Trey Mancini Announces Retirement
Veteran first baseman Trey Mancini tells Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com that he’s decided to retire after playing in parts of eight major league seasons with the Orioles, Cubs, Astros and Angels. The 34-year-old appeared in five games with the Halos earlier this year, completing his goal of making it back for one last appearance in The Show after a nearly three-year layoff.
“I think I knew over the last few years that I could still make it back up, and that was the main goal,” Mancini tells Kubtako (one of many must-read quotes in a piece readers are strongly encouraged to check out in its entirety). “Three years ago I felt so far away and removed from the game, and really at that point after getting DFA’d by the Cubs had lost all confidence. Just kind of wanted to be away from the game and thought I was done. But as time went on, something in me just wasn’t sitting right and I wanted to get back out there and at the very least prove to myself that I could still play, because I thought that I could. And I’m glad I did and glad I stuck it out.”
Mancini details the difficulty of chasing that final goal while leaving his wife and young daughter at home. Fortunately, the two were in attendance for his return to the majors. Suiting up one last time with them in the stands “made it all worth it” in the end, per Mancini, adding that he “never in a million years” thought when his daughter was born in 2025 that he’d play a big league game in front of her.
An eighth-round pick by the Orioles out of Notre Dame back in 2013, Mancini got his first taste of the majors in 2016 — a cup of coffee that perhaps fittingly lasted the same number of games (five) as the one he received in putting a bow on his career with the 2026 Angels a decade later. He clubbed three homers in only 15 plate appearances during that rookie showing, setting the stage for what the next several years in Baltimore would hold.
Mancini debuted on the tail end of the Orioles’ run as a consistent postseason contender in the American League East. Throughout the team’s rebuild, he was a fixture in the heart of their order and one of the team’s best overall performers. He finished third place in 2017 Rookie of the Year voting after batting .293/.338/.488 and belting 24 homers. Had he not happened to be going up against a fellow rookie by the name of Aaron Judge, Mancini and second-place finisher Andrew Benintendi would likely have been in a close race for the top spot in the American League.
The righty-swinging Mancini slugged his way into the hearts of Orioles fans for the next couple years. Overall, from 2016-19, he posted a .276/.335/.485 batting line with 86 homers, 88 doubles and nine triples. That includes a career-best 35-homer showing with the 2019 O’s.
With the Orioles rebuilding under new front office leadership and rapidly assembling an impressive crop of young talent, Mancini looked like he might be one of the organization’s linchpins — a core player who debuted just as the rebuild began and saw it through to the other side. Life had other plans.
Early in spring training 2020, the Orioles announced that Mancini would be leaving camp to undergo an undisclosed medical procedure. Days later, Mancini and the team announced that doctors had recently discovered a malignant tumor in his colon. He had immediately undergone surgery to remove the growth.
Seven weeks later, Mancini opened up in a poignant Player’s Tribune piece titled “I Am So Lucky,” detailing that he’d been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer just weeks before his 28th birthday. (Again, fans unfamiliar with Mancini’s story are highly encouraged to read the entire piece.) Routine bloodwork performed during that year’s spring training revealed abnormally low iron levels and prompted further testing. Mancini hadn’t been feeling any symptoms. As he noted: “Without the Orioles I never would have caught this before it may have been too late.”
Mancini began chemotherapy after his surgery. Nearly nine months after the original announcement from the team, Mancini gave not just Orioles fans but all baseball fans — who’d rallied behind him amid his life-altering diagnosis — the news they’d awaited. He was cancer-free. Alongside that announcement came his declaration to be ready for Opening Day 2021, and ready he was. O’s fans welcomed Mancini back with a prolonged standing ovation (YouTube link) — one that Mancini would say still induced goosebumps after the fact.
Mancini returned to the game with a 21-homer showing for the 2021 Orioles, hitting .255/.326/.432 in 147 games and 616 plate appearances. He took a national stage that season not simply by making his emotional return from life-threatening illness, but enjoying a strong year at the plate and participating in the 2021 Home Run Derby. Mancini bested Matt Olson in Round 1 of the event and took down Trevor Story in Round 2 as he made it all the way to the finals before falling to current Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso. By season’s end, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind: Mancini was named 2021’s AL Comeback Player of the Year.
Mancini posted similar numbers through the first half of the 2022 season in Baltimore for an O’s club that still hadn’t quite emerged from its organizational overhaul. As Mancini approached free agency for the first time, GM Mike Elias fielded trade interest ahead of the deadline and eventually wound up sending Mancini to the 2022 Astros — with whom he won a World Series ring.
That winter in free agency, Mancini and the Cubs agreed to a two-year, $14MM contract — the second season being a player option. Things in Chicago didn’t go well. Mancini hit only .234/.299/.336 in 263 plate appearances as a Cub before being cut loose. Until this final run with the Angels, that had stood as his final stint in the majors.
All told, Mancini will retire from baseball as a lifetime .263/.327/.448 hitter. He played in 836 major league games, took 3396 plate appearances, smacked 129 homers and 156 doubles, plated 404 runs and scored 408 times. He took home about $33MM in salary along the way.
More importantly, the affable Mancini was a clubhouse leader, fan favorite and source of inspiration to countless onlookers both inside and outside the baseball world. His career is one punctuated by the improbable — whether that’s an eighth-round pick carving out an eight-year career as a clubhouse leader and beloved fan favorite, overcoming cancer or making a mid-30s return to the diamond following an unceremonious release in Chicago and an absence of nearly three calendar years.
What’s next for Mancini remains unclear. He tells Kubatko that he’d been doing some public speaking prior to engineering his latest comeback bid and teased a potential future in broadcasting. Mancini jokes that 34 is too young to be fully retired, quipping: “I can’t play that much tennis.”
Whatever the cards hold, Mancini has forever captured the adulation of Orioles fans and baseball fans at large. Congrats to him on a fine career, and best wishes to the Mancini family in Trey’s post-playing days.
Astros To Select Ethan Pecko
The Astros will promote pitching prospect Ethan Pecko on Wednesday, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The 23-year-old will make his MLB debut against the Angels in the second game of this week’s series. Houston will need to open space on the big league pitching staff and 40-man roster in a couple days.
Pecko has gone from relatively unheralded sixth-round pick to one of Houston’s better pitching prospects. The 6’2″ righty has a five-pitch arsenal with slightly above-average control that should allow him to slot at the back of a rotation. Pecko lands sixth among Astros prospects at Baseball America and ninth at MLB Pipeline, with both outlets projecting him as an MLB-ready #4/5 starter.
The Towson product has missed some time in each of the last two seasons. Pecko missed the first month this year but has been in the Triple-A rotation since the final week of April. He has a 4.94 earned run average across 74 2/3 innings. That’s about the expectation for a pitcher in the Pacific Coast League.
Pecko has a league average strikeout and walk profile while working in the 94-95 mph range with his four-seam fastball. He also has a sinker, cutter, slider and curveball but rarely uses a changeup. None of those are necessarily plus offerings, but it’s a deep enough arsenal that he could be a serviceable MLB starter right away.
Houston could certainly use stability at the back of the rotation. Ronel Blanco only completed five innings in one of his first five starts since coming back from Tommy John surgery. The Astros optioned him after the Mariners tagged him for five runs across four innings on Saturday. Pecko could compete with Tatsuya Imai (recently demoted to the bullpen) for that rotation job behind Hunter Brown, Peter Lambert, Cristian Javier and Hayden Wesneski.
Giants Claim Shay Whitcomb
The Giants announced that they have claimed infielder Shay Whitcomb off waivers from the Astros and assigned him to Triple-A Sacramento. Houston designated him for assignment earlier this week. To open a 40-man spot for this claim, San Francisco transferred right-hander Trevor McDonald to the 60-day injured list. McDonald required Tommy John surgery earlier this summer and will miss the remainder of the season.
Whitcomb, 27, is having a down year and hasn’t clicked in the majors yet but his minor league track record is generally impressive. Houston sent him to the plate 102 times in the big leagues over the three most recent seasons, with Whitcomb hitting just .167/.216/.292 in that time. This year’s minor league line of .274/.338/.420 might look nice at first blush but it is bolstered by a .352 batting average on balls in play and still only translates to a 97 wRC+ in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
But his prior two Triple-A campaigns were quite strong. Over 2024 and 2025, he stepped to the plate 950 times at that level with an 11.1% walk rate, 22.6% strikeout rate, 50 home runs, a .280/.369/.520 line and 128 wRC+. He also stole 42 bases and lined up defensively at all four infield spots as well as the outfield corners.
It was that kind of showing that got him up to the majors, though he hasn’t been able to bring that type of performance up with him. As mentioned, he hasn’t been producing much in Triple-A this year either but still has 23 steals.
It’s an understandable claim for the Giants. Due to McDonald’s aforementioned surgery, they had a roster spot to work with. Whitcomb can still be optioned for the rest of this season and will still have one option remaining for the future. Even if his bat doesn’t bounce back, he could be a useful speed-and-defense utility/bench guy. If some of his 2024-25 offense comes back, that’s even better.
For the short term, the Giants have openings in their infield. They traded second baseman Luis Arraez. Third baseman Matt Chapman is done for the season due to hernia/core muscle surgery. Those openings should have made room for Casey Schmitt but he’s on the injured list himself. Willy Adames is not on the IL but is hobbled by a back issue. Guys like Christian Koss, Osleivis Basabe, Buddy Kennedy and Nate Furman are all on the roster at the moment.
Going into next year, the Giants project to have Chapman, Adames, Schmitt and Rafael Devers/Bryce Eldridge left to right, with the latter two also sharing the designated hitter spot. If Whitcomb is still on the roster, he could earn a bench spot or be kept in Triple-A as depth.
Photo courtesy of William Liang, Imagn Images
Astros Claim Nelson Velázquez, Designate Shay Whitcomb For Assignment
The Astros announced they have claimed outfielder Nelson Velázquez off waivers from the Cardinals. St. Louis had designated him for assignment a few days ago. Infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb has been designated for assignment by Houston as the corresponding move.
Velázquez, 27, started the season with the Cardinals on a minor league deal. He was called up in late May and spent a little over two months on the roster. He got squeezed off when the Cards claimed Everson Pereira recently.
In his time on the roster, Velázquez struck out at a 30.1% clip but also hit four home runs, leading to a .216/.289/.432 slash line. Velázquez is considered a poor defender, so he really needs to hit to provide value. His offense this year led to a 98 wRC+, indicating he was 2% below league average. That’s not disastrous in a vacuum but less than ideal for a bat-first guy. Since he’s out of options, he got nudged to the waiver wire.
The Astros are presumably interested because Velázquez hits from the right side. It was reported a few days ago that Houston was looking for a righty complement to the lefty bats in their outfield, with Daulton Varsho, Taylor Trammell and LaMonte Wade Jr. all hitting from the left side.
Against southpaws this year, Velázquez has a .200/.286/.473 line. That doesn’t look too impressive at first blush but it’s held down by a .212 batting average on balls in play. All four of this year’s homers have come against lefties. He has still struck out at a high 30.2% pace in the split but has also drawn walks 9.5% of the time.
After the trade deadline, Houston’s choices are limited. They were connected to Rob Refsnyder and Austin Hays in the reporting about their search for a righty, but Hays has since signed with the Padres. Refsnyder is still out there but the Astros will take a shot on Velázquez for now.
Picking up Velázquez will cost Whitcomb his roster spot. A fifth-round pick of the Astros in 2020, Whitcomb has been on the roster for almost two years now, as he was first called up August 16 of 2024. He got that promotion after putting up a huge .293/.378/.530 line in Triple-A that year.
His production hasn’t been as impressive since. He has only been allowed to make 102 plate appearances in the big leagues with a .167/.216/.292 line. His offense has also tailed off in Triple-A. He hit 25 home runs in 2024 and 2025 but is only at nine so far this year. His 8.4% walk rate is also a notable drop, as he was at 11.1% over 2024 and 2025. This year’s .274/.338/.420 line and 97 wRC+ aren’t disastrous figures but he’s getting help from a .357 BABIP and still coming out below par.
His down season has nudged him off the roster. Since the trade deadline has passed, he’ll be on waivers in the near future. Despite his numbers this year, he should garner interest. He’s generally good for 20 to 30 steals per year in the minors, with 23 so far this season. He has enough defensive versatility to play anywhere on the diamond outside of the battery. He is still optionable for the rest of this year and one additional season. Some other club should give him a roster spot and keep him at Triple-A while seeing if the offense turns around.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
AL West Notes: Soriano, Neto, Twins, Mariners, Correa, Leiter
The Twins‘ pursuit of a playoff berth made them aggressive buyers at the trade deadline, with Dean Kremer, A.J. Minter, and Jeff Hoffman all added as part of Minnesota’s quest for pitching. Such targets as the Blue Jays‘ Kevin Gausman and the Angels‘ Jose Soriano and Zach Neto were also explored, according to Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Soriano ended up being dealt to the Blue Jays for a three-prospect package headlined by shortstop Arjun Nimmala, who was the kind of blue-chipper the Halos were demanding for any of their controllable players. In Neto’s case, for instance, Nightengale writes that the Angels asked the Twins for top prospect Walker Jenkins in return, and Minnesota wasn’t willing to move the young outfielder. Despite the Angels’ increased willingness to discuss controllable players in trade negotiations, Neto and Reid Detmers each ultimately stayed put.
During an appearance on Jeff Passan’s podcast, ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez said that Neto “was given an assurance a few hours before the deadline that like he was gonna be their guy moving forward” as a franchise building block. (Hat tip to Beyond The Halo.) This interesting detail perhaps raises the possibility of future extension talks between the two sides, though Neto’s agent Ryan Hamill said in March that the team didn’t discuss any long-term deals during the offseason. Neto is arbitration-controlled through 2029 so there isn’t any immediate need for Los Angeles to extend the shortstop, plus the question is who would be negotiating that deal on the club’s end is still up in the air, given John Mozeliak’s interim tag as the head of the Angels’ front office.
More from around the AL West…
- Sticking with Neto, the Mariners also showed some interest before the deadline, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes. It might’ve just been a due diligence check-in, as Rosenthal notes that “the teams never exchanged names [and] the Mariners never even got a price.” While the Angels did move Chase Silseth and Logan O’Hoppe to the Rangers before the deadline, trading Neto within the division was probably another matter entirely, which may be why talks with Seattle didn’t get far. From the Mariners’ perspective, Neto could’ve been a long-term infield fix since J.P. Crawford is a free agent this winter.
- Carlos Correa‘s season was assumed to be over when the Astros third baseman underwent ankle surgery in early May. However, Correa hasn’t given up hopes of a late-season return, as MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart was among the members of the Astros beat to report that Correa was cleared to start swinging earlier this week. The swing progression adds to a list of baseball activities that include on-field workouts, running and sprinting drills, and “doing everything but hitting,” as Correa told McTaggart. It’s still too early to gauge whether or not Correa can so drastically beat what was a minimum six-month recovery timeline, yet the three-time All-Star has already made a lot of unexpectedly quick progress. Correa was off to a solid .279/.369/.418 start in the 141 plate appearances prior to his torn ankle tendon.
- Jack Leiter threw 33 pitches during a live batting practice today, as noted by MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry and other Rangers beat writers. Leiter believes he is ready for a minor league rehab assignment but the team hasn’t yet made a decision on that front. Ankle problems have bothered Leiter for most of the season, and after posting a 5.29 ERA in his first 15 starts and 80 innings, Leiter finally opted for an arthroscopic surgery in June to address the problem. The broad initial timeline was set for some point in August, so the Texas right-hander is pretty much on that pace, though it’ll depend on when he begins a rehab assignment and how many minors outings he’ll need to get fully ramped up.
Astros Pursuing Right-Handed Hitting Outfielder
The Astros are in talks about adding a right-handed hitting outfielder, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Rome adds that they’ve shown interest in Rob Refsnyder and Austin Hays, each of whom was released this week.
Refsnyder and Hays signed one-year contracts with the Mariners and White Sox, respectively. Both players had a history of hitting left-handed pitching. Seattle signed Refsnyder as a pure platoon bat, while the White Sox dangled the everyday right field job to Hays. Considering they’ve both been released, it’ll come as no surprise that neither signing went according to plan.
The 35-year-old Refsnyder simply didn’t perform well. He batted .140/.211/.254 with four home runs despite taking the vast majority of his 129 plate appearances with the platoon advantage. He also missed most of July with right knee inflammation. Even with the difficulty of hitting at T-Mobile Park, it was a surprisingly poor season for a player who mashed lefties at a .312/.407/.516 clip while a member of the Red Sox from 2022-25.
Hays’ tough year was related mostly to injuries. He only appeared in 12 games. Hays lost a few weeks in April to a right hamstring strain, then had a significant left calf strain in early May. The White Sox have turned right field to rookie Braden Montgomery and gotten excellent short-side platoon work out of Randal Grichuk in the interim. There was simply no room for Hays, who failed to make much of an impression by hitting .233 with one homer in his 44 trips to the plate.
[Related: How To Acquire Players After The Deadline]
Hays doesn’t have as stark a platoon split as Refsnyder. He’s a career .282/.340/.477 hitter against lefties and has a roughly league average .253/.300/.414 line without the platoon advantage. Hays has shown the ability to be an everyday player, but this is the third consecutive season in which he has missed time.
The Astros made their long awaited addition of a lefty-hitting outfielder at the deadline, trading for Daulton Varsho. They would’ve ideally been able to bring in two starting outfielders to play alongside Cam Smith. Only getting Varsho leaves them with a platoon of Taylor Trammell and a right-handed partner.
Houston swapped in Jake Meyers for Zach Dezenzo in that role today, starting Meyers in center field while playing Varsho in left against San Diego southpaw Robbie Ray. Meyers entered tonight’s game with a .206/.264/.316 line in 52 big league contests on the season. He’d hit .211/.283/.311 across 24 games in Triple-A since being optioned on July 4. Although Meyers is a quality defender, there’s clear room for an offensive upgrade in that platoon role.
It seems likely they’ll add someone on a major league contract. Signing a recently released player wouldn’t come at much financial cost, as they’d be on the prorated $780K league minimum (with their former teams on the hook for the rest of their salaries).
Aside from the aforementioned two targets, Stuart Fairchild elected free agency after being waived by the Mariners this afternoon. The Angels just released Jorge Soler as well, though he’s an imperfect fit considering he’s only played 67 innings on defense this year. They’d need to live with him or Yordan Alvarez in left field to get him into the lineup.
MLBTR Podcast: Trade Deadline Recap
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Dodgers acquiring Tarik Skubal from the Tigers (1:20)
- Should the Brewers or Rays have beaten the Skubal package? (14:50)
- The Tigers also trading Casey Mize to the Padres but otherwise standing pat (22:40)
- The Orioles trading Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox, among other moves (31:45)
- The Red Sox getting Rutschman and also sending Marcelo Mayer to the Giants for Erik Miller (40:55)
- The Rays acquiring Freddy Peralta from the Mets, Liam Hicks from the Marlins and Tyler Wells from the Orioles (49:25)
- The Angels trading José Soriano to the Blue Jays, Ryan Zeferjahn to the Cubs and Jo Adell to the Guardians but holding Reid Detmers and Zach Neto (55:15)
- The Blue Jays getting Soriano while trading Kevin Gausman to the Cubs, Daulton Varsho to the Astros and Jeff Hoffman to the Twins (1:05:30)
- The Reds not selling as much as expected (1:16:00)
- The Rangers not doing much of anything (1:18:10)
- The Yankees getting Heliot Ramos from Giants and Luis García Jr. from the Nationals (1:19:40)
- The Astros, Mariners and Rangers all have mild deadlines (1:25:30)
- The Braves not getting a big rotation upgrade (1:26:30)
- The White Sox getting Luis Castillo from the Mariners, Huascar Brazobán from the Mets, Brenton Doyle from the Rockies and Joey Bart from the Braves (1:27:40)
- The Cardinals’ and Cubs’ and Brewers’ deadlines (1:30:00)
Check out our past episodes!
- Trade Deadline Preview – listen here
- Chase Burns And Kyle Bradish Extended, The Reds’ Selling Strategy, And Some Pre-Deadline Trades – listen here
- JJ Wetherholt’s Extension, The Pirates Without Griffin, And Exciting Times For The White Sox And Marlins – 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 Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Trade Daulton Varsho To Astros For Spencer Arrighetti
3:52pm: The Blue Jays are paying a portion of Varsho’s deal, Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports.
3:12pm: The Blue Jays and Astros are close to a trade that’ll send center fielder Daulton Varsho from Toronto to Houston in exchange for righty Spencer Arrighetti, reports Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. The two teams are reviewing the medical records of both players.
Varsho, 30, will give Houston the left-handed bat they’ve spent months pursuing. He’s a free agent at season’s end, however, so the ‘Stros could be on the lookout for more left-handed bats in the outfield just a few months from now. In the meantime, they’ll get a productive veteran who’s been one of the top outfield defenders of the past several seasons.
Flashy glovework notwithstanding, Varsho is more than just a Gold Glove-caliber defender. He’s sitting on a tepid .243/.307/.375 batting line this season (91 wRC+) but ripped 20 homers in 71 big league games as recently as last season. Dating back to 2021, Varsho is a .230/.297/.425 hitter. That’s league-average production right on the dot, and Varsho is typically a quality presence on the basepaths each season, too. He’s 62-for-78 in career stolen base attempts, including a perfect 9-for-9 this year.
Prior to acquiring Varsho, MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez was the only left-handed fixture in Houston’s lineup. The ‘Stros have gotten some lefty plate appearances this year from young outfielders like Joey Loperfido and Zach Cole, as well as journeymen like Taylor Trammell, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Braden Shewmake. Alvarez, Trammell and Loperfido are the only Astros to log more than 100 plate appearances as left-handed hitters, however, and only Alvarez has reached even 200 plate appearances on the year. Houston’s combined 1142 plate appearances from lefties are the fourth-fewest in MLB.
With Varsho sliding into center field on an everyday basis, the Astros can use Cam Smith in right field and plug either Wade, Trammell or another forthcoming acquisition into left field. The Astros talked to the Twins about Trevor Larnach recently, but owner Jim Crane reportedly stepped in to quash a deal that would’ve sent righty Bryan Abreu to Minnesota in return for Larnach. It’s not entirely clear whether Houston will continue to try to add another outfield bat, but they could certainly use some more stability to help upgrade over the rotating cast of characters they’ve used in the outfield this year.
Varsho is playing the season on a one-year, $10.75MM contract. As of today, there’s about $3.294MM of that sum yet to be paid out. Per MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker, Houston entered the day with a luxury tax payroll of $235,766,794. They’re only about $7.5MM from reaching the tax threshold, which doesn’t give them a lot of breathing room, but does give them enough to shoehorn Varsho into the budget — even if the Jays aren’t paying any of his salary.
The Blue Jays, as they did earlier today when acquiring José Soriano from the Angels, add a nice arm to their rest-of-season rotation mix — one they can control multiple years beyond the current season. Arrighetti, 26, is currently on the injured list due to a nerve issue in his foot. The team hasn’t previously specified a length for his potential absence.
A sixth-round pick back in 2021, Arrighetti has at times been an unexpected boon for the Houston staff but has also been prone to extended slumps on the mound. He debuted back in 2024 out of necessity amid a rash of pitching injuries and got out to a brutal start, working to a 6.13 ERA through his first 15 big league starts. He then closed out the year with a 3.08 ERA and plus strikeout/walk ratios over his final 13 starts (76 innings).
A broken thumb and elbow inflammation limited Arrighetti to only seven starts in 2025. They didn’t go especially well, but he bounced back early this year with a 2.21 ERA over 57 innings through his first 10 starts. He’s since coughed up 31 runs in 31 innings and been placed on the IL due to his current foot issue.
There’s little doubt that Arrighetti has MLB-quality stuff. His late run in ’24 and early run in ’26 have shown that off in spades. What’s less clear is whether Arrighetti has the consistency and durability to carve out a firm role in a major league rotation. Houston seemed like a good place for him to do that, but repeated injuries have instead prompted the Astros to move on as they look to capitalize on summer swoons from the Mariners and Rangers which (combined with better play from the ‘Stros themselves) have thrust Houston right back into the playoff picture.
The Jays will be able to control Arrighetti for three years after the current season. He’s not yet arbitration-eligible but will be for the first time this winter. The right-hander still has a minor league option year remaining beyond the current season, so if Toronto adds more potential names to the 2027 depth chart — whether via trade today or free agency in the offseason — Arrighetti can be kept as depth without needing to pass him through waivers (which he certainly would not clear).
The Blue Jays entered the weekend with only Dylan Cease and Trey Yesavage locked into 2027 rotation spots. There’s surely hope that Cody Ponce, Bowden Francis and José Berríos can return to help the group next year, hopefully with an assist from younger arms like Ricky Tiedemann and Jake Bloss, but there’s minimal certainty among that group. Today, they’ve added Soriano and Arrighetti to that list, raising both the floor and ceiling of a group that now has a chance to be quite formidable … assuming someone doesn’t overwhelm them for Soriano in the next hour-plus.
Astros Have Discussed Foster Griffin
The Astros subtracted from their rotation depth when they swapped Spencer Arrighetti to the Blue Jays for center fielder Daulton Varsho. Houston now finds itself in the pitching market, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, with an hour until the deadline.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin is one player under consideration for Houston’s front office. There’s no indication the Astros have zeroed in on him specifically, to be clear, and other starters like Casey Mize and Shane Bieber are still on the board.
Griffin seems likely to be traded barring a last minute extension. The Nationals were swept by the Braves over the weekend and have dropped five straight. They’re 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot and finally look like clear sellers. Griffin, who is playing on a $5.5MM free agent contract, has a 3.06 ERA with a 22.1% strikeout rate and 6% walk percentage across 22 starts.
Marlins Discussing Liam Hicks, Kyle Stowers In Trade Talks
5:11PM: The Astros are one of the teams interested in Stowers, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports.
4:10PM: Just when it seemed like a 12-game losing streak had sunk their season, the Marlins have won six of seven games since that losing streak to jump back to a 58-55 record. Miami remains one of the more interesting “on the fence” teams as the deadline approaches, as they might now be shifting back into buyer mode, or perhaps looking to both buy and sell.
For the latter avenue, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic write that first baseman/outfielder Kyle Stowers and catcher/first baseman Liam Hicks are being discussed “more actively” in trade scenarios than Otto Lopez or Xavier Edwards. Miami is known to be asking for a ton in return for Lopez and the same is likely true of Edwards, and while Stowers or Hicks also wouldn’t come cheap, a deal for one of those two players might be somewhat more realistic.
In Hicks’ case, he is a hot commodity with so many contenders looking for catching help. Rosenthal/Sammon report that the Rays and (as previously reported) Red Sox have shown interest in Hicks. The Rangers also had interest earlier this year, but it isn’t known if Hicks is still on the radar since Texas just landed Logan O’Hoppe from the Angels. One catcher-needy team who isn’t in on Hicks are the Yankees, as New York is specifically looking for a right-handed hitting backstop.
A Rule 5 Draft pickup from the Tigers in 2024, Hicks had a respectable rookie season with the Marlins in 2025 and has taken a step forward as a solidly productive hitter this year. Hicks has 14 homers and a .282/.363/.432 slash line over 409 plate appearances, translating to a 119 wRC+. Almost all of that production has come against right-handed pitching, and a wide gap between his .351 wOBA and a much more modest .311 xwOBA can be explained by mediocre hard contact numbers.
Still, Hicks’ bat especially stands out from the catching position, and he has been at least an average defender both behind the plate and at first base. Hicks has been more regularly been used in the Marlins’ DH spot since Joe Mack was called up to the big leagues, with Stowers used primarily at first base.
Mack is one of the top catching prospects in baseball, and MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola reports that the Marlins have had “internal discussions about” an extension for Mack now that his big league career has gotten off to a solid start. This makes Hicks a bit of an overqualified option as a backup catcher, and since he and Stowers are both left-handed batters, they don’t ideally mesh well for a first base platoon. Obviously there’s still plenty of room for Hicks to get into the lineup via the DH role, and it doesn’t hurt having a productive bat who can step in behind the plate if Mack has any growing pains.
A hamstring injury delayed Stowers’ season debut until April 18, and perhaps contributed to his slow start over his first six weeks of action. Since June 1, Stowers has rebounded to hit .249/.336/.540 with 13 homers over 218 PA, and the move to primary base work seems to have unlocked his bat.
It was just over two years ago that Stowers came to the Marlins (along with Connor Norby) from the Orioles in a major deadline deal that sent Trevor Rogers to Baltimore. Stowers doesn’t reach arbitration eligibility until this offseason and is under team control through 2029, while the Marlins’ control over Hicks extends through the 2030 season. It would therefore take a sizable offer to pry either player away from Miami, but out of due diligence, it can’t hurt the Marlins to listen to offers just in case another team is particularly motivated.
Before he was hired as the Marlins’ president of baseball operations in November 2023, Peter Bendix was a longtime member of the Rays’ front office. The two Florida teams have linked up on multiple deals since Bendix went to Miami, which makes the Rays a particularly interested suitor for Hicks even beyond Tampa’s obvious need behind the plate. Catching has long been a problem area for the Rays, and adding a controllable player like Hicks would potentially finally be a longer-term solve for that issue.
