Ryan Mountcastle Headed To Injured List Due To Foot Fracture
Orioles first baseman/designated hitter Ryan Mountcastle is headed to the injured list after suffering a broken fourth metacarpal in his left foot while legging out a double this past weekend, manager Craig Albernaz tells the Baltimore beat (link via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). Albernaz didn’t tip the team’s hand on whether Mountcastle would head to the 10-day or 60-day IL, suggesting only that both are under consideration. He added that he has not yet been told whether surgery is on the table.
Kubatko adds that infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson is on the Orioles’ taxi squad at the moment, making him a likely replacement, though the team hasn’t announced anything on that front. Jackson Holliday is with the club today at Camden Yards but is not yet ready for reinstatement from the IL. He’s merely taking some infield drills while Triple-A Norfolk is off. Holliday has yet to play this season after suffering a hamate fracture early in spring training.
Wilson isn’t on the 40-man roster, so assuming he is indeed the corresponding move, he’d need to have his contract selected. The Orioles have a full 40-man roster, though if Mountcastle heads to the 60-day IL, that’d open a spot.
More to come.
Guardians Designate Kolby Allard For Assignment
The Guardians announced today that outfielder George Valera and right-hander Hunter Gaddis have each been reinstated from the injured list. In corresponding moves, first baseman/outfielder CJ Kayfus has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus and left-hander Kolby Allard has been designated for assignment.
More to come.
Ken Waldichuk Recommended For Tommy John Surgery
The Nationals made some moves on the pitching staff today, with both right-hander Cole Henry and left-hander Ken Waldichuk landing on the 15-day injured list. Henry has a rotator cuff strain and Waldichuk left forearm tightness. Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal reports that Waldichuk has been recommended for Tommy John surgery but is seeking a second opinion. Manager Blake Butera says that Henry got an MRI that didn’t find anything too serious, per Zuckerman. Right-handers Jackson Rutledge and Orlando Ribalta were recalled as the corresponding moves for the IL placements.
More to come.
Yankees Return Rule 5 Pick Cade Winquest To Cardinals
The Yankees have returned Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest to the Cardinals, according to announcements from both clubs. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. Winquest does not take a spot on the Cards’ 40-man roster. He has been assigned to Triple-A Memphis.
Winquest, 26 this month, had a bit of an unusual Rule 5 experience. The Yankees don’t make a lot of selections in that draft but decided to take a shot on Winquest. He didn’t have a dominant spring. He tossed ten Grapefruit League innings, allowing eight earned runs via 13 hits, four walks and one hit batter while striking out eight.
The Yanks had some roster breathing room to begin the year. Due to some off-days, they started the season with a four-man rotation and optioned Luis Gil to the minors. That was enough room for Winquest to hold a spot for a bit but the Yankees didn’t put him into a game. A couple of weeks into the season, Gil was recalled to rejoin the rotation and Winquest was designated for assignment.
Per the parameters of the Rule 5 draft, another club could have acquired him but would have been subject to the standard restrictions, namely that Rule 5 guys can’t be optioned to the minors throughout the year. If a Rule 5 guy is passed through waivers, he has to be offered back to his original club, with that team not having to give him a roster spot.
Though not making his debut might have been awkward for him, Winquest at least got to hang around big leaguers for a few weeks, getting major league pay and service time. He’ll now report to Triple-A to continue his development with the Cards. He split last year between High-A and Double-A, tossing 106 innings with a 3.99 earned run average, 23.9% strikeout rate, 8.5% walk rate and 48% ground ball rate.
Photo courtesy of Imagn Images
Cardinals Designate Jared Shuster For Assignment
The Cardinals announced that right-hander Ryan Fernandez has been recalled from Triple-A Memphis. To open a spot for him, left-hander Jared Shuster has been designated for assignment. The 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Shuster, 27, was just selected to the St. Louis roster a little over a week ago. He made two appearances since then, including a relatively long outing yesterday. Starter Andre Pallante allowed the Red Sox to score seven times in five innings. George Soriano threw one inning and then Shuster spared the rest of the bullpen by tossing three innings, allowing two runs on 50 pitches. Presumably, Shuster would not have been available for a few days after throwing that much. Instead of continuing with the bullpen a bit shorthanded, the Cards have knocked Shuster into DFA limbo.
The lefty was once a notable prospect but his big league career hasn’t panned out as hoped. Atlanta took him 25th overall back in 2020. He was later flipped to the White Sox as part of the Aaron Bummer deal in November of 2023. Last year, he ended up on waivers and went to the Athletics. He was outrighted off the roster at season’s end and was later released, which led to a minor league deal with the Cards.
Along the way, Shuster exhausted his three option seasons. He has thrown 145 1/3 big league innings with a 5.26 earned run average. His 15.3% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 36.7% ground ball rate are all subpar figures.
He’ll now be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cards could take five days to field trade interest, but they might also put him on waivers sooner than that. If any other club acquires him, he is out of options but he has under two years of service time. That means he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and is theoretically controllable for many years, though he would have to put up some good numbers somewhere for that to be a consideration. Since he has a previous career outright, he would have the right to elect free agency if he is outrighted again.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
Tigers Claim Yoniel Curet, Transfer Parker Meadows To 60-Day IL
The Tigers announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Yoniel Curet off waivers from the Phillies, who’d designated him for assignment last week. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Detroit transferred center fielder Parker Meadows from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Meadows suffered a concussion and a forearm fracture last week in an outfield collision with teammate Riley Greene when both were tracking down a ball hit to the left-center gap.
Curet, 23, was optioned to the Tigers’ Rookie affiliate in the Florida Complex League. He’ll presumably ramp up there before heading to Triple-A Toledo. He hasn’t pitched since spring training, so he’s not ready to join a minor league affiliate just yet.
Originally signed by the Rays as an amateur out of his native Dominican Republic, Curet landed in Philadelphia by way of an offseason trade sending righty Tommy McCollum back to Tampa Bay. The Rays had designated Curet for assignment themselves in order to clear a roster spot for free agent signee Cedric Mullins.
Curet has yet to make his big league debut. He’s a hard-throwing, command-challenged righty who’s posted decent numbers in the upper minors and briefly cracked FanGraphs’ top 100 prospect list prior to the 2025 season. The 6’2″, 250-pound righty sits mid-90s with a four-seamer and sinker that can both reach the upper 90s. His go-to breaking pitch is a slider in the 87-88 mph range.
A shoulder injury limited Curet to 14 starts and a pair of relief outings in the Rays’ system last year. He totaled 55 1/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, a sharp 25.5% strikeout rate but a concerning 12.8% walk rate.
While Curet has consistently missed bats in the minors, he regularly runs up poor walk rates. He looked to be on the right track in 2024, when he posted a sub-3.00 ERA with a 31.5% strikeout rate and a 10.7% walk rate that was down several percentage points from the year prior. That shot him up the rankings at FanGraphs, but last year’s shoulder injury was accompanied by that nearly 13% walk rate — including a 17.4% walk rate in 33 1/3 Triple-A innings. This spring, Curet faced 14 hitters and walked four of them. He plunked another. Overall, he was tagged for eight runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Time will tell what role the Tigers envision for the righty, but he’s worked consistently as a starter to this point in his career. Detroit could build him back up for some rotation depth, but it’s hard not to wonder what Curet’s already powerful arsenal might look like in short relief. The 95-96 he averages on his pair of heaters would presumably tick up a couple miles, and that slider could creep into the 90 mph range on average. Max-effort relievers tend to have a bit easier time running a higher-than-average walk rate than a starter who needs to turn the lineup over multiple times.
Scouting reports at FanGraphs, Baseball America, MLB.com and other public outlets have long suggested a move to relief could be in the offing eventually. For now, Curet is in his final minor league option year, so there’s no immediate urgency to sort it out. The Tigers can get him built up and see how he looks in a variety of roles.
As for Meadows, the move to the 60-day IL isn’t all that surprising in light of the fractured radius he sustained in pursuit of a potential game-saving catch. Today’s move to the IL means he’ll be sidelined into at least mid-June. A light-hitting plus defender who runs well, Meadows opened the season with a .250/.308/.333 slash in 39 turns at the plate. The 2018 second-rounder was hoping to move past a rough 2025 season (.215/.291/.330) and get back closer to his 2024 form (.244/.310/.433), but that rebound effort is on hold for a couple months at the very least. In the meantime, the Tigers have Wenceel Pérez, Javier Báez and Matt Vierling as options in center field.
Orioles Recall Dean Kremer
The Orioles announced that right-hander Dean Kremer has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk and will start tonight’s game. Left-hander Cade Povich was optioned to Norfolk as the corresponding move.
Kremer was a somewhat surprising roster casualty to begin the season. He has been a staple of the Baltimore rotation for years, serving as a solid back-end guy. From 2022 to 2025, he tossed 599 1/3 innings over 109 appearances. He had a 3.95 earned run average, 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.
To begin 2026, he got squeezed out, mostly due to circumstances. In the offseason, the O’s signed free agents Zach Eflin and Chris Bassitt, in addition to trading for Shane Baz. Those three, Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers were effectively locked into the five rotation spots to begin the year. Despite Kremer’s reliability, he was optioned to the minors for the first time since 2021.
Eflin departed his first start of the year due to elbow discomfort. He eventually required Tommy John surgery. His injury opened a rotation spot but the O’s didn’t tap Kremer immediately. Both Brandon Young and Povich were recalled to make spot starts in recent weeks while Kremer has been starting for Norfolk.
Now Kremer is back in the bigs but it remains to be seen if he’s up for good or if the O’s plan to keep cycling through guys for the final rotation spot. Today is the fourth game in a stretch of 13 straight for the O’s. Povich started yesterday and now Kremer is going today, baking in a bit of extra breathing room for the other guys. The O’s have two off-days later in the month and could theoretically go down to a four-man rotation for a bit, then bring back Young or Povich when the schedule gets more daunting, though another injury could always throw a wrench in things.
The way it plays out could impact Kremer from a career perspective, which could also be notable for the club. Kremer came into 2026 with four years and 112 days of service time, putting him 60 days shy of the five-year mark. Once he hits that line, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent. He would also then be in line for free agency after 2027. If he doesn’t get to that line, then his path to free agency would be pushed by a year and he would remain optionable. If Kremer stays up after today’s start, he’ll hit the five-year line in June, though getting optioned again would put the service time count on pause.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Anthony Franco
- Good afternoon, hope all is well!
- Let's get another of these rolling
Jimmy Wynn
- What, if anything, can the Astros do pitching-wise to salvage their season?
The Biggest Loser
- Thank you for the chat. Early of course, but which losing streak concerns you the most? Yankees (5), Mets (5), Brewers (5) or Astros (7)
Anthony Franco
- Astros most alarming just because it's paired with the all the pitching injuries. Clearest on-paper fit for Giolito at this point
- It's tight with the CBT, which is the obvious hangup. But we've got them about $7M below the line right now and I have a tough time seeing him get that much at this point
- Limits their flexibility for deadline trades but that doesn't matter much if the pitching in April is so bad that it tanks their season anyway
Mason Miller trade
- The A’s trade of Mason Miller is not looking good. They thought they were going to be a few years away from Contending but here they are tied for 1st Place. Factor in Mason was making essentially Minimum Wage and I need to be walked back from the ledge ……
Anthony Franco
- Leo De Vries is one of the top 5-10 prospects in MLB
- Obviously the A's were aware that Miller's unbelievable. They wouldn't have done it if the Padres didn't offer them a potential franchise shortstop
Debuts
- Thoughts on White Sox promoting P Noah Schultz ... is this a one off , replacing Shane Smith's spot in the rotation? Since he isnt being promoted until after the 16th day of the season and that delays his service time by a year
Anthony Franco
- Don't see what the point would be in calling up your top pitching prospect, especially one who wasn't already on the 40-man, for a spot start
- Might need to option him midway through the season for workload management but he should get at least a few turns through the rotation. Jonathan Cannon
- Jonathan Cannon's not exactly an obstacle
Josh
- More likely: best record in AL at season’s end is 95 wins or less, or the Dodgers win 105+ games
Anthony Franco
- Hmm I'll say the AL one because the Dodgers tend to take their foot off the gas in the regular season to keep pitchers fresh for October
- 105 is plausible but I'd be closer to 100
The Doctor
- If Boston is in the playoff hunt at the deadline should they move Duran to address other needs?
-
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Astros Place Jeremy Peña, Tatsuya Imai On Injured List
The Astros announced that they have placed infielder Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a grade 1 hamstring strain. Right-hander Tatsuya Imai has been placed on the 15-day IL due to right arm fatigue. Both of those IL placements are retroactive to April 12th. Right-hander Jayden Murray has been optioned to the Triple-A Sugar Land. In corresponding moves for those three, Houston has recalled left-hander Colton Gordon, right-hander J.P. France and infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb. France was just optioned and would normally have to wait 15 days before being recalled but an exception is made when someone is going on the IL.
At this point, there hasn’t been anything to indicate that either injury is particularly serious. However, the double blow is notable when considering the larger context. The team has already suffered a number of injuries and two more won’t help.
Peña departed Saturday’s game with an injury. The team initially announced the issue as right posterior knee tightness, though it appears further testing has found a hamstring strain. The Astros lost their center fielder a few days earlier, as Jake Meyers suffered an oblique strain. Now they will be without their everyday shortstop as well.
Losing Peña isn’t a good thing but the only silver lining is that it will be easier to spread playing time around to the club’s other infielders. Christian Walker has played almost every day at first base and the same is true of Jose Altuve at second base. Carlos Correa has been at third most days but has also taken over at short a few times to give Peña a day off. Isaac Paredes has slotted in at third when Correa has been at short and has also taken some time as the designated hitter when Yordan Alvarez is the DH.
With Peña now on the shelf for a bit, it’s possible the Astros could stabilize things by having Correa at short regularly, allowing Paredes to cover third on an everyday basis. That would mean less time in the field for Alvarez.
Losing Imai is potentially more impactful, even though he’s less established in the big leagues than Peña. Most of Houston’s injuries have been on the pitching side, so another domino falling there is worrisome. Both Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier have been felled by shoulder strains in recent weeks and now Imai is also on the shelf.
Losing three starting pitchers in quick succession is never good but it’s particularly poor timing in this case. The Astros are three games into a stretch of playing 13 in a row. They had planned to use a six-man rotation to get through that stretch, at least in part to accommodate Imai. Pitchers in Japan normally pitch once a week, as opposed to the five-day rotation that is common in North America. Using six starters for the 13 straight games would have helped Imai stay on a schedule he’s accustomed to while he’s still new to Major League Baseball.
Imai started on Friday in Seattle but didn’t make it out of the first inning. He walked the first two batters, allowed a single, threw a wild pitch, walked another batter, hit a guy with a pitch, induced a groundout and then walked another batter. He had already thrown 37 pitches and had recorded just one out when the Astros pulled him. The next day, he left the team for Houston to undergo testing for his fatigue. There’s no real information about his status but the Astros will proceed without him for at least a couple of weeks.
France, Ryan Weiss and Steven Okert combined to absorb 6 2/3 innings after Imai departed, with Enyel De Los Santos throwing in an inning as well. France was then optioned with Murray recalled. Lance McCullers Jr. took the ball on Saturday and lasted 4 1/3, with five relievers pitching after him. Yesterday, Cody Bolton started but only lasted one inning before he was removed due to back tightness. Murray pitched two innings in relief and Christian Roa took on 2 2/3, while two other relievers pitched shorter outings.
It’s already been quite a taxing few days for the club, with still ten games to go before their next day off. Mike Burrows is starting today’s game. After that, it’s fairly up in the air. Weiss, France and Roa are somewhat stretched out from their recent long relief work and could chip in. Spencer Arrighetti, Miguel Ullola and Jason Alexander are on optional assignment and could be recalled, though Alexander just threw six innings at Triple-A yesterday while Ullola threw 2 2/3 on Saturday. Arrighetti’s last outing was six innings on April 9th, so he could be next up.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Blue Jays Acquire Lenyn Sosa
The Blue Jays have acquired infielder Lenyn Sosa from the White Sox, according to announcements from both clubs. In exchange, Chicago receives minor league outfielder Jordan Rich and a player to be named later or cash considerations. The Jays transferred right-hander Shane Bieber to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Sosa is out of options and will also need an active roster spot once he reports to the team.
Sosa, 26, is coming off the best season of his big league career. In 2025, he stepped to the plate 544 times for the Sox and launched 22 home runs. Despite those long balls, his offense was only league average overall since Sosa doesn’t get on base very much. His 3.3% walk rate last year was less than half of the 8.4% league average. Michael Harris II was the only qualified hitter in the majors with a lower walk rate.
He also doesn’t provide much on defense, though he is versatile. He has played all four infield positions in his career but hasn’t played shortstop since 2022. Most of his time has been spent at second base, where his grades have not been good. Outs Above Average puts him four below par at that position in his career while Defensive Runs Saved has him 17 below average. His grades at the corner spots have also been below average.
He has been out to a slow start this year, with something less than an everyday role. The Sox were surprisingly able to sign Munetaka Murakami this winter and made him their regular first baseman. Sosa has been used a few times in the designated hitter spot, in addition to one start at first base and one at second. He has a .212/.212/.303 line in 33 plate appearances.
Sosa came into 2026 with just over two years of service time, meaning he can be controlled through 2029. However, he may have been getting squeezed a bit with the Sox. The Murakami signing filled the first base slot and also made Miguel Vargas the everyday third baseman. The Sox have been using Chase Meidroth as their regular at second base. Sosa is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors.
For the Jays, they have been bit hard by the injury bug in the early going this year. On the position player side, Anthony Santander required shoulder surgery back in February and will be out for several more months. Since the season has started, the Jays have lost catcher Alejandro Kirk to a thumb fracture, designated hitter George Springer to a toe fracture and infielder/outfielder Addison Barger to an ankle sprain.
In response to those injuries, the Jays have had to reach into their depth. Brandon Valenzuela has been recalled to help Tyler Heineman behind the plate. Eloy Jiménez was added to the roster to replace Springer. Tyler Fitzgerald, recently acquired from the Giants, has been on the bench but hasn’t been put into a game yet.
Most of the time, the Jays have an infield of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first, Ernie Clement at second, Andrés Giménez at shortstop and Kazuma Okamoto at third. With Springer no longer in the DH spot every day, there could be a bit more flexibility to move some guys around. Okamoto is off to a slow start in his big league career, with a 35% strikeout rate through 60 plate appearances, effectively double his strikeout rate in Japan. Perhaps the Jays could put him in the DH spot a bit more regularly to have him focus on getting his approach down. Or if the Jays want to give Guerrero a little breather, he could DH while Okamoto or Sosa covers first base.
Sosa could also slot into the DH spot himself. Fitzgerald has options and could perhaps be the corresponding move for Sosa in the coming days, though if the Jays are squeezing Jiménez from DH at-bats, then perhaps he could be designated for assignment. Sosa’s righty bat could be used to pinch hit for some lefties. He had fairly even splits in 2025 but they have been wider overall. He has a .277/.301/.431 line and 102 wRC+ against lefties in his career and a .232/.261/.369 line and 73 wRC+ against righties.
There are certainly flaws in Sosa’s profile but the Jays felt they needed to bolster the position player group and there aren’t many options for doing that at this time of the year. Sosa has some pop and some flexibility, even if he’s not a standout defender. If things go especially well, he can be controlled for three more seasons after this one. But since he’s out of options, it’s also possible he gets squeezed in the coming weeks if the guys on the IL can get healthy.
For the Sox, as mentioned, Sosa was one of their better hitters last year but has been pushed into a part-time role this year. He is only 26 years old, so they could have held onto him, hoping for improved plate discipline and/or better defense going forward. But that would be hard to do with limited playing time and no ability to be sent to the minors, so they’ve cashed him in for future talent.
If they get any payoff from Rich, it won’t be soon. He was just drafted last year out of high school, in the 17th round, and is only 18 years old. He hasn’t yet appeared in an official game since being drafted. He doesn’t appear on lists of the top prospects in the Jays’ system, so he’s a long-term lottery ticket for the Sox. They could also add more talent later, depending on the player to be named later.
As for Bieber, he had some forearm fatigue in the offseason and the Jays have been building him up slowly. This transaction means he is ineligible to be reinstated until late May. He has been throwing off a mound lately but hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment. Since he missed all of spring training, he’ll effectively need a full ramp-up, even though he’s now up on the mound. Whenever he begins an official rehab assignment, that can last as long as 30 days.
Photo courtesy of Brad Mills, Imagn Images