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Which Hitters Will Receive The Qualifying Offer?

Anthony Franco — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:27:07 +0000

As the regular season winds down, almost half the league is focused on the upcoming offseason. One of the first major decisions teams which need to make is whether to issue any of their free agents a qualifying offer. That needs to happen within five days of the end of the World Series.

The qualifying offer is a one-year proposal at a fixed rate — calculated as the average of the 125 highest salaries in MLB. MLBTR contributor Ethan Hullihen estimates that this year’s QO price will be set around $23.1MM. Teams can only issue a QO to a player who had spent the entire preceding season on their roster.

Players who are issued the QO have a couple weeks to gauge the early market before deciding whether to accept. If they accept, they have full no-trade protection until June 15 of the following season (as does any major league free agent who signs a big league deal). If they decline, the team that issued the QO would be entitled to draft compensation if they sign elsewhere. Signing another club’s qualified free agent comes with draft and potentially international signing bonus pool penalties that can serve as a drag on the market for mid-level players. The compensation and penalties for losing/signing qualified free agents varies depending on teams’ revenue sharing and luxury tax statuses.

Each fall at MLBTR, we preview the upcoming qualifying offer decisions. We’ll start with the position player group and turn to the pitching side in a few days. This year’s hitting class is the worst in recent memory, leaving only a few players who are locks to receive and reject a QO in search of a multi-year contract.

No-Doubters

Randy Arozarena (Mariners)
Seiya Suzuki (Cubs)

Arozarena and Suzuki are having excellent seasons that should make it an easy call for them to decline the qualifying offer. Arozarena is wrapping up his sixth consecutive 20-20 season and carries a .272/.372/.461 slash line across 602 plate appearances after today’s series finale with Texas. He’s mashing at a .300/.388/.509 clip outside of Seattle’s pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park.

Suzuki has rebounded without issue from a knee sprain suffered during the World Baseball Classic. He has 24 home runs with a .267/.366/.475 mark over 573 trips to the plate. He has been among the best hitters in the National League since the All-Star Break. MLBTR readers are essentially evenly split on whether he’ll beat the five-year, $85MM contract he secured when he came over from Japan in 2022. Arozarena and Suzuki are each entering their age-32 seasons and probably won’t stretch beyond four or five years, but a multi-year deal at a similar annual value to the QO price should be on the table.

Likely Recipients

Ryan Jeffers (Twins)
Brandon Lowe (Pirates)

Jeffers and Lowe aren’t too far behind Suzuki and Arozarena. They’d probably be locks for the QO if they played for a traditional big spender. It’s a little riskier for a team like Minnesota or Pittsburgh to offer a $23.1MM salary at the beginning of the offseason. They can probably feel comfortable doing so in these cases, though, as Jeffers and Lowe each figure to reject in search of a multi-year contract.

The 29-year-old Jeffers is the clear top of the class behind the plate. He’s hitting .270/.372/.500 with 14 home runs and a career-best strikeout and walk profile. A hamate fracture/surgery cost him a couple months and has limited him to 81 games, but this is Jeffers’ fourth straight season as a well above-average hitting catcher. He’s an unexceptional but passable defender who could take aim at a four- or five-year deal. That’d probably come at a lower salary than the QO price, but most players would prefer the security of a long-term deal that pays $17-20MM annually over one year and $23MM.

Lowe is one longball shy of a second straight 30-homer season. He’s batting .259/.328/.479 over 597 plate appearances in his first year in Pittsburgh. Lowe has avoided the injured list for the first time in five years. He leads second basemen in home runs this year and is second at the position (behind Ketel Marte) dating back to 2022.

There are some questions with Lowe’s profile. He’s already 32 years old. There’s a lot of swing-and-miss to his game and he doesn’t provide much against left-handed pitching. Lowe has graded very well defensively this year, but that’s an exceptional outlier compared to the rest of his career.

All that said, there are only a few middle infielders who can hit right-handed pitching the way that Lowe does year in and year out. This is his first trip to free agency and, given his age, probably the only time he’ll really cash in. He should reject the QO and look for a three-plus year deal. Even if he surprisingly accepts and doubles his salary from this year’s $11.5MM figure, the difference is the roughly same amount of money the Pirates burned ($12MM) by signing Marcell Ozuna last offseason.

Minnesota and Pittsburgh are both revenue sharing recipients, which adds a little extra incentive for them to extend the QO. They’d receive the highest compensation (a pick right after the first round in the 2027 draft) if Lowe and Jeffers decline and sign a $50MM+ contract with another team.

Borderline Call

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (Yankees)

For the second straight season, the Yankees have an interesting qualifying offer decision. Last winter, Trent Grisham’s offensive breakout made him a QO candidate — an outcome that was highly improbable entering the season. (Grisham accepted and has had a mediocre season around a few injuries.) It’s the opposite scenario for Chisholm, who entered the year as a seeming QO lock but has had a fairly disappointing walk year.

The lefty-hitting Chisholm, currently on the injured list with a thumb sprain, has a league average .232/.312/.403 slash over 520 plate appearances. He has popped 19 homers and is third in MLB with 40 stolen bases, but it’s his worst production on a rate basis in five years. The power-speed combination and Chisholm’s youth (29 in February) probably give him the highest ceiling of any position player in this class. Yet there’s also a lot of swing-and-miss and free agency hasn’t been kind to second basemen over the last couple years.

Detroit made Gleyber Torres, another 29-year-old second baseman, a qualifying offer last offseason. Torres was coming off a .256/.358/.387 season with 16 home runs, a similarly valuable platform year to the one Chisholm has posted. Torres accepted. That doesn’t mean Chisholm is guaranteed to do the same, but the Yankees would need to be comfortable with the possibility.

New York will presumably have George Lombard Jr. atop the shortstop depth chart going into 2027. Do they believe Anthony Volpe can be the everyday second baseman? If not, would they prefer to make a run at Luis Arraez or Lowe than keeping Chisholm? Could they move Chisholm to third base and cut bait with Ryan McMahon if the former takes the qualifying offer? GM Brian Cashman and his staff will need some idea of all those questions by the first week of the offseason. The Yankees are luxury tax payors, so their compensation for losing a qualified free agent is in the lowest tier (i.e. a selection after the fourth round).

Long Shots

Jake Bauers (Brewers)
J.P. Crawford (Mariners)
Ty France (Padres)
Ian Happ (Cubs)

It’d be a surprise if anyone in this group receives a qualifying offer. Happ might have the best case given the Cubs’ comparatively higher payrolls and his standing in the organization. A four-time Gold Glove winner in left field, he’s working on his fourth straight 20-homer campaign.

Happ hit 13 homers with a .230/.349/.469 slash through the end of May but has struggled for three and a half months now. He’s hitting .210/.307/.369 with a 30% strikeout rate since the beginning of June and has ceded time against left-handed pitching to Tyrone Taylor. The Cubs probably aren’t re-signing both Happ and Suzuki, so it’s unlikely they’d risk tying up $23.1MM on their left fielder within the first couple weeks of the offseason.

Crawford is the top shortstop in a weak class. He’s having a typically solid but not elite season, batting .221/.344/.341 with 10 homers across 419 plate appearances. Even if Seattle wants to bring him back, it’d be more sensible to look into a two- or three-year contract at a much lower annual rate than the QO price.

France and Bauers have had fantastic 2026 seasons but don’t have the career success to support a qualifying offer. France was limited to a minor league contract as recently as last offseason. Bauers has never made more than $2.7MM in a season and would become the second-highest paid player on the Brewers. They’d almost certainly both accept if offered but are likely looking at two-year deals at lower annual sums.

Ineligible

Luis Arraez (Phillies)
Bo Bichette (Mets)
Trent Grisham (Yankees)
Joc Pederson (Rangers)
Gleyber Torres (Tigers)
Daulton Varsho (Astros)
Taylor Ward (Mariners)

Everyone in this group is ineligible for a qualifying offer. They either changed teams midseason — Arraez, Varsho, and Ward — or have previously received a qualifying offer in their careers. The CBA prohibits a player from being issued a qualifying offer more than once.

Arraez is the only one who’d likely have gotten one either way. Bichette probably isn’t going to be a free agent at all, considering he’d need to walk away from the remaining two years and $84MM on his contract. Ward’s bat has cratered after he was traded to Seattle, while Grisham and Varsho have had down years as the potential top center fielder in the class.

Salvador Perez Going “Year By Year” With His Career

Mark Polishuk — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:59:50 +0000

It’s been a rough season for Salvador Perez, whose -1.0 fWAR is the lowest of any qualified hitter in baseball. Perez has 19 home runs and is still en route to his tenth season of 20-plus homers, but he has otherwise hit just .228/.273/.383 over 574 plate appearances, translating to a career-low 77 wRC+.

Perez turns 37 next May, and 2027 is the last season of the two-year, $25MM extension he signed with the Royals last November. Given Perez’s age and declining numbers, discussion of retirement is inevitable, but the catcher told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers that “[the] only thing I know is that I want to play as long as I can. Can be DH, can be first base, can be behind the plate….Keep preparing my body, keep preparing myself, and I don’t have any plan.”

The 15-year MLB veteran did note his longevity by saying “I think at this point, it has to be year by year. And I get it. It’s fair for Kansas City and fair for me. End of the day, it’s a business.” Perez noted that he hasn’t spoken to Royals GM J.J. Picollo about a new contract, or what the future might hold for the longtime backstop.

Since first signing with the Royals as an international free agent 20 years ago, Perez has become the face of this era of Kansas City baseball. His long run in the blue-and-white has seen Perez become the franchise’s all-time home run leader (with 322 big flies), and he was named World Series MVP in 2015 when the Royals captured the championship. Perez’s individual resume also includes nine All-Star nods, five Gold Gloves, five AL Silver Slugger awards, and the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award for his humanitarian and charitable work off the field.

The ups and downs of his offensive production over the years have left Perez with an almost exactly average 101 wRC+. He posted a 117 wRC+ as recently as 2024 (when the Royals returned to the playoffs) before declining to a 96 wRC+ last year that perhaps hinted at this season’s dropoff. A lingering elbow problem could be to blame for Perez’s down season, and that same elbow has limited him to only 44 appearances as a catcher. Carter Jensen was already expected to work in at least a timeshare with Perez behind the plate this year, and Jensen’s impressive rookie year has established him as Kansas City’s new regular backstop going forward.

This is no problem for Perez, who praised his teammate for stepping up as the heir apparent. While Perez wants to catch more often in 2027, he acknowledged that he won’t be the first-choice option, saying “when you got guys like Jensen, who does a good job, it makes me feel better about it. He’s ready. Now, you feel like you’re doing the best thing you can for the team.”

Kansas City has two more promising prospects in Blake Mitchell and Ramon Ramirez, but since those players have yet to reach Double-A, there would seemingly be room for Perez to continue in a part-time capacity in 2028 if he and the Royals have mutual interest in another extension (or if Perez wants to keep playing altogether). Perez has become such a franchise icon that the team will surely give him plenty of leeway in deciding his next step. His current contract pays him only $6.5MM in actual salary in 2027, as $12MM of the $25MM guaranteed is deferred until at least 2030.

Pirates Place Braxton Ashcraft On 15-Day Injured List

Mark Polishuk — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:30:21 +0000

5:30PM: In a correction, Mackey writes that the Pirates are still hopeful Ashcraft can be activated from the IL before season’s end.

4:40PM: The Pirates announced that right-hander Braxton Ashcraft has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 7) due to discomfort in his throwing arm. Right-hander Antwone Kelly was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis to take Ashcraft’s spot on the active roster.

Bucs manager Don Kelly told MLB.com’s Jason Mackey and other reporters that Ashcraft won’t pitch again in 2026, which likely seemed the case anyway given the short amount of time remaining in the regular season. Tests are still ongoing to determine the nature of Ashcraft’s arm soreness, but Kelly said there wasn’t yet any hint of a structural problem.

Ashcraft last pitched on September 5, allowing three runs on seven hits over five innings of work in a 6-1 Pirates loss to the Angels. Ashcraft has now logged 165 1/3 innings in 2026, which is well beyond his previous high of 118 total innings between the majors and minors in 2025. Unless the tests reveal something serious, it could be that Ashcraft is simply showing the effects of this increased workload, which would be good news in the sense that the injury is nothing long term. (Ashcraft missed the entire 2022 season recovering from a Tommy John surgery.)

In the short term, of course, losing Ashcraft hurts the Pirates’ chances of posting their first winning season since 2018. Pittsburgh is an even 73-73 and five games back of a wild card berth, so while the playoff chances are fading, topping the .500 mark would at least mark some progress.

Ashcraft has been a big part of the team’s success, as the righty has a 3.65 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate, and a 5.2% walk rate over his 165 1/3 frames. That superb walk rate is in the 95th percentile of all pitchers, and Ashcraft’s 37% chase rate is also among the best in the sport. Combined with above-average strikeout, barrel, and grounder rates, there has been a lot to like about Ashcraft’s first full MLB season, especially since he also had a 2.71 ERA over 69 2/3 innings in his 2025 rookie year.

This emergence helped pick up the slack after Paul Skenes’ dip in form from great in 2024-25 to “only” pretty good in 2026. With Bubba Chandler and Jared Jones also being just solid at best, the Pittsburgh rotation has to be considered a slight disappointment based on expectations, as the Pirates’ 4.25 starter ERA ranks only 17th of 30 teams. That said, just about every team would love to have a core group like Skenes, Ashcraft, Chandler, and Jones, so the Pirates can be dangerous in 2027 if these starters take a collective step forward, the bullpen steadies itself, and the resurgent lineup remains strong.

Ashcraft was scheduled to start tomorrow’s game with the Cubs, so the Pirates will probably go with a bullpen game on such short notice. Antwone Kelly will probably log multiple innings, and he could be in line to take Ashcraft’s rotation spot in at least a piggyback or bulk pitcher capacity.

Big Kid Adds (Week 24)

Jeff Zimmerman — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:30:46 +0000

New faces as the season winds down.

Source

Mets Release Joe Jacques

Mark Polishuk — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:16:34 +0000

The Mets released Joe Jacques, according to the left-hander’s MLB.com profile page. Jacques had been playing on a minor league contract signed last offseason, though his time with the Mets has now ended without any time on the active roster.

Injuries played a role in Jacques’ continued stay in the minors, as he spent almost two and a half months on the Triple-A injured list. However, the southpaw wasn’t very effective when he was able to pitch, as Jacques posted a 5.92 ERA over 24 1/3 innings in 24 appearances for Triple-A Syracuse. Perhaps the only highlight of Jacques’ season was his perfect inning of relief during a combined no-hitter for the Syracuse Mets on August 30.

Control was Jacques’ biggest problem, as he posted an ugly 16.2% walk rate that came close to matching his 18.9% strikeout rate. The groundball specialist kept up his usual standard with a 55.4% grounder rate, but a pretty average .299 BABIP indicates that Jacques’ struggles weren’t due to much bad luck (apart from a 62.5% strand rate).

Even though the Mets again dealt with a lot of pitching injuries and routinely shuffled relievers up and down from Triple-A, Jacques didn’t do enough to get a call to New York. Jacques’ MLB resume remains his 29 2/3 innings pitched with the Red Sox and Diamondbacks over the 2023-24 seasons, with 26 2/3 of those frames coming in his 2023 rookie year with Boston. His first four pro seasons were spent in the Pirates’ farm system, and Jacques pitched in the minors with the Dodgers and Mariners organizations in 2025.

Kaima Taira Expected To Be Posted For MLB Teams This Offseason

Mark Polishuk — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:55:03 +0000

Seibu Lions right-hander Kaima Taira is drawing a lot of interest from Major League teams, with ESPN’s Jeff Passan writing that Taira is “expected to be posted in early November.” Such Japanese news outlets as Sanspo and the Yakyu Cosmopolitan recently listed the Mets, Blue Jays, Yankees, Padres, White Sox, Cubs, Angels, Mariners, and Rangers as just some of the teams scouting Taira’s recent starts, with Sanspo reporting over 15 MLB clubs had evaluators in attendance.

The posting date is noteworthy, as Nippon Professional Baseball clubs generally post their players around the middle of November. Once a player is posted, he has 45 days to work out a contract with a MLB team, and the player would return to his NPB club for the upcoming season if no deal is reached. Since a lockout is universally assumed to be coming once the current collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1, NPB teams may be looking to get a jump on things by giving this offseason’s posting class an extra week or two to finalize a contract before the market freezes.

Passan predicts that Taira and other thought to be incoming NPB stars Teruaki Sato and Hiromi Itoh will all sign before December 1, though it’s worth noting that during the 2021-22 lockout, Seiya Suzuki’s posting window was interrupted and he had to wait until March to sign his five-year, $85MM contract with the Cubs. An early-November posting may also create some timing issues if any of the involved teams (Taira’s Lions, Sato’s Hanshin Tigers, or Itoh’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters) play deep into the postseason —- the fifth and deciding game of the 2025 Japan Series concluded on October 30, for instance.

Taira will have nine full pro seasons under his belt by the conclusion of the 2027 season, so he’d be a full free agent and ineligible to be posted. It therefore makes sense for the Lions to post Taira this winter and gain a payday in the process, especially if the MLB/NPB posting system is changed in the next collective bargaining agreement. When a posted player signs with a MLB team, that team must also pay his former NPB club a fee related to the size of the contract — the NPB team’s posting fee would equal 20% of the first $25MM of the player’s guaranteed Major League contract, 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of anything beyond the $50MM mark.

How large a contract Taira might land is a fascinating question, as Passan suggests that Taira might be the second-best free agent pitcher available this offseason, after Tarik Skubal. This certainly doesn’t mean Taira will land the biggest non-Skubal contract on the pitching market, but does speak to the upside that some teams view in Taira, who turns 27 in November.

Taira has a superb 1.36 ERA over 132 innings for the Lions this season, as well as a 23.8% strikeout rate and 8.46% walk rate. Passan writes that Taira’s fastball averages 95.6mph but has touched the 100mph threshold, so it seems very possible that a big league pitching lab could add a mile or two onto that average velo. The fastball is just one piece of a whopping eight-pitch arsenal Taira deploys, leaving batters confused.

Some teams may shy away from Taira due to durability concerns, and his lack of a lengthy track record as a starting pitcher. Taira is 5’8″ and 220 pounds, and his build has been described as “catcherly” (as per Fangraphs’ scouting report) and “forged in the shape of a fire hydrant” (from Passan). Fangraphs also notes that Taira battled forearm tightness in 2024, which led to his return to bullpen work in 2025 before being reinstalled in the rotation in 2026.

The majority of Taira’s career has been spent as a reliever, as 2023 and 2026 are his only full-time seasons as a starting pitcher. Since Taira posted some excellent numbers out of the pen and he worked as the Lions’ closer in 2021 and 2025, this at least raises the floor of his asking price, as teams may feel he can effectively and easily transition to bullpen work if he doesn’t pan out in a big league rotation. Taira’s market may come down to which club is the most bullish on his ability to stick as a starter, and is willing to give him a contract reflecting that trust.

The Mariners’ Best Path To A Roster Shakeup

Anthony Franco — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:54:32 +0000

Few teams have had as disappointing a 2026 season as the Mariners. Despite finishing one game away from their first pennant and entering the year as a popular pick to represent the American League in the World Series, the M’s are all but guaranteed to miss the playoffs. They’re highly likely to end up below .500, with the missed opportunity of the lackluster AL West field only adding insult to injury.

It leaves Seattle with some questions for the upcoming offseason. Beyond any possibility of a leadership change in the front office or the dugout, the Mariners will need to improve an offense that has scored an MLB-low 577 runs (3.95 per game). They’ll need to do so with the potential free agent departure of this year’s best hitter, Randy Arozarena, as well as longtime shortstop J.P. Crawford and deadline acquisition Taylor Ward.

Even if they re-sign Arozarena and Crawford, that only gets them part of the way to bringing back an offense that wasn’t good enough. Rebounds from Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor and/or steps forward from the likes of Colt Emerson, Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo might be enough to make this a good team in 2027. Yet the Mariners can’t justify running everything back and hoping the players perform better. This year’s results were simply too ugly — only the A’s, Rockies, Reds and Royals have a worse run differential — to completely write this off as the bad end of variance.

The need for some kind of overhaul comes as most of Seattle’s vaunted rotation moves closer to free agency. They’ll still have a full six-year control window over Kade Anderson and three-plus years of control on Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock and Bryce Miller.

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Braves Discussed Trading Spencer Strider At Deadline

Mark Polishuk — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:26:50 +0000

Jacob deGrom made trade speculation a moot point when the Rangers ace invoked his no-trade clause at this year’s deadline, though it wasn’t clear if deGrom blocked a specific deal on the table. The Braves were linked to deGrom’s market, and according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman and Mark Feinsand, Atlanta floated moving Spencer Strider as a way of balancing out the salaries involved in a deGrom swap. (Bowman’s report came on deadline day itself, so it was somewhat lost in the shuffle of a hectic news day.)

It isn’t clear if discussions got very far, as Bowman writes that “the Rangers didn’t show initial interest, possibly because of the uncertainty surrounding Strider’s arm.” Strider has been on the injured list since June 17 due to elbow inflammation and his season is thought to be over, though he did at least start a throwing progression about a month ago. Still, this elbow issue comes on the heels of two other major UCL procedures — a Tommy John surgery in 2019, and an internal brace procedure that cost Strider almost all of the 2024 season.

deGrom is earning the remainder of his $38MM salary in 2026, $37MM in 2027, and the Rangers hold a club option on his services for at least $20MM (the number jumps to $30MM if deGrom is a top-five finisher in Cy Young voting in 2026 or 2027, or totals 625 innings pitched over the course of the 2023-27 seasons). Strider is owed the remainder of his $20MM salary for 2026, $22MM in each of the 2027-28 seasons, and Atlanta holds a $22MM club option for 2029 that contains a $5MM buyout.

Unless other players or salaries were involved in the deal, a deGrom-for-Strider swap would’ve seen the Rangers take on some extra guaranteed money, but they’d get a younger and longer-term asset in Strider. Of course, Strider’s age is somewhat offset by the significant amount of wear-and-tear on his arm, not to mention a couple of other strains (hamstring and oblique) that have caused the right-hander to miss time in the last two seasons.

Strider’s inclusion in trade talks shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a sign that the Braves will be openly shopping Strider this offseason. Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is known for creative trade proposals, and teams in general will at least hypothetically discuss any number of players simply out of due diligence. The fact that Strider was being offered for a frontline pitcher like deGrom indicates that it wasn’t just a salary dump on Atlanta’s part, nor are the Braves willing to move Strider for just anyone.

On the flip side, it is fair to say that after three underwhelming years, Strider is no longer viewed as a rotation cornerstone. Strider’s huge 2022 rookie season earned him that six-year, $75MM extension in October of that year, and he followed up with an impressive 2023 campaign that saw the righty finish fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting. Over the past three years, however, Strider has a 4.78 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate, and 10.2% walk rate across only 173 1/3 innings.

Since Strider doesn’t turn 28 until October, he may very well have several great years ahead of him if he can just stay healthy. If Strider didn’t already pitch for the Braves, he is actually the type of bounce-back candidate Anthopoulos has routinely tried to acquire, often with successful results. Strider’s elbow concerns could preclude a trade from happening anyway, or maybe Atlanta could see what a hopefully healthy Strider can deliver in 2027, with a rebound either boosting his trade value or re-establishing him as part of the Braves’ plans.

xwOBA Split Matchups for the Fantasy Playoffs

Jack Martin — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:30:04 +0000

Post-break xwOBA splits cross-referenced with probable starters to find streaming and lineup edges by pitcher handedness.

Source

Guardians’ Andrew Walters Undergoes UCL Surgery

Steve Adams — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:27:55 +0000

Guardians righty Andrew Walters underwent an internal brace procedure to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow this week, reports Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. That will cost him most, if not all of the 2027 season.

It’s another setback for the talented Walters, whose 2025 campaign came to an end last June when he required surgery to repair a tendon in his right lat. The 25-year-old right-hander was healthy enough to go on a rehab assignment back in April. The Guardians activated him from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Columbus in mid-May. He pitched just 5 1/3 more minor league innings, allowing five runs, before landing on the minor league injured list. He hasn’t pitched since.

Selected with the No. 62 overall pick in 2023, Walters has ranked 18th or better in Cleveland’s system in each of the past three offseasons, per Baseball America. He made his major league debut in 2024, not even 14 months after being drafted out of the University of Miami, and pitched 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball down the stretch as the Guardians made a run to the playoffs. Walters chipped in another three innings (one run allowed, four strikeouts, two walks) during that year’s American League Division Series. He pitched only 1 1/3 innings in the majors in 2025, however, before suffering that lat injury.

Despite being deemed MLB-ready barely a year after his draft selection, Walters has only 10 major league innings under his belt. He’s allowed two runs (1.80 ERA) with an 8-to-5 K/BB ratio in that time. While his 21.1% strikeout rate is a bit shy of average, his 16% swinging-strike rate shows Walters has no issue missing bats. That’s also true of his time in the minors; Walters has a career 3.01 ERA in the minor leagues and has punched out a gaudy 38.7% of his opponents there — albeit against a 13.9% walk rate upon which he’ll need to improve.

Any such gains will now be on hold until the 2028 season. The injury puts Walters and the team in a tricky spot. The Guardians could carry him on the major league 60-day injured list all of next season. That’d free up his 40-man spot but would require allowing Walters to accrue a full year of major league service and salary. Keeping him on the minor league injured list all next year would amount to operating with only 39 spots on the 40-man roster, however.

Cleveland could also non-tender Walters this November — the only point on the schedule at which a player can be released directly without first needing to clear waivers — and try to re-sign him on a minor league contract. However, he’d still have the opportunity to talk with other clubs if the Guards go that route. It’s not out of the question that someone would scoop him up on a big league deal. If the Guards feel he can be a long-term piece in the bullpen, they’re better off going the 60-day route, but that’d reduce their offseason 40-man flexibility, as there’s no injured list to utilize until spring training opens.

Yankees Place Jazz Chisholm Jr. On Injured List

Charlie Wright — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:30:49 +0000

Sept. 10: The Yankees have now formally announced Chisholm’s IL placement and Volpe’s recall from Triple-A. Chisholm’s IL stint is retroactive to yesterday, so he can return in nine days’ time.

Sept. 9, 5:20pm: It seems the transaction won’t happen until tomorrow. Per Jack Curry of Yes Network, Volpe is on his way to join the team and take Chisholm’s place on the roster but won’t be with the Yankees tonight. Chisholm remains on the roster for now and will be available to pinch run.

4:20pm: Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is heading to the injured list with a thumb sprain, manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. The team has yet to announce the move. Jose Caballero is starting at second base tonight.

Chisholm injured his thumb sliding into second in the eighth inning of last night’s game. He was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. Caballero replaced Chisholm on defense in the ninth inning.

Boone added that Chisholm will have no baseball activity for seven to 10 days. With only 18 games remaining in the regular season, he might be out until the playoffs. It’s the first IL stint of the year for Chisholm. He was on track to set a new career high in games played this season. The infielder has made 134 appearances in 2026, which put him in range to top the 147 games he played in 2024, before the injury.

Chisholm has provided his typical mix of power and speed. He’s popped 19 homers and stolen 40 bases. Overall, he’s slashing .232/.312/.403 across 520 plate appearances. Chisholm matched a career high with that stolen base total. Chandler Simpson recorded his 40th theft last night to move into a tie with Chisholm atop the AL leaderboard. Simpson and Bobby Witt Jr. (39 steals) will battle it out with Chisholm out of the race.

Caballero has posted an 85 wRC+ while bouncing around the diamond. He opened the season as the club’s regular shortstop. The veteran was bumped by Anthony Volpe and then George Lombard Jr., but has still found his way to near-regular playing time. Caballero isn’t the same caliber of hitter as Chisholm, but the shape of his production is similar. He has 13 home runs and 31 stolen bases while reaching base at an underwhelming .292 clip. Caballero should be an upgrade at the keystone. He’s been a positive defender at second base by Defensive Runs Saved in all four seasons of his career. Chisholm has posted a career-worst -8 DRS this year.

Chisholm’s injury could be the opening Volpe needs to return to the big-league club, though that move doesn’t appear imminent. As Greg Joyce of the New York Post notes, Volpe is in the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lineup tonight. So is utilityman Max Schuemann. Oswaldo Cabrera, however, was not included in the RailRiders’ starting nine. Cabrera has only played three games with the Yankees this year. He has big-league experience at all four infield spots, but has mostly played shortstop and third base in the minors this season.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Seven Hitters Contributing Fantasy Value in Deeper Leagues: Can it Continue?

Corbin Young — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:34:40 +0000

Seven hitters have been contributing fantasy value down the stretch in deeper leagues. Can they sustain their success?

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Nationals’ Drew Millas Scheduled For Finger Surgery

Charlie Wright — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:01:39 +0000

Catcher Drew Millas will have finger surgery on Friday, per Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic. The Nationals backstop will undergo a procedure on his left index finger for the second time this season.

Millas has been on the injured list since mid-July with the injury. He was moved to the 60-day IL in September. Harry Ford has handled backup catching duties behind Keibert Ruiz since Millas went down.

This will be the third finger surgery for Millas in the past two seasons. He broke a different finger on his glove hand in August 2025. He went under the knife and missed the rest of the campaign. Millas recovered by the spring and broke camp with the team. He tag-teamed with Ruiz behind the plate for the first half of the season.

The 28-year-old Millas received his longest look in the big leagues this year. After playing in 49 games across his first three MLB seasons, he’s notched 50 appearances in 2026. Millas slashed .185/.277/.262 across 130 at-bats. He posted a miserable 21.9% hard-hit rate and a career-low 83.6 mph average exit velocity.

While the offensive contributions were lacking, Millas was having a solid defensive season. He was a positive contributor by Statcast’s Fielding Run Value. Millas ranked in the 77th percentile in Statcast’s Framing metric.

The new coaching staff in Washington seemed to help Millas and Ruiz both improve behind the plate. After posting -39 Fielding Run Value over the past three seasons, Ruiz has been a positive defender this year. He ranks in the 67th percentile in Framing, a massive step forward from his previous work. The Nationals were tied for last in Fielding Run Value at catcher last season. They’re up to 12th this year.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images

Mining the News (9/10/26)

Jeff Zimmerman — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:30:15 +0000

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images • Like here with Boston, teams are adjusting their rotations daily, with some guys getting starts skipped or limited. Payoff-bound teams are bringing starters back early and letting them throw a few innings. All that to say, don’t count on pitchers “scheduled” five or more days into the future. Something will come […]

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Dodgers To Place Shohei Ohtani On 15-Day IL

Charlie Wright — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:21:47 +0000

After being in and out of the lineup over the past week, Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is landing on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts told reporters last night. Ohtani has been working through knee and arm injuries. Given his two-way status, he’s required to go on the 15-day IL for pitchers, not the 10-day IL for position players.

The Dodgers waited as long as they could to make the move, which isn’t official yet. L.A. is off today and will likely make the transaction official ahead of Friday’s game in Miami. Ohtani sat out four straight games to close last week. He was back in the lineup on Monday, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He returned to the bench the past two games.

“I think that if it were a postseason game tomorrow, he would be in the lineup,” Roberts said, relayed by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “I think that now you’re talking about two weeks, 14 days. I feel that that’s substantial. He’ll be in a much better place than he was today.”

Ohtani hasn’t pitched since early July due to a knee injury. Plans for him to return to the mound were recently scrapped. Roberts mentioned that the main concern is currently Ohtani’s right biceps, which bothered him during an at-bat on Monday. Ohtani was going to play on Wednesday before telling the team about the biceps issue.

With his IL stint backdated to Monday, Ohtani could return for L.A.’s second-to-last series of the year, a three-game set against the Padres. The Dodgers close the regular season with three games in San Francisco. Assuming a minimum stay on the IL, Ohtani could see a few games of action before heading into the postseason.

“Is it going to be 100 percent? Probably not,” Roberts said. “But I do think that with this time that we’re taking now, he’ll be in an adequate spot to finish the season.”

The Dodgers are expected to promote prospect Josue De Paula to take Ohtani’s spot. His defensive ability is a question mark, but the club is ready to see what he can do against major league pitching. Roberts said De Paula will handle the “lion’s share” of the at-bats at DH with Ohtani out (h/t Katie Woo of The Athletic).

The 21-year-old De Paula is the consensus top prospect in the Dodgers system. He’s hit .302 with 26 homers and 31 stolen bases at Double-A this year. It’s rare for Los Angeles to move a player this quickly. De Paula will completely skip Triple-A after playing 127 games at Double-A.

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images

Starts and Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball (September 7 - September 13)

Nick Mariano — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:47:21 +0000

The finish line is in sight, so let's make every start count with this next edition of our Starting Pitcher Starts and Sits column for the week ahead - Monday, September 7 through Sunday, September 13. Our article will cover who is pitching, their opponent, and a confidence/startability score based on our tools. This article […]

Roto Riteup: September 10, 2026

Vlad Sedler — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:30:48 +0000

A five-game slate and all the news you need: the Roto Riteup!

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Dodgers To Promote Josue De Paula

Anthony Franco — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:52:52 +0000

The Dodgers are bringing up top outfield prospect Josue De Paula, reports Alden González of ESPN. L.A. is off tomorrow, so the move won’t be made official until Friday’s series opener in Miami.

The corresponding moves aren’t clear, though it’s notable that De Paula’s injury comes as Shohei Ohtani was again out of tonight’s lineup. Ohtani has already been ruled out from pitching again in 2026 and has only made one appearance at designated hitter within the past week. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters before tonight’s game that it was possible Ohtani could require a stint on the 15-day injured list (link via Jack Harris of The California Post).

Roberts could provide additional information postgame, as the Dodgers are wrapping up a blowout victory over Cincinnati. Ohtani has battled left knee discomfort for a couple months and has had right arm soreness over the past week-plus. Freddie Freeman was also out of the lineup today due to right knee soreness, though Roberts said that’s not expected to be an IL situation (related by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic).

Whatever the corresponding move, the Dodgers feel it’s the right time to take a look at one of the best hitters in the minor leagues. De Paula has spent his entire age-21 campaign at the Double-A level, mashing at a .302/.400/.539 clip across 583 plate appearances. He has connected on 26 home runs, 36 doubles, and a pair of triples. De Paula has also stolen 31 bases, though he’s been caught 10 times.

The baserunning is unlikely to be a huge part of De Paula’s game, as scouting reports peg him as a below-average runner. His hit/power combination is among the best of any player in the minor leagues, though, as his dominance of generally older Double-A pitching demonstrates. De Paula ranks seventh among Texas League hitters (min. 200 plate appearances) with a .939 OPS. He’s the second-youngest player among the league’s top 10 hitters, older only than Cardinals top prospect Rainiel Rodriguez. De Paula has walked at an excellent 13.7% clip while striking out less than 15% of the time and consistently getting to plus power.

The production was strong enough that the Dodgers will jump De Paula past Triple-A. That’s a rare move for this front office, as Katie Woo of The Athletic observes it’s the first time in 12 years under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman that the Dodgers are calling up a position player prospect directly from Double-A.

De Paula ranks among the sport’s top 10 prospects in the estimation of Baseball America (fourth), MLB Pipeline (sixth), and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (10th). He landed in the back of the top 20 on pre-deadline lists from Keith Law of The Athletic and Eric Longenhagen/Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs. De Paula isn’t going to provide much defensive value; he’s a below-average corner outfielder whom some evaluators project as a pure DH. The profile is driven almost entirely by what he’ll do in the left-handed batter’s box.

There’s a chance De Paula can hit his way onto the playoff roster. It’s a fairly common misconception that players need to be on the 40-man roster by September 1 to be postseason eligible, but they only need to be in the organization by that date. The Dodgers would technically need to petition MLB to allow De Paula to make the playoff roster, but teams are granted that permission every year. The Guardians added Chase DeLauter to their 40-man roster the day of their first-round series last year, for example.

Depending on the injuries, there could be room for another lefty bat in October. Ohtani would presumably be activated by the start of the postseason even if he requires an injured list stint. Dalton Rushing seems more questionable after he went back on the shelf with recurring elbow pain related to his partial UCL tear.

Teoscar Hernández has also had a middling season against right-handed pitching that has led Roberts to flirt with scaling back his playing time (though he’s been the team’s hottest hitter over the last two weeks). It’s difficult to imagine them benching Kyle Tucker, but he’s amidst a replacement level season. De Paula could at least provide an alternative in right field if Tucker struggles through the first series or two in October.

De Paula would’ve been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason, so he was going to command a 40-man roster spot by November at the latest. The Dodgers have a full 40-man and don’t have any obvious candidates for a move to the 60-day injured list unless Rushing needs to be shut down for the season. They’ll likely need to designate someone for assignment on Friday.

The late-season call won’t have huge ramifications from a service time perspective. De Paula will collect 17 days of service through season’s end. He’ll remain a rookie and eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive next year. The Dodgers will have him under club control for at least six full seasons if the service time structure is unchanged in the next collective bargaining agreement. De Paula won’t be eligible for arbitration until at least the 2029-30 offseason.

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images.

Braves, Eric Haase Agree To Minor League Deal

Anthony Franco — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:20:59 +0000

The Braves signed catcher Eric Haase to a minor league deal last week, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’s been assigned to their Florida complex.

The log indicates that the deal was actually finalized on September 1. Assuming that was submitted to the league office by noon, Haase would be eligible for Atlanta’s postseason roster. It’d likely require an injury for the Braves to consider that, as Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy will be the catching duo in October. Kyle Farmer is on the MLB roster as a depth infielder/emergency third catcher. Farmer hasn’t caught in a big league game in seven years but made five appearances behind the dish in Double-A this season.

Haase is now in his third organization of the season. He opened this year on a minor league contract with the Giants. Haase cracked San Francisco’s big league roster in April and was on the team for a few months. He tallied 84 plate appearances and hit .162/.235/.365 with four home runs. Haase struck out in a third of his trips.

The Giants released him shortly after the All-Star Break. He spent a couple weeks in Triple-A on a minor league deal with the White Sox but was granted his release in the middle of August. Haase hit for some power in that limited look and has a 22-homer campaign in the big leagues (2021, with Detroit). He’s a below-average receiving catcher who strikes out a lot, so it’s a limited overall profile.

Baldwin and Murphy are Atlanta’s only catchers on the 40-man roster. Chuckie Robinson and Maverick Handley are the healthy backstops in a non-roster role with Triple-A Gwinnett. Jair Camargo and Sandy León are also in the organization but currently injured, with León on the 60-day injured list and almost certainly done for the season.

Phil Maton To Undergo Knee Surgery

Anthony Franco — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 03:00:45 +0000

Cubs reliever Phil Maton will undergo right knee surgery this week, reports Meghan Montemurro of The Chicago Tribune. The team hasn’t provided many more specifics but it’s fair to assume this will end his season.

Maton was diagnosed with a partial patellar tendon tear last month. He has been out since July 20 and was transferred to the 60-day injured list a few weeks ago. That backdated to the original IL placement and would’ve left the possibility for Maton to return in a few weeks. It no longer appears that’ll be on the table.

This is the first season of Maton’s two-year, $14.5MM free agent contract. It was Chicago’s first multi-year bullpen signing in seven seasons. The first year hasn’t gone according to plan, as Maton was tagged for a 6.18 earned run average across 27 2/3 innings. He first landed on the injured list with knee tendinitis back on April 8. It seems Maton has essentially been pitching at less than 100% for the entire season.

Chicago had counted on Maton to serve as a key setup man this season. The back of the bullpen has increasingly become an issue. Cubs relievers have blown seven saves over the past month, tied for second most in MLB (behind San Francisco’s nine) in that stretch.

Closer Jacob Webb has allowed multiple runs in four of his last six appearances. Ryan Zeferjahn, acquired from the Angels to work as a high-leverage arm, has blown two leads and given up 10 runs over 13 innings in a Cubs uniform. Daniel Palencia has struggled since coming back from an elbow injury that cost him two months. Trent Thornton has given up runs in three of his last five outings.

Maton is making a $5.5MM base salary this season. He’ll be paid a $6MM salary next season and is guaranteed another $3MM in the form of a buyout on an $8.5MM club option covering the 2028 campaign.

Giants Claim Duncan Davitt From Braves

Anthony Franco — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 01:26:39 +0000

8:26pm: San Francisco has officially announced the moves.

6:11pm: The Giants are claiming right-hander Duncan Davitt off waivers from the Braves, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction tracker. San Francisco is designating right-hander Spencer Bivens in a corresponding move, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Neither team has officially announced the waiver claim.

Davitt never pitched in a major league game for the Braves. Atlanta acquired him from the White Sox on deadline day for Joey Bart. That trade was more about alleviating a forthcoming roster crunch in shipping Bart out than it was about adding Davitt, whom Chicago had designated for assignment a few hours before the trade.

The 26-year-old Davitt has pitched in two big league games, both with the White Sox. He worked around a walk to toss a scoreless frame against the Royals in his debut back in April. Ben Williamson tagged him for a solo home run in his other appearance. He throws a 93 mph fastball and has a six-pitch mix led mostly by a mid-80s slider. Davitt has worked in a swing role in Triple-A this year, scuffling to a 6.29 ERA despite a decent 24% strikeout rate across 73 innings.

Atlanta never formally designated Davitt for assignment, so placing him on waivers drops their 40-man roster count to 39. San Francisco’s roster was full. That led them pushing Bivens off the roster and onto the waiver wire a few days from now.

Bivens, 32, ate 81 innings in a low-leverage relief role last year. He logged the fourth-highest workload of any reliever in the league. Bivens pitched to an even 4.00 ERA but had a modest 18% strikeout rate and rarely saw opportunity outside of mop-up work. He’s spent most of this season with Triple-A Sacramento, allowing an ERA just shy of 5.00 across 75 frames. Bivens still has an option remaining beyond this season and could get some interest on the waiver wire, though there’s a decent chance he’d be non-tendered in the offseason even if he’s claimed this week.

What Would It Cost To Extend Adley Rutschman?

Darragh McDonald — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:23:09 +0000

The Red Sox gave up a strong package of talent in order to bring catcher Adley Rutschman to Boston. Fellow catcher Carlos Narváez went to Baltimore along with prospects Anthony Eyanson, Enddy Azocar, Kyson Witherspoon and Harold Rivas, the latter as the player to be named later. The Sox also acquired Jake Rogers and cash but the deal was really about Rutschman. Rogers was designated for assignment as soon as Rutschman was ready to come off the injured list.

For that pile of talent, the Sox only really got a bit more than a year of Rutschman’s services. He is slated for free agency after 2027, so Boston can only count on him helping the team for the rest of this season and one full campaign.

That situation is somewhat analogous to their acquisition of Garrett Crochet. In December of 2024, the Red Sox acquired Crochet, sending prospects Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman González to Chicago. In exchange for those four prospects, the Sox only secured two years of Crochet, as he was slated for free agency after 2026.

But the Sox clearly liked Crochet, hence the hefty prospect package they gave up. Once they got him, they seemed determined to keep him. Rumors of extension talks popped up shortly after the trade and the two sides got something done a few months later. Shortly after Opening Day 2025, Crochet and the Sox agreed to a six-year, $170MM pact that would cover the 2026 to 2031 seasons.

That deal shattered previous precedent. At the time, the largest guarantee given to a pitcher with between four and five years of service time was the $120.5MM Jacob deGrom got from the Mets in 2019. Second on the list was Justin Verlander’s $80MM deal with the Tigers in 2010. Crochet soared past deGrom and more than doubled Verlander.

It would appear that the Sox, having already paid a notable price to get Crochet, didn’t want him to then slip away after just a couple of seasons. Perhaps the same logic would apply to Rutschman. After giving up a sizeable amount of talent to get Rutschman, would they let him simply walk a year from now?

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Can Seiya Suzuki Outearn Himself?

Leo Morgenstern — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 23:24:04 +0000

Before he travelled stateside, Seiya Suzuki was one of the best hitters in Nippon Professional Baseball. Maybe the best. Across his final three NPB seasons, he led the league with a 1.015 OPS. No one reached base or crossed the plate more often than the Hiroshima Carp superstar. Even so, as the 2021-22 offseason began, most estimations of the outfielder’s earning power were modest. Ben Clemens of FanGraphs predicted a four-year, $40MM contract. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN guessed $48MM over four years. MLBTR projected a five-year, $55MM guarantee.

Nobody was unaware of what Suzuki had accomplished in Japan. But MLB and NPB are different leagues. There’s always going to be some trepidation surrounding players without MLB experience. At the time, Kosuke Fukudome’s four-year, $48MM contract from 2007 was still the high-water mark for a Japanese position player coming to North America. There was also the posting fee to consider. A $55MM contract projection was, essentially, a $65.125MM projection, even if that extra cash would go to the Carp instead of Suzuki himself.

The Cubs, it turns out, weren’t feeling trepidatious. At least nine other teams were linked to Suzuki, and the North Siders did what they had to do to take those other clubs out of the running. Their five-year, $85MM offer blew every prediction I could find out of the water. Add in the $14.625MM posting fee, and Chicago spent just under $100MM to sign the perennial NPB All-Star. He set a new precedent for Japanese hitters on the MLB free agent market. He also set expectations for himself awfully high. For some, that pressure might have been a problem. Not for Suzuki.

That five-year contract will expire this fall. There is no question the Cubs got their money’s worth. The righty batter has been one of the most consistently productive hitters in the league. In fact, only three hitters (min. 400 PA per season) have produced a higher wRC+ than Suzuki in every one of the last five years: Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Bryce Harper. Altogether, Suzuki’s well-rounded skill set at the plate has produced an .824 OPS and 128 wRC+ in 2,834 career PA. Since 2022, only nine players have taken more trips to the plate and outperformed Suzuki in both metrics. Each one of them is a multi-time All-Star and a Silver Slugger winner. Suzuki has never been an MLB All-Star. He’s never won a major MLB award. Yet, he sits in the company of the most dependable run-producers in the league.

In less than two months, Suzuki will officially reach free agency. He’ll be coming off his very best MLB season. He will certainly command a higher salary than we thought he would five years ago. My question is whether he could command more than he actually signed for in 2022. Suzuki has added five MLB seasons to his resume. He’s also five years older. He silenced every doubt about how his bat would hold up against MLB pitching, just in time to face a new concern: How will his bat hold up against the aging curve?

Let’s break out the MLBTR Contract Tracker. In the last five years, only seven hitters have signed a free agent contract or extension worth at least $85MM starting in their age-32 (or older) season: Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado, Jose Altuve, Matt Chapman, Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman, and José Ramírez. You’re looking at a short list of big names. That doesn’t bode well for Suzuki. Recent history suggests it takes a certain level of fame to command $85MM with your mid-thirties on the horizon.

But what happens when there aren’t any big names for teams to spend on? The last time Suzuki was seeking a contract, the top free agent bats were Freeman, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Kris Bryant, and Marcus Semien. There isn’t anyone with that kind of star power in this winter’s position player class. Suzuki is one of this year’s headliners, alongside Jazz Chisholm Jr., Randy Arozarena, and Luis Arraez.

When MLBTR put out a 2026-27 free agent power rankings update in June, Suzuki was only an honorable mention. He didn’t make the top 10, or even the next five. However, I think bad timing had a lot to do with that. When those rankings were published, Suzuki was just shaking off one of the worst slumps of his career. Since then, he has been one of the most productive players in the game.

Dating back to June 1, the righty slugger owns a .908 OPS, a 152 wRC+, and 3.4 FanGraphs WAR. No impending free agent ranks ahead of him in any of those statistics. Suzuki has now raised his offensive numbers to a level near or above his career averages in most categories, while maintaining surprisingly strong defensive metrics. His 12 DRS and 7 FRV both put him among the top five corner outfielders in the majors. Accordingly, his 4.7 bWAR and 4.0 fWAR for the season are already career-high figures. His bWAR ranks first among soon-to-be free agent hitters. His fWAR is fourth, trailing Arozarena, Arraez, and Brandon Lowe by a couple tenths of a win.

Perhaps you’d rank any or all of Chisholm, Arozarena, Arraez, or Lowe ahead of Suzuki. That’s more than reasonable. Still, a team that believes Suzuki’s improved defense is sustainable might very well consider him the top free agent position player – especially if that team needs power from the right-hand side. If nothing else, Suzuki and Arozarena have established themselves as the top tier of outfielders, while Ian Happ, Daulton Varsho, Trent Grisham, and Taylor Ward have seen their stock drop. It helps Suzuki’s case that all of those other outfielders will also be 30 or older in 2027.

There is no precedent for non-superstars signing $85MM contracts at 32 years old. Yet, I can remember a time when there was no precedent for NPB hitters signing $85MM contracts either. History can only predict so much. This winter’s free agent class is weaker than any other in recent memory. Prices rise when demand exceeds supply. A team that wants an impact bat and has the cash to spend might be more than happy to set a new precedent to secure one of the best and most consistent hitters available.

Five years ago, Suzuki was too green. Now, he might be too gray. He will be free from the posting system this offseason… only to be held back by a qualifying offer instead. He’ll also (most likely) have to deal with another lockout. The last one didn’t hurt him, but it’s anyone’s guess how the upcoming CBA negotiations will unfold. He’ll be one of the top hitters on the market, but the market might not be open for very long.

All of this has left me wondering what kind of contract Suzuki will sign. When I started writing this post, I didn’t have a poll in mind, but now I need to know where MLBTR readers stand. Will Seiya Suzuki beat the $85MM he earned in 2022? Cast your vote, and then share your thoughts in the comments below.

How much guaranteed money will Seiya Suzuki sign for this winter?

Images courtesy of Patrick Gorski and Rick Scuteri (via Reuters Connect).

Yankees To Place Jazz Chisholm Jr. On Injured List

Charlie Wright — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 22:20:49 +0000

5:20pm: It seems the transaction won’t happen until tomorrow. Per Jack Curry of Yes Network, Volpe is on his way to join the team and take Chisholm’s place on the roster but won’t be with the Yankees tonight. Chisholm remains on the roster for now and will be available to pinch run.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Orioles Place Blaze Alexander On Injured List

Darragh McDonald — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 22:12:38 +0000

The Orioles announced today that infielder/outfielder Blaze Alexander has been placed on the 10-day injured list with low back discomfort. Fellow infielder/outfielder Jeremiah Jackson has been recalled to take his place on the roster.

Alexander’s first season in Baltimore has been a fairly successful one. He has appeared in 93 games and stepped to the plate 289 times. He has a .303/.358/.414 batting line. That translates to a 121 wRC+, indicating he has been 21% better than league average at the plate. He has been helped by an unsustainable .385 batting average on balls in play but he has also been putting the ball in play more. His 21.8% strikeout rate this year is a massive improvement over last year’s 32.3% rate.

On top of that offense, he has also stolen ten bases and bounced around the field. He has lined up at all three outfield positions and the three infield spots to the left of first base. FanGraphs has credited him with 1.5 wins above replacement on the year.

At this point, there’s nothing to indicate the back injury is really serious but the calendar makes it notable. The regular season has just over two weeks remaining and the O’s are hanging by a thread, currently four games back of a playoff spot. The margin for error is really narrow, so even losing a role player like Alexander is noteworthy.

It doesn’t help that Gunnar Henderson is banged up as well. He was removed from yesterday’s game due to left knee discomfort and is not in tonight’s lineup. Baltimore has Jackson Holliday at short tonight, with Jeremiah Jackson covering Holliday’s usual second base position.

Henderson isn’t having an amazing season. His .219/.303/.395 batting line translates to a subpar 97 wRC+. However, he does have 22 home runs and a 9.4% walk rate. The relatively low batting average and on-base percentage are mostly due to a .251 batting average on balls in play, which is well below his .303 career rate and the league average, which is .289 this year. Even with that diminished offense, he has been worth 3.0 fWAR thanks to his speed and defense.

Holliday isn’t likely to provide an upgrade. He is hitting .235/.310/.354 for an 88 wRC+ this year. Jeremiah Jackson is hitting .226/.255/.359 for a 69 wRC+. The O’s will nonetheless do their best to try to scrape out some wins and perhaps Henderson and Alexander can get back in the mix before it’s too late.

Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Activate Zac Gallen, Michael Soroka

Charlie Wright — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:48:01 +0000

The Diamondbacks reinstated Zac Gallen from the 60-day IL ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the Royals. The club also activated Michael Soroka from the 15-day IL. The veteran righties will replace Kade Strowd and Blake Walston, who were optioned back to Triple-A.

With the activation of Gallen, Arizona’s 40-man roster is now full. The former All-Star has been out since early July due to right elbow inflammation. Soroka had a near-minimum IL stint with shoulder inflammation. Gallen and Soroka could tag-team tonight’s outing. Both pitchers threw simulated games on Friday.

Gallen is enduring his worst season as a big leaguer. He’s posted a 6.34 ERA in 19 starts. That included an eight-start stretch allowing 40 earned runs before heading to the injured list. Gallen’s strikeout rate has tumbled to a career-low 13.9%. That number has never been below 21.5% for a full season.

Soroka has delivered strong results around multiple IL stints. He carried a sub-3.00 ERA midway through August. A clunker against the Reds in his last appearance pushed his season-long mark to 3.40. Soroka’s fastball velocity was down about 1 mph in that outing.

With Corbin Burnes returning last night, Arizona’s rotation is suddenly healthy. The club could have some decisions to make once Gallen and Soroka are fully stretched out. With the aforementioned trio joining Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Merrill Kelly, the Diamondbacks have six guys for five spots. The team could opt for a six-man rotation to finish out the regular season. Burnes is also stretching out. He navigated three innings on 57 pitches yesterday.

Strowd’s most recent stint in the majors lasted just one day. He was recalled before Tuesday’s game. The righty relieved Burnes and recorded five outs. Strowd could get another big-league opportunity when Arizona needs a fresh arm.

Walston covered the final two innings of last night’s matchup. He allowed the ghost runner to score in the 10th inning, but kept the Royals off the board in the 11th frame to earn the victory. It was Walston’s second appearance since joining the club when rosters expanded in September. Like Strowd, he’ll head back to Reno and wait for another chance in the majors.

Photo courtesy of Joe Rondone of The Republic via Imagn Images

Ottoneu Hot Right Now: September 9, 2026

Jake Mailhot — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:30:34 +0000

A recently promoted prospect, a hot-hitting infielder, and two starters.

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Padres Release Blake Hunt

Darragh McDonald — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:10:06 +0000

The Padres have released catcher Blake Hunt, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week. He will be a free agent as soon as he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already.

Once a player is designated for assignment, a club can choose one of three options for him. The player can be traded, placed on outright waivers or placed on release waivers. Hunt was designated for assignment after the trade deadline, so the first option wasn’t possible.

The Friars could have gone for outright waivers but Hunt would have had the right to elect free agency if he had cleared, since he already has an outright in his career. He may have accepted an outright assignment since it’s late in the season and he would not have been playoff eligible with another club, but the Padres aren’t likely to need him down the stretch or into the postseason. They have Freddy Fermin, Luis Campusano and Ethan Salas on the big league roster, with Rodolfo Durán on optional assignment at El Paso. It appears the club felt good enough about their depth to just let Hunt go.

He’ll now head to the open market and see what opportunities are out there for him. Given that the season is almost over, it’s possible he’ll go into offseason mode and set his focus on 2027. He has a solid defensive reputation from his time in the minors but his big league track record consists of just three plate appearances and he struck out in all three of those. He has been a decent bat in the minors, with a combined .259/.339/.467 line dating back to the start of 2023, which includes a .301/.381/.617 line this year.

Photo courtesy of Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images

Carson Whisenhunt Scheduled For Tommy John Surgery Next Week

Steve Adams — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:57:26 +0000

The Giants already made it known last month that young lefty Carson Whisenhunt had been diagnosed with ligament damage in his left elbow and would require surgery of some kind. Whisenhunt was headed for another opinion to determine whether he’d need a full UCL reconstruction (i.e. Tommy John surgery) or an internal brace procedure. It seems that additional opinion recommended he undergo the more invasive of the two options; the Giants’ latest medical report indicates that Whisenhunt will have Tommy John surgery on Sept. 16 (via MLB.com’s Maria Guardado).

An internal brace procedure in late August might have given Whisenhunt an outside chance at returning for the final few weeks of the 2027 season. However, a mid-September Tommy John procedure all but ensures that he’ll be sidelined all the way into the 2028 season. Typical recovery for Tommy John surgery these days is closer to 14 months. Internal brace surgery tends to come with a slightly shorter timetable.

The No. 66 overall pick in the 2022 draft, Whisenhunt has consistently ranked among the Giants’ top prospects and at one point even cracked top-100 lists at MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. He’s been hit hard in the majors, however, recording a 5.90 ERA in 13 major league starts and 58 innings dating back to 2025. He pitched well in Triple-A this season and was solid through his first two big league starts before being lit up for 21 runs in his next 24 frames (with a 16.9% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate along the way). Whisenhunt pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings in his final appearance before exiting that start due to elbow discomfort.

Since the injury occurred in the majors, Whisenhunt will receive major league service time and salary while he rehabs. He’ll finish this season about a bit less than a month shy of a full year of major league service. By the time he’s back in ’28, he’ll have nearly two full years of service time. If he sticks in the majors once he’s cleared to pitch in games, he’d be on track for Super Two status and the first of four trips through arbitration following the 2028 campaign, but that’s far from a given.

In the meantime, the Giants will head into the offseason with an even greater need for rotation depth. Ace Logan Webb and righty Landen Roupp are locked into spots. The rest of the group lacks certainty. Veteran Adrian Houser is signed for $11MM next year but hasn’t been able to hold a rotation spot this year and was recently shelved due to a forearm strain. Trevor McDonald underwent his own Tommy John procedure last month, as did Hayden Birdsong back in March. Young arms like Blade Tidwell, Matt Wilkinson and Cesar Perdomo are getting looks down the stretch but haven’t proven much yet. The Giants are trying former Rockies and Braves reliever Anthony Molina as a starter, too.

The Giants entered the 2025-26 offseason in clear need of notable rotation upgrades but instead opted to sign back-end veterans Houser and Tyler Mahle — the latter of whom has since been traded to Atlanta. With Robbie Ray now in San Diego following a deadline trade, the need this winter is even more acute. The Giants did add some interesting pitching prospects ahead of the deadline, acquiring not only Molina but Ramon Marquez (for Luis Arraez), Henry Lalane (for Heliot Ramos) and Miguel Mendez (for Ray) in respective trades with the Phillies, Yankees and Friars. They’ll still need to bring in at least two steady arms if they have any designs on returning to contention next season, though.

Albert Suárez Elects Free Agency

Darragh McDonald — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:29:49 +0000

The Orioles announced that right-hander Albert Suárez has cleared waivers and elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He is eligible to sign with any club.

The most likely next step will be Suárez re-signing with the Orioles in the near future, as he and the club have been doing this dance all year. He is out of options and has been repeatedly added to the roster and then bumped off whenever the club wants to get a fresh arm into the bullpen. Four times this season his contract has been selected to the roster. Eventually, he is designated for assignment, clears waivers and then returns to the club, either by accepting an outright assignment or electing free agency and then signing a new contract.

The arrangement appears to work for both sides. For the O’s, they effectively get a 41st man on their 40-man roster. For Suárez, he would presumably prefer a more consistent job, but the fact that he keeps clearing waivers suggests no club is willing to give him that. With the Orioles, he at least gets some occasional access to big league pay and service time.

After a few years pitching in both Japan and Korea, Suárez came back to North America for the 2024 season. He ended up making 32 appearances for Baltimore that year, 24 of those being starts. He posted a 3.70 earned run average over 133 2/3 innings. He wasn’t able to build on that last year, as injuries limited him to just five appearances. He has been healthier this year but his major league workload has been impacted by his aforementioned moves on and off the roster. He has a 4.12 ERA in 59 innings over 27 appearances this year.

Photo courtesy of Andrew Dieb, Imagn Images

Braves Designate Elieser Hernández For Assignment

Steve Adams — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:31:35 +0000

The Braves have once again designated right-hander Elieser Hernández for assignment, per a club announcement. It’s the third time he’s been designated for assignment in the past seven weeks.

This time, Hernández’s roster spot will go to southpaw Bailey Falter, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta also formally placed righty Bryce Elder on the 15-day IL following last night’s announcement that he required arthroscopic knee surgery that could sideline him up to four weeks. In his place, they’ve activated veteran right-hander Reynaldo López from the injured list.

Hernández, 31, has stepped into the role held by Carlos Carrasco earlier this season — a veteran pitcher who can’t be optioned but is amenable to riding the DFA shuttle between Atlanta and Gwinnett whenever the Braves need a fresh arm. He’s now had three big league stints with Atlanta and pitched in four games — a total of 11 innings. He’s limited opponents to just three runs, allowing 10 hits and six walks with 11 punchouts en route to a 2.45 ERA. Hernández also has a 4.54 ERA in 81 1/3 innings in Gwinnett, where he’s split his time between the Stripers’ rotation and bullpen.

Atlanta is clearly fond of this type of arrangement. They designated Carrasco for assignment seven times in under a calendar year, each time re-signing him to a new minor league deal after he cleared waivers and elected free agency. Hernández could be headed for a similar path. He’ll surely be outrighted off the 40-man roster if he’s on there at season’s end, but Carrasco signed a minor league pact last offseason after getting a taste of life as Atlanta’s unofficial “41st man” on the 40-man roster. The Braves have previously used a similar setup with now-retired swingman Jesse Chavez.

It’s not the most straightforward path to major league pay and service time, but teams who utilize this tactic are typically very up-front with the player and set expectations ahead of time. It can lead to a dizzying amount of roster churn, but it’s a means of regularly having a stretched-out arm to provide length in the bullpen whenever a need arises.

For a Braves club that has been hammered by rotation injuries in recent seasons, that’s a nice perk to have. For Hernández (and Carrasco and Chavez before him), it’s a way to pick up a handful of big league service days at a time when most other clubs would probably stash him in Triple-A for longer stretches. By rejecting outright assignments in favor of new minor league deals, pitchers in this setup can gradually negotiate better and better terms — including salary but also some other, much more niche benefits (as I detailed at length earlier this summer in a Mailbag piece for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers).

Falter, also 29, came to the Braves alongside Lane Thomas in a deadline swap with the Royals. Kansas City included Falter as a means of shedding some of the $3.6MM salary he’s earning this season. The left-hander pitched only 9 2/3 innings with the Royals and was rocked for 15 runs on 24 hits and six walks with six strikeouts.

Prior to that brutal showing, Falter had posted fifth starter results between Pittsburgh and Kansas City for a couple seasons. From 2024-25, the soft-tossing lefty logged a 4.44 ERA with a 16.1% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate, averaging an even five innings per start along the way. He’s fired 10 2/3 shutout innings in Gwinnett since the trade and done so while notching a sharp 11-to-2 K/BB ratio. History suggests that Falter (career 4.77 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate) isn’t likely to sustain that pace, of course. But for now, he’ll be the latest well-traveled swingman to provide some depth for a banged-up Atlanta staff.

MLBTR Podcast: What To Expect From The Angels Under Stan Kroenke

Darragh McDonald — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:07:57 +0000

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 Brennan McClain of Pro Hockey Rumors to discuss…

Arte Moreno selling the Angels to Stan Kroenke (0:20)
Brennan’s personal experience working for the Avalanche, a club owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (6:35)
How will Kroenke attack a sport that currently has no salary cap? (15:35)
What are the consistent elements of success for Kroenke teams? (18:30)
How might Kroenke handle the real estate situation around Angel Stadium? (24:35)
Are the Angels lined up for a few years of rebuilding and reimagining all facets of the franchise? (29:15)
Is the division there for the taking for the Angels (34:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The Rays’ New Stadium Approved, Luis Robert Claimed By The Orioles, And Prospect Promotions – listen here
Dana Brown Parting With Astros, The Mariners Promote Kade Anderson, And The Padres’ New Ownership – listen here
The Athletics’ Unclear Future, The Reds Without Hunter Greene, The Yankees’ Infield, And More! – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Every NL Team’s Biggest Fantasy Bust

Vlad Sedler — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:30:20 +0000

There is no such thing as the perfect draft…

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The Opener: Nationals’ Bullpen, Cubs’ Bullpen, Lopez

Charlie Wright — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:26:21 +0000

Righty Joel Kuhnel earned the save for the Giants last night. It was just his third appearance with the team after coming over via waiver claim from the Brewers last week. Kuhnel is the 11th reliever to save a game for San Francisco this year, matching a franchise record (h/t Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Now for some less positive reliever content…

1. Nationals set unwanted record

Washington entered the eighth inning with a 4-1 lead over San Diego on Tuesday. Jared Simpson was called on to face the bottom of the order, and promptly walked three straight hitters. He gave way to Erik Tolman, who permitted a sacrifice fly and a game-tying single. Luis Campusano would put the Padres ahead for good with an RBI single later in the inning. The blown save was record-setting No. 38 for the Nationals. The Padres kept pace in the NL Wild Card race, remaining a game behind the Diamondbacks, who beat the Royals in 11 innings.

2. Webb serves up another HR

Right-hander Jacob Webb has been a revelation for the Cubs, emerging as a late-inning fixture as the team deals with a litany of injuries in the bullpen. Webb’s strong run has hit a speed bump recently. Actually, a few speed bumps. The righty blew his third straight save opportunity last night against the Brewers. After quickly getting the first two outs, Webb allowed a single to Christian Yelich and a game-tying blast to Jackson Chourio. Chicago would lose in 10 innings. It’s unclear who will get the next save chance for the Cubs. “We have eight guys down there,” manager Craig Counsell said (h/t Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “Those are the guys we’re going to rely on. We have to figure it out.”

3. Lopez returns to Braves’ rotation

Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez is expected to come off the 15-day IL to start on Wednesday against the Rays. He’s been out for about six weeks with knee inflammation. Lopez’s return comes at an opportune time, as the Braves just lost Bryce Elder to a knee injury. Lopez has pitched reasonably well in a hybrid role this year. The veteran has a 3.64 ERA across 71 2/3 innings while splitting his time between the rotation and the bullpen. Lopez got up to 93 pitches in his final rehab start, so he should be able to handle a normal workload in his return.

Photo courtesy of Mark Hoffman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Images

Roto Riteup: September 9, 2026

Justin Mason — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:15:18 +0000

Get through the week with the Wednesday edition of the Roto Riteup!

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Starting Pitcher Chart – September 9th, 2026

Paul Sporer — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 05:11:06 +0000

Decisions get tough early on Wednesday's board

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A’s Top Prospect Leo De Vries To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

Anthony Franco — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:51:25 +0000

Athletics top infield prospect Leo De Vries will undergo an anterior labrum repair on his right shoulder, reports Bill Moriarity of A’s Farm. The procedure can come with an eight-month recovery timeline, making it quite likely he’ll open next season on the injured list.

De Vries is a 19-year-old shortstop/third baseman who played the entire season at Double-A Midland. The switch-hitting infielder connected on 13 home runs with a .290/.378/.458 slash line despite being nearly five years younger than the average player at the level. It’s the kind of production the A’s expected from an elite prospect who headlined their return from San Diego for four and a half seasons of Mason Miller.

Baseball America currently ranks De Vries the #3 prospect in the game behind Milwaukee’s Jesús Made and Boston’s Franklin Arias. MLB Pipeline slots De Vries second after Made. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had him fourth behind Made, Arias, and Seattle’s Kade Anderson last month. De Vries will surely remain the A’s top prospect but could drop a few spots on those overall lists in the offseason as a hedge against the injury.

It’s another significant injury in what turned out to be a nightmare season for the A’s. Injuries to Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Jacob Wilson, Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom absolutely decimated the MLB lineup. All but Langeliers are shut down for the rest of this year. Wilson, Rooker, and Soderstom required surgeries.

De Vries wasn’t going to factor into the major league mix this season even if he’d finished the year healthy. He doesn’t need to be added to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, so the A’s wouldn’t have burned the offseason roster spot (or made him ineligible for minor league play if there’s an in-season lockout). De Vries might’ve finished this year at Triple-A and entered Spring Training with a chance at breaking camp, though. That’s no longer on the table.

The A’s already figured to be in the market for help at second or third base this winter, which should be even more of a priority now. Mauricio Dubón, Luis Rengifo and Edmundo Sosa are among the utility types who’ll hit the market. Alec Bohm, Ha-Seong Kim and Jonathan India are reclamation free agents who’ll likely be looking at one-year deals.

A’s Release José Suarez

Anthony Franco — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:27:06 +0000

The Athletics released left-hander José Suarez, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He was designated for assignment last week when the A’s selected Geoff Hartlieb.

Suarez landed in West Sacramento in mid-May, as the A’s acquired him in a cash trade with Seattle. The 28-year-old has spent the year in low-leverage relief. Suarez had decent numbers for a few months but had a tough finish to his A’s tenure. He missed a couple weeks in August with a right hip strain and was tattooed for 15 runs across 6 1/3 innings in his final nine appearances in green and gold.

It has been a few seasons since Suarez was a serviceable back-end starter with the Angels. He has mostly pitched in long relief over the last few years, carrying a 5.35 ERA in 133 MLB frames since the start of 2024. Suarez has pitched for four clubs in that time.

The Venezuelan-born lefty crossed the five-year service threshold this summer. That gave him the right to refuse any minor league assignments while retaining the rest of his $900K arbitration salary. That made a release inevitable after last week’s DFA. The minor league season is coming to a close, so Suarez may want to wait until the offseason before signing anywhere else. He figures to be limited to minor league or overseas offers this winter.

Dodgers Outright Alek Thomas

Anthony Franco — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:07:15 +0000

The Dodgers sent outfielder Alek Thomas outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, relays OKC broadcaster Alex Freedman. Thomas and catcher Ben Rortvedt, who cleared waivers last week, each opted to accept the minor league assignment.

Thomas was acquired from Arizona in a DFA trade back in May. He’s spent most of his Dodger tenure on optional assignment. Thomas was briefly called up for his club debut in late August, stepping in as the center fielder against right-handed pitching after L.A. lost Andy Pages to a broken hand. Thomas only appeared in seven games, going 4-19 before being optioned back down.

A former second-round pick and top prospect, Thomas hasn’t found much success against major league pitching. He’s a career .230/.273/.360 hitter in more than 1500 trips to the plate. Thomas plays a good center field but has been too prone to expanding the strike zone to find consistent offensive success.

Thomas has over three years of service time but hasn’t reached the five-year threshold. That means he’d have forfeited the remaining few weeks of his $1.9625MM arbitration salary to test free agency. It’s sensible both he and Rortvedt opted to remain in the L.A. system as non-roster depth, at least giving them an outside chance to be considered for the playoff roster in the event of any injuries. Both players will be minor league free agents at the beginning of the offseason if not added back to the big league roster.

D-Backs To Activate Zac Gallen, Michael Soroka

Anthony Franco — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:02:07 +0000

11:00pm: Gallen will start tomorrow’s game with Soroka pitching in bulk relief, manager Torey Lovullo told Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. Gallen has started all 195 of his appearances in the majors, so the D-Backs preferred to have Soroka working in relief.

8:18pm: The Diamondbacks are likely to reinstate Zac Gallen from the 60-day injured list for tomorrow’s series finale in Kansas City, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Gallen will split the bulk work with Michael Soroka, who is expected to come off the 15-day IL. Arizona already has an opening on the 40-man roster for Gallen, so they’ll only need to option two pitchers as corresponding moves.

Gallen has missed the entire second half with elbow inflammation. He made one official minor league rehab start on August 30, tossing 1 2/3 innings in a Triple-A game. Gallen threw a 60-pitch simulated game last Friday and will now return to MLB action (via the MLB.com injury tracker). Soroka, who has been out for a couple weeks with shoulder inflammation, tossed 59 pitches in a simulated game that same day. The D-Backs can expect around 3-4 innings from both righties tomorrow in what’ll essentially be a tandem start.

This has been a difficult season for Gallen, who has an ugly 6.34 ERA across 19 starts. His 13.9% strikeout rate is down seven points from last year’s 21.5% mark — which was itself a career low. Gallen has also allowed a few too many home runs for a second straight season. Although he’s still willing to attack the strike zone, the stuff clearly hasn’t fooled enough hitters.

Soroka has had a much better season, turning in a 3.40 ERA through 18 outings. He pitched well enough early in the year to hold a rotation spot despite initially being penciled for swing work. Soroka’s workload has again been checked by multiple injuries, however, as he missed all of July with a glute strain before last month’s shoulder issue. Soroka didn’t look as sharp in his three appearances between the IL stints as he had in an excellent first half.

Arizona’s pitching depth has been enough of a concern that they’ll happily welcome Gallen and Soroka back for the stretch run. Corbin Burnes went three scoreless innings tonight in his first MLB appearance in 15 months. The Snakes have won three straight games to maintain a half-game edge on the Padres for the final playoff spot in the National League. Gallen and Soroka are impending free agents, so they’ll also have a couple weeks to try to improve their stocks before they hit the open market.

Diamondbacks Release Max Kepler

Connor Byrne — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 02:20:49 +0000

September 8: Kepler has been released, according to the MLB.com transaction log. That was inevitable after the DFA. The Triple-A season ends in a few weeks, so there’s a decent chance he’ll remain unsigned until the offseason.

September 6: The Diamondbacks have designated outfielder Max Kepler for assignment and recalled catcher Adrian Del Castillo from Triple-A Reno, the team announced. They now have two open 40-man roster spots.

A longtime Twin, Kepler was at his best during a 3.9-fWAR, 36-home run season in 2019. That Twins team, known as the “Bomba Squad,” set the all-time single-season HR record (307, which the 2023 Braves tied). Kepler more recently totaled 2.7 fWAR and slugged 24 homers with the Twins in 2023, but his production has gone downhill since then. He has accounted for just 1.0 fWAR over a combined 1,018 plate appearances with the Twins, Phillies and D-backs since 2024.

After hitting .216/.300/.391 (88 wRC+) with 18 homers in 474 trips to the plate with Philadelphia last year, Kepler went unsigned until early June. Although he began the season serving an 80-game PED suspension, Arizona gave him a major league deal worth a prorated $780K.

The Diamondbacks activated Kepler on June 25, but he slumped to a .205/.262/.303 line with just two HRs, a career-worst .098 ISO and a 53 wRC+ over a 41-game, 145-plate appearance span. The 33-year-old has typically offered decent numbers against righties, though they held him to a brutal .192/.256/.283 line (47 wRC+) during his short run with the Snakes. The D-backs shielded the lefty-swinging Kepler from same-handed pitchers, whom he faced just 12 times before his designation.

Kepler made all 35 of his defensive starts with the Diamondbacks in left field. The team has also used several other players in left this season, though Ryan Waldschmidt and trade deadline pickup Lars Nootbaar are the only others who have made starts there in the past several weeks.

Although Kepler was not part of the solution for Arizona, it will enter Sunday a solid 75-68 and a half-game ahead of the NL West rival Padres for the last Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, Kepler will presumably clear waivers and elect free agency. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and collect the rest of his salary.

Photo courtesy of Colin Hubbard, Imagn Images (via Reuters Connect)

D-Backs Likely To Activate Zac Gallen, Michael Soroka

Anthony Franco — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 01:18:07 +0000

The Diamondbacks are likely to reinstate Zac Gallen from the 60-day injured list for tomorrow’s series finale in Kansas City, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Gallen will split the bulk work with Michael Soroka, who is expected to come off the 15-day IL. Arizona already has an opening on the 40-man roster for Gallen, so they’ll only need to option two pitchers as corresponding moves.

Reds Release Sam Moll

Steve Adams — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 01:00:20 +0000

8:00pm: Moll was indeed released after crossing five years of MLB service this year, according to the MLB.com transaction log. That gave him the right to decline a minor league assignment while collecting the rest of his $875K arbitration salary.

1:37pm: Left-handed reliever Sam Moll went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Reds and is now a free agent, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The team hasn’t formally announced the move yet, so it’s not clear whether he rejected an outright assignment or cleared release waivers, but either way, Moll is free to pursue opportunities with any club at this point.

The 34-year-old Moll has pitched 56 1/3 innings in the majors this year, logging a 4.79 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 11.7% walk rate that are both worse than league average (the latter, particularly so). His 51.6% ground-ball rate is quite strong, and lefties have managed only a feeble .217/.311/.296 line against him this year. Right-handed opponents, however, have torched Moll with a .293/.408/.475 batting line in 122 plate appearances.

Moll has spent three-plus seasons in the Reds organization. He was brilliant in 2023-24, working to a combined 2.31 ERA (24 K%, 10 BB%, 48.1 GB%) in 65 1/3 innings, but Moll has dealt with shoulder troubles that have slowed him and ostensibly taken their toll on his efficacy in recent seasons. Excellent as Moll was in 2024, he was limited to 37 2/3 innings when a shoulder impingement sent him to the IL on multiple occasions. He had three IL stints for a shoulder impingement in 2024-25 and also missed time with a shoulder strain back in 2022 with the A’s.

Moll’s average four-seamer is down 1.5 miles per hour from its peak. His sinker is down just over two miles per hour from its top level. That’s not a major shock for any mid-30s reliever — particularly one with four IL placements due to shoulder injuries over the past five seasons. He still sits 92.6 mph on his four-seamer and induces plenty of weak contact, though.

While Moll wouldn’t be eligible for the postseason roster with a new organization, any club that picks him up could take a look at him for the final couple weeks of regular-season play and would control him through next season via arbitration. Then again, with under three weeks to play in the current season, teams might simply wait until the offseason and try to bring him into the fold on a non-roster deal with an invitation to spring training.

Padres Sign Trevor Gott To Minor League Deal

Charlie Wright — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:32:07 +0000

Veteran reliever Trevor Gott has inked a minor league deal with the Padres, per his MLB.com transaction tracker. The righty spent the first half of the season in the Nationals organization. He’s been a free agent since early July. San Diego assigned Gott to Triple-A El Paso.

A pair of righties with MLB experience, J.P. France and José Leclerc, were released by the Padres yesterday. Gott will step into one of their vacated roster spots with the Chihuahuas. The 34-year-old posted a 3.55 ERA across 26 appearances at Triple-A Rochester this year. His ERA estimators were much higher, including a 5.16 FIP and a 5.75 xFIP. That’s likely because his 19% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate were both poor figures. The ERA was kept down because his .272 batting average on balls in play and 80.2% strand rate were both to the fortunate side.

Gott last pitched in the majors in 2023. He tossed exactly 29 innings with both the Mariners and Mets. The righty struck out 23.8% of batters faced with a middling 4.19 ERA, though it came with a solid 3.49 xERA. After hitting free agency that offseason, Gott had a chance to contribute in the majors, but those plans were nixed by Tommy John surgery. He spent the year on the A’s 60-day IL and did not pitch at all. Gott later landed in Seattle via a minor league deal and posted an 8.20 ERA in Triple-A last year.

Once upon a time, Gott was a serviceable big league pitcher, posting a 4.65 ERA in 243 2/3 innings spread across eight seasons. But he had mostly been injured and/or ineffective for the better part of three years now. The Padres will add him as veteran non-roster depth but he won’t be eligible for the postseason since this deal was signed after September 1.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Mariners Designate Stuart Fairchild For Assignment

Darragh McDonald — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:25:48 +0000

The Mariners announced that outfielder Víctor Robles and left-hander Hoby Milner have both been reinstated from the family medical emergency list. In corresponding moves, right-hander Troy Taylor has been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma and outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been designated for assignment.

Fairchild, 30, was added to the roster five days ago to replace Robles. He didn’t appear in a game in that time. Now that Robles has returned, Fairchild has been bumped back off the roster. Since the trade deadline has passed, he will have to be placed on waivers.

He just cleared waivers a month ago, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he cleared again. Rosters have expanded from 26 to 28 since then, which perhaps opens some space for him, but he wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any claiming team since the September 1 cutoff has passed. He would only be claimed if some club wanted to bolster their outfield bench for the final days of the regular season.

His reputation is that of a glove-first outfielder. In 1,561 innings on the grass, he has been credited with 10 Defensive Runs Saved and 10 Outs Above Average. He also has 27 stolen bases in 34 attempts in his career. But in 697 plate appearances, he has a .221/.309/.377 line and 89 wRC+.

That has led to him exhausting his options and becoming a fringe roster guy. He spent a few weeks with the Guardians earlier this year. He was designated for assignment, cleared waivers and elected free agency, which allowed the Mariners to sign him to a minor league deal. He was briefly on Seattle’s roster in August before being bumped off, clearing waivers, electing free agency and re-signing a new minor league deal.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Red Sox Notes: Crochet, Houck, Slaten

Steve Adams — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:06:20 +0000

Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and right-hander Tanner Houck are both hoping to make it back to the mound this season, likely as relievers, per Tim Healey of the Boston Globe. Crochet is throwing a bullpen session today — his second since being cleared for mound work — and could be ready for the first round of the playoffs if he can avoid any setbacks. Houck is further ahead in his own rehab work; he’ll throw around 20 pitches in a Double-A rehab game today.

Crochet hit the injured list early this season due to shoulder inflammation. As he worked his way through rehab from a seemingly innocuous injury, he suffered a lat strain. That setback has led to what’s now a five-month stint on the injured list for the 2025 American League Cy Young runner-up.

The 27-year-old Crochet tossed a career-high 205 1/3 innings last season en route to a 2.59 ERA. He fanned more than 31% of his opponents with a sub-6% walk rate and a strong ground-ball rate. Crochet did everything well and did so with the type of volume that’s rare in today’s game of shorter starts and deep bullpens. He’s sitting on a 6.30 ERA in his six starts this season, however, although that’s largely attributable to one nightmare outing in Minnesota that saw the Twins ambush him for 11 runs (10 earned) in just 1 2/3 innings.

Crochet notes to Healey that his preparation for a postseason bullpen return feels familiar — harkening back to his big league debut, which came during the White Sox’ postseason push back in 2020. A then-21-year-old Crochet had been drafted just a few months prior, but with no minor league season in 2020 and the lefty standing as a polished college arm, the Sox hot-shotted him to the big leagues and found plenty of success. He fired six shutout innings with only three hits and no walks allowed, punching out eight batters along the way. He faced two batters in Chicago’s brief postseason stint, striking both out. Whether he can reprise that type of return in 2026 will go a long way toward dictating how Boston fares during the playoffs this time around.

As for Houck, he’s on the mend from 2025 Tommy John surgery. He’s never pitched like the full-fledged ace Crochet was in 2025, but the 30-year-old Houck did notch 178 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball for the 2024 Red Sox. That year’s 20.7% strikeout rate was a couple ticks shy of average, but Houck offset the lack of missed bats with a very strong 6.5% walk rate and an elite 55.9% ground-ball rate. Last year, prior to surgery, Houck made nine starts and was tagged for nearly a run per inning.

If all goes well today, Houck is slated to throw around 45 pitches in Double-A on Friday. He’d then head to Triple-A Worcester for another appearance. Given that schedule, there’s a real chance Houck is back before the regular season draws to a close.

The news on righty Justin Slaten, unfortunately, is less encouraging. Interim manager Chad Tracy told the Sox beat that Slaten resumed throwing recently and, after some initially positive signs, experienced the same symptoms that sent him to the IL in the first place (via Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald).

Slaten, 28, landed on the injured list in mid-August after experiencing discomfort in his elbow. He was diagnosed with inflammation, and the symptom-free start to his throwing program created optimism about a quick return. There’s currently no timetable for his return, but he’s been shut down for the time being.

Slaten has yet to recreate the 2.93 ERA he posted in 55 1/3 innings as a rookie in 2024, combining for a 4.41 ERA in 65 1/3 innings since. This year’s 28.5% strikeout rate stands as a career-high mark, creating some optimism for improvement on his middling earned run average, though that comes in spite of a career-low 12% swinging-strike rate (which is still well above the league average). Slaten has added a sinker, ramped up the use of his cutter and near-entirely scrapped his changeup. The changes have produced more called strikes within the zone but a higher opponents’ contact rate when they do offer at his pitches.

The uncertain nature of Slaten’s status would make returns from Crochet and/or Houck all the more notable. Right now, the Sox are piecing the ‘pen together, relying on largely unproven arms like Wyatt Olds, Raymond Burgos and Alec Gamboa in the middle innings. Erik Miller has been great since coming over in a trade with the Giants, and the Aroldis Chapman/Garrett Whitlock pairing has been dominant all season. Still, getting some mix of a healthy Crochet, Houck and/or Slaten would make the relief corps more imposing on the whole as the resurgent Red Sox march toward the playoffs.

Bryce Elder To Miss 3-4 Weeks Due To Knee Surgery

Darragh McDonald — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:45:31 +0000

Braves manager Walt Weiss informed reporters, including Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that right-hander Bryce Elder had knee surgery today and will need about three to four weeks of recovery time. Specifically, the procedure removed bone fragments from his right knee, per Bishop. He has not yet been placed on the injured list but that should happen soon.

The knee issue has been bugging Elder for a little while. In a column from two weeks back, Bishop relayed that Elder mentioned the soreness first cropped up after his July 9 start in Pittsburgh. Elder pitched well after that and only experienced discomfort between starts, so the club kept running him out there.

Yesterday, it was reported that Atlanta would bump Elder to the bullpen, at least temporarily. With Reynaldo López returning from the IL due to his own knee issue tomorrow, the hope was to reduce Elder’s workload and the resultant wear-and-tear on his knee.

It seems the plan has quickly changed, as Elder has gone under the knife. In the grand scheme of things, it seems it’s a relatively minor procedure, as far as baseball surgeries go. Still, it’s going to make him questionable for the rest of the season. There are less than three weeks left in the regular season schedule now. The team is cruising to a playoff spot and could even secure a first-round bye, but Elder’s status will be up in the air for the time being.

On the whole, Elder is having a pretty solid season, though not always in consistent fashion. He has allowed 4.11 earned runs per nine innings over his 26 starts. He started out really strong, posting a 1.97 ERA through 11 starts, but then he had an 8.47 ERA over his next seven. That took him to the All-Star break, which seemed to help him get back on track. He had a 1.88 ERA in four starts after the break but then a 6.45 ERA in the next four.

If Elder comes back and rejoins the club, it could be as a reliever. Atlanta’s rotation consists of Chris Sale, Tyler Mahle, Grant Holmes, Martín Pérez and AJ Smith-Shawver, with López set to jump into that group tomorrow. Sale is locked into the playoff rotation. Mahle should have a spot as well, as he has been great since being acquired ahead of the trade deadline. Time will tell who else gets the ball in playoff situations but Elder probably won’t have enough time to both get healthy and fully stretched out.

Ideally, Elder’s knee can be fully healthy for the 2027 season, which could perhaps help him find more consistency. He had a 3.81 ERA in 2023 but then was at 6.52 and 5.30 in the next two campaigns. As mentioned, this year has been fairly decent on the whole but in seesaw fashion. He is out of options but can be controlled for three seasons after this one. He will qualify for arbitration for the first time this winter.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Asset Valuation Pt. 4: Messing with the Draft

Jonathan Vander Lugt — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:30:13 +0000

Wherein we change league size and keeper count to see how these tweaks impact the value of draft picks.

Source

Diamondbacks Activate Corbin Burnes From 60-Day IL

Charlie Wright — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:22:09 +0000

Right-hander Corbin Burnes has been reinstated from the 60-day IL, the Diamondbacks announced. He’s expected to start tonight against the Royals. Burnes hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 2025.

Arizona also recalled right-hander Kade Strowd. Righties Gerardo Carrillo and Jose Cabrera were sent back to Triple-A. The club had one opening on the 40-man roster. With Burnes back, the Diamondbacks’ 40-man is now full.

Burnes went down last summer with what was initially deemed right elbow inflammation. The injury ultimately required UCL surgery. Burnes only made one official rehab appearance, tossing two innings and 17 pitches with Triple-A Reno on August 29. He also pitched in a minor league scrimmage last week where he built up to 53 pitches.

Even if he’s limited in his first few appearances, getting Burnes back is a major boost for an Arizona squad in the thick of the playoff race. The Diamondbacks enter Tuesday’s action just a half-game ahead of the Padres for the final NL Wild Card spot. They’re four games behind the Phillies and five games up on the Marlins, so it’ll likely come down to the two NL West clubs for the last postseason berth.

Arizona inked Burnes to a six-year, $210MM deal heading into last season. The 2021 Cy Young winner was excellent over 11 starts with his new team. Burnes posted a 2.66 ERA over 64 1/3 innings before the injury. His strikeout rate was closer to average than it was at his peak, and a 9.8% walk rate was a bit concerning, but Burnes was still keeping runs off the board at an elite rate.

Burnes’ return is one step toward the Diamondbacks rotation getting healthy. Ryne Nelson is likely done for the season, but Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka are on the mend. Arizona could roll into the postseason with a solid staff led by Burnes, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Brandon Pfaadt. Gallen wasn’t pitching particularly well before his injury, but Soroka has been a solid contributor when healthy.

More to come…

Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat, Today 3pm

Steve Adams — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:01:49 +0000

MLBTR’s Steve Adams is hosting a live chat today at 3pm CT, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

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