantly’s stay in the majors was extended because he suffered a lat strain during that quick call-up. He wound up needing a stint on the 60-day injured list, so what may have been a weeklong stay on the roster wound up stretching into more than two months of major league service time for the journeyman backstop.

Brantly has appeared in parts of 10 major league seasons but has just 141 games under his belt. He’s a career .226/.286/.323 hitter in the big leagues and carries a .266/.324/.390 batting line in 2743 Triple-A plate appearances spread across parts of 13 seasons. The Marlins have five days to trade Brantly, place him on outright waivers or release him. He’s likely to pass through waivers unclaimed and would then have the right to reject a minor league assignment or accept an assignment back to Jacksonville, where he’d continue filling a depth role.

Pirates Trade Adam Frazier To Royals

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10:45am: The teams have announced the trade. Pittsburgh optioned Devanney to Triple-A Indianapolis.

9:27am: The Royals are set to acquire infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier from the Pirates, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Kansas City will send infielder Cam Devanney back to Pittsburgh in the trade. Devanney was just selected to the major league roster by the Royals eight days ago but has not appeared in a big league game. Since both players being exchanged are on their respective teams’ 40-man rosters, neither club will need a corresponding move to make the swap official.

It’s a reunion for Frazier and the Royals, as the now-33-year-old veteran spent the 2024 season with Kansas City, struggling to a .202/.282/.294 batting line in 294 plate appearances. Frazier has had a much better go in 2025, returning to the club that drafted him (Pittsburgh) and hitting .255/.318/.336. That’s still below-average, but Frazier has been more productive since mid-May. He’s hitting .302/.356/.387 across his past 119 trips to the plate — albeit with a .360 average on balls in play that he’s not likely to sustain over a larger period of time.

Frazier has played second base, left field and right field in his return to Pittsburgh so far. He’s spent the majority of his time on the field at second base, but the Pirates have been using him in the outfield more over the past month or so. He’ll give the Royals a left-handed bat on what had been an all-right-handed bench and also provide manager Matt Quatraro with an option at multiple positions.

Jonathan India and Michael Massey lead the Royals in innings at second base this year, but both have struggled (and Massey is currently on the injured list). The Royals have used a remarkable 10 players in left field already this season, none of whom have managed to be all that productive. Frazier, presumably, will soon become the 11th player to take reps in left field for K.C. this season.

Frazier signed a one-year deal with the Pirates, which contained a modest $1.525MM guarantee. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end and has just under $615K of his salary yet to be paid out between now and season’s end. The Royals will take on all of that sum.

Devanney, 28, was a 15th-round pick by the 2019 Brewers. Milwaukee traded him to Kansas City in exchange for righty Taylor Clarke back in 2023. He’s enjoying a career year in Triple-A but is in his fourth trip through that level at this point. The righty-hitting Devanney is slashing .272/.366/.565 with 18 home runs, 14 doubles, three triples, an 11.8% walk rate and a 24.3% strikeout rate in 288 plate appearances at the top minor league level. He’s gone 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts as well.

The Royals have used Devanney primarily at shortstop in Omaha, but he’s logged plenty of time at third base and second base as well. He’s primarily an infielder but has gotten some nominal exposure to left field, suiting up for six games there (two in 2025). The Pirates are using Isiah Kiner-Falefa as their primary shortstop, but he’s quite likely to be traded in the next two weeks as well. Devanney could see plenty of time at short for the remainder of the season after Kiner-Falefa is moved, but if he has a long-term role with the team it’ll likely be as a right-handed utility option off the bench. Since last week was Devanney’s first selection to the major league roster, he still has a full slate of three minor league options remaining.

Shintaro Fujinami Signs With NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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Former big leaguer Shintaro Fujinami has returned to Japan. He signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced. The hard-throwing righty was released from a minor league deal with the Mariners last month.

This probably marks the end of Fujinami’s two and a half seasons in affiliated ball. The 6’6″ righty has an upper-90s fastball but hasn’t been able to harness his stuff. The rebuilding A’s took a one-year, $3.25MM flier on Fujinami in advance of the 2023 season. They initially gave him a rotation opportunity, but he struggled mightily in seven starts and quickly moved to the bullpen.

While Fujinami had an 8.57 ERA in 34 appearances with the A’s, they managed to flip him to the Orioles at the trade deadline. He tallied 29 2/3 frames of 4.85 ERA ball for Baltimore. Fujinami secured a big league split deal from the Mets in his return to free agency. He never made an MLB appearance with New York, spending time on the injured list before being designated for assignment.

Fujinami pitched in Puerto Rico over the winter to land another affiliated opportunity. He secured a minor league contract with Seattle in January but struggled to a 5.79 ERA with 26 walks in 18 2/3 Triple-A innings. He’ll now head back to NPB, where he owns a 3.41 earned run average in parts of 10 seasons.

Grant Hartwig Signs With NPB’s Hanshin Tigers

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Reliever Grant Hartwig has signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The 6’5″ righty had been on a minor league contract with the Mets but was released last month. It seems that was to pursue this opportunity.

Hartwig, 27, pitched in the big leagues for the Mets in each of the previous two seasons. He logged 35 1/3 innings of 4.84 ERA ball as a rookie in 2023. He spent most of last year in Triple-A and lost a couple months to a meniscus tear that required surgery. Hartwig appeared in four MLB games, allowing six runs in 6 2/3 innings. The Mets dropped him from the 40-man roster early in the offseason and brought him back on a minor league deal.

A product of Miami Ohio, Hartwig signed with the Mets in 2021 as an undrafted free agent. He has turned in a 3.42 earned run average in parts of five minor league campaigns. Hartwig had a matching 3.42 ERA across 23 2/3 Triple-A frames this year, though he bizarrely surrendered 13 unearned runs (against nine earned) in 21 appearances. He fanned 29% of batters faced with a solid 8.8% walk rate while averaging nearly 95 MPH on his sinker. Hartwig will presumably lock in a stronger guarantee in NPB than he would’ve made had he played out the season in Triple-A.

Pirates Release Matt Gorski

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The Pirates released outfielder Matt Gorski, per the MLB.com transaction tracker. Pittsburgh designated him for assignment last week to open a 40-man roster spot for reliever Yohan Ramírez.

Gorski has been on the Triple-A injured list since late May. Injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers. Once Pittsburgh designated him for assignment, a release was essentially inevitable. Assuming Gorski clears release waivers, the Bucs could try to bring him back on a minor league contract. He’ll have the right to pursue other opportunities as a free agent though.

The righty-hitting Gorski is a former second-round pick. He has power and speed but has had issues making consistent contact throughout his minor league career. The Indiana product got out to a hot start this year with Triple-A Indianapolis. Pittsburgh called him up in late April.

Gorski blasted a 434-foot home run off Tyler Anderson in his first major league at-bat. He recorded two homers and a triple in 15 games, but he also struck out 16 times while drawing just one walk. Pittsburgh optioned him back to Triple-A on May 17; he suffered the undisclosed injury a week later. He has hit .195 in 41 major league at-bats and is a career .254/.313/.509 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons.

Kevin Herget Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Kevin Herget has elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Braves last week.

Herget, 34, was claimed off waivers from the Mets in May. Since then, he has mostly been on optional assignment, making just one appearance for Atlanta. That was a scoreless inning on July 1st, after which he was optioned back down to Gwinnett. The Mets claimed him off waivers from the Brewers in the offseason and gave him similar treatment. They mostly stashed him in the minors and only put him into one big league game before designating him for assignment.

Since he has previously been outrighted in his career, Herget has the right to reject outright assignments and has exercised that right. He has 45 2/3 major league innings under his belt, spread out over this year and the previous three seasons. In that time, he has a 4.53 earned run average, 13.9% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate.

His minor league work has been decent this year. Between Syracuse and Gwinnett, he has logged 30 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.26 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.6% ground ball rate are all pretty close to typical averages.

He will head to the open market to see what opportunities await him. Since he cleared waivers, he will probably be limited to minor league offers. If he eventually makes it back to the majors with some team, he can be optioned for the rest of this season but will be out of options in 2026.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Travis Jankowski Elects Free Agency

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Outfielder Travis Jankowski has elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Syracuse, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Mets last week.

Jankowski, 34, is a veteran outfielder of the speed-and-defense variety. He has been bouncing around the league this year, heading wherever there’s an opportunity for him. He has suited up for the White Sox, Rays and Mets, getting into 26 games between those three clubs. He has a combined batting line of .244/.286/.289 in 50 plate appearances this year.

Over his career, he has hit a bit better than that, with a .236/.318/.305 line in 1,759 plate appearances. But as mentioned, his other attributes are how he pays the bills. He has 3,601 innings of outfield work with 29 Defensive Runs Saved and 32 Outs Above Average. He has also stolen 104 bases in 129 tries.

It seems that, at this stage, teams are happy to give him a roster spot when they have a few injuries. Then when guys get healthy, they bump Jankowski off the roster. As a veteran with years of experience, he has the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency, which he is comfortable doing. This is his third time opting for the open market this season.

He will now see what opportunities await him. With the trade deadline coming up, plenty of roster shuffling will be taking place in the coming weeks. Perhaps that will open a path to playing time for him somewhere.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images

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