Nationals Select Joe La Sorsa, Place Derek Law On 15-Day IL
TODAY: The Nationals officially announced that La Sorsa’s contract has been selected. In other moves, righty Joan Adon was also called up from Triple-A, while the Nationals placed left-hander Robert Garcia on the bereavement list and placed right-hander Derek Law on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow flexor strain.
Despite the serious-sounding nature of Law’s injury, he told reporters (including Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post) that he thinks he’ll be back to normal in 5-6 days time. Law’s elbow has been bothering him for over a week, ever since pitching during rainy conditions in the Nationals’ 9-5 loss to the Giants on August 8.
AUGUST 16: Left-handed reliever Joe La Sorsa is on his way from Triple-A Rochester to join the Nationals, per Andrew Golden of the Washington Post (X link). Golden notes that La Sorsa might not be activated for today’s game, however. MLBTR has confirmed that La Sorsa is indeed headed to Philadelphia to join the Nats, and a source says he’ll have his contract selected following tonight’s game. He’ll formally join the roster tomorrow. The Nats have a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man roster move to accommodate the southpaw.
La Sorsa, 26, appeared in 25 big league games during last season’s MLB debut and pitched to a 4.41 ERA with a 19.3% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate in 32 1/3 innings between the Rays and Nats. Washington outrighted him off the 40-man roster back in December but has kept him in Triple-A as a non-roster player all season.
Things have gone well for La Sorsa with the Red Wings. He’s appeared in 42 games and logged 56 innings of relief with a pristine 2.25 earned run average. His 18.2% strikeout rate there is several percentage points shy of average, but he’s helped to offset the lack of whiffs with pinpoint command (4.9% walk rate) and a hefty slate of grounders (50.9%). La Sorsa now sports sub-3.00 ERA marks at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels in his career.
The Nats already have a pair of lefties in the bullpen in Robert Garcia and Jose A. Ferrer, although the latter has struggled considerably since returning from a long stay on the 60-day injured list due to a lat strain. However the Nats decide to make room for him, La Sorsa should be getting a legitimate audition down the stretch. If he performs well over the final five-plus weeks of the 2024 campaign, it’s easy to see the Nats keeping him on the 40-man roster this time around. La Sorsa still has two minor league option years remaining, so he could be an up-and-down depth arm for manager Davey Martinez next year even if he doesn’t carve out a permanent spot in the bullpen just yet.
Nationals Outright Jordan Weems
The Nationals announced Friday that right-hander Jordan Weems cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment a couple days back. Weems has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, should he choose.
The 31-year-old Weems has logged 136 innings out of the Nats’ bullpen dating back to 2022, sandwiching a sharp 2023 campaign between a pair of tough seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s been tagged for a grim 6.70 ERA with career-worst 17.9% and 12.2% strikeout and walk rates, respectively, in 2024. He’s just one year removed from a 3.62 earned run average, 25.9% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate in 54 2/3 innings, however. In 155 2/3 career innings between the A’s, D-backs and Nats, Weems has a 5.26 ERA.
Now that he’s cleared waivers, Weems can choose between free agency and reporting to Rochester. If he stays in the Nats organization, he’d have the right to become a minor league free agent at season’s end anyhow, as is true of all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a major league roster and not added back by the end of the season.
Nationals Release Harold Ramirez
August 14: Washington announced on Wednesday that they’ve placed Ramirez on unconditional release waivers.
August 13: The Nationals announced that they have selected the contracts of infielder Andrés Chaparro and right-hander Orlando Ribalta, two moves that were previously reported. In corresponding moves, they designated infielder/outfielder Harold Ramírez and right-hander Jordan Weems for assignment.
Ramirez, 29, enjoyed a pair of productive seasons with the 2022-23 Rays, hitting a combined .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, but he stumbled badly out of the gates in 2024 and yet to recover. The righty swinger posted a nice .268 batting average in 169 plate appearances with Tampa Bay but couldn’t couple that with any on-base or extra-base value; he managed only a .284 OBP and slugged just .305. Ramirez was designated for assignment on June 7 and released after no team wanted to acquire/claim the remainder of his $3.8MM salary.
Following his release, Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Nats and was back in the majors just a couple weeks after his release. He’s appeared in 25 games with Washington but hasn’t fared much better at the plate, hitting .243/.273/.365 in 77 plate appearances. The rebuilding Nationals will now use his roster spot to take a look at the younger Chaparro — another right-handed bat that they acquired in the deadline trade sending reliever Dylan Floro to Arizona.
Weems, 31, has been a regular presence in the Washington bullpen since 2022. He’s piled up 136 innings as a Nat but logged a combined 5.03 ERA in that time. Weems sandwiched an impressive 2023 showing between a pair of lackluster seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s pitched 41 2/3 innings this season but been rocked for a 6.70 ERA with a career-low 17.9% strikeout rate and a career-worst 12.2% walk rate (excluding the 20% walk rate he notched in 5 2/3 innings back in 2021).
Weems reached three years of big league service in 2024 and is out of minor league options. That means the Nats would’ve had to tender him a raise in arbitration this winter and carry him on the big league roster to begin the 2025 season. They’ll instead move on from the right-hander and, as with Ramirez, turn that roster spot over to a more youthful option who’s posted some interesting numbers in the minors this year.
With the trade deadline now behind us, the Nationals’ only course of action with Ramirez and Weems will be to place them on either outright waivers or release waivers. The other 29 clubs will all have a chance to claim them. (Ramirez’s salary is still being paid by the Rays, so he’d only cost a new team the prorated league minimum.) Both will have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, by virtue of their MLB service time.
Nationals To Select Orlando Ribalta
The Nationals are calling up right-hander Orlando Ribalta, reports Andrew Golden of The Washington Post on X. Ribalta is not yet on the club’s 40-man roster but they have a couple of open spots at the moment. They will only have to make a corresponding move to create an active roster spot.
Ribalta, 26, was selected by the Nats in the 12th round of the 2019 draft. He has been climbing the minor league ladder since then, working exclusively as a reliever, with some very encouraging results here in 2024.
He started the year at Double-A and blew through that level by tossing 18 innings with just two earned runs allowed, leading to an ERA of 1.00. His 11.3% walk rate was on the high side but he counteracted that by his striking out a massive 45.1% of batters faced. He was then promoted to Triple-A and tossed 27 1/3 innings with a 3.62 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate and 12.3% walk rate.
At the end of May, Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice at FanGraphs ranked Ribalta as the #11 prospect in the system. They focused on his 6’7″ height, noting that players of that size sometimes take longer to get everything working and that Ribalta might be on the verge of a breakout, despite his relatively old age for a debut. The lack of control is clearly a concern but Longenhagen and Ice feel it’s possible that he’s still harnessing his stuff and could continue taking steps forward.
The Nationals have adopted a mantra of “I don’t care how fast you throw ball four” this year and will undoubtedly be focused on helping Ribalta continue to rein in his stuff. They are out of contention this year but can get a look at Ribalta down the stretch to see if he can be a part of their plans for next year and beyond.
Nationals To Select Andres Chaparro
The Nationals will select the contract of infielder Andres Chaparro from Triple-A prior to their next game on Tuesday in Baltimore, according to Andrew Golden of the Washington Post (X link). Multiple international websites, including from Chaparro’s native Venezuela were first with the news earlier today that Chaparro was set to be promoted for his MLB debut (hat tip to the Talk Nats feed). The Nationals have space on their 40-man roster, so they’ll just need to make a move on their 26-man roster to find room for Chaparro.
Acquired from the Diamondbacks for Dylan Floro on trade deadline day, Chaparro started his pro career as an international signing for the Yankees in 2015. He spent his first six minor league seasons in New York’s farm system before joining the D’Backs last winter, and the deadline trade has now lined up the 25-year-old for his first taste of the big leagues.
Like most prospects, 2020 was a lost year for Chaparro after the pandemic canceled the entirety of the minor league season. However, he returned to action in 2021 with a big step up in production, and he basically hasn’t stopped hitting on his four-year rise from A-ball to the Show. Chaparro hit .247/.331/.444 with 25 homers over 601 plate appearances for the Yankees’ Triple-A squad in 2023, and he stepped up with a big .330/.406/.577 slash line and 23 long balls over 451 combined PA with the Diamondbacks’ and Nationals’ Triple-A affiliates this year.
Since the large majority of his Triple-A work in 2024 came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, it is fair to take Chaparro’s numbers with a grain of salt. That said, he has kept up the production since the trade to Triple-A Rochester, perhaps forcing the Nationals’ hand into giving him a look. Injuries on the active roster are likely also a factor, as Jose Tena (another deadline pickup in the Lane Thomas trade) left today’s game with a thumb problem, and All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams has missed the Nats’ last few games with back spasms.
Chaparro is considered a subpar defender at third base, and he has spent his entire pro career at both corner infield positions and a designated hitter. Since he doesn’t have much of a defensive profile, Chaparro will need to continue hitting if he’s going to factor into any of Washington’s future plans, or get any significant MLB playing time over the rest of the season.
Several Veterans Who Could Be Available On Waivers This Month
Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, it's harder for contending clubs to upgrade their respective rosters. There are still a few ways to do so, as MLBTR's Steve Adams recently laid out, but most of those methods involve adding guys not currently rostered who are naturally depth pieces at best.
To add a solid, usable big leaguer, the best remaining path is waivers. The old August waiver trade system ended in 2019, but many veteran players found themselves on waivers last August anyway, which started with the Angels.
The Halos fell out of contention in August and their priority shifted from winning to ducking under the competitive balance tax. Since trades were no longer possible, they put a whole bunch of guys on waivers and just hoped that other clubs would take them, the baseball equivalent of putting a "for free" box by the curb. Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Randal Grichuk, Matt Moore, Hunter Renfroe, Dominic Leone and Tyler Anderson were put on waivers and then other clubs followed suit, though to a less significant degree. The Yankees had no hope of avoiding the CBT but were slipping in the standings and had no use for an impending free agent like Harrison Bader. It was a similar situation with the Mets and Carlos Carrasco. The Tigers and White Sox weren't going to be CBT payors but made José Cisnero and Mike Clevinger available, simply hoping to cut costs.
Because the waiver priority order goes in reverse order of standings, the clubs best positioned to benefit were those just on the fringes of contention. The teams buried in the standings would have no motivation to grab such players and take on salary while the teams at the top of the standings would get last dibs in the waiver process. The Guardians claimed Giolito, López and Moore while the Reds grabbed Bader and Renfroe.
It doesn't seem like this trend will stop here in 2024. This year, Kevin Kiermaier, Ty France and Josh Bell have already been on waivers at some point. All three players cleared and were ultimately traded prior to the deadline, with some money changing hands in each of those deals. Others will surely follow them in the weeks to come, but clubs won't be able to work out trades involving cash considerations. The claiming club will have to take on all that's left of the contract from the waiving club.
Logically, these players will be available on waivers before the end of August. Players acquired after that time are not postseason eligible, which limits the attraction, though it could still happen. After the Guards fell from contention, they put Moore back on waivers just a few weeks after claiming him, and the Marlins nabbed him at that time. He made four scoreless appearances for Miami, helping them squeak into the playoffs, but wasn't eligible to join the club in the postseason.
So who could be available this time around? The most likely players are those making a notable salary on a club that could fall back in the playoff race, particularly one with CBT concerns. But an underwater contract won't be terribly appealing, so the player should still have some utility that makes it at least vaguely justifiable for the claiming club to take on some money. Many of these will require the team to really perform poorly in the next few weeks, making them long-shot possibilities, but let's take a look at some of the most interesting guys who could plausibly fit the bill.
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MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Were the prospect prices high in this year’s trades? Is this a new normal due to the expanded playoffs creating a seller’s market? (2:15)
- The three-team trade involving the Dodgers, White Sox, Cardinals, Erick Fedde, Miguel Vargas and others (15:40)
- The Rays and Cubs, the buy-sell tightrope and the trade involving Isaac Paredes and Christopher Morel (29:30)
- The Astros acquire Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for a three-player package and the connection to the the Dodgers acquiring Jack Flaherty from the Tigers but the Yankees reportedly being scared off by his medicals (48:00)
- The Guardians acquire Alex Cobb from the Giants and acquire Lane Thomas from the Nationals (58:35)
- The Orioles acquire Trevor Rogers from the Marlins and acquire Zach Eflin from the Rays (1:09:10)
- Will teams have to be more aggressive in the offseason going forward if the expanded playoffs will make less good players available at the deadline? (1:20:35)
- The Rockies and Angels held onto a lot of trade candidates (1:23:35)
- The Marlins leaned in hard to seller status (1:31:40)
- The Padres built a super bullpen (1:44:50)
- The Braves acquire Jorge Soler from the Giants (1:47:40)
- The Royals acquire Lucas Erceg from the Athletics (1:54:40)
Check out our past episodes!
- Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
- Top Trade Candidates, Hunter Harvey To KC And The Current State Of The Rays And Mets – listen here
- Brewers’ Pitching Needs, Marlins Rumors And The Nats Prepare To Sell – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Diamondbacks To Acquire Dylan Floro
The D-backs and Nationals agreed to a last-minute trade sending right-handed reliever Dylan Floro to Arizona, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Arizona is sending corner infielder Andres Chaparro back to the Nats, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
Floro, 33, is on a one-year, $2.25MM contract and will be a free agent at season’s end. He’s pitched to a pristine 2.06 earned run average this season, albeit with a rather pedestrian 19.6% strikeout rate and tepid 90.3 mph average fastball. That said, Floro has walked only 6.4% of his opponents and kept the ball on the ground at a strong 47.6% clip. He’s not going to continue to see this level of fortune on his fly-balls — only 2.2% of them have become homers, compared to the 7% mark he carried into the season — but it’s been a nice rebound effort for a veteran reliever who struggled to keep his ERA under 5.00 last year between the Marlins and Twins.
Since cementing himself as a viable big league reliever in 2018, Floro touts a 3.11 ERA in 361 1/3 innings. He’s had a below-average strikeout rate nearly every season along the way, but never egregiously so, and has offset that with strong command. Floro also regularly avoids loud contact, evidenced by a career 87.4 mph average exit velocity, 3.7% barrel rate and 38.4% hard-hit rate.
Floro adds an affordable middle-relief arm to a D-backs bullpen that already picked up one of the most impactful relievers moved at this year’s deadline: lefty A.J. Puk. That pair of newcomers will join late-inning arms Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel to help bridge the gap between an injury-marred rotation — currently missing both Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez — and closer Paul Sewald.
Chaparro, 25, is a longtime Yankees farmhand who became a minor league free agent this past offseason and signed a minors contract with the D-backs. He’s had a big first year in an overwhelmingly hitter-friendly Triple-A Reno setting, batting .332/.403/.563 with 19 homers — good for a 137 wRC+. Listed at 5’11” and 200 pounds, Chaparro has well below-average speed and grades out poorly as a defender, but he’s posted above-average offensive numbers throughout his minor league tenure. He could eventually emerge as a right-handed corner bench bat/DH option for a rebuilding Nationals club.
Cards, Nats Have Discussed Dylan Carlson, Dylan Floro
1:11pm: The Cards and Nats have indeed had ongoing talks on a swap of the two Dylans and could complete a deal this afternoon, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. It’s not yet clear if other players are involved.
11:17am: The Cardinals crossed a pair of big items off their wishlist yesterday when they acquired right-hander Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham from the White Sox, but they’re still hoping to add to the bullpen, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The Cardinals are openly shopping outfielder Dylan Carlson in a related pursuit, and MLB.com’s John Denton tweets that Nationals right-hander Dylan Floro is a name to watch if St. Louis indeed moves on from Carlson. The Nats are known to have some interest in Carlson.
A few years ago, the notion of trading Carlson for a middle-relief rental would’ve been unfathomable (though it’s of course possible that a theoretical Dylan-for-Dylan swap would also include additional minor league players to balance out the scales). Carlson isn’t all that far removed from ranking among the game’s top 10 to 20 overall prospects. The former first-rounder’s bat has wilted since a solid 2021 showing.
Dating back to 2022, Carlson has batted just .225/.310/.345 in 881 big league plate appearances. That’s come in scattered playing time — in part due to injuries — so the Nats could well view him as a buy-low option with two-plus seasons of club control remaining who could benefit from a change of scenery. (The last controllable outfielder they pried from the Cardinals in exchange for a rental pitcher — Lane Thomas for Jon Lester — worked out nicely, after all.)
Floro, 33, is on a one-year, $2.25MM contract and will be a free agent at season’s end. He’s pitched to a pristine 2.06 earned run average this season, albeit with a rather pedestrian 19.6% strikeout rate and tepid 90.3 mph average fastball. That said, Floro has walked only 6.4% of his opponents and kept the ball on the ground at a strong 47.6% clip. He’s not going to continue to see this level of fortune on his fly-balls — only 2.2% of them have become homers, compared to the 7% mark he carried into the season — but it’s been a nice rebound effort for a veteran reliever who struggled to keep his ERA under 5.00 last year between the Marlins and Twins.
Since cementing himself as a viable big league reliever in 2018, Floro touts a 3.11 ERA in 361 1/3 innings. He’s had a below-average strikeout rate nearly every season along the way, but never egregiously so, and has offset that with habitually strong command. Floro also regularly avoids loud contact, evidenced by a career 87.4 mph average exit velocity, 3.7% barrel rate and 38.4% hard-hit rate.
Floro is surely just one of many bullpen arms the Cardinals have looked into in the final hours leading to today’s 5pm CT trade deadline. Concurrently, they’re looking for trade partners for Carlson and the already-designated-for-assignment Giovanny Gallegos. The Cards may not have another blockbuster along the lines of yesterday’s three-team swap in them, but they could still have multiple trades in store today.
Yankees Interested In Luis Rengifo, Kyle Finnegan, Lucas Erceg
11:53am: Jorge Castillo of ESPN reports that the Yanks are more focused on pitching and acquiring Díaz is unlikely, which could perhaps apply to Rengifo as well.
11:49am: The trade deadline is just a few hours away now but teams are still scouring the market for upgrades. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X, the Yankees have infielders Yandy Díaz and Luis Rengifo on their radar, as well as relievers Tanner Scott, Pete Fairbanks, Kyle Finnegan and Lucas Erceg. He adds that they could also look to add a starting pitching but might not meet the asking prices.
Some of those guys have already been connected to the Yankees in rumors. The connections with Rengifo, Finnegan and Erceg are new but also in line with their previously-reported pursuits. Even after adding Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the roster, they have seemingly still been looking for more infield help, which Rengifo could certainly help with.
The 27-year-old is in his third straight above-average offensive season. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, he’s hit .272/.323/.433 for a wRC+ of 110. He’s also stolen 35 bases in that time while bouncing to all three outfield spots and three infield positions to the left of first base. He’s not considered a strong defender at any one position but the ability to move all around is certainly attractive.
The Yanks are still trying to figure out their best alignment at the moment. Chisholm’s first game as a Yankee was in center field, where he has been spending most of his time in recent years. But then the Yanks moved him to third base last night, a position he had never played before. Now that Giancarlo Stanton is back and in the designated hitter slot, Aaron Judge moved to center field, flanked by Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo. Acquiring another infielder could result in Chisholm moving to second and bumping out Gleyber Torres, or perhaps Verdugo will get nudged out of the outfield mix.
Rengifo is making a modest $4.4MM this year, with roughly $1.5MM left to be paid out. That’s likely attractive to the Yankees as they are slated to be a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax and well above the top tier, meaning they will pay a 110% tax on anything they add to the ledger. He can also be retained via arbitration for 2025 and could perhaps slide into next year’s second base job with Torres slated for free agency after the current season. Verdugo is also an impending free agent, so perhaps Chisholm could be in the outfield with Rengifo on the infield. There’s also the looming Soto free agency to consider, though the Yanks are expected to be aggressive in trying to re-sign him. Rengifo has also been connected to clubs such as the Red Sox, Dodgers and Royals in recent weeks.
The extra year of control means that the Angels don’t have to move on from Rengifo but there would be logic in doing so as they haven’t been meaningfully competitive for quite some time. Now that Shohei Ohtani is gone and Mike Trout is having annual trouble staying on the field, the odds of them turning things around between now and the end of 2025 seem long.
Bullpen adds are generally on the radar of all contending teams and the Yanks are surely exploring all options there. Finnegan has been the Nationals’ closer for quite some time but is nearing the end of his window of club control, with one year remaining after this one. The Nats have already traded Hunter Harvey and Lane Thomas, two players that were also controllable through 2025, and Finnegan seems likely to move today as well.
He has a career 3.52 earned run average in 272 appearances. He has struck out 23.9% of batters faced, given out walks at a 9.4% rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 46.8% clip. That includes racking up 28 saves this year with a 3.48 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 40.5% ground ball rate. He’s making $5.1MM this year.
Erceg can still be retained by the Athletics for five seasons beyond this one, but he’s a late bloomer who is now 29 years old despite his limited experience, which could tempt them to sell high. He has a 3.68 ERA this year, 26.3% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate. The fact that he’s pre-arbitration and therefore making a modest salary is surely appealing to the Yankees but the cost might be high. Even rental relievers are netting big returns at this year’s deadline so getting Erceg might take an uncomfortable haul.