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Braves Sign John Brebbia To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have signed right-hander John Brebbia to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett and will give Atlanta some veteran non-roster depth.

Brebbia, 35, was just released by the Tigers last week. Detroit had signed him in the offseason to a one-year deal with a $2.75MM guarantee. Around an injured list stint for a triceps strain, he gave them 18 2/3 innings with a 7.71 earned run average. There was some bad luck in there, with his .339 batting average on balls in play and 56.6% strand rate both to the unfortunate side, but he also had a subpar 11.8% walk rate and middling 21.5% strikeout rate.

That performance prompted Detroit to move on but Atlanta has snatched him up, as they did almost a year ago. Brebbia was released by the White Sox in August of last year, after posting a 6.29 ERA for that club, and wound up on Atlanta’s roster for most of September. He had a solid enough 2.70 ERA, though in a small sample of 6 2/3 innings. He hit free agency after that and signed his aforementioned deal with the Tigers.

Though the past two seasons have been challenging, Brebbia has a lengthy track record of being an effective big league reliever. From 2017 to 2023, he logged 299 2/3 innings for the Cardinals and Giants with a 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate. He earned two saves and 47 holds in that time. Even with his ERA spike last year, he still had strong strikeout and walk rates of 27.7% and 7.9%.

Atlanta’s bullpen has been middling this year. The relief corps as a whole has a 3.70 ERA, which puts them 14th in the majors. Joe Jiménez and Daysbel Hernández are each currently on the injured list. There’s no real risk on a minor league deal so signing Brebbia is a sensible addition.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Mets Reinstate Frankie Montas, Transfer Jesse Winker To 60-Day IL

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The Mets announced that right-hander Frankie Montas has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Chris Devenski was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse as the corresponding active roster move. He has enough service time where he can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has presumably agreed to be sent down. To open a 40-man spot for Montas, outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Montas, 32, will be making his debut as a Met when he starts tonight’s game. At the moment, it’s difficult to guess what sort of quality of performance he’ll be able to provide. He was diagnosed with a lat strain back in mid-February. He started a rehab assignment in late May but hasn’t looked sharp, allowing 25 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings over six minor league starts.

Teams generally care more about health than results on a rehab assignment but a 12.05 earned run average is going to cause some concern. It would be one thing if Montas started rough and had been getting sharper but that hasn’t been the case. He surrendered five earned runs in five innings in his most recent outing, with just two strikeouts. The prior outing had seen him allow eight earned runs without getting out of the second inning.

Even before this year, there were question marks with Montas. He had missed almost all of 2023 due to shoulder surgery. Back on the mound in 2024, his 4.84 ERA wasn’t strong. The Mets seemed to be banking on his late-season strikeout surge. He had struck out just 19% of batters faced with the Reds but then 28.7% of opponents following a trade to the Brewers. He then headed into free agency and secured a two-year, $34MM deal from the Mets, with equal salaries of $17MM and an opt-out halfway through.

That was a notable investment in a pitcher who hadn’t been at his best in a few years. The Mets are also paying a 110% tax on spending beyond the top competitive balance tax threshold this year, making it an even more significant expenditure which they have yet to receive any return on.

Despite that cash outlay, the righty’s recent struggles on his rehab assignment almost pushed him to the bullpen. However, the club’s rotation picture changed quickly in recent weeks. Not too long ago, it seemed the club had so much rotation depth that a Paul Blackburn trade was reportedly considered. But then both Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill hit the injured list in the span of a few days, opening rotation space for both Blackburn and Montas alongside David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning.

If everyone is healthy, another squeeze could be just over the horizon. Sean Manaea is also on the IL and just a bit behind Montas in his rehab process. He recently made his fourth rehab appearance, getting to 62 pitches over 5 1/3 innings. Montas is getting a rotation spot for now due to the club’s need and the fact that his 30-day rehab window was closing but there will be pressure on him to perform in order to keep that spot.

As for Winker, he landed on the IL on May 5th due to a right oblique strain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement in early July. He was initially given a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks but the Mets recently said that he is still multiple weeks away from starting a rehab assignment.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

A’s Release Dylan Floro

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The A’s have released veteran right-handed reliever Dylan Floro, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been pitching with the Athletics’ Triple-A club in Las Vegas but is now back on the open market.

Floro, 34, has an ugly-looking 7.04 ERA in 15 1/3 innings with the top A’s affiliate, but that number is skewed by one nightmare outing where the Dodgers’ Triple-A club pummeled him for five runs without recording an out. That outing accounts for 42% of his runs allowed in 16 appearances. Floro’s 17.1% strikeout rate in Triple-A is clearly well below-average, but he’s still showing good command (7.1% walk rate).

There are red flags beyond the one poor outing. Floro’s 88.2 mph average fastball velocity is down from last year’s 89.4 mph mark and down considerably from the 92.4 mph he averaged in 2022-23. He’s also made a career out of inducing weak contact but has yielded a blazing 94.7 mph average exit velocity and surrendered a 60.4% hard-hit rate. Those are both alarming trends for the well-traveled righty.

Concerning as those numbers are, Floro has a nice track record in the majors, with a 3.49 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate, 50.6% grounder rate, 32 saves and 53 holds in parts of nine MLB seasons. He posted a 3.80 ERA with a 17.2% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate in a combined 68 2/3 big league frames between the Nationals and D-backs last year, although his 2024 campaign was a tale of two seasons; Floro posted a 2.06 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with the Nats before being clobbered for a 9.37 ERA in 16 1/3 innings with Arizona.

Blue Jays Release Erik Swanson

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The Blue Jays have released reliever Erik Swanson, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Toronto designated him for assignment last Tuesday. Swanson has already gone unclaimed on waivers and is a free agent.

Swanson spent two-plus seasons with the Jays. Acquired from the Mariners in the Teoscar Hernández trade, the righty had an excellent first season north of the border. Swanson turned in a 2.97 ERA while leading the team with 29 holds across 66 2/3 innings in 2023. That followed a sterling 1.68 ERA showing in his final season with Seattle. He hasn’t maintained that production over the past couple seasons, at least in part due to injury.

The 31-year-old Swanson missed a couple weeks early last season with forearm inflammation. He wasn’t effective when he returned and spent a couple months on optional assignment to Triple-A Buffalo. He looked to be trending towards a non-tender until finding some positive momentum in the second half. Swanson was recalled not long after the All-Star Break and managed a 2.55 ERA with a .172 opponent batting average down the stretch.

Toronto retained Swanson on a $3MM arbitration salary. That would’ve been a bargain if he repeated his second half numbers. Injuries again intervened. Swanson missed the first two months battling a nerve issue in his throwing arm. He was activated on June 1 but allowed runs in four of his six appearances, including three-plus runs in each of his final two outings. His average fastball speed has dropped a tick to 92.9 MPH and he has given up nine runs with five walks and three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.

The Jays will remain on the hook for the rest of Swanson’s salary. He wouldn’t cost a new team anything other than a roster spot. They’d pay only the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for any time he spends on the MLB roster, which would be subtracted from Toronto’s responsibility. His 2022-23 production will at least generate interest on minor league offers, and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if another team is willing to plug him directly into the MLB bullpen for the league minimum.

Tyler Nevin Signs Two-Year Extension With NPB’s Seibu Lions

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The Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced that they have signed infielder Tyler Nevin to a two-year extension beginning in 2026. Salary figures were not included. “I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to my teammates, staff, and fans who have trusted me and supported me since the day I arrived in Japan,” Nevin said in a Japanese statement relayed by the team, per Google Translate. “I will strive to make the rest of the season even better and focus on the game in front of me. I can’t wait for the next two years. Awesome!”

Nevin, 28, signed with the Lions in January. His Japanese career has gotten out to a solid start through his first 68 games. His .269/.330/.379 batting line may not be overwhelming in a vacuum but actually translates to a 120 wRC+ in NPB this year. It seems that the club has been pleased enough with that performance to lock him up.

Considering the way Nevin’s career went before this year, it’s understandable that he would agree to be locked up. Broadly speaking, he had always hit in the minors but failed to do so in the majors. From 2022 to 2024, he stepped to the plate 639 times at the Triple-A level. He hit 26 home runs and drew walks at a 10.2% clip while only striking out 17.5% of the time. He had a combined batting line of .313/.391/.536 and a 137 wRC+.

That minor league performance got him a few major league looks from the Orioles, Tigers and Athletics, but he wasn’t able to do much with those chances. He got 591 big league plate appearances over the past few years with a .204/.299/.315 line and 81 wRC+. He exhausted his final option year in 2023, which put him into a fringe roster status. He spent 2024 bouncing on and off the Athletics’ roster, clearing waivers multiple times throughout the year. Finding regular playing time in the big leagues would have been difficult going forward.

Rather than spend another year grinding through the roster bubble lifestyle, he accepted a chance to head overseas and perhaps find some stability. Given that he’s having a decent year, he could have tried to parlay that into a return to North America in 2026. But there would have been no guarantee of that working out, so it’s easy to see the logic in him sticking with the Lions for another few years.

Though the salary figures haven’t been reported for this deal, North American players getting regular work in Japan often get paid in the vicinity of $1MM annually. That’s more than players in the minors in North America get and even more than pre-arbitration major leaguers. Whatever his salary is, Nevin will get a bit of cash and some job security for his age-29 and age-30 seasons. If he can make the most of that regular role, he could perhaps try to return to affiliated ball a few years from now or secure himself another deal to continue playing in Asia.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

White Sox Outright Caleb Freeman

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White Sox right-hander Caleb Freeman went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Charlotte, reports James Fegan of Sox Machine. He doesn’t have either the three years of big league service time or the prior outright assignment needed to reject this assignment in favor of free agency, so Freeman will remain with the organization as a depth arm.

The 27-year-old Freeman made his big league debut with the South Siders this season, tossing 3 1/3 innings over the course of five appearances. He allowed a pair of runs on five hits (one homer) and a walk with three strikeouts. The Sox’ 15th-round pick in 2019, Freeman has pitched to a 2.93 ERA in a combined 27 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season — but has done so with an alarming 17.1% walk rate.

Command has been an issue for Freeman throughout his minor league tenure, but he’s also fanned 27% of his opponents in parts of six professional seasons. Freeman sits 95 mph with heater and pairs the pitch with an 82-83 mph curveball and a slider that sits 87-88 mph. It’s possible he’ll get another look with the Sox later this summer, particularly if the Sox wind up trading some of the more veteran members of their bullpen ahead of next month’s deadline.

Rangers Select Dane Dunning

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The Rangers announced that they have selected right-hander Dane Dunning to their roster. Fellow righty Caleb Boushley has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster already had a vacancy.

The Rangers have been running a four-man rotation in recent weeks, having lost both Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle to the injured list. Behind starters Jacob deGrom, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker and Patrick Corbin, the club has had Boushley and Jacob Latz serving as multi-inning relievers. Leiter started yesterday and only lasted four innings, with Boushley getting the final four. The club lost on the road, meaning the bottom of the ninth didn’t need to be played.

Boushley likely wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so he’ll be swapped out. Corbin is taking the ball tonight but there’s likely going to be some sort of bullpen game tomorrow. The club then has deGrom likely to go on Wednesday with an off-day on Thursday and Eovaldi potentially returning after that. But in the meantime, they are still limping for a few more days and could need guys like Latz and Dunning to soak up some innings over the next few days.

Dunning, 30, has had some decent seasons for the Rangers but his results have backed up over the past year or so. He got bumped to the bullpen last year and has been bouncing off and on the roster this year. That’s due to the fact that he’s making a $2.66MM salary this year, which is preventing other clubs from claiming him off waivers. As a player with between three and five years of major league service time, he can reject an outright assignment but would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to do so. Twice this year, he has been passed through waivers and then accepted an outright assignment to Round Rock.

The club’s current pitching predicament will get him back to the majors yet again. He has just three big league innings pitched on the year, spending most of this time with Round Rock. For the Express, he has thrown 46 1/3 innings over 12 appearances with a 4.77 earned run average, 24.4% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 46.8% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images

Cubs Select Michael Fulmer

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The Cubs announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Michael Fulmer. Fellow right-hander Nate Pearson has been optioned to Triple-A Iowa as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had a vacancy but is now full.

Fulmer pitched briefly with the Red Sox earlier this year but was cut loose after yielding three runs in just 2 2/3 innings. That marked the end of what was a relatively long match between the two parties. The 2016 American League Rookie of the Year (as a starter with the Tigers) had signed a two-year minor league contract with Boston and spent the entire 2024 season and early 2025 season rehabbing with Boston’s staff. He signed with the Cubs on a minor league pact in late April.

That looks to have been a potentially nice pickup for the Cubs, who are no stranger to Fulmer after he spent the 2023 season in Chicago’s bullpen. So far in his second stint with the Cubs, Fulmer has pitched 24 1/3 Triple-A frames with a tidy 2.96 ERA. He’s fanned a gaudy 32% of his opponents but also issued walks at an inflated 11% clip. Fulmer’s heater isn’t close to the 95.5 mph it averaged at peak, but he saw a modest bump from 92.4 mph during his time with the Red Sox to 92.9 mph with the Cubs’ affiliate in Iowa.

As tends to be the case, the Cubs are patching their bullpen together on the fly this year. Porter Hodge, who had a nice rookie showing in 2024, has missed more than a month due to an oblique strain. Ryan Pressly, the Cubs’ primary offseason acquisition in the bullpen, was shaky early before being absolute torpedoed for eight earned runs without recording an out in a May 6 drubbing at the hands of the Giants. He’s still working to recover from that damage, but Pressly rattled off 15 straight scoreless innings with a 14-to-3 K/BB ratio thereafter. He served up two earned runs in his most recent appearance — his first runs allowed since that calamitous Giants appearance.

The rest of the bullpen consists of journeymen and reclamation projects. Chicago currently has Drew Pomeranz, Chris Flexen, Brad Keller, Ryan Brasier and Caleb Thielbar in the bullpen — all 30-something veterans on one-year deals. (Keller will turn 30 next month.) The lone exception is young Daniel Palencia, who’s been handling save situations recently and looks to be handling the job well. He’s picked up seven saves while posting a 1.93 ERA in 28 frames this year. That includes a 1.46 ERA and 14-to-3 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 innings since being moved into the ninth inning.

Fulmer will join that cast of 30-something veterans and hope he can find similar success to Keller, Pomeranz, Thielbar, Flexen and Brasier — all of whom improbably sport ERAs of 2.20 or better.

Mets Select Travis Jankowski, Option Luisangel Acuña

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported signing of left-hander Richard Lovelady. The Mets announced his name as “Dicky Lovelady” and Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that the southpaw has indeed requested that name change. The Mets also selected the contract of outfielder Travis Jankowski. To make room for those two, the club optioned right-hander Tyler Zuber and infielder Luisangel Acuña to Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets had one 40-man vacancy but opened another by transferring outfielder Jose Siri to the 60-day injured list.

It’s the second time in as many days that the Mets have shaken up their roster by optioning a young player who has previously been getting regular playing time. Catcher Francisco Alvarez was sent to Syracuse yesterday and now Acuña is following him upstate. Acuña held his own earlier this year with a .288/.342/.356 line and 102 wRC+ through the end of April. However, his production has tailed off badly since then, with a .194/.244/.208 line and 31 wRC+ since the calendar flipped to May.

Those struggles have cut into his playing time, with Acuña getting just five starts in the past month. Rather than languishing on the bench, the Mets have decided to send him to the farm, presumably hoping that regular starts down there are better than sitting on the bench in the majors. For parts of this season, Acuña has been the only viable backup to shortstop Francisco Lindor but Ronny Mauricio is now healthy and capable of filling in there, making it more plausible for Acuña to depart the major league roster.

His roster spot will go to Jankowski. The 34-year-old veteran signed a minor league deal with the Mets a couple of weeks ago. He has spent over a decade in the majors as a speed and defense specialist. His playing time has been sporadic over the years thanks to his inconsistent offense, but he’s capable of strong glovework and double-digit steals if he in the lineup regularly.

On the whole, he has a .236/.318/.305 batting line and 76 wRC+. That has occasionally spiked to around league average but has also been well below at times. Between the White Sox and Rays, he has hit .244/.286/.289 for a 64 wRC+ this year. Since signing that minor league deal with the Mets, he has hit .200/.263/.286 in Triple-A. He will likely be serving as a pinch runner and defensive replacement off the club’s bench.

As for Siri, he’s already been on the IL for more than 60 days due to a left tibia fracture. He was originally given a timeline of eight to ten weeks but hasn’t healed as quickly as hoped. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement so he’s eligible for reinstatement at any time.

Photo courtesy of Scott Taetsch, Imagn Images

Twins Claim Connor Gillispie

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The Twins have claimed right-hander Connor Gillispie off waivers from the Marlins, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He’s been optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Miami had designated Gillispie for assignment last week.

Gillispie, 27, was an offseason waiver claim by the Marlins (from the Braves, who’d signed him to a big league deal) back in January. He parlayed a strong spring showing into a spot in Miami’s rotation to open the season. He made six starts, the first three of which went fairly well (3.86 ERA in 14 innings), before being pummeled for 19 runs over his next dozen innings. The Marlins optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville at that point, and he hasn’t pitched in the majors since, leaving Gillispie with a bleak 8.65 ERA in 26 MLB frames this season.

Things have gone better in the minors. Gillispie has pitched 33 2/3 innings with a 4.28 ERA. His 15.7% strikeout rate is a well shy of league average average, however, and his 11.4% walk rate is quite high. The right-hander’s average 90.9 mph average fastball this year is down from the 91.5 mph he posted last year with the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate.

That 2024 season in Cleveland’s system was solid. Gillispie pitched 113 1/3 innings with a 4.05 ERA, a 25% strikeout rate and a 10.1% walk rate. That led to a brief big league debut with the Guardians, wherein Gillispie tossed eight innings of relief and held opponents to two runs with an 8-to-5 K/BB ratio.

Gillispie is in the second of three minor league option years. He’ll give the Twins some depth either at the back end of the rotation or as a long reliever for a reeling pitching staff. The Twins were among the league leaders in most pitching categories for the better part of six weeks before injuries to Pablo Lopez and Zebby Matthews thinned their rotation.

The Twins have since endured a series of short starts, even from some of their more established arms, that has led to a heavily worked bullpen and prompted them to lean heavily on waiver claim Joey Wentz and utilityman Jonah Bride for mop-up work in several blowout games. Minnesota has dropped nine of its past ten games, falling below .500 and sliding considerably down the playoff standings in the American League.

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