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Víctor Robles Suspension Reduced To Seven Games

By Darragh McDonald | August 29, 2025 at 12:35pm CDT

Mariners outfielder Víctor Robles has had his suspension reduced to seven games, reports Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. He will begin serving it tonight. He received a ten-game suspension over a week ago but played for the club while appealing the decision.

The suspension stemmed from an incident which occurred during Robles’s minor league rehab assignment. He had been hit by a pitch numerous times during his rehab, including a few pitches from right-hander Joey Estes, then of the Las Vegas Aviators. Jomboy Media did a thorough rundown of the events which led to Robles losing his temper. As his anger boiled over, he threw a bat towards Estes and his tantrum continued after that.

The league understandably punished Robles, though he exercised his right to appeal. The Mariners reinstated him from the injured list about a week ago while the appeals process was playing out. He has now had the suspension reduced but will need to miss seven contests.

For the Mariners, they will be punished beyond just not having Robles. When a player is suspended for an on-field infraction like this, the team doesn’t get to replace him on the roster, meaning the M’s will have to play with a 25-man roster. The one consolation of that situation is the calendar, as rosters expand from 26 to 28 on September 1st. Still, the M’s will have a shorter bench of just three guys for their weekend series in Cleveland, a key matchup against one of the clubs trying to catch Seattle for a Wild Card spot.

Seattle has Randy Arozarena in left field and Julio Rodríguez in center most days. Since coming off the IL, Robles has been in the right field mix alongside Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley. For the next seven games, those two will handle the spot, with Robles getting back into the mix after he’s served his sentence.

For Robles, it’s going to contribute to a mostly lost season. He dislocated his shoulder early in the campaign, an injury which cost him over four months. He has been limited to just 14 games and has hit .246/.267/.298 in his 60 plate appearances. He still has time to alter those numbers but will have to wait another week.

The M’s were surely hoping for more when they signed Robles last year. A former top prospect, Robles had struggled to click in the majors but seemed to break out with the M’s in 2024. He finished the year with a .328/.393/.467 in 77 games for Seattle. In the middle of that performance, the Mariners signed him to a two-year, $9.75MM deal for the 2025 and 2026 seasons with a 2027 club option.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images

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Seattle Mariners Victor Robles

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Mets Outright Ty Adcock

By Darragh McDonald | August 28, 2025 at 8:52pm CDT

August 28: Adcock went unclaimed and was outrighted off the 40-man roster, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’ll remain in Syracuse. That opens the 40-man roster spot for Tong’s promotion tomorrow.

August 26: The Mets have placed right-hander Ty Adcock on waivers, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Mets haven’t announced the move but they do need to open a 40-man spot for the upcoming promotion of prospect Jonah Tong on Friday, so perhaps the two are related.

Adcock, 28, has a fairly limited big league track record. He has thrown a combined 23 innings over the three most recent seasons with a 5.48 earned run average. His 20.4% strikeout rate in that sample is a bit below par but he has only walked 4.3% of opponents.

His minor league résumé provides a larger batch of data to look at. He has shown some flashes down on the farm but hasn’t been having a great season. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed 57 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.24 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. With Syracuse this year, he has logged 29 Triple-A innings with a 5.28 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate.

Adcock is in his final option season, so he’ll be out of options next year. That would make it harder for him to hold a roster spot through the offseason and into 2026, so he was presumably running out of time.

Despite his lack of results this year, it’s possible some club is attracted to the stuff. His fastball averages in the upper-90s and he also throws a cutter, splitter, sinker and slider. Though he’ll be out of options next year, he is still optionable for the remainder of this season, which could give him appeal to a club in need of some extra bullpen depth. He’ll be postseason eligible with another club if claimed before September 1st.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

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New York Mets Transactions Ty Adcock

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Jonathan Loáisiga Done For The Year

By Darragh McDonald | August 28, 2025 at 5:35pm CDT

Yankees right-hander Jonathan Loáisiga has a flexor strain and won’t return this year. However, he is unlikely to require surgery, which perhaps bodes well for next year. Manager Aaron Boone provided the news to reporters including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic and Greg Joyce of  The New York Post.

Loáisiga, 30, is a talented pitcher but he has often been held back by injuries. In 2023, he underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow and only pitched 17 2/3 innings that year. In April of 2024, he required internal brace surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.

He reached free agency and the Yankees decided to sign him for 2025, even though he was still recovering from that surgery at the time. Before all the injuries popped up, Loáisiga had put up some good numbers. Over 2020 and 2021, for instance, he logged 93 2/3 innings with a 2.50 earned run average, 23.8% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 58.4% ground ball rate.

The Yanks were surely hoping that a clean bill of health could get him back to that level but it didn’t play out that way. He was reinstated from the injured list in mid-May but landed back on the IL due to mid-back tightness. He started a rehab assignment shortly thereafter but then suffered the flexor strain which has now ended his season. Around those injuries, he gave the Yankees 29 2/3 innings with a 4.25 ERA, 18.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 50.5% ground ball rate.

The Yankees bolstered their bullpen ahead of the deadline by trading for David Bednar and Camilo Doval, adding those two to a group that already included Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and others. They recently welcomed Fernando Cruz back from his own IL stint. The relief corps has a 4.88 ERA in August but there’s lots of talent in there and they have a chance at righting the ship down the stretch and into the postseason. Getting a healthy Loáisiga in there could have helped but that won’t happen now.

The Yankees will have to make a decision about next year. Loáisiga’s $5MM deal came with a $4.5MM salary and $500K signing bonus, plus a $5MM club option for 2026 with no buyout. They were willing to place a $5MM bet on him last offseason but it’s possible his subpar performance this year pushed them away from doing so again. This injury presumably makes it even less likely they trigger the option. But they clearly like the player and he’s unlikely to require surgery, so perhaps they could re-sign him at a different price point.

Boone also relayed, per Kirschner, an update on lefty Ryan Yarbrough. The southpaw will likely be working out of the bullpen when he comes off the IL. He gave the Yanks some good results in a swing role earlier this year, making eight starts and eight relief appearances with a 3.90 ERA. Unfortunately, a right oblique strain put him on the IL in mid-June.

While Yarbrough has been away, Luis Gil returned from his own IL stint to retake a spot in the rotation. Also, Cam Schlittler came up from the minors and has been really good through his first eight starts. The rotation now features those two alongside Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Will Warren.

Yarbrough has been rehabbing lately and has been getting stretched out. His third and most-recent outing saw him toss 4 2/3 innings. But there’s not really a spot for him in the rotation, so the Yankees will seemingly put him in a long relief role. They also have Paul Blackburn doing long relief work and could cut him, though rosters expand in September, which will perhaps allow the club to roster both of them.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst, Imagn Images

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New York Yankees Jonathan Loaisiga Ryan Yarbrough

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Corey Seager To Undergo Appendectomy, Not Ruled Out For Season

By Darragh McDonald | August 28, 2025 at 3:55pm CDT

Rangers shortstop Corey Seager has appendicitis and will undergo an appendectomy. President of baseball operations Chris Young relayed the news to reporters, including Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, saying that Seager will be “out a period of time” but hasn’t been ruled out for the entire year. Per Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports, infielder Dylan Moore will be added to the roster with outfielder Evan Carter moved to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

Though Seager isn’t completely ruled out for the season, it’s obviously a rough blow. Seager is the best player on the team. Despite missing some time due to hamstring strains and only playing in 102 games, he has produced four wins above replacement, in the eyes of FanGraphs. He has 21 home runs, a 13% walk rate, 19.6% strikeout rate, .271/.373/.487 batting line, 137 wRC+ and excellent grades for his shortstop defense.

No club ever wants to lose its best player to an injury but the Rangers are in an especially precarious spot. They have been hovering around .500 for most of the year, currently sporting a 68-67 record. That puts them 4.5 games back of a playoff spot with a month left to go.

They’re not totally knocked out but they’ve taken a few big punches lately. In the past month-plus, they have lost Seager, Carter, Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Burger, Sam Haggerty, Chris Martin, Jon Gray and Cole Winn to the injured list. Carter recently suffered a wrist fracture and this transfer means he’s ineligible to return before mid-October. Semien’s foot injury is going to cost him four to six weeks. Eovaldi’s rotator cuff strain is likely season-ending.

The club still has a chance to make a late charge for a postseason spot but doing so without so many key contributors will be tough. There’s also a ticking clock right now due to some granular MLB rules. The Rangers tried to avoid the competitive balance tax this year but reportedly went just over the line when making upgrades to the roster ahead of the trade deadline. They could sneak back under the tax line if a few players are claimed off waivers. However, a player would only be postseason eligible with a new club if claimed prior to September 1st. Since waivers are a 48-hour process, the Rangers would have to put guys on the wire in the next 24 hours or so, or else they would suddenly have significantly less appeal to other teams.

Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, Danny Coulombe, Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong and Patrick Corbin are all impending free agents. They therefore have no value for the Rangers beyond this year. If the club decides to punt on 2025, they could place some or all of them on waivers. It’s unlikely all of them would get claimed but Kelly definitely would and a few others probably would as well. Adolis García can be retained for 2026 but is a non-tender candidate and could make sense for the wire as well.

Time will tell if Seager’s injury pushes them to make that bold decision. For now, Josh Smith will likely step in for Seager at shortstop, per Wilson. That will leave playing time at second, which will be taken by some combination of Ezequiel Durán, Cody Freeman and Moore.

Moore and the Rangers just signed a minor league deal a few days ago after he had been released by the Mariners. He’s having an awful season, which prompted that release. He has a .193/.263/.359 batting line and 35.7% strikeout rate.

He has been better than that in the past. He came into the year with a career .206/.316/.384 line and 102 wRC+, despite striking out in 29.8% of his plate appearances. He had 104 stolen bases and had played every position except catcher.

Though he hasn’t been good this year, he’s essentially free for the Rangers. Since the Mariners released him, they remain on the hook for the majority of his salary. The Rangers only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time he spends on their roster. That amount will be subtracted from what the Mariners pay.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

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Newsstand Texas Rangers Transactions Cody Freeman Corey Seager Dylan Moore Evan Carter Ezequiel Duran Josh Smith (1997)

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Frankie Montas To Undergo UCL Surgery

By Darragh McDonald | August 28, 2025 at 3:25pm CDT

Mets right-hander Frankie Montas has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and will require surgery, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It seems unclear exactly what kind of surgery Montas will require but Heyman says it will “very likely” be a full Tommy John, which would wipe out his entire 2026 season. Even a lesser surgery such as an internal brace procedure would put him on the shelf for most of next season.

The news doesn’t come out of nowhere. Montas was placed on the 15-day injured list a few days ago with a UCL injury. Manager Carlos Mendoza described it as “pretty significant” and said Montas would not be returning in 2025. The news of the surgery has more of an impact on 2026, which could go down as a lost season for Montas. A full Tommy John surgery generally requires 14-plus months of rehab. The internal brace alternative can sometimes allow a player to come back around a year later, though even that is a rare outcome.

Time will tell what 2026 has in store for Montas. Either way, his signing is officially a regrettable one for the Mets. Coming into 2025, they gave him a two-year, $34MM guarantee with $17MM salaries in each year and an opt-out after the first season. He suffered a lat strain in February and didn’t make it back to a big league mound until late June. He posted a 6.68 earned run average in seven starts and got moved to the bullpen. After two relief outings, he landed on the IL.

Montas will certainly forego his opt-out chance and keep that $17MM salary on the Mets’ books for next year. For their $34MM investment, they have so far received 38 2/3 innings with a 6.28 ERA. There’s a chance he returns late in 2026 but only for a few outings even in a best-case scenario.

The news doesn’t impact 2025. As mentioned, Montas had already been bumped to the bullpen even before being ruled out for the rest of the year. This means the club won’t be planning on him contributing in 2026 either. Thankfully, next year’s on-paper rotation looks a lot like the current group. Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson will all be back next year. Senga’s deal has a post-2025 opt-out but it’s conditional on him pitching 400 innings over the 2023-25 seasons. Since he missed most of last year, he’s only at 280 1/3 and won’t vest that opt-out.

In addition to those four, the Mets are turning to prospects Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong late this year. Either or both could be candidates for next year’s rotation. The same is true of Brandon Sproat, who is in Triple-A. Tylor Megill is currently on the IL but can be retained for 2026 via arbitration. Christian Scott has UCL surgery late in 2024 and could be back in the mix next year.

While it’s not ideal for the Mets to be paying $17MM plus taxes to a pitcher who is out of action, he had seemingly fallen out of their plans regardless. They have plenty of other pitchers and one of the top payrolls in the league, so they can absorb this hit better than most.

For Montas personally, he will eventually return to the open market ahead of the 2027 season, which will be his age-34 campaign. He missed most of 2023 recovering from shoulder surgery, so he won’t have a lot of momentum going into that return to free agency. He will be coming off a four-year stretch from 2023 to 2026 where he was only healthy in 2024 and had a 4.84 ERA that year.

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New York Mets Newsstand Frankie Montas

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Francisco Alvarez Suffers Finger Fracture, Still Hopes To Return This Year

By Darragh McDonald | August 28, 2025 at 2:55pm CDT

Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez was hit by a pitch on his left pinky finger last night. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that the backstop suffered a break in that finger but still hopes to be able to play in the majors later this year.

Alvarez was already in a challenging situation. He suffered a sprain of his right thumb a little over a week ago. Shortly after suffering that injury, it was reported that he will need surgery to correct it at some point. However, the recovery time from that surgery is six to seven weeks, which would carry well into October if he had it now. Alvarez and the Mets decided to delay the procedure until the offseason as he attempts to rest it enough to play through it.

He began that experiment by starting a rehab assignment last night. He doubled in his first plate appearance, grounded out in the second and then was hit by a pitch in the third. He was removed for a pinch runner and it now appears that he suffered a fracture.

Despite the break, Alvarez evidently feels he can get back on the field. Perhaps that is possible but it’s anyone’s guess what kind of production he can muster with a sprained thumb on his right hand and a fractured pinky on the other hand. He could perhaps heal up a bit but there’s only a month left in the regular season.

It perhaps helps that the club has cracked off three straight victories while the Reds have lost three in a row. That gives the Mets a cushion of 4.5 games and greatly increases their chances of making the playoffs. Instead of rushing Alvarez back for a playoff chase, perhaps they can pump the brakes a bit and focus on getting him healthy for the playoffs.

It’s a tough spot but it’s understandable why the Mets and Alvarez are taking this path. He has a .265/.349/.438 batting line and 125 wRC+ this year, despite an early-season slump which got him sent down to the minors for a little while. With him on the shelf, the Mets are left with Luis Torrens and Hayden Senger as their healthy catchers. Torrens is hitting .218/.282/.320 this year while Senger’s line is .180/.227/.197.

The glovework can be debated but Alvarez clearly has the greatest ability to make a difference with his bat. Perhaps the injuries will be too much of an impediment for him to make a short-term impact but there’s little harm in trying. Even if he doesn’t have the thumb surgery until the season is done, he could still be recovered in time to have a normal spring training in preparation for 2026.

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New York Mets Francisco Alvarez

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Latest On Astros’ Rotation

By Darragh McDonald | August 28, 2025 at 2:32pm CDT

The Astros are apparently trying to shake things up in their rotation. Manager Joe Espada tells reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic, that Lance McCullers Jr. will be moving to the bullpen. The skipper emphasized that it would be a “short-term” move in order to “just change things up.”

McCullers has returned to the big leagues this year after two completely lost seasons. He didn’t pitch at all in 2023 or 2024 due to issues with his throwing arm. In 2023, he had surgery to repair his flexor tendon and remove bone spurs from his elbow. The recovery period dragged on longer than expected, preventing him from pitching in 2024. Since a forearm injury limited him to just eight starts in 2022, he had thrown very little over the previous three years.

His return in 2025 has not been triumphant. Since being reinstated from the injured list in early May, he has twice gone back on the IL, once due to a right foot sprain and once due to a blister. Around those IL trips, he has a 6.89 ERA over 12 starts. He has walked 14.3% of batters faced this year. He returned from the blister issue last week and made one start, walking five batters in four innings.

Despite the challenges the Astros have faced with their pitching this year, they are atop the American League West. However, their lead over the Mariners is just a game and a half. If the Mariners catch up, the Astros are only 4.5 games ahead of the Royals, the top American League team not in playoff position. Though the Astros are in a decent spot, they still have to win games for another month to crack the postseason.

It seems they have decided that McCullers needs a shift. He has plenty of good numbers on his track record but hasn’t gotten into a good groove this year. He has also thrown 48 1/3 major league innings this year, surpassing his total for the previous three years combined. Getting him a reset in the bullpen will naturally put a check on his workload.

Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown give the Astros a strong one-two in the rotation, though the remaining spots are more in flux. Cristian Javier has a strong track record but also just returned from a lengthy injury layoff. His first three starts since coming back have resulted in a 5.40 ERA and a 13% walk rate. Spencer Arrighetti has also been limited by injury, having made just six starts with a 6.21 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate. Jason Alexander has a 2.91 ERA over his past six starts but his larger track record is that of a journeyman depth swingman.

The struggles from the rotation also have domino effects for the relievers. The bullpen has recently lost Josh Hader, Bennett Sousa and John Rooney to the injured list. With the relief corps weakened, it’s obviously not ideal for the rotation to be struggling at the same time.

There could be another X-factor over the horizon. In another piece at The Athletic, Rome notes that Luis Garcia could be reinstated from the injured list soon. Garcia is in a somewhat similar position to McCullers. He had Tommy John surgery back in May of 2023. He was expected to rejoin the club last year but renewed elbow soreness has repeatedly set him back, so that it’s now been well over two years since his last major league game.

Rome provides some details on the setbacks, noting that Garcia shortened his arm slot in an attempt to work around the soreness. However, that new motion prevented from getting back his previous velocity. Eventually, in time, he has been successfully able to return to his previous arm slot as he has become healthier and gotten farther away from his surgery.

He has pitched 30 innings across nine rehab outings in recent weeks. He has a 3.30 ERA, 31.1% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate in those. In his last outing, he tossed six Triple-A innings, allowing one run while striking out five opponents.

He has only averaged 91.4 miles per hour at the Triple-A level this year. In his previous big league work, he was mostly in the 93-94 mph range. That’s a bit concerning but both Garcia and pitching coach Josh Miller expressed confidence that he would continue to push that up over time.

Garcia seems likely to be reinstated soon. His first rehab outing was on July 7th. A rehab assignment for a pitcher normally has a 30-day maximum but exceptions can be made for one coming back from UCL surgery. A ten-day extension can be granted as many as three times, leading to a total rehab span of 60 days.

Even with that wider window, Garcia would need to be reinstated in early September. Rosters expand September 1st and the Astros don’t have a starter listed for that date. Alexander started today with Javier, Arrighetti and Brown scheduled for the next three games. They could have Valdez pitch on the 1st on regular rest, though Rome notes that McCullers and Garcia are both options for that start. McCullers taking the ball that day would naturally depend upon if he is used as a reliever in the prior days.

Prior to his surgery, Garcia tossed 352 big league innings with a 3.61 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. Getting that kind of production in the rotation would obviously be great but the struggles of McCullers and Javier show that it’s not always easy to just come back and succeed after a lengthy rehab period.

Further down the line, assuming the Astros make the playoffs, they will have to decide on who makes playoff starts for them. Brown and Valdez are obviously the first two guys but picking a third or a fourth starter out of this group will likely come down to who pitches the best in the next few weeks.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

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Houston Astros Lance McCullers Jr. Luis Garcia (Astros RHP)

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MLBTR Podcast: A Conversation With Pirates GM Ben Cherington — Also The O’s, Zack Wheeler, And The Rangers

By Darragh McDonald | August 27, 2025 at 11:59pm CDT

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Pirates general manager Ben Cherington to discuss…

  • What attracted Cherington to a smaller market like Pittsburgh (2:40)
  • Why have the Pirates been so much better at developing pitching than hitting? (5:10)
  • The choice of picking Paul Skenes first overall in 2023 (9:05)
  • The Pirates not having signed a free agent to a multi-year deal in many years (13:45)
  • Is there a sense of urgency for the Pirates to make something happen in the near future? (16:20)
  • The balance of subtracting pitching to add hitting (18:45)
  • What percentage of rumors that make it to the public are based in fact? (22:30)

Plus, Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors joins the show to discuss…

  • The Orioles extending Samuel Basallo and losing Félix Bautista to shoulder surgery (23:45)
  • Zack Wheeler of the Phillies facing a lengthy absence (43:35)
  • The Rangers losing several players to the injured list as they hang in the back of the playoff race (57:00) (recorded prior to the Nathan Eovaldi news)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Pohlads Aren’t Selling The Twins, Nathaniel Lowe, And Service Time Manipulation – listen here
  • Walk-Year Performances, Roman Anthony’s Extension, And More! – listen here
  • Sifting Through The Trade Deadline Deals – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

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Baltimore Orioles MLB Trade Rumors Podcast Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Pirates Texas Rangers Ben Cherington Felix Bautista Paul Skenes Samuel Basallo Zack Wheeler

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Nationals To Select CJ Stubbs

By Darragh McDonald | August 27, 2025 at 5:55pm CDT

The Nationals are going to select catcher CJ Stubbs to the roster, reports Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. He will take the active roster spot of fellow backstop Drew Millas, who suffered a finger fracture earlier today. The Nationals already have two vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be required in that department.

Stubbs, 28, gets the call to the big leagues for the first time. The younger brother of Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, CJ spent most of his career in the Astros’ minor league system. He was released in May of 2024 and then landed a minor league deal with the Nationals.

He has been a decent hitter in the minors at times but isn’t having a great season. From 2022 to 2024, he had a combined .202/.323/.404 slash line and 98 wRC+. But this year, between Double-A and Triple-A, he has a .148/.279/.240 line and 57 wRC+. His 11.6% walk rate is good but he’s also been striking out 37.3% of the time. Baseball Prospectus gives him strong grades for his framing on the farm.

The Nationals currently have three catchers on their 40-man roster. Keibert Ruiz has been on the concussion injured list for over a month and doesn’t appear close to a return. That left Millas and Riley Adams as the two active catchers. With Millas getting injured today, Adams was the only healthy backstop on the roster. Stubbs will step in, presumably in a backup role, and will make his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

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Transactions Washington Nationals CJ Stubbs Drew Millas

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Diamondbacks Designate Tristin English For Assignment, Select Taylor Rashi

By Darragh McDonald | August 27, 2025 at 5:40pm CDT

The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected right-hander Taylor Rashi to the roster. In a corresponding active roster move, fellow righty Juan Morillo has been optioned to Triple-A Reno. To open a 40-man spot, infielder Tristin English has been designated for assignment.

Rashi, 29, gets called up to the big leagues for the first time in his career. He was originally a Giants draftee but the Snakes grabbed him in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. His first couple of seasons after switching organizations weren’t amazing. He spent most of 2023 on the injured list and only pitched 14 1/3 innings. Last year, he was healthy enough to throw 51 2/3 innings but with a 4.70 earned run average.

Here in 2025, the results have been intriguing. He has thrown 67 1/3 innings over 40 appearances for Triple-A Reno with a 3.48 ERA. Considering the Aces play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, that’s a nice number. His 10.3% walk rate this year is a bit high but his 24.7% strikeout rate and 49.4% ground ball rate are both a bit above average.

The Diamondbacks are focused on the future. They fell back in the standings and acted as sellers at the deadline. They can use the remainder of the season to see if Rashi can get outs in the big leagues and decide how much to plan on his contributions in 2026.

English, 28, was selected to the roster in July when Pavin Smith landed on the injured list. Since then, he’s been optioned to Reno and been recalled a few times. He’s only been put into seven big league games and produced a .091/.130/.136 line in his 23 plate appearances.

He has produced a much better .321/.367/.524 line in Triple-A this year, though that is undercut somewhat by a .348 batting average on balls in play and 5.8% walk rate. In the Pacific Coast League, that kind of production translates to a 110 wRC+, or 10% above average.

Evidently, the Diamondbacks didn’t feel he would be a meaningful part of their future, so he’s been bumped off the roster. With the trade deadline having passed, he’ll be placed on waivers. He still has a full slate of options and no service time. If there is a club out there intrigued by his minor league production, he could potentially be a cheap depth piece for the long term. Defensively, he’s capable of playing all four corner spots. If he clears waivers, he would stick with the Diamondbacks as a non-roster depth piece.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

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Arizona Diamondbacks Transactions Juan Morillo Taylor Rashi Tristin English

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