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Rangers Activate Max Scherzer

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TODAY: The Rangers officially activated Scherzer from the 60-day injured list this morning. Right-hander Yerry Rodriguez was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

June 22: Max Scherzer’s 2024 debut date has now been set, as the future Hall-of-Famer told reporters (including MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry) that he will be activated from the 60-day injured list tomorrow to start the Rangers’ game against the Royals.  It will mark Scherzer’s first action in a big league contest since he pitched three scoreless innings in Game 3 of last year’s World Series.

Last December, the 39-year-old underwent surgery to fix a herniated disc in his back, and the initial timeline indicated Scherzer would be out of action until June or July.  As it happened, Scherzer looked to be on pace to handily beat that projection and was seemingly close to returning by mid-May before a nerve problem in his thumb extended his time on the IL.  Texas had optimistically put Scherzer on only the 15-day IL to begin the season, but eventually shifted him to the 60-day once it became clear he wouldn’t be back by the end of May.

However, all systems are now go for the veteran righty to make his return.  Scherzer has made two Triple-A starts during his most recent rehab assignment, including a 79-pitch, 4 2/3 inning effort last Saturday.  Texas manager Bruce Bochy told Landry and other reporters that Scherzer wouldn’t be on a specific pitch count in Sunday’s game, though it stands to reason that the club might somewhat try to ease Scherzer back into action.

With Scherzer nearing reinstatement from the 60-day IL, the Rangers are a step closer to finally having their first-choice rotation.  Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle could both make their own returns from Tommy John surgery rehab around the start of August, while Cody Bradford continues to recover from a stress fracture in his rib.  On paper the Rangers might have too many rotation options if absolutely everyone is healthy, yet that scenario is probably unlikely given how many health issues Texas has had to navigate over the last year.

Bochy said that Scherzer will take Dane Dunning’s spot in the rotation, moving Dunning back to relief work.  Dunning began 2023 in the bullpen but soon resumed his usual starting role while filling in for various injured starters, primarily deGrom.  Working solely as a starter in 2024, Dunning has a 4.73 ERA over 59 innings.

Marlins Place Braxton Garrett On 15-Day Injured List With Forearm Flexor Strain

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The Marlins announced several roster moves this morning, headlined by the club placing left-hander Braxton Garrett on the 15-Day injured list with a left forearm flexor strain. The club also optioned right-hander Shaun Anderson to Triple-A. Taking Garrett and Anderson’s spots on the club’s active roster will be right-hander Kyle Tyler and left-hander Kent Emanuel, both of whom had their contracts selected. Left-hander Jesus Luzardo and right-hander Edward Cabrera were both transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear space for the duo on the 40-man roster.

Garrett’s placement on the injured list isn’t necessarily a surprise, as the club had already scratched him from today’s start due to elbow soreness yesterday. With that being said, the diagnosis of a forearm flexor strain is a concerning one that suggests Garrett could be in for a lengthy absence, though details about his exact timeline are not yet available. For Marlins fans, it surely brings to mind September of last year, when the Marlins provided the same diagnosis for right-hander Sandy Alcantara before the ace ultimately required Tommy John surgery.

Fortunately, not all forearm strains require such drastic treatment. Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray suffered a similarly-termed strain back in April that ultimately proved to be purely muscular without damage to the UCL. Gray is currently on a rehab assignment and could factor into the Nationals’ pitching plans prior to the All Star break, roughly three months after the initial injury. A similar timeline could see Cabrera return sometime in September, prior to the end of the 2024 campaign.

Regardless of when Cabrera winds up being able to return to the club, however, the Marlins figure to be in a bit of a pickle as they look to piece together their rotation mix. Miami currently has seven starters on the injured list, leaving them with lefty Trevor Rogers, righty Roddery Munoz, and righty Yonny Chirinos as their only three established starting pitchers. That trio will be joined by Tyler, who is slated to start today’s game against the Mariners. A 20th-round pick by the Angels in the 2018 draft, the righty has made eight multi-inning relief appearances in the big leagues since he first made his MLB debut back in 2021, though he’s never started a game at the big league level.

He’s pitched fairly well in his limited opportunities in the majors with a 2.45 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 18 1/3 innings of work. That includes a single appearance with the Marlins earlier this year where he allowed one run in two frames where he allowed one hit and no walks with one strikeout. It’s unclear if Tyler will continue to pitch as part of the club’s rotation after today or if this is a spot start for the 27-year-old. Also joining Tyler on the active roster is the lefty Emanuel, who has been shuttling between the 40-man roster and the minor leagues all throughout the 2024 campaign for the Marlins. In 8 1/3 innings of work for the club this year across four appearances, Emanuel has struggled to a 7.56 ERA with an 8.19 FIP. Nonetheless, the southpaw will provide the club with a multi-inning option out of the bullpen who could piggyback with the right-handed Tyler if necessary this afternoon.

As for Luzardo and Cabrerea, the 60-day IL placements come as a mild surprise for both players. In Luzardo’s case, the lefty was placed on the IL just yesterday with a lumbar stress reaction, and manager Skip Schumaker suggested that injury typically has a 4-6 week timeline. Now that Luzardo is out for at least the next two months, it’s safe to say the Marlins believe he’ll be out for longer than that general timeline. He’ll first be eligible to return from the shelf in late August. Cabrera’s placement also somewhat surprising given the fact that he’s already built up to the 50-pitch range on a rehab assignment, though given the fact that the righty would be eligible to be activated from the shelf in just two weeks it could be a purely procedural transaction.

Orelvis Martinez Receives 80-Game Suspension Following Positive PED Test

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The MLB commissioner’s office announced this morning that Blue Jays infielder Orelvis Martinez has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Clomiphene, a banned performance enhancing substance. The suspension is effective immediately. Martinez has since been placed on the restricted list, and the Blue Jays have selected the contract of outfielder Steward Berroa to replace the infielder on the active and 40-man rosters.

“The Blue Jays fully support Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, and strongly believe in keeping the game on a level playing field,” Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said in a statement this morning. “We were both surprised and disappointed to hear of Orelvis Martinez’s suspension. We will do everything in our power to ensure Orelvis has learned from this mistake. Orelvis has our support, and we know he will get through this.”

Martinez released a statement of his own via the MLB Players Association:

“For the past two years, I have been trying to start a family with my girlfriend. During the offseason, we visited a fertility clinic in the Dominican Republic and after getting lab work done, we were prescribed a treatment, which included a medication called Rejun 50. Unfortunately, Rejun 50 contains a banned substance called Clomiphene.

We wanted to keep this matter private, even within our family, and trusted the doctor who assured us this treatment did not include performance enhancing drugs. Therefore, I made the mistake of not disclosing this to my team or the MLBPA. With that said, I took full responsibility for my actions and accepted my suspension.

I want to apologize to my teammates in both Buffalo and Toronto, the Blue Jays organization, and most importantly, the fans who have supported me during my career. I will learn from this experience and come back to the field in September.”

The news is a major blow to the Blue Jays, who recalled Martinez for his big league debut just this past week to join the club’s infield mix after shortstop Bo Bichette hit the injured list with a calf strain. Martinez has just one game under his belt in the majors so far, having gone 1-for-3 with a strikeout while playing second base in his big league debut on Friday. While Martinez’s big league career had only just begun, he’s long been considered a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport and was in the midst of an excellent showing at Triple-A this year when he received the call to the majors. In 63 games for the club’s Buffalo affiliate this year, Martinez slashed .260/.343/.523 while playing both second and third base.

Now, Martinez’s big league career is on hold just days after it first began. The earliest he’ll be able to return to play in the big leagues is September 23 against the Red Sox, although given the fact that Martinez would be ineligible to participate in the postseason due to his suspension and that date landing just six games before the end of the regular season, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Martinez did not end up returning to the majors until the 2025 campaign.

Fortunately for the Blue Jays, the club has plenty of options at its disposal to fill out the club’s infield mix while Bichette is injured, even without Martinez. Isiah Kiner-Falefa has stepped into the everyday role at shortstop since Bichette hit the shelf last week, and the club figures to mix and match between Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement, Addison Barger, and Spencer Horwitz at second and third base while Bichette is away. The addition of Berroa to the roster mix should allow Schneider to mix into the infield more frequently than he has in recent weeks, as he’s split time between the keystone and left field to this point in the season.

As for Berroa, the 25-year-old made his pro debut with the Jays back in 2017 and has worked his way through the club’s minor league system since then, ultimately reaching Triple-A late last year. He struggled in that initial cup of coffee but has hit fairly well in 62 games at the highest level of the minors this season with a .295/.380/.451 slash line across 222 trips to the plate. Berroa figures to factor into the club’s outfield mix behind regulars Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, and George Springer alongside Schneider.

Phillies Place Taijuan Walker On 15-Day Injured List

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The Phillies announced this morning that they’ve placed right-hander Taijuan Walker on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right index finger. Right-hander Michael Mercado was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move. Mercado’s first appearance will be his big league debut.

Walker, 32 in August, has had a difficult 2024 season as he’s dealt with both injuries and ineffectiveness. A shoulder impingement delayed his season debut until the tail end of April, and he’s struggled considerably in ten starts since then. The righty sports a 5.60 ERA and 5.77 FIP overall on the season, figures that are 37% and 40% worse than the league average respectively. Just two of Walker’s ten appearances have been quality starts, and opponents have batted an eye-popping .278/.353/.511 against him in seven starts dating back to May 16. In other words, Walker’s opponents have teed off in recent weeks to achieve results roughly comparable to those Guardians star Jose Ramirez (.271/.330/.528) has posted this season.

Walker’s struggles came to a head Friday night against the Diamondbacks, when the righty allowed four runs on five hits and three walks across just four innings of work while striking out only three batters. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters (as noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) yesterday that Walker was dealing with a “hot spot” on his finger and suggested that the issue has “been probably going on for a while.” Specifically, Thomson suggested that the injury may have impacted the efficacy of Walker’s splitter. The splitter was Walker’s most commonly used pitch last year, when he threw it 33.2% of the time according to Statcast. That usage has dropped to just 17.4% in 2024, and MLB.com notes that he’s thrown the pitch just sixteen times total over his past two starts.

That drop in usage has corresponded with a drop in efficacy. 2023 saw opposing hitters hit just .205 against Walker’s splitter, with a .295 slugging percentage and a .257 wOBA. Those strong results are a far cry for what the right-hander has produced with the pitch this year, as opponents have hit a whopping .426 with a .704 slugging percentage and a wOBA of .477. That .426 figure is the highest average allowed by Walker on any pitch this year, in sharp contrast to last year where his splitter boasted a lower average against than any pitch in his repertoire except for his rarely-used sweeper.

Given the fact that Walker’s finger issue has seemingly impacted his ability to throw his most important pitch, it’s hardly a surprise that the right-hander has suffered such extreme difficulties to this point in the season. Going forward, the Phillies will sit the righty down for at least the next two weeks in order to give the inflammation time to settle down. It’s surely a fairly easy decision for Philadelphia to not have Walker continue to try and play through the issue given the presence of right-hander Spencer Turnbull. Turnbull has been excellent for the club this year while swinging between the rotation and the bullpen, with a 2.63 ERA and 3.57 FIP in 51 1/3 innings across 16 appearances (six starts).

While Turnbull has not started a game since late April, the righty threw 49 pitches in his most recent outing on Friday and figures to be able to step into the rotation and offer the Phillies solid production in Walker’s stead. That leaves the long relief role out of the bullpen to Mercado, who is set to replace Walker on the club’s roster. Mercado was the Rays’ second-round pick in the 2017 draft but did not make an appearance at the big league level with the club before being traded to the Phillies back in November. Philadelphia swiftly placed Mercado on their 40-man roster and sent him to Triple-A to open the season, where he’s excelled with a 1.71 ERA and a 22.8% strikeout rate in 47 1/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen at the level.

Phillies Extend Cristopher Sanchez

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3:25PM: According to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, the extension will guarantee Sanchez $22.5MM in total. The club option year for 2029 is valued at $14MM, while the 2030 club option is worth $15MM. Gelb adds that the price of both options will rise if Sanchez manages to finish in the top 10 of NL Cy Young award voting.

10:33AM: The Phillies have officially announced the extension, with no financial terms released.  Sanchez’s deal covers the 2025-28 seasons, and Philadelphia has club options on his services for both 2029 and 2030.

9:10AM: The Phillies and left-hander Cristopher Sanchez are in the final stages of completing a four-year contract extension, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports (X link).  Sanchez is already under team control through the 2028 season, so the deal will give the Phils some cost certainty over those upcoming four years and beyond.  Heyman indicates there are multiple club option years, so the Phillies can now control at least two of Sanchez’s free agent seasons.  The 27-year-old Sanchez is represented by agent Gene Mato.

The signing continues Philadelphia’s penchant for locking up arms, as all of the extensions signed during Dave Dombrowski’s tenure as president of baseball operations have come on the pitching end.  These deals range from shorter-term deals to avoid arbitration to the much pricier three-year, $126MM extension Zack Wheeler signed last March, and Sanchez’s deal should fall somewhere in between.

Considering Sanchez’s relatively advanced age (he turns 28 in December) and the fact that he isn’t even eligible for arbitration until the 2025-26 offseason, an extension is an aggressive move on the part of Dombrowski’s front office.  While the southpaw was lining himself up well for some nice salaries in his arb years, having a relatively inexpensive arm in the rotation could have helped balance out the much larger luxury tax hits of pricier players like Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Aaron Nola, all of whom are signed through at least the 2027 season.  Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker also on the books through 2026, J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber through 2025, and the likes of Ranger Suarez, Alec Bohm, and Bryson Stott have also played well enough to merit consideration for long-term commitments.

The Phillies surpassed the luxury tax threshold in each of the last two seasons and are set to do again in 2024, as the team has shown it is more than willing to spend big in pursuit of a championship.  Against this backdrop, it isn’t surprising that the Phils are again opening the checkbook to retain a player they like, and who they feel might end up being something of a bargain over the course of the extension, considering how Sanchez has emerged as a starter in 2023-24.

An international signing for the Rays out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, Sanchez was dealt to Philadelphia in November 2019 in a one-for-one trade for Curtis Mead.  An under-the-radar move at the time, it has become a pretty intriguing deal in hindsight given how Sanchez has developed as a capable MLB starter, and how Mead went on to become a top-100 prospect in Tampa’s farm system (and a big leaguer himself, albeit in only 50 games to date).

Sanchez showed some flashes of his future ability as a starter and a reliever during his time in the Rays’ farm system, and the Phillies used him mostly as a starter during his time in the minors.  He made his MLB debut in 2021 and still worked as a reliever in all but four of his big league outings (52 2/3 innings over 23 appearances) in 2021-22, but some injuries opened the door for Sanchez to eventually step into the Philadelphia rotation himself last season.  The result was a 3.44 ERA over 99 1/3 innings, supported by a 24.2% strikeout rate, a four percent walk rate, and a 57% grounder rate.

That success has largely carried over to this season, as Sanchez has a 2.91 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate, and a 59.4% grounder rate.  While the walk rate is no longer elite and Sanchez’s K% is now below average, he is still generating tons of grounders, and could even be considered somewhat unlucky since he has a .342 BABIP.  Sanchez is doing a solid job of limiting hard contract and in particular of keeping the ball in the park — after allowing 16 homers in his 99 1/3 innings in 2023, Sanchez has given up just one home run in 77 1/3 frames this year.  While not a particularly hard thrower in relation to the rest of the league, Sanchez has added quite a bit of velocity, now averaging 94.3mph on his fastball after averaging 92.1mph last year.

This grounder-heavy and relatively low-strikeout skillset could lend itself to some variance if the ground balls start finding holes in the infield, or if Sanchez’s newfound success at limiting homers doesn’t continue.  That said, the Phillies are obviously confident enough in Sanchez as a viable rotation member that they have now firmed up their commitment to him for much of the decade.

From Sanchez’s perspective, he’ll now land the first big payday of his professional career.  Since he wouldn’t have entered free agency until after his age-31 season, Sanchez will gain some life-changing financial ability now, rather than run the risk that an injury or a dip in form might’ve scuttled his future chances at a big multi-year contract.

Looking at the bigger picture of the Phillies’ pitching situation, extending Sanchez creates some new questions about whether or not retaining Suarez is also in the team’s plans.  Suarez is eligible for arbitration one more time before hitting the open market after the 2025 campaign, and the left-hander’s breakout as a Cy Young Award candidate this season will surely elevate his asking price.  With so much money already committed to the rotation in particular, retaining Sanchez could be the Phillies’ way of creating a hedge if Suarez does depart in free agency, though it wouldn’t be surprising if the Phils again break the bank to keep Suarez on yet another noteworthy extension.

With so much of their rotation now locked up, the Phillies have limited room on paper for top pitching prospects Andrew Painter and Mick Abel.  This could make Philadelphia more open to moving young pitching for more immediate help at this year’s trade deadline, though it should be noted that Abel hasn’t performed well at Triple-A this season and Painter won’t pitch until 2025 due to Tommy John surgery.  Until the Phils have more clarity on their top young arms in particular, Dombrowski would certainly be wary of dealing from the starting ranks.  Spencer Turnbull has excelled when used as a starter this season as well, though he is only signed through this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Yankees Sign Chasen Shreve To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have signed left-hander Chasen Shreve to a minor league deal, as reported by Dan Martin of the New York Post. The southpaw had previously been pitching for the Rangers’s Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock on a minors deal but evidently opted out of that deal and returned to the open market at some point since his last appearance with them on June 14.

Shreve, who will celebrate his 34th birthday next month, is a veteran of ten MLB seasons who first made his big league debut with the Braves back in 2014. Shreve was swapped to the Bronx the following offseason alongside David Carpenter in exchange for Manny Banuelos. In parts of four seasons with the Yankees, Shreve pitched to a 3.92 ERA with a 4.99 FIP across 180 relief appearances. He was then packaged with right-hander Giovanny Gallegos and shipped to the Cardinals in exchange for first baseman Luke Voit partway through the 2019 season.

Since leaving the Bronx, Shreve has pitched for the Mets, Pirates, Tigers, and Reds at the big league level in addition to the aforementioned Cardinals. He’s posted a 4.26 ERA that’s exactly league average by measure of ERA+ over 169 innings of work, including a roughly league average performance with Detroit and Cincinnati last year. In 44 2/3 innings of work across 50 appearances, Shreve pitched to a 4.63 ERA and 4.28 FIP with a solid 23.3% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate.

During his time on a minor league deal with Texas, Shreve has looked nothing short of dominant at Triple-A with a 1.61 ERA in 22 1/3 innings across 20 appearances while striking out 29.6% of batters faced. If he could recreate anything close to those numbers at the big league level he’d certainly be a welcome addition to the Yankees bullpen, which has lost Jonathan Loaisiga, Nick Burdi, and Ian Hamilton since the season began while also watching pieces like Caleb Ferguson and Ron Marinaccio struggle. It seems likely that Shreve will head to Triple-A for the time being, although it would hardly be a surprise to see the club call upon the veteran at some point in the near future, particularly after they recently DFA’d lefties Clayton Andrews and Victor Gonzalez earlier this week.

Rockies Select Austin Kitchen

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The Rockies announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Austin Kitchen. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb was designated for assignment in order to make room for Kitchen on both the 40-man and active rosters in Colorado.

Kitchen, 27, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game with the Rockies. The southpaw went undrafted out of Coastal Carolina University back in 2019 and spent the 2020 season pitching for the independent Washington League as a member of the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies. After impressing with a 1.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings of work as a reliever in indy ball that year, the Rockies decided to bring Kitchen into the fold and assigned him to Single-A Fresno during the 2021 season.

Kitchen’s first season in affiliated ball left something to be desired, as he struggled to a 4.97 ERA while striking out just 16.6% of batters faced across 50 2/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen. From 2022 onward, Kitchen moved into something closer to a full-time relief role and saw his results improve noticeably. That first season after moving out of the rotation saw Kitchen strike out a far more respectable 21.2% of batters faced while surrendering an ERA of just 3.32 between the High-A and Double-A levels, and the following season saw him return to Double-A with similar numbers across 59 2/3 relief frames. Kitchen got a taste of Triple-A action at the end of last year but was blown up for six runs in a single inning of work across two appearances.

This year, the southpaw has made 18 relief appearances at the Triple-A level that have gone much better. Kitchen sports a 3.00 ERA that’s all the more impressive given the fact that he plays in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, although his strikeout rate has dipped to a somewhat worrying 17.6% figure in 33 innings of work this year. Nonetheless, Kitchen’s performance has been enough to get him an opportunity in the majors with the Rockies, who could certainly use all the help they can get given their disastrous 5.75 ERA out of the bullpen this year, good for dead last among all big league clubs.

Making room for Kitchen on the active and 40-man rosters is Hartlieb, a 30-year-old righty who has pitched in parts of five big league seasons since making his debut with the Pirates back in 2019. Hartlieb’s big league opportunities have been relatively few and far between since the end of the 2020 season, as he’s appeared in just 14 big league games over the past four years. He’s not exactly impressed in those 22 innings of work, however, surrendering an ERA of 8.59 and striking out just 17.2% of batters faced. That includes a rough stint with Colorado this year, where he’s allowed ten runs (nine earned) on 13 hits and five walks while striking out seven in nine innings of work.

The Rockies will now have one week to either work out a trade involving Hartlieb or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Hartlieb clears waivers, the Rockies can attempt to outright him to the minor leagues, although the right-hander would have the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency after being outrighted previously in his career.

Marlins Outright Kent Emanuel

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TODAY: The Marlins have outrighted Emanuel to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, as per Emanuel’s MLB.com profile page.  There isn’t yet any word as to whether or not Emanuel has accepted the assignment.

JUNE 19: The Marlins announced Wednesday morning that left-hander Kent Emanuel has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Yonny Chirinos, whose previously announced promotion to the big league roster is now official. Chirinos will start today’s game for the Fish.

Emanuel, 32, was selected to the Marlins’ big league roster for a second time this season over the weekend. He tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings across two appearances during this most recent stint. The former Astros, Phillies and Pirates farmhand made two more appearances with Miami back in April and was hit hard. Overall, he’s surrendered seven earned runs in 8 1/3 major league innings this season. That’s a far cry from the 2.55 ERA he notched in a 17 2/3-inning big league debut with the 2021 Astros (the team that originally selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft).

Things haven’t gone much better for Emanuel in Triple-A Jacksonville. He’s made nine appearances, four of them starts, and totaled 30 innings of 6.60 ERA ball. The 6’4″ UNC product has fanned 19% of his opponents against a tidy 5.8% walk rate in that time. It’s the sixth season in which Emanuel has logged time at the Triple-A level. Overall, he owns a 5.18 ERA, a 20% strikeout rate and a 6.1% walk rate in 391 frames there.

Within the next week, Emanuel will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released. He’s been outrighted in the past, so if he goes unclaimed on waivers he’d have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Mariners Outright Seby Zavala

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TODAY: Zavala cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma, the Mariners announced.

JUNE 18: The Mariners have designated catcher Seby Zavala for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the roster will go to first baseman Ty France, who’s been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now down to 37 players.

Acquired alongside flamethrowing relief prospect Carlos Vargas in the offseason trade sending Eugenio Suarez and his remaining salary to the D-backs, Zavala entered the 2024 season as the primary backup to catcher Cal Raleigh. He’s only appeared in 18 games and taken 43 plate appearances, however, in part due to Raleigh’s iron-man workload — his 503 innings behind the dish rank second in MLB to William Contreras — and also due to some pronounced struggles in that limited playing time. Zavala is batting just .154/.214/.282 with a 37.2% strikeout rate thus far.

The Mariners signed former Twins and Rangers catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver to a two-year pact over the winter, with the idea that Garver would serve as the full-time designated hitter. But as Garver has begun to heat up after a dreadful start at the plate (.229/.413/.571 over his past 46 plate appearances), the Mariners have begun using him at catcher more frequently. He’s still only made four appearances at the position, but they’ve all come in the past two weeks. And whether it’s coincidence or not, Garver’s turnaround at the plate has dovetailed with the team’s decision to begin plugging him back into the catcher’s spot on occasion.

With Garver now factoring into the catching equation, Zavala’s grip on a roster spot appeared increasingly tenuous. He’s a glove-first, light-hitting backup who’s always been prone to whiffs, as evidenced by a career 35.9% strikeout rate. The Mariners have been seeking ways to inject some life into a lackluster offense that has thus far been supported by a dominant pitching staff. Plugging Garver into that backup catcher role is one logical way to do that.

Though Zavala is highly prone to punchouts and carries an unsightly .205/.271/.342 batting line in 557 big league plate appearances, he’s a premium defender with particularly strong marks for his framing and ability to block balls in the dirt. Zavala is out of minor league options, so the Mariners didn’t have the ability to simply send him to the minors.

As such, Zavala will now be traded or placed on outright waivers within the next five days. Waivers themselves would be a 48-hour process. Within a week’s time, Zavala will know whether he’s cleared waivers or is headed to another team, either via trade or claim. He’s been outrighted previously, so if he goes unclaimed he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency.

Astros To Select Bryan King, Designate Alex Speas

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1:45PM: Right-hander Alex Speas was designated for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot for King.  Speas was claimed off waivers from the Athletics last month, and threw two innings in his lone MLB game in an Astros uniform (Houston’s 6-1 loss to the Twins on May 31.)

The hard-throwing Speas’ only other Major League experience came in the form of three appearances for the Rangers in 2023.  A second-round pick for Texas in the 2016 draft, Speas has a big 32.73% strikeout rate over 165 1/3 career minor league innings, but also a 5.01 ERA and an ungainly 18.24% walk rate.

12:13PM: Bloss will indeed be placed on the 15-day IL due to shoulder discomfort, manager Joe Espada told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.

8:38AM: The Astros will select the contract of left-hander Bryan King from Triple-A, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports (X link), and righty Luis Contreras has also been called back up to the 26-man roster after being optioned to Triple-A on Thursday.  Houston optioned right-hander Nick Hernandez to Triple-A, and Contreras’ quick return would indicate that another player is being placed on the injured list, since Contreras wouldn’t have otherwise been eligible for another call-up within 10 days of his demotion.

The injured player is likely Jake Bloss, as the right-hander’s MLB debut was cut short in the fourth inning yesterday due to shoulder discomfort.  Bloss described the injury to McTaggart and other reporters as “a little tweak” and that “it doesn’t feel like anything that serious,” but the Astros’ subsequent transactions indicate that a trip to the 15-day injured list could be looming.  It makes for a bittersweet birthday present for Bloss since he turns 23 tomorrow, coming on the heels of allowing two runs over 3 2/3 innings in his first game in the Show.

Assuming that Bloss does need to miss time, he’ll join nine other pitchers on Houston’s injured list, as the Astros’ pitching depth has been badly depleted all season long.  To cover innings, 26 different players have taken the mound for the Astros this season, and King will be the 27th once he makes his Major League debut.  The Astros will need to make another transaction to open up a 40-man roster spot for the 27-year-old King.

The Cubs made King a 30th-round selection in the 2019 draft, and he has a 2.77 ERA over 123 2/3 career minor league innings, all as a reliever.  King’s time on the mound has been limited by both the canceled 2020 minor league season and by a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entirety of the 2023 campaign.  Fortunately, it seems as though King has returned from rehab in fine form, posting a 1.87 ERA, 51.9% grounder rate, and 29.9% strikeout rate in 33 2/3 innings for Triple-A Sugar Land this season.

A 3.86 xFIP and an 82.9% strand rate indicate some level of good fortune in King’s numbers, and a 10.2% walk rate is still a little high, if an improvement over greater control problems the southpaw endured earlier in his career.  That said, if King can show he can hang at the majors, he could get an extended look both because the Astros simply need healthy arms, and because Houston’s bullpen is short of left-handed depth.  With Bennett Sousa done for the season due to thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, closer Josh Hader is the only southpaw in Houston’s bullpen.

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