Rays Acquire Stuart Fairchild, Place Brandon Lowe On Injured List
The Rays announced Tuesday that they’ve acquired outfielder Stuart Fairchild from the Braves in exchange for cash. Tampa Bay also placed infielder Brandon Lowe on the 10-day injured list with tendinitis in his left ankle. Right-hander Manuel Rodriguez goes from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot for Fairchild on the 40-man roster.
Atlanta designated the 29-year-old Fairchild for assignment just yesterday morning. He’s primarily been a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive replacement in the Braves’ outfield. Fairchild has played in 28 games but only come to the plate 55 times this year. He’s hit .216/.273/.333 in that tiny sample and is a career .223/.305/.384 hitter in 670 major league plate appearances overall.
Fairchild, a former second-round pick, has totaled 277 major league games split between the Diamondbacks, Reds, Giants, Mariners and Braves. He has well above-average speed (87th percentile, per Statcast) and can handle all three outfield spots, which has led to him carving out a frequent role as a fourth outfielder. He’s a right-handed bat who offers slightly above-average production against lefties but has struggled considerably in right-on-right matchups. Fairchild is out of options, so the Rays will have to carry him on the big league roster or else designate him for assignment once again.
Lowe exited the Rays’ game on Saturday with what was described at the time as plantar fasciitis. He hasn’t appeared in a game since. As such, the move can be backdated to July 20. That leaves the veteran second baseman time to be reinstated prior to the July 31 trade deadline.
In 350 plate appearances this season, Lowe is hitting .269/.320/.480 with 19 home runs, 11 doubles, three stolen bases, a 6.9% walk rate and a 25.4% strikeout rate. He’s in the final guaranteed season of his contract, though Tampa Bay holds an $11.5MM club option (with a $500K buyout) that seems overwhelmingly likely to be exercised.
The Rays aren’t clear-cut sellers, but there’s always a possibility of them moving some veteran pieces whose club control is dwindling. In that sense, Lowe is a speculative trade candidate who’d presumably appeal to clubs with second base needs (e.g. Giants, Astros). He can be traded even if he’s on the injured list, and as already mentioned, there’s a chance he’s back before the deadline has passed. There’s no guarantee Rays brass will even make Lowe available, but they do have several infield alternatives on the roster (e.g. Jose Caballero, Ha-Seong Kim, Curtis Mead, Taylor Walls).
Rodriguez, 28, has been a key setup arm for Tampa Bay when healthy, tallying 11 holds and a 2.08 ERA in 30 1/3 innings this season. He landed on the injured list due to a forearm strain in early June, and president of baseball operations Erik Neander indicated last week (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that Rodriguez isn’t expected back anytime soon. It’s still not entirely clear what his prognosis is, but the shift to the 60-day IL leaves him shelved into at least mid-August. Based on Neander’s comments and the fact that Rodriguez isn’t yet throwing, it’s fair to presume it’ll be a good bit longer than that.
Jesse Chavez Elects Free Agency
Right-hander Jesse Chavez has elected free agency after being outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Chavez, 41, has been on and off Atlanta’s roster this year. Three separate times, they have signed him to a minor league deal, selected him to the roster and then bumped him off after a brief stint. His most recent selection was on July 6th. A little over a week later, he was designated for assignment when Atlanta acquired Dane Dunning from the Rangers.
Around those transactions, Chavez has tossed eight innings over four appearances. He has allowed eight earned runs on 14 hits and five walks while striking out eight opponents. He has also logged 30 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with a 2.05 earned run average, 28.8% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 37.3% ground ball rate.
Chavez will now have a chance to speak with all 30 clubs, though he always seems to find his way back to Atlanta. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the two sides reunite on a fresh minor league deal in the coming days. The club is lined up to be a deadline seller in the rest of the month. Closer Raisel Iglesias seems likely to move while guys like Rafael Montero, Pierce Johnson or Aaron Bummer could be on the move as well. That could open up some more major league opportunities for Chavez or other pitchers down the stretch.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images
Tigers To Promote Troy Melton
The Tigers are going to promote pitching prospect Troy Melton, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com. Melton will start for the club on Wednesday, making his major league debut. The club will need to open a spot for him on both the 40-man and active rosters.
Melton, now 24, was the Tigers’ fourth-round pick in 2022. Since then, he has climbed the minor league ladder, putting up strong numbers along the way. Overall, he has thrown 273 minor league innings over 66 games. 63 of those were officially starts, with the other three technically being long relief outings. In that time, he has allowed 3.63 earned runs per nine with a 28.1% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate.
That includes his 75 1/3 innings this year, split between Double-A and Triple-A. He has a combined 2.99 ERA on the season. His 6.4% walk rate is still good and he has nudged his strikeout rate up to 32.4%.
Coming into 2025, many evaluators put Melton in the middle of the Tigers’ top 30 lists but Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs was especially bullish. He gave Melton the #80 spot on his preseason top 100 list. Longenhagen notes that Melton sits in the upper 90s with his fastball with a slider and “splinker-style” changeup.
It’s unclear if Melton will be getting a rotation gig for a while or if this is just a spot start. The Tigers are three games into a stretch of playing 13 straight right after their pitchers where thrown off their normal routines by the All-Star break, so perhaps this is just to give everyone else a breather. Since this is his first major league call, he has a full slate of options and could be sent back down to the minors after his debut.
As of now, the Tigers have a rotation consisting of Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reese Olson, Casey Mize and Keider Montero. The first four aren’t going anywhere but Montero’s not cemented in there. He’s been optioned to the minors and moved to the bullpen at times this year, so that could perhaps happen again if the Tigers want Melton to get more than just a spot start.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images.
Mariners Select Brandyn Garcia
The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Brandyn Garcia. Right-hander Juan Burgos has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full.
Garcia, now 25, was an 11th-round pick of the M’s in the 2023 draft. The M’s tried stretching him out last year, with good results. He tossed 116 innings with a 2.25 earned run average, 27% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 53.4% ground ball rate.
Despite those solid numbers, the M’s decided to have him work as a reliever this year. There have been some concerns about his control and he mostly only throws two pitches, a sinker and a slider, so evaluators have suggested he would be a reliever in the long run.
The numbers are good again this year. He has thrown 33 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 3.51 ERA. His 11.4% walk rate is high but he has punched out 28.2% of batters faced and gotten opponents to pound 55.4% of batted balls into the ground. Last month, FanGraphs ranked him the #15 prospect in the system. Baseball America currently has him in the #19 slot.
Seattle has had Gabe Speier as the only lefty in the bullpen for much of the year. Jhonathan Díaz and Tayler Saucedo each got brief stints, pitching less than five innings each. Garcia will provide the club with a second lefty arm for now. Perhaps the M’s will make some bullpen additions ahead of the trade deadline. Since this is Garcia’s first big league call, he has a full slate of options and can be easily sent back to Tacoma if he gets squeezed out by Seattle’s deadline activity.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Orioles To Sign Vinny Nittoli To Minor League Deal
Right-hander Vinny Nittoli is signing a minor league deal with the Orioles, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He opted out of a minor league pact with the Brewers last week. He’ll report to Triple-A Norfolk in the coming days.
Nittoli, 34, started the season on a minor league deal with the Brewers. He tossed 28 Triple-A innings in that club’s system with a 3.86 earned run average. He had a strong 28.9% strikeout rate with his 8.6% walk rate and 42.9% ground ball rate both close to average.
Despite those fairly solid results, the Brewers didn’t call him up as they have a pretty good bullpen already. Nittoli opted out and has landed with a club where his path to the big leagues should be better. The Orioles are set up to be deadline sellers in the next few weeks. Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto are impending free agents and seem highly likely to be traded. Andrew Kittredge can be controlled for 2026 via a club option but he might be moved as well. A Félix Bautista trade seems unlikely but the O’s are reportedly willing to listen to offers.
One way or another, the Baltimore bullpen should have some openings in the next week or two, which could get Nittoli back to the majors. He has 15 big league appearances under this belt so far, two of which came with the O’s late last year. He has a 2.41 ERA in that small sample of big league work, with a 17.3% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 34.5% ground ball rate. He is out of options but has less than a year of major league service time.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images
Royals To Select Rich Hill
Rich Hill is headed back to the majors for a 21st season. The Royals plan to select Hill’s contract from Triple-A Omaha, Robert Murray of FanSided reports, and he could pitch for them as soon as tomorrow. Hill signed a minor league contract with Kansas City back in May, and he’s been pitching with their Triple-A club all summer.
The Royals currently have Cole Ragans, Alec Marsh and Michael Lorenzen on the injured list. Marsh hasn’t pitched all season due to a shoulder impingement. Ragans has been out over a month due to a strained rotator cuff. Left-handed reliever Daniel Lynch IV is also on the 15-day injured list due to a nerve issue in his elbow. Hill has been working in Omaha’s rotation and could make a spot start, or he could give manager Matt Quatraro another left-handed relief option while Lynch is on the shelf.
Hill, 45, has had mixed results while pitching for the Storm Chasers. He’s posted a 5.36 ERA in 42 innings, though the bulk of the damage against him came in two rough outings. He’s had a pair of quality starts and another pair of solid five-inning efforts. Hill has allowed one run over his past seven innings and fanned 11 opponents in that time. Hill unsurprisingly isn’t throwing hard, but the 88.4 mph average on his four-seamer is up from last year’s 87.6 mph average during his Triple-A stint with the Red Sox.
Time will tell whether this latest promotion comes with any staying power, but it’s remarkable that Hill continues to pitch at a competitive enough level to get major league looks in his mid-40s. He made a brief return to the Red Sox last August, and once he toes the rubber for Kansas City, he’ll have appeared in 21 consecutive MLB seasons. Hill from 2010-14, totaling just 75 2/3 MLB frames in that five-year period, but he’s hung around to pitch at least 3 2/3 major league innings each season dating back to 2005.
Since Hill’s improbable resurgence with the 2015 Red Sox and 2016 A’s, he’s tacked another 938 innings of 3.66 ERA ball onto his unique career. Notably, the Royals will be the 14th team for which Hill has suited up at the MLB level. That ties him with right-hander Edwin Jackson for the most teams in major league history.
Mets Recall Francisco Alvarez, Outright Richard Lovelady
The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported claimed of right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Yankees. Righty Dedniel Núñez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Garcia. It was recently reported that Núñez will require Tommy John surgery. The Mets will need to open an active roster spot for Garcia once he reports to the club. The Mets also recalled catcher Francisco Alvarez and optioned fellow backstop Hayden Senger. Additionally, left-hander Richard Lovelady has been sent outright to Triple-A Syracuse. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not yet clear if he has done so.
Alvarez got out to a bit of a slow start this year. The Mets optioned him to Triple-A about a month ago, as he was sitting on a .236/.319/.333 slash line at that time. He had hit just three home runs, after having missed the first month of the season due to a hamate fracture.
The optional assignment has seemingly lit a fire under him. He has 12 home runs in 29 games since being sent down, leading to a gargantuan .255/.352/.623 batting line for Syracuse. Now that he’s in a groove, the Mets have called him up and will see if he can carry that over at the major league level.
While the optional assignment ended up being relatively brief, it will be costly for Alvarez. He came into this year with two years and six days of service time, putting him on track for free agency after 2028. By spending a month in the minors, he won’t be able to push his service clock to the three-year line in 2025. That means the Mets have gained an extra year of club control over Alvarez, pushing his path to free agency until after 2029. He was going to reach free agency after his age-26 season but that will now be pushed until after his age-27 season. He is on track to qualify for arbitration this winter as a Super Two player, giving him four passes through arb instead of the usual three, but the delayed free agency is a hit to his career earning power.
As for Lovelady, he’s a veteran lefty who is out of options, which has led to him being on the fringes of a few rosters this year. He started the year with the Blue Jays but was designated for assignment after two appearances. He elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Twins, pitched well at Triple-A for a couple of months and then opted out of that deal. He has bounced on and off the Mets roster since then, twice getting added and then cut after a brief stint in both cases.
For the whole season, Lovelady has a 10.80 earned run average in 8 1/3 innings, though mostly due to allowing four earned runs in his second outing of the year. During his time in the Twins’ system, he tossed 20 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 1.31 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 60.4% ground ball rate. Every other time he has cleared waivers this year, he has elected free agency, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he does so again in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
Mets Claim Rico Garcia
The Mets have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Yankees, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The Yanks designated him for assignment last week. Garcia is out of options, so the Mets will need to open space for him on the active and 40-man rosters.
Garcia, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He reported to Triple-A Syracuse and missed a bunch of bats but also missed the plate a lot. In 30 1/3 innings, he had a 27.4% strikeout rate and 14.8% walk rate. That led to a 4.45 earned run average in that time.
It wasn’t an overwhelming performance but the Mets’ bullpen has been hit hard by injuries this year. They currently have A.J. Minter, Danny Young, Drew Smith, Dedniel Núñez, Max Kranick and José Buttó on the shelf. The mounting injuries have prompted the club to frequently cycle arms on and off their roster.
Garcia was selected to the big league roster in early July as one of those arms. Due to his aforementioned out-of-options status, he was designated for assignment about a week later. The Yankees claimed him off waivers but he lasted just a few days before another DFA. The Mets have claimed him to once again bring a fresh arm into the relief mix. Around those transactions, Garcia has pitched 7 1/3 innings over three appearances, having allowed three earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five.
It’s likely that Garcia has a tenuous grip on a roster spot again. The trade deadline is next week and the Mets will surely be adding bullpen reinforcements between now and then. For now, they’ll grab Garcia and plug him into the mix.
Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images
Braves Designate Stuart Fairchild, Select Sandy Leon
The Braves announced Monday that they’ve designated outfielder Stuart Fairchild for assignment in order to open a spot for veteran catcher Sandy Leon, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Fairchild, 29, has held a very limited role as a fourth outfielder with Atlanta this season. He’s appeared in 28 games and tallied only 55 plate appearances, during which he’s slashed .216/.273/.333. Manager Brian Snitker has typically used Fairchild as a late defensive replacement or pinch-runner. He’s tallied two or fewer plate appearances in 20 of his 28 games.
It’s a familiar role for the fleet-footed Fairchild. The former second-round pick has appeared in 277 big league games between the D-backs, Reds, Mariners, Giants and Braves, but he’s tallied only 670 plate appearances (about 2.4 per game) during that time. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots at an average or better clip, sits in the 87th percentile of big leaguers in sprint speed, and offers slightly better-than-average production against left-handed pitching in his career. He’s a viable fourth outfielder, but he’s out of minor league options and the Braves have a comparable skill set on the roster in Eli White.
Leon joins Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy as a third catcher on Atlanta’s roster. His promotion to the majors will prompt immediate trade speculation about both Murphy and designated hitter Marcell Ozuna. The Braves reportedly aren’t planning to trade Murphy — at least not during the season — but have been open to offers on Ozuna. Leon’s addition to the roster more freely allows Atlanta to start both Baldwin and Murphy in the same game (one at catcher, the other at designated hitter) without fear of losing the DH in the event of an injury.
The 36-year-old Leon has played for seven different clubs in the majors, primarily as a backup. The Braves will be his eighth. He has a long track record of quality defense and (with the exception of an outlier 2016 season) well below-average production with the bat. That’s not likely to change at age 36, particularly given Leon’s bleak .183/.250/.379 batting line in 169 Triple-A plate appearances this season.
Phillies Sign David Robertson
July 21: The Phillies announced that they’ve signed Robertson to a one-year deal. He’s consented to be optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he’ll ramp up in preparation for his 2025 debut.
July 20: The Phillies and free agent reliever David Robertson are in agreement on a major league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The self-represented Robertson did not sign with a team over the winter but has stayed in shape and has been throwing for interested clubs recently. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports that Robertson will be paid a prorated $16MM salary for the remainder of the season. That comes out to just over $6MM through season’s end ($6.021MM — assuming it becomes official tomorrow).
This is Robertson’s second free-agent deal with the Phillies and the third time overall that the Phils have acquired him. He inked a two-year, $23MM deal in the 2018-19 offseason that didn’t wind up paying off for the team, as the typically durable reliever wound up requiring Tommy John surgery and pitching only 6 2/3 total innings during the life of that contract. Philadelphia reacquired the righty in a 2022 trade that sent young righty Ben Brown back to the Cubs, and Robertson was excellent as the Phillies mounted a charge all the way to the World Series.
That Tommy John procedure came during Robertson’s age-34 season, and he didn’t return to a big league mound until the 2021 campaign. He’s emphatically silenced any concerns about his ability to restore his status as a high-end reliever. He’s now pitched 200 games and logged a 2.92 in 213 regular season innings since undergoing surgery. That includes a terrific 2024 season in Texas, where Robertson pitched 72 innings with a 3.00 ERA, a 33.4% strikeout rate, a 9.1% walk rate, two saves and 34 holds as the primary setup option to Kirby Yates.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was candid earlier this month in calling out bullpen help as his primary focus at this year’s trade deadline. Robertson is a potential major addition who helps on multiple levels. He’s obviously a decorated high-leverage arm coming off a strong season, and adding the lone marquee reliever on the free-agent market leaves the Phillies’ farm system intact as they look to pursue other bullpen upgrades. Beyond that, Robertson is a fresh arm who’s no stranger to pitching in the postseason — a key component for a Phillies club who lost lefty Jose Alvarado to an 80-game PED suspension earlier this year that renders him ineligible to pitch in the playoffs.
On the season, Philadelphia relievers rank 23rd with a 4.36 ERA. They’ve been better over the past month (3.89 ERA) but still have a top-heavy unit that’s been anchored by Matt Strahm, Tanner Banks and Orion Kerkering doing a disproportionate level of the heavy lifting. Offseason additions Jordan Romano (7.08 ERA) and Joe Ross (5.31 ERA) haven’t worked out as hoped.
Robertson will likely need a minor league tune-up before he’s ready to join the Phillies’ bullpen. It’s not clear what his precise timeline is, but it stands to reason that both he and Alvarado — eligible to return on Aug. 19 — will both be in the late-inning mix within the next month. The Phillies figure to remain active on the trade market as they look for a second reliever to add to the mix, and they could potentially seek an outfield upgrade as well.