Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Mets Designate Edwin Uceta For Assignment

By | at

The Mets announced Wednesday that right-hander Edwin Uceta has been designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow righty Dennis Santana, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Syracuse. Right-hander Jose Butto was optioned to Syracuse in a corresponding 26-man roster move.

Uceta, 25, was a waiver claim out of the Pirates organization back in April. He’s missed substantial time this season after undergoing surgery to address a torn meniscus in his left knee — a June procedure that sidelined him for eight weeks. The Mets only recently reinstated him from the 60-day injured list. He’s pitched three shutout frames at the big league level this season and another 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball in the minors. That said, Uceta has also walked six hitters against just two strikeouts in the minors, and he issued a pair of free passes while facing a total of 11 big league hitters earlier this season.

Command has been an issue for Uceta throughout the upper minors (13.4% walk rate in 83 1/3 Triple-A innings) and in the Majors (11.9%). Broadly speaking, he’s shown good ability to spin his four-seamer and to miss bats in the upper minors, but he hasn’t yet found much success above the Double-A level. Uceta has a 4.64 ERA in 83 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level and a 5.80 mark in 40 1/3 frames between the Dodgers, D-backs and Mets in the big leagues.

The 27-year-old Santana has had better, albeit still below-average results in the Majors, working to a 5.18 ERA in 147 2/3 innings between the Dodgers, Rangers and Mets. He tossed 8 2/3 innings for the Mets earlier this season, yielding six runs in that time before being designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers. Since heading to Triple-A, he’s logged 33 innings with a 4.91 ERA, 27% strikeout rate and 13.2% walk rate. Command has been an issue for Santana as well, but he throws harder than Uceta and keeps the ball on the ground far more often.

The Mets have only gotten 6 2/3 innings out of their starters over the past two games, so swapping out Butto for Santana — at the expense of Uceta’s 40-man spot — will give manager Buck Showalter a fresh arm in the event of another short start in the next couple games. Uceta will be placed on waivers or released within the next week. He’s never been outrighted in the past and doesn’t have three years of service time, so if he goes unclaimed the Mets can retain him via outright assignment.

Rangers Release Kevin Plawecki

By | at

The Rangers have released veteran catcher Kevin Plawecki from their Triple-A affiliate, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’ll head back to the market and perhaps latch on with a new organization seeking catching depth in advance of the Sept. 1 deadline for postseason eligibility.

Texas originally acquired Plawecki, 32, from the Padres in exchange for cash on July 28. It was a logical depth addition at the time, as Jonah Heim had just hit the injured list with a wrist strain that might have required surgery. Heim has since returned from the injured list, however, and Texas further bolstered its catching depth just days after adding Plawecki. Defensive standout Austin Hedges was acquired from the Pirates and was already on the 40-man roster. With Heim healthy enough to play and Hedges joining him and Mitch Garver as catching options on the big league roster (plus prospect Sam Huff in Triple-A), there’s no clear path to the big leagues for Plawecki.

Plawecki only appeared in 10 games with Triple-A Round Rock but hit well, batting .294/.400/.325 in 40 trips to the plate. He’s also spent time with the Triple-A affiliates for the Nats and Padres in 2023, batting a combined .272/.349/.389 in 269 trips to the plate. He’s yet to appear in the Majors this season after logging at least 24 games in each of the past eight big league seasons.

Selected by the Mets with the 35th overall pick in the 2012 draft, Plawecki is a career .235/.313/.341 hitter in 1426 plate appearances. He’s operated mostly as a backup in the big leagues, never topping 277 plate appearances in a given season. Plawecki has never excelled at controlling the running game (career 19% caught-stealing rate) but has drawn above-average marks for his framing and pitch blocking, per Statcast.

Mets Outright Abraham Almonte

By | at

The Mets have sent veteran outfielder Abraham Almonte outright to Triple-A Syracuse, per the transaction log at MLB.com. He’d been designated for assignment on Saturday.

A journeyman who has appeared at the MLB level with eight different clubs, Almonte got into four games for the Mets. He hit 12 times, reaching base twice via a single and walk. While a very brief stay, it marked an 11th consecutive year with some major league action for the switch-hitter.

Almonte has had a nice season when healthy at the Triple-A level. The 34-year-old has been limited to 27 games there by injury but put together a .228/.331/.564 line with 11 home runs in 118 trips to the dish. He has worked exclusively in the corner outfield with Syracuse but has a fair amount of center field experience as a professional.

It’s unclear whether Almonte will return to Syracuse. He has enough service time to decline an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency.

D-Backs Release Carson Kelly

By | at

The Diamondbacks have released Carson Kelly, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. That was the expected outcome after Arizona designated him for assignment on Sunday. Kelly has over five years of major league service, so he could’ve refused a minor league assignment while retaining his salary in any event.

Kelly’s tenure with the D-Backs officially comes to a close. Acquired alongside Luke Weaver and Andrew Young in the lopsided Paul Goldschmidt trade, Kelly played parts of five seasons in the desert. He started reasonably well, hitting 18 home runs during the 2019 campaign and rebounding from a down shortened season with a strong .260/.385/.460 start through the first couple months in ’21.

An errant pitch fractured Kelly’s right wrist that June. He never seemed to fully recover, hitting .221/.297/.364 across 172 plate appearances down the stretch. He followed up with a middling .211/.282/.334 showing in 354 trips to the dish last season. The Diamondbacks nevertheless tendered him an arbitration contract but acquired Gabriel Moreno to take over as the primary backstop last winter.

Kelly’s efforts to solidify himself as the #2 option were again derailed by a hit-by-pitch. He broke his right arm in Spring Training and was out of action into the second week of June. Kelly appeared in 33 games over the last couple months but continued to scuffle, hitting .226/.283/.298 in 92 trips to the plate.

Arizona has elected to go with José Herrera as Moreno’s backup. Assuming Kelly clears release waivers, the Snakes will remain on the hook for the approximate $942K remaining on his $4.275MM salary. At that point, another team could add him for the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum through season’s end. If Kelly catches on elsewhere this season, he’d technically be eligible for arbitration for 2024, though he’d be a non-tender candidate in all likelihood.

Jimmy Yacabonis Elects Free Agency

By | at

August 15: Yacabonis has elected free agency, according to the transaction log at MLB.com.

August 14: Before this evening’s win over the Pirates, the Mets reinstated Sam Coonrod from the 60-day injured list. New York placed Josh Walker on the 15-day IL to clear an active roster spot while recalling reliever John Curtiss and placing him on the 60-day IL in a 40-man move. Additionally, New York sent righty Jimmy Yacabonis outright to Triple-A Syracuse after he was designated for assignment over the weekend.

Coonrod returned to throw a scoreless inning of relief in his season debut. The right-hander had missed the entire season after suffering a severe lat strain in Spring Training. Claimed off waivers from the Phillies in February, Coonrod is attempting to secure a bullpen spot in Queens going into 2024. He’s eligible for arbitration through ’25.

Curtiss was diagnosed with a loose body in his throwing elbow, tweets Tim Britton of the Athletic. The 60-day IL placement officially ends his season. The 30-year-old righty has made 15 appearances for New York, working to a 4.58 ERA across 19 2/3 innings. Curtiss missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s eligible for arbitration twice more but could be non-tendered at year’s end.

Yacabonis has worked 13 2/3 frames over seven outings. He’s allowed 10 runs while working mostly low-leverage relief. A journeyman who has appeared in parts of six MLB seasons with five different clubs, he’ll have the right to test minor league free agency by virtue of multiple career outrights.

Red Sox Release Dan Altavilla

By | at

The Red Sox have released right-hander Dan Altavilla, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The righty will now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity.

Altavilla, now 30, signed a two-year minor league deal with the Sox going into last year. That was a reflection of the fact that he underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2021 while with the Padres. He was outrighted by that club and became a free agent at season’s end but wasn’t likely to be able to provide too much in 2022, which led to the two-year deal with Boston. Such deals are somewhat common for players facing long rehabs, allowing the player to lock in some money and access team facilities while giving the club some longer control over their services.

The righty didn’t make it into any official action last year and began 2023 on the injured list as well. He finally began a rehab assignment over a month ago and made eight appearances in the minor leagues since then. He tossed 12 innings in those, allowing four earned runs for an ERA of 3.00. However, his 14.3% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate were both uninspiring in that small sample. It seems the Sox didn’t have much confidence in him providing much value to them down the stretch and have let him go.

He could still get chances elsewhere based on his pre-Tommy John track record. He made 119 appearances in the majors from 2016 to 2021, split between the Mariners and Padres. He had a 4.03 ERA in that time, with a high 12.1% walk rate but a strong 26.1% strikeout rate. He averaged around 97 mph on his fastball for much of that span and was able to touch triple digits at times. If he’s able to get himself back on track and earn a roster spot, he’ll have the potential to be retained for multiple years as his service time count is currently at four years and 63 days.

Dodgers Select Gus Varland

By | at

August 15: The Dodgers have now officially selected Varland to the roster. The corresponding move is outfielder Jake Marisnick getting transferred to the 60-day injured list. He’s been on the 10-day IL since July 19 due to a left hamstring strain, which will seemingly keep him out of action until at least mid-September.

August 14: The Dodgers are planning to select the contract of right-hander Gus Varland from Triple-A Oklahoma City, reports Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). They’ll need to make a corresponding roster move.

It’ll be the Dodger debut for Varland, but not the right-hander’s big league debut. That came earlier this season with the Brewers, who selected Varland from the Dodgers in last December’s Rule 5 Draft. Varland made Milwaukee’s Opening Day roster after a huge spring showing and, through his first eight innings, held opponents to a pair of earned runs — albeit on nine hits with as many walks (five) as strikeouts. In what proved to be his last appearance with the Brewers, Varland was rocked for nine runs in just two-third of an inning against the Cardinals on May 15. Milwaukee designated him for assignment the next day.

Varland cleared waivers, was returned to the Dodgers organization, and has been excellent in Triple-A since. The 26-year-old has pitched 33 1/3 innings, working to a pristine 2.16 earned run average with a 29.3% strikeout rate, a 6% walk rate, a 42.4% grounder rate and just 0.54 HR/9. It’s strong production on the whole, but Varland has been even better after a shaky start in his return to the Dodgers organization; since June 9, the right-hander has a 1.42 ERA in 25 1/3 innings.

The promotion for Varland comes on the heels of right-hander Joe Kelly’s placement on the 15-day injured list. Kelly, acquired from the White Sox alongside Lance Lynn, has tossed 3 2/3 shutout innings since being acquired. His IL placement was relative to Aug. 10. Kelly is the ninth right-handed reliever on the Dodgers’ injured list at the moment, joining Yency Almonte, Tyler Cyr, J.P. Feyereisen, Daniel Hudson, Shelby Miller, Jimmy Nelson, Alex Reyes and Blake Treinen. Los Angeles didn’t have another healthy right-handed reliever on the 40-man roster — barring a short-term move to relief for Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan or Ryan Pepiot, all of whom are in Triple-A at the moment — so they’ll give Varland his first look and hope he can continue the pace he’s set since returning from the Brewers.

Manuel Margot To Undergo Elbow Surgery

By | at

The Rays announced that outfielder Manuel Margot has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to loose bodies in his right elbow. He will have surgery tomorrow with an expected recovery timeline of three to four weeks, though they say more will be known after the procedure has been completed. Infielder Jonathan Aranda has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

The news is fairly unexpected, as Margot has been playing regularly, including taking five plate appearances just yesterday. But it’s possible that the issue has been dragging him down in recent weeks. At the end of June, he was hitting .260/.318/.378 for a wRC+ of 98, but his line since then is a paltry .213/.238/.279 and a 44 wRC+.

Margot is a glove-first outfielder but has been roughly league average at the plate in recent years. From 2020 to 2022, he hit .264/.320/.375 for a wRC+ of 99. He was right in line with that pace in the first half of the season but fell off steeply in the past six weeks or so, with his season-long line now at .249/.300/.354 for a wRC+ of 85.

Ideally, the procedure will allow him to heal up and get back into form for the final few weeks of the regular season and a potential postseason run. With his bat at that average-ish level, he can be a serviceable player overall thanks to other contributions. He racked up double-digit steals in each season from 2017 to 2021 and has long been an above-average defender, with career tallies of 42 Defensive Runs Saved, 59 Outs Above Average and a grade of 19.9 from Ultimate Zone Rating. DRS has soured on him a bit this year but he still has +4 OAA for the campaign.

With Margot out of action, the Rays figure to use Jose Siri, Josh Lowe, Luke Raley and Randy Arozarena as their regular outfield rotation, with Aranda and Harold Ramírez capable of stepping in at times as well. Their 72-49 record has them three back of the Orioles in the AL East but currently in possession of the top Wild Card spot in the league.

Cardinals Select Casey Lawrence

By | at

The Cardinals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Casey Lawrence. He will take the active roster spot of left-hander Steven Matz, who landed on the 15-day injured list yesterday with a lat strain. The club has had many vacancies on its 40-man roster since their deadline selloff and won’t need a corresponding move in that regard.

Lawrence, 35, began the year on a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. He made 18 starts for Triple-A Buffalo, logging 90 2/3 innings. He allowed 4.67 earned runs per nine frames in that time, struck out 20.5% of batters faced, walked 7.3% and got grounders on 45% of balls in play. He didn’t get a roster spot with the Jays and opted out of his deal in mid-July, landing a minors deal with the Cards shortly thereafter. He’s made three starts for Triple-A Memphis with a 5.40 ERA.

The righty will crack the big leagues for the first time this year. He has 44 games of MLB experience from prior seasons, most of that coming with the Jays and Mariners back in 2017 and 2018. He’s only made six appearances in the show since then, having spent 2019 with the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Overall, has a 6.80 ERA in his 96 2/3 major league innings.

The starting rotation has been a weak part of the Cardinals’ roster all year. Matz struggled badly in the early going and got moved to the bullpen. He turned things around but is now on the injured list. Adam Wainwright has an unsightly 8.78 ERA on the year. Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty were both traded prior to the deadline a couple of weeks ago.

Miles Mikolas has been the only solid pillar of the group this year, as he has a serviceable 4.27 ERA in 26 starts. The rest of the rotation currently consists of Wainwright and then players that have bounced to the bullpen and/or minors throughout the year in Dakota Hudson, Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson. Liberatore tossed eight shutty in his last outing but has a 5.72 ERA on the year overall. Hudson has a passable 4.31 ERA on the year but with just three of his outings being starts, and his 6.00 ERA in Triple-A is worrisome. Thompson is somewhat similar with a 3.96 ERA in the bigs, but in just one start and 16 relief appearances, while his Triple-A ERA is 8.65 this year.

Lawrence could make some starts down the stretch or perhaps serve in a multi-inning relief role behind someone in that group. There’s enough uncertainty that the Cards figure to need some innings one way or another as they look to get through a lost season.

Rangers Sign Josh Harrison To Minor League Contract

By | at

The Rangers have signed veteran utilityman Josh Harrison to a minor league contract, per an announcement from his agents at MSM Sports. He’ll head to Triple-A Round Rock and primarily work as a third baseman and second baseman there.

Harrison, a veteran of 13 big league seasons, opened the year in Philadelphia but was designated for assignment and released earlier this month after batting .204/.263/.291 in 114 plate appearances. It was a rough showing, to be sure, but it also came in a relatively small sample. In the three seasons prior, Harrison combined for a .270/.332/.390 batting line over the life of 1074 plate appearances between the Nats, A’s and White Sox. That 2020-22 production falls neatly in line with Harrison’s career .270/.316/.396 batting line in 4347 trips to the plate.

Now 36 years old, Harrison is a two-time All-Star who’s well versed at a number of spots on the diamond. Second base has been his most frequent position (5081 big league innings), but he’s also spent ample time at third base (2331 innings), in right field (493 innings), in left field (487 innings) and at shortstop (265 innings) in addition to brief cameos at first base and in center field. Defensive metrics have generally viewed his glovework at second base and the hot corner quite favorably.

Harrison isn’t likely to suddenly recapture his peak form — he hit .315/.347/.390 back in 2014 — but he’s a capable, versatile defender who still makes contact at an above-average rate. The Rangers recently lost Rookie of the Year candidate Josh Jung to thumb surgery that puts the remainder his season in jeopardy, and while fellow youngster Ezequiel Duran gives them a quality substitute, Harrison can provide additional depth in the event of further injuries on the big league roster.

The Phillies are on the hook for what’s left of Harrison’s $2MM salary anyhow, so the Rangers would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. If the Rangers want to add a veteran for the final month of the season, they can select Harrison to the big league roster on Sept. 1, when rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. Because he’s joining the organization before Sept. 1, he’d be postseason-eligible as well — if he performs well enough in his new environs to warrant such consideration.

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