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[Tampa Bay Rays]

Reds Acquire Zack Littell In Three-Team Trade

The Reds announced the acquisition of starting pitcher Zack Littell from the Rays in what’ll reportedly be a three-team trade. Righty Brian Van Belle is headed from Cincinnati to Tampa Bay. The Reds are reportedly sending pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers, who’ll trade catcher Hunter Feduccia to Tampa Bay. Reliever Paul Gervase and minor league catcher Ben Rortvedt are headed from the Rays to the Dodgers. As of Wednesday night, only the Littell for Van Belle/Serwinowski portion of the trade has been finalized.

Littell tossed five scoreless innings tonight against the Yankees in his final appearance with the Rays. That lowered his earned run average to an impressive 3.58 mark across 22 starts. Littell turned in a very similar 3.63 ERA in 29 appearances a season ago. He has led the Rays in innings in each of the past two seasons while putting together steady mid-rotation results.

It’s excellent work for a player whom the Rays snagged off waivers from the Red Sox a little over two years ago. Littell had bounced around the league mostly as a middle reliever before Tampa Bay built him up as a starter. His fantastic control played well in a rotation role. Throwing strikes is the 29-year-old’s standout trait. Littell has walked fewer than 5% of opposing hitters in consecutive seasons. He issued four free passes tonight in the Bronx, but that’s only the second time he has done so in the past two years.

Littell doesn’t have eye-popping stuff. He sits in the 91-92 MPH range with both his four-seam fastball and sinker. Neither his slider nor splitter are huge swing-and-miss offerings. Littell had roughly average strikeout and whiff rates a season ago. This year’s 16.6% strikeout rate and 9.1% swinging strike percentage are each subpar. Littell surrenders a lot of hard contact and has had issues with the home run ball throughout his career. That includes an MLB-high 26 longballs allowed this season.

That profile seems a suboptimal fit for a pitcher who’ll now call the extremely hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park home. Littell’s consistency was clearly a plus for Cincinnati. He has worked at least five innings in all but one start this year. He has allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of 22 appearances. Littell has had a better season than Nick Martinez and Brady Singer have managed. Rookie Chase Burns has also been up and down over his first six starts.

Adding Littell will push Martinez to the bullpen. Ace Hunter Greene is on a rehab assignment as he works back from a groin strain. That’ll presumably push Burns back to Triple-A. Cincinnati would have a starting five of Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Littell and Singer at that point.

Littell is playing on a $5.72MM salary for his final year of arbitration. The Reds are taking on a little more than $1.8MM for the final two months. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Tampa Bay wasn’t going to make him a qualifying offer. They’ve played terribly this month and dropped below .500 with tonight’s loss. Their 3.5 game deficit in the Wild Card race isn’t insurmountable, but the team’s performance coming out of the All-Star Break discouraged the front office enough that they’re at least soft sellers.

Trading Littell, their only true impending free agent, is the obvious starting point. Closer Pete Fairbanks and second baseman Brandon Lowe are controllable for next season via club options. Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim has a $16MM player option. Yandy Díaz and Drew Rasmussen are each signed through 2026 with team options covering the ’27 campaign. Lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger is arbitration controlled through 2027. It remains to be see how aggressively they’ll shop players whom they control beyond this season, but the Rays have the potential to make a significant impact on the deadline.

The Reds part with a couple controllable players to land Littell. Serwinowski, a 6’5″ left-hander, is the more significant loss. The Reds drafted him out of high school in 2022. He has developed into one of their more intriguing low minors pitchers. Serwinowski ranked 10th in the Cincinnati system at MLB Pipeline and 12th at Baseball America. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs had him as high as sixth in the organization in May. Scouting reports praise his plus fastball-slider combination, crediting him with a mid-90s heater that can touch 97. Like many tall young pitchers, he has below-average command. Serwinowski also doesn’t have a great third pitch, raising questions about his ability to turn a lineup over multiple times.

There’s a decent chance the 21-year-old will end up as a reliever, but it’s easy to see the appeal of a pitcher with this kind of stuff and physical projection. Serwinowski has spent the season in High-A, allowing a 4.84 ERA across 74 1/3 innings. He has punched out an above-average 27.7% of batters faced while walking nearly 12% of opponents. He’s the headliner of the return from the Dodgers’ perspective as a low minors development flier.

Van Belle, 28, has yet to make his MLB debut. The Red Sox called him up in June but designated him for assignment a few days later without getting him into a game. Cincinnati added him on a cash deal and has kept him on optional assignment to Triple-A Louisville. A former undrafted free agent out of the University of Miami, Van Belle has combined for 81 1/3 innings of 3.21 ERA ball at the top minor league level this year. That comes with a below-average 20.2% strikeout rate but a sterling 3.2% walk percentage. His fastball barely scrapes 90 MPH, but he’s a fantastic strike-thrower who relies mostly on a mid-80s changeup to stay off barrels. He’ll provide the Rays a depth starter or long relief type who is in his first of three minor league option seasons.

Feduccia is the bigger get from Tampa Bay’s perspective. He’s a 28-year-old catcher who had a limited path to playing time behind Will Smith and Dalton Rushing in L.A. Feduccia has held a spot on the 40-man roster for two seasons but has only gotten into seven MLB games. He has been forced to bide his time in Triple-A, where he owns a .277/.387/.450 batting line in more than 1200 plate appearances. A left-handed hitter, he takes plenty of walks and has decent contact skills with minimal power.

Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs slotted Feduccia 31st among Dodger prospects in his writeup of the farm system in April. Longenhagen wrote that he struggles to control the running game but is a plus receiving catcher. Tampa Bay has cycled through catchers for years. They swapped out Danny Jansen for Nick Fortes in separate trades with Milwaukee and Miami earlier this week. Feduccia could push the out-of-options Matt Thaiss for the backup job immediately. He’s in his second of three option years and could be assigned to Triple-A Durham if the Rays don’t want to risk losing Thaiss on waivers.

Landing him required sending the 25-year-old Gervase to Los Angeles. A 6’10” righty reliever, Gervase was acquired from the Mets last July. Tampa Bay promoted him a few weeks ago. He has made five appearances, giving up three runs across 6 1/3 innings. He has posted monster strikeout numbers in Durham, fanning nearly 40% of opponents while pitching to a 3.12 ERA across 28 appearances. Gervase has paired that with a 7.5% walk rate that represents dramatically improved control relative to his early minor league work. The LSU product leans mostly on a 93-94 MPH fastball and mixes in a slider and cutter. He’s in his first option year and will begin his Dodger career as middle relief depth.

Rortvedt, who is not on the 40-man roster, backfills L.A.’s lost catching depth at Triple-A. At age 27, he’s actually younger than Feduccia but has far more MLB experience. He’s a .186/.276/.265 hitter in 209 big league contests. Rortvedt hit .095 in 26 big league games this year before Tampa Bay ran him through waivers. He is hitting .183 in 19 Triple-A games. He’ll be a minor league free agent at the end of the season if the Dodgers don’t call him up before then.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the Reds were closing in on a deal for Littell. Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Cincinnati was giving up Van Belle and Serwinowski. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first mentioned the three-team trade, with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic relaying that the Rays were flipping Serwinowski elsewhere. Passan had the Dodgers’ involvement and the full breakdown.

Images courtesy of Imagn Images.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/reds-finalizing-deal-for-zack-littell.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays, Twins Swap Griffin Jax For Taj Bradley

The Rays and Twins orchestrated a fascinating one-for-one swap at the deadline. Minnesota traded setup man Griffin Jax to Tampa Bay for young starting pitcher Taj Bradley.

Jax, 30, is one of a staggering five relievers whom the Twins traded in the past two days. He followed Jhoan Duran, Brock Stewart, Danny Coulombe and Louis Varland out the door. Minnesota dismantled what had been one of the best bullpens in the game. Of course, that doesn’t even address their biggest deal of the day.

A former third-round pick out of Air Force, Jax has developed into a high-end reliever. This year’s 4.50 ERA may not reflect that, but he misses bats an elite rate. Jax has punched out 36.4% of opposing hitters while running a 19.5% swinging strike rate. He ranks comfortably among the top 10 relievers in MLB in both categories. Jax posted very similar underlying numbers across 72 appearances a year ago. Last season’s ERA reflected that dominance, as he turned in a 2.03 mark through 71 innings.

Opposing hitters have a .389 average on balls in play against Jax. That’s the highest against any pitcher in MLB with at least 40 innings. Jax had allowed a sub-.300 BABIP in each of the previous three seasons. This season’s mark is a clear outlier, and teams continue to view him as a weapon at the back of the bullpen. Jax has the ability to run his fastball to 97 MPH on average, but his best two offerings are his sweeper and changeup. It’s a plus three-pitch mix.

Jax joins Pete Fairbanks, Bryan Baker and Garrett Cleavinger towards the back of a revamped Tampa Bay bullpen. He’s likely to work in a setup role in front of Fairbanks for the remainder of the season. The Rays opted not to trade their closer despite what appeared to be significant interest. Fairbanks could be the subject of trade chatter again during the offseason. If Tampa Bay pulls the trigger on a deal at that point, Jax would have a good chance of stepping into the ninth inning.

The Rays control Jax for two seasons beyond this one. He’s playing on a $2.365MM salary in his first arbitration year. Duran kept him from accruing many saves in Minnesota that would’ve built his arbitration earnings. He’ll likely land a salary in the $4-5MM range next season and could get between $6-8MM for his final run through the process. Tampa Bay straddled the line between buying and selling this summer, but they didn’t abandon hope of erasing what is currently a three-game deficit in the Wild Card picture. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, they’ll have Jax for another couple seasons.

It’s appealing enough that the Rays were willing to move on from Bradley. A former top prospect, the 6’2″ righty has held a rotation spot in Tampa Bay for most of the past three seasons. He has never really put it all together, allowing an ERA of 4.11 or higher in each season. Home runs were the biggest culprit over the first two years, but he missed bats at plus rates with league average control. It has been a different story in 2025. Bradley’s strikeout rate has dropped to a career-low 20.2% as he’s getting fewer swinging strikes. He has upped his ground-ball rate and gotten the longball under control, but his 4.61 ERA across 21 starts is right in line with his career mark.

Around the All-Star Break, it was reported that the Rays were open to offers on Bradley. It seemed clear that he’d fallen out of favor when they optioned him to Triple-A last week after he gave up four runs without escaping the second inning against the White Sox. That didn’t mean they’d trade him for whatever they could get, of course, but there was presumably a growing frustration with Bradley’s inconsistent results. Tampa Bay traded a pair of starting pitchers in Bradley and Zack Littell, but they’re giving the former’s rotation spot to hard-throwing righty Joe Boyle. They replaced the latter by acquiring Adrian Houser from the White Sox.

Coaxing more out of Bradley now falls on the Twins. He figures to return to the rotation in Minnesota. He’ll slot behind Joe Ryan, Zebby Matthews and eventually Pablo López in the starting staff. Minnesota also landed talented rookie right-hander Mick Abel from the Phillies in the Duran return. They’re clearly looking ahead to a 2026 season that might be under new ownership and hoping to build around young starting pitching.

Bradley may not have had sustained MLB success, but it’s easy to see the appeal. Controllable starting pitching is the most difficult asset to acquire. Minnesota has Bradley under team control for four seasons after this one. He has a four-pitch mix led by a 96 MPH fastball with the command to start. If the Twins can marry this year’s batted ball results with the swing-and-miss ability he has shown in prior seasons, Bradley would be a more valuable long-term asset than a reliever — even one as good as Jax.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Rays were acquiring Jax. Dan Hayes of The Athletic had Bradley’s return. Images courtesy of Lon Howedel and Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rays-to-acquire-griffin-jax.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Acquire Adrian Houser For Curtis Mead and Pitching Prospects

The Rays are acquiring starting pitcher Adrian Houser from the White Sox, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Infielder Curtis Mead will head to Chicago in return, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score adds that the White Sox will also receive right-handed pitchers Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples.



Houser, 32, had a rough 2024 season with the Mets but spent the offseason training at “at PitchingWRX, a facility in Oklahoma City where former Sox pitcher Lane Ramsey is the chief of operations,” according to James Fegan of Sox Machine. Houser landed a minor league deal with the Rangers in December, then inked a Major League one with the White Sox on May 20th. Houser had added over a mile per hour to his fastball due to his offseason training, and posted a stellar 2.10 ERA in 11 starts for the Sox.

Somehow, Houser has had this level of success despite a 17.1 K%. He’s had success preventing barrels, and Statcast’s xERA supports a sub-4 mark. Houser, a free agent after the season, joins a Rays rotation that also includes Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz, Drew Rasmussen, and Joe Boyle. Houser, a free agent after the season, can serve as something of a replacement for Zack Littell, who the Rays dealt to the Reds yesterday. The Rays optioned Taj Bradley to Triple-A a week ago, but today shipped him to the Twins for elite reliever Griffin Jax.

It’s been an interesting month for Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander, who also shipped out Danny Jansen and Bryan Baker earlier this month. The Rays simply aren’t afraid to make trades (including during a game with their opponent) and serve as both buyers and sellers. The Rays took a painful loss in New York against the Yankees today, with Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Chandler Simpson all departing early with injuries. The club still has a fighting chance at 3.5 games out in the Wild Card.

Mead, 25 in October, hasn’t done much with Major League pitching in stints in each of the last three seasons. Nor has he been all that impressive in Triple-A in the last few years. Still, Mead has spent ample time on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list, peaking at #36 prior to the 2023 season. He garnered a 55/medium risk grade at that time, at which point Baseball America considered him “one of the best pure hitters in the minors.” Though the Rays are considered a dangerous trading partner, Mead represents a rare misstep for the club, as they acquired him for Cristopher Sanchez back in November 2019.

Not known for his defense, Mead can fit at first, second, or third base. Those spots are occupied in Chicago by Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, and Colson Montgomery of late, with Andrew Benintendi taking a fair number of DH at-bats. Mead can likely work his way into the playing time mix. As Jim Margalus of Sox Machine notes, Mead bears some similarities to Vargas.

Davitt, a 25-year-old righty, earned a promotion to Triple-A earlier this month. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs described him in February as “a funky low-slot guy at Iowa who has successfully been turned into a backend starter prospect in pro ball.” Peoples, a 24-year-old righty, has spent the entire season as a reliever at Triple-A, posting a 2.65 ERA with a 12.3 K-BB%. The FanGraphs team wrote, “We’re betting on Peoples’ athleticism and delivery here, and still think he has a future as a fastball-heavy up/down reliever who has a chance to entrench himself in a more regular big league role if one of his secondary pitches improves.”

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rays-to-acquire-adrian-houser.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Place Jonathan Aranda On IL With Broken Wrist

The Rays announced a number of roster moves before tonight’s series opener against the Dodgers (relayed by Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times). Most notably, first baseman Jonathan Aranda is headed to the 10-day injured list with a left wrist fracture.

Tampa Bay reinstated Ha-Seong Kim from his own IL stint and recalled infielder Tristan Gray from Triple-A Durham. Deadline acquisitions Griffin Jax and Hunter Feduccia have reported to the team and will be active tonight as well. The Rays designated previous backup catcher Matt Thaiss for assignment and optioned lefty Joe Rock and recently acquired outfielder Everson Pereira to Triple-A.

Aranda was injured in yesterday’s game against the Yankees. He was playing first base when Giancarlo Stanton hit a chopper to third base. Junior Caminero double clutched, then threw wildly to first. Aranda reached the ball and collided with Stanton. He went down in pain. Aranda told reporters (including Mark Skol Jr. of Fox 13) that he won’t be able to do any kind of activity for three weeks. The All-Star said he hopes to return this year.

It interrupts a fantastic year for the lefty-swinging Aranda. He’s hitting .316/.394/.478 with 22 doubles and 12 home runs. Aranda has somewhat quietly emerged as one of the best hitters in MLB. It’s a major blow for a Tampa Bay team that has fallen two games under .500 and sits four games out of the last Wild Card spot. Yandy Díaz moved from his usual designated hitter spot to play first base tonight. Christopher Morel is in the lineup as the DH with an outfield of Jake Mangum, Jonny DeLuca and Josh Lowe.

Kim makes his return at shortstop. He’s back from a minimal IL stay due to a lower back strain. Kim had missed the first few months of the season rehabbing last year’s elbow surgery. Tonight’s game is his 11th of the season. The defensive stalwart is in the first season of a two-year contract. He can opt out in the fall, making his final couple months significant for the upcoming free agent market.

Jax and Feduccia are in line for their team debuts. The Rays acquired the hard-throwing Jax in a one-for-one swap for former top pitching prospect Taj Bradley. He’ll anchor the back of the bullpen. Feducca, meanwhile, was the key piece of Tampa Bay’s return in the three-team trade that sent Zack Littell to Cincinnati. He’d been in Triple-A with the Dodgers but jumps right onto the big league roster with the Rays. Feduccia will back up another deadline pickup, Nick Fortes, in a completely revamped catching group.

That pushed Thaiss off the roster. Tampa Bay had acquired him from the White Sox in May. The 30-year-old Thaiss had carried a .382 on-base percentage with Chicago but hit .225/.304/.282 in 25 games for Tampa Bay. The Rays clearly prefer Feduccia and are willing to risk losing Thaiss, who is out of minor league options. They’ll need to place him on waivers in the next few days.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/rays-place-jonathan-aranda-on-il-with-broken-wrist.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays, Yankees Swap Jose Caballero For Everson Pereira

The Yankees have acquired utilityman Jose Caballero from the Rays in exchange for outfielder Everson Pereira and a player to be named later, per announcements from both clubs. Both players were on their respective teams’ 40-man rosters, so no corresponding 40-man moves were needed.

The versatile Caballero adds plenty of speed and defensive flexibility to the Yankees’ bench mix. The 28-year-old is hitting just .226/.327/.311 on the season but is tied for a share of the major league lead with 34 stolen bases (in 44 attempts). He’s played second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield positions this season.

Caballero draws plus defensive grades all over the infield and in the outfield corners as well. He’s controllable for another four years beyond the current season but will be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two player in the offseason.

The 24-year-old Pereira ranked among Baseball America’s top-100 prospects in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 offseasons. His path to the majors has been slowed by injury, most notably a UCL repair surgery performed last June. Because of injuries and the shortened 2020 season, the Yankees were granted a fourth option year over the Venezuelan-born outfielder. He’ll be out of options next season.

Pereira got a brief big league debut with the 2023 Yankees but looked overmatched as a 22-year-old who’d only played 35 games above the Double-A level. He hit .151/.233/.194 and fanned 40 times in 103 trips to the plate (38.8%). He’s now in his third partial season at the Triple-A level and hitting .254/.357/.507 with 19 homers and nine steals in 314 plate appearances. Pereira has gone down on strikes in 29.5% of his plate appearances but walked at a stout 12.1% clip. He’s averaging 92.1 mph off the bat and sporting a huge 50% hard-hit rate

Pereira can play all three outfield spots and brings some upside to the Rays, though he’s continually shown a worrying lack of contact skills in the upper minors. He’ll give Tampa Bay some depth in the outfield. Notably, speedy outfielder Chandler Simpson exited today’s game with a hand injury, so the acquisition of Pereira could be tied to concerns that Simpson will miss time. Josh Lowe, Jake Mangum, Jonny DeLuca and Kameron Misner are among the other Rays options on the 40-man roster.

Jack Curry of the YES Network first reported the trade.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/yankees-to-acquire-jose-caballero.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Latest On Rays’ Deadline Possibilities

The Rays remain one of the tougher teams to pin down around five hours until the trade deadline. Last night, they shipped out impending free agent starter Zack Littell to the Reds in a three-team trade that netted catcher Hunter Feduccia from the Dodgers. While that could be the beginning of a broader sell-off, it’s also possible they viewed Littell — their only pure rental — as a unique case.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported in the early-morning hours that the Rays, at least to that point, had put talks involving Yandy Díaz and Brandon Lowe on the back burner and were focused on other pursuits. While it’s possible things have changed in the roughly 12 hours since Rosenthal’s report, Franycs Romero describes the Rays’ talks on Díaz as “currently stalled.” He suggests the club is holding to a high asking price on the veteran first baseman/designated hitter.

The Red Sox have been mentioned most frequently as a potential Díaz suitor. Even if the Rays were willing to trade the 2023 AL batting champ, talk with Boston would be complicated by the divisional factor. The Red Sox currently occupy the second Wild Card position in the American League. The Rays have played terribly this month but remain within three games of a playoff spot. They’re hardly buried.

Díaz is signed for next season at a $12MM rate; his deal contains a $10MM club option for 2027 that could vest at $13MM depending on his plate appearance tally next year. Lowe is in the final guaranteed year of his deal but under club control on a bargain $11.5MM option that comes with a $500K buyout. Tampa Bay reinstated him from a minimal 10-day IL stint (left ankle tendinitis) yesterday.

Joel Sherman of The New York Post tied the Astros and Mets to Lowe earlier in the week. Houston has since added the righty-swinging Ramón Urías to handle third base but presumably remains in the mix for left-handed bats. The Mets are now focused on offense after making a trio of late-inning additions: Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto. This morning, ESPN’s Jorge Castillo listed Lowe as a hitter the Mets are considering.

Beyond Díaz and Lowe, the Rays have gotten a lot of hits on closer Pete Fairbanks. He’s playing on a $3.667MM salary and has a club option for next season. Lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger, who is eligible for arbitration for another two years, is a player to watch. The Rays were also reportedly listening on 24-year-old starter Taj Bradley earlier this month.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/latest-on-rays-deadline-possibilities-2.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Latest On Cubs’ Starting Pitching Pursuits

The Cubs are known to be in the market for starting pitching help, and it’s not very hard to see why. Justin Steele has been out for nearly the entire season after undergoing surgery on his UCL and won’t be back until sometime next year. Jameson Taillon is currently on the injured list, as are depth arms like Javier Assad and Brandon Birdsell. Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd are having their innings carefully monitored after not getting much volume in last year. Shota Imanaga has already spent time on the injured list and has some worrisome peripheral numbers.

All of that has led the Cubs to be connected to the vast majority of rumored starting pitching options available on the trade market, ranging from depth additions like Adrian Houser, to high-value rentals like Dylan Cease and Merrill Kelly, to controllable arms like Mitch Keller and MacKenzie Gore. Reporting from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers this morning offers a fresh look at some of the other arms Chicago is taking a look at with just over 30 hours to go until the deadline. Rogers writes that the Cubs have shown interest in Orioles right-hander Zach Eflin and spoken to the Rays about their starting pitchers, while Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that Guardians righty Shane Bieber is “an option” for the Cubs.

Eflin, 31, has struggled badly this year with a 5.93 ERA and 5.60 FIP in 14 starts. A 4.39 SIERA and an absurd 19.4% home run to fly ball ratio suggest that some poor fortune could be baked into Eflin’s results this year, but even so it’s hard to view him as more than a back-of-the-rotation addition for this season. With that being said, the right-hander does have some intriguing past success under his belt. From 2020 through 2024, Eflin tossed 583 1/3 innings of work with a solid 3.76 ERA and 3.46 FIP. He struck out 23.2% of his opponents in that time while walking just 3.9%. If Eflin can recapture that quality mid-rotation form, he could theoretically pitch in for Chicago’s prospective playoff rotation this year, though that seems unlikely to be something the Cubs (or any acquiring club) would count on.

Bieber is another potential buy-low candidate, albeit for a very different reason. He hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since early in the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and while he’s expected back at some point in August it’s always uncertain what sort of production a pitcher coming off major injury will be able to offer. The 2020 AL Cy Young award winner has a 3.22 ERA and 3.09 FIP for his career, however, and if he’s healthy and at his usual level of effectiveness would immediately slot in towards the top of the Cubs’ rotation.

Bieber’s contract affords him a $16MM player option with a $4MM buyout for the 2026 season. That $12MM decision figures to be an easy one for Bieber to make, and he’s all be certain to decline it and return to free agency unless he suffers some sort of new injury that would impact his 2026 campaign. Still, player options are at times viewed as a “poison pill” of sorts in trade negotiations, as the Cubs saw for themselves when they dealt Cody Bellinger to the Yankees over the offseason in what amounted to little more than a salary dump. Perhaps that could lower the acquisition cost of Bieber, making the fact that he won’t be able to immediately impact a Cubs rotation in desperate need of help more palatable.

As for the Rays, the club is routinely willing to at least listen on virtually its entire roster even when they’re buyers and appears to be leaning more towards selling in recent days. That makes it hard to know what starters the Cubs could be discussing with Tampa. Pending free agent Zack Littell has a 3.72 ERA in 21 starts this year despite shaky peripherals and could fit the sort of depth-starter mold that options like Eflin and Houser can fill. Young right-hander Taj Bradley would be an intriguing controllable addition who the Rays are reportedly willing to listen to offers on. He’s pitched to a 4.33 ERA with a 4.14 FIP over the past two seasons and is still just 24 years old.

No trade can be fully ruled out when it comes to the Rays, so perhaps someone else from the club’s rotation could be available as well. With that being said, Drew Rasmussen extended with the club through the 2027 season back in January and is approaching his innings limit this year while youngsters like Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz are still in their pre-arbitration years. The acquisition cost for any of those three players would surely be exorbitant, however, and there have been no signals that any of those arms are even available beyond the Rays’ general tendency to listen to offers on virtually all of their players. Even by Tampa’s standards, however, a trade of one of those three would register as a major surprise.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/latest-on-cubs-starting-pitching-pursuits.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

AL Notes: Thornton, Buxton, Rays, Vargas

The Mariners placed Trent Thornton on the 15-day injured list on Friday, and announced that the right-hander will miss the rest of the season due to a torn left Achilles tendon. Thornton had to be carted off the field after he suffered the injury in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 6-0 M’s win over the Rangers, as the reliever fell while leaving the mound to cover first base on an Adolis Garcia grounder. Follow-up tests revealed the unfortunate and expected news of an Achilles tear, and while a specific recovery timeline isn’t yet known, Thornton could be in jeopardy of missing some time at the start of the 2026 season.

Thornton has a 4.68 ERA over 42 1/3 innings for Seattle this season. A few particularly rough blowups have inflated his ERA, but his 17.8% strikeout rate is well below Thornton’s 26.2 K% from 2024. Owed a raise from his current $2MM salary in his final year of salary arbitration, Thornton will probably still be inexpensive enough that he won’t be non-tendered this winter, barring an unwelcome injury diagnosis. Since coming to the Mariners in a trade from the Blue Jays prior to the 2023 deadline, Thornton has been a workhorse out of Seattle’s pen, with a 3.65 ERA over 140 2/3 innings.

More from around the American League…

• Byron Buxton firmly denied any possibility of a trade away from the Twins back in mid-July, stating that he would use his contract’s no-trade provision to remain “a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life.” It probably isn’t surprising that Buxton hasn’t changed course just a few weeks later, but in the wake of the Twins’ deadline selloff, Buxton reiterated to the Athletic’s Dan Hayes and other reporters that “nothing’s changed. It’s just part of baseball. It’s the business side of it. Just cause we go through these tough roads or whatever, it is what it is. We’ll be better once we get on the other end of it and figure things out a little bit more….But I ain’t going nowhere.” Buxton is owed roughly $49.6MM through the end of the 2028 season, and he has full no-trade protection until the end of the 2026 campaign.
• Most of the Rays’ deadline moves saw the team obtain either big leaguers or big league-ready talent in return, which was the team’s stated goal in any deal involving controllable talent heading out of Tampa. President of baseball operations Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that the Rays received “a lot of interest” in some veteran players, but “that wasn’t going to happen for A-ball prospects this time around.” The intention is to keep the team competitive for 2026 but also not robbing this year’s team of a chance to make a late run. The Rays have dug themselves into a hole with their dismal play over the last five weeks, as the club is now 55-58 and sit five games back of the final AL wild card berth.
• Miguel Vargas was a late scratch from Saturday’s White Sox lineup, and the team placed the corner infielder on the 10-day injured list today due to a left oblique strain. While oblique problems are difficult to diagnose in terms of a timeline, Vargas’ strain is believed to be mild, so he could only miss a couple of weeks. A very streaky season has evened out to a 97 wRC+ for Vargas over 439 plate appearances, with 13 home runs and a .229/.305/.402 slash line in Vargas’ first full season in Chicago.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/al-notes-thornton-buxton-rays-vargas.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Claim Jesse Scholtens

The Rays announced that they have claimed right-hander Jesse Scholtens off waivers from the White Sox and sent him to Triple-A Durham. Chicago designated him for assignment yesterday. The Rays also announced that catcher Matt Thaiss, who was designated for assignment a few days ago, has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham. Scholtens effectively takes the 40-man spot recently vacated by Thaiss.

Scholtens, 31, made his major league debut in 2023 but hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since then. He underwent Tommy John surgery in February of 2024, which led to him missing that entire season. He spent a decent chunk of 2025 on the injured list as well. Once he was ready to come off the IL, the Sox optioned him to the minors.

His major league track record consists of 85 innings tossed in a swing role a couple of years ago. He made 11 starts and 15 relief appearances for the Sox with a 5.29 earned run average, 15.4% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate.

Since those numbers don’t jump off the page, the Rays are presumably more interested in his minor league work. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 231 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Most of that was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, as Scholtens was in the Padres’ system through the end of 2022. Over those three years, he had a 4.58 ERA but his 24.3% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate were both better than average.

He hasn’t yet been able to get back to that level. This year, he has thrown 36 minor league innings with a 5.25 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. But as mentioned, he’s coming back from Tommy John and is perhaps still ramping up. Scholtens still has options and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration, so he’ll give the Rays some cheap Triple-A pitching depth for now. The club has a decent track record of helping pitchers maximize their results, so perhaps they can sprinkle some of their magic dust on Scholtens in the coming years.

Thaiss, 30, was also acquired by the Rays from the White Sox. Chicago had a bit of a squeeze behind the plate and sent Thaiss to the Rays in May for minor league outfielder Dru Baker. Thaiss got into 25 games for the Rays, backing up Danny Jansen, but he slashed just .225/.304/.282 for a wRC+ of 69.

Tampa shook up their catching spot recently. They traded Jansen to the Brewers but also acquired Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia, squeezing Thaiss out of the picture. Since he’s out of options, he got pushed off the 40-man.

His offense has occasionally been intriguing since he draws so many walks but he also strikes out a lot and his defense behind the plate isn’t especially well regarded. There has been enough interest for him to bounce around the league in the past year, going from the Angels to the Cubs, White Sox and Rays in small deals, but every club declined to give him a roster spot this week.

Thaiss has a service clock between three and five years. That means he has the right to reject an outright assignment but has to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to do so. He is making $1MM this year, with roughly $300K still to be paid out. Understandably, he had accepted this assignment to keep collecting the rest of that money. He’ll give the Rays some non-roster catching depth for now.

If he’s not added back to the 40-man by the end of the season, he’ll have the right to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man roster during a season.

Photo courtesy of David Reginek, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/rays-claim-jesse-scholtens.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Griffin Jax Requested Trade From Twins

The Twins traded right-hander Griffin Jax to the Rays in the final moments before the trade deadline last week, with right-hander Taj Bradley going the other way. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that Jax requested a trade once he saw the extent of the selloff in Minnesota.

Things in Minnesota have changed rapidly in a short amount of time. They hung around the playoff race for most of the year and it wasn’t even clear that they would do any selling at all as of a few weeks ago. On July 22nd, it was reported that they were warming to the idea of selling rental players, but would need to be bowled over by the offers to move controllable guys like Jax, Jhoan Durán, Joe Ryan and others.

In the end, their deadline selloff wound up being far more extensive than anticipated. In addition to trading all several rental players, they flipped Durán to the Phillies, Jax to the Rays, Louis Varland to the Blue Jays and, most surprising of all, infielder Carlos Correa to the Astros.

According to the report from Hayes, Jax got wind of the Correa situation from the infielder himself. Jax and manager Rocco Baldelli got into a dispute on July 30th, the day before the deadline, about Jax being removed from that day’s game. Correa offered to be present for a meeting between the two. After that meeting, Correa informed Jax about conversations he’d had with president of baseball operations Derek Falvey about the team’s direction.

Then on Thursday, the extent of the teardown became clear to everyone. Durán had already been traded on Wednesday but reports of the Correa deal came out about two hours prior to the deadline. The Varland deal and the Jax deal were both reported right around the deadline on Thursday. Hayes reports that Jax asked his representative to request a trade at some point on Thursday, once he saw the writing on the wall.

From the righty’s perspective, it’s an understandable request. He is controllable for two years after this one and is about to turn 31 years old. The Twins could perhaps compete again in 2026 or 2027 but the trading of controllable pieces sends a message that they also might not have high hopes about the possibility.

There’s plenty of uncertainty beyond the roster as well. The Pohlad family is actively trying to sell the club. It’s unknown exactly when a sale will be finalized. Once a sale takes place, it’s anyone’s guess who the new owners will be or what kind of plans they would have for the payroll.

While the Pohlad family is still in charge, the safe bet is on minimal investments. In the most recent offseason, the Twins spent a combined $10.25MM on one-year deals for Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe and Ty France. Ahead of the deadline, sending out payroll commitments seemed to be a priority. The Twins included Randy Dobnak in the Paddack deal, seemingly to save a few million. Money also may have been a factor in sending France to the Jays alongside Varland. Shipping out Correa also scrubbed millions of dollars from the future books. That deal brought back one prospect but is generally viewed as a salary dump.

The Twins do still have lots of talented players on the roster but the future outlook has darkened in recent days. “Now no one wants to stay if they are selling like this,” an unidentified player said to Hayes on deadline day.

That sentiment is perhaps extra true for Jax, given his age. He presumably would rather not spend his age-31 and -32 seasons pitching for a rebuilding club. He didn’t wind up in a vastly superior situation. The Rays are 55-58 and only two games ahead of the Twins in the standings. They also don’t spend tons of money. However, they generally find ways to be in the playoff race even without big budgets. They also tend not to hold players all the way to free agency, so perhaps Jax will end up being traded again in the offseason or at next year’s deadline.

For the Twins, more clarity on their plans will still need to emerge. Time will tell when the sale of the franchise will pick up real steam. The identity of the buyer or buyers and their plans will presumably have a big impact on the near-term future of the Minnesota club.

Photo courtesy of Jay Biggerstaff, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/griffin-jax-requested-trade-from-twins.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays, Rangers Have Had “Preliminary” Talks On Pete Fairbanks

The Rangers and Rays have had “at least preliminary” conversations about Tampa Bay closer Pete Fairbanks, writes Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. Fairbanks is one of a handful of Rays veterans whose status is up in the air as the team considers its deadline approach.

Tampa Bay lost to the Yankees tonight, falling back to .500 in the process. They’re now three games back in the Wild Card race. That’s hardly insurmountable, yet the trend lines are not good. The Rays have a 7-16 record this month, an ill-timed skid that seemingly has forced the front office to more seriously consider a sell-off. ESPN’s Buster Olney relayed this afternoon that other teams expect the Rays to serve as one of the bigger sellers in the next two days.

It was less than a week ago that The Athletic reported that the Rays preferred to hold Fairbanks. Perhaps that’s still the case, but the Rays have dropped five out of six since then. A bubble team’s plans can change quickly this time of year. If the Rays do sell, Fairbanks would be an obvious candidate. He’s in the final guaranteed season of his three-year contract. There’s a club option for next season that’ll very likely be in eight figures after accounting for various escalators. That’d be a significant price for Tampa Bay to spend on a relief pitcher.

The 31-year-old Fairbanks is playing this season on a much cheaper $3.667MM salary. That’d be appealing to any team but would take on extra importance for Texas given their proximity to the luxury tax threshold. There’s no indication that Fairbanks is a specific priority for the Rangers, however. They’re casting a wide net in the search for a late-inning reliever and have also been tied to Ryan Helsley, David Bednar and Colorado’s Jake Bird within the past 12 hours.

Fairbanks would be a familiar face for some in the organization. Texas drafted him in the ninth round in 2015 and called him up for an eight-game cameo four years later. They traded him to the Rays in a regrettable 2019 deadline deal for Nick Solak. Fairbanks has become a high-leverage piece in Tampa Bay. He’s currently carrying a 2.75 ERA with 18 saves in 21 opportunities across 39 1/3 innings. This year’s 20.2% strikeout rate is a career low, which is a red flag, but he’s averaging his customary 97 MPH on his fastball and would immediately be the top power arm in the Texas bullpen.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-had-preliminary-talks-on-pete-fairbanks.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Astros, Mets Have Expressed Interest In Brandon Lowe

The Rays are a game above .500 and sit 2.5 back of the AL’s final Wild Card spot. A terrible 6-15 showing in July has dropped them from expected buyers to a bubble team that looks likely to walk the line between adding and trading away veterans. They began that process on Monday, shipping out impending free agent catcher Danny Jansen in one deal while acquiring a slightly worse but controllable backstop (Nick Fortes) in a second trade. They downgraded a bit in the short term to add a superior prospect than the one they surrendered without giving up on the season.

Trading Jansen is an easier call than it’d be to move either Brandon Lowe or Yandy Díaz. They’re longer-tenured members of the organization and more impactful players. The Rays had been reluctant to move Díaz or Lowe for most of this month. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported over the weekend that the team’s recent play has led the front office to be more open to hearing other teams out on the pair of veteran hitters.

Joel Sherman of The New York Post wrote on Monday that the Rays still prefer to add. That preceded a win over the Yankees in the first of a four-game set in the Bronx that’ll run up to the deadline. The Red Sox are known to be monitoring Díaz in case the Rays sell. Meanwhile, Sherman reports that the Mets and Astros are among the teams that have contacted the Rays about Lowe. He suggests that Houston, in particular, has strong interest in the left-handed hitting second baseman. Astros GM Dana Brown has made no secret about his goal of acquiring a lefty bat to provide a semblance of balance to the game’s most right-handed lineup.

Lowe is currently on the 10-day injured list with ankle tendinitis. The Rays seem to anticipate he’ll be back when first eligible on Wednesday. Lowe already had a minimal IL stay this month because of oblique tightness. The two-time All-Star has had an impressive year around the recent injuries. He’s batting .269/.320/.480 across 350 trips to the plate — including a massive .296/.352/.556 line following a dismal April. His 19 home runs rank second at the position behind Ketel Marte’s 20.

Houston could plug Lowe in at the keystone and use Jose Altuve as a primary designated hitter until Yordan Alvarez returns from a hand fracture. At that point, Altuve could return to left field and push Taylor Trammell, who is hitting well in 25 games but has a limited MLB track record, to a fourth outfield role.

The Mets don’t have a huge need on the dirt, but they’ve reportedly considered moving one of their controllable infielders (Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, Luisangel Acuña) for help elsewhere on the roster. Lowe would be a significant offensive upgrade over Baty, who is playing regularly at second base. It makes sense that the Mets at least gauged the Rays’ asking price, but there’s no indication they’ve made a huge push. President of baseball operations David Stearns has cast the bullpen as his top priority, with secondary interests ranging from the rotation to center field.

Lowe is playing on a $10.5MM salary, around $3.35MM of which will be owed after the deadline. The Rays can keep him around for another season on an $11.5MM club option. That comes with a $500K buyout.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/astros-mets-have-expressed-interest-in-brandon-lowe.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Brewers Acquire Danny Jansen

The Rays and Brewers announced a trade sending catcher Danny Jansen from Tampa Bay to Milwaukee in exchange for infield prospect Jadher Areinamo. The Rays are including some cash to help pay down the remaining $2.667MM on Jansen’s one-year, $8MM contract. It’s a homecoming for Jansen, who’s a native of Appleton, Wisconsin. The Rays’ changes behind the plate don’t stop there, as they’re reportedly in agreement to acquire Marlins catcher Nick Fortes in a separate trade (full breakdown on that swap available here).

Catching wasn’t a prominent need for the Brewers entering the season. William Contreras has emerged as one of the best backstops in the sport, slashing .283/.363/.472 from 2022-24. His once-panned defense has improved to premium levels in Milwaukee. However, Contreras has been playing through a fracture in his left middle finger and struggled considerably at the dish this season, slashing just .242/.342/.340 this season. Backup catcher Eric Haase hasn’t picked up the slack with the bat. Over the past month, Contreras and Haase have combined to hit .228/.294/.289.

As the Brewers’ catchers have struggled to increasing levels, Jansen has picked up the pace. He’s hitting just .204/.314/.389 on the season overall, but that’s dragged down by a brutal start to the year. Since May 11, he’s batting .232/.321/.486 in 163 trips to the plate.

Notably, while Jansen is hitting only .197 against lefties, he’s still getting on base against them at a big .356 clip and slugging .465 versus southpaws. Contreras is hitting .223/.373/.266 against lefties on the season. Haase is batting only .160/.192/.280 in his 26 plate appearances against left-handers. Jansen struggled against lefties mightily early in his career but has above-average on-base and power numbers against them each year since 2022. In that time, he’s slashing .216/.344/.442 when holding the platoon advantage

Jansen has graded as a plus defender in the past, but his framing and throwing grades have dwindled in recent years. Milwaukee has a knack for vastly improving catcher defense — framing in particular — which could bode well for a Jansen rebound in that regard. He’ll presumably move into a timeshare behind the plate with Contreras, who is penciled into tonight’s Brewers lineup. That could spell the end of Haase’s time on the roster, but it’s certainly possible the Brewers will carry three catchers or that they’ll give Contreras some extended downtime to allow his ailing left hand to heal.

Areinamo, 21, was an amateur signee out of Venezuela during the 2021-22 international signing period. Baseball America ranked him 10th among Milwaukee prospects on their latest midseason update of the system. He sat 17th at FanGraphs in mid-May and is currently 24th at MLB.com.

Though he’s primarily been a shortstop in High-A this season, Areinamo has more experience at second base than at short. He’s also dabbled at the hot corner. He’s turned in a .297/.355/.463 batting line in 415 plate appearances and popped 11 home runs on the year. Areinamo also has 24 doubles, a pair of triples and 15 stolen bases — albeit in 23 tries (65.2% success rate).

Scouting reports on Areinamo tout his plus hit tool but question an overaggressive approach that could be exposed as he moves up the ladder and faces more advanced pitching. Accordingly, he’s fanned in just 11.6% of his plate appearances in what is his second run through the High-A level. Listed at just 5’8″ and 160 pounds, Areinamo unsurprisingly possesses what scouts feel is below-average power. He has a chance to develop into an everyday option at second base, where his average arm profiles better than it does on the left side of the infield. He could also wind up being a contact-oriented utilityman who bounces between several positions.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that the Rays and Brewers were finalizing a Jansen trade. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that the deal was done and that the Rays were in the process of adding another catcher. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that Areinamo was the prospect return for the Rays and that Tampa Bay was including some cash in the swap.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rays-trade-danny-jansen-brewers.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Designate Connor Seabold For Assignment, Select Tristan Peters

The Rays announced that they have placed outfielder Jonny DeLuca on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 7th, with a left hamstring strain. They have selected fellow outfielder Tristan Peters to take his active roster spot. To open a 40-man spot for Peters, right-hander Connor Seabold has been designated for assignment. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported on the moves prior to the official announcement.

Peters, 25, gets called up to the big leagues for the first time. The Brewers selected him in the seventh round of the 2021 draft. He was sent to the Giants in the 2022 trade which sent Trevor Rosenthal to Milwaukee. A few months later, he was flipped to the Rays in the deal which sent Brett Wisely to the Giants.

Since joining the Rays, Peters’ offense has been up and down. Splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A, he has a combined .264/.358/.425 line since the start of 2023. His 11.8% walk rate and 17.5% strikeout rate are both decent figures. However, he has modest power. His career high for home runs in a season is 12, set last year. He was on pace to get past that, having hit 11 so far in Triple-A this season. His 2025 slash line is .282/.370/.453, good for a 117 wRC+.

He doesn’t show up on lists of the top prospects in the system but he seems to be a solidly well-rounded player. His strikeout and walk rates are better than par. He doesn’t hit a ton of home runs but has notched a few. He generally gets to double digits in terms of stolen bases as well, having swiped 11 bags this year. He has also played all three outfield spots. He’ll jump into the club’s outfield mix, replacing DeLuca. Since this is his first time coming up to the show, he has a full slate of options and can be easily sent back down in the future.

Seabold, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in May but he has largely been on optional assignment since then. He has only appeared in three games of the Rays, having tossed 6 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits and three walks while striking out seven.

His work in the minors hasn’t been strong this year. He has been in a swing role, having made ten starts and six relief appearances. In his 61 innings, he has a 6.49 ERA, 21% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.

Seabold now heads into DFA limbo. Since the trade deadline has passed, he’ll be placed on waivers soon, if he hasn’t already. It’s been a few years since he looked good in affiliated ball but he had a good year in Korea in 2024. He tossed 160 innings for the Samsung Lions with a 3.43 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...old-for-assignment-select-tristan-peters.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Haven’t Yet Discussed Extension With Junior Caminero

Junior Caminero’s first full Major League season has been a success, as the former star prospect has hit .258/.297/.523 with 32 home runs over his first 472 plate appearances. The low walk rate, Caminero’s tendency to chase pitches off the plate, and subpar defensive metrics at third base indicate that he hasn’t gotten everything figured out just yet, but there’s clearly a lot to like about a player who just turned 22 last month.

Despite this early success, the Rays haven’t yet broached the subject of a contract extension with Caminero’s camp, agent Rafa Nieves tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Early-career extensions have been a chief element of the Rays’ team-building strategy over the years, but in Caminero’s case, Nieves feels “the fact that at this point they haven’t knocked on his door, the only reason is that their hands are tied….The [Rays] are not in position to make that commitment with all the question marks surrounding their financial future. That’s why I think they haven’t made an attempt. And, honestly, by the time they’re out of those question marks, it might be too late.”

The three major “question marks” cited by Nieves begin with the most obvious issue of the Rays’ temporary stay at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Tropicana Field is undergoing repairs with the idea that the Rays’ old ballpark will once again be ready for game action by Opening Day 2026, though since the repair work only officially began in July, it may still be a while before that planned timeline is confirmed. The club is also expected to be returning to its former stadium under new ownership, as the Rays’ sale to the group led by Patrick Zalupski is on pace to be finalized at some point in September.

Turning to the baseball payroll itself, making a major commitment to Caminero may not be feasible until Wander Franco’s situation has been sorted. Franco was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor in the Dominican Republic in June, and received a two-year suspended sentence. With the court case complete, Major League Baseball is expected to weigh in at some point about what type of discipline Franco will face under the MLB/MLBPA joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. Tampa Bay signed Franco to the largest contract in franchise history (an 11-year, $182MM extension) in November 2021, and $164MM remains on that deal covering the 2026-32 seasons.

Any one of these factors — let alone all three — would be a logical reason for the Rays to hold off on exploring a long-term deal with Caminero. There is also the fact that the club doesn’t have any real immediate need to negotiate a deal so soon, since Caminero isn’t arbitration-eligible until 2028 and isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2030 season.

As Nieves noted, however, the team’s ideal window to lock up Caminero may have already passed. Extending him in 2023 (when he made his MLB debut) or during the 2024 season would’ve allowed Tampa Bay to negotiate more of a team-friendly price, before Caminero had done much to prove himself in the majors. Now that Caminero has already enjoyed some success at the big league level, his asking price has naturally gone up.

Nieves suggests an extension would cost the Rays “probably $150-200MM,” pointing to recent comps of other prominent young stars who signed contracts before amassing one full year of Major League service time. Obviously an agent is always going to aim high when discussing a client’s earning potential, and the Rays could counter by arguing that Caminero wasn’t quite as much of a sure thing coming up the minor league ranks as those other highly-touted players. Tampa Bay acquired Caminero from the Guardians for Tobias Myers in November 2021, in a trade that flew under everyone’s radar until Caminero continued his Dominican Summer League dominance into the Rays’ farm system in 2022.

If $150MM is the floor for what Nieves is looking for in a Caminero extension, the clock could already be unofficially ticking on the third baseman’s time in Tampa. Naturally it remains to be seen how Zalupski could approach spending or how the team’s finances could be changed under new ownership, but for now, the Rays might opt to take advantage of Caminero as a pre-arbitration bargain and then consider trades once arbitration starts boosting his salaries.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/rays-havent-yet-discussed-extension-with-junior-caminero.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Latest On Shane McClanahan

Shane McClanahan has been sidelined all season by a triceps nerve injury that arose during Spring Training. This latest issue added to what was already an extended absence for the left-hander following Tommy John surgery in August 2023, and it has now been over two years since McClanahan threw his last pitch in a Major League game.

Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander gave a sobering update on McClanahan’s status during a radio appearance on WDAE on Friday (hat tip to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times), and the lack of any new information provides fresh doubt that we’ll see McClanahan in action this year. The southpaw is still dealing with “lingering symptoms,” according to Neander, and is “not getting over the hump” in terms of readiness.

“No huge setbacks, but also no huge progress or breakthroughs. The clock’s obviously ticking at this point as we sit here today….We’re not getting the progress that we or certainly he is hoping for. Really unfortunate. But we’ve got to do what’s best for him and take care of him and try to stay at it the best we can.”

It seemed like McClanahan was on the road to recovery when he started a minor league rehab assignment in July, but after three outings, he was shut down due to biceps tendinitis. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com and other reporters on July 28 that McClanahan “felt okay, nothing great” after a game of catch from a 60-foot distance.

Neander didn’t mention the biceps problem so it would seem like that injury has been resolved. However, the lingering nerve problem “is still in play just enough. This is a new one to all of us really, and in many regards to the baseball community. So we’re learning as we go.”

Selected 31st overall by the Rays in the 2018 draft, McClanahan posted a 3.02 ERA, 46.8% grounder rate, 28% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate over 404 2/3 innings during the 2021-23 seasons. After finishing seventh in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2021, McClanahan followed with a sixth-place finish in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, and he was named to the AL All-Star roster in both 2022 and 2023. By all appearances it seemed like McClanahan was emerging as an ace of Tampa’s rotation, before his career was suddenly put on ice.

As Neander noted, McClanahan doesn’t have much time remaining before the season is over. The unclear nature of nerve injuries means that McClanahan could technically wake up tomorrow and feel fine, yet it might take such a sudden turn-around to give the lefty a chance at a 2025 return. Given that he is still limited to light throwing, McClanahan would still need at least a month for a full throwing progression (i.e. bullpen sessions, live batting practices, and several minor league rehab games) that would get him back to game readiness.

If he is physically able, returning even for one appearance with the Rays would surely give McClanahan some peace of mind heading into the offseason. Building up enough arm strength to return as a reliever wouldn’t take as long as it would take to prepare for a starter’s workload, so a temporary move to the bullpen could be possible if McClanahan simply wants to pitch in any capacity. On the other hand, Tampa Bay might opt to simply shut him down if the timeline becomes too compressed, as the 57-62 Rays are only on the outskirts of the wild card race and aren’t likely to be playing meaningful games in late September.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/latest-on-shane-mcclanahan.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Shane McClanahan Undergoes Season-Ending Arm Procedure To Address Nerve Problem

Shane McClanahan’s 2025 season is officially over, as Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters that the southpaw underwent a surgery on his throwing arm today, intended to try and fix a long-lingering nerve problem. The procedure officially closes the book on whatever chance there was that the southpaw could return to the majors before season’s end.

Troublingly, Cash indicated that there isn’t any guarantee that the surgery will solve the issue once and for all. “[The doctor] is not sitting there saying ’he’s fixed.’ That’s not the case,” Cash told media, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s, ’this is one step, and we’ll see how this goes.’ And hopefully we get good results. And if we don’t, then let doctors decide what else is needed, if anything.”

The uncertain nature of nerve-related injuries has now led to months of frustration for McClanahan, and cost him another year of his promising career. It was almost exactly two years ago that McClanahan underwent a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of 2024, though it seemed like he emerged from that rehab in good shape, as he tossed seven scoreless innings in Spring Training and looked well on his way being part of the Opening Day rotation.

However, late in camp, the nerve problem in McClanahan’s left triceps emerged. He began the year on the 15-day injured list, and was shifted to the 60-day IL near the end of April. McClanahan was feeling well enough to begin a minor league rehab assignment in July and pitched in three games before his rehab was shut down due to biceps tendinitis.

During a radio interview on Friday, Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said McClanahan’s nerve problem was “still in play just enough” to keep the left-hander from resuming his throwing progression, with “no huge setbacks, but also no huge progress or breakthroughs.” Neander also made note of the unique nature of the injury, saying “this is a new one to all of us really, and in many regards to the baseball community. So we’re learning as we go.”

McClanahan’s best-case scenario is now a clean bill of health for Opening Day 2026. While this gives McClanahan six months of recovery time until the start of Spring Training, it is clear that no timeline will be established until McClanahan is examined post-surgery.

Losing McClanahan in 2023 was a big blow to a Rays team that reached the postseason, but was swept out of the wild card series by the eventual World Series champion Rangers. Tampa Bay went 80-82 in 2024 and, at 57-62 entering today’s action, is on pace for another losing record, as some early-season success was undone by a brutal slump in July. One can only guess as to how the last three seasons might’ve differed for the Rays if they’d had a pitcher who was emerging as the ace of the rotation.

In a rare case of a player getting his first taste of MLB action in the playoffs, McClanahan’s first four games came during the 2020 postseason, as he posted an 8.31 ERA in 4 1/3 relief innings for a Rays team that reached the World Series. McClanahan made his official debut in 2021, and hit the ground running in 2021 by finishing seventh in AL Cy Young Award voting. He was then named an All-Star in both 2022 and 2023, and the 2022 campaign (McClanahan’s only full big league season) saw him finish sixth in AL Cy Young Award voting. Over 404 2/3 regular-season innings, McClanahan has a 3.02 ERA, 46.8% grounder rate, 28% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate.

Tampa signed McClanahan to a two-year, $7.2MM deal in January 2024 that allowed the two sides to avoid arbitration for the lefty’s first two years of eligibility. As a Super Two player, McClanahan is arb-eligible both this winter and during the 2026-27 offseason, though his 2026 salary won’t be very high given his two years on the IL. Injury uncertainty notwithstanding, there would seem to be very little chance the Rays would non-tender McClanahan given his modest price tag, and his upside if he is able to return healthy for 2026.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...g-arm-procedure-to-address-nerve-problem.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The AL East?

The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Starting last week, MLBTR began running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. So far, the Phillies, Reds, Padres, Mariners, and Twins have each come out on top in their respective divisions. Today, we’ll be finishing the series with the AL East. Here’s a look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays bolstered their bullpen, their offense, and their catching depth ahead of the trade deadline, but their biggest move was a high-risk, high-reward deal to upgrade the top of their rotation. Seranthony Domínguez and Louis Varland give manager John Schneider two more hard-throwing late-inning options, and while Domínguez is a rental, Varland is under team control through 2030. Ty France has played almost every day since he came over from the Twins alongside Varland, alternating between first base and DH. It’s been several years since he was much more than a league-average bat, but he’s hit well so far with Toronto. Former Padres prospect Brandon Valenzuela offers catching depth at Triple-A.

The crown jewel of general manager Ross Atkins’s deadline was 2020 AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, who is nearing his return from the Tommy John surgery that’s kept him out since last April. The Blue Jays will hope he can be the ace they’ve been lacking all season. In a best-case scenario, the Jays acquired the pitcher who will start game one of their first playoff series as they try to break out of a long postseason losing streak. In a worst-case scenario, they gave up a promising pitching prospect (Khal Stephen) in exchange for a guy who won’t be able to pitch like he did before his injury. Bieber has a $16MM player option for 2026 with a $4MM buyout.

In exchange for Bieber, Domínguez, Varland, France, and Valenzuela, Toronto parted with young major leaguers Alan Roden and Will Wagner, as well as pitching prospects Stephen, Kendry Rojas, and Juaron Watts-Brown. That’s no small price to pay, but the Blue Jays are hoping they added enough to help them secure their first AL East title in a decade.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox made the biggest trade of the season in June, sending All-Star slugger Rafael Devers (and the nine years left on his contract) to the Giants in exchange for Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, James Tibbs III, and Jose Bello. Yet, they were rather quiet ahead of the trade deadline. They reportedly expressed interest in a wide variety of players, including Jhoan Duran, Eugenio Suárez, Yandy Díaz, Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell, and Dalton Rushing, as well as front-line starters Dylan Cease, Mitch Keller, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Sandy Alcantara, and, until late on deadline day, Joe Ryan. However, all they ultimately added was a back-end starter, Dustin May, and a left-handed long reliever, Steven Matz. They did not pick up any bats. May has a 4.93 ERA and 4.31 SIERA in 20 games (19 starts) this year, including a poor first outing with Boston last week. Matz has pitched well in his first season as a full-time reliever, putting up a 3.22 ERA and 3.53 SIERA in 58 2/3 frames. He has yet to allow a run in three outings with the Sox. Both will be free agents at the end of the year.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s seeming failure to add a more talented starting pitcher, the kind Boston would feel confident starting in a playoff series, looked all the worse after the news broke that Tanner Houck would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the season. That being said, the Red Sox have continued to play well since the deadline. They now hold the second Wild Card spot and boast the highest run differential in the American League. While they didn’t add much to help them make a playoff push, the flip side is that they didn’t have to give up much either. For instance, they held onto Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, two players the Twins were reportedly seeking in exchange for Ryan – and two players who have been key contributors for the Red Sox all year.

New York Yankees

The Yankees were one of the league’s busiest buyers at the deadline, adding three notable bullpen arms and several complementary pieces for the lineup. All-Star closers David Bednar and Camilo Doval arrived in New York, alongside fellow righty Jake Bird, to join a bullpen that already featured Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. All three have had their struggles since they joined the team (as has Williams), but at its best, this Yankees bullpen still has the potential to be the best in the American League. Bednar is enjoying another dominant season after putting his poor 2024 behind him, and Doval, too, has bounced back from a disappointing 2024 campaign to post strong numbers in 2025. Bird was optioned to Triple-A after just three appearances for his new club, but he’s an experienced big league reliever with intriguing stuff. At worst, he’s a durable depth piece with options remaining, and at best, he’s a whole lot more. All three bullpen additions are under team control beyond this season: Bednar for one more year, Doval for two, and Bird for three.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. can only play one position at a time, and when that position became second base again, the Yankees needed a real solution at third. Ryan McMahon is that solution, and utility men José Caballero and Amed Rosario (when healthy) can help him out with a left-handed pitcher on the mound. GM Brian Cashman also brought righty-batting outfielder Austin Slater aboard to join Caballero and Rosario in balancing out a lefty-heavy lineup. Unfortunately for the Bombers, Rosario and Slater have both already hit the IL. Rosario is expected back from a minor shoulder sprain shortly, but Slater will be out for most of the regular season with a hamstring strain. Even so, the Yankees aren’t exactly missing Oswald Peraza, whom they flipped to the Angels; the former top prospect struggled badly for the past three years and desperately needed a change of scenery.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays started July with a top-10 record in MLB and sole possession of the first AL Wild Card spot. By deadline day, they had fallen below .500. Of course, it’s hard to say if that changed their deadline plans at all. As usual, the Rays did a bit of selling and a bit of buying. They dealt two key members of their starting rotation, Taj Bradley and Zack Littell, and two members of their regular starting lineup, utility man Caballero and catcher Danny Jansen. Yet, they also added a rental starter, Adrian Houser; two new catchers, Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia; and two relievers, Griffin Jax and Bryan Baker. Jax and Houser were two of the more sought-after players on the market, Houser due to his cheap contract and surprisingly dominant numbers with the White Sox, and Jax because he’s one of the game’s best relievers under team control for several more years.

Also noteworthy are the players the Rays chose not to trade. A few days before the deadline, they were said to be open to trading Yandy Díaz and Brandon Lowe, but they ultimately held on to both veterans. The Rays also kept closer Pete Fairbanks. A week before the deadline, a report suggested they would “strongly prefer” to keep Fairbanks, but it’s not as if he wasn’t drawing interest. Lowe, Díaz, and Fairbanks are three of the tight-fisted Rays’ more expensive players. Fairbanks and Lowe only have one year of team control remaining after 2025, while Díaz is signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027. The team’s decision to keep them around seems to suggest they’re hoping to contend this year, even after parting with the likes of Bradley, Littell, Caballero, and Jansen.

Baltimore Orioles

They weren’t quite as active as the Twins, but the Orioles took advantage of a seller’s market to make the most of their disappointing situation. They traded 2025 All-Star Ryan O’Hearn, the surprisingly productive Ramon Laureano, long-tenured center fielder Cedric Mullins, utility infielder Ramon Urías, veteran starter Charlie Morton, and relievers Domínguez, Baker, Andrew Kittredge, and Gregory Soto. In exchange, they brought back Boston Bateman, Brandon Butterworth, Cobb Hightower, Victor Figueroa, Tyson Neighbors, and Tanner Smith (O’Hearn/Laureno); Raimon Gomez, Anthony Nunez and Chandler Marsh (Mullins); Twine Palmer (Urías); Micah Ashman (Morton); Juaron Watts-Brown (Domínguez); Wilfri De La Cruz (Kittredge); Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster (Soto); and a 2025 Competitive Balance (Round A) draft selection, No. 37 overall (Baker).

According to MLB Pipeline, Bateman slots in as their No. 9 prospect, while Watts-Brown slots in at No. 13, De La Cruz at No. 24, Hightower at No. 26, and Aracena at No. 29. Only time will tell how well these trades work out for the Orioles, but it’s hard to deny they made the right call to sell when they did, and they succeeded in dealing almost all of their healthy impending free agents. Meanwhile, they didn’t part with any pieces that could contribute significantly in 2026 and beyond. Fans can hope that GM Mike Elias will use the money he saved and prospects he added at the deadline to improve the O’s roster over the offseason and bring winning baseball back to Baltimore next year.

Entering the season, many thought the AL East would be the most talented and competitive division in the league. It could very well still produce three playoff teams and four clubs above .500, but not many would have guessed the division would shake out quite like this, with the Blue Jays leading at the deadline and the Orioles selling off parts. There are still seven weeks left for the AL East to continue surprising us, and the moves each team made at the deadline could play a big part in all that. So, which of these five do you think had the best deadline? Have your say in the poll below:

Take Our Poll

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/poll-who-had-the-best-deadline-in-the-al-east.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Place Taylor Walls On 10-Day IL With Groin Strain

The Rays have placed shortstop Taylor Walls on the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain, the team announced. In a corresponding move, outfielder Tristan Peters was recalled from Triple-A.

Walls has been Tampa Bay’s primary shortstop this year, with 77 starts and 94 appearances at the position. It was particularly noteworthy that he still got his fair share of starts at shortstop when both he and Ha-Seong Kim were healthy. Kim signed a two-year, $29MM deal with the Rays over the offseason (a sizeable deal by their standards) with the expectation that he would become the starting shortstop. While injuries have limited Kim to just 18 games this year, the fact that Walls has shared the position with Kim lately shows how highly the Rays must think of Walls’ defense. Indeed, Walls was scheduled to start at shortstop on Saturday before he was scratched from the lineup. Kim has since started at shortstop in each of the team’s last three games.

Manager Kevin Cash explained that Walls still felt “closer to 75% rather than 100%” before today’s matchup with the Athletics, so the team decided he needed “a couple days to let [his groin injury] continue to calm down” (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).

Tampa Bay will be just fine in the middle infield in Walls’s absence. Kim can play shortstop full-time (with Tristan Gray around as a backup), and All-Star Brandon Lowe can return to playing second base on a daily basis. Lowe had recently started a handful of games at first base and DH to make room for Kim at second base when Walls was starting at short. The problem is that with Lowe at second base and Yandy Díaz at first, the Rays are left without a good option to DH. All-Star Jonathan Aranda is on the IL with a broken wrist (hence Díaz’s return to first base). He remains hopeful he’ll return this season (per MLB.com’s Joey Johnston), but it’s far from a guarantee. For as long as Aranda is out of the equation, the Rays are at their best with Walls and Kim sharing middle infield duties while Lowe and Díaz cover first base and DH. They have not yet offered a timeline for Walls’s return, but they will hope his groin strain proves to be minor.

Entering play today, the Rays are 5.5 games back of the last AL Wild Card spot. They’re a talented team, with a +43 run differential that is far more impressive than their sub-.500 record. However, they’re running out of time to make a comeback. Both FanGraphs and PECOTA have their postseason odds below 5%. With Aranda out indefinitely and Shane McLanahan officially done for the season, they can’t afford for much else to go wrong.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/rays-place-taylor-walls-on-10-day-il-with-groin-strain.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Braves Claim Connor Seabold Off Waivers From Rays

The Braves have claimed right-hander Connor Seabold off waivers from the Rays, as announced by the Rays this afternoon. He was designated for assignment on Friday. David O’Brien of The Athletic notes that Seabold has been optioned to Triple-A, while right-hander Domingo González has been designated for assignment to open a space on the 40-man roster.

Seabold, 29, pitched for the Red Sox from 2021-22, the Rockies in 2023, and the Rays in 2025. Initially drafted by the Phillies in 2017, he was traded to Boston in August 2020. After starting a total of six games for the Red Sox and giving up 26 runs (25 earned) on 38 hits in 21 1/3 innings, he was DFA’d and traded to the Rockies. He filled a swingman role for Colorado in 2023, tossing 87 1/3 frames with a 7.52 ERA and 5.03 SIERA.

The Rockies released Seabold the following winter, and he signed a one-year pact with the KBO’s Samsung Lions. A successful year overseas (3.43 ERA and 158 strikeouts in 28 starts) earned him a minor league contract with the Rays this past February. However, he only made it into three games across two short stints with the big league club before he was DFA’d. While he pitched just fine in those three appearances (6 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 5 K), the problem was his performance at Triple-A Durham. In 16 games (10 starts), he allowed 44 runs, including 14 homers, with a concerning 57:26 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Nevertheless, the Braves must see something they like in Seabold. He will provide depth at Triple-A Gwinnett for now, and perhaps he’ll eventually contribute to a pitching staff that has been ravaged by injuries this year.

As for González, 25, the Braves will now risk losing the right-hander on waivers before he ever had the chance to pitch for their big league team. Originally a prospect in the Pirates organization, he went to the Braves in the minor league portion of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. Two years later, the Braves added him to their 40-man to prevent him from qualifying for minor league free agency. Yet, he hasn’t been as effective at Triple-A this year as he was last year, never impressing the front office enough to earn a call-up to the big league club. If González passes through waivers unclaimed, the Braves can outright him back to Gwinnett, but he’ll be eligible for minor league free agency again at the end of the season.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/braves-claim-connor-seabold-off-waivers-from-rays.html