Dodgers Likely To Select Justin Dean
The Dodgers are likely to promote outfielder Justin Dean before tomorrow’s series opener with the Blue Jays, reports Dodger Daily. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, L.A. optioned Esteury Ruiz to Triple-A Oklahoma City this evening. That’ll open the necessary active roster spot, but they’ll also need to make a 40-man move to select Dean’s contract.
It’d be the first major league call for the 28-year-old Dean. A product of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, Dean was a 17th-round pick by the Braves in 2018. He doesn’t have huge power in a 5’8″ frame, but he’s a plus runner who can play a good center field. Dean spent seven seasons in the Atlanta system without getting an MLB look. He qualified for minor league free agency last winter and signed a non-roster contract with the Dodgers.
Dean has spent the entire season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He’s hitting .274/.370/.426 with six homers while stealing 25 bases in 32 attempts. The righty batter has taken walks at a strong 12% rate while striking out 23% of the time. He’s chasing fewer pitches outside the strike zone and making a lot more contact than he did last season in the Atlanta system. Dean has logged over 500 innings in center field and added 136 frames in right.
Ruiz had been the last position player on the roster as a speedster off the bench. Dean should provide a superior defensive option in a fifth outfielder role.
Yankees Release JT Brubaker
The Yankees announced today that right-hander JT Brubaker has been released. The Yanks had designated him for assignment earlier this week. He has over five years of big league service time, meaning he could have rejected an outright assignment while keeping his $1.82MM salary intact. The Yanks have skipped that formality and sent him to the open market.
The Yanks will remain on the hook for the remainder of that salary. Another club could sign Brubaker and would only have to pay him the prorated version of the $760K league minimum salary. Anything paid by another club would be subtracted from the Yankees’ commitments.
Brubaker, 31, is a few years removed from his best big league work. From 2020 to 2022, he tossed 315 1/3 innings for the Pirates, primarily as a starter. In that time, he had a 4.99 earned run average, though he probably deserved better. His 23.3% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 44% ground ball rate were all around league average. His .313 batting average on balls in play and 16.3% home run to fly ball rate were both on the unfortunate side. His 4.43 FIP and 4.04 SIERA suggested he could have been better than his ERA indicated.
In April of 2023, he required Tommy John surgery, wiping out that entire season. The Yanks took a chance on him, acquiring him from the Pirates around Opening Day of 2024. They sent Keiner Delgado as the player to be named later, getting Brubaker and international bonus pool space. The Yanks were likely hoping for some contributions in the second half of that year but Brubaker suffered an oblique strain while rehabbing in July and didn’t pitch for them that year.
The Yanks tendered him a contract for 2025 but the injury bug was again a problem. During a spring training contest, Brubaker was hit by a comebacker and fractured three ribs. He came off the IL in mid-June and was used in a long relief role. He tossed 16 innings over 12 appearances for the Yankees with a 3.38 ERA. His 44.2% ground ball rate was still decent but his 15.9% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate were not great.
The past few years have obviously been a struggle but Brubaker has been a good major league pitcher in the past and is essentially free now that he’s been released. He should be receiving a few calls in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Astros Sign Enyel De Los Santos, Designate Luis Contreras For Assignment
The Astros have signed right-hander Enyel De Los Santos to a major league deal. Fellow righty Nick Hernandez has been optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land in a corresponding active roster move. Righty Luis Contreras has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the moves.
De Los Santos, 29, was designated for assignment by Atlanta just over a week ago. He had signed a minor league deal with that club in the winter and cracked the Opening Day roster. He tossed 43 2/3 innings this year with a 4.53 earned run average, 20.1% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate.
Thanks to those lackluster results and his out-of-options status, he was bumped off the roster when Atlanta acquired Tyler Kinley from the Rockies. According to De Los Santos’ transactions tracker at MLB.com, he cleared waivers and elected free agency.
The Astros presumably feel there’s a way to get the righty back on track to his pre-2024 form. With Cleveland in 2022 and 2023, he tossed 119 innings with a 3.18 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate. He earned one save and 19 holds in that span.
Last year, he bounced around the league and posted a combined 5.20 ERA for three different clubs, mostly due to a massive home run spike. He had allowed 21 home runs in his career from 2018 to 2023 but then allowed 17 in 2024 alone. Those struggles led him to be non-tendered by the White Sox, which allowed Atlanta to scoop him up on a minor league deal.
Houston will try to help him correct course. He is out of options, as mentioned, so his grip on a roster spot may be tenuous. However, if things go well and he sticks around through the end of the year, he could be retained for 2026 via arbitration.
Contreras, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Astros ahead of the 2024 season and was added to their 40-man roster in June of last year. He has served as an optionable depth arm for the Astros since then, tossing 18 big league innings with a 7.50 ERA.
His minor league work has declined this year, relative to 2024. Last year, he logged 46 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.74 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate. This year’s 3.34 ERA doesn’t look awful, especially in the context of the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but his 21.4% strikeout rate and 15.1% walk rate are both far worse than last year. He’s benefited from a .253 batting average on balls in play and 3.4% home run to fly ball rate.
With the trade deadline having passed, the Astros will have to put Contreras on waivers in the coming days. He is still optionable and has less than a year of service time, so perhaps he could appeal to a club looking for some cheap pitching depth.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
White Sox Select Jacob Amaya, Designate Gus Varland For Assignment
The White Sox announced today that infielder Chase Meidroth has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 4th, with a right thumb contusion. Infielder Jacob Amaya has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Amaya, right-hander Gus Varland has been designated for assignment.
Meidroth’s injury actually dates back over a week. On July 30th, he was hit on the hand by a pitch from Taijuan Walker, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. The club evidently didn’t think it was a serious issue, as they didn’t put him on the IL right away. However, he hasn’t started a game since then. He did play on Sunday, entering as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.
Presumably, the thumb hasn’t healed as hoped, so the Sox will give him some more rest. IL stints can be backdated by three days if the player hasn’t played in that time frame, which the Sox have done here, so Meidroth could be back in a week if his condition improves.
While he’s been out, Colson Montgomery has moved over from third to shortstop, with Brooks Baldwin taking over at the hot corner. Curtis Mead, Lenyn Sosa and Josh Rojas have been splitting first and second base duties.
Amaya gives them an extra infielder to have on hand. He has 62 games of big league experience, mostly having played shortstop but also with some second base sprinkled in. He’s also played some third base in the minors. He’s considered a good defender but hasn’t hit much, with a .144/.176/.158 line in the big leagues. He is out of options and got passed through waivers earlier this year. Since then, he’s been hitting well in Triple-A, with a .291/.402/.464 line in 132 plate appearances. He struck out in 28.8% of those trips to the plate but also walked at a 15.2% pace.
He’ll try to carry some of that over to the big leagues. His out-of-options status may give him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. On the other hand, Mead can still be optioned while Rojas is having a terrible season and is on pace for a non-tender at season’s end. When Meidroth returns, perhaps Amaya could stick around since he’s still relatively young and years away from qualifying for arbitration.
As for Varland, he was optioned to the minors in mid-March, ahead of Opening Day. He made two Triple-A appearances before landing on the minor league IL due to a forearm strain, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He started a rehab assignment in June but that lasted just six appearances before he was shut down. James Fegan of Sox Machine says Varland is out for the year.
The trade deadline has passed and injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the Sox will have no choice but to release Varland. Though he’s hurt now, he could garner interest from other clubs based on his past results. He tossed 20 1/3 innings for the Sox last year with a 3.54 earned run average, 28.2% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate. He will still have one option season after this year and has just under a year of service time.
Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images
Red Sox Extend Roman Anthony
The Red Sox locked up another budding star, signing outfielder Roman Anthony to an eight-year extension covering the 2026-33 seasons with a club option for 2034. The Frontline Athlete Management is reportedly guaranteed $130MM on a deal that also includes significant escalators based on Rookie of the Year, MVP and All-Star voting.
Anthony receives a $5MM signing bonus. The salary breaks down as follows:
- $2MM in 2026
- $4MM in 2027
- $8MM in 2028
- $15MM in 2029
- $19MM in 2030
- $23MM in 2031
- $25MM in 2032
- $29MM in 2033
- $30MM club option (no buyout) in 2034
The escalators apply to the 2032 and 2033 seasons. They would also apply to the 2031 season if he finishes top two in Rookie of the Year voting in 2025. Anthony’s salaries will increase by $1MM if he comes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting. The salaries would also increase by $2MM for each MVP win in any previous year, $1MM for coming second or third in MVP voting, $750K for a fourth or fifth in MVP voting, $500K for finishing sixth through tenth in MVP voting and $200K for any All-Star appearance. Those same escalators would apply to the club option except the top-two ROY finish would add $2MM instead of $1MM.
As things stand, the deal buys out all six of Anthony’s initial seasons of club control, plus two free-agent years with an option over a third free-agent season. However, if Anthony finishes top two in American League Rookie of the Year voting, he’d receive a full year of service for the current season, thus meaning the deal would lock in three free-agent years with a club option over a fourth.
Regardless of the exact number of free-agent years being bought out, the Sox now control Anthony all the way through 2034 — what will be his age-30 season. He’ll still be able to become a free agent ahead of his age-31 campaign, positioning him for another potential nine-figure contract down the road.
Anthony’s deal draws plenty of parallels to the eight-year, $111MM extension Corbin Carroll signed with the D-backs in January of 2023. Both outfielders were regarded as the top prospect in the sport when they debuted in their age-21 seasons. Both found immediate success and quickly signed eight-year deals beginning with their age-22 seasons.
As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Anthony’s contract becomes the third-largest guarantee ever given out to a player with under one year of major league service time. Julio Rodriguez’s $210MM deal with the Mariners currently tops the list, though that agreement came when Rodriguez was much further into what would eventually be a Rookie of the Year-winning campaign in 2022.
Selected with the No. 79 overall pick in the 2022 draft, Anthony stormed through the minor leagues, breaking out with a huge performance in High-A as a 19-year-old and never looking back. By measure of wRC+, he was at least 40% better than league-average with the bat at every stop from High-A through Triple-A, and he’s carried over his outstanding production through his first 46 major league games.
In 190 plate appearances as a big leaguer, Anthony is hitting .283/.400/.428 with a pair of homers, 15 doubles, a triple, two stolen bases, a 13.7% walk rate and a 24.7% strikeout rate. He’s averaged a scorching 94.1 mph off the bat and seen a whopping 58% of his batted balls exit the bat traveling at least 95 mph. His overall power output has been muted by a 55.4% ground-ball rate, but Anthony elevated the ball more in the minors and figures to do so as he continues to acclimate to big league pitching, at which point he’ll get to more of his plus-plus power. For now, the walk-heavy approach and plethora of doubles is getting the job done just fine; Anthony has been 33% better than average in the batter’s box since arriving in the big leagues.
Anthony doesn’t possess elite contact skills but does make excellent swing decisions. His 73.1% overall contact rate and 81.6% contact rate on pitches within the zone are both four points below league-average, but Anthony’s chase rate on balls off the plate (just 20.1%) is eight percentage points lower than average. Among the 292 hitters with at least 190 plate appearances in the majors this year, he’s tied for the 19th-lowest chase percentage, per Statcast.
On the defensive side of things, Anthony has split his time between the two outfield corners but spent more time in right. He’s seen time in center field in the minors, but scouting reports on Anthony typically pegged him for a long-term home in one of the corners. His arm isn’t elite but is at least average, if not a tick better. Anthony has drawn strong defensive grades for his work thus far (+5 Defensive Runs Saved, +4 Outs Above Average). He gives the Sox another talented defender to join the trio of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, all of whom are plus defenders in their own right.
That glut of outfield talent — plus Masataka Yoshida‘s presence at DH — has long prompted speculation about a potential trade from the group. Duran and Abreu have seen their names kicked around the rumor mill dating back to the offseason. Boston would surely welcome the opportunity to escape some of the final two-plus years on Yoshida’s five-year contract, which runs through 2027, but with $18.5MM salaries in each of the next two seasons, doing so is a tall order. Anthony was never going to be traded, and this new long-term arrangement only further solidifies him as a foundational piece for the Red Sox.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Red Sox and Anthony were finalizing an eight-year, $130MM deal with a club option for 2034. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the $30MM option value. Alex Speier of The Boston Globe had the specific salary and escalator structure.
Angels, Cavan Biggio Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels are in agreement with infielder Cavan Biggio on a minor league deal, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake. Biggio was released by the Royals last week.
Biggio broke camp with K.C. after signing an offseason minor league contract. He appeared in 37 games, hitting .174/.296/.246 with one home run in 83 trips to the plate. He had hit far better in Triple-A, slashing .285/.375/.464 over 41 contests. Biggio’s lack of production against big league pitching pushed him off the roster last week, as the Royals needed to open a 40-man spot to activate Hunter Harvey from the injured list.
The lefty-hitting Biggio has been a well below-average hitter in consecutive seasons. He combined for a .197/.314/.303 line across 225 plate appearances with three teams a year ago. Biggio continues to take a lot of walks, as he has throughout his career. His power production has plummeted since his first two seasons with the Blue Jays. Biggio’s extremely patient approach also comes with strikeouts, as he also takes a lot of pitches within the strike zone.
Biggio has more experience at second base than any other position. He only logged 10 1/3 innings there for Kansas City. The Royals used him most frequently in the corner outfield and at first base with occasional second and third base work. The Angels have Nolan Schanuel, Christian Moore and Luis Rengifo at the non-shortstop infield positions. They acquired Oswald Peraza as a defensive option off the bench, while Niko Kavadas is on the MLB roster as a lefty-swinging first baseman.
Marlins Outright Jack Winkler
Marlins infielder Jack Winkler went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. The 26-year-old neither has the service time nor the previous career outright to decline the assignment. He’ll remain with the team after being designated for assignment on Monday when the Fish claimed outfielder Joey Wiemer off waivers.
Winkler made a brief MLB debut earlier in the season. Acquired from the A’s in the minor league phase of last winter’s Rule 5 draft, he cracked the 40-man roster at the end of May. He spent around six weeks in the big leagues over two stints. Winkler didn’t get a ton of playing time as the final player on Clayton McCullough’s bench. He only started four of his 11 appearances and collected two hits and a stolen base in 12 at-bats.
A University of San Francisco product, Winkler has played parts of five minor league seasons. He’s in his first year at Triple-A and batting .241/.304/.379 over 194 plate appearances. Winkler has never hit much but provides versatility as a depth infielder. He’ll remain with Jacksonville in hopes of getting back onto the big league roster.
Padres Release Martín Maldonado, Outright Tyler Wade
The Padres announced that catcher Martín Maldonado has been released and infielder/outfielder Tyler Wade has been sent outright to Triple-A El Paso. Both players were designated for assignment last week in the wake of the Friars making multiple additions ahead of the trade deadline.
Maldonado has carved out a big league career longer than a decade as a glove-first backstop. However, his previously-excellent glovework has declined as he has pushed into his late 30s. Given his poor offense, his value to a big league club has mostly been reduced to intangibles, such as his clubhouse presence and handling of a pitching staff.
The Padres needed help behind the plate coming into 2025 but had a tight budget. They signed a couple of veterans to cheap deals, adding Elias Díaz for $3.5MM and Maldonado on a minor league deal. Maldonado made the Opening Day roster to form the catching duo with Díaz, but those two have been rough this year. Maldonado hit .204/.245/.327 while Díaz slashed .201/.266/.304.
The Friars have clearly needed help behind the plate and addressed that need at the deadline by acquiring Freddy Fermin from the Royals, which pushed Maldonado off the roster. Maldonado has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. The Padres have skipped that formality and simply released him. He could perhaps come back on a minor league deal or find one with another organization. He also turns 39 years old in a few days, so it’s possible he considers retirement, though that’s entirely speculative.
Wade, 30, is a glove-first utility guy. He has hit just .206/.309/.252 this year and .216/.294/.284 in his career but can be a useful bench player since he can steal bases and provide defensive versatility. He has played every position on the diamond except for catcher and first base.
This is the second time he’s been outrighted by the Padres this year. The first came after he didn’t break camp with the club out of spring training. He could have elected free agency while retaining his $900K salary but decided to stick with the organization. He was selected back to the roster just over a week later and stuck on the roster until last week.
He now has the right to elect free agency again. Since he stuck with the Padres last time, he might do so again. On the other hand, the position player group is far stronger now. The Padres added Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano and Fermin ahead of the deadline. They also grabbed Will Wagner from the Blue Jays and have him on optional assignment, alongside Mason McCoy and Tirso Ornelas. Perhaps the path back to the big leagues has become too steep and Wade will elect free agency to look for opportunities elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Select Casey Kelly, Transfer Kevin Ginkel To 60-Day IL
The Diamondbacks announced today that right-hander Casey Kelly has been selected to the roster. Left-hander Kyle Nelson has been optioned to Triple-A Reno to open an active roster spot. In a corresponding 40-man move, righty Kevin Ginkel has been transferred to the 60-day IL.
Kelly, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes back in March. He has been pitching for Triple-A Reno in a swing role since then, logging 85 innings over 14 starts and four relief appearances. He has a 5.82 earned run average with a 10.6% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate.
The Arizona bullpen got a workout last night. They played 11 innings against the Padres, eventually falling 10-5. Six different relievers made an appearance. They also traded Merrill Kelly ahead of the deadline last week, which led to Anthony DeSclafani moving from a long relief role into the rotation. DeSclafani only lasted two and a third innings last time out and is starting again tonight. Kelly could be tasked with absorbing some innings out of the bullpen behind DeSclafani, in order to spare the rest of the bullpen.
As for Ginkel, this move ends his season. He began the year on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation. He was activated off the IL at the end of April but landed back there on Monday due to a sprain of that shoulder. The 60-day count will push into early October.
He has some good seasons on his résumé but 2025 will go down as one of his worst. He posted a 7.36 ERA this year, perhaps with the shoulder troubles contributing to his struggles. He averaged 94.9 miles per hour on his fastball this year, more than a mile below last year’s 96 mph.
He is making $2.425MM this year and could be retained via arbitration for 2025. His poor results will prevent him from earning a notable raise but the Diamondbacks might consider a non-tender anyway, based on this year’s results. They will have to decide if they think there’s a path back to his pre-2025 results. From 2022 to 2024, he pitched 164 2/3 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 47.1% ground ball rate.
Photo courtesy of Philip G. Pavely, Imagn Images
Phillies Sign Jacob Waguespack To Minor League Deal
The Phillies have signed right-hander Jacob Waguespack to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The IronPigs’ roster lists Waguespack as on the injured list.
Waguespack was on the Rays’ 40-man roster as of a couple of weeks ago. He was designated for assignment when outfielder Jonny DeLuca was reinstated from the 60-day IL. Waguespack was on the minor league IL at the time. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so that gave the Rays little choice to but to release him, which allowed him to sign with the Phils.
It’s unclear what injury is ailing Waguespack. His last minor league game was on May 20th, over two months ago. Presumably, the Phils expect him to be healthy at some point before the end of the season.
Regardless, it’s a pretty low-risk signing for the Phillies. They’re not giving Waguespack a roster spot. Also, since the Rays released him, they remain on the hook for Waguespack’s $1.3MM salary this year. If the Phils call him up at any point, they would only have to pay him a prorated portion of the $760K league minimum salary. Whatever they pay would be subtracted from Tampa’s commitments.
Waguespack hasn’t had much major league success, with a 5.11 earned run average in 105 2/3 innings. However, he did have an encouraging performance in Japan a few years back. Pitching for the Orix Buffaloes in 2022 and 2023, he logged 116 1/3 innings with a 4.02 ERA and 29% strikeout rate.
That prompted the Rays to sign him as a depth arm ahead of 2024, though he’s largely been on optional assignment and/or injured since then. He tossed 10 innings in the majors last year and none so far in 2025. His minor league work since signing with the Rays has been good, with a 2.93 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate in 43 innings.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images