Diamondbacks Sign Anthony DeSclafani To Major League Contract
TODAY: The D’Backs announced that DeSclafani signed a big league deal, and he has been added to the active roster. To create roster space, right-hander Bryce Jarvis was optioned to Triple-A and Justin Martinez (who will miss the rest of the season due to UCL surgery) was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
JUNE 12: Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani has opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees and is joining the Diamondbacks, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. It’s unclear if he’ll be signing a major or minor league deal with Arizona.
DeSclafani, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees about a month ago. He has since made five starts at the Triple-A level, allowing 4.50 earned runs per nine in his 20 innings. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 10% clip and getting grounders on 42.4% of balls in play. All those rates are fairly close to typical big league averages.
It’s a small sample of work but DeSclafani has a lengthy major league track record. The larger question in recent years has been health, or the lack thereof. From 2015 to 2021, he posted a 3.97 ERA over 791 major league innings. That was enough to get him a three-year, $36MM deal from the Giants going into 2022.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to provide much return on that investment. Right ankle inflammation hobbled him throughout 2022, limiting him to five starts with a 6.63 ERA. In 2023, he logged 99 2/3 innings with a 4.88 ERA but didn’t pitch after July due to a right elbow flexor strain. He was traded to the Mariners and then the Twins ahead of the 2024 season but required season-ending flexor tendon surgery in March.
DeSclafani is now almost two years removed from his most recent major league game but appears to be healthy now. He has averaged 92.5 miles per hour on his fastball so far this year. That’s a bit down from a few years ago, as he averaged between 93 and 95 mph during his best years, but he might still be ramping up after a lengthy layoff.
Unsurprisingly, the Yankees didn’t have a fit for him at the big league level. Despite several injuries, their rotation is in decent shape. They have Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough. They could get Marcus Stroman and JT Brubaker back soon, as both are on rehab assignments. Luis Gil is tossing bullpens and could be on his own rehab assignment in the coming weeks.
The Diamondbacks have a shakier rotation. They recently lost Corbin Burnes to Tommy John surgery. Jordan Montgomery has been out all year due to that same procedure. That leaves them with Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodríguez and Ryne Nelson. Kelly has been good but he’s the exception. Each of Gallen, Pfaadt and Rodríguez has an ERA north of 5.00. Rodríguez also just returned from an IL stint for shoulder inflammation. Nelson’s ERA is at 4.60 but he’s largely been in a long relief role this year. He just returned to the rotation in the wake of the Burnes injury but allowed seven runs in three innings against the Reds on Saturday. Potential replacements like Cristian Mena and Blake Walston are also on the shelf.
In short, DeSclafani has a far better chance to returning to the big leagues with the Snakes than with the Yanks, so this is a sensible move for him. If he is jumping right into the big leagues, the Diamondbacks would need to make corresponding moves to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters. If it’s a minor league deal, he’ll presumably report to Triple-A Reno to continue ramping up there.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images.
Rockies Place Kyle Freeland On 15-Day Injured List
The Rockies announced that southpaw Kyle Freeland has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to June 12) due to lower back stiffness. Left-hander Carson Palmquist was just optioned to Triple-A three days ago, but he’ll now be recalled back to Colorado’s active roster and will start Monday’s game against the Nationals.
Freeland has a 5.13 ERA over 14 starts and 73 2/3 innings this season, with a subpar 17.4% strikeout rate but an outstanding 4.6% walk rate. That latter number is on pace to be the best walk rate within a career of solid control for Freeland, and a 3.99 SIERA reflects the 58.4% strand rate and .362 BABIP that has inflated his real-world ERA. Playing for the woeful Rockies also hasn’t helped Freeland’s fortunes, as his average run support of 3.05 runs per nine innings is among the lowest in baseball.
There isn’t any indication that his back issue is particularly serious, though he’ll get at least a couple of weeks to recover before returning to Colorado’s rotation. Now in his ninth season with the Rox, Freeland probably doesn’t hold much value as a potential trade candidate at the deadline, given his middling numbers, lack of strikeouts, and pricey contract. The left-hander is earning the remainder of a $16MM salary in 2025 and is owed another $16MM in 2026, which is the final guaranteed year of the five-year, $64.5MM extension Freeland signed with the Rockies back in April 2022. The deal has a $17MM vesting player option for 2027 that will trigger if Freeland tosses 170 innings in 2026, and while he has only topped the 170-IP threshold twice in his career, that stands as another reason rival clubs may be wary of inquiring about a deadline deal.
Rangers Place Tyler Mahle On 15-Day Injured List, Recall Kumar Rocker
The Rangers officially placed right-hander Tyler Mahle on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder fatigue. The placement is retroactive to June 12. Right-hander Kumar Rocker was called up from Triple-A and will start for the Rangers today in what was initially Mahle’s turn in the rotation.
The transaction was telegraphed yesterday, when Rocker rejoined the team less than 15 days after he was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock. Such a quick recall could only happen in the event of another injury, and Texas manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other reporters that Mahle felt some shoulder discomfort during his last start on Tuesday.
This shoulder issue may have contributed to Mahle allowing four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings (though the Rangers still recorded a 16-4 win over the Twins) that night. Mahle has an outstanding 2.34 ERA over 77 innings this season, though eight of the 20 earned runs he has allowed this season have come in his last two starts.
Some regression was probably inevitable anyway for Mahle, whose secondary metrics paint a less flattering view of his performance. Mahle’s 4.56 SIERA is almost twice the size of his 2.34 ERA, as a .253 BABIP and an 82.3% strand rate have helped Mahle get away with below-average strikeout (18.2K%) and walk (8.8BB%) rates. The gap between Mahle’s .263 wOBA and his .330 xwOBA is one of the largest of any starter in baseball. On the plus side, Mahle isn’t allowing much hard contact, and he has allowed only four home runs over his 77 frames.
In the bigger picture, continued shoulder discomfort for Mahle is a particular concern, given how similar shoulder injuries also limited him in both 2022 and 2024. The 2023 season saw Mahle undergo a Tommy John surgery, and he didn’t return to action until August 6 of last year. Given all of these recent injuries, it could be that Mahle is simply a little tired since his 77-inning workload is already beyond the 56 1/3 total innings his threw in the majors and minors over the 2023-24 campaigns.
Mahle joins fellow starters Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, and Cody Bradford on the Texas injured list, leaving the Rangers with a makeshift rotation of Jacob deGrom, Patrick Corbin, Jack Leiter, and now Rocker. Of the injured starters, Bradford may be the closest to returning since he recently threw two simulated innings, though he’ll still need a lengthy rehab assignment after missing the entire season recovering from an elbow sprain.
The Rangers have an off-day on Monday before starting a stretch of 25 games in 27 days heading into the All-Star break. The Texas relief corps has recently stepped up with a pair of impressive bullpen days to help the club patch the holes in the rotation, yet continuing to rely too heavily on the pen obviously isn’t an ideal strategy — especially not heading into such a busy portion of the schedule. Dane Dunning is probably the top experienced option to be recalled from Triple-A to cover some starts and eat some innings, and the Rangers have an opening on their 40-man roster if Dunning’s contract is selected.
There’s an added financial wrinkle to Mahle’s injury, as any time spent on the IL could cost him some significant bonus money. Mahle is set to earn a $500K bonus if he pitches at least 100 innings, and then an $1MM bonus for hitting each of the 110-, 120-, and 130-inning thresholds, and then a final $1.5MM bonus at 140 innings. This extra cash has plenty of implications for both Mahle’s wallet and the Rangers’ attempts to stay under the luxury tax threshold, so a lengthier stay on the injured list has plenty of bigger-picture implications.
Marlins Select Freddy Tarnok
June 15: The Marlins made it official today, with left-hander Anthony Veneziano optioned to Jacksonville and right-hander Luarbert Árias designated for assignment as the corresponding moves. Árias was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November. He has a 10.61 ERA in 9 1/3 big league innings so far in his career. He has a 3.93 ERA at the Triple-A level this year but with an 8.5% strikeout rate and 15.9% walk rate.
June 14: The Marlins are selecting righty Freddy Tarnok onto the big league roster, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams. Miami will need to make corresponding active and 40-man roster moves.
Tarnok joined the organization on an offseason minor league deal. He has been working from the rotation at Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s not going very deep into games — he has yet to work more than five innings — but he has managed alright rate production. Tarnok carries a 4.79 earned run average while striking out more than a quarter of opponents. He’s averaging north of 95 MPH on his fastball while mixing in a slider, curveball and changeup. Tarnok is coming off his best start of the season, striking out six across five scoreless innings against Tampa Bay’s affiliate last weekend.
That earns the 26-year-old his first MLB action in two years. Tarnok is a former third-round pick of the Braves who was a solid prospect. Atlanta dealt him to the A’s in the three-team Sean Murphy trade over the 2022-23 offseason. Tarnok had made one relief appearance as a Brave and pitched five times for the A’s. He allowed eight runs in 15 1/3 career innings. His ’23 season ended when he underwent right hip surgery. That lingered into last year and ultimately ended his tenure in green and gold. Tarnok was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia but didn’t make an MLB appearance for the Phils and was outrighted off the 40-man roster at the beginning of the winter.
Miami needs a fifth starter after losing Max Meyer and Ryan Weathers to the injured list. They welcomed Eury Pérez back from his Tommy John rehab on Monday to fill one spot. They haven’t settled on the final spot, though Janson Junk worked nearly six innings of relief during a bullpen game today against Washington. Junk could assume a more traditional rotation role moving forward, but they used another five relievers this afternoon. Tarnok gives them a fresh arm capable of working multiple innings with Pérez slated to start tomorrow.
Eddie Rosario To Opt Out Of Minors Deal With Brewers
Eddie Rosario signed a minor league deal with the Brewers on May 14, and has yet to be called up to the big leagues. Rosario will therefore enact a June 15 opt-out clause in his contract and become a free agent, according to reporter Francys Romero.
The 2021 NLCS MVP has hit .290/.373/.449 with two home runs over 83 plate appearances with Triple-A Nashville, which comes on the heels of an even more impressive .339/.406/.542 slash line in 69 PA with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate earlier this season. While these numbers indicate that the 33-year-old has something left in the tank, Rosario’s subpar production in the majors over the last two seasons likely gave the Brewers some pause about bringing him up to the active roster.
Since Opening Day 2024, Rosario has hit only .174/.212/.311 over 327 Major League plate appearances with the Nationals, Dodgers, and two separate stints with the Braves. His 2025 output consists of only five games and eight PA, as he has only briefly played with the Dodgers and Braves while spending the bulk of the year in Triple-A. Even dating back to the start of the 2021 campaign, consistency has been an issue for Rosario, though his highs were epic — most notably a red-hot stretch for Atlanta late in the 2021 season and through the playoffs, helping the Braves win the World Series.
The Milwaukee lineup has been average at best in 2025, and power has been in short supply since the Brewers’ 64 homers rank only 24th of 30 teams. An argument can be made that the Crew wouldn’t have lost much in giving Rosario a shot, especially since the team’s outfield ranks were thinned by injuries to Blake Perkins and Garrett Mitchell, plus Christian Yelich has mostly been a DH this season with only a handful of appearances in left field.
With Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and the emerging Sal Frelick all getting everyday at-bats, however, Rosario’s only real avenue into the lineup would’ve been as part of the left field mix with Isaac Collins and Jake Bauers. The Brewers might’ve simply preferred to roll with their present options rather than bring Rosario aboard, especially if the team thought Rosario’s Nashville numbers may have been the product of an inflated .340 BABIP.
Rosario will now hit the open market again in search of another team. There are plenty of clubs with more clear openings in the outfield than Milwaukee, so it might not be long before Rosario lands elsewhere on another minor league deal.
Rockies Activate Austin Gomber
TODAY: Colorado officially activated Gomber from the 60-day IL. In corresponding moves, right-hander Zach Agnos was optioned to Triple-A, and Ryan Feltner was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Feltner was initially placed on the injured list on April 29 due to back spasms, and since he wasn’t expected back until late June anyway, the shift to the 60-day IL only formalizes that timeline.
JUNE 12: The Rockies will reinstate lefty Austin Gomber from the 60-day injured list this weekend, reports Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. He’ll start Sunday’s game in Atlanta, where he’ll take on reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale. The Rox announced that Carson Palmquist, who’d been in line to start that game, was optioned to Triple-A today. Righty Anthony Molina was recalled from Triple-A, adding another arm to the ‘pen in the meantime. Colorado will need to make a 40-man roster move to reinstate Gomber prior to Sunday’s start.
Gomber, 31, will make his season debut when he takes the mound Sunday. He’s been out all year due to a left shoulder injury but has looked sharp in four Triple-A rehab starts, tossing a dozen innings with three runs allowed on six hits and five walks. He’s fanned 13 of 48 opponents along the way.
In 2024, Gomber tossed a career-high 165 innings over the course of 30 starts, working to a 4.75 ERA. His 16.7% strikeout rate was well shy of the 22% league average, but his 5.5% walk rate was quite strong. Gomber struggled with home runs, as one would expect for a fly-ball pitcher who’s prone to hard contact and plays his home games at Coors Field; he yielded an average of nearly two homers per nine frames at home and a total of 1.64 HR/9 on the season overall.
It’s a fifth starter’s profile, but the pitching-starved Rockies valued his durability and tendered Gomber a contract that pays him $6.35MM in his final year of club control. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end and, if he can get out to a decent start to his 2025 campaign, could end up as a trade chip for the Rox ahead of next month’s deadline as well. Colorado traditionally tends to avoid trading away too many veterans even in non-contending seasons, but at 12-55 with a -202 run differential, there are no delusions of a second-half run. Shipping out Gomber won’t bring much of a return, prospect-wise, but at the very least they’d trim some payroll and add some depth to the minor league ranks.
Twins Place Royce Lewis On 10-Day Injured List
TODAY: The Twins have officially announced Lewis’ IL placement, with a retroactive June 14 date. Outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
JUNE 14, 5:14pm: The Twins are planning to place Lewis on the IL, as relayed by Miller. He goes on to note that the Twins are labeling Lewis’s strain as “mild.” That’s an encouraging framing for the injury, although it must be emphasized that due to Lewis’s long history of lower half issues even a mild strain could leave him out of commission for some time.
2:52pm: Twins third baseman Royce Lewis suffered a left hamstring strain in Friday’s 10-3 loss to the Astros that forced Lewis out of the game. The injury occurred in the ninth inning, as Lewis hit a line drive into the left field corner that resulted in only a single, as Lewis came up limping heading into first base. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller and other beat writers, Lewis will undergo an MRI today to determine the extent of the damage.
An earlier strain to that same left hamstring sidelined Lewis during Spring Training and delayed his season debut until May 5. The missed time clearly seemed to be having an impact on Lewis’ bat, as he has hit only .202/.282/.303 over 110 plate appearances. With a 1.056 OPS over his last 33 PA, however, Lewis seemed like he was getting into form just before his balky hamstring may again force him to the injured list.
Injuries have hampered Lewis’ entire pro career, limiting the former first overall pick to 546 games (182 in the majors, 364 in the minors) since he was selected in the 2017 draft. Two right ACL tears were the most devastating of Lewis’ multiple health issues, and he has also missed time on the Twins’ injured list due to a quad strain, an adductor strain, and a less-serious left hamstring strain late in the 2023 season that Lewis was able to overcome in time to return for a dominant playoff performance.
If the MRI doesn’t reveal anything too serious, Minnesota could opt to give Lewis a few days of rest in lieu of an IL stint, since the Twins don’t play on Monday anyway. A backdated IL placement would still “begin” today anyway if the Twins ended up sending Lewis to the 10-day injured list on Tuesday, though such a decision may also hinge if the club is willing to play a man short over a big weekend series against the Astros.
Brooks Lee is the likeliest candidate to get the bulk of third base time if Lewis does wind up on the IL, with such versatile options as Willi Castro, Kody Clemens, or Jonah Bride also available to rotate into the hot corner. Several other infielders are on the 40-man roster and could be summoned from Triple-A, yet naturally there’s not much substitute for the upside that a healthy and productive Lewis can bring to the Twins’ lineup.
Tigers Designate John Brebbia For Assignment
The Tigers have designated right-hander John Brebbia for assignment, according to multiple Detroit beat writers. Right-hander Tyler Owens was called up from Triple-A Toledo in the corresponding move.
Brebbia signed a one-year, $2.75MM free agent contract with the Tigers in February, earning $2.25MM in 2025 with a $500K buyout of a $4MM club option for the 2026 season. It seemed like a decent investment in a veteran who has been a fairly reliable bullpen arm for most of his career, and Brebbia’s shakier results in 2024 (a 5.86 ERA in 55 1/3 innings) could be partially ascribed to Brebbia spending most of his season with an infamously bad White Sox team.
Unfortunately for Brebbia, things haven’t worked out in 2025. The righty has a 7.71 ERA over 18 2/3 innings for Detroit, with a lot of hard contact allowed and an 11.8% walk rate that is far beyond the career 7.3BB% Brebbia had posted heading into the season. Beyond these rougher advanced metrics, Brebbia has also run into some bad luck for the second straight season, in the form of a .339 BABIP and a very low 56.6% strand rate. Brebbia’s 4.32 SIERA is much more flattering than his real-world ERA, and comparable to how his 3.29 SIERA in 2024 was far lower than his 5.86 ERA.
He also spent just shy of three weeks on the injured list due to a triceps strain, and that IL stint appears to have thrown Brebbia’s season off-kilter. The reliever had a sparkling 1.00 ERA in nine innings (eight appearances) prior to his IL stint, but he has been torched for a 13.97 ERA in 9 2/3 innings and 11 appearances since his return to the mound. Things really particularly went south for Brebbia in his last two outings, as he has allowed six runs over 1 1/3 innings in the last two days.
This was apparently enough to convince Detroit to move on, and in all likelihood the Tigers will eat the remaining money owed on Brebbia’s contract. If another club trades for Brebbia during his DFA period or puts in a waiver claim, the new team would assume the rest of his salary. Should Brebbia clear waivers, Detroit is on the hook for the remaining salary, and a new team who signed Brebbia afterwards would owe him just the prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary. Brebbia has enough of a resume that he’ll probably soon land elsewhere on a minor league deal, as the 35-year-old will try to get his season on track with a change of scenery.
IL Activations: Walker, Sanchez
Here’s the rundown of some prominent names returning from the injured list today…
- The Cardinals activated Jordan Walker from the 10-day IL, with fellow outfielder Michael Siani optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Walker returns to action after a little over two weeks on the IL, as the former top prospect was bothered by inflammation in his left wrist. Operating as the Cards’ everyday right fielder, Walker has hit only .215/.273/.310 in 172 plate appearances this season, though his bat had been starting to heat up in the few games just prior to his injury.
- The Orioles activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day IL, and optioned catcher Maverick Handley to Triple-A Norfolk. Like Walker, Sanchez was also sidelined with wrist inflammation, though his issue was more severe since Sanchez hasn’t played in a big league game since April 27. Sanchez will now resume his role as Adley Rutschman‘s backup and hope that his IL stint essentially resets his season, as Sanchez had only three hits in his first 35 plate appearances in a Baltimore uniform. The O’s signed Sanchez to a one-year, $8.5MM free agent deal back in December.
Shaun Anderson Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Anderson cleared waivers and elected free agency over an outright assignment to Triple-A, the Angels announced.
JUNE 13: The Angels announced today that they have selected the contract of infield prospect Christian Moore and recalled right-hander Sam Bachman. In corresponding moves, outfielder Matthew Lugo has been optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake and righty Shaun Anderson has been designated for assignment. MLBTR covered the Moore/Lugo swap yesterday. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported today’s full slate of moves prior to the official club announcement.
Anderson, 30, has been on and off the Angels’ roster this year. He signed a minor league deal in the offseason and was called up in early May. He was designated for assignment later that month, cleared waivers, elected free agency, re-signed with the club and was added back to the roster a few days ago. Around those transactions, he has logged 10 2/3 innings over six appearances. He allowed nine earned runs on 16 hits, giving out three walks while striking out ten opponents.
Broadly speaking, Anderson has usually been able to put up decent Triple-A numbers that haven’t translated to the big leagues. He made his major league debut in 2019 and now has 162 2/3 innings under his belt with a 6.20 earned run average. In that same time frame, he has a 3.93 ERA in 307 Triple-A frames. He also spent a season in Korea and put up a 3.76 ERA there.
Since he’s out of options, he can’t be easily sent back down to the minors. The last time he lost his roster spot with the Halos, he cleared waivers and circled back to them, so it’s possible that same sequence will play out in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images