Albert Suarez Designated For Assignment
The Orioles have designated right-hander Albert Suarez for assignment, the team announced. Closer Ryan Helsley has been reinstated from the bereavement list to take Suarez’s roster spot.
Suarez tossed a season-high 59 pitches in mop-up duty behind an ineffective Trevor Rogers on Saturday. He permitted four runs, but all of them were unearned thanks to errors by Adley Rutschman and Jeremiah Jackson. Suarez has provided reliable swingman work for the club over the past three seasons. Baltimore is likely hoping to sneak him through waivers and retain him as Triple-A depth. The club’s 40-man roster is down to 38 players following the move.
More to come…
Austin Slater Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
April 26: Slater has cleared waivers and elected free agency, per Mish.
April 23rd: The Marlins made the Slater and Ruiz moves official today.
April 22nd: The Marlins are designating veteran outfielder Austin Slater for assignment, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid. Esteury Ruiz has played four Triple-A games on a minor league rehab stint and will be activated for Friday’s series opener in San Francisco. Miami’s 40-man roster count will drop to 39.
Slater signed a $1MM free agent contract at the end of Spring Training. He had been in camp on a minor league deal with Detroit but didn’t crack their roster. The Fish wanted a righty-hitting platoon outfielder with Ruiz shelved by an oblique strain and starting left fielder Kyle Stowers down with a hamstring strain. Stowers returned over the weekend, and Ruiz’s forthcoming return pushes Slater off the roster.
It wasn’t a great showing for the 33-year-old Slater. He played in 12 games and collected just four hits, all of them singles. He took four walks but struck out nine times in 28 plate appearances. Slater has pinch hit a few times but hasn’t been in Clayton McCullough’s starting lineup since April 12. Heriberto Hernández gets some work as a righty-hitting left fielder. Utilityman Javier Sanoja can also play out there.
Ruiz, an offseason trade pickup from the Dodgers, adds a speed element off the bench. He hasn’t hit much in the big leagues but raked in Triple-A last year. Ruiz stole 67 bases for the A’s back in 2023, his only full season at the MLB level.
Miami has five days to trade Slater or place him on waivers. He has sufficient service time to decline an outright assignment and seems likely to be released.
Sam Huff Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency
April 26: Huff is expected to rejoin the Baltimore organization on a minor league deal, reports Roch Kubatko of MASN.
April 25: Huff has cleared waivers and elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment, per Jake Rill of MLB.com.
April 21: The Orioles announced Tuesday that catcher Sam Huff has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to catcher Adley Rutschman, who’s returning from a brief stay on the 10-day injured list due to a minor ankle injury.
Huff was just selected to the big league roster last week. He appeared in three games with Baltimore, going 2-for-9 with a double, an RBI and five strikeouts in nine plate appearances. With Rutschman back from the injured list, however, the O’s can turn catching duties back over to their Opening Day tandem of Rutschman and prospect Samuel Basallo.
Huff, 28, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in January. The former Rangers top prospect has now played in parts of six big league seasons and slashed a respectable .246/.299/.427 with a dozen homers in 281 trips to the batter’s box. That’s roughly league-average offense, by measure of wRC+, and more than 10% better than the standard catcher. However, Huff’s output has come in spite of a colossal 36.3% strikeout rate. He’s needed a .354 average on balls in play just to get to league-average with the bat. As such, he’s highly unlikely to sustain his current pace.
On the defensive side of things, Huff has solid framing grades in his limited major league work. He’s struggled with blocking balls in the dirt and controlling the run game. The former seventh-round pick has just an 18.5% caught-stealing rate in his career and has been charged with eight passed balls in 527 innings behind the dish.
Baltimore will have five days to trade Huff or place him on outright waivers. (The latter seems likelier.) Waivers would be another 48-hour process, so the outcome of today’s DFA will be known within a week. If he clears waivers, Huff could be assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk, where he hit .156/.250/.168 in 36 plate appearances before being summoned to the big leagues. However, since he’s previously been outrighted in the past, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
Astros Reinstate Bennett Sousa From Injured List
The Astros have activated left-hander Bennett Sousa from the 15-day injured list, according to Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. Fellow lefty Colton Gordon is being optioned in a corresponding move.
Sousa ended 2025 on the injured list with left elbow inflammation and has been out so far in 2026 due to a left oblique strain. The erstwhile waiver claim broke out as a key reliever for Houston in 2025 before the elbow injury. In 50 2/3 innings across 44 appearances, Sousa had a 2.84 ERA and struck out 29.6% of opposing hitters. His performance was no fluke, as Sousa’s 2.88 xERA and 2.72 FIP were close matches for his bottom-line numbers. He is still a pre-arbitration player and won’t reach free agency until 2030, so he is valuable from a contract standpoint as well.
Sousa’s return gives Houston a third solid lefty reliever to complement Bryan King and Steven Okert. Like Sousa, King did well in an extended look in 2025, posting a 2.78 ERA and strong expected stats in 68 innings. Although he surrendered 10 home runs (1.38 HR/9), he demonstrated pristine control with a 4.0% walk rate and generated plenty of soft contact. Meanwhile, the veteran Okert navigated a drop in four-seam velocity to improve his control and keep the ball in the yard. He allowed six home runs in 71 2/3 innings last year after allowing six in less than half the innings for the Twins the year before.
Having the trio of King, Okert, and Sousa is a boon for a Houston bullpen that is missing its most prized lefty. Closer Josh Hader is currently on the 60-day injured list with left biceps tendinitis and is eligible to return in late May at the earliest. Enyel De Los Santos has recorded three of the team’s six saves in Hader’s absence. A repeat performance from Sousa would go a long way to stabilizing the bullpen, which has struggled overall. Key arms like Bryan Abreu and Ryan Weiss are off to bad starts, and the group’s 5.94 ERA is better than only the Royals.
As for Gordon, the 27-year-old heads to Triple-A where he’ll bide his time as a depth option. The 2021 eighth-round draft pick debuted in the Majors last year but was largely ineffective. Gordon posted a 5.34 ERA in 86 innings across 20 appearances, 14 of which were starts. He also struck out a below-average 19.0% of hitters and surrendered more than two home runs per nine innings. His 5.1% career walk rate is a positive, but not enough to overcome the rest of his profile. Having mostly worked as a starter, Gordon could receive the stray spot start or long relief appearance if and when he gets brought back up.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Phillies Reinstate Zack Wheeler From 15-Day Injured List
Zack Wheeler is officially back on the Phillies’ roster, as the team announced that the right-hander has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list in time to start tonight’s game against the Braves. Righty Alex McFarlane was optioned to Triple-A to create space on the 26-man roster.
The three-time All-Star last appeared in a big league game on August 15, as his 2025 season was unexpectedly brought to an early end after Wheeler posted a 2.71 ERA over 24 starts and 149 2/3 innings. Wheeler was placed on the IL the next day due to the discovery of a blood clot near his throwing shoulder, and he quickly underwent surgery to have the clot removed. A thoracic outlet syndrome procedure followed in late September, and the fact that Wheeler had the venous form of TOS provided some hope that he would be able to return to pitching in relatively short order. (By comparison, the neurogenic form of TOS is more harmful to a pitcher’s recovery since it relates to nerve problems, if less of a threat health-wise.)
The initial optimism over Wheeler’s potential for a quicker return has proved true in the sense that the ace will be back on the mound today, almost exactly seven months to the day after his surgery. What remains to be seen, of course, is whether or not Wheeler will be able to return as a front-of-the-rotation starter. While TOS surgery is still a relatively new procedure and there isn’t a lengthy track record on recoveries, the list of pitchers who haven’t been the same after the surgery is considerably longer than the list of pitchers who returned in good form. Merrill Kelly is the best-case scenario of a hurler who continued to pitch well after undergoing a TOS procedure.
In terms of pure results, Wheeler’s 5.85 ERA over 20 innings in five rehab starts isn’t a great sign, nor is the fact that his average fastball velocity sat at only 92.9mph. (Wheeler’s career average is 95.8mph.) Still, Wheeler threw at least 72 pitches in each of his last two outings, and Phillies manager Rob Thomson suggested earlier this week that Wheeler wouldn’t be used beyond six innings or around the 90-pitch mark tonight.
Even if it may take a while before Wheeler looks like his old self, even a C+ version of Wheeler can boost a Phillies rotation that has struggled massively in the early going. The rotation’s cumulative 5.68 ERA ranks 28th of 30 teams in starter ERA, as everyone besides Cristopher Sanchez has yet to get on track. The starters have been only one piece of what has basically been a team-wide slump for the 8-18 Phillies, who take a 10-game losing streak into tonight’s contest.
Reds Place Eugenio Suárez On 10-Day Injured List
TODAY: Cincinnati officially announced Suarez’s IL placement, retroactive to April 24. Right-hander Kyle Nicolas was also optioned to Triple-A, and Bleday and right-hander Jose Franco were called up from Triple-A in corresponding moves.
APRIL 24: The Reds will place Eugenio Suárez on the 10-day injured list with a low-grade oblique strain, manager Terry Francona told reporters (including Charlie Goldsmith). He was scratched from tonight’s game with what the team initially called mid-back discomfort.
Although oblique strains can linger for hitters, this one doesn’t appear to be particularly serious. Goldsmith writes that the team is hopeful Suárez can resume baseball activities after a brief shutdown and reevaluation. The Reds can backdate the placement to April 23, meaning the earliest he could return is May 3.
Outfielder JJ Bleday was removed from tonight’s Triple-A game after two plate appearances. That seemingly points to him being recalled tomorrow as the corresponding move. It would be Bleday’s first look at the MLB level with Cincinnati. He has been on optional assignment all year but is on a tear in the minors, batting .345 with six homers through his first 23 games.
Bleday isn’t a direct positional replacement for Suárez, but the Reds have used the latter mostly as a designated hitter. He has only made six starts at the hot corner compared to 18 appearances as the DH. They’re a much better defensive team with Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base, but the two-time Gold Glove winner is out to a terrible start at the plate.
Hayes is hitting .081 with one home run in his first 68 trips to the dish. Cincinnati has managed to keep winning despite getting nothing offensively from Hayes, catcher Tyler Stephenson, or any of their outfielders. Suárez hasn’t been particularly productive either, batting .231/.300/.363 with just three home runs through his first 100 plate appearances.
The Reds nevertheless pulled out another improbable win on Friday. Nathaniel Lowe, who drew into the lineup at DH with Suárez out, hit a walk-off two-run homer off Kenley Jansen with two outs in the ninth. That was Lowe’s second of the night, his first two longballs in a Cincinnati uniform. They’re up to 17-9 despite entering the night ranked 24th in MLB in scoring.
Lowe figures to pick up most of the extra at-bats while Suárez is sidelined. The bench skews left-handed and will lean even more in that direction if Bleday is the corresponding move. Lowe has a decent career track record against pitchers of either handedness and got the DH assignment tonight against Detroit southpaw Framber Valdez. Hayes seems assured of continued run at third base for the time being.
White Sox Designate Reese McGuire, Select Drew Romo
The White Sox announced that catcher Reese McGuire has been designated for assignment. Taking McGuire’s spot on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters is catcher Drew Romo, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Charlotte.
After signing a minor league deal with the Brewers during the offseason, McGuire triggered an opt-out clause in the contract a few days before Opening Day when it became clear that he wasn’t making Milwaukee’s active roster. McGuire then signed a one-year deal worth $1.2MM in guaranteed money to join Chicago’s roster, as the Sox needed some veteran help to complement Edgar Quero while Kyle Teel was on the injured list. (Korey Lee was also designated for assignment and then outrighted off Chicago’s 40-man roster, as the White Sox seemingly preferred McGuire over Lee.)
The results haven’t been pretty for either Quero or McGuire, as the duo have combined for -0.6 bWAR (the lowest bWAR of any team’s catching corps) in the first month of play. Quero is hitting only .153/.271/.169 over 72 PA, while McGuire has slashed a near-identical .172/.273/.172 over 34 PA. Quero’s struggles are a bigger-picture concern for the White Sox since the young backstop is viewed as a potential building block, yet McGuire is naturally the far more expendable of the two.
If another team claims McGuire off waivers, they’ll absorb the approximately $1MM remaining of McGuire’s 2026 salary. The White Sox may be hoping that the price tag scares off any teams who might be thin enough at catcher to consider a claim, so that McGuire can clear waivers and be outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte.
Since McGuire has been outrighted in the past, however, he has the right to reject any future outright assignments in favor of free agency, so he’ll have some leverage if he does make it through the waiver wire. McGuire also has more than five years of MLB service time, so he would be able to keep his remaining $1MM-ish salary even if he did reject an outright assignment and become a free agent. Any new team who then signed McGuire would only owe him the prorated MLB minimum salary, which would be subtracted from what the White Sox still owe the catcher.
Romo landed with the Sox via a waiver claim off the Mets’ roster in January. This was the third waiver claim in a little over a month for Romo, who went from the Rockies (the team that drafted him 35th overall in 2020) to the Orioles to the Mets and finally to the Southsiders. Chicago then designated Romo for assignment and subsequently outrighted him in February, and Romo didn’t have the ability to elect free agency.
His stint at Triple-A Charlotte has been a smash to date, as Romo has hit .298/.385/.561 with four home runs over his first 68 PA for the Knights. Matching anything close to that production in the big leagues is far-fetched, but it is possible Romo might still hold some late bloomer potential. The catcher is only 24 years old, and his big league resume consists of only 20 plate appearances with Colorado in 2024-25.
Romo will get another chance to show what he can do against MLB pitching, and even an average level of offense would be both an upgrade over McGuire and a chance to take some at-bats away from the struggling Quero. As for Teel, he has already passed the initial 4-to-6 week recovery timeframe for his Grade 2 hamstring strain, yet White Sox GM Chris Getz told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters that Teel isn’t quite yet ready to begin a minor league rehab assignment.
Blue Jays Select Yohendrick Pinango, Place Nathan Lukes On 10-Day Injured List
The Blue Jays announced that outfielder Nathan Lukes has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Taking Lukes’ place on the active roster is outfield prospect Yohendrick Pinango, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Buffalo. Right-hander Yimi Garcia was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in order to create space for Pinango on Toronto’s 40-man roster. Prior to the Jays’ official announcement, the Ander Beisbol X account was the first to report that Pinango was on his way to the Show for his first taste of MLB action.
Friday’s 8-6 Jays loss to the Guardians saw Lukes lead off the bottom of the first with a double, but the right fielder then had to be replaced by pinch-runner Davis Schneider due to the hamstring issue. Blue Jays manager John Schneider is expected to update reporters today on the outcome of Lukes’ MRI, though obviously the problem was immediately serious enough to warrant an IL placement.
George Springer (toe fracture) and Addison Barger (ankle sprain) are making progress in their recoveries and could be activated from the 10-day IL within a week’s time. That said, Lukes is now the 12th player on Toronto’s current injured list, adding to what has been a snakebitten start to the Blue Jays’ defense of their American League title.
Lukes in particular has had a tough go of things, as the outfielder has spent much of the season plagued by vertigo symptoms. A visit to a specialist in Phoenix during the Jays’ recent series with the Diamondbacks seemed to solve things — Lukes had just two hits over his first 34 trips to the plate before the Arizona series, but then posted a 1.260 OPS over his next 22 PA, going 11-for-21 with four doubles.
The hamstring strain both interrupts this hot streak for Lukes, and creates another vacancy in Toronto’s outfield. The Jays have already had to dig pretty deep into their depth chart to address their many injuries on the pitching and position-player sides, and the situation has now created an opportunity for Pinango (who turns 24 next month) to make his big league debut.
Pinango began his career as a Cubs international signing in 2018, and he was dealt to the Jays along with minor league infielder Josh Rivera in the 2024 deadline trade that saw Nate Pearson sent to Wrigleyville. Pinango hit .235/.335/.379 over his first 340 Triple-A plate appearances in 2025, and he has jumped out to a .288/.370/.488 slash line and three homers over 92 PA for Buffalo this season.
MLB Pipeline ranks Pinango as the 10th-best prospect in the Blue Jays’ farm system, with Baseball America slotting him 11th on their list. His lack of defensive value hurts his ceiling, as Pinango is seen as a below-average corner outfielder at best who is probably best suited for a DH spot. That puts more pressure on his bat, and his ability to consistently get the ball into the air. When he is able to keep the ball off the ground, Pinango has displayed intriguing raw power to go along with his solid contact skills and excellent bat speed.
While Pinango lacks Lukes’ defensive upside, he’ll fill in as a left-handed option in Toronto’s outfield mix. Pinango joins Jesus Sanchez as the left-handed hitting corner outfielders, with Davis Schneider and Myles Straw providing right-handed complements.
Garcia underwent surgery last September to fix scar tissue in his throwing elbow, and the Jays were slowplaying his ramp-up period throughout Spring Training and in the early part of the 2026 season. The shift to the 60-man now delays Garcia’s 2026 debut until the last week of May, which doesn’t alter his planned timeline. Garcia has been facing live batters in the latest step in his throwing progression, and the reliever may not be far away from a minor league rehab assignment.
Rockies Place Ryan Feltner On 15-Day Injured List
The Rockies placed right-hander Ryan Feltner on the 15-day injured list on Friday, and called up left-hander Sammy Peralta from Triple-A in the corresponding move. Feltner is dealing with right ulnar nerve inflammation, which forced him out of his start on Thursday (a 10-8 Rockies loss to the Padres) after two innings of work.
Manager Warren Schaeffer described the issue as “just a little elbow inflammation” when speaking with MLB.com’s Bill Ladson and other reporters. Since Feltner’s “MRI looked pretty good,” the Rox are hopeful that the righty will be back after just a minimal 15-day absence.
Feltner allowed two runs in his abbreviated outing against San Diego, boosting his ERA to 6.30 over five starts and 20 innings this season. His 4.46 SIERA is almost two runs lower than his ERA and Thursday’s start could be considered a wash due to his injury, yet Feltner’s Statcast metrics are uniformly below average at this early point in the season. In particular, opposing batters have been laying into Feltner’s pitches to the tune of a 49.2% hard-hit ball rate and a 15.9% barrel rate.
As Ladson observed, injuries have been a persistent issue for Feltner during his career, including a 2025 season that saw the righty limited to 30 1/3 innings due to back spasms and a shoulder problem. The most frightening of Feltner’s injuries was a skull fracture and a concussion sustained after he was hit in the head by a Nick Castellanos line drive in May 2023, which resulted in another shortened season of only 43 1/3 frames.
The Rockies’ scheduled game with the Mets today has been rained out, and the two teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday. With the pitching schedule already a little scrambled, the Rox will likely get through the doubleheader and then Monday’s offday before addressing Feltner’s rotation spot. Kyle Freeland has been on the 15-day IL since April 13 due to some minor shoulder inflammation and could be back when first eligible, as Freeland tossed 41 pitches over a two-inning simulated outing on Wednesday.
Orioles Notes: Akin, Kittredge, O’Neill, Kremer, Holliday
Injuries have (again) been a major storyline of the Orioles’ season, but the team announced today that left-hander Keegan Akin has been activated from the 15-day injured list. Akin’s return comes a day after Andrew Kittredge and Tyler O’Neill were both activated Friday from the 15-day IL and seven-day concussion IL, respectively. Right-hander Cameron Foster was optioned to Triple-A for Akin, while outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez and right-hander Jose Espada were optioned to Triple-A yesterday for Kittredge and O’Neill.
Both Akin (groin strain) and Kittredge (shoulder inflammation) had spent the entire season on the IL, and Kittredge made his season debut yesterday, tossing a 1-2-3 inning out of the bullpen in the Orioles’ 10-3 win over the Red Sox. Initially signed to a one-year, $9MM contract in the 2024-25 offseason, Kittredge was dealt to the Cubs at last summer’s trade deadline, but Chicago then swapped Kittredge back to Baltimore in early November, and the O’s exercised a $9MM club option on the reliever’s services for 2026.
Kittredge and Akin are expected to be high-leverage arms in Baltimore’s pen, and Akin is the team’s top left-handed relief option. With both Akin and Dietrich Enns out of action, Grant Wolfram had been the Orioles’ only southpaw reliever for the last several days.
O’Neill was sidelined after hitting .241/.353/.345 over his first 34 plate appearances, and since he didn’t play yesterday, April 8 remains the outfielder’s last game. The always-uncertain nature of concussion symptoms led to an absence of over two weeks, yet hopefully O’Neill has now put the issue entirely behind him.
Even with three players now back in action, Baltimore’s injured list remains 10 players deep. Dean Kremer was the latest player sidelined, as the right-hander was placed on the 15-day IL on Thursday (retroactive to April 20) due to a right quad strain. Right-hander Brandon Young was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Young started Friday’s game in Kremer’s place, getting the win while allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Young will probably get an extended run as Baltimore’s fifth starter since Kremer will miss “several weeks,” as O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters. Elias said Kremer’s injury surfaced during his between-starts prep work, and that “our plan is to try to keep his arm in as good of shape as possible because it’s not bothering him too much to throw right now, but we’ve got to let that thing heal and get his lower body condition back.”
The injury is another setback in what has already been an unusual season for Kremer, who began the season in Triple-A simply because the Orioles had five preferred options in their starting rotation. Zach Eflin‘s Tommy John surgery created an avenue for Kremer’s return, and the righty posted a 4.09 ERA over two starts and 11 innings before his quad strain surfaced.
With Kremer out and Eflin gone for the entire season, Cade Povich is now the Orioles’ top depth arm if another injury should strike the rotation. Albert Suarez and Tyler Wells are both ex-starters turned into multi-inning relievers, and conceivably either pitcher could be stretched out again for at least a piggyback type of role if even more starting help was needed beyond Povich.
Elias provided some updates to Kubatko and company on several other O’s players, including the news that Enns (foot infection) also seems to be nearing a return from the 15-day IL. Heston Kjerstad (hamstring strain) has yet to play this season, but is participating in full baseball activities and could be close to a minor league rehab assignment.
Concerns were raised earlier this week when Jackson Holliday underwent a fresh set of tests on his injured right hand, but Elias said the MRI, CT scan, and x-rays all came back clean. Holliday underwent hamate bone surgery on February 12 and was expected to start playing within the usual four to eight weeks, but his rehab work has now been paused twice due to continued soreness in the right hand.
Holliday discussed his latest setback with reporters yesterday, saying that a foul tip in Tuesday’s rehab game left him feeling “like I broke my hand again. Obviously, kind of concerning taking a swing and having that kind of pain, but I guess it’s not normal, but obviously nothing structurally wrong, and I guess whenever a tendon rolls over a nerve it can kind of cause that.”
The plan is to keep Holliday shut down for another week before restarting the rehab process. The clean tests at least provided some evidence that Holliday’s continued hand problems aren’t anything overtly serious, and Elias described the situation as “all within the possible normal spectrum of outcomes with the hamate injury….We’ve seen these come really quick for some players, and others take a long time to feel like themselves. So we want to let him get through this on an individual basis, and we’re giving him as much time as he needs, but we’re eager to have him back and welcome back with open arms once he’s ready.”