Angels To Select Wade Meckler, Donovan Walton
The Angels have some roster moves incoming. They haven’t officially announced anything yet but outfielder Wade Meckler and infielder Donovan Walton are in tonight’s starting lineup, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Both of those two players are not currently on the 40-man, so they will be added in some way before game time. Fletcher notes that outfielder Josh Lowe and infielder Yoan Moncada are not on the lineup card, so those two are perhaps going on the injured list. Lowe also has options and could have been sent down. The Halos came into the day with one open 40-man spot after outrighting Alek Manoah earlier this week. They will need to open another since they are adding two guys.
More to come.
Blue Jays Re-Sign Eloy Jimenez To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays and designated hitter Eloy Jimenez have reached an agreement on a new minor league contract, per Mitch Bannon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Klutch Sports client was with Toronto earlier this season but elected free agency in early May after being designated for assignment and clearing waivers.
It appears no other club was willing to plug Jimenez right onto its big league roster, so he’ll head back to the Jays and hope for another opportunity. Jimenez, 29, appeared in a dozen games with the Jays prior to his DFA and hit .290 with a .343 on-base percentage in 35 trips to the plate. That .290 average is obviously strong but lacked any teeth; Jimenez didn’t have an extra-base hit (and thus also slugged .290), and he continued to show a ground-ball approach at the plate, undercutting the plus power he once showed.
Early in his career, Jimenez was a top prospect who looked like a potential star. He blasted 31 homers in only 504 plate appearances as a rookie, and while that came in the juiced-ball 2019 season, it still appeared to set the stage for a run as a middle-of-the-order bat on Chicago’s south side.
Instead, injuries regularly hobbled Jimenez over the course of his White Sox tenure. He’s never reached 500 plate appearances in a season since that 2019 debut, nor has he put together even a 20-homer campaign (let alone another 30-homer season). He was still plenty productive when healthy in 2020-22, hitting a combined .281/.334/.499, but his bat has tanked since.
Dating back to 2023, Jimenez has taken 873 major league plate appearances and posted a below-average .259/.307/.393 line. If he were able to provide value with his glove and/or on the basepaths, that could still be a passable line, but Jimenez is a poor defensive outfielder whose sprint speed sat in the 21st percentile of big leaguers earlier this season, per Statcast. Defensive Runs Saved has dinged him for -14 runs in his career, and Statcast has graded him at -19 Outs Above Average. He’s played all of 117 innings in the outfield since Opening Day 2023 — and none since 2024.
Jimenez is still only 29, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he reinvents himself and enjoys a nice second act in his career. He’s taken 258 minor league plate appearances across the past two seasons, however, and slugged well under .400 in that span. He’s got a ways to go, but the Blue Jays aren’t risking anything by seeing if they can get him back on track with a non-roster deal that’ll send him to Triple-A Buffalo.
Royals Sign Luke Jackson, Génesis Cabrera To Minor League Deals
The Royals announced that right-hander Luke Jackson and left-hander Génesis Cabrera have been signed to minor league deals. Jackson opted out of a deal with the Mets last week. Cabrera was with the Phillies on a minor league pact but he was released last week, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Presumably, both pitchers will report to Triple-A Omaha.
Jackson, 34, is really just getting his season going. He missed all of spring training, as he only signed with the Mets in the first week of April. He then made three scoreless Single-A appearances, followed by five Triple-A appearances. At that higher level, he allowed six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings before opting out.
The Royals are presumably banking more on his track record than those recent numbers. Jackson has a 4.22 earned run average in 409 1/3 career innings. Not too long ago, he was an important leverage arm in the big leagues. With Atlanta in 2021, he posted a 1.98 ERA and recorded 31 holds. He then made 11 postseason appearances to help Atlanta win that year’s World Series.
Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2022 season. He was back on the mound in 2023, putting up a 2.97 ERA with the Giants. But then his ERA climbed to 5.09 in 2024. He corrected it somewhat in 2025, getting his ERA down to 4.06, but with less encouraging numbers under the hood. Though he induced grounders on 51.7% of balls in play, his 17.4% strikeout rate and 12.8% walk rate were both subpar numbers. In 2024, though his ERA was higher, he was able to punch out 25.1% of batters faced.
Cabrera, 29, just allowed 20 earned runs in 17 1/3 Triple-A innings after signing that aforementioned deal with the Phillies. That makes it fairly unsurprising that they let him go. The Royals will be hoping for a bounceback based on some potential he has shown in the past.
With upper-90s velocity from the left side, Cabrera has flashed some occasional swing-and-miss stuff along with command struggles. In 318 1/3 big league innings, he has walked 11.1% of batters faced. His career strikeout rate of 21.9% is close to average but has been erratic. He struck out 27.8% of batters he faced over the 2020 and 2021 seasons. That dropped to 16.5% in 2022, bounced back to 24.3% in 2023, but then was below 19% in the following two seasons.
For the Royals, there’s no harm in bringing in some fresh arms on minor league deals, especially guys with some major league experience. The Kansas City bullpen has not been a strength this year. The club’s relievers have a collective 4.51 ERA, putting them in the bottom third of the league in that category. Carlos Estévez, Matt Strahm and James McArthur are all on the injured list at the moment. With starters Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic also hitting the IL recently, long relievers like Bailey Falter or Luinder Avila might need to move to the rotation or at least bulk roles. If a fresh arm is needed at some point, Jackson and Cabrera could be candidates to get the call.
Photo courtesy of John Froschauer, Imagn Images
Royals Designate Elias Díaz For Assignment
The Royals announced that they have recalled outfielder Tyler Tolbert. To open a roster spot for him, catcher Elias Díaz has been designated for assignment. Kansas City’s 40-man count drops to 39.
Díaz, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason. He had his contract selected to the big league roster just over a month ago. That gave the Royals a three-catcher setup, with Díaz backing up Carter Jensen and Salvador Perez. In that limited role, Díaz has done fairly well, hitting two home runs in 23 plate appearances.
Getting bumped off the roster is probably more about other players on the roster than it is about anything Díaz has done. At the time Díaz was called up, Perez was dealing with some hip soreness and was in need of some extra rest. That has seemingly helped, as Perez hit .200/.236/.350 over March and April but has a .231/.297/.400 line in May so far.
In the outfield, Lane Thomas is dealing with a sore hamstring, per Jaylon T. Thompson of The Kansas City Star. Thomas hasn’t hit the injured list but also hasn’t started a game since Tuesday. By bringing up Tolbert and cutting Díaz, the Royals have sacrificed their three-catcher arrangement in order to add some extra outfield depth.
Díaz now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Royals could take five days to explore trade interest. As a 35-year-old backstop, he won’t have a ton of value, but they might get some calls. Atlanta just lost both Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin to the injured list recently, so they could really use some extra catching depth. Cal Raleigh, Francisco Alvarez and Ryan Jeffers also hit the IL this month, leaving the Mariners, Mets and Twins without their starting catchers.
Thanks to his two homers, Díaz has a .227/.261/.591 line and 128 wRC+ this year, though in a tiny sample of 23 plate appearances. He has a .246/.300/.385 line and 78 wRC+ in his career. Defensively, he has received good grades for his throwing and blocking. He has mostly been graded as a poor framer but has been around average in recent years.
Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images
Mets Designate Craig Kimbrel For Assignment, Recall Jonah Tong
The Mets announced that they have recalled right-hander Jonah Tong from Triple-A Syracuse. In a corresponding move, fellow right-hander Craig Kimbrel has been designated for assignment.
Kimbrel, 38 next week, is one of the best closers of this generation but has been more of a fringe reliever in recent years. He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Mets coming into 2026, though one that would pay him $2.5MM if he had his contract selected. He was added to the roster a couple of weeks into the season. He has tossed 15 innings for the Mets since then but has allowed 10 earned runs for a flat earned run average of 6.00.
That probably overstates how poorly he has pitched this year. His 23.4% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate are both right around league average. His .325 batting average on balls in play and 56.2% strand rate are both to the unfortunate side, as is his 15.8% home run to fly ball ratio. Measures like his 4.90 FIP and 3.76 SIERA suggest he has deserved better in that relatively small sample.
Regardless of what he deserved, the results were enough for the Mets to move on. The club has seemingly been leaning into a youth movement of sorts lately. In the past month or so, they have let go of veteran guys like Tommy Pham, Andy Ibáñez and Austin Slater while calling up A.J. Ewing, Nick Morabito, Zach Thornton and now Tong.
Kimbrel will head into DFA limbo. The Mets could explore trade interest but it may be hard to line up a deal for a pitcher in his late 30s with an ERA of 6.00 who is making a few million, no matter the track record. It is perhaps more likely that he is placed on waivers and clears, leaving the Mets on the hook for the remainder of the money.
If that comes to pass, clubs would then become more interested. They would then be able to sign Kimbrel and would only owe him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time spent on the roster. Though his ERA is high, as mentioned, some of the underlying numbers are a bit more encouraging. Between that and his career track record, perhaps some club would take a shot when the cost is so low.
As for Tong, it’s unclear what role he will play on the club. He has been starting in Triple-A this year but has a 5.68 ERA. The big league rotation just lost Clay Holmes to the injured list. A fractured fibula is going to keep him out for a few months. Tobias Myers is starting today. He has starting experience but hasn’t had an outing of longer than two innings in the past three weeks, so he surely won’t be going deep into the game. Sean Manaea is capable of working long relief but Tong could give the Mets another option in that department.
This may just be a spot start for Myers or he could perhaps earn a longer look in the rotation. Four spots are currently taken by Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and David Peterson. Thornton came up and made his debut this week but allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. Peterson has an ERA north of 5.00 and may not be guaranteed anything going forward.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
Rangers, Joe Ross Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed veteran righty Joe Ross to a minor league contract, Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News reports. Ross was recently released by the D-backs. He’d been pitching with their Triple-A club in Reno.
Ross made Arizona’s Opening Day roster this season after signing a minor league deal in free agency, but the Snakes designated him for assignment after 3 2/3 innings. He elected free agency and returned on a minor league deal.
Ross, who turned 33 yesterday, enjoyed decent results in a hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting. He threw 21 innings for the D-backs’ Triple-A club, most of them in long relief, and logged a 4.29 ERA. His 14% strikeout rate is way below average, but Ross’ 5.8% walk rate was excellent and his 47.8% grounder rate was strong. He also induced plenty of weak contact, evidenced by an 87.7 mph average exit velocity and 38% hard-hit rate.
This year’s brief run in the majors with Arizona brought Ross up to nine partial seasons in the majors. He’s one day shy of eight years of service time. Ross showed glimpses of breaking out as a quality big league starter early in his career, but much like his older brother (Tyson Ross) was routinely set back by injuries. He’s had a pair of Tommy John surgeries in his career in addition to a procedure to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Ross has also had multiple IL stints due to lower back injuries and shoulder troubles.
Ross had a nice season with the ’24 Brewers, tossing 74 innings with a 3.77 ERA and rate stats that were only slightly worse than league average. He was hit hard in a partial season with the ’25 Phillies though, yielding a 5.12 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate. Overall, the 6’4″ righty has a 4.37 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 43% ground-ball rate in 572 major league frames.
The Rangers haven’t specified what type of role Ross will fill. He’ll head to Triple-A Round Rock and presumably continue to operate at least as a long reliever — if not a member of the rotation. The Rangers’ big league staff includes Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. The depth options behind that quintet aren’t great, and the latter three have all had varying levels of struggles. Rocker’s hold on a rotation spot appeared to be fading, but he just rattled off 7 2/3 shutout innings behind an opener in his most recent appearance. That brings him to 12 2/3 straight scoreless frames, dropping his ERA from north of 5.00 all the way to 3.60 (albeit with subpar rate stats that suggest some regression).
Veteran righty Cal Quantrill has pitched well in a long relief role, so it’s unlikely Ross will quickly jump to the majors in a swingman capacity. That said, if Texas incurs an injury in the rotation, that could nudge Quantrill into a starting role and create a space for Ross. Ross himself could be a rotation option at some point, too. He’s not fully stretched out right now but has made multiple three-inning relief appearances this season — most recently in early May.
Giants To Select Victor Bericoto
The Giants will select the contract of outfielder Victor Bericoto from Triple-A Sacramento today, as first reported by journalist Manolo Hernández Douen. San Francisco already has an open 40-man spot. Corresponding moves aren’t yet clear, but Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests that Jung Hoo Lee could need to miss a few more games or perhaps even head to the injured list. He’s been day-to-day with a back issue recently.
It’s the first call to the majors for the 24-year-old Bericoto. He’s generally not considered to be among the organization’s top 30 prospects, but he’s enjoying a nice start to his season with the River Cats. In 186 plate appearances, the righty-swinging outfielder has slashed .299/.355/.449 with six homers. He’s walked at a slightly below-average 8.1% clip, but his current 18.8% strikeout rate would be a career-low mark over a full season.
Bericoto has played all three outfield spots and first base in his professional career. He’s spent the bulk of his time in right field and at first base, however, and hasn’t appeared in center field since 2024, when he logged only six games there. In January 2025, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote that Bericoto has plus power but contact skills that were “toward the very bottom of the acceptable range.” He’s made some modest gains in that regard. His 73.5% overall contact rate is still below the major league average (76.8%), but he’s connected on 85.5% of the swings he takes on pitches within the zone, which is right in line with MLB average.
Red Sox Select Tayron Guerrero
May 22: Boston has officially announced the move. It will indeed be Crawford moving to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man spot for Guerrero.
May 21: The Red Sox are going to select right-hander Tayron Guerrero to their roster, per reporting from Andrew Parker of SoxProspects.com. He’ll be back in the big leagues for the first time since 2019. Righty Zack Kelly has been optioned as a corresponding active roster move, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The Sox will need to make a corresponding move to open a 40-man roster spot. That will likely involve moving someone to the 60-day injured list, with Kutter Crawford being a logical candidate.
It’s an incredible comeback story for the 35-year-old. Guerrero was in the big leagues from 2016 to 2019, pitching for the Padres and Marlins. He logged 106 innings with a 5.77 earned run average. He lost his roster spot ahead of the 2020 season. Since then, he has alternated between minor league deals and time spent in Japan, without a ton of success. He was with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2022 and 2025. The first stint overseas was okay, with Guerrero posting a 3.52 ERA, but he had a 6.41 ERA last year. In his minor league work from 2021 to 2024, he posted a 7.62 ERA.
He signed a minor league deal with the Sox this offseason and has been shoving in Triple-A. He has thrown 19 2/3 innings for the WooSox, allowing just two earned runs for a 0.92 ERA. His 8% walk rate is right around average, while his 29.3% strikeout rate is quite strong and his 69.6% ground ball rate is massive. His fastball is still averaging in the upper 90s, with his slider and changeup coming in around 90ish.
The Sox will take a chance on Guerrero to see if he can translate any of that to the big leagues. Given his age and his recent track record, it’s an unusual move, but there’s obvious appeal in his numbers so far this year. If the gambit doesn’t pan out, Guerrero is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Orioles Outright Jose Espada
The Orioles announced that right-hander Jose Espada has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week when the O’s claimed outfielder Michael Siani. This is Espada’s first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He’ll provide the Orioles with some non-roster depth for the time being.
Espada, 29, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in July of 2025. He was added to the 40-man in August and then optioned to the minors, suggesting he probably had some kind of opt-out in that deal. He was called up in September and made one appearance before getting optioned back to Norfolk. He’s had a similar experience so far this year, spending most of it in the minors. He was recalled three times but only made one appearance.
He also made one appearance with the Padres in 2023, so he has three big league appearances on his ledger. He has thrown five scoreless innings in total. A career earned run average of 0.00 is nice but it’s obviously a very small sample. His larger body of work at Triple-A is less impressive. In 65 innings at that level, he has a 4.57 ERA. He has a strong 27.5% strikeout rate in that sample but a worrisome 15.5% walk rate. He mostly throws a mid-90s fastball and mid-80s slider, with a 90ish splitter being his third pitch in terms of usage.
After the 2023 season, the Padres non-tendered Espada, sending him to free agency without needing to put him on waivers. He spent 2024 in Japan, throwing 27 innings for the Yakult Swallows with an ERA of 5.00. He re-signed with the Friars on a minor league deal ahead of 2025 but eventually was released from that pact and signed with the Orioles. Since this is his first time clearing waivers and his service time count is under three years, he has to accept the outright assignment. He will try to improve his control and earn his way back to the majors.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Rockies Select Chad Stevens
The Rockies announced they’ve selected infielder Chad Stevens from Triple-A Albuquerque. Colorado placed outfielder Brenton Doyle on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 20, with a left oblique contusion. The Rox also recalled right-hander Blas Castaño and optioned lefty reliever Sammy Peralta to Triple-A. Colorado designated southpaw Carson Palmquist for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Stevens.
Stevens, who signed an offseason minor league contract, has been on a tear in the minors. He’s hitting .362/.435/.523 with three homers, 13 doubles and a triple over 40 games with Albuquerque. That’s carried by a .500 average on balls in play, as Stevens has struck out at an elevated 26.2% rate. The former 11th-rounder has a .300/.378/.473 line in just shy of 800 trips to the dish at the Triple-A level in his career.
The 27-year-old Stevens has played in five MLB games, all of which came with the Angels in early July. He went 2-14 with seven strikeouts. Los Angeles optioned him back to Triple-A after a week and designated him for assignment in September. He’ll provide an extra infielder behind Ezequiel Tovar, Willi Castro, Kyle Karros and Edouard Julien off Warren Schaeffer’s bench.
It’s a little odd that Colorado brought up an infielder to replace Doyle, as they’re operating with a rather thin outfield. Jake McCarthy is in the primary center field role, while Mickey Moniak occasionally moves into center. Tyler Freeman and designated hitter/corner bat Troy Johnston are the other outfield options on the active roster.
Stevens’ selection spells the end of Palmquist’s time on the roster. Colorado’s previous front office regime drafted the 6’3″ southpaw in the third round in 2022. The Miami product struggled over nine MLB appearances last year. The Rockies moved him to the bullpen late last summer. Palmquist has spent this season on optional assignment to Triple-A. He has started his past few times out but is still working 2-3 inning stints.
Palmquist has allowed 7.20 earned runs per nine over 25 frames with Albuquerque, walking 15% of opponents against a modest 19% strikeout rate. The Rockies will trade him or put him on waivers within the next five days. Palmquist has never been outrighted in his career, so he’d remain in the organization if he clears waivers.
Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the Stevens call-up before the team announcement.