Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Mets Designate Zach Pop For Assignment

By | at

The Mets announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. He takes the active roster spot of outfielder Starling Marte, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right knee bruise, retroactive to July 7th. Right-hander Tylor Megill was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Winker. The Mets also selected the contract of right-hander Alex Carrillo, a move which was reported earlier. Righty Zach Pop has been designated for assignment as a corresponding move there. The Mets also announced that they have signed right-hander Junior Fernández to a minor league deal.

Winker, now 31, had a solid bounceback season with the Mets in 2024. After a down year in 2023, he put up a .253/.360/.405 slash and 118 wRC+ with the Mets last year. That prompted the club to re-sign him via a one-year deal with a $7.5MM guarantee. This year, he got into 24 games and hit .239/.321/.418 before an oblique strain sent him to the IL. He missed a little over two months but can now return to the club’s corner outfield and designated hitter mix.

Subbing out of that mix is Marte. It’s not known how serious this current injury is but he also spent almost a month on the IL last year due to a right knee bone bruise. He is hitting .270/.353/.387 for a 116 wRC+ this year. The Mets have Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Tyrone Taylor in the outfield most nights. Marte has mostly been in the DH spot, but now Winker will take up that role. They hit from opposite sides of the plate, with Marte being a righty and Winker a lefty, so that may impact the club’s deployment when factoring in the opposing pitcher.

Megill landed on the 15-day injured list on June 15th due to a right elbow sprain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement in mid-August. He recently started throwing again but it seems the Mets don’t expect him to be able to return within the next month.

The club has been hit hard by the injury bug in recent weeks, with Megill just one of the victims. The situation has led to the Mets frequently cycling pitchers through the roster as they attempt to paper over the large number of absences. Pop was one pitcher who was run through the machine, getting added to the roster just three days ago. He pitched an inning and a third for the Mets on Sunday, allowing three earned runs on five hits without striking anyone out.

He now has 162 1/3 innings of major league work under his belt. He has occasionally shown glimpses of being an effective ground ball guy. 55% of the balls in play he’s allowed have been pounded into the ground and his 7.8% walk rate is also decent but he has only struck out 17.8% of batters faced. He has a 4.88 ERA overall, which isn’t terrible, but his best work is a few years old now. He has a 6.68 ERA dating back to the start of the 2023 season, in 68 2/3 innings.

He is now out of options, which has limited his ability to cling to a roster spot. But he’s cheap, as the Blue Jays are on the hook for the majority of his $900K salary since they released him earlier this year. Other clubs can sign him and only pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for the time spent on the roster. He also got a brief stint with the Mariners before joining the Mets. He has the right to reject outright assignments and will likely end up back on the open market in the coming days.

Fernández, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the offseason but was released a few days ago. He had logged 38 1/3 Triple-A innings in the Royals’ system with a 4.93 ERA, 30.3% strikeout rate and 50% ground ball rate but a concerning 14.9% walk rate.

His big league career has had a somewhat similar shape. He has 54 big league innings under his belt with the Cardinals and Pirates, with a 5.17 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 13.9% walk rate and 49.4% ground ball rate. As mentioned, the Mets have been hit hard by injuries, so there’s little harm in adding some non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images

Red Sox Select Isaiah Campbell

By | at

The Red Sox announced they have selected the contract of righty reliever Isaiah Campbell. Fellow righty Richard Fitts has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding active roster move. Liam Hendriks has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

Campbell returns to the big leagues for his second stint with the Sox. Boston acquired him from Seattle in a one-for-one swap for infielder Luis Urías going into the ’24 season. Campbell was coming off a 2.83 ERA across 28 2/3 innings as a rookie. He looked like a nice pickup for Urías, who was on the verge of being non-tendered, but injuries wrecked his year. Campbell only managed 6 2/3 big league innings and was tattooed for 13 runs. He never seemed to be at full strength, pitching through shoulder and elbow injuries.

The Sox non-tendered Campbell in November. They immediately brought him back on a minor league contract, seizing the opportunity to take him off the 40-man roster without running him through waivers. He has been with Worcester all season, working to a 3.89 ERA in 39 1/3 frames. His 19.1% strikeout rate is well below-average, but he’s throwing strikes and getting a decent number of ground balls. His average fastball velocity is in the 94-95 MPH range after sitting a little above 93 while he battled injuries a year ago. Campbell still has an option remaining, so the Sox can send him back to Worcester without placing him on waivers.

Hendriks has been sidelined for over a month by inflammation in his right hip. He doesn’t have a clear timetable for a return. The 60 days reverts to his original IL placement on May 28. Hendriks is eligible for reinstatement in the final week of July but may not be ready by then, as he has yet to begin a rehab assignment. Between this hip issue and an extended recovery from 2023 Tommy John surgery, Hendriks has been limited to 14 appearances in a Boston uniform. He has surrendered 11 runs (10 earned) across 13 2/3 innings.

Royals Select Cam Devanney, Transfer Cole Ragans To 60-Day IL

By | at

The Royals announced today that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Cam Devanney. In a corresponding active roster move, outfielder Mark Canha has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to left elbow epicondylitis. To open a 40-man spot, left-hander Cole Ragans was transferred to the 60-day IL.

Devanney was a 2019 Brewers draftee (15th round) who landed in the Royals organization by way of 2023’s Taylor Clarke trade. He’s posting career-best numbers in Triple-A this year, albeit as a 28-year-old who’s in his fourth season at that level.

Devanney has taken 288 turns at the plate and logged a .272/.366/.565 batting line with 18 homers, 14 doubles, a pair of triples, three steals (in four tries), an 11.8% walk rate and a 24.3% strikeout rate. He’s primarily played shortstop but also logged time at second base, at third base and in left field. The outfield work is largely new to him,  but Devanney has 608 career innings at second and 806 career frames at third (plus more than 3100 innings as a shortstop).

This will be Devanney’s first action at the big league level. He’ll give the Royals some versatility and a right-handed bat to replace that of Canha, who’s posted a career-worst .212/.272/.265 slash in 125 plate appearances with Kansas City so far in 2025. Canha was sporting a league-average batting line into late May, but it’s fair to wonder how long his elbow has been bothering him, given that he’s recorded an anemic .104/.137/.188 line over his past 51 trips to the plate.

Ragans has already missed more than a month due to a rotator cuff strain and only recently resumed throwing. He’ll need to progress through multiple checkpoints — throwing off a mound, facing live hitters — before he commences a minor league rehab assignment that’ll likely span multiple starts. It was already known that he was likely to be out beyond the All-Star break.

The move to the 60-day injured list doesn’t reset Ragans’ IL clock but rather pushes back the earliest possible activation date. Given that only just starting to play catch after a four-week shutdown period, there wasn’t much chance he’d have been ready for activation before early-to-mid August anyhow. He can now be activated no earlier than Aug. 7.

Tigers Agree To Minor League Deal With Devin Smeltzer, Release Manuel Margot

By | at

The Tigers have agreed to a minor league deal with southpaw Devin Smeltzer and released veteran outfielder Manuel Margot, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Smeltzer has been assigned to Triple-A Toledo.

Smeltzer, 29, has seen big league time in parts of five major league seasons — nearly all with the division-rival Twins. The Vayner client is a former Dodgers fifth-round pick who went from L.A. to Minnesota a deadline swap for Brian Dozier. Smeltzer has worked both as a starter and long reliever in the big leagues, compiling a total of 162 1/3 innings with a 4.32 ERA. He’s only fanned 16.5% of his opponents but boasts a sharp 6% walk rate.

Smeltzer posted a 3.99 ERA in 140 innings with Minnesota from 2019-22, but his inability to miss bats and his susceptibility to home runs led fielding-independent metrics to cast a far more bearish outlook on his performance (4.82 FIP, 4.78 SIERA). Smeltzer’s 2023 season with the Marlins indeed brought a good bit of regression; he pitched 22 1/3 innings but was rocked for a 6.45 ERA as he served up seven round-trippers in that limited role.

That 2023 season in Miami saw Smeltzer regularly designated for assignment, passed through waivers, and outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville. The Fish designated Smeltzer for assignment four different times, and he accepted an outright on each occasion. He also returned on a minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason and pitched well (3.69 ERA) in 31 2/3 innings with Jacksonville in 2024 before being released.

Smeltzer has been pitching for los Dorados de Chihuahua in the Mexican League this year, logging a 5.17 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate in an extremely hitter-friendly setting, where the league-average ERA is a staggering 6.01. He’d been working as a starter, averaging better than six innings per outing across 13 starts, so Smeltzer will provide Detroit some depth for the rotation or a swingman candidate.

The Tigers currently have Sawyer Gipson-Long, Alex Cobb, Jackson Jobe, Ty Madden and Jose Urquidy on the injured list. Jobe’s season is over due to Tommy John surgery. Cobb has yet to pitch for the major league club since signing a one-year deal over the winter. Madden, the No. 32 pick in 2021, has been out all season with a shoulder strain. Gipson-Long has been out since late June due to a neck injury. Urquidy signed a free agent deal over the winter while recovering from Tommy John surgery and will likely be an option in the second half.

As for the veteran Margot, he appeared in six games with the Tigers earlier this year and went 6-for-19 (all singles) in 20 plate appearances. He’s had a very rough showing in Toledo, slashing only .211/.299/.266 in 144 plate appearances for the Mud Hens.

Now 30 years old, Margot is a former top prospect who had a solid run from 2017-22 between the Padres and Rays, slashing .254/.309/.386 with plus baserunning, elite defense and quality production against left-handed pitching. He suffered a severe strain of the patellar tendon in his right knee back in 2022, however, and his sprint speed, baserunning and defensive grades have all plummeted since that injury. (He also missed time earlier this season with an injury in his other knee.) When Margot debuted late in the 2016 season, Statcast credited him with 99th percentile sprint speed — an average of 30 feet per second. In his brief look with the Tigers earlier this season, he was covering 25.3 feet per second, all the way down in the ninth percentile of MLB players.

Since returning from that career-altering knee injury in 2022, Margot has taken 862 plate appearances in the majors. His average hasn’t changed much, but he’s walked less often and seen the minimal power he previously possessed dry up. He’s a .250/.395/.348 hitter (82 wRC+) in that time, and this year’s bleak minor league showing doesn’t create a lot of reason for optimism. He’ll be an option for teams seeking some righty-swinging outfield depth, but it’s been years since Margot has performed at peak levels.

Mets To Select Alex Carrillo

By | at

The Mets are selecting the contract of hard-throwing righty Alex Carrillo, as first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make multiple transactions to facilitate the 28-year-old’s first call to the majors.

Carrillo’s journey to the majors is fairly remarkable. The California native went undrafted out of Alabama’s Faulkner University in 2019 and briefly signed with the Rangers that summer. He pitched 4 1/3 innings with their Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League but, like many low-level minor leaguers, was cut loose the following year as teams released large swaths of young talent in the early stages of the pandemic.

Up until Opening Day 2025, those 4 1/3 innings in the Rangers system was Carrillo’s only experience in affiliated ball. He’s since pitched for two different teams in the independent Frontier League and has also pitched in two seasons for los Tigers de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League. The Mets scouted him this past winter when he was pitching for los Tigres de Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League, and Carrillo impressed enough to land a minor league contract.

Carrillo was not invited to major league spring training and was assigned to Double-A to begin his Mets tenure. He’s proven to be a terrific under-the-radar pickup thus far. The 6’2″, 220-pound righty posted a 4.19 ERA in 19 1/3 Double-A frames but did so with an eye-catching 36.6% strikeout rate. That 4.19 earned run average also included a rocky start that was followed by a huge finish; Carrillo pitched 14 1/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA and a 24-to-3 K/BB ratio before being promoted to Triple-A. He’s responded with another 5 2/3 innings of nearly perfect pitching in Syracuse. Carrillo hasn’t allowed a hit or a walk there but did plunk one batter. He’s fanned ten opponents and averaged 98.5 mph on his heater.

Setting aside Carrillo’s first four appearances with the Mets — he allowed six runs in five innings during that initial stretch — he’s riding a 20-inning streak of 1.35 ERA ball with just three runs on nine hits and three walks. He’s punched out 34 batters in that time and has shown the ability to reach triple digits with his four-seamer.

Since this is Carrillo’s first call to the majors, he’ll have a full slate of minor league options. The Mets will be able to shuttle him up and down between Syracuse and Queens for the remainder of this season and two subsequent seasons. He’ll have the standard six full seasons of club control, meaning that if he can continue to shatter expectations, he can be controlled all the way through 2031.

Orioles Outright Luis F. Castillo

By | at

The Orioles announced on Monday that Luis F. Castillo went unclaimed on waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore designated him for assignment last week.

Castillo has yet to appear in a big league game with Baltimore. The O’s acquired him from Seattle in a DFA trade in early May. Castillo was immediately optioned and promptly landed on the minor league injured list. He wasn’t ready to return from the IL until June 29, the same day that the Orioles designated him for assignment. His only appearances in the Baltimore system so far have been a pair of rehab starts for their Florida complex affiliate.

The 30-year-old Castillo made a pair of starts for the Mariners in April. He allowed seven runs (six earned) with more walks than strikeouts over seven innings. That marked his first MLB work since his three-appearance debut with the 2022 Tigers. Castillo has been outrighted once before in his career, so he could have refused this assignment, but he’ll remain in the Baltimore system. He figures to occupy a spot in Norfolk’s rotation now that he’s healthy.

Angels, Brandon Drury Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Angels reunited with Brandon Drury on a minor league contract last week, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. The veteran infielder has been assigned to the Arizona Complex League. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Salt Lake after a few tune-up games in rookie ball.

Drury’s most recent MLB action came with the Halos. The Angels signed him to a two-year, $17MM free agent deal during the 2022-23 offseason. Drury had a strong first season in Orange County, hitting .262/.306/.497 with 26 homers. His numbers plummeted in year two. Drury was one of the least productive players in MLB, posting a .169/.242/.228 slash over 97 games in 2024.

The former Silver Slugger award winner was limited to minor league offers on the heels of that disappointing showing. He landed with the White Sox and raked in Spring Training. That seemingly positioned him to break camp, but Drury broke his thumb late in March. Chicago released him before re-signing him to a minor league deal in April. Drury hit .179 in 10 Triple-A games before going on the minor league injured list on May 8. The Sox released him again a week later.

Drury has not played in more than two months. That explains the Angels’ decision to send him to the complex for a few games before he reports to Salt Lake. It’s a decent landing spot. He’s not only familiar with the organization but has a solid path to playing time if he hits the ground running once he resumes facing minor league pitching.

Christian Moore went on the injured list last week. The Halos are using Luis Rengifo and 26-year-old rookie Chad Stevens between second and third base. Yoán Moncada is on a rehab assignment at the complex and figures to resume his everyday third base role once he’s healthy. Moore hit .189 in 20 games before his injury, while Rengifo has had a terrible season. The switch-hitting Rengifo had a decent June, so perhaps he’s begun to find his stride, but he’s a poor defender who is batting .226/.268/.307 over 307 plate appearances on the year.

Giants’ Erik Miller Diagnosed With UCL Sprain

By | at

July 7: Miller tells Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle that he was diagnosed with a mild UCL sprain. He’ll miss at least five weeks, but there’s no indication that surgery is yet a possibility.

July 5: The Giants announced a pair of roster moves this evening after announcing the return of Matt Chapman earlier in the day. The club placed left-hander Erik Miller on the 15-day injured list due to a left elbow sprain and selected the contract of left-hander Scott Alexander to replace him on the active roster. A 40-man roster spot was already open after the club’s DFA of Sergio Alcantara earlier today.

The loss of Miller is a significant one, as he’s served as San Francisco’s primary late-inning lefty this season. The southpaw has been utterly dominant this season with a sterling 1.50 ERA across 36 appearances, though his 17.2% strikeout rate and 3.92 FIP both suggest there’s plenty of good luck baked into that run prevention number. A look under the hood reveals Miller has managed to strand 89.4% of the baserunners he’s allowed this year, has floated a 15.6% walk rate that would raise eyebrows even with a higher strikeout rate, and that he’s managed to go all season without allowing a home run. None of that feels especially sustainable, and the cracks have begun to show in recent weeks as he’s actually walked more batters than he’s struck out over his last 18 appearances.

Despite all those red flags, the run prevention Miller has provided has been undeniable and will be nearly impossible to replace. Tyler Rogers, Randy Rodriguez, and Camilo Doval have formed a solid late-inning nucleus, but now the Giants will turn to Joey Lucchesi and Alexander as their lefty arms in the bullpen. Lucchesi has a 4.50 ERA in six innings of work, though his six strikeouts in that time are somewhat encouraging. As for Alexander, he pitched to a 6.06 ERA with a 7.01 FIP for the Rockies earlier this year but is now back in the Bay Area after spending two seasons with the Giants and one season in Oakland between 2022 and ’24.

He posted a 3.28 ERA and a 3.43 FIP in 117 appearances during that three-year stretch, and if he can unlock anything close to that production for the Giants this year he’ll be a worthy replacement for Miller in the bullpen who might even end up with more sustainable peripherals. Alexander’s production is carried primarily by high ground ball rates. His career rate entering this year stood at 67.4% and it’s never fallen below 60% in a season. That has changed this year, however, as he’s generated grounders on just 53.4% of batted balls. The Giants are surely hoping that pitching half of his games at Coors Field had an impact on his ability to keep the ball on the ground and that he’ll be able to rediscover his worm-burning ways now that he’s part of their relief corps again.

Dodgers To Activate Tyler Glasnow On Wednesday

By | at

The Dodgers will welcome Tyler Glasnow back on Wednesday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including MLB.com’s Sonja Chen). He’ll take the ball opposite veteran southpaw Jose Quintana in the series finale against the Brewers. Glasnow is on the 60-day injured list, meaning the Dodgers will need to create a 40-man roster spot within the next two days.

Glasnow has been out since late April with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He had made five starts before the injury, surrendering nine runs across 18 innings. Glasnow punched out 23 hitters but issued 11 walks and surrendered four home runs. The Dodgers shut him down for a couple weeks before he built back into game shape. He has been at Triple-A Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment since June 22. Glasnow allowed eight runs in 8 2/3 innings over three minor league appearances. He struck out eight while throwing 78 pitches in 4 1/3 frames during his final rehab start last Thursday.

The Dodgers will give Glasnow five days rest leading up to his return to the MLB rotation. He’s likely to be limited to a 4-5 inning appearance in his first outing. That’ll be his only appearance before the All-Star Break, so he’ll have plenty of time off before he next toes the rubber. Dustin May, who had initially been scheduled to pitch on Wednesday, will move back to Friday’s series opener in San Francisco.

Los Angeles has used Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw and Shohei Ohtani alongside May in the rotation. They recalled Emmet Sheehan to start yesterday against the Astros. Sheehan could be optioned back to OKC to clear an active roster spot for Glasnow. They’ve limited Ohtani to 1-2 inning appearances after his return from elbow surgery. Ben Casparius is capable of working multiple innings out of the bullpen and could pitch behind Ohtani in a piggyback setup.

Giants Re-Sign Logan Porter To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Giants announced that catcher Logan Porter re-signed on a minor league contract. San Francisco had designated him for assignment when they called up Sergio Alcántara to add infield depth as they navigated a few injuries on the dirt. Porter evidently cleared waivers, refused an outright assignment, then signed a new contract.

Porter, who turns 30 later this week, signed a minor league deal early in the offseason. He has spent the bulk of the season at Triple-A Sacramento but was called up for a week in June while Patrick Bailey was sidelined by a neck strain. The Giants optioned Porter as soon as Bailey returned but had kept him on the 40-man roster until last week’s DFA.

The righty-hitting Porter went 1-7 with a walk in four MLB games. Those were his first appearances since he played in 11 games for the Royals two years ago. Porter has spent parts of four seasons in Triple-A. He’s a .249/.365/.396 hitter with 29 homers in more than 1000 career plate appearances at that level. That includes a .222/.354/.310 slash over 193 trips to the dish with Sacramento this year.

Bailey and Andrew Knizner are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Tom Murphy has been on the 60-day injured list all season. Bailey and Knizner will continue as Bob Melvin’s catching duo for the time being. An injury to either player would necessitate selecting another backstop onto the 40-man. Porter would likely be the first man up in that scenario. Sam Huff and Max Stassi are both on the Triple-A injured list.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top