Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Astros Select Zach Cole

By | at

3:15pm: The Astros have officially selected Cole, per Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle. Salazar has been optioned to Triple-A as the corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Luis Garcia has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. Garcia just landed on the 15-day IL this week due to elbow discomfort, so his season is over. It was already ominous that he landed on the IL at all since he missed over two years due to elbow issues and just recently returned. This quick move to the 60-day IL doesn’t do anything to improve the outlook.

9:57am: The Astros are calling up outfielder Zach Cole for tonight’s series opener in Atlanta, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Houston will need to select his contract and make corresponding moves for both the active and 40-man rosters.

Cole was a 10th-round pick out of Ball State in 2022. He had a rare power-speed combination for a hitter selected that late in the draft, especially one out of college. That reflected significant trepidation on the part of scouts about Cole’s pure hitting ability. He has posted alarming whiff rates throughout his minor league career, but his bottom line production has been strong at every stop.

The left-handed hitting Cole has a .249/.357/.469 slash over parts of four minor league seasons. That includes a .279/.377/.539 showing with 19 homers and 18 stolen bases in 97 games this year. Cole has spent the bulk of the year in Double-A. Houston just promoted him to Triple-A two weeks ago. He was then slated to head to the Arizona Fall League but instead forced his way to the majors by hitting .353 with five homers in his first 15 Triple-A contests.

Cole’s breakout season has still come with a strikeout rate above 35%. It’s very difficult to find consistent success with that level of swing-and-miss, which will presumably only increase against big league pitching. Houston won’t need to play him on an everyday basis though. Cole can cover all three outfield positions and brings an intriguing toolset to Joe Espada’s bench.

Houston called up César Salazar a couple weeks ago when Victor Caratini was down with a concussion. Salazar has stuck on the active roster since Caratini returned but isn’t playing much. Cole could provide more speed and pop off the bench. Taylor Trammell hasn’t hit well (.202/.302/.349 in 48 games) as a lefty-hitting fourth outfielder, so the Astros could also swap him out for Cole. They’d need to designate him for assignment to do that, as Trammell is out of minor league options.

Twins Select Cody Laweryson

By | at

The Twins announced that right-hander Justin Topa has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, retroactive to September 9th. Fellow righty Cody Laweryson has been selected to take Topa’s place on the roster. The Twins had just 37 men on their 40-man, so no other corresponding move is required as this brings their count up to 38.

It’s unclear how serious Topa’s injury is but this presumably ends his season. Even with the backdating of the move, he could only come back for the final few days of the schedule. With the Twins buried in the standings, there’s not much motivation for him to rush back. Assuming he’s done, he finishes the year with a 3.90 earned run average in 60 innings. His 18.3% strikeout rate was subpar but his 6.7% walk rate and 47.7% ground ball rate were good figures.

The Twins will have to decide whether or not to trigger a $2MM club option for 2026 or go for a $225K buyout. Even if they go for the buyout, they could still keep Topa for next year via arbitration. Assuming they want Topa back next year, the decision would simply come down to which path they expect to be cheaper.

His injury allows Laweryson to get up to the majors for the first time. Now 27, Laweryson was drafted with a 14th-round pick back in 2019. He worked both as a starter and a reliever as he climbed the minor league ladder but has been working exclusively out of the bullpen in recent years.

On the most recent FanGraphs list of top prospects in the system, Laweryson got an honorable mention, with the report noting that his deception helps him get better results than one would expect from his middling stuff. He has thrown 44 innings this year between Double-A and Triple-A with a 2.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 46.3% ground ball rate. Laweryson will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Since this is his first time cracking a big league roster, he has a full slate of options.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Phillies To Select Walker Buehler, Place José Alvarado On IL

By | at

The Phillies are going to select right-hander Walker Buehler to the roster to start tonight’s game. Left-hander José Alvarado will be placed on the injured list to open an active roster spot, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The nature of Alvarado’s injury is unclear. The Phils will also need to open a 40-man roster spot.

Buehler signed a minor league deal with the Phils a couple of weeks ago, after he had been released by the Red Sox. It was a bit of a surprise that Boston let him go, if only because they had made a notable $21.05MM commitment to him this year, but the move was also justified by Buehler’s poor performance.

Earlier in his career, Buehler was arguably an ace. While pitching for the Dodgers, he twice finished in the top ten in National League Cy Young voting, including a fourth-place finish in 2021. But he missed the 2023 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery, the second such procedure of his career, and hasn’t looked the same since. From the start of 2024 until the present, he has logged 187 2/3 innings with a 5.42 earned run average, 17.4% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate.

Despite his recent struggles, he was a sensible pick-up for the Phils. They recently lost Zack Wheeler due to a blood clot/thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis. Even without Wheeler, they had a solid rotation group consisting of Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, Jesús Luzardo, Cristopher Sánchez and Taijuan Walker. But bringing in Buehler added another arm at no extra cost. Since the Sox released him, they are on the hook for the majority of his remaining salary. The Phils will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster.

At this point, it’s unclear exactly how long he will spend on the roster. The Phils are currently in the midst of a stretch where in they play 15 days in a row. After today, there are five more games in that span. They then only play three times in the following five days, before finishing out the schedule with six in a row.

It’s possible this is just a spot start to give the starters some extra rest during a tough part of the schedule. After today, it would make sense to go back down to five guys. The Phils are cruising to a playoff spot and also to a bye through the Wild Card round. They have an 11-game lead over the Mets in the East and will surely win that division. They are two games behind the Brewers for top spot in the National League but 4.5 games clear of the Dodgers.

That comfortable position could entice them to rest some of their starters. But on the other hand, since they are likely to be sitting out the first round, the pitchers are already looking at having almost a full week off between the regular season and the Division Series round. In order to avoid rust build-up, they may want their pitchers to keep throwing all the way through the end of the schedule. Time will tell if Buehler sticks around with the aim of making another start, gets moved to a long relief role or bumped back off the roster entirely.

As for Alvarado, his absence shouldn’t be too consequential, especially in the short term. He’s been putting up good numbers this year but isn’t eligible for the postseason due to the PED suspension he received earlier this year. His absence hurts the bullpen for the final few weeks of the regular season but, as mentioned, the Phils are in a pretty comfortable position in the playoff picture.

If it’s a long-term injury, then that would be more notable. The club has a $9MM club option for his services in 2026 with a $500K buyout. Naturally, a serious injury that would extend into next year could impact the club’s decision on that option.

Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images

Mets Outright Wander Suero

By | at

The Mets announced earlier today that they’ve assigned right-hander Wander Suero outright to Triple-A. The move comes after he was designated for assignment earlier this week to accommodate the return of outfielder Jose Siri.

Suero, 33, has pitched in parts of seven MLB seasons but departs the Mets’ roster without making an appearance. The righty made his big league debut with the Nationals during the 2018 season and enjoyed a solid three-year run where he pitched to a 4.10 ERA (108 ERA+) with a 3.20 FIP and a 26.1% strikeout rate across 142 2/3 innings of work from 2018 to 2020. That stretch included the franchise’s 2019 World Series championship, which saw Suero make the postseason roster and post three scoreless appearances during the World Series against the Astros.

Unfortunately, the good times came to an abrupt halt in 2021. Suero turned in a brutal 6.33 ERA with a FIP of 5.80 in 45 appearances that year. While his 23.2% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate were hardly disastrous, he allowed a ridiculous 11 home runs in 42 2/3 innings as 19.3% of his fly balls left the yard. Between that massive spike in home runs and the fact that he stranded just 59.7% of the base runners he allowed, Suero racked up runs in a hurry and was non-tendered by the Nationals during the 2021-22 offseason.

In the years since he departed the nation’s capital, Suero has bounced around the league as a journeyman. A minor league deal with the Angels in 2022 didn’t lead Suero back to the majors, as he struggled to a 6.08 ERA at Triple-A thanks in part to the Pacific Coast League’s inflated offensive environment. He seemingly mastered the level after his first season in the PCL, however, as subsequent stints with the Dodgers and Astros yielded much better results. Posting ERAs of 3.26 and 2.66 at Triple-A for each of those clubs earned call-ups to their respective big league teams, though between the 2023 and ’24 seasons Suero posted a brutal 7.88 ERA in eight innings of work for Los Angeles and Houston.

Entering 2025, Suero signed a minor league deal with the Braves and got called up to the big leagues in July after posting a 1.50 ERA with a 33.6% strikeout rate for Triple-A Gwinnett. Suero surrendered eight runs on ten hits (three homers) and four walks while striking out seven in 6 1/3 innings of work for Atlanta before being designated for assignment earlier this month. The Mets claimed him off waivers to offer some bullpen depth, but optioned him to Triple-A before he could make an MLB appearance and designated him for assignment shortly thereafter.

Assuming Suero accepts his outright assignment, he’ll finish the year at Triple-A for the Mets and have the opportunity to elect minor league free agency this offseason if not added back to the 40-man roster. In free agency, the right-hander figures to continue getting attention on minor league deals given his dominant results at Triple-A in recent years, and he’ll continue to search for an organization that can help him get back to effectiveness at the big league level. Suero has a previous outright on his resume and could also choose to elect free agency early and get a head start on the open market, if he so chooses.

Angels Outright Chad Stevens

By | at

The Angels have assigned infielder Chad Stevens outright to Triple-A Salt Lake, according to the transactions tracker on Stevens’s MLB.com profile page. Stevens was previously designated for assignment by the Angels over the weekend.

Stevens, 26, was an 11th-round pick by the Astros in the 2021 draft. He steadily climbed the minor league ladder in Houston until he reached the Double-A level in 2023. He hit a middling .220/.333/.397 in 122 games with Corpus Christi that year, and made a return to the level in 2024. Repeating a level for the first time in his career did not go especially well, as Stevens hit just .153/.242/.235 in 95 plate appearances before the Astros decided to release him in May of last year. Stevens didn’t linger on the market long after being cut by Houston, however, as he was signed to a minor league deal by the Angels later that same month.

Upon joining the Angels organization, Stevens went back to High-A in order to regain his footing after his struggles at Double-A. After putting up fantastic numbers in 44 games, Stevens was promoted and hit a much stronger .316/.359/.491 in just 17 games with Double-A Rocket City. That small sample was enough to convince Angels brass to promote Stevens to Triple-A Salt Lake, though he did end up scuffling to finish the year with a .238/.289/.345 slash line at the highest level of the minors.

Fortunately for both Stevens and the Angels, he returned to Salt Lake at the start of the 2025 and quickly proved he was up to the challenge Triple-A had to offer. In his first 72 games at the level this year, Stevens hit .302 with a .389 on-base percentage and slugged .542. That was enough, in the organization’s mind, to earn the 26-year-old his first big league call-up. He arrived in Anaheim on July 3 and made it into five games, though he went 2-13 with a 50% strikeout rate in his limited time in the majors before being sent back down the minors. After returning to Triple-A, Stevens’s hot start to the 2025 season had faded. He hit a more pedestrian .258/.348/.403 in 44 games down the stretch before he was designated for assignment last week in a move that made room for left-hander Sammy Peralta on the 40-man roster.

Because Stevens does not have the requisite service time or prior outright on his record to reject the assignment, he’ll return to Triple-A and serve as non-roster depth for the Angels through the end of the season. If not added back to the 40-man roster before the start of the offseason, however, he’ll have the opportunity to head back into minor league free agency and test the open market this winter. Stevens has experience all over the infield but has overwhelmingly played shortstop and third base during his time as a professional, and players like Zach Neto, Kyren Paris, Christian Moore, and even Oswald Peraza all figure to be prioritized on the Anaheim depth chart over someone like Stevens. That could mean he’d be better off looking for a role elsewhere, perhaps in an organization with less controllable infield depth on the roster.

Blue Jays Designate Orelvis Martinez For Assignment

By | at

The Blue Jays announced this evening that they’ve designated infielder Orelvis Martinez for assignment. The move allowed the club to activate Alek Manoah from the 60-day injured list and option him to Triple-A Buffalo. Manoah has previously been on a rehab assignment as he worked his way back from UCL surgery he underwent in June 2024.

Martinez, 24 in November, was a consensus top-100 prospect as recently as the 2024 season. He made his big league debut in June of last year but was given an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Clomiphene, a banned performance-enhancing substance, just one week later. Martinez had only appeared in one MLB game at the time of his suspension and hasn’t returned to the majors since as the Blue Jays kept him at Triple-A for the end of the 2024 season and all throughout 2025.

While Toronto’s decision not to bring Martinez back to the majors for the final weeks of the 2024 campaign could at least conceivably have been related to his suspension, it’s hard to view him not returning to the big leagues this year as anything other than performance based. Martinez struggled badly at Triple-A during is age-23 campaign, slashing just .176/.288/.348 across 394 plate appearances in 99 games. He struck out at an elevated 28.4% clip and managed just 13 homers, a massive decline in power relative to what he had shown in previous seasons, including his 28 homers in 129 Triple-A games between 2023 and ’24.

While Martinez looked utterly lost at the plate this year, his relative youth in conjunction with his former top prospect status may well be enough to get him attention from other organizations. He has experience at second base, third base, and shortstop across his minor league career, though he’s mostly moved off of shortstop in recent years. An infielder who will spend all of next year at 24 years old and has flashed the potential to be a quality hitter in the past seems likely to be an attractive candidate to join a number of rebuilding clubs, who could afford to be patient with Martinez and give him ample time to get things back on track and prove himself capable of handling major league pitching.

The Blue Jays will have one week to put Martinez through waivers, where any club will have the ability to claim him. If he goes unclaimed, Toronto can then outright him to Triple-A for the remainder of the season. If not claimed off waivers or added back to the Jays’ 40-man roster by the start of the offseason, Martinez will have the opportunity to elect minor league free agency and look for an opportunity elsewhere on the open market.

As for Manoah, the right-hander’s activation from the injured list is purely procedural. Manoah has already made five starts at the Triple-A level this year while rehabbing, and while he sports a 3.09 ERA in 23 1/3 innings of work at that level, that figure is heavily propped up by eight unearned runs allowed. Manoah has been teed off against by opposing hitters at Triple-A this year to the tune of a .239/.346/.457 slash line, has surrendered five home runs and hit three batters, and is walking opponents at a 13.0% clip. Much of that is surely rust from a lengthy layoff following UCL surgery, but it hardly seems likely that the Blue Jays would entrust starts to Manoah as they look to fend off the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East and head towards the postseason barring a massive turnaround or a rash of injuries that tests the club’s pitching depth.

Looking ahead to 2026, Manoah is ticketed for his second trip through arbitration this winter after getting a $2.2MM contract for the 2025 season from the Jays last offseason. Given his past success in the majors and remaining team control, keeping the 27-year-old in the fold for the 2026 season and seeing if he can return to form once further removed from Tommy John surgery seems like the likeliest course of action for the Jays. With that being said, a non-tender or trade this winter isn’t completely implausible given his lack of production since his All-Star 2022 campaign and his ugly performance at Triple-A since returning from injury.

Dodgers Release Matt Sauer

By | at

The Dodgers released right-hander Matt Sauer yesterday, according to the transactions tracker on Sauer’s MLB.com profile page. He had been designated for assignment by Los Angeles last week.

Sauer, 26, was a second-round pick by the Yankees back in 2017 but didn’t make his major league debut until last year as a member of the Royals after being plucked from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft. He made 14 appearances for Kansas City last year but struggled to a 7.71 ERA in that time. He walked (11) more opponents than he struck out (9) and surrendered three homers in just 16 1/3 innings of work. That lackluster work led the Royals to return Sauer to the Yankees in May of last year, and he split the remainder of the season between the Double- and Triple-A levels before electing free agency during the offseason.

That led him to join the Dodgers on a minor league deal back in December, and despite long odds to make the Opening Day roster given Los Angeles’s crowded bullpen mix, he actually managed to grab a seat on the plane to Tokyo for the club’s opening series against the Cubs after striking out eight batters during Spring Training against just one walk. Sauer did not appear in the Tokyo Series but went on to serve in an up-and-down role with the Dodgers this year, shuttling between the majors and Triple-A Oklahoma City when the Dodgers were in need of an extra arm.

He looked quite good in that role through the end of May, with a 3.05 ERA and 4.21 FIP in 20 2/3 innings of work across seven appearances, but things took a turn for the worse when he rejoined the club in June. Sauer was shelled to the tune of nine runs on 13 hits and three walks while striking out six in 4 2/3 innings of work against the Padres on June 10. That disastrous outing ballooned his ERA to 5.68, and he’s gone on to pitch just two more times for the Dodgers this year after that as he allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings of work. In 29 2/3 innings of work across ten games total in the majors this year, he posted a 6.32 ERA despite solid enough peripheral numbers, including a 4.24 xFIP and a 4.02 SIERA.

Sauer’s lackluster strikeout rate in the majors this year and tendency to allow home runs limited his effectiveness in the majors, but he did show the ability to be a competent long reliever with three-, four-, and even five-inning relief appearances where he was generally effective. Given that Sauer has options remaining and has shown the ability to pitch in all sorts of roles over the years, perhaps another team will give him a chance and see if they can help him unlock the sort of consistency he wasn’t able to find with the Royals, Yankees, or Dodgers.

Justin Garza Elects Free Agency

By | at

Right-hander Justin Garza has elected free agency, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Mets had sent him outright to Triple-A Syracuse earlier in the week but he had a previous career outright and therefore had the right to reject the assignment and head to the open market.

Garza, 31, still has a fairly limited big league track record. He has thrown 53 2/3 innings in the majors, but spread out over multiple seasons, having debuted back in 2021. That includes just 6 2/3 innings in 2025. On the whole, he has a 5.70 earned run average, 19.8% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate.

His minor league track record is naturally greater in quality and quantity, though he has struggled on the farm this year. From 2021 to 2024, he logged 157 2/3 innings in the minors with a 3.82 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate. Here in 2025, he has thrown 44 Triple-A innings with a 7.16 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. There’s surely some bad luck in there, as his .315 batting average on balls in play and 57.3% strand rate are both to the unlucky side. His 5.47 FIP suggests he has deserved better than that ERA but even that adjusted figure isn’t great.

Teams are clearly intrigued by his arsenal, which includes an upper-90s fastball as well as a cutter, splitter and slider. Over the past few years, he has bounced from the Guardians to the Angels, Red Sox, Giants and Mets via free agency, trade or the waiver wire. He was with the Giants on a minor league deal when the Mets acquired him in a cash trade in June and added him to the roster. He spent a few months as an up-and-down depth arm for the Mets until losing his roster spot in recent days.

Garza will head out to free agency and see what opportunities await him. The fact that he cleared waivers suggests he’ll be limited to minor league offers. He wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any signing club at this point, so it’s possible he just gets a headstart on his offseason. Going forward, he will still have one option season remaining and he only has about a year of service time, meaning he can provide roster flexibility and affordability.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Marlins Designate Seth Martinez For Assignment

By | at

The Marlins announced that left-hander Ryan Weathers has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, a move which was previously reported. In a corresponding move, right-hander Seth Martinez has been designated for assignment.

Martinez, 31, had some decent run with the Astros earlier in his career. Over 2022 and 2023, he gave Houston 81 2/3 innings, allowing 3.75 earned runs per nine. His 23.7% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate were both close to league average. But last year, his strikeout rate dropped to 16.2%. He was sent to the minors a few times, exhausting his final option season.

He was therefore out of options heading into 2025, which gave him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. But given his past success, he still had enough appeal to bounce around the league. In the offseason, he went to the Diamondbacks, Marlins, Mariners and Marlins again via a series of waiver claims. The Fish put him on waivers again around Opening Day, when he finally cleared.

He has therefore spent most of this year pitching in Triple-A. He logged 43 2/3 innings for Jacksonville with a 3.71 ERA, 28.9% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. He was called back up to the big leagues about two weeks ago. Between then and now, he tossed 6 2/3 innings for the Marlins, allowing four earned runs via four hits and three walks while striking out four. It appears that wasn’t enough to get him beyond the fringes of the roster, so he’s been bumped off today.

With the trade deadline having passed, Martinez will have to be on waivers yet again in the coming days. He won’t have much short-term appeal to clubs, since he wouldn’t be postseason eligible for any claiming team. But he can be controlled for four seasons beyond this one since he has less than three years of service time. Given the notable interest he garnered in the offseason and his recent uptick in strikeouts in the minors, perhaps there’s a team intrigued enough to make a claim. If such a team exists, they could get a close-up look at Martinez in the final few weeks of the season as they decide about putting him in their 2026 plans.

Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images

John Brebbia Elects Free Agency

By | at

Right-hander John Brebbia elected free agency rather than accept 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 earlier this week.

Brebbia, 35, is undeniably having a bad season. He has tossed 23 1/3 innings between Detroit and Atlanta, allowing 7.71 earned runs per nine. His 22.6% strikeout rate is close to average but his 10.4% walk rate is a bit high. It’s surely not quite as bad as the ERA would indicate. His .338 batting average on balls in play and 56.8% strand rate are both to the unfortunate side. His 5.76 FIP and 4.21 SIERA aren’t amazing figures but they do suggest that the ERA isn’t a perfect reflection of his work this year.

Regardless, he hasn’t been able to stick on a roster for long. The Tigers signed him to a one-year, $2.75MM deal in the offseason. He wasn’t released until mid-June but he also missed close to a month due to a right triceps strain. Atlanta scooped him up on a minor league deal after Detroit let him go. He was back in the majors in late August but lasted barely a week on Atlanta’s roster.

Players with at least five years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments and keep their salary commitments in place. Brebbia is well over that line and has exercised his right. Since the Tigers released him, they are on the hook for the majority of what remains to be paid out of his salary. Any other club could sign Brebbia and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on the roster.

As mentioned, he has not been in good form this year but the track record is decent. He came into this year with 355 big league innings, a 3.80 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. This year’s major league results haven’t been at that level but he showed potential on the farm. Between signing that minor league deal with Atlanta and getting selected to the majors, he tossed 19 Triple-A innings with a 1.89 ERA, 26.9% strikeout rate and 3.8% walk rate.

It’s possible there are clubs who can see past this year’s struggles in the majors, though there’s still limited short-term appeal. Though Brebbia is cheap and has a good résumé, the regular season has barely two weeks remaining and he wouldn’t be postseason eligible for any club he signs with now. Perhaps he will latch on somewhere for the next few weeks but it’s also possible he goes into offseason mode a bit early.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top