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Rays Claim Ben Bowden

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The Rays have claimed left-hander Ben Bowden off waivers from the Rockies, the teams announced. Tampa Bay had an open spot on its 40-man roster so no corresponding move is needed. Bowden has been optioned to Triple-A Durham. The Rays’ 40-man roster is now full, while the Rockies’ roster is now at 39 players.

The Rockies never formally designated Bowden for assignment or announced that he’d been placed on waivers, though it’s hardly uncommon for teams to simply try to clear a roster spot in this fashion without first announcing the player’s placement on waivers.

Now 27 years old, Bowden was the No. 45 overall draft pick by the Rockies back in 2016. Praised by scouting reports for a plus changeup, Bowden has regularly missed bats at a high level in the minors (34.4% strikeout rate) but has also yielded too many free passes over the years (11.1% walk rate). Heading into the 2021 season, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote about Bowden’s inconsistent fastball velocity, noting that when he’s in the mid-90s with his heater he looks like a viable big league reliever. However, Bowden doesn’t always maintain that velocity, evidenced by the 92.6 mph he averaged on his heater in last year’s MLB debut.

That 2021 debut wasn’t a pretty one for Bowden, who posted a grisly 6.56 ERA in 35 2/3 innings. True to form, he showed the ability to miss bats (23.7% strikeout rate, 11.4% swinging-strike rate) but also issued far too many walks (11.9%) and was uncharacteristically susceptible to home runs (1.51 HR/9). Bowden had a huge showing at Double-A in 2019 and fired 11 2/3 shutout frames in Triple-A last year. This season in Triple-A, however, he’s been tagged for seven runs on six hits and six walks in just 7 2/3 innings. He’s fanned 11 of the 34 hitters he’s faced, maintaining that impressive strikeout prowess, but he’ll need to improve his command and more consistently get the best out of his heater if he’s to emerge as a legitimate big league bullpen option.

Mariners Designate Matt Koch For Assignment, Reinstate Mitch Haniger

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The Mariners announced Friday that they’ve reinstated right fielder Mitch Haniger from the Covid-related injured list and designated righty Matt Koch for assignment in order to open a spot on the active and 40-man rosters.

Haniger, who paced the Mariners with 39 home runs in 2021, was out to a slow start in eight games before he tested positive for Covid-19 on April 16. Haniger missed nearly two weeks’ time and 11 games, and earlier this week told reporters that he was still not quite back up to 100% (Twitter link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). He’s apparently back in playing shape now and will return to the lineup and look to improve upon the .176/.200/.471 slash he posted through his first 35 trips to the plate.

The return of Haniger will only deepen a Mariners lineup that has been among the most productive collective units in Major League Baseball so far. The M’s rank eighth in the Majors with 88 runs scored and have the game’s third-best wRC+ at 123, indicating their lineup has been 23% better than average on the whole. Seattle hitters currently lead the Majors with an 11.1% walk rate, and they’re seven in home runs even without Haniger’s powerful bat. He’ll slot back into the outfield/designated hitter mix and ought to jump right back into the heart of the batting order.

Koch, 31, appeared in four games with Seattle and pitched 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs on five hits (two homers) and a walk, striking out three hitters along the way. Koch has appeared in parts of five big league seasons, all coming with the D-backs prior to his Mariners debut this season. He was a serviceable arm out of the Arizona bullpen from 2016-18, pitching to a 4.04 ERA — albeit a mark that was not supported by the underlying metrics. Koch’s 13.9% strikeout rate and 1.72 HR/9 mark during that time were both considerably worse than the league average.

The Mariners will have a week to trade Koch, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Offseason In Review: Miami Marlins

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After underachieving in 2021, Kim Ng’s Marlins entered the offseason looking to bolster a moribund offense to complement perhaps the finest collection of young pitching talent in the game. And while the Fish brought in some outfield pop that could push them into contention for a spot in the expanded playoffs, they’re also contending with the loss of their biggest name — albeit not one who would have contributed on the field.

Major League Signings

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • Sandy Alcantara, RHP: Five years, $56MM (includes $21MM club option for 2027 season with $2MM buyout)
  • Miguel Rojas, SS: Two years, $10MM
  • Richard Bleier, LHP: Two years, $6MM (includes $3.75MM club option for 2024 season with $250K buyout)

Notable Losses

Coming off a somewhat disappointing 2021, Marlins GM Kim Ng set out to reshape a lineup that scored the second fewest runs in the majors. She did much of her business ahead of the lockout, signing former Brewers outfielder Avisaíl García to a four-year, $53MM deal and acquiring catcher Jacob Stallings from the Pirates (for outfielder Connor Scott and righties Zach Thompson and Kyle Nicolas) and versatile infielder Joey Wendle from the Rays (for outfielder Kameron Misner).

After the lockout was lifted, the Marlins were linked to a number of players via both free agency (Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, Eddie Rosario, Michael Conforto) and trade (Ketel Marte, Bryan Reynolds) they didn’t ultimately land. Ng acknowledged at multiple points that  her sights were set on acquiring a center fielder, and either Marte or Reynolds would have been a significant upgrade. The cost, however, proved to be prohibitive, as both players stayed put (Marte on a new five-year extension in Arizona). The free agent cupboard, meanwhile, was largely bare. Ultimately, what could be the Marlins’ most — or, depending which version of the mercurial slugger shows up in Miami this year, least — impactful move came when they beat out the Braves, Rockies, and Padres to sign 2021 World Series MVP Jorge Soler to a three-year, $36MM deal.

As fans of both the Cubs and Royals can attest, the powerful Soler has in essence been two different hitters throughout his career, and 2021 was no exception. Before a deadline trade to the Braves, the 30-year-old outfielder struggled to a .192/.288/.370 batting line across 36o plate appearances with the Royals but slugged his way to a robust .269/.358/.524 in 242 trips to the plate with Atlanta. Oddly, his hard-hit rate (the percent of balls in play with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher) actually dropped after the trade (from 51.2% to 41.2%). This could suggest a fair bit of randomness at play in both directions, but it could also be a product of a change in approach; Soler’s strikeout rate dropped from 26.9% (also his career average) with the Royals to 18.6% with the Braves, his walk rate ticked up from 10.6% to 12%, and his willingness to go to the opposite field increased dramatically (9.8% of his batted balls went to right with the Royals, 18.3% with the Braves).

Regardless of which Soler the Marlins get, though, the Marlins’ failure to land a legitimate center fielder could yield one of the leakiest outfield defenses in the game — particularly within the relatively capacious confines of Miami’s LoanDepot Park. While Jesús Sánchez (who’s covered the position in the early weeks of 2022) has proven himself capable in a corner, he’s hardly a natural fit in center. García (who was noted as a center field option when he was signed) has been similarly solid in right, but he’s been a clear liability in limited action in center across his ten previous big-league seasons. Between the lack of a league-average option in center and a Garrett Cooper/Jesús Aguilar timeshare at first base/DH that forces Soler into a corner, the Marlins’ staff may well look to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible.

Defensive limitations aside, the offense should score more runs in 2022, if only by default. A combination of trades (Starling Marte, Adam Duvall, and Corey Dickerson), injuries (Marte, Cooper, Aguilar, Brian Anderson, Miguel Rojas, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all missed significant time), and ineffectiveness plagued the team throughout the year. Both a reversion to the mean in missed time via injury and Ng’s various upgrades should push the Marlins closer to the middle of the offensive pack.

Indeed, while the addition of Wendle — whose .265/.319/.422 line in 2021 neatly matches his career numbers — to take at-bats covered last year largely by Isan Díaz (.193/.294/.282 in 2021), Joe Panik (.172/.241/.221), and Jon Berti (.210/.311/.313) represents a clear upgrade, it also leads to something of a glut in the Miami infield. An oversupply of quality players is hardly a problem worth bemoaning, of course, but Wendle’s arrival could signal a diminution in Anderson’s role. The third baseman struggled to .249/.337/.378 line in an injury-riddled 2021, but he was an above-average hitter from 2018 to 2020 (posting a combined 112 OPS+ over that period) and could well wind up on the trading block.

Several of Ng’s other additions also provide relatively clear offensive upgrades. Stallings, for instance, is primarily known for his glove (he finished first among catchers in the 2021 Fielding Bible Awards), but the career-representative .246/.335/.369 triple-slash he posted with the Pirates in 2021 substantially outpaced Jorge Alfaro’s .244/.283/.342 line even before accounting for the defensive gap. Similarly, the combination of Soler and García (.262/.330/.490 in 2021, a slight boost in slugging relative to his career numbers) in place of Magneuris Sierra (.230/.281/.268 in 2021) and Lewis Brinson (.226/.263/.376) robs the lineup of some speed and the outfield of some range but adds a significant power threat to a batting order that sorely needs it. And as difficult as the team’s 2021 struggles surely were for the Miami faithful to endure, the offseason demotion of Díaz and departures of Brinson and Monte Harrison (all acquired in the 2018 Christian Yelich deal) — as well as Sierra (the Marcell Ozuna deal in the same offseason) and Alfaro (the 2019 J.T. Realmuto trade) — effectively closes the book on the position-player side of the most recent fire-sale for a fanbase far too used to them.

The pitching side of the equation is, of course, an entirely different story, and the primary source of optimism in south Florida. It’s the strength of Miami’s staff — specifically its rotation — that makes the Marlins something of a dark-horse contender in 2022, and a potential powerhouse in the years to come. Ng added a few pieces to the bullpen via trade, including Cole Sulser and long-time minor-league journeyman Louis Head, but stood pat in rotation. It’s easy to understand why: the Marlins possess the sort of stable of young arms capable of anchoring a contender for the better part of a decade.

In an effort to ensure the leader of that potentially formidable bunch stays in Miami for the foreseeable future, Ng gave budding ace Sandy Alcantara — who quietly posted a 3.19 ERA (3.42 FIP) while logging 205 2/3 innings in 2021 — a five-year, $56MM extension that keeps him under club control through the 2027 season. He’ll head a group that also includes 2021 All-Star and Rookie of the Year runner-up Trevor Rogers (who’s struggled so far in 2022 but posted a 2.64 ERA and 2.55 FIP across 133 innings in 2021), Pablo Lopez (who threw 102 2/3 innings of 3.07 ERA/3.29 FIP ball last year before a rotator cuff strain ended his year prematurely), and Jesús Luzardo (who struggled to a 6.61 ERA across 95 1/3 innings between Oakland and Miami last year but has an electric left arm and is off to a promising start to 2022). Former Rule 5 pick Elieser Hernandez opens the season in the fifth slot, but he’ll face pressure from both consensus top-100 prospect Max Meyer and Sixto Sánchez, the headliner in the Realmuto deal who briefly took the league by storm in 2020 but has since been out of action with a shoulder injury (which ultimately required surgery).

As impactful as the acquisition and departure of players on either side of the lockout is likely to be on the Marlins’ near-term future, perhaps the most significant change came while it was ongoing. In a surprise announcement reportedly tied to a clash with majority owner Bruce Sherman, minority owner and club CEO Derek Jeter announced in late February that he had cut ties with the organization. The precise reasons for Jeter’s departure are, of course, somewhat opaque, but reporting from the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson suggests that Mr. November expected the famously attendance-starved franchise to make a more substantial post-lockout investment in the roster than Sherman was prepared to authorize. (Interestingly, Jeter’s desire to sign Castellanos, who would have represented a clear offensive upgrade but hardly would have remedied the defensive issues in the Miami outfield, is reputed to be among the factors exacerbating the rift between Sherman and his erstwhile partner.)

Regardless of the reasons for Jeter’s unceremonious exit, his absence robs a franchise in search of an identity of the most recognizable face of his generation in baseball history. It does not, however, rob it of its enviable rotation depth, deep farm system, or significantly improved lineup. Whether Ng’s upgrades to the Miami offense and bullpen will be enough to make the them contenders in 2022 — and, indeed, what Jeter’s departure means for the likelihood of keeping the core of the team together for longer than previous talented Marlins squads — remains to be seen.

Patrick Kivlehan Signs With NPB’s Yakult Swallows

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Infielder/outfielder Patrick Kivlehan has signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The well-traveled corner bat will be paid $600K and can boost that total via incentives. He’s represented by Pro Agents Inc. and Agency 1.

Kivlehan, 32, has seen action in parts of four big league seasons, most recently appearing in five games with the Padres in 2021. He also played with Team USA during last summer’s Olympics. A fourth-round pick by Seattle back in 2012, Kivlehan has bounced from the Mariners to the Padres, Reds, D-backs and, earlier this year, the White Sox, with whom he opened the season in Triple-A. He logged a career-high 105 games with the 2017 Reds but hit just .208/.304/.399 in 204 plate appearances. All told, he’s a .208/.308/.398 hitter in 250 big league plate appearances.

Tepid track record in the Majors aside, Kivlehan has a solid minor league track record, including a .263/.325/.488 batting line in more than 2200 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He mashed 32 home runs between the Pirates and Blue Jays’ minor league systems in 2019, slugged 21 long balls in just 91 games with the Padres’ Triple-A club in 2021 and was 5-for-12 with a pair of homers in three games with the ChiSox’ top affiliate this year before this NPB opportunity presented itself.

Braves Activate Ronald Acuna Jr., Designate Alex Dickerson

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Ronald Acuna Jr. is back. The Braves announced this morning that they’ve reinstated their star outfielder from the 10-day injured list — the culmination of a nine-and-a-half-month rehabilitation process following an ACL tear sustained last July. It’s a bit of a surprise, as the Braves had been targeting a May 6 return according to manager Brian Snitker, though Snitker acknowledged at the time of that statement that the date was not set in stone. In a corresponding roster move, Atlanta has designated outfielder Alex Dickerson for assignment.

The 24-year-old Acuna is one of the game’s most dynamic talents and effectively has been since the moment he reached the Majors as a 21-year-old in 2018. Shaking off a rough couple of weeks to begin that original MLB promotion, Acuna went on an absolute tear and finished out the ’18 campaign as the near-unanimous Rookie of the Year winner, claiming 27 of 30 first-place votes (with two going to Juan Soto and one going to Walker Buehler).

Acuna slugged 26 homers and swiped 16 bases as a rookie, hitting at a .293/.366/.552 clip along the way. He’s kept that pace in the three seasons since that time, and will come off the injured list looking to build on a .281/.376/.549 career batting line and add to his already impressive total of 105 big league home runs (to say nothing of 78 doubles, seven triples and 78 steals).

While some fans may worry that Acuna is being rushed back to the big leagues, he certainly hasn’t shown any rust in his limited work with Triple-A Gwinnett so far. It’s only six games and 25 plate appearances, but Acuna is 7-for-19 with a double, six walks and three stolen bases (in three tries), which certainly paints the picture of someone whose major knee injury is firmly behind him. And, given that the Braves’ outfield is producing — or rather, failing to produce — at an alarming level, Atlanta brass has opted to proactively make a move to inject some life into the offense.

Marcell Ozuna has gotten out to a nice start in left field, hitting .257/.291/.486 with four homers and five doubles on the year. It’s a bit light in the OBP department, but the power production has generally offset Ozuna’s lack of walks. The rest of the Atlanta outfield, however, has been nothing short of a disaster. Adam Duvall is hitting .197/.250/.258 in 72 plate appearances. Eddie Rosario batted .068/.163/.091 in 49 plate appearances before undergoing an eye procedure that’ll sideline him for up to 12 weeks. Guillermo Heredia is hitting .158/.273/.368 in 22 plate appearances. The Braves have gotten some production in small samples from infielder-turned-utilityman Orlando Arcia and former prospect Travis Demeritte, but it’s clear that the current group wasn’t sufficient for a team with designs on defending a World Series championship.

Dickerson, at whose expense Acuna is returning, was also a notable culprit when it comes to the Braves’ general lack of offense. Signed late in spring to a one-year deal, he’s been used primarily as a designated hitter against right-handed pitching but has gone just 4-for-33 with one extra-base hit (a homer) while punching out in a quarter of his 36 plate appearances.

The 31-year-old Dickerson has generally been a productive hitter in his big league career when healthy, though that health caveat has loomed large. Dickerson was out for the entirety of the 2017-18 seasons thanks to Tommy John surgery and back surgery, and he’s spent considerable time on the injured list even during his active seasons. Dating back to the 2019 campaign, he’s been sent to the injured list with wrist, shoulder, oblique, hamstring and back injuries.

Dickerson was a revelation for the 2019-20 Giants after going from San Diego to San Francisco in exchange for minor league reliever Franklin Van Gurp. In 341 plate appearances with the Giants over those two seasons, he raked at a .294/.361/.552 clip, mashing 16 home runs, 23 doubles and four triples while walking at a solid 8.5% clip and striking out in 19.1% of his plate appearances (a good bit south of the league average). Dickerson’s 2021 season, however, included a trio of IL stints due to a shoulder strain, a back strain and a hamstring strain. He posted a diminished .233/.304/.420 slash last season and has yet to right the ship so far in 2022.

The Braves will have a week to trade Dickerson, place him on outright waivers or release him. Given his track record and an affordable $1MM salary on his 2022 contract, it’s possible another club will take a look. It’s equally, if not more plausible, however, that teams will simply wait for Dickerson to clear waivers and hope to sign him as a free agent. Because he has more than five years of MLB service time, Dickerson can reject an assignment to the minors upon clearing waivers and still retain his salary.

Injury Notes: Acuna, Flaherty, Lewis

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The Braves got a huge boost today, with superstar outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. returning to the team and the lineup after an absence of over nine months due to an ACL tear last year. However, the club will still be trying to gradually ramp things up for him, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic, who relays word from manager Brian Snitker. Acuna will reportedly have something less than a full workload, getting occasional days in the designated hitter slot or sitting out day games after night games or missing games after playing and traveling the same day. This plan is intended to go until July 22, which is all fairly sensible given that Acuna is incredibly valuable to the team and is coming off a long layoff from a very serious injury. It’s worth pointing out, though, that Snitker also said the situation is fluid and will be re-evaluated daily. Acuna’s already beaten a timeline in his rehab once, as the club was targeting a May 6 return, but he’s back in the lineup tonight and has already stolen two bases, tying himself for the team lead on the year. No one should be surprised if he alters the plan and finds a way to take the reins off sooner rather than later. In fact, he might not even be aware of the plan, as he had this to say about the idea of him sitting on Friday: “I don’t know who said the plan was for me not to play. The way I’m looking at it is, I’m playing tomorrow. So I guess we’ll see what happens.” O’Brien later clarified that the club did tell Acuna about the plan, but he was too excited about his return to hear it. (Twitter links)

Some other health updates from around the league:

  • Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty is making progress towards a return, as manager Oliver Marmol tells Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat that Flaherty will throw off a mound in the second week of May. He’s been dealing with an ailing shoulder since Spring Training began, the same shoulder that put him on the shelf for about a month last year. The club has been able to weather his absence so far, starting the season 11-7. The rotation has four pillars in Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Dakota Hudson and Steven Matz, but one wild card in Jordan Hicks. After working exclusively as a reliever since his MLB debut in 2018, Hicks has made two starts recently, throwing 46 pitches over 3 innings in the first outing, followed by 42 pitches over 2 innings in the second. Time will tell if this transition will work out, but there’s no question a healthy Flaherty will improve things, either by sending Hicks back to the bullpen or covering for an injury to someone else down the line. In 2019, he threw 196 1/3 innings with a 2.75 ERA, 29.9% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate, coming in fourth in NL Cy Young voting that year.
  • It’s been almost a year since Kyle Lewis has played a major league game, with his last appearance coming May 31 of last year. A torn meniscus ended his season, with Lewis hitting many obstacles on the road to recovery since then. In a sign of progress, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that Lewis is now participating in games at extended spring training, both playing in the outfield and slotting into the designated hitter role. None of the Mariners’ three regular outfielders are off to a blazing start to the season, as Julio Rodriguez, Jarred Kelenic and Jesse Winker each have a wRC+ between 54 and 77. (League average is 100.) Mitch Haniger was also off to a sluggish start before being sidelined by a positive Covid test. If Lewis can get back to his pre-injury form, he’d provide a boost to the lineup, as his career batting line is .258/.343/.450, 121 wRC+.

Outrights: Murphy, Riddle

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A pair of players recently designated for assignment have cleared waivers and will stick with their organizations:

  • The Nationals announced yesterday that right-hander Patrick Murphy has been assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. He’ll remain in the organization following last week’s DFA but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old Murphy, claimed off waivers out of the Blue Jays organization in 2021, appeared in six games with the Nats this year but was tagged for six runs (four earned) on eight hits and eight walks with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He struggled in D.C. last year as well and now carries a 5.55 ERA and 27-to-14 K/BB ratio in 24 1/3 innings of work since that waiver claim. The 2013 third-rounder sits north of 96 mph with his heater and has a solid minor league track record, so the Nats will hope that he can right the ship in Rochester and return to the big leagues at some point.
  • Reds infielder JT Riddle cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Louisville, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic. Riddle has previously been outrighted in his career, giving him the right to refuse a minor league assignment. However, the 30-year-old has elected to report to Louisville, where he started the season with a .258/.333/.516 line in 36 plate appearances. Riddle, selected while the team was dealing with injuries to Jonathan India and Mike Moustakas, appeared in a pair of games with Cincinnati.

Orioles To Promote Kyle Bradish

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The Orioles are going to call up right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Bradish to start tomorrow’s game, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, as Baltimore will be hosting Boston for a weekend series. The 25-year-old will be making his major league debut. He is already on the 40-man roster, so the club will just need to create a spot for him on the active roster.

Bradish was selected by the Angels out of New Mexico State University in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. He made his professional debut in 2019, throwing 101 innings in High-A with a 4.28 ERA. In December of that year, he was one of four prospects sent from the Angels to the Orioles in the Dylan Bundy trade.

Of course, a few months later, the pandemic wiped out the 2020 minor league seasons, preventing Bradish from making an official debut with his new team for a year. In 2021, he began the season with the Double-A Bowie Baysox. In three starts, he threw 13 2/3 scoreless innings with 26 strikeouts against just five walks. After that clearly dominant performance, he was moved up to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. In 21 games, 19 of them starts, he tossed another 86 2/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate.

In November, the club added Bradish to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft (which never ended up happening due to the lockout). He’s off to a great start on the year so far, throwing 15 innings over three Triple-A starts with a 1.20 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 50% groundball rate. He has climbed up to the #9 position among Orioles’ prospects, according to Baseball America, with their report noting that he has a fastball that can touch 97 MPH and a plus slider that stands out as his best secondary offering. Eric Longenhagen and Kevin Goldstein of FanGraphs had Bradish in the #7 slot among Baltimore farmhands, with both their report and BA’s remarking on his unique delivery, which helps him add a deceptive element to his game.

Bradish will now get a chance to join a fairly wide-open rotation on a rebuilding Orioles team. The club recently lost the most reliable and effective member of their starting staff, John Means, for the next year-plus due to Tommy John surgery. Aside from veteran Jordan Lyles, the rest of the group is lacking in experience, with Bruce Zimmermann, Tyler Wells and Spenser Watkins all coming into this season with about one year of service time, give or take. If Bradish can provide serviceable innings for the club, he should be able to stick around. This is likely the first of several prospect promotions for the O’s rotation, though, as hurlers such as DL Hall, Grayson Rodriguez and others could soon work their way up to the bigs as well.

Follow The NFL Draft At Pro Football Rumors

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The 87th NFL draft begins tonight from Las Vegas. Our sister site, Pro Football Rumors (@pfrumors on Twitter), has all the top stories covered. Although this draft differs from the past several, as it appears to lack a top-end quarterback, the event features a host of teams with high-stakes decisions. This promises to be the most enigmatic NFL draft in at least nine years.

Picking first for the second straight year, the Jaguars have their quarterback (2021 top pick Trevor Lawrence) and are focusing on their lines. Georgia defensive end Travon Walker has become the odds-on favorite to be the No. 1 pick, despite fellow D-end standout Aidan Hutchinson (Michigan) producing far better college numbers. But Jags owner Shad Khan was believed to disagree with GM Trent Baalke’s Walker preference, adding intrigue to tonight’s top pick. The Jaguars are also interested in trading down, though a lack of interested suitors may force them to stay at No. 1.

The Panthers look to represent the draft’s first quarterback domino, having needed an answer here since Cam Newton’s injury run began years ago. Rather than the NFC South team gambling on one of this class’ polarizing QBs, waiting for a mid- or post-draft trade for the Browns’ Baker Mayfield is in play. That said, Panthers head coach Matt Rhule recruited one of this class’ top QBs (Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett) when he was Temple’s coach years ago; a belated partnership remains a possibility. The Falcons (No. 8), Seahawks (No. 9), Saints (No. 15) and Steelers (No. 20) also loom as quarterback suitors. Liberty’s Malik Willis and Ole Miss’ Matt Corral join Pickett as this class’ top signal-caller prospects; the group could be in for an Aaron Rodgers-esque green-room wait.

This draft’s most interesting subplot: the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel decision. The All-Pro wide receiver requested a trade last week. Reports of Samuel disenchantment with the 49ers’ first extension offer, his unconventional role as a part-time running back, and a desire not to live in California have come up as reasons for the request. The Jets are viewed as Samuel’s most likely landing spot, and the 49ers’ future with the fourth-year playmaker could come down to the wire tonight — with a loose deadline being the Jets’ No. 10 overall pick.

For the latest updates throughout tonight’s first round, and the final six rounds this weekend, stay with Pro Football Rumors and follow us on Facebook and Twitter — @pfrumors.

MLB Suspends Arenado, Cabrera For Role In Bench-Clearing Incident

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6:27pm: Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat tweets that Arenado is continuing with his pre-game routine, indicating he’s appealing his suspension. The Cards announced that Cabrera has accepted his suspension and will serve it tonight; he’d likely not have been available anyhow after throwing 29 pitches yesterday.

6:15pm: Major League Baseball announced this evening that Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado and reliever Génesis Cabrera have each been suspended for their roles in yesterday’s bench-clearing incident with the Mets at Busch Stadium. Arenado was suspended for two games, while Cabrera received a one-game ban. Arenado and Cabrera are set to serve their suspensions beginning with tonight’s game against the D-Backs, although each player could delay that by appealing. It isn’t yet clear whether either plans to do so.

Arenado took exception to a first-pitch fastball from Mets’ reliever Yoan López that sailed up-and-in. He and López began jawing and the dugouts and bullpens emptied, with the teams coming together at home plate.  That came a half-inning after Cabrera hit J.D. Davis on the foot with an offering. Arenado and St. Louis first base coach Stubby Clapp were ejected for their roles in the scrum. (Cabrera was suspended “for his actions during the incident,” not because the league determined he’d thrown at Davis intentionally).

No Mets were ejected or suspended. López was handed an undisclosed fine for contributing to the benches clearing. St. Louis starter Jack Flaherty and Mets starter Taijuan Walker were each hit with fines for participating in the argument while on the injured list.

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