Julio Teheran To Opt Out Of Minors Deal With Cubs
Veteran right-hander Julio Teheran is opting out of his minor league deal with the Cubs, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Teheran signed with the Cubs back in April after a brief stint with the Mets earlier this year but now appears poised to return to the open market as a free agent.
Teheran, 33, has pitched in parts of 13 big league seasons since he made his debut with the Braves back in 2011. The right-hander first stepped into a full time role with the club as a member of their rotation back in 2013 and spent the next seven seasons in a mid-rotation role with the club, making at least 30 starts in each of those seasons and pitching to a 3.64 ERA (111 ERA+) with a 4.22 FIP overall during that time. That impressive durability allowed him to post the ninth-most innings among all big league pitchers across those seven seasons while making less starts than only Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, and Max Scherzer during that timeframe.
Teheran’s time with the Braves came to an end following the 2019 campaign, however, and he’s bounced between several MLB organizations in the five years since then. He’s pitched for the Angels, Tigers, Brewers, and Mets at the big league level during that time and spent the 2022 campaign out of affiliated ball, instead pitching in the Atlantic League and Mexican League that year. The right-hander’s results at the big league level have left something to be desired since he departed Atlanta; in 110 2/3 big league innings since the start of the 2020 season, Teheran has posted a 6.10 ERA with a nearly matching 6.11 FIP while striking out just 16.1% of batters faced.
While those results certainly leave something to be desired, Teheran’s 14-appearance stint with the Brewers last year, where he posted a league average 4.40 ERA with a 4.93 FIP in 71 2/3 innings, provided some reason for optimism that he could still be a useful arm at the big league level. That was enough to earn Teheran a one-year big league deal with the Mets in early April, although he only made one start for the club before being designated for assignment and returning to the open market. That’s when Teheran landed with the Cubs, who at the time were dealing with injuries to Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon in the rotation while veteran starter Kyle Hendricks was struggling badly.
Since then, however, Steele and Taillon have returned from the shelf to join Shota Imanaga in the club’s rotation and youngsters Ben Brown and Javier Assad have impressed in starting roles of their own, clouding Teheran’s path back to the big leagues in the Cubs organization. With the aforementioned quintet, Hayden Wesneski, and perhaps even Hendricks all ahead of him on the organizational depth chart, it’s understandable that Teheran would prefer to return to the open market in hopes of finding a club that can offer him a clearer path to the big leagues.
Teheran’s performance at Triple-A Iowa during his time with Chicago is unlikely to help him in that endeavor, as he struggled badly with an 8.82 ERA in 32 2/3 innings of work. Still, it’s certainly feasible to imagine a club in need of starting depth offering Teheran a spot in their minor league system, where an injury or two could create an opportunity for the 33-year-old to make his way back to the majors.
Phillies Claim Freddy Tarnok
The Phillies announced that they have claimed righty Freddy Tarnok off waivers from the Athletics. Tarnok has been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after first being activated off the 60-day injured list. To create room on the 40-man, the Phils moved right-hander Dylan Covey to the 60-day IL.
It wasn’t publicly known that Tarnok had been designated for assignment, but Oakland had to make some kind of decision since was nearing the end of his 30-day rehab assignment. Tarnok has pitched in six games for Triple-A Las Vegas since May 8, and with a 13.50 ERA to show for those 7 1/3 innings of work, Tarnok might have simply pitched himself out of the Athletics’ plans. Tarnok has been on the IL since Opening Day due to inflammation in his right hip, and he was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day at the start of May.
A third-round pick for the Braves in the 2017 draft, Tarnok made his MLB debut in the form of a single game and two-thirds of an inning pitched during the 2022 season. That winter, Atlanta dealt Tarnok to Oakland as part of the huge three-team, nine-player trade that sent William Contreras and Joel Payamps to the Brewers and Sean Murphy to the Braves, with Tarnok being one of the younger, controllable players the A’s landed in one of several fire-sale type trades during their latest rebuild.
Tarnok’s first (and officially only) season with the A’s consisted of five outings and 14 2/3 innings due to multiple injuries. Shoulder problems led to a 60-day IL stint to begin the 2023 campaign as well, and hip surgery then ended his season altogether in August. Recovery from that hip procedure lingered into the offseason and Spring Training, necessitating Tarnok’s IL stint at the start of this year.
Unsurprisingly, Tarnok has run into some troubles keeping the ball in the park in the Pacific Coast League, and his walk and strikeout rates have been average at best even prior to 2024 across his 71 career Triple-A innings. However, Tarnok has a solid 4.18 ERA in those 71 Triple-A frames, and is still only 25 years old. There’s no risk for the Phillies in having some more big league-ready rotation depth ready at Lehigh Valley in the event of injury, or if Philadelphia just wants to give some of its starters extra rest in advance of what the team hopes will be a deep postseason run.
Covey has yet to pitch this season after suffering a shoulder strain during Spring Training, and he likely would’ve been placed on the 60-day IL much earlier than today had the Phillies been in need of a 40-man roster spot. As a reminder, a 60-day IL placement is retroactive to the start of the initial 15-day placement, so Covey can now technically be activated at any time since it has already been more than 60 days since Opening Day.
Padres Place Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove On 15-Day Injured List
1:18PM: The Padres have announced that both Musgrove and Darvish have placed on the 15-day IL. Musgrove’s injury has been termed as right elbow inflammation and his placement date is retroactive to May 29, while Darvish has a left groin strain and a May 30 retroactive placement date. Vasquez and Logan Gillaspie have been called up from Triple-A.
Darvish lasted only three innings before his hamstring forced him out of his start against Miami last Wednesday, though the injury has now been diagnosed as a groin problem. This could be a new injury stemming from the initial issue, or simply a clearer diagnosis after a couple of days of testing. The Padres listed Darvish day-to-day at first, so it seems possible that Darvish might be back after only 15 days if the injury is somewhat minor in nature.
12:30PM: Joe Musgrove has been scratched from his scheduled start today and will instead be placed on the Padres’ 15-day injured list. According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (X link), Musgrove is again suffering from the triceps tendinitis that already sent him to the IL at the start of May. Right-hander Randy Vasquez was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to take Musgrove’s spot on the active roster and to start today’s game against the Royals.
Somewhat ominously, Acee wrote that Musgrove’s triceps issue “is not believed at this time to be a season-ending injury.” While this is positive news at the moment, the fact that there’s enough uncertainty over this lingering injury that an early end to Musgrove’s 2024 campaign is even a possibility is certainly not a good sign. Even if no structural damage is found, even relatively minor cases of inflammation or tendinitis can lead to lengthy layoffs, if a pitcher simply continues to feel discomfort when throwing.
Musgrove looked pretty good in the two starts since returning from the first IL trip, posting a 2.16 ERA over 8 1/3 frames. After laboring through three innings in his first outing on May 21, he looked much sharper on May 26 when tossing 5 1/3 shutout innings against the powerful Yankees lineup in a 5-2 Padres victory. Considering how Musgrove had a 6.37 ERA in his 41 innings prior to that initial IL visit, it seemed as though he was over his triceps problems and back in his normal form as a frontline member of San Diego’s pitching staff.
Vasquez is a logical fill-in candidate while Musgrove is out, yet Vasquez doesn’t have much big league experience, and his 5.82 ERA over 21 2/3 innings this season indicates that he might not be an ideal choice as a longer-term rotation patch if Musgrove has to miss a significant amount of time. Even beyond Musgrove, Yu Darvish is also dealing with a hamstring injury that forced him out of his last start, and it isn’t yet known if Darvish will be able to make his next start or if he might also need to visit the 15-day IL.
The Padres’ next off-day isn’t until June 13, plus the rotation has some depth question even with Darvish and Musgrove both healthy. Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Matt Waldron have settled into rotation roles, and that trio plus Darvish, Musgrove, and Vasquez have accounted for all of the Padres’ starts this season. Ryan Carpenter or Jackson Wolf could be the top Triple-A depth options, though even accounting for the Pacific Coast League’s hitter-friendly bent, Carpenter’s 8.74 ERA and Wolf’s 6.69 ERA are cause for concern. (Vasquez also has a 7.45 ERA in 19 1/3 innings for El Paso.)
Nationals Request Unconditional Release Waivers On Victor Robles
JUNE 1: The Nationals announced that they have requested unconditional release waivers on Robles. The Talk Nats blog reported earlier today that the team was looking for a trade partner for Robles, but Washington will now instead move on from Robles entirely since it appears no deal was found.
MAY 27: The Nationals announced today that outfielder Lane Thomas has been reinstated from the injured list with fellow outfielder Víctor Robles designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 38.
Robles, now 27, was once the club’s top prospect and one of the top prospects in the entire league. Per the rankings from Baseball America, he was the Nationals’ #1 prospect in three straight years from 2017 to 2019. He was also on BA’s top 100 league-wide list from 2016 to 2019, getting as high as #5 overall going into 2018. The expectation at that time was that Robles had the capability of being an all-around contributor and a long-term part of the outfield in Washington.
Things seemed to be in a good place in 2019, the year the Nats won the World Series. Robles hit 17 home runs and slashed .255/.326/.419. Despite the long balls, his 5.7% walk rate kept the on-base low and the wRC+ of 92 indicates he was actually a bit below average offensively overall. But thanks to above-average defense and stealing 28 bases, FanGraphs credited him as being worth 3.7 wins above replacement in his age-22 season.
Given his youth, the Nats undoubtedly expected him to continue evolving as a hitter as he aged. Unfortunately, things moved in the opposite direction in the years to come. From 2020 to 2022, Robles got into 291 games with the Nats but hit just .216/.291/.306 in that time for a wRC+ of 66. The club’s fortunes also faded in that time and they entered a rebuilding phase.
That theoretically left Robles with plenty of playing time to get back on track, but his health hasn’t really allowed him to do so. He only got into 36 games last year due to back spasms in the lumbar spine. He did perform well when on the field, hitting a solid .299/.385/.364, but hasn’t carried that over in 2024. He spent about a month on the injured list due to left hamstring strain and has produced a brutal line of .120/.281/.120 in the 14 games he has played.
Robles was slated to reach free agency after the 2024 campaign and the Nationals were likely hoping for a nice run of play this season, at least allowing them to flip Robles for something at the deadline before he slipped away from them for nothing. Unfortunately, his performance hasn’t inspired much confidence and they are cutting him off the roster today.
They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers, though any interest is likely to be fairly modest after years of poor performance and injury absences. He’s making a salary of $2.65MM this year, with still about two thirds of that left to be paid out. Perhaps the Nats will try to eat some of that money to facilitate a deal but it’s also possible that Robles just ends up released. He has enough service time that he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency while keeping all that money intact.
It’s undeniably been a disappointing few years and hardly what the club had in mind, given the prospect pedigree and the promising start to his career. But for Robles personally, it’s not too late for him to find a second act somewhere. He just turned 27 last week and could perhaps get back on track with a run of good health and the right opportunity.
Blue Jays Place Jordan Romano On 15-Day Injured List
The Blue Jays announced that closer Jordan Romano has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow. Left-hander Brendon Little was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to take Romano’s spot on the active roster.
This is the second time this season that Romano has been sidelined with elbow inflammation, as his first stint on the injured list delayed his 2024 debut until April 16. The results in between those two IL stints have been very shaky, as Romano has a 6.59 ERA over 13 2/3 innings. Romano’s 21% strikeout rate is far below the career 30.5K% he took into the season, and batters have been absolutely teeing off on Romano to the tune of a 50% hard-hit ball rate. The right-hander has also allowed four homers over his small sample size of 13 1/3 frames, after giving up 10 homers total over 123 innings in 2022-23.
In short, Romano simply hasn’t looked right all season, whether that was due to any lingering elbow problems or more underlying issues. Jays manager John Schneider told reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) that Romano’s MRI came back clean, so it doesn’t seem to be a case of any structural damage that could threaten Romano’s season. It could be that this 15-day absence might be a bit of reset just to get Romano entirely healthy and mechanically fine, or the Blue Jays could keep him out for longer than 15 days just to fully ensure that Romano’s inflammation woes are behind him.
If the Jays can’t turn things around from their underwhelming 27-29 start, Romano (if healthy) is one of many names on the roster that could be speculative trade candidates come the deadline. Romano has one remaining year of arbitration eligibility before hitting free agency after the 2025 season, and this extra year of control could make him an attractive asset for teams in need of bullpen help. Naturally that would require Romano to return to action relatively soon, and for him to display both good health and a form more akin to his 2020-23 form.
While Toronto’s struggling offense has taken most of the heat for the club’s 27-29 start, the relief corps has also been a major issue. The Blue Jays’ 4.60 bullpen ERA ranks 26th of 30 teams, as Yimi Garcia has been the only consistently reliable option amidst the other set of struggling relievers, with Romano the face of these struggles given his status as closer. Unsurprisingly, Schneider said that Garcia will probably get most of the save situations while Romano is out, with Chad Green also factoring into the closer mix now that Green is back from his own stint on the IL.
Marlins Outright Eli Villalobos
TODAY: The Marlins outrighted Villalobos to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, as per MLB.com’s official transactions page. It isn’t yet known if Villalobos will accept the assignment to opt into free agency.
MAY 27: The Marlins announced that infielder Xavier Edwards has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville. To open up a spot for him on the 40-man roster, right-hander Eli Villalobos has been designated for assignment.
Edwards, 24, battled a foot infection during Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He has been playing in rehab games for over a week now and is healthy enough to be activated, though he only played seven games on his rehab so the club will keep him on optional assignment for regular playing time in Jacksonville. Though he won’t be joining the active roster, the Fish needed to make a corresponding 40-man move since Edwards was on the 60-day injured list, which will nudge Villalobos off his spot.
The right-handed Villalobos is about a month away from his 27th birthday. The Marlins claimed him off waivers from the Pirates last June but then passed him through waivers about a week later. He got his 40-man roster spot back earlier this month and was able to make his major league debut. He made three appearances for the Marlins, allowing one earned run in 4 1/3 innings, before being optioned back to Jacksonville about two weeks ago.
In addition to that small sample of big league action, Villalobos has also thrown 18 innings over 13 Triple-A appearances this year with a 4.50 earned run average. He has struck out 26.5% of batters faced at that level and kept 44.7% of batted balls on the ground, but he’s also walked 13.3% of hitters that have stepped to the plate.
That has generally been the recipe for Villalobos. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has tossed 196 innings in the minors with a 3.72 ERA. His 29.4% strikeout rate in that stretch is quite strong but he’s also given free passes at a 12.2% rate.
The Marlins will have a week to trade Villalobos or pass him through waivers. He can still be optioned for the rest of this year and one additional season, which could perhaps give him appeal for a club that is intrigued by the strikeouts and willing to wait to see if the control improves. If Villalobos were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency by virtue of his previous outright.
Dodgers Release Kevin Padlo
The Dodgers released infielder Kevin Padlo earlier this week, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. He’d been in the organization on the minor league contract he inked in January.
Padlo didn’t get to the majors with Los Angeles. He had played in the big leagues in each of the previous three seasons. A former fifth-round pick, the right-handed hitting infielder has suited up for five different teams. Padlo has appeared with the Rays, Mariners, Giants, Pirates and Angels. Despite logging action with five clubs, he has a combined 26 games of MLB experience. Padlo has hit .111/.158/.167 without a homer in 57 plate appearances.
The 27-year-old has generally been a productive hitter at the top minor league level. Padlo carried a .251/.348/.461 Triple-A slash line into this season. He was out to a slower start this year, hitting .216/.340/.380 over 209 plate appearances. He walked a customarily strong 15.3% clip against a 26.3% strikeout rate — higher than average but right around his career mark. His .272 average on balls in play was a bit below his typical level.
Padlo is likely to seek another minor league opportunity. He has been a part of seven organizations in his career — he was initially a Rockies draftee who went to the Rays in the Germán Márquez/Jake McGee trade — so he hasn’t been short on teams intrigued by his plate discipline and raw power.
Mets Release Jiman Choi
The Mets have granted first baseman Jiman Choi a release from his minor league contract, reports Will Sammon of the Athletic (X link). Choi was one of a handful of players who had an opt-out date tomorrow. It seems he informed the team he intended to trigger the out clause and the Mets decided not to call him up.
Choi signed with the Mets in the early part of Spring Training. He lost out to DJ Stewart in a camp battle for an Opening Day roster spot. The lefty hitter nevertheless reported to Triple-A Syracuse and bypassed chances to retest free agency at the end of Spring Training and on May 1. He didn’t find much success in the organization, hitting .183/.307/.317 over 101 Triple-A plate appearances.
While Choi drew an impressive 16 walks, he struck out 28 times and only collected 15 hits in 25 games. He was on the minor league injured list between late April and May 14. He had a .189/.319/.378 slash before the injury and turned in a .171/.268/.286 mark after returning.
There probably wouldn’t have been room on the big league roster for Choi even if he were raking in Syracuse. Pete Alonso and J.D. Martinez are locked in at first base and designated hitter, respectively. Stewart, who has reached base at a .352 clip in 122 plate appearances behind a massive 17.2% walk percentage, is on hand as a lefty bench bat. The Mets have already had too many defensively limited players on the bench in recent weeks, leading them to option Brett Baty and call up Jose Iglesias this morning.
Choi’s middling performance in Syracuse makes it unlikely he’ll land an immediate MLB job. His camp will presumably search for another minor league contract with an organization offering more of a path to first base playing time. Choi stumbled to a .163/.239/.385 showing between the Pirates and Padres in a 2023 season mostly lost to injuries. He was a productive platoon bat for the Rays from 2019-22, hitting .248/.361/.447 in more than 1100 plate appearances against right-handed pitching.
Giants Outright Three Players
The Giants made a few moves before tonight’s series opener against the Yankees. San Francisco placed rookie infielder Marco Luciano on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with a right hamstring strain. Casey Schmitt was recalled to take his place on the active roster.
The team also informed reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic) that outfielder Ryan McKenna, catcher Jakson Reetz and lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz each cleared outright waivers after being designated for assignment in recent days. Pomeranz has already elected free agency; McKenna and Reetz have that right as well, though it’s not clear if they’ll do so.
Luciano came up to the MLB roster two weeks ago. With Nick Ahmed shelved by a wrist sprain, Luciano got an opportunity as the starting shortstop. He hit well, picking up nine knocks (including two doubles and a triple) in 24 at-bats. The 22-year-old struggled on the defensive side, though. He committed five errors in 60 innings, most notably a booted grounder against the Pirates on May 21 that should have been a game-ending double play. Pittsburgh eventually tied the game and prevailed in extra innings.
Brett Wisely is starting at shortstop against Marcus Stroman tonight. Wisely isn’t a natural shortstop, but he probably offers a higher offensive ceiling than Schmitt provides. The 25-year-old Wisely has hit .311/.403/.487 in Triple-A this season; he has 10 hits in 25 big league at-bats in 2024. He has been a second baseman for the majority of his professional career. Bob Melvin has given him 48 1/3 innings at shortstop this year.
Beyond the infield shakeup, the Giants got DFA resolutions on Reetz, McKenna and Pomeranz. All three players had brief stints on the MLB roster. Reetz, a 28-year-old catcher, appeared in five games with three starts behind the dish. The Giants subsequently welcomed Patrick Bailey back from the concussion list and signed Curt Casali. Reetz is fourth on the catching depth chart behind that duo and Blake Sabol, to say nothing of the injured Tom Murphy.
That pushed him off the 40-man roster one week ago — ironically, to make room for Pomeranz. The Giants signed the former All-Star to a $1MM contract after he opted out of a minor league deal with the Dodgers. Pomeranz didn’t pitch over four days and was DFA on Tuesday. While San Francisco would presumably be interested in bringing him back on a non-roster deal, he’ll head to the open market for now.
McKenna was also DFA as part of Tuesday’s roster shuffle. The 27-year-old played in four games after the Giants claimed him from the Orioles two weeks ago. A career .221/.298/.328 hitter, McKenna is a glove-first depth outfielder. He has a .261/.359/.556 batting line over 274 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
The Giants also signed outfielder Allan Cerda to a minor league deal earlier this week (h/t to Matt Eddy of Baseball America). They assigned the 24-year-old to Double-A Richmond. Cerda was once a prospect of some regard in the Cincinnati farm system. The Reds carried him on their 40-man roster for the 2022 season, but his bat stalled at the Double-A level. He has a .188/.336/.370 line over 541 Double-A plate appearances. Cerda will hope for a breakthrough with the second organization of his career.
Dodgers Designate Elieser Hernandez For Assignment
The Dodgers announced they’ve designated right-hander Elieser Hernández for assignment. They needed to clear an active roster spot for closer Evan Phillips, who is back from the 15-day injured list. The move drops the team’s 40-man roster count to 39.
Hernández made five appearances for Los Angeles, his first MLB work since 2022. The righty inked a minor league deal over the offseason and was selected onto the club two weeks ago. He made a spot start in his first appearance, working six innings of three-run ball against the Giants. The Dodgers kept him around as a low-leverage reliever. Hernández allowed runs in three of his four bullpen outings, coughing up three runs without recording an out against the Mets on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old has appeared in parts of six MLB campaigns. He worked in a swing role for the Marlins between 2018-22. Hernández typically posted good strikeout and walk numbers, but he has been very vulnerable to the longball. That was again a problem in his limited look with the Dodgers. He gave up five homers in only 9 2/3 innings, serving up nine runs in the process.
Hernández is out of options, so the Dodgers had to designate him for assignment to remove him from the MLB team. It’s likely he’ll land on waivers in the next few days. While Hernández didn’t pitch well in the majors, he worked to an impressive 2.83 ERA while striking out nearly 30% of batters faced over 28 2/3 innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City. That might get him a look from another organization. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, Hernández has the requisite service time to decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Phillips was sidelined for a little less than a month by a hamstring strain. He was out to another excellent start before the injury. Phillips turned in 13 2/3 innings of three-run ball, fanning 17 hitters while issuing four walks. He now has a 1.64 ERA over 148 1/3 innings since the Dodgers claimed him off waivers from Tampa Bay in August 2021. The Dodgers used a committee approach to the ninth while Phillips was out of action. Daniel Hudson, Alex Vesia, J.P. Feyereisen and Blake Treinen have each picked up at least one save this month.