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Angels Outright José Suarez

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The Angels announced that left-hander José Suarez has been sent outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. That indicates he was passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment a week ago.

Suarez, 26, has more than three years of major league service time. That gives him the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, choosing the open market would mean forfeiting what remains of his salary.

He qualified for arbitration for the first time after last season and eventually lost a hearing against the club. He is making $925K instead of the $1.3MM that his side filed for. It seems fair to presume he will report to Salt Lake as opposed to walking away from the roughly half a million still coming his way.

That will give the Halos a bit of non-roster pitching depth with some past success. The lefty had good results working as a swingman for the Angels over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Between the two campaigns, he made 45 appearances, including 34 starts. He tossed 207 1/3 innings in that time, allowing 3.86 earned runs per nine. His 21.5% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate were all around league average.

Since then, the results have taken a steep nosedive. He spent much of 2023 on the injured list due to a shoulder strain, posting an 8.29 ERA in 33 2/3 innings. This year, he was healthy and moved to the bullpen, but couldn’t get his numbers in better shape. He threw 35 1/3 innings with an 8.15 ERA before getting bumped off the roster last week. Since he’s out of options, the Angels had to remove him from the 40-man to get him off the active roster.

It’s unclear if the Angels want him to continue working out of the bullpen or get stretched out to start. There would be an argument for the latter, with the club likely to end up making rotation moves in the weeks to come. With a record of 30-46, they are one of the few clubs clearly in seller position as the trade deadline approaches.

Since Suarez was designated for assignment, the rotation already took two big hits with Patrick Sandoval hitting the injured list with a UCL injury and José Soriano due to an abdominal infection. Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning are logical trade candidates since both are slated for free agency after 2025. Zach Plesac has been inserted into the rotation to cover for those two but has an 8.68 ERA through two starts.

Chase Silseth is currently on a rehab assignment and will be back in the mix soon enough. Reid Detmers could be recalled from his optional assignment, as could Davis Daniel or Kenny Rosenberg. But even with those guys potentially coming back, it’s possible that Suarez may have a role to play on the club down the stretch.

Nationals Select Harold Ramírez

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The Nationals announced on Monday that they’ve selected outfielder/designated hitter Harold Ramírez. Washington optioned corner infielder Trey Lipscomb to Triple-A Rochester to clear a spot on the active roster. The Nats have had a vacancy on the 40-man for weeks, so they didn’t need to make a move in that regard.

Ramírez inked a minor league deal with Washington a couple weeks ago. The Rays had somewhat surprisingly released him after a slow start to the season. The 29-year-old had hit .268/.284/.305 over 48 games. While the batting average was solid, he only hit one homer and drew walks in fewer than 2% of his plate appearances. Between the diminished offense and Ramírez’s limited defensive profile, he was squeezed off the Tampa Bay roster.

All 29 other teams passed on a chance to add Ramírez for the $2MM+ which remained on his $3.8MM arbitration salary. Once he cleared waivers, the Rays were left on the hook for that money (minus the prorated portion of the $740K league minimum for any time he spent on another team’s MLB roster). While he didn’t immediately secure a big league spot, Ramírez only needed seven games in Rochester to play his way back to the big leagues. He tattooed Triple-A pitching, picking up nine hits and drawing six walks over 31 trips to the dish.

The Nationals have left-handed hitting Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario as their respective starters at designated hitter and in left field. Ramírez could ostensibly take some reps against left-handed pitching at either spot. The righty-swinging Ramírez has mashed southpaws at a .361/.393/.483 clip in 303 plate appearances since the start of the 2022 season. He owns a more pedestrian .274/.314/.380 line against right-handed arms over that stretch.

Ramírez has more than five years of MLB service time, so the Nats can’t send him back to the minors without his consent. Washington can keep him around through the 2025 season via arbitration, though he will need to hit better than he did early in the year with Tampa Bay to avoid being non-tendered.

Andrew Golden of the Washington Post first reported (on X) that Ramírez was joining the Nats.

Padres Place Fernando Tatis Jr. On Injured List

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Monday marked a busy day on the transaction front for the Padres. San Diego placed star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 22, with a right femoral stress reaction. The Friars also optioned outfielder José Azocar and right-hander Jhony Brito to Triple-A El Paso. Filling the three spots on the active roster: outfielder Bryce Johnson, infielder Eguy Rosario and right-hander Adam Mazur. Johnson was not on the 40-man roster, but the Friars have had a vacancy for weeks.

The Tatis injury is the biggest development. Manager Mike Shildt indicated that Tatis could play through the issue but that it wouldn’t fully heal without rest (X link via Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune). The team isn’t providing a specific return timetable, though they expect it to be longer than the minimal 10 days. It’s not out of the question that Tatis is sidelined through the All-Star Break.

Any absence is a major blow to the San Diego lineup. Tatis has been one of the top outfielders in the National League this year. He’s hitting .279/.354/.468 with 14 home runs across 345 plate appearances. Tatis has trimmed his strikeout rate to a career-low 20.6% clip while making hard contact on a massive 53.4% of batted balls. There’s no easy way to replace that kind of production.

It seems the Pads could roll with a David Peralta/Johnson platoon in right field for the time being. The lefty-swinging Peralta is only hitting .204/.306/.241 over 25 games since being called up last month. Johnson, a switch-hitter, has yet to play in the majors this season. San Diego signed the 28-year-old to a minor league deal in January. The former Giant has reached base at a massive .430 clip over 259 plate appearances with El Paso. Johnson is hitting .301 while drawing walks more than 15% of the time. He has also swiped 18 bases in 20 attempts. Johnson is in the lineup against Patrick Corbin this evening.

Mazur returns to the big leagues just three days after being optioned. (He didn’t need to wait the minimal 15 days because he is technically being recalled to replace the injured Tatis.) In actuality, he’s more directly a replacement for Yu Darvish. San Diego anticipated the right-hander returning from the injured list tomorrow. However, Heilbrunn tweets that Darvish is battling some inflammation in his throwing elbow. While Shildt downplayed the long-term concern, he won’t be ready for MLB action tomorrow.

Darvish has been out since May 30 with a strained left groin. The late revelation of a new elbow concern is suboptimal, though it doesn’t seem the Padres are especially alarmed at this point. The injury will force San Diego to turn back to the 23-year-old Mazur for his fifth big league start. The former second-round pick has allowed 14 runs over his first 17 1/3 innings. Mazur has walked more than 19% of batters faced, a bizarre issue for a pitcher who has shown pristine control in his minor league career.

Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune observed (on X) that Johnson was in the clubhouse prior to the team announcement.

Giants Designate Trenton Brooks For Assignment, Select Raymond Burgos

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The Giants announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Raymond Burgos. To open spots on both the active and 40-man rosters, first baseman Trenton Brooks has been designated for assignment.

Brooks, 28, was selected to the roster just under a month ago. He had spent close to a decade in the minors and had generally hit well over the years, including producing a .308/.426/.462 line in Triple-A prior to his call-up this year.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to bring any of that production up to the majors with him. He has only received 29 plate appearances since getting added to the roster May 28, hitting .120/.241/.120 in that time. His 13.8% walk rate and 20.7% strikeout rate are both solid but he didn’t hit the ball with much authority, leading to a .158 batting average on balls in play and no extra base hits. That performance got him bumped off the roster and the Giants will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers.

Taking his roster spot is Burgos, a 25-year-old left-hander. Originally drafted by Cleveland, he never cracked the big leagues with that team and hit free agency after 2022, which led to minor league deals with the Giants in each of the past two offseasons.

He has thrown 22 Triple-A innings over nine appearances this year, only allowing 1.64 earned runs per nine frames. He won’t be able to sustain a 100% strand rate nor a .245 BABIP, but his 27.4% strikeout rate, 2.4% walk rate and 53.6% ground ball rate are all strong. He’ll give the Giants a multi-inning option out of the bullpen as they try to cobble a pitching staff together. With each of Blake Snell, Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn, Robbie Ray, Alex Cobb and Tristan Beck on the injured list, the rotation is down to Logan Webb and Jordan Hicks at the moment.

Royals Option Nelson Velázquez

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The Royals announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder Michael Massey was reinstated from the injured list and the club selected the contract of infielder CJ Alexander. In corresponding moves, the club placed infielder/outfielder Adam Frazier on the 10-day injured list due to a right thumb strain and optioned outfielder Nelson Velázquez to Triple-A Omaha. To open a 40-man spot for Alexander, left-hander Jake Brentz was designated for assignment.

Velázquez, now 25, was acquired from the Cubs in a deadline trade last year with reliever José Cuas going the other way. It seemed like that deal was going to work out brilliantly for the Royals, as Velázquez hit 14 home runs in 40 games after the deal last year.

That seemed to set him up to play a prominent role in Kansas City going forward but it hasn’t played out that way. He has added eight more home runs this year but is slashing just .200/.274/.366 overall. Part of that could be his .237 batting average on balls in play but he’s also not squaring it up like last year. He had a 21.4% barrel rate in 2023 but that figure is down to 8.8% this year. His average exit velocity has dropped by almost three miles per hour. His hard hit rate is down more than ten points and his infield fly ball rate has more than doubled.

The Royals have been good overall this year, currently at 42-35 and just half a game outside of a playoff spot. However, their outfield has been their weakest link, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams looked at last month. Velázquez is a poor fielder and doesn’t provide value on the basepaths, so the drop-off at the plate has made him a big drawback on the roster this year.

He’ll head to Omaha to try to get things back on track for now, though this move could also have implications for him down the line. He came into this season with his service time count at one year and 13 days, meaning he would have finished the campaign at 2.013 if he had stayed up for the entirety. If this assignment lingers for more than a few weeks, it will push back his trajectory to free agency and/or arbitration. Coincidentally, Cuas also struggled with his new club and was designated for assignment by the Cubs, getting claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays over the weekend.

As for Alexander, he gets to the majors just before his 28th birthday, which is coming up in July. A 20th-round pick of Atlanta in 2018, he came to the Royals via the 2022 trade that also sent Drew Waters to Kansas City. He is hitting .323/.369/.555 in Triple-A this year, which is at least partially inflated by a .400 batting average on balls in play, but is impressive nonetheless.

He has played all four corner spots this year, but more third base than anywhere else. He is in the lineup at the hot corner tonight with Maikel Garcia having been moved over to second base and Massey in the designated hitter slot. Massey will stick in the DH spot for now, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com on X. He landed on the IL last month due to a low back ligament sprain and says he feels good enough to swing a bat but not take the field. With Massey and Frazier both unable to play second, perhaps Garcia will get regular time there with Alexander at third, though Garcia could also go back to the hot corner with Nick Loftin and Garrett Hampson taking some time at the keystone.

To get Alexander onto the 40-man, Brentz has been bumped off. The 29-year-old lefty had an encouraging major league debut back in 2021, making 72 appearances with a 3.66 earned run average. His 13.3% walk rate was quite high but he struck out 27.3% of batters faced and kept 49% of balls in play on the ground.

Unfortunately, he’s had a challenging time since then. He landed on the injured list early in 2022 and ultimately required Tommy John surgery that summer. He was non-tendered at the end of that season and re-signed on a two-year deal. He started a rehab assignment in August of 2023 but was shut down with a lat strain, unable to return to the big league club.

Here in 2024, he suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in the middle of March, putting him back on the IL to start the season. He started a rehab assignment about a month later and was optioned to Omaha when reinstated off the IL.

The results have been abysmal thus far, as he has a 12.71 ERA through 17 innings on the farm this year. He has struck out 15 opponents but given out 30 walks, hit nine batters with pitches and thrown two wild pitches as well.

Some rust after so much missed time is understandable but the Royals clearly felt this was too much. They will now have a week to trade Brentz or pass him through waivers. He still has a full slate of options and could perhaps appeal to a club that believes in the stuff and has enough patience to let him get back on track.

If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he has more than three years of service time and can therefore elect free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment. However, since he has less than five years of service time, doing so would mean forfeiting what remains of his salary. As part of that aforementioned two-year deal he signed with the Royals, he is making $1.05MM this year with more than half a million left to be paid out. He presumably wouldn’t want to walk away from that money and would likely accept an outright assignment if no other club wants to grab him off waivers.

Twins Outright Jay Jackson

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June 24: Jackson passed through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright to Triple-A St. Paul, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. As previously noted, he’ll have the right to reject that assignment but is extremely unlikely to do so, as that would require forfeiting the remaining $685K on this year’s salary and the $200K buyout on next year’s $3MM club option.

June 20: The Twins are designating reliever Jay Jackson for assignment, manager Rocco Baldelli told the team’s beat after today’s loss to the Rays (relayed on X by Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reports (on X) that Minnesota will recall southpaw Kody Funderburk from Triple-A St. Paul to step into the bullpen. Minnesota’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

It’s the second time this season that Minnesota has taken Jackson off the roster. The Twins designated him for assignment in May and successfully ran him through outright waivers. The righty accepted his assignment to St. Paul and pitched his way back to the big leagues a couple weeks later. Jackson had only made a trio of appearances in Triple-A, working three innings of one-run ball.

He has pitched 20 times for Minnesota at the big league level. Despite decent strikeout and walk numbers, he has had a tough time keeping runs off the board. That continued this afternoon. Jackson allowed three runs on homers by Jose Siri and Yandy Díaz, stretching a one-run deficit into a 6-2 gap. Minnesota scored four in the bottom of the ninth to tie it but lost in the tenth inning.

The longball has been Jackson’s biggest concern. He’s up to seven homers surrendered across 26 1/3 innings. That’s the biggest reason he has been unable to strand many baserunners. After today’s outing, he carries a 7.52 earned run average. That’s a sharp downturn from the excellent 2.12 ERA he posted in 29 2/3 frames for the Blue Jays a year ago. Jackson’s strikeout and walk numbers are essentially unchanged from his productive stint in Toronto, but his batted ball results have pushed him off the roster twice.

It is likely that Minnesota will place the 36-year-old on waivers again in the next few days. Jackson could decline an outright assignment if he goes unclaimed, though doing so would require forfeiting what remains of this year’s $1.3MM salary and the $200K buyout on next year’s $3MM club option. He could wind up back in St. Paul as a result.

Yankees Acquire J.D. Davis

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired infielder J.D. Davis and cash considerations from the A’s in exchange infielder Jordan Groshans. Davis had been designated for assignment by the A’s earlier this week. The Yankees transferred right-hander Nick Burdi to the 60-day injured list in order to make room for Davis on the 40-man roster.

Davis, 31, signed with the A’s in late spring after the Giants released Davis during Spring Training in order to get out from under most of the $6.9MM salary he had been awarded in arbitration over the winter. He managed to secure a guarantee of just $2.5MM from Oakland, a far cry from his previously-awarded arbitration salary even after factoring in the roughly $1.1MM in termination pay he received from San Francisco.

After that late spring controversy, Davis went on to appear in 39 games with the A’s where he slashed a roughly league-average .236/.304/.366 in 135 trips to the plate while splitting time between first base, third base, and DH. While his offensive numbers this year leave something to be desired, Davis’s positional versatility and track record as an above-average hitter make him a perfect fit for the Yankees’ current needs.

The club lost starting DH Giancarlo Stanton to the injured list earlier today, and first baseman Anthony Rizzo was also placed on the shelf not long ago due to a fractured forearm. Rookie Ben Rice has scuffled a bit in his first few games replacing Rizzo at first base, while the club has no obvious alternative to Stanton as an everyday DH in-house. Even at third base, where the club is currently relying on the combination of Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu, New York has gotten a wRC+ of just 78 — this ranks second-worst of all AL third-base units, ahead of only the White Sox.

Enter Davis, who entered the 2024 season with five consecutive seasons of solid production with the Mets and Giants. Since the start of the 2019 season, Davis has slashed a solid .265/.349/.438 with a wRC+ of 118. While he’s struck out a 27.1% clip during that time, he’s walked at a healthy 10% rate while flashing 20-homer power. That sort of production would be a major upgrade for a Yankees club that has generally struggled to produce offense outside of the outfield this year even before losing Stanton for at least the short-term. Davis seems likely to slide into the everyday DH role for the Yankees while Stanton is unavailable, but could also spell Rice at first base against left-handed pitching and even contribute at third alongside LeMahieu and Cabrera.

On days where Davis is playing the infield, the Yankees could offer Aaron Judge or Juan Soto the opportunity to get a half-day of rest as a DH and improve the club’s outfield defense by inserting glove-first center fielder Trent Grisham into the mix. When Stanton eventually returns to reclaim regular DH, the Yankees could pick and choose from Davis, Rice, Cabrera, and LeMahieu based on how everyone is performingt. That being said, if Davis can even maintain his production as an Athletic in the Bronx he should be a shoe-in for at least semi-regular playing time around the Yankees infield even after Stanton’s eventual return.

In exchange for Davis’ services, the Yankees are sending Groshans to Oakland. The 24-year-old’s stint in the Yankees organization was a relatively brief one, as the club claimed him off waivers from the Marlins back in February. He was outrighted off their 40-man roster in early March and has struggled to this point in the 2024 season with a .232/.310/.281 slash line while playing all four infield spots in 50 games split between the Double- and Triple-A levels. That follows a similarly rough performance at Triple-A with Miami last year; in 528 plate appearances across 125 games in 2023, Groshans slashed a paltry .244/.339/.330 with just six home runs.

Despite Groshans’ struggles over the past two seasons, it’s not hard to see why the A’s would be willing to give the youngster a shot. After all, the infielder was the 12th overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Blue Jays and received plenty of top prospect buzz earlier in his career, including a stint as a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport back in 2021. That pedigree combined with Groshans’ stronger numbers at the Double-A level earlier in his career provide some reason for optimism that he could contribute at the big league level at some point.

That possibility is surely an attractive one for an Oakland club that has struggled to find a consistent option at third base this year while cycling between Davis, Abraham Toro, and Tyler Nevin at the position. Toro will be out until at least the All-Star break recovering from a hamstring strain, leaving even more opportunity for Groshans to win some playing time at the hot corner.

Reds Outright Conner Capel

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Outfielder Conner Capel has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate.  Capel had the option of rejecting the outright assignment in favor of free agency because he has previously been outrighted in his career, but The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith (X link) reports that Capel will indeed report to Triple-A Louisville.

The Reds designated Capel for assignment earlier this week, a month after optioning him down to the minors after a five-game cup of coffee on the big league roster.  Capel signed a minor league contract with Cincinnati over the offseason and had that contract selected in early May, with Capel receiving eight plate appearances in his five games.

A veteran of three Major League seasons, Capel made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2022, making a strong first impression with a .308/.356/.519 slash line in 59 plate appearances with St. Louis and (after a September waiver claim) Oakland.  Capel didn’t receive much of a longer look in 2023, however, as he appeared in just 32 games for the A’s with 86 trips to the plate.  All in all, the 27-year-old has a career .278/.359/.398 slash line in 153 PA over 59 games in the Show.

Capel’s minor league numbers are more solid, as he has hit .259/.354/.435 with 43 home runs in 1430 career PA at the Triple-A level.  He has also stolen 52 bases in 71 attempts, and has played mostly center field in the minors while also getting a lot of playing time at the two corner outfield slots.  This skillset makes Capel a useful player to have as depth either on a big league bench or in the upper minors, so he’ll continue to bide his time in Louisville awaiting his next opportunity in Cincinnati.

Orioles To Promote Heston Kjerstad

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The Orioles are set to call top prospect Heston Kjerstad back up to the majors, according to Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (via X).  The corresponding move isn’t known, but MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko guesses the O’s might designate Nick Maton for assignment.  Maton had his contract selected earlier this week to give Baltimore some infield depth when Jordan Westberg was nursing a hip contusion, but since Westberg has kept playing with seemingly no ill effect from the contusion, Maton could be expendable.

Kjerstad made his MLB debut with 13 games in the 2023 season, and he received 17 plate appearances over seven games earlier this season when the O’s had called him up to the active roster from April 23 to May 12.  Kjerstad had a .748 OPS over 33 PA in 2023 and only a .437 OPS in his 17 PA this season, so one can’t really make any judgements based on such small and sporadic doses of playing time.

What is clear that is Kjerstad doesn’t have much less to prove at the Triple-A level.  He has hit .301/.390/.601 with 16 home runs over 255 PA for Norfolk this season, which comes on the heels of his .298/.371/.498 slash line in 334 Triple-A trips to the plate in 2023.  On just about any other team, Kjerstad would’ve already been a staple of the everyday lineup and been given a lot of time to test himself against big league pitching, but the Orioles’ unique situation creates more questions about just how often Kjerstad is going to play.

Kjerstad is a left-handed hitter who has played first base and both corner outfield slots in the minors, and he is generally considered a bat-first player more than a prime defensive option at any of his positions.  Ryan O’Hearn is another lefty bat on Baltimore’s roster with that same defensive profile, plus the O’s have Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander in everyday roles at first base and right field.  Cedric Mullins and Colton Cowser (both left-handed hitters) have been splitting time in center field, with Cowser also seeing a lot of time in left field, and the right-handed hitting Austin Hays also in the mix.

When a right-handed pitcher is on the mound, therefore, the Orioles already have a pretty full set of lefty-swinging options.  It is worth noting that Cowser has struggled badly since a hot start to his season, so he might be the likeliest to lose playing time if Kjerstad is coming back to the Show.  Mullins has also started hitting better after a deep slump, so the Orioles could give Mullins more time in center field and Cowser could be become something of a clearer backup outfielder.  The issue there is that Cowser is another highly-touted young player whose development won’t be helped by mostly being a bench player in the majors, rather than getting regular time on the field.

Since the Orioles’ return to full-fledged contention has outpaced their rebuild, the team finds themselves with having almost too many good young players for too few 26-man roster spots.  Kyle Stowers, Connor Norby, and Jackson Holliday are other top prospects who have received limited playing time in the bigs this season, though in Holliday’s case, he was clearly ticketed for an everyday role but simply struggled too much to maintain a spot in the majors.  Kjerstad could force the issue by going on a tear at the plate once he’s back in the Show, though obviously that’s easier said than done for a 25-year-old player.

Cubs Place Mark Leiter Jr. On 15-Day Injured List

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The Cubs announced that right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right forearm strain.  Left-hander Luke Little has been called up from Triple-A Iowa to take Leiter’s spot on the 26-man roster.

After posting a sterling 0.90 ERA over his first 20 innings of the season, Leiter’s performance has dipped sharply, with a ghastly 15.58 ERA over 8 2/3 innings in his last 12 appearances.  Leiter’s last four outings specifically saw him touched up for eight earned runs over 3 1/3 innings of work, so it seems possible that these games might’ve been impacted by the forearm strain if Leiter had been trying to pitch through some discomfort.

All in all, Leiter has a 5.34 ERA over 28 2/3 innings this season, yet with a much more respectable set of secondary metrics.  Leiter’s SIERA is only 2.96, as a .338 BABIP and a 55% strand rate have been working against him.  On the plus side, Leiter has a strong 48.7% grounder rate, quality hard-contract numbers, and a 30.2% strikeout rate that sits in the 91st percentile of all pitchers.

Leiter’s walk rate is below average, but that was also true during the 2022-23 seasons, when he emerged as a very effective weapon out of Chicago’s bullpen.  Leiter posted a 5.53 ERA in 114 innings with the Phillies and Blue Jays in 2017-18, but then didn’t pitch another big league inning for three full seasons, due to a Tommy John surgery, the pandemic-shortened nature of the 2020 season, and a stint in the Tigers’ farm system in 2021 that didn’t result in a call-up to the Show.

The Cubs signed Leiter to a minor league deal prior to the 2022 season, and then another minors contract in the 2022-23 offseason.  The moves have become nice hidden-gem discoveries for the team, as Leiter had a 3.75 ERA and 27.2% strikeout rate over 132 innings in 2022-23, albeit with an 8.9% walk rate.  Working first as a swingman, Leiter became a key set-up man behind closer Adbert Alzolay last season.

Unfortunately, Leiter now joins Alzolay and Julian Merryweather on the injured list, as the Cubs are without their three top bullpen arms.  Merrywether is expected to return from a stress fracture in his ribs by around the All-Star break, while Alzolay’s return from a right flexor strain is still up the air.  Details on Leiter’s forearm strain haven’t yet been revealed, but naturally any kind of a forearm issue is a big concern, particularly for a pitcher who already has one Tommy John procedure on his record.

These injuries and a lack of performance overall has made the Cubs’ bullpen into a weak link on the roster, though not much has gone right for the team over what has been a disastrous six weeks of baseball.  Beginning the season strong with a 24-17 record, Chicago has stumbled to a 13-23 mark over its last 39 games.  The NL’s parity has meant that the Cubs are still just two games out of a wild card slot despite a 37-40 record, yet Chicago will need to regain momentum quickly before the team is perhaps forced into some hard decisions at the trade deadline.

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