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Red Sox Acquire John Holobetz As PTBNL In Quinn Priester Trade

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The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve acquired right-hander John Holobetz from the Brewers as the player to be named later in last month’s trade that sent righty Quinn Priester from Boston to Milwaukee.

Holobetz, 22, was the Brewers’ fifth-round pick in the draft just last summer. The Old Dominion product didn’t pitch in 2024 following the draft but is out to a terrific start in 2025. He’s pitched 24 innings across five appearances in A-ball, logging a flat 3.00 ERA on 16 hits and five walks with 31 strikeouts. Holobetz has fanned 31.3% of his opponents and issued walks at just a 5.1% clip.

It’s a nice start to his pro career, but as a former college pitcher starting out in A-ball, Holobetz hasn’t yet been challenged by older and more advanced competition. How he fares in eventual moves up the ladder will be telling. The 6’3″ righty wasn’t ranked among Milwaukee’s best prospects heading into the season. He worked primarily as a reliever in college, but the Brewers have given him longer stints so far in pro ball.

Holobetz joins outfielder Yophery Rodriguez as one of two players the Red Sox acquired in exchange for Priester. Milwaukee also sent its Competitive Balance (Round A) draft selection to Boston in exchange for Priester, whom the Red Sox acquired ahead of the 2024 trade deadline in a swap sending former first-rounder Nick Yorke to Pittsburgh. Rodriguez has appeared in 19 games with the Red Sox’ High-A club and turned in a .224/.402/.418 batting line with more walks (21.8%) than strikeouts (17.2%) in 87 plate appearances.

For much of the season so far, Priester has been more or less what a Brewers team that was desperate for starting pitching had hoped. He’s been a serviceable back-end starter capable of providing five-inning efforts that keep the Brew Crew in the game. His ERA exploded to 5.79 when the Cubs clobbered him for seven runs yesterday, but Priester had worked to a 3.79 ERA through his first four turns.

Overall, it’s not an appealing set of numbers, though. The 5.79 ERA — inflated by one particularly poor start or not — is accompanied by ugly strikeout and walk rates of 15.7% and 14.8%, respectively. Priester has walked at least three batters in each of his past four starts. He’s posted an excellent 56.8% ground-ball rate, but that’s a small consolation when juxtaposed with the lack of missed bats and worrying command issues.

That said, the Brewers have control of Priester for the next six seasons, and he still has a minor league option remaining. He’s a former first-round pick and top prospect who’s still only 24 years old, and he has a solid minor league track record. The Brewers will hope as the season goes on that he can refine that command and cement himself as a reliable member of the staff. They’ve shuffled up his pitch mix a bit, adding a new cutter that sits just over 92 mph to complement his sinker-focused approach. That pitch has been hit quite hard so far, so it’s not clear he’ll stick with the offering.

For now, Priester remains set in a rotation alongside Freddy Peralta, Jose Quintana, Tobias Myers and Chad Patrick. Milwaukee has pitchers Brandon Woodruff, Nestor Cortes, Aaron Civale, Aaron Ashby, DL Hall and Robert Gasser all on the mend from injury, but only Woodruff is close to a return at the moment.

Twins Reinstate Willi Castro and Royce Lewis, Option Edouard Julien and Mickey Gasper

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The Twins made some roster moves this morning, reinstating Willi Castro and Royce Lewis from the 10-day injured list and optioning Edouard Julien and Mickey Gasper to Triple-A.

After bursting out of the gate as a rookie in 2023, Julien has struggled badly at the plate. He hit .207 with a 97 wRC+ through his first 58 games last season before the Twins sent him down to Triple-A. However, a pair of demotions that summer didn’t seem to help, as he would go on to hit just .186 with a 49 wRC+ over another 36 MLB games. Despite his poor showing in 2024, a solid spring helped Julien earn a spot on Minnesota’s Opening Day roster, and the injuries to Lewis and Castro helped him earn regular playing time. Unfortunately for Julien, he failed to capitalize on that opportunity. His 2025 slash line looks eerily similar to his disappointing 2024 slash line, and he has already compiled -0.5 FanGraphs WAR. The silver lining is that his Statcast expected metrics are much more promising than they were last year (.337 xwOBA, 57th percentile), but even so, it’s not hard to understand why the Twins would rather the second baseman get consistent at-bats at Triple-A to help him work through his struggles and (hopefully) build back his confidence.

Gasper’s demotion is, admittedly, less newsworthy. The Twins acquired the 29-year-old in a minor trade this past offseason, and this is already the second time they have optioned him in 2025. Versatility is his primary asset, as he has spent time at first base, second base, catcher, and left field for the Twins in 17 games this season. He has hit .176 with a 49 wRC+.

Castro, an All-Star for the first time in 2024, had been on the IL with a right oblique strain since April 24, retroactive to April 21, although he has not played since April 16. The utility man was off to a poor start, batting just .227 with an 89 wRC+. As the Twins’ offense continues to underwhelm, the team will look to a healthy Castro to rediscover the above-average offense that made him such a sneakily valuable player in each of the past two years.

Lewis, meanwhile, will be making his 2025 debut after suffering a hamstring strain in spring training. The young third baseman has shown the potential to be a game-changing bat in the middle of the order; he hit .307 with 17 home runs and a 158 wRC+ in 70 games between 2022-23. Yet, he took a step back offensively last season. His power numbers were still impressive (16 home runs in 82 games), but his batting average dropped substantially, and his overall numbers fell with it. He was still an above-average hitter (108 wRC+), but he didn’t develop into the superstar the Twins were hoping he could be. It certainly didn’t help that injuries, a common theme throughout his first two seasons, continued to plague him in 2024. Thus, as Lewis returns to the field in 2025, the Twins will hope he looks more like his 2022-23 self at the plate and that he can finally put his injury issues behind him.

Blue Jays Sign José Ureña

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Today: The Blue Jays officially announced Ureña’s one-year major league contract on Monday and optioned Josh Walker to Triple-A to open a space on the active roster. To make room for Ureña and fellow free agent signing Spencer Turnbull on the 40-man, the Blue Jays transferred Max Scherzer and Erik Swanson to the 60-day injured list. This pushes back Scherzer’s and Swanson’s return timelines to late May at the earliest.

May 3: The Blue Jays have agreed to a major league contract with right-hander José Ureña, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. This signing comes on the heels of the news that Toronto has also agreed to terms with right-hander Spencer Turnbull.

Ureña, 33, signed a minor league contract with the Mets in February. While he failed to make the Opening Day roster out of camp, he made three starts at Triple-A Syracuse and earned a promotion when the Mets needed an extra arm in late April. However, he struggled badly in his one appearance, giving up five earned runs in three innings, and the Mets DFA’d him two days later. The Blue Jays, desperately in need of pitching depth, pounced quickly, signing the righty less than two days after he elected free agency. Unlike Turnbull, who has not pitched in a game since a lone minor league rehab appearance last September, Ureña should be ready to contribute to the major league team right away.

Now in his 11th big league season, Ureña has been one of the league’s more prolific swingmen throughout his career. Since his debut in 2015, he is one of just two pitchers with at least 150 starts and 75 relief appearances. With a career 4.80 ERA and 4.92 SIERA, he has never been much more than an innings eater, but an innings eater is certainly something the Blue Jays could use right now.

Toronto entered the 2025 season with a rotation of Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt, Max Scherzer, and Bowden Francis. Yariel Rodríguez, who started 21 games in his rookie season, moved to the bullpen. As a result, when Scherzer hit the IL with an injured thumb after his first start of the season, the Blue Jays were left with very little rotation depth. Easton Lucas crumbled after two strong starts. Similarly, long-man Paxton Schultz hit a wall in his second big league appearance after turning heads with a dominant debut. Eric Lauer was solid in his first appearance for the Jays, but he’s hardly a reliable long-term answer. Top prospect Jake Bloss, who struggled in three big league starts with Houston last season, has also struggled at Triple-A. Thus, general manager Ross Atkins made it clear on Friday that he was looking to add rotation depth in free agency. He quickly made good on his word this morning, signing both Ureña and Turnbull to major league deals. Turnbull has the much higher ceiling of the two, but Ureña is a more immediate solution. There is a good chance he will make at least a couple of starts, but he can also offer relief to a bullpen that has been cycling through arms all season.

Rangers Place Leody Taveras On Outright Waivers

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The Rangers have placed outfielder Leody Taveras on outright waivers, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports.  Taveras can continue playing for Texas until he is claimed, which differentiates the “outright waiver” process from a more standard designation for assignment.  If a claim happens, Taveras’ new team will assume the rest of his 2025 salary, which is roughly $3.8MM remaining of a $4.75MM total.

Taveras entered the season with three years and 124 days of official Major League service time, which plays an important role in his waiver status.  Because Taveras has more than three years of service time, should he clear waivers, he can turn down an outright assignment to Triple-A and become a free agent.  However, because he has less than five years of MLB service time, becoming a free agent means that Taveras would forego his $3.8MM in remaining salary.

It leaves the outfielder with an interesting decision to make should the situation arise, though another team could make it a moot point by simply claiming Taveras off waivers.  Public defensive metrics have been somewhat mixed on Taveras’ performance as a center fielder, though the Outs Above Average metric has been solidly in his corner over his six MLB seasons.  Moving him into a corner outfield spot (or having Taveras as a fourth outfielder rather than strictly as a center fielder) would only help make him more of a clear-cut defensive plus.

Taveras has been a below-average hitter over the course of his career, and he has particularly struggled this year by hitting .241/.259/.342 over 82 plate appearances.  Taveras has an 84 wRC+ over 1825 career PA in the majors, with a high point of a 100 wRC+ (from a .266/.312/.421 slash line in 554 PA) during the Rangers’ World Series championship season in 2023.  The switch-hitter has performed a bit better as a lefty batter than as a righty batter during his career, but even his .241/.291/.387 slash line from the left side of the plate is pretty modest.

Taveras is a Super Two player who has two remaining years of arbitration eligibility, so a new team would also be gaining control over his services through the 2027 season in the event of a claim.  There wasn’t much suggestion that the Rangers could non-tender Taveras last winter even in the wake of an uninspiring 2024 season, though there was some trade speculation surrounding Taveras last January.  Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers again tried to deal Taveras as recently as last week, but found no takers willing to both move players and absorb all of Taveras’ contract.

A waiver claim would allow the Rangers to cleanly part ways with Taveras while moving a bit of extra money off the books.  Remaining under the $241MM luxury tax threshold is one of the Rangers’ chief goals for the season, and with an estimated (as per RosterResource) $237.1MM tax number at the moment, Texas only has a bit of space to spare.  Moving Taveras would give the Rangers more breathing room to stay under the tax line while still possibility having some flexibility to add at the deadline.

Kevin Pillar, Dustin Harris, or utilityman Josh Smith could share center field duties if Taveras is indeed on his way out of Texas.  For Smith in particular, more time in center field would give the Rangers a way of keeping Smith’s hot bat in what has been an otherwise pretty dismal lineup.  Former top prospect Evan Carter could be a candidate to be called up from Triple-A, but Carter is hitting only .221/.333/.416 over 90 PA at Round Rock so far in 2025.

Braves Sign Austin Cox

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The Braves announced that left-hander Austin Cox has been signed to a Major League contract and assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett.  Cox had been in the Royals organization on a minor league deal, but his MLB.com profile page indicates that Triple-A Omaha released him from that contract earlier today.

Cox’s big league resume consists only of 35 2/3 innings of 4.54 ERA ball with Kansas City in 2023, so it is a little surprising to see him land a guaranteed deal.  Still, offering a surefire 40-man roster spot isn’t an uncommon tactic if a team wants to outbid others to land a player with limited or even zero MLB experience.  The Braves might’ve also had a built-in advantage since Cox is from Macon, Georgia, so he’ll now get to play in his home state.

A fifth-round pick for the Royals in the 2018 draft, Cox is changing organizations for the first time in his pro career.  His 2023 debut season in the Show came to an early and unfortunate end after he tore his ACL during a September game, though he was able to make it back to action by mid-April 2024.  Cox had a 4.25 ERA, 24% strikeout rate, and 15.2% walk rate in 55 Triple-A innings last season, and a 3.55 ERA, 32.7% strikeout rate, and 10.9BB% in 12 2/3 frames with Omaha this year.

Despite the rather sizeable improvements in secondary metrics, the Royals still chose to part ways with the 28-year-old Cox.  He’ll now get a change of scenery in Atlanta, where the Braves have already had a revolving door of arms log bullpen innings at the MLB level.  Should Cox get another look in the majors, he’ll join Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer as the left-handed options in the team’s bullpen.

Giants Designate Lou Trivino, Call Up Kyle Harrison

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7:57PM: Harrison will be used as a reliever, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

7:08PM: The Giants announced that right-hander Lou Trivino has been designated for assignment.  In the corresponding move, southpaw Kyle Harrison has been called up to the Giants’ roster for the first time in 2025.  A 40-man roster spot has also been created with Trivino being DFA’ed, though no other transaction appears to be forthcoming to fill that spot.

Trivino threw a scoreless inning of relief in today’ 9-3 win over the Rockies, though his ERA still sits at 5.84 over 12 1/3 frames this season, with below-average strikeout and walk rates.  The righty has been tagged for four home runs during his brief sample size of work, and it appears as though the Giants are ready to move on, or are at least comfortable in exposing Trivino to the waiver wire.

Some rust isn’t unusual given Trivino’s long layoff, as a Tommy John surgery and some other arm issues kept him from any MLB action at all during the 2023-24 seasons.  Trivino’s only on-field action in the previous two years was 11 minor league innings with the Yankees last year, and some late-season shoulder soreness erased any hope Trivino had of making a late-season return to the Show before 2024 was over.  He caught on with San Francisco on a minor league contract during the offseason, and getting selected to the active roster meant that Trivino locked in a $1.5MM guaranteed salary for the 2025 season.

Harrison’s last Triple-A start was on April 30, so he would be lined up to start in the majors as early as tomorrow, if San Francisco opts to remove Landen Roupp from the rotation.  Roupp has a 5.10 ERA over six starts and 30 innings this season, and he hasn’t looked sharp in either of his last two outings.  Jordan Hicks and his 6.03 ERA could also be a candidate to be moved to the bullpen, though Hicks just pitched on Saturday, making the timing slightly unusual if Harrison is indeed taking Hicks’ rotation spot.

The Giants might also be viewing Harrison as a bullpen candidate, to give the pen a long man and a second left-handed relief option behind Erik Miller.  Should Harrison indeed be used as a reliever, he’ll join Hayden Birdsong as a fellow starting candidate being utilized in a bullpen role.

Over 159 Major League innings during the 2023-24 seasons, Harrison has a 4.47 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate.  While not standout numbers, Harrison seemed set to have a rotation spot lined up heading into 2025, yet a shoulder impingement that cut his 2024 season short in September ended up lingering into the offseason, thus delaying his usual winter ramp-up work.  Between that disruption to Harrison’s routine and a virus that hit him hard during Spring Training, the decision was made to have Harrison begin the season in Triple-A in order to let him get fully ready.

As one of the more highly-touted starting prospects in baseball prior to his first call-up, Harrison is a key part of the Giants’ future, and a pitcher the team naturally hopes can be a long-term cornerstone.  That doesn’t necessarily mean Harrison will get another crack in the rotation immediately, but this call-up means that the Giants are eager to see how he further adjusts to take big league hitters.

Colin Poche Elects Free Agency

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Left-hander Colin Poche has elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, as the Nats announced earlier tonight.  Washington designated Poche for assignment earlier this week and he cleared waivers, but he had the ability to opt into free agency since he has more than five years of MLB service time.

Poche inked a minor league deal with the Nationals back in February and made the team’s Opening Day roster, but the results weren’t pretty.  The southpaw had an 11.42 ERA over 13 games and 8 2/3 innings with D.C., with more walks (12) than strikeouts (10).  With that rough month in the books, the Nats decided they’d seen enough, and DFA’ed Poche to make room for another veteran lefty reliever in Andrew Chafin.

While a small sample size, Poche’s struggles are a marked departure from the solid numbers he posted with the Rays from 2022-24.  He had a 3.86 ERA over 37 1/3 innings in 2024, but Tampa Bay chose to non-tender Poche rather than pay him $3.4MM in a projected arbitration salary.  While the Rays’ always-tight budget was certainly a factor in the decision, Poche’s strikeout rate has been on the decline (21.6% last year), and he spent time on the injured list with both shoulder and back problems in 2024.

The 31-year-old Poche will now search the market for a fresh start and another minor league contract.  Despite his poor numbers this year, he seems likely to catch on somewhere given his still-recent success in Tampa, and the ever-present need around baseball for left-handed pitching.

Nick Ahmed Elects Free Agency

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Shortstop Nick Ahmed has elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, the team announced.  Texas designated Ahmed for assignment earlier this week.

The Rangers signed Ahmed to a minor league deal during the offseason, released him prior to Opening Day, and then brought him back on a fresh minors contract midway through April.  This latter deal paid off with some time on the big league roster, as Ahmed had his contract selected when regular shortstop Corey Seager was on the injured list.  Ahmed started three of his five games in a Rangers uniform, with one hit in 10 plate appearances.

With more than 10 years of Major League service time on his resume, Ahmed had more than enough experience to turn down outright assignments in favor of free agency, and he has taken this route multiple times over the last two seasons during past DFAs.  After spending his first 10 big league seasons with the Diamondbacks, Ahmed has bounced around to the Giants, Padres, Dodgers, and Rangers since February 2024, getting at least a bit of MLB action with all four of those teams.

The 35-year-old Ahmed might opt to re-sign with Texas again once he checks out the market, or he could seek out another opportunity with a new club.  In any case, Ahmed is likely ticketed for a glove-first depth role wherever he signs on another minor league deal.

Marlins Place Otto Lopez On Injured List, Activate Nick Fortes

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The Marlins announced a pair of roster moves today as they placed infielder Otto Lopez on the 10-day injured list due to a Grade 2 sprain of his right ankle. Replacing Lopez on the active roster is catcher Nick Fortes, who was activated from his own stint on the shelf.

Lopez, 26, exited Miami’s game on Friday due to what was termed at the time right ankle discomfort, was unavailable Saturday after undergoing an MRI that revealed the sprain as noted by Christina de Nicola of MLB.com. A specific timeline for Lopez’s return is not yet known, though it’s worth noting that de Nicola suggests a typical timetable for this sort of injury is in the three-to-six week range. That would leave the club without Lopez at second until at least the end of May, creating a void at the keystone.

After bouncing between the Blue Jays and Giants organizations earlier in his professional career, Lopez joined the Marlins last season and settled in as the club’s everyday second baseman. In 147 games with Miami since he joined the organization last year, Lopez hasn’t hit much with a slash line of just .262/.309/.367 across 553 plate appearances. With that being said, he offers solid defense and the versatility to play anywhere on the infield if needed and has also contributed on the basepaths with 23 steals in 28 attempts.

Overall, Lopez is a fairly average regular which makes him a key piece for a Marlins team that has gotten bottom-ten contributions from its lineup in the majors by measure of both wRC+ and fWAR. Without Lopez at second base everyday, a hole alongside Connor Norby and Xavier Edwards opens in the club’s infield mix. Javier Sanoja has hit .305/.333/.407 in a part-time role with the Fish this year and figures to get the first crack at playing time at the position, though infielder Graham Pauley is also on the roster as a potential option to mix in for starts at the keystone while Lopez is out of commission.

Replacing Lopez on the roster is Fortes, who started the season in a tandem with Rule 5 draft addition Liam Hicks behind the plate but was sidelined early in the year by an oblique strain. Fortes was hitting .300/.333/.500 in seven games at the time of his injury but is generally considered a glove-first catcher, offering strong value defensively that’s somewhat held back by his lackluster .216/.261/.309 slash line at the plate across 218 games in 2023 and ’24. Still, rostering a quality defender like Fortes makes plenty of sense given that Hicks is generally considered a bat-first catcher and well-regarded prospect Agustin Ramirez faces questions regarding whether or not he can stick behind the plate at all long-term.

While Fortes figures to rejoin Hicks as one of the club’s primary catchers going forward, Ramirez has earned his roster spot to this point with a strong .256/.293/.615 slash line in his first 41 plate appearances since making his big league debut last month. With eight extra-base hits in just ten games, Ramirez now appears likely to be an occasional catcher for the Marlins but mostly serve as the club’s primary DH. That could eat into the playing time afforded to Matt Mervis, who has played in a first base/DH role since starting the season as the club’s everyday first baseman, as well was Eric Wagaman, who has spelled Mervis at first base on occasion while also being part of the Miami outfield mix.

White Sox Designate Bobby Dalbec For Assignment

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The White Sox announced a series of roster moves this morning. The club reinstated infielder Josh Rojas from the injured list, selected the contract of right-hander Caleb Freeman, and recalled southpaw Tyler Gilbert to the big league roster. In corresponding moves, infielder Bobby Dalbec was designated for assignment while southpaw Fraser Ellard was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left lat strain and righty Penn Murfee was optioned to Triple-A.

Rojas, 31 next month, signed with the White Sox this past winter after being non-tendered by the Mariners. Drafted in the 26th round by the Astros back in 2017, Rojas was shipped to Arizona in the Zack Greinke trade and made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks not long after. After struggling to hit at the big league level in his first two MLB seasons, Rojas took a step forward and became a quality regular with a roughly league average bat and a strong glove all around the infield starting in his age-27 campaign back in 2021. The last four seasons have seen Rojas slash .252/.327/.373 with a 97 wRC+ between the Diamondbacks and Mariners while accumulating 7.2 fWAR.

A difficult second half in Seattle last year led to his non-tender, however, and the White Sox scooped him up over the offseason to serve as a veteran option in their young and unproven infield. Rojas began the season on the shelf due to a late spring toe fracture, however, and is only just now getting activated for his debut with Chicago. Since Rojas went down, Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas have mostly handled second and third base. Now that Rojas is in the mix, he figures to start everyday against at least right-handed pitchers, though it wouldn’t be a shock to see him get at least some play against lefties as well despite his lackluster platoon splits thanks to solid defense.

Making room for Rojas’s return in the positional mix is Dalbec, who had taken up a bench role with the White Sox in recent weeks. He made it into just seven games with Chicago before being designated for assignment today, slashing .222/.333/.278 in that time with a 28.6% strikeout rate. A former top-100 prospect for the Red Sox, Dalbec hit .243/.308/.511 with 33 homers in 156 games between the 2020 and ’21 seasons but since then has looked miscast at the big league level, hitting just .199/.272/.328 in 520 plate appearances since the start of the 2022 season while striking out at a whopping 37.5% clip. The White Sox will now have one week to trade Dalbec or attempt to pass him through waivers. Should he clear waivers, Dalbec will have the opportunity to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright.

Dalbec’s 40-man roster spot will go to Freeman, whose first game with the Sox will be his major league debut. The 27-year-old was a 15th-rounder in the 2019 draft and has mostly posted pedestrian numbers throughout his MiLB career, but he’s gotten off to quite a hot start at Triple-A this year. In 13 1/3 innings of work across ten outings, Freeman has posted a 1.35 ERA while striking out 33.3% of his opponents. Those exciting numbers are still in a very small sample size, of course, but it was still enough for the White Sox to give the righty a look in a bullpen that could surely stand to benefit from a breakout performer within its ranks.

Ellard departs the roster in a move that makes room for Freeman on the active roster. The southpaw’s 6.75 ERA in seven outings this year is lackluster, though his 40% strikeout rate in that limited taste of big league action this year was exciting enough that the loss of Ellard from the bullpen mix is still a significant hit to the unit’s overall upside. Meanwhile, Gilbert rejoins the roster as a swing option despite below average results (5.59 ERA, 4.40 FIP) in 9 2/3 innings of work this year at the expense of Murfee, who has been torched for a 7.82 ERA in 15 outings this year and will head to Triple-A for a reset.

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