Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Yankees Designate Carlos Carrasco For Assignment

By | at

June 3: The Yankees announced today that Carrasco has been designated for assignment while Cruz has been reinstated from the IL, as expected. Additionally, Luke Weaver landed on the 15-day IL, as was previously reported. Righty Yerry De Los Santos was recalled in a corresponding move. The Yanks also reinstated infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the IL and optioned infielder Jorbit Vivas.

June 2: The Yankees have placed right-hander Carlos Carrasco on outright waivers, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. Players can be placed on waivers without being designated for assignment, so it seems Carrasco is still on the roster for now. However, Sherman notes that righty Fernando Cruz could be coming off the injured list on Tuesday. The Yankees are off today, so it seems like Carrasco could be the corresponding move for Cruz tomorrow.

The veteran Carrasco was only just added to the Yankee roster yesterday. Their pitching staff had been used fairly heavily in the prior days. Facing the Dodgers this weekend, the Yanks used five pitchers in Friday’s 8-5 loss. Then on Saturday, they got creamed 18-2. Starter Will Warren only lasted an inning and a third in that game, forcing the Yankees to use seven other pitchers to get through the rest of the game. One of those was utility player Pablo Reyes but the larger point is that the bullpen got pushed pretty hard.

Carrasco was added to give the club a fresh arm just in case Sunday’s game was another nightmare but it thankfully went far smoother. Ryan Yarbrough started and gave the club six good innings in a game the club eventually won 7-3. Jonathan Loáisiga tossed the seventh and Devin Williams the eighth. Luke Weaver was going to toss the ninth but was held back due to some hamstring discomfort. Tim Hill came in instead and got the final three outs.

That seemingly puts Carrasco in the unfortunate position of losing his roster spot without getting into a game. He was with the Yankees earlier this year and logged 32 innings in a swing role but had a 5.91 earned run average in that time. He got bumped off the roster and cleared waivers. He accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and made two starts there. The first outing was fine but the second was rough, as he allowed five earned runs without making it out of the second inning.

It seems unlikely that Carrasco will be claimed. He just cleared less than a month ago and hasn’t been in great form since. However, it’s also theoretically possible that there’s a team which has been snakebit by injuries of late and is more willing to take a chance on Carrasco now than they were just a few weeks ago.

If he does go unclaimed and the Yankees outright him off the roster, he has more than enough service time to elect free agency. However, the last time he cleared, he accepted and reported to the RailRiders, so perhaps he would do so again.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Chadwick Tromp Elects Free Agency

By | at

The Orioles announced that catcher Chadwick Tromp has elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago.

Tromp, 30, had a very brief stint on Baltimore’s roster. Catcher Adley Rutschman had a concussion scare last week, leaving Maverick Handley as the only healthy backstop on the roster. That prompted the club to add Tromp. However, Rutschman quickly recovered, which led to Tromp getting bumped right back off. Since he is out of options, Baltimore had little choice but to designate him for assignment. He appeared in two games for the O’s, going hitless in four plate appearances.

A player with a previous career outright assignment has the right to elect free agency. This is the second time this year that Tromp has exercised that right. He started the year with Atlanta but had a tenuous hold on a roster spot since he burned his final option season in 2024. Sean Murphy started the season on the injured list, which got prospect Drake Baldwin to the majors. Murphy got healthy in the first week of April, sending Tromp into DFA limbo. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the O’s.

He’s now likely to get another minor league deal somewhere in the coming days, perhaps even returning to the Orioles. The fact that he cleared waivers suggests that no club is currently willing to give him a big league spot.

Tromp has 63 games of big league experience now, spread across six different seasons. He has a tepid .219/.229/.375 batting line over those campaigns. His glovework has generally received solid grades and he has shown more offensive potential in the minors. Dating back to the start of the 2022 season, he has a .256/.337/.427 line and 102 wRC+ in 872 Triple-A plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Padres Interested In Jarren Duran

By | at

The Padres are looking to upgrade in left field and Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports that Jarren Duran of the Red Sox is on their list of trade targets. They have been interested in Duran before, as they were connected to him in rumors ahead of the 2024 season.

Given the prior interest, it’s not especially surprising that the Friars still have their eyes on him. They weren’t able to pry him loose ahead of last year but wound up with a cheap solution for their left field opening, as they looked to replace Juan Soto without having much to spend. They signed Jurickson Profar for just $1MM and got a career year out of him, though obviously that now looks suspect in the wake of his recent PED suspension.

Going into 2025, the Friars once again had financial limitations and tried to grab more lightning in a bottle. They brought in a number of players on small deals and minor league pacts, adding them to their incumbent options. So far, they have tried eight different players in left: Jason Heyward, Oscar González, Brandon Lockridge, Gavin Sheets, Tirso Ornelas, Tyler Wade, Jose Iglesias and Connor Joe.

No one in that group has been a solution so far. González is now playing in Japan. Heyward hit .176/.223/.271 before landing on the injured list with an oblique strain. Ornelas has hit .071/.188/.071 in the majors and is on optional assignment. Joe was traded to the Reds. Wade, Iglesias and Lockridge are mostly glove-first multi-positional guys. Sheets is having a good year at the plate but is not a good defender in left. He also departed yesterday’s game after colliding with the left field wall while trying to catch a home run ball.

Duran, on the other hand, is a great left fielder. Last year, he hit 21 home runs and slashed .285/.342/.492 for a 129 wRC+. He stole 34 bases and got strong marks for his glovework, splitting his time almost equally between center and left. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 6.7 wins above replacement on the year.

Here in 2025, his offense is down. He has just four home runs so far. His walk rate has also fallen from last year’s 7.3% to this year’s 5.7% mark. That gives him a .264/.312/.406 line and 97 wRC+. His Statcast numbers are a mixed bag. His hard hit rate and exit velocity are up relative to last year but he’s barreling the ball less. His home run to fly ball rate has almost been cut in half, going from 11.7% last year to 6% this year.

Whether he can get back to last year’s offense is hard to say but he does have 13 steals. His glovework isn’t getting the glowing marks it did last year but those numbers can get a bit wonky in small samples.

Regardless of this year’s slide, Duran would be a nice upgrade over anything the Padres currently have in house. There’s also the financial element to consider, as the Friars have clearly been operating with limited funds for years now. Duran just qualified for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player in the most recent offseason.

He and the Red Sox didn’t agree to terms ahead of the filing deadline but eventually avoided arbitration. He is making a $3.75MM salary this year with a $100K buyout on an $8MM club option for 2026. That option can climb as high as $12MM via escalators. Even if that option is turned down, Duran can still be retained via arbitration for 2026, and through the 2028 season as well.

The combination of his skills, control and affordable salary makes the interest from the Padres very easy to understand. However, those attributes also give him plenty of appeal to the Red Sox and it’s unclear if they have any interest in moving him while he could still be a key part of their club for years to come.

It is possible to imagine a scenario where they consider it. The Sox currently have a crowded outfield mix, with Duran usually slotting in next to center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and right fielder Wilyer Abreu, while Rob Refsnyder is on hand as a bench outfielder. Masataka Yoshida would be in the mix if he were healthy. Rafael Devers has the designated hitter spot taken almost every day. The situation is such that Roman Anthony, considered by many to be the top prospect in baseball, can’t get a call-up even as he is destroying Triple-A pitching.

The Sox are also having a bit of a disappointing season on the whole, currently sporting a record of 29-32. They are only 3.5 games out of a playoff spot but would have to leapfrog many teams to get into postseason position. Their injured list currently features Yoshida, Alex Bregman, Triston Casas and a number of pitchers.

Over the coming weeks, it’s possible that they slide further back in the crowded American League playoff race. In that scenario, perhaps they decide that they want to make Duran available. Trading him would open left field for Anthony while presumably bringing back some valuable pieces in the trade as well.

However, that’s a lot of speculation. And even if becomes more realistic, the Padres surely wouldn’t be the only club with interest. As noted by Lin, the Friars have traded away a lot of prospects in recent years. Even with their clear interest, they may not have the prospect capital to get a deal done. Their system is headlined by two highly-ranked prospects in Ethan Salas and Leo De Vries but reporting has generally indicated the Padres want to hold onto those two as their future catcher and shortstop respectively.

Even if the Padres are willing to further subtract from their system, they might also have to think about their rotation, as Lin points out. Michael King and Yu Darvish are on the injured list right now, which further subtracts from a group that was already top-heavy to begin the year.

There are plenty of variables involved here and there’s still lots of time until the trade deadline, but it’s a situation to monitor for now with more rumors surely to follow. This year’s trade deadline is on July 31st.

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Astros Sign Jordan Weems To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Astros have signed right-hander Jordan Weems to a minor league deal, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The righty will report to Triple-A Sugar Land and provide the Astros with some non-roster depth.

Weems, 32, was released by Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. He had signed a minor league deal with that club in the offseason and was at the Triple-A level to start the year. He logged 17 2/3 innings with a 5.09 earned run average. His 12.5% walk rate was on the high side but his 22.5% strikeout rate was decent and his 45.1% ground ball rate was pretty solid.

That wasn’t enough to get him called up to the big leagues but he has some respectable major league work on his track record. Over 2022 and 2023, he logged 94 1/3 innings for the Nationals with a 4.29 ERA. His 10.1% walk rate was a bit worse than par but he struck out 25.4% of batters faced. Unfortunately, things turned sour last year. His strikeout rate dropped to 17.9% and his walk rate ticked up to 12.2%, leading to a 6.70 ERA. He was outrighted to the minors in August and elected free agency at season’s end.

Between last year’s major league work and this year’s stint in the minors, it hasn’t been a great stretch for the righty. However, as mentioned, he was a serviceable big leaguer in the prior two seasons. For the Astros, there’s no real risk in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal to get a close-up look at him. Their bullpen has been pretty good this year but there’s no harm in adding some extra non-roster depth in case some injuries pop up in the coming weeks or months.

Photo courtesy of Mike Lang, Imagn Images.

Angels Place Yoán Moncada, Robert Stephenson On Injured List

By | at

The Angels announced today that infielder Yoán Moncada has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to right knee inflammation. Right-hander Robert Stephenson landed on the 15-day IL due to right biceps inflammation, retroactive to May 31st. The Halos didn’t provide any information about how long either player is expected to be out of action. Outfielder Matthew Lugo and righty Sam Aldegheri were recalled to take the two vacated active roster spots.

Moncada, 30, signed with the Halos this offseason on a one-year deal which pays him $5MM. He has been excellent when he’s been on the field. He has stepped to the plate 113 times over 30 games. His 28.3% strikeout rate is high but he has six home runs and has drawn walks at a strong 11.5% clip. His .237/.336/.505 batting line translates to a 135 wRC+, indicating he’s been 35% better than league average at the plate overall.

But as has often been the case with Moncada, injuries have gotten in the way. He hasn’t played more than 104 games in a season since 2021 due to various ailments. He only got into 12 contests last year due to an adductor strain. He already missed almost a month this year due to a thumb sprain and now this knee issue has him on the shelf again.

It’s a bit of a double blow for the Halos, who are struggling to hang in the American League playoff race. They are 26-32, ahead of just three American League clubs and five games back of the final Wild Card spot. Losing Moncada will hurt their ability to stay in the race. Shortstop Zach Neto is the only position player on the team with a higher wins above replacement tally this year, in the eyes of FanGraphs. If they fall back in the race, Moncada would be one of their more interesting trade chips, though each injury compounds his injury-prone reputation and hurts his trade value.

With Moncada ailing in recent days, the Halos have had Luis Rengifo move from second to third with Scott Kingery taking over the keystone. That could perhaps be their regular alignment while Moncada is out, with Kevin Newman and Chris Taylor also on hand.

For Stephenson, it’s a frustrating setback. He signed a three-year, $33MM deal going into 2024 but required Tommy John surgery in April of last year, before he even got a chance to throw a pitch for the Angels. He recovered from that surgery and was reinstated from the IL a few days ago. But in his second appearance, which was on Friday, he departed after just three pitches with an apparent injury.

The Angels’ bullpen has a collective 6.04 earned run average, worse than every club in the majors except for the Athletics. Ideally, Stephenson’s return would have strengthened the group. In the second half of 2023, he was one of the best relievers on the planet. With the Rays, he threw 38 1/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 42.9% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. That prompted the Angels to give him a hefty deal but he hasn’t been able to give them a return on that investment yet and that won’t change for a few more weeks at least.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Orioles Reinstate Colton Cowser From 60-Day IL, Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment

By | at

The Orioles announced that outfielder Colton Cowser has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, infielder/outfielder Cooper Hummel has been designated for assignment.

The O’s have been without Cowser for almost the entire year. In just the fourth game of the season, he slid into first base and suffered a fractured left thumb. The Orioles announced that he would probably miss six to eight weeks. He has gone just beyond that, as today is nine weeks since he suffered that injury.

While he’s been gone, the club has been struggling badly. Even though they just swept the White Sox over the weekend, they sport a record of 22-36, with the Sox the only club below them in the American League standings.

That is perhaps at least somewhat due to Cowser’s absence. Last year, he hit 24 home runs for the O’s and swiped nine bases. His 30.7% strikeout rate was quite high but he also drew walks at a solid 9.3% clip. He got strong marks for his outfield glovework, playing all three spots. FanGraphs credited him with four wins above replacement and he finished second to Luis Gil in American League Rookie of the Year voting.

Getting that player back in the lineup is nice but the O’s have a steep hill to climb. They’re also not at full strength in the outfield as Cedric Mullins, Tyler O’Neill and Ramón Laureano are all still on the shelf. Those absences make Cowser’s return a very welcome sight for Baltimore fans. He’ll join an outfield mix that currently consists of Heston Kjerstad, Dylan Carlson, Ryan O’Hearn, Jordyn Adams and Jorge Mateo.

As for Hummel, this is the latest transaction in what has surely been a frustrating week-plus for him. The O’s signed him on May 25th, after he had opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees. He was designated for assignment the next day, without appearing in a game. Catcher Adley Rutschman had a concussion scare and the O’s needed to give that roster spot to Chadwick Tromp. A few days later, with Rutschman feeling better, Hummel was re-signed on May 30th.

But he’s now heading into DFA limbo yet again. Around all the transactions, he has just one plate appearance as an Oriole. He pinch hit for Ryan Mountcastle on Friday and struck out. It’s a bit of a microcosm for Hummel’s entire career, as he has always performed well in the minors but hasn’t been given many big league chances. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a .284/.419/.475 line and 132 wRC+ at the Triple-A level. Despite that strong output, he hasn’t received more than 26 big league plate appearances in a season since 2022.

He’ll head back into DFA limbo for a week at most. He just cleared waivers last week and seems likely to do so again. If that comes to pass, he will have the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images

Dodgers Designate Chris Stratton For Assignment

By | at

The Dodgers announced that they have acquired right-hander Will Klein from the Mariners in exchange for minor league lefty Joe Jacques, a move that was previously reported. They have also recalled righty Ryan Loutos. In corresponding moves, right-hander Noah Davis has been optioned to the minors and righty Chris Stratton has been designated for assignment.

Stratton, 34, was just signed about a week ago after being released by the Royals. He tossed three innings for the Dodgers over two appearances, allowing two earned runs and two walks and two hits while striking out five.

The veteran parlayed a solid 2023 season into a surprising two-year, $8MM deal with Kansas City going into 2024. But since signing that pact, he hasn’t been especially effective. He has thrown 78 1/3 innings dating back to the start of last season with a 6.09 earned run average. His 46.1% ground ball rate in that time is strong but his 18.2% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate are both a few ticks worse than average.

Since the Royals released Stratton, they remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary. Any other club can sign Stratton and only pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, as the Dodgers just did. That amount was subtracted from what the Royals paid.

The Dodgers were happy to grab a fresh veteran arm for a few days, but since they had no commitment to him, they have quickly jettisoned him for more fresh arms. He is likely to wind up on the open market again in the coming days and will see if another team is looking for bullpen reinforcements. He had a strong run of results from 2020 to 2023. In the last of those years, he tossed 82 2/3 innings with a 3.92 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images

Tigers Reinstate Parker Meadows From 60-Day IL

By | at

The Tigers announced that outfielder Parker Meadows has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Fellow outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy has been optioned to Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Ryan Cusick has been designated for assignment. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported the Meadows and Malloy moves prior to the official announcement.

Meadows, 25, will be making his season debut as soon as he gets into a game. Way back in February, he was battling some inflammation in his upper right arm. It was later revealed that this was due to issues with the musculocutaneous nerve. He was placed on the 60-day IL in late March, indicating he wouldn’t be an option for the Tigers in the first two months of the season.

He seems to be fine now. He has played eight rehab games over the past two weeks and put up a stout .259/.394/.556 line in those. His throwing was a concern when the issue first cropped up but he’s been playing the field during his rehab, so he’s presumably fine in that regard as well.

Now that he’s back, it should be a boost for the Tigers. Meadows hit .241/.317/.413 for a 106 wRC+ in 119 games over the previous two seasons. He also stole 17 bases and received strong marks for his center field defense. FanGraphs credited him with 3.1 wins above replacement in that time, even though he had played less than a full season’s worth of games.

The Tigers have had a number of health problems in the outfield this year. In addition to Meadows, Matt Vierling and Wenceel Pérez have also missed significant time. Vierling was recently reinstated but went right back on the IL after just a few days.

The club has managed to weather that storm about as well as could have been expected. Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter have both been great while utility guys like Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry have also made nice contributions. Now that Meadows and Pérez are back, that should further strengthen a team that already leads the majors with a 39-21 record.

Cusick, 25, was just claimed off waivers from the A’s a few days ago. He will likely wind up back on waivers again in the coming days and it’s possible he’ll clear. As the best team in baseball, the Tigers are last on the waiver priority list, so the other 29 clubs passed on him just a few days ago.

A former first-round pick of Atlanta, Cusick’s minor league work hasn’t produce much optimism yet. He posted poor numbers for the A’s in the minors in 2022, 2023 and through the first half of 2024. A move to relief last year inspired some optimism, as he posted a 1.73 ERA in his final 26 innings. However, his results have backed up here in 2025. He had a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings before the A’s designated him for assignment. Since being claimed, he has tossed one scoreless inning for Toledo.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Pirates Claim Ronny Simón, Designate Tanner Rainey For Assignment

By | at

2:25pm: The Pirates announced that they have claimed Simón and optioned him to Triple-A Indianapolis, with Rainey designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

1:25pm: The Pirates have claimed infielder Ronny Simón off waivers from the Marlins. The latter club designated him for assignment last week. Right-hander Tanner Rainey has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for Simón. Mike Rodriguez first reported that Simón would be joining the Pirates. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported that it would be a waiver claim. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reported that Rainey was the corresponding move.

Simón, 25, got his first major league call just over a month ago. The Marlins selected his contract on April 20th and he stuck on the roster until he was designated for assignment on May 30th. He got into 19 games and stepped to the plate 56 times, producing a batting line of .234/.327/.277.

That was a fairly unremarkable performance from a statistical point of view but Simón got thrust into the spotlight in an unusual way. As relayed Jason Foster and Christina De Nicola of MLB.com, Simón had a nightmare game against the Padres last week. The Fish were up 6-0 on Tuesday but several errors and general defensive miscues from Simón allowed the Friars to engineer an 8-6 comeback victory.

Amid the chaotic contest, Simón was seen wiping tears from his face. After the game, he received plenty of encouraging messages from his teammates and even his opponents. Per the MLB.com story, Padres such as Manny Machado, Luis Arráez and Fernando Tatis Jr. sent supportive texts to Simón after the game. In addition to that challenging on-field experience, Simón also had to deal with getting sent into DFA limbo a few days later. However, he has quickly found a new home by landing with the Pirates.

Simón’s major league time isn’t much to go on. Presumably, the Pirates are paying more attention to his minor league work. In 2,328 minor league plate appearances, he has a .266/.341/.446 line and 108 wRC+. Before getting called up this year, he got into 15 Triple-A contests and had a massive .354/.441/.521 line in that small sample.

As of July of last year, FanGraphs considered Simón to be one of the top 20 prospects in the Rays’ system, noting that his switch-hitting and defensive versatility gave him a good shot to eventually become a utility player. He has experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners. He’s generally been able to steal about 20-35 bases annually. The Rays didn’t give him a 40-man spot at the end of last year, which led him to sign a minors deal with the Marlins coming into 2025.

He still has a full slate of options, so the Pirates can keep him in the minors if they don’t have room at the big league level. Rainey’s DFA does open an active roster spot but the Pirates might recall a pitcher rather than playing with the pitching staff shorthanded.

Rainey, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in the offseason and was selected to the roster about a month ago. He has since tossed 7 2/3 innings over 11 appearances, allowing nine earned runs. There’s surely a bit of luck in there, especially from a 35.7% strand rate that is ridiculously low, but he also hasn’t done himself any favors by walking 16.2% of batters faced. On the positive side, his 24.3% strikeout rate and 45% ground ball rate are solid numbers.

He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Pirates could take five days to try to line up a trade. Rainey’s overall track record includes 197 big league innings with a 5.44 ERA. From 2019 to 2024, he logged 182 1/3 of those innings with a 4.49 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate and 14.1% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Ben Rortvedt Accepts Outright Assignment With Rays

By | at

Catcher Ben Rortvedt, who was designated for assignment by the Rays last week, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Durham. He had the right to elect free agency but has chosen to accept. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to relay the information.

Players with at least three years of big league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, exercising that right means forfeiting any remaining salary commitments, unless a player has at least five years of service time.

Rortvedt is between three and four years. He qualified for arbitration for the first time after last season. He and the Rays avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.125MM salary for 2025. Rortvedt has pocketed about a third of that already but would have to walk away from the rest of it in order to head to the open market, so it’s not surprising that he has chosen to report to Durham.

For the Rays, they get to keep a bit of experienced non-roster depth behind the plate. Rortvedt had a solid season for them in 2024, getting into 112 games and stepping to the plate 328 times. His .228/.317/.303 slash line wasn’t tremendous, as his 87 wRC+ indicates he was about 13% below league average at the plate. However, catches are usually about 10% below league-wide par, so Rortvedt’s offense was passable enough.

He also received solid marks for his work behind the plate. Putting the two together, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.4 wins above the replacement on the year, with Baseball Reference putting him a bit lower at 0.9 WAR.

The Rays were satisfied enough to give him a raise and bring him back for 2025 but his bat has disappeared. Rortvedt slashed .095/.186/.111 in 70 plate appearances before getting designated for assignment last week. A tiny .122 batting average on balls in play wasn’t helping him out but his batted ball metrics all trended in the wrong direction as well. The Rays signed Danny Jansen in the offseason and then acquired Matt Thaiss last week, pushing Rortvedt down the depth chart. Since Rortvedt is out of options, he got pushed off the 40-man entirely.

Though he’s not having a strong season, he should get some regular playing time for Durham and could perhaps get his offense back on track. If he’s able to do so, he could be the first man up if either Jansen or Thaiss suffers an injury. Logan Driscoll is also on the 40-man roster but he started the year on the minor league injured list due to an ankle injury and still hasn’t played an official game this year.

If Rortvedt isn’t called up by the end of the season, he will be able to elect free agency, as is the case with all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a 40-man roster during the season.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top