Rangers Designate Austin Wynns For Assignment
The Rangers announced that catcher Danny Jansen has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Fellow backstop Austin Wynns has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Texas also announced that left-hander Marco Gonzales, who was designated for assignment a few days ago, cleared outright waivers and then elected free agency.
Texas came into the year with Jansen and Kyle Higashioka as the catching duo. A right forearm strain put Jansen on the IL in June, at which point they put Elias Díaz on the roster. Wynns was with the Athletics and Atlanta earlier this year but became a free agent in June. The Rangers gave him a minor league deal at that time then called him up in July when Higashioka hit the IL with a flexor strain.
Díaz and Wynns have been the catching duo for almost a month now. In that time, Wynns got into 14 games and hit .276/.323/.379. When combined with his work for the other clubs he has played for this year, he has a .146/.195/.183 line for the season. The Rangers will now go with Jansen and Díaz behind the plate, so Wynns has been bumped off the roster. Wynns is out of options, so he has been sent into DFA limbo.
Since the trade deadline has passed, Wynns will be placed on waivers in the coming days. He’s not much of a threat from the batter’s box, with a career .230/.274/.344 line, but teams clearly like him as a backup/depth option based on his work while wearing the pads. This is his eighth big league season and he has suited up for eight teams. If he clears waivers, he’ll have the right to elect free agency.
Gonzales was once a solid starter in the big leagues but he’s relegated to depth guy at the moment. He missed the 2025 season while recovering from flexor tendon surgery. This year, he has given the Rangers 6 2/3 innings of long relief work with a solid 1.35 earned run average, but he has a 7.70 ERA in 69 Triple-A innings. This is the second time Texas has designated him for assignment. In both instances, he has cleared waivers and elected free agency. Last time, he re-signed via a new minor league deal and could do the same in the coming days.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Rangers Outright Luis Curvelo
The Rangers have sent right-hander Luis Curvelo outright to Triple-A Round Rock, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.
Curvelo, 25, was originally an international signing of the the Mariners in 2018. After the 2024 season, he still hadn’t been added to Seattle’s roster and became a free agent. The Rangers quickly snapped him up, giving him a big league deal in November of that year.
He has been an up-and-down arm for the Rangers since then. He has logged 29 1/3 innings in the majors, allowing 7.06 earned runs per nine, with subpar strikeout and walk rates of 18.7% and 12.2%, respectively.
He has generally been more effective in the minors but his results on the farm have taken a downturn this year. In 2025, he tossed 40 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.76 ERA, 22.8% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 50.4% ground ball rate. But here in 2026, in 25 2/3 Triple-A innings, his ERA is a ghastly 8.42. Some of that is due to a 54.2% strand rate but his underlying metrics have all moved in the wrong direction, with a 20.3% strikeout rate, 14.1% walk rate and 27.5% ground ball rate.
Those poor results got him nudged off the roster in Texas and every other club passed on the chance to give him a spot, even though he is still optionable. This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he does not have the right to elect free agency. He’ll stick with the Rangers as non-roster depth, though he will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if he’s not added back to the roster.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Rangers Designate Marco Gonzales For Assignment
The Rangers activated Jakob Junis from the 15-day IL before Saturday’s matchup against the Athletics. Junis will take the spot of left-hander Marco Gonzales, who was designated for assignment. Texas now has 39 players on its 40-man roster.
Gonzales had his contract selected yesterday. He was about as efficient as possible in his lone outing. The lefty entered in the eighth inning against the A’s with a five-run deficit. He got two outs on one pitch, coaxing a double-play grounder from Lawrence Butler to end the frame.
This will be Gonzales’ second trip through the DFA process with the Rangers. He was bumped off the roster after two appearances in late July. Gonzales elected free agency after passing through waivers, only to sign a new minor league deal with Texas. There’s a decent chance it goes the same way this time around. It’s a similar dynamic to what the Braves have done with Carlos Carrasco and Martin Perez this year.
Gonzales allowed one earned run over six innings in his first stint with the Rangers. It marked his return to the majors after spending all of 2025 recovering from elbow surgery. The 34-year-old struggled to a 7.70 ERA during his time at Triple-A with the Padres and Rangers this year.
The Rangers needed some length in the bullpen with Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day IL and Jacob deGrom nursing a triceps injury. deGrom will play catch tomorrow before a decision is made regarding whether he can make his next scheduled start on Wednesday, per Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. The club recently activated Jordan Montgomery from the 60-day IL. He covered two innings after deGrom left early on Thursday. Montgomery would be a candidate to step into the rotation.
The return of Junis will be a nice boost for a Rangers bullpen without many proven options behind breakout closer Jacob Latz. Junis comfortably leads the team with 14 holds. He’s also chipped in five saves.
Junis was a multi-inning option in the first few years after he transitioned to the bullpen. He’s been a more traditional high-leverage arm in Texas. The righty has recorded more than three outs just five times in 36 appearances, and most of those instances came early in the year. Junis hasn’t pitched multiple innings since early June.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Rangers Designate Luis Curvelo For Assignment
The Rangers announced a few roster moves before tonight’s series opener against the A’s. Texas selected left-hander Marco Gonzales back onto the MLB roster and recalled infielder Cody Freeman from Triple-A Round Rock. They optioned Cam Cauley and Ben Peoples to open spots on the active roster. Texas designated righty reliever Luis Curvelo for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Gonzales.
It’s the second MLB stint for Gonzales. Texas signed him to a minor league deal in June, selected his contract a month later, and designated him for assignment around the trade deadline. Gonzales elected free agency but quickly re-signed a new minor league deal. He allowed four runs in five innings in a Triple-A start on August 9 and is back up as a fresh arm five days later.
Texas stretched their bullpen in last night’s 7-0 loss in Anaheim. Jacob deGrom left his start after two innings because of triceps fatigue. They used five relievers, Peoples included, to cover the final six frames. Jordan Montgomery went 52 pitches and will be down for a couple days. Peyton Gray and Cole Winn have each pitched back-to-back nights and probably aren’t available.
Gonzales can eat some innings tonight behind Kumar Rocker if the game gets out of hand in either direction. It might be another brief stay on the roster, though perhaps he’ll stick around if deGrom requires an injured list stint to force Montgomery into the rotation. Gonzales has worked six innings of one-run ball over two MLB appearances this year. He has an ERA close to 8.00 in Triple-A between the San Diego and Texas systems.
His call pushes the 25-year-old Curvelo off the roster. The Venezuelan-born righty has made 26 appearances over the past couple seasons. Curvelo hasn’t found much MLB success, allowing just over seven earned runs per nine with a 19% strikeout rate while walking more than 12% of opponents. He’s having a similarly tough year in Triple-A, pitching to an 8.42 ERA with a 14% walk rate across 25 2/3 frames. Texas will likely place him on waivers this weekend, and Curvelo would need to accept an outright assignment if he goes unclaimed.
The other move sees Freeman replace Cauley as a right-handed bat off the bench. Texas will see a couple left-handed starters this weekend. The A’s will pitch Gage Jump tonight and Jacob Lopez for Sunday’s finale. Cauley hasn’t hit much in his first big league stint. Freeman is in the lineup tonight at second base over Nicky Lopez. Cauley’s demotion means Evan Carter gets the start in center field against a lefty.
Rangers Outright Jonah Bride
Infielder/outfielder Jonah Bride went unclaimed after recently being designated for assignment by the Rangers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Round Rock, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com.
Bride only appeared in two games for Texas. He tallied six plate appearances and went 1-for-5 with a single and a walk. The 30-year-old corner infielder/outfielder has spent the rest of the season in Round Rock, where he’s compiled 431 plate appearances and delivered a quality .282/.401/.425 batting line with 10 home runs and more walks (16.7%) than strikeouts (16%).
This is the fifth season in which Bride has logged at least some major league work. He’s totaled between 106 and 272 plate appearances in each of the past four seasons, suiting up for the A’s, Marlins and Twins along the way. Bride is a career .220/.311/.312 hitter in 696 major league plate appearances.
Back in 2024, Bride had something of an unexpected breakout in Miami. That season saw him log those career-high 272 plate appearances, and he slashed .276/.357/.461 with 11 homers in that time. He followed with a .100/.200/.100 showing through his first 45 plate appearances with the Fish the following season, however, leading to a DFA. The Twins picked him up and took a quick look, but Bride’s .208/.275/.236 slash in 80 plate appearances naturally wasn’t enough to keep him on the roster.
Bride has been outrighted in the past, so he can reject this assignment in favor of free agency even though he doesn’t have three years of major league service. Even if he accepts, he can become a minor league free agent at season’s end if he’s not added back to the big league roster.
MLB Mailbag: Alcantara, Caglianone, Rangers, Rockies
This week’s Mailbag looks at possible extensions for Sandy Alcantara and Jac Caglianone, the Rangers’ longer-term outlook and what the Rockies can do with struggling shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and his long-term contract.
Let’s get into it!
Chris asks:
What might a Sandy Alcantara extension look like?
Not that long ago, I’d have started any question like this by saying a trade felt like the far likelier outcome than an extension. Now, after Miami has gone two deadlines and an offseason without moving Alcantara despite good value — all amid repeated reports that he’s (understandably) a personal favorite of owner Bruce Sherman — another long-term deal seems like something the organization will consider.
First, let’s take a quick look at Alcantara’s return from Tommy John surgery, which cost him the 2024 season. Last year’s results — particularly early on — were gruesome. Alcantara needed a 3.13 ERA over his final dozen starts just to get his season-long ERA “down” to 5.36. Early on, he wasn’t missing bats anywhere close to an average level. His command was well shy of its prior standards. He was more homer-prone than he’d ever been. Opponents were making quite a bit of hard contact. It wasn’t encouraging.
Late last July, Alcantara seemed to turn a corner. His command sharpened, and his strikeout rate improved. He was still giving up too much hard contact, but that was more manageable with a league-average strikeout rate and plus walk rate than it was earlier in the season, when he’d been fanning 17% of his opponents with a walk rate around 12%. Alcantara didn’t have a dominant finish, but those 12 starts were a portent for better days ahead.
That’s precisely what’s come to pass. Alcantara has a 3.52 ERA this season and leads the majors in innings pitched. His strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates are all worse than their peak levels but are vastly improved over their 2025 levels. Alcantara is on an absolute heater right now, with seven straight quality starts — including three straight scoreless outings (a total of 20 innings). He’s sitting on a 1.88 ERA with a 23.4% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 42% grounder rate over his past 48 innings. It’s ace-level performance.
Skeptics can say it’s “only seven starts,” but if we go back to last July’s turnaround, Alcantara boasts 241 1/3 innings (37 starts) with a 3.39 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 44.8% ground-ball rate. Opponents are averaging 89.2 mph off the bat with a 39% hard-hit rate. It’s average quality of contact that plays down because Alcantara does a good job avoiding barrels and gets plenty of chase on balls off the plate.
Even if Alcantara is more of a No. 2 starter than a Cy Young candidate moving forward, he’s a workhorse who any club in the game would be happy to start in a playoff setting. The Marlins have him signed through next year by way of a $21MM club option that’ll be a no-brainer to exercise. He’s said he hopes to spend his career in Miami, and if the team’s repeated decisions to pass on trading him are any indication, Sherman is amenable to that concept. The offseason will be an ideal time to extend him, so as not to have his expiring contract casting a cloud over the entire season. Let’s jump into MLBTR’s Contract Tracker to pull up some age-related comps and see where such a deal might land.
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Top Prospects To Watch At Rookie Cutoff
Since the implementation of the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, the middle of August has been a common time for top prospects to make their debuts. That CBA introduced the Prospect Promotion Incentive, which can provide teams an extra draft pick if they carry a rookie-eligible top prospect on their MLB roster for an entire season and the player fares well in award voting (i.e. wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top three in Cy Young or MVP balloting within their first three seasons). Only prospects who made at least two Top 100 lists from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline or ESPN in the preceding offseason are eligible.
Players are rookie eligible so long as they have no more than 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the majors and have spent 45 or fewer days on an MLB roster or injured list. The latter criterion is why the mid-August promotion has become popular. Promote a player who has no MLB service time with 45 or fewer days remaining in the regular season, and they’ll remain rookie eligible for the following year. It’s unlikely anyone called up this late will have time to reach 131 at-bats or 50 1/3 innings — and the team can mix in load management days if the player gets close.
August presents a nice balance. The player can get some MLB experience while the team doesn’t burn the chance at a PPI selection the following year. Today marks this year’s 45-day cutoff, so we may see a few promotions as soon as this weekend.
The date is just one of various considerations for teams deciding when to bring up a player. Sometimes it’s not a factor in the club’s decision-making at all. The Tigers decided not to wait the extra two weeks to promote center fielder Max Clark, for instance, valuing the short-term impact that Clark could make on their playoff chase more than preserving eligibility for a 2028 draft pick. After all, most PPI-eligible prospects simply aren’t going to play well enough to earn the pick.
There are often countervailing roster considerations at play. Most of these players are not currently on their teams’ 40-man rosters. For clubs who have a full 40-man and no obvious candidates for a 60-day IL transfer, that means someone else needs to be designated for assignment. They’ll need to keep the prospect on their roster over the offseason. Some of these players would need to be added to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft regardless, making them likelier to get the call. Others who wouldn’t be eligible for the Rule 5 until 2027 or ’28 force a tougher decision for their teams.
The 40-man caveat is a particularly important one this year. There’s going to be an offseason lockout. Teams cannot have any contact with players on their 40-man roster during the lockout and they’d be subject to the work stoppage if MLB games are canceled. There will be a minor league season in 2027, in which everyone who’s not on the 40-man can play. If teams don’t need to keep the player out of this year’s Rule 5 draft, they could be more inclined to keep them off the roster to preserve their eligibility for minor league play as a hedge.
With the lengthy preamble finished, let’s run through some players who could be nearing their first promotion. We’re looking only at players who appear on at least one of BA’s or MLB Pipeline’s current Top 100 list. There’ll be substantial overlap between those outlets’ current lists and the offseason ones that’ll determine PPI eligibility.
Franklin Arias, Red Sox (Rule 5 eligible after ’27)
Arias, a 20-year-old shortstop, is one of the three best prospects in the sport. He pounded Double-A pitching at a .318/.407/.587 clip with 19 homers and earned a promotion to Triple-A shortly before the trade deadline. Arias is hitting .288/.362/.492 with three homers and a solid strikeout and walk profile in his first 14 Triple-A contests.
Boston came up empty in its deadline swings for a starting shortstop. The Red Sox are relying on Andruw Monasterio and Nick Sogard in the middle infield while awaiting returns from Trevor Story and hopefully Curtis Mead. Monasterio has held up alright with the bat, to his credit, but his defense has been sub-par. He’s certainly not standing in the way of a prospect of Arias’ caliber. This comes down to whether the Sox feel Arias has anything to gain from facing bad Triple-A pitching for another six weeks — and potentially whether they want to risk putting him on the roster before the lockout when he wouldn’t be Rule 5-eligible.
Gage Wood, Phillies RHP (Rule 5 eligible after ’28)
Wood is Philadelphia’s top pitching prospect and arguably their best minor league talent overall. He’s currently just inside the top 50 prospects at BA and Pipeline. The 2025 first-rounder has split this season between Low-A and Double-A. He’s technically working as a starter but is rarely going beyond four innings. Wood has tossed 71 frames of 4.31 ERA ball. He’s striking out a massive 35.5% of opponents against an 8% walk rate.
The 22-year-old righty clearly isn’t ready for a major league rotation job. If the Phils bring Wood up this summer, it’d be to lean on his plus fastball-curveball combination in short relief. Philadelphia lost top setup man Brad Keller for the season and promptly placed deadline pickup Caleb Kilian on the injured list with a left oblique strain. Kilian should be back before season’s end, but they’re running out of ways to find a reliable bridge to Jhoan Duran.
Walker Jenkins, Twins OF (Rule 5 eligible after ’27)
Jenkins is one of the likelier players on this list to be called up, perhaps as soon as this weekend. The fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft, Jenkins is the only player in the top seven selections who hasn’t played in the majors. That’s not any indictment on his performance, as he’s been slowed by a handful of injuries along the way. Jenkins missed some time earlier this year as well but has played 59 games and tallied 260 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, where he’s hitting .284/.381/.467 with excellent strike zone judgment.
Minnesota is playing Jenkins mostly in center field in the minors. He’ll be a corner outfielder on a team with Byron Buxton. Jenkins could take some left field starts from Trevor Larnach, who hasn’t hit much since the All-Star Break. Josh Bell, Luke Keaschall and Royce Lewis are all playing well, which clouds the path to playing time beyond left field, yet Jenkins could also cut into Bell’s reps if the Twins drop out of the playoff picture.
Charlie Condon, Rockies 1B/OF (Rule 5 eligible after ’27)
Condon is on the back of the Top 100 at Pipeline and BA. The third overall pick in 2024, he missed time last year with a broken wrist. Condon has had a rebound showing this season, batting .279/.395/.538 with 22 home runs across 453 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s striking out a quarter of the time while drawing walks at a robust 13% clip and averaging 90 mph off the bat.
There’s not much more to learn from Condon’s minor league performance. The whiffs are always going to be part of the package for a 6’6″ power bat. Colorado has gotten good work from rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield, but they can slot Condon into an everyday right field spot. There’s no real reason for him not to get a late-season look unless the Rox are worried about the lockout.
Joshua Báez, Cardinals OF (already on 40-man roster)
Báez was added to the 40-man last winter, so there aren’t any roster implications at play. St. Louis opened the left field job by trading Lars Nootbaar to Arizona at the deadline. Báez leads Triple-A hitters with 33 home runs while hitting .254/.326/.567 across 457 plate appearances. He’s striking out at a 30% clip, but as with Condon, whiffs are part of the package for a player whose game is built on immense raw power.
The Cardinals are still hanging around the playoff picture, sitting three games back of a Wild Card spot. Their deadline confirmed they’re focused mostly on 2027 and beyond, though, so the main consideration is simply when they want to expose Báez to big league competition.
Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat each reported that Báez is not expected to be called up today. Still, it’d be a surprise if he doesn’t get a look before year’s end, and the promotion could come any time now that the rookie date has arrived.
Ralphy Velazquez, Guardians 1B/LF (Rule 5 eligible after ’27)
The Guardians have dropped seven of 10 this month and fallen to fourth place in the AL Central. They’re still only a game and a half off the Wild Card pace. Even though their recent struggles aren’t the fault of the offense, a lack of production from first base and the outfield has been an issue all year.
Velazquez, a first-round pick in the 2023 draft, has split the season between the top two minor league levels. He destroyed Double-A for six weeks. Velazquez’s production has been more good than exceptional since he was bumped up to Triple-A in the middle of May: a .258/.338/.485 line with 13 homers in 60 games. Nine of those longballs have come within the last three weeks, though, as Velazquez has gone on a recent power barrage. He’s hit six homers in his past six games.
Cleveland is running a Nathaniel Lowe and Rhys Hoskins platoon at first base. They’re impending free agents. Kyle Manzardo struggled badly enough to be optioned after the deadline.
Michael Arroyo, Mariners LF/2B (Rule 5 eligible after ’26)
Kade Anderson, Mariners LHP (Rule 5 eligible after ’28)
There’s a decent chance both of these Seattle prospects will be up before season’s end. Adam Jude of The Seattle Times reported in late July that the Mariners were mulling a promotion for Arroyo as a potential option to address their offensive woes against left-handed pitching. It’s possible he’d have already come up if the M’s hadn’t pulled off the Taylor Ward trade a few days later. The righty-hitting Arroyo warrants a look in his own right, as he’s batting .296/.371/.489 with 16 homers and 15 stolen bases between the top two levels.
Arroyo will need to go on the 40-man this offseason either way. The Mariners don’t really have an everyday lineup spot to offer, but most of the offense has continued to underperform. They could bring Arroyo up as a multi-positional bat to play the role that Weston Wilson has for the MLB club.
Anderson, the third overall pick in 2025, is widely viewed as the game’s best pitching prospect. The LSU product is carving up Double-A, where he has a 1.13 ERA with an outrageous 41% strikeout rate in 17 starts. Seattle is seemingly keeping him away from Triple-A to avoid pitching in the more extreme Pacific Coast League parks on road trips.
President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has already suggested that Anderson is likely to come up this season, though it might take an injury in the rotation. “We’re not going to put Kade in the bullpen. He’s the best starting pitcher in the minor leagues,” Dipoto said in early August (link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). He went on to call Anderson “the next starter up” after the M’s traded Luis Castillo. Dipoto left open the possibility of going to a six-man rotation at some point.
The M’s might need to weigh that against the roster consideration, as Anderson doesn’t need to go on the 40-man this year. A promotion would make sense if it helps them get into the playoffs, but the team has lost six of seven since Dipoto’s comments. They’re eight games under .500, and while no one’s running away with the division or final Wild Card spot, this Mariners team just hasn’t shown any signs of playing to its potential.
Jamie Arnold, Athletics LHP (Rule 5 eligible after ’28)
The A’s selected Arnold with the 11th overall pick in 2025, a nice get after he’d spent most of his draft year viewed as a top 5-10 talent. Like Anderson, Arnold has spent the entire season in Double-A as the team tries to avoid the PCL affiliate. He has made 21 starts and worked to a 3.88 ERA while striking out a quarter of opponents against a 9.9% walk rate.
Arnold certainly isn’t dominating the way that Anderson has, but he has pitched well since an ugly May. The southpaw has run a 16:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his last two appearances, working 11 2/3 frames of three-run ball. The A’s started their other top pitching prospect, Gage Jump, in Triple-A this year. Perhaps they want Arnold to conquer that level before he’s on the radar for an MLB call, but he’s going to be in the rotation by the middle of next season. There’s a case for calling him up now to see if he should be in the mix for an Opening Day spot.
Josue De Paula, Dodgers OF (Rule 5 eligible after ’26)
It’d be surprising if the Dodgers call upon De Paula as early as this weekend. He recently turned 21 and has zero Triple-A experience. De Paula has destroyed Double-A competition, walking nearly as often as he strikes out while hitting .314/.415/.552 across 484 plate appearances. De Paula has a 20-20 season and is probably the best offensive prospect in the game.
There’s a decent chance De Paula would immediately be an above-average MLB hitter even if he skips Triple-A. The bigger concern might be finding him a defensive home. He’s a corner outfielder who isn’t going to get any DH at-bats or play right field for the Dodgers. Would they be willing to bench Teoscar Hernández to call up De Paula for a left field audition? That feels unlikely, but he’s a lock to go on the 40-man roster this offseason and the L.A. offense has been average since the All-Star Break.
Sebastian Walcott, Rangers SS (Rule 5 eligible after ’27)
Walcott would be the boldest promotion of anyone on this list. He’s 20 years old and has been limited to 14 Double-A games this year by elbow surgery (and a recent two-week absence for a concussion). He doesn’t need to go on the 40-man until the 2027-28 offseason. This probably isn’t happening, but Walcott has smoked minor league pitching whenever he’s been healthy.
Texas is two games back in the division and playing Nicky Lopez on an everyday basis, at least until Josh Jung is healthy. However, Walcott is currently DH-only in the wake of his surgery. Until he returns to the field, his best path to playing time is in the short side of a DH platoon with Joc Pederson. Maybe they consider rushing Walcott to the big leagues if they’re still a game or two out in September.
Minor Transactions: Bowden, Márquez, Martin, Strahm
The trade deadline set off a whirlwind of roster movement. In this post, MLBTR catches up on some players who were designated for assignment last week.
- The Athletics sent left-hander Ben Bowden outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The lefty had the right to reject that assignment and elect free agency but has already pitched for the Aviators a couple of times since being outrighted, so it appears he has accepted his assignment. He has a 6.65 earned run average in 47 1/3 innings in his career.
- The Padres have released right-hander Germán Márquez, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. As a veteran with at least five years of service time, he would have had the right to reject an outright assignment while keeping all his remaining salary. The Friars skipped that formality. They remain on the hook for the remainder of his salary. If any club signs him, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, which would be subtracted from what San Diego pays. Márquez posted a 5.26 ERA in 53 innings for the Padres but with worse underlying numbers.
- The Rangers have released right-hander Chris Martin, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Like Márquez, he would have had the right to reject an outright assignment while keeping his money, so the club has opted for the simple release instead. Any club could now sign Martin and pay him the prorated league minimum but he has a flat ERA of 9.00 this year while working around some injuries and he has flirted with retirement in the past.
- The Royals have released left-hander Matt Strahm, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Like Márquez and Martin, he would have had the right to reject an outright assignment while keeping his money, so Kansas City opted to release him instead. He can be signed and paid the prorated league minimum. He has a 7.32 ERA in 35 2/3 innings this year.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
Rangers Select Jarred Kelenic, Designate Jonah Bride For Assignment
The Rangers announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Jarred Kelenic. In a corresponding move, infielder Jonah Bride has been designated for assignment.
It was just two days ago that Texas added Bride to the roster while optioning outfielder Alejandro Osuna. That left the Rangers with a bit of a lopsided roster. They had three primary outfielders in Brandon Nimmo, Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford, but they didn’t really have an outfielder on the bench. Cam Cauley has some outfield experience but is more of an infielder. They have quickly opted to make a change.
The switch gets Kelenic to the majors for a third time this year. He began the campaign with the White Sox on a minor league and was on their roster for about a month starting in late April. After getting designated for assignment and electing free agency, he got ten days on the Texas roster in June. After being designated for assignment again and electing free agency, he returned to the Rangers on a minor league deal. He was released from that deal in July but quickly re-signed.
The book on Kelenic is that he is a former top prospect who has continually hit throughout his minor league career, including a huge .310/.408/.584 line this year, but hasn’t been able to put it together in the majors. He now has 1,557 big league plate appearances with 50 home runs but a 30.8% strikeout rate. Overall, he has a .211/.283/.372 line and 84 wRC+. That includes a .213/.304/.295 line this year. He has exhausted his option years along the way, which has led to all the transactions.
The strange sequence of events sends Bride into DFA limbo. With the trade deadline now in the past, he’ll have to be placed on waivers in the coming days. He has a .220/.311/.312 line in his big league career. He had a nice showing in the minors before being called up, putting up a .282/.401/.425 line. He has big league experience at the three non-shortstop infield positions.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Rangers Place Nathan Eovaldi On IL With Elbow Inflammation
The Rangers announced that right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 9, due to right posterior elbow inflammation. Fellow righty Ben Peoples has been recalled in a corresponding move.
Details on Eovaldi’s situation are still not clear. He started on Friday and went 5 1/3 innings. His velocity was down, but just a bit. He averaged 92.9 miles per hour on his four-seamer during that outing, after being at 93.6 mph in his previous start. There wasn’t any indication that he had suffered an injury but it appears some inflammation popped up, either during that game or perhaps during a between-starts bullpen session.
More details will surely be forthcoming in time. Regardless, it’s a notable loss for the Rangers. Eovaldi is 36 years old but continues to post solid numbers in the big leagues. He has thrown 132 2/3 innings this year with a 4.21 earned run average. His 24.7% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 48.8% ground ball rate are all better than average. He has struggled with the home run ball this year, as he has already allowed a career-high 24. SIERA, an ERA estimator that expects home run rates to even out in large samples, has Eovaldi at 3.45 this year.
Ideally, it will be a brief absence for Eovaldi and he can jump right back into the Texas rotation, though it’s worth noting his track record. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2007 and 2016. Since then, he has stayed fairly healthy but it’s normal for him to miss at least some time. This is his sixth straight season making at least 20 starts but he only got to 30 in one of those.
Time will tell if Eovaldi is slated for a long or a short absence. In the meantime, Texas will have a rotation spot to fill. Jacob deGrom, MacKenzie Gore, Kumar Rocker and Cody Bradford currently have four spots. Jack Leiter isn’t eligible to come off the 60-day IL until later this month and he hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment regardless.
Jordan Montgomery and Cal Quantrill are both in the bullpen but could be candidates to step up for a rotation role until Eovaldi or Leiter come back. Quantrill had a rotation spot from late June to late July but Bradford’s return from the IL got him pushed to the bullpen in recent days. Montgomery was just activated from the 60-day IL recently after working his way back from last year’s Tommy John surgery. He got stretched out during his rehab and just tossed four innings of long relief yesterday.
The Rangers are in a tight playoff race at the moment. They have a 59-59 record, which puts them half a game back of the Astros in the American League West. Texas is currently holding the final A.L. Wild Card spot but they are only a game ahead of the Tigers, with several other teams also in the mix. Losing Eovaldi, even if it’s for a short amount of time, doesn’t help them in that regard.
If this turns out to be any kind of long-term issue, it would obviously be much more notable for the Rangers. 2027 is the last year of Eovaldi’s deal and the final guaranteed season of the deGrom pact. Gore is also slated for free agency after next season. It is potentially a pivot year for the club’s starting group, so it would be quite a noteworthy blow if Eovaldi is slated for any kind of recovery timeline that extends into next year.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
