Diamondbacks Release Rene Pinto
The D-backs have released catcher Rene Pinto, who’d been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, per the MiLB.com transaction log. He’s a free agent and can field interest from any teams seeking to bolster their catching depth in the season’s final month.
Pinto, 28, hasn’t played in the majors this season but saw big league time with the Rays in each of the past three seasons. He’s drawn solid framing grades in the majors but has struggled to control the running game and has drawn poor marks from Statcast for his ability to block pitches in the dirt. Pinto is a career .231/.263/.404 hitter with 10 homers but a 36.7% strikeout rate in 237 major league plate appearances.
While his big league numbers aren’t much to look at, Pinto has been far better in Triple-A. He batted .268/.324/.517 with 11 round-trippers in 225 plate appearances with Reno this season and carries a career .256/.307/.493 slash with 57 homers in 1132 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue in Triple-A as well, however. He’s fanned in 29.9% of his career plate appearances there.
There’s not much on the market for catching depth right now, so teams that have recently incurred injuries behind the dish could take a flier on the former Rays backstop. The Reds (Tyler Stephenson), Mets (Francisco Alvarez) and Nationals (Keibert Ruiz) all have catchers on the injured list at the moment, for instance. With rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it’s also possible that another club will look to use one of those extra spots to carry a third catcher, which could create further opportunities.
Braves Select John Brebbia
The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander John Brebbia from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also recalled righty Nathan Wiles from Gwinnett, while lefty Austin Cox and righty Wander Suero were optioned to Triple-A. The Braves already had a pair of 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need a corresponding 40-man move to accommodate Brebbia’s addition
The pair of promotions will provide manager Brian Snitker with some fresh arms after yesterday’s blowout loss to the division-rival Phillies, wherein Kyle Schwarber belted four home runs to lead Philadelphia to a 19-4 victory. Cox (68 pitches) and Suero (31 pitches) weren’t going to be available today anyhow after logging heavy workloads in yesterday’s game. (Suero also tossed 24 pitches Tuesday.)
Brebbia, 35, opened the 2025 season with the Tigers but struggled in 18 2/3 innings before being released. The veteran righty was tagged for 16 earned runs (7.71 ERA) on 22 hits and 11 walks with 20 strikeouts during his brief run with Detroit. He also plunked three batters and was charged with two wild pitches. Three of those 22 hits were home runs.
It’s a second straight disappointing year for the well-traveled reliever. Brebbia pitched pretty well for the first half of the 2024 season with the White Sox before melting down after the All-Star break and eventually being released. He went on to sign with Atlanta last year as well but finished out the ’24 season with an overall 5.86 ERA thanks to 18 runs in 18 1/3 second-half innings.
Though last year’s second half and the 2025 season haven’t been pretty, Brebbia had a nice track record up until that point. The right-hander was a generally reliable bullpen option with the Cardinals and Giants from 2017-23. He carried a career 3.53 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate (336 2/3 innings) into last year’s All-Star break. Things have obviously gone south since that time, but it’s a solid track record on the whole. Brebbia has also been excellent with Atlanta’s Triple-A club this season, tossing 19 innings with a 1.89 earned run average, a 26.9% strikeout rate and a 3.8% walk rate.
Blue Jays, Eloy Jimenez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays and outfielder/designated hitter Eloy Jimenez are in agreement on a minor league contract, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. The Klutch Sports client was with the Rays organization earlier this season but was cut loose around the All-Star break.
Jimenez, 28, was a top prospect with the Cubs and White Sox and looked to be emerging as a core piece for the latter when he debuted with a 31-homer rookie campaign back in 2019. The slugger signed a six-year, $43MM contract before ever taking a single at-bat in the majors, and that impressive rookie effort made the contract look like a potential bargain. Unfortunately for Jimenez and the South Siders, injuries derailed his trajectory. Jimenez was again excellent in 2020, hitting .296/.332/.559 with 14 homers in the pandemic-shortened season, but he’s struggled to stay on the field since.
From 2021-24, Jimenez played in just 357 games — only 55% of his teams’ contests. A ruptured pectoral tendon cost him more than four months of the 2021 season. He missed nearly three months of the 2022 season due to a torn hamstring. In 2023, he strained his other hamstring muscle and also missed more than a month due to an appendectomy. Jimenez’s 2024 season was cut short by an adductor strain and a third hamstring strain.
Beyond limiting Jimenez’s time on the field, the series of health issues clearly had an impact on his offensive output. He was terrific in 84 games in 2022 but posted roughly league-average offense in both 2021 and 2023. His 2024 season was well below average, with the formerly imposing slugger turning in a meek .238/.289/.336 slash in 349 plate appearances between the White Sox and the Orioles, who acquired him at last summer’s trade deadline.
Jimenez appeared in 40 Triple-A games with the Rays this season, hitting .278/.335/.397 with three home runs. He continued to show quality contact skills (17.4% strikeout rate), but his batted-ball metrics were well shy of his career marks in the majors. Jimenez averaged 89.6 mph off the bat in Triple-A Durham and logged a 43.5% hard-hit rate. He’s averaged 91.5 mph with a 49.3% hard-hit rate as a big leaguer.
Though Jimenez is something of a long shot to contribute at this point, there’s no harm in the Jays taking a no-risk look at a formerly prominent slugger on a non-guaranteed pact. He might need a quick tune-up in the low minors before jumping into the fray at Triple-A Buffalo, having been out of action for seven-plus weeks, but Jimenez will be a depth option for Toronto in the final month of the season. And, since he’s signing before Sept. 1, he’ll be postseason-eligible should he show enough to be selected to the big league roster at some point. If not, he’ll play out the season in Buffalo and head back to the offseason free agent market in search of what would surely be another minor league contract ahead of his age-29 campaign in 2026.
Red Sox To Promote Payton Tolle
The Red Sox will call up pitching prospect Payton Tolle to make his big league debut tomorrow, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’ll be a fantastic pitching matchup, as he goes against Paul Skenes in a series opener at Fenway Park. Skenes will coincidentally be matched against a pitcher making his MLB debut for the second straight outing, as the Rockies tabbed McCade Brown as his opponent last weekend.
It’s the latest step in a breakout season for Tolle. Boston signed the 6’6″ southpaw to a $2MM bonus after drafting him in the second round out of TCU last summer. They kept him at their complex in his draft year rather than assigning him to a minor league affiliate. That allowed them to manage his innings going into this year.
The Sox certainly didn’t expect Tolle would be in the big leagues a year later. He began this season in High-A, striking out 38% of opponents over 11 appearances. That earned him a move to Double-A in June. Tolle pitched his way past that level within six weeks, recording a 1.67 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 27 innings. He has been at Triple-A Worcester for all of three weeks.
Tolle hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down at the top minor league level. He has fanned 17 hitters with a pair of walks in his first 15 Triple-A frames. Opponents have swung through 14% of his offerings in his three starts. Tolle’s fastball has sat in the 95-96 MPH range. He also uses a low-90s cutter, a slider, curveball and changeup among a deep arsenal.
Along the way, Tolle has vaulted towards the top of the organization’s prospect rankings. He’s second in the system at Baseball America behind Marcelo Mayer. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him third among Sox prospects and 71st overall when he updated his Top 100 list shortly before the trade deadline. (Mayer had graduated from the FanGraphs list, where Tolle was behind Franklin Arias and Kyson Witherspoon.) Last week, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN ranked Tolle as a top 35 overall prospect and had him second after Arias in the system.
While the 22-year-old has certainly impressed evaluators, the aggressive promotion is also related to Boston’s rotation woes. Walker Buehler pitched his way out of the starting five and is locked into a bullpen role for the rest of the season. Richard Fitts appeared to get the first opportunity to replace Buehler, but he came out of Monday’s game with arm discomfort. He’s on the 15-day injured list with arm neuritis. Swingman Cooper Criswell landed on the minor league injured list last week.
The Sox needed to promote a fifth starter. The decision came down to Tolle versus Kyle Harrison. The latter is already on the 40-man roster and seemed to be the favorite for the job. Harrison has still yet to get a look from the Sox since they acquired him as the headliner of the Rafael Devers return. He has a solid 3.65 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts, but he’s walked nearly 12% of opposing hitters with a league average 21.5% strikeout rate. Boston evidently feels Tolle gives them a better shot to win.
Dustin May had been lined up for Friday’s turn through the rotation. He’ll move back a day and take the ball against Johan Oviedo on Saturday. Lucas Giolito will pitch the series finale with Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet on turn for the first two games of next week’s series against the Guardians. Tolle would be lined up for the final game of that set if he gets a second start.
Boston will select his contract tomorrow. They can open a 40-man roster spot by moving Mayer to the 60-day injured list. He underwent season-ending wrist surgery earlier this month. They will need to make an active roster move involving a pitcher. Assuming they don’t want to designate Buehler for assignment, they’ll probably option southpaw Brennan Bernardino back to Triple-A. Teams will be able to carry a 14th pitcher beginning on September 1.
The Red Sox are now committed to carrying Tolle on the 40-man throughout the offseason. That’s the biggest roster consideration, as he would not have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. Tolle will not reach 45 days on an MLB roster this year. He’ll remain a rookie going into next season, keeping open the possibility of earning the Sox a future draft pick if they carry him for a full service year in 2026. Tolle will certainly meet the prospect criteria to be eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive.
Spencer Turnbull Opts Out Of Cubs Deal
Spencer Turnbull was released from his minor league contract with the Cubs, as first reflected on the MiLB.com transaction log. Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register reports that the righty triggered an opt-out clause.
Turnbull sets out for a new opportunity a few days before the postseason roster cutoff. He’ll need to sign with a new team, at least on a minor league contract, by September 1 in order to be eligible for the playoffs. Turnbull will be a free agent again at the beginning of the offseason. He’ll presumably look to catch on with a contender seeking pitching depth.
Chicago signed Turnbull shortly after the All-Star Break. He took the ball six times with Triple-A Iowa but was tattooed for 26 earned runs in 24 2/3 innings. He gave up at least five runs in each of his last three times out, including an eight-run appearance in 2 1/3 innings against the A’s affiliate on Wednesday. That obviously wasn’t going to get him on the radar for an MLB call, even for a Cubs team that placed Jameson Taillon back on the injured list yesterday.
Turnbull is making a prorated $1.265MM salary from the Blue Jays. He didn’t sign until early May after not finding a deal to his liking all winter. Toronto only gave him three big league appearances before cutting him loose. His terrible month in Iowa certainly hasn’t raised his stock. Still, Turnbull is only a year removed from pitching to a 2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings for the Phillies. He shouldn’t have an issue finding another minor league job — either to finish this season or going into next spring.
Cardinals To Select Cesar Prieto
The Cardinals are calling up César Prieto, reports Francys Romero. They’ll select his contract onto the 40-man roster tomorrow. St. Louis has a pair of openings on the 40-man, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster transaction.
Prieto, a left-handed hitting infielder, gets his first big league opportunity at age 26. He didn’t begin his affiliated career until he was 22 years old. He’s a Cuba native who played four seasons in that nation’s top league before defecting while on an Olympic trip in 2021. He signed a $650K bonus with the Orioles and began his U.S. career with their High-A affiliate a year later.
The O’s traded Prieto to St. Louis as part of a three-player return for Jack Flaherty at the 2023 trade deadline. His prospect stock dropped between 2023-24 as he posted unspectacular numbers at Triple-A. Prieto has performed well in his third season at the top minor league level. He’s batting .295/.359/.448 with nine homers and 11 steals across 449 plate appearances.
Prieto’s calling card is his plus contact ability. He hasn’t struck out in more than 15.2% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop. He has fanned just 13.4% of the time this season. Prieto has a very aggressive offensive approach and often expands the strike zone. He’s not going to take many walks or hit for much power, but the bat-to-ball skills should allow him to hit for average. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs ranked him the #25 prospect in the St. Louis system last month, projecting him as a utility infielder.
The Cardinals have used him at second base, third base and shortstop in the minors. Scouting reports suggest he’s a fringe defender who doesn’t have a huge arm. He probably fits best at the keystone but could see action throughout the infield. He would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason if the Cards didn’t add him to the 40-man roster. It appears they were planning to select his contract during the winter, so they’ll bring him up a bit ahead of time for his first exposure to big league pitching.
St. Louis is using Thomas Saggese, Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman from right to left on the infield. Winn has played through a sore left knee for much of the second half. He acknowledged earlier this week that he’d probably benefit from rest but said he wanted to remain in the lineup in hope of a long shot playoff berth (relayed by Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). The Cardinals are 6.5 games back of the Mets with three teams to surpass in the Wild Card race. It’s not yet known if they’ll shut Winn down or simply swap Prieto in for one of Garrett Hampson or José Fermín on the bench.
A’s Release Luis Urias
The Athletics released infielder Luis Urías, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’d been designated for assignment on Monday. Urías has sufficient service time to refuse a minor league assignment while collecting what remains of his $1.1MM salary, so a release was inevitable. The A’s preferred to give playing time to controllable infielders Zack Gelof, Darell Hernaiz and Brett Harris for the stretch run.
The 28-year-old Urías can now set out in search of a new opportunity. He’d need to sign somewhere by September 1, at least on a minor league deal, to be eligible for a postseason roster. Urías will be a free agent at the beginning of the offseason in either case, so he’ll presumably only draw interest from a contender that wants to strengthen its infield depth.
Urías got out to a decent start to the season. He hit four homers with a .245/.345/.490 showing through the end of April. He has an underwhelming .227/.309/.307 slash in 271 plate appearances since the beginning of May. Urías has sliced his strikeout rate to a career-low 13.6% clip, but he hasn’t been much more productive overall than he was between 2023-24. He rarely makes hard contact and hasn’t hit for much power since combining for 39 homers with the Brewers from 2021-22.
Defensive metrics grade Urías around league average at both second and third base. He’s a righty hitter who has generally been better against left-handed pitching, as one would expect. That hasn’t been the case this season, as he’s hitting .183 with one homer in 68 plate appearances with the platoon advantage. If he catches on with another team before year’s end, his signing club would pay him the prorated $760K league minimum.
Mets Outright Ty Adcock
August 28: Adcock went unclaimed and was outrighted off the 40-man roster, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’ll remain in Syracuse. That opens the 40-man roster spot for Tong’s promotion tomorrow.
August 26: The Mets have placed right-hander Ty Adcock on waivers, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Mets haven’t announced the move but they do need to open a 40-man spot for the upcoming promotion of prospect Jonah Tong on Friday, so perhaps the two are related.
Adcock, 28, has a fairly limited big league track record. He has thrown a combined 23 innings over the three most recent seasons with a 5.48 earned run average. His 20.4% strikeout rate in that sample is a bit below par but he has only walked 4.3% of opponents.
His minor league résumé provides a larger batch of data to look at. He has shown some flashes down on the farm but hasn’t been having a great season. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed 57 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.24 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. With Syracuse this year, he has logged 29 Triple-A innings with a 5.28 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate.
Adcock is in his final option season, so he’ll be out of options next year. That would make it harder for him to hold a roster spot through the offseason and into 2026, so he was presumably running out of time.
Despite his lack of results this year, it’s possible some club is attracted to the stuff. His fastball averages in the upper-90s and he also throws a cutter, splitter, sinker and slider. Though he’ll be out of options next year, he is still optionable for the remainder of this season, which could give him appeal to a club in need of some extra bullpen depth. He’ll be postseason eligible with another club if claimed before September 1st.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
Buddy Kennedy Elects Free Agency
Infielder Buddy Kennedy elected free agency after being outrighted by the Dodgers, according to the MLB.com transaction log. He’d been designated for assignment earlier in the week when Kiké Hernández returned from injury.
Los Angeles claimed Kennedy off waivers from Toronto two weeks ago. That coincided with an IL placement for Max Muncy. He joined Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim and Hernández on the shelf. Kennedy provided an extra infielder alongside Miguel Rojas and rookie Alex Freeland between second and third base. He went 1-17 over seven games.
A former fifth-round pick of the Diamondbacks, Kennedy has played sporadically in parts of four big league seasons. He’s a .178/.271/.274 hitter in 181 career plate appearances. The 26-year-old has split time in Triple-A this year between the Philadelphia and Toronto systems. He has turned in a solid .268/.372/.408 showing in 77 combined games.
Kennedy will look for a minor league deal elsewhere. He’d need to be in another organization by September 1 to be eligible for a postseason roster. He’d be a long shot to get a playoff roster spot either way, of course, but it stands to reason a signing team would prefer that flexibility if they’re adding him as upper minors infield depth.
Corey Seager To Undergo Appendectomy, Not Ruled Out For Season
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager has appendicitis and will undergo an appendectomy. President of baseball operations Chris Young relayed the news to reporters, including Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, saying that Seager will be “out a period of time” but hasn’t been ruled out for the entire year. Per Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports, infielder Dylan Moore will be added to the roster with outfielder Evan Carter moved to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.
Though Seager isn’t completely ruled out for the season, it’s obviously a rough blow. Seager is the best player on the team. Despite missing some time due to hamstring strains and only playing in 102 games, he has produced four wins above replacement, in the eyes of FanGraphs. He has 21 home runs, a 13% walk rate, 19.6% strikeout rate, .271/.373/.487 batting line, 137 wRC+ and excellent grades for his shortstop defense.
No club ever wants to lose its best player to an injury but the Rangers are in an especially precarious spot. They have been hovering around .500 for most of the year, currently sporting a 68-67 record. That puts them 4.5 games back of a playoff spot with a month left to go.
They’re not totally knocked out but they’ve taken a few big punches lately. In the past month-plus, they have lost Seager, Carter, Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Burger, Sam Haggerty, Chris Martin, Jon Gray and Cole Winn to the injured list. Carter recently suffered a wrist fracture and this transfer means he’s ineligible to return before mid-October. Semien’s foot injury is going to cost him four to six weeks. Eovaldi’s rotator cuff strain is likely season-ending.
The club still has a chance to make a late charge for a postseason spot but doing so without so many key contributors will be tough. There’s also a ticking clock right now due to some granular MLB rules. The Rangers tried to avoid the competitive balance tax this year but reportedly went just over the line when making upgrades to the roster ahead of the trade deadline. They could sneak back under the tax line if a few players are claimed off waivers. However, a player would only be postseason eligible with a new club if claimed prior to September 1st. Since waivers are a 48-hour process, the Rangers would have to put guys on the wire in the next 24 hours or so, or else they would suddenly have significantly less appeal to other teams.
Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Danny Coulombe, Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong and Patrick Corbin are all impending free agents. They therefore have no value for the Rangers beyond this year. If the club decides to punt on 2025, they could place some or all of them on waivers. It’s unlikely all of them would get claimed but Kelly definitely would and a few others probably would as well. Adolis García can be retained for 2026 but is a non-tender candidate and could make sense for the wire as well.
Time will tell if Seager’s injury pushes them to make that bold decision. For now, Josh Smith will likely step in for Seager at shortstop, per Wilson. That will leave playing time at second, which will be taken by some combination of Ezequiel Durán, Cody Freeman and Moore.
Moore and the Rangers just signed a minor league deal a few days ago after he had been released by the Mariners. He’s having an awful season, which prompted that release. He has a .193/.263/.359 batting line and 35.7% strikeout rate.
He has been better than that in the past. He came into the year with a career .206/.316/.384 line and 102 wRC+, despite striking out in 29.8% of his plate appearances. He had 104 stolen bases and had played every position except catcher.
Though he hasn’t been good this year, he’s essentially free for the Rangers. Since the Mariners released him, they remain on the hook for the majority of his salary. The Rangers only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time he spends on their roster. That amount will be subtracted from what the Mariners pay.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images