Headlines

  • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings: August Edition
  • Write For MLB Trade Rumors
  • Red Sox Extend Roman Anthony
  • Buxton: Still No Plans To Waive No-Trade Clause
  • Rob Manfred Downplays Salary Cap Dispute With Bryce Harper
  • Tanner Houck To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Royals Rumors

Royals Sign Bobby Dalbec To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | August 8, 2025 at 12:42pm CDT

The Royals announced, via their official player development account, that they have signed infielder/outfielder Bobby Dalbec to a minor league contract. He opted out of a minor league deal with the Brewers last week. He will presumably join Triple-A Omaha in the coming days.

The book on Dalbec is well known around baseball at this point. He has big home run power but also strikes out a ton. He has 1,065 major league plate appearances in his career with 47 homers but a 36.6% strikeout rate. That’s led to a .222/.290/.422 batting line and 90 wRC+.

This is his third minor league deal of the year. The previous two came with the White Sox and Brewers. The Sox called him up for about two weeks in late April/early May. He struck out in 6 of his 21 plate appearances before getting designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and elected free agency before signing with the Brewers.

His numbers in the minors have been great, with a .276/.356/.531 line and 131 wRC+ this year. He has 16 home runs in 312 plate appearances but also a 33.7% strikeout rate. Triple-A success is nothing new for him, however. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a .264/.357/.525 line and 123 wRC+ in 1,268 Triple-A plate appearances, despite a 34.4% strikeout rate.

Defensively, Dalbec has mostly been playing the corner spots this year, though he also has some middle infield experience. The Royals are presumably most interested in him as a depth outfielder, as they already have Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino at the infield corners. The offense from their outfield has been notoriously weak for a long time, though they bolstered the group ahead of the deadline by adding Randal Grichuk and Mike Yastrzemski.

Photo courtesy of Jesse Johnson, Imagn Images

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Transactions Bobby Dalbec

15 comments

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

By Nick Deeds | August 8, 2025 at 12:09pm CDT

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

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers have the biggest lead in their division in all of baseball, and that might have led them to a much more cautious deadline than previously expected. Aside from a handful of minor trades of players (Matt Manning, Dietrich Enns, Brewer Hicklen) who had been squeezed off of the 40-man roster, the Tigers acquired seven pitchers across six trades. It was clearly a quantity over quality approach, however, as the rotation was deepened by adding Charlie Morton (5.42 ERA at the time of the trade) and Chris Paddack (4.95 ERA at the time of the trade) to the back of the staff.

That pair of starters was joined by five relievers: Randy Dobnak, Codi Heuer, Rafael Montero, Paul Sewald, and Kyle Finnegan. Dobnak and Heuer have both made just one MLB appearance this year. Montero carried a 5.40 ERA when he arrived in Detroit, and Sewald won’t pitch again until September due to injury. That leaves Finnegan and his 95 ERA+ in a Nationals uniform this year as the most impactful addition of the Tigers’ deadline this year, at least on paper. While Detroit added plenty of pitching depth to the roster without surrendering any of the prospects within their Top 15 according to Baseball America, it’s hard not to see a quiet deadline in what could be Tarik Skubal’s penultimate season with the club as a potential missed opportunity.

Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians’ performance this trade season must be viewed in the context of the potentially franchise-altering reality that struck just days before the deadline: superstar closer Emmanuel Clase, a potential trade candidate and foundational piece of the Guardians’ roster, was placed on administrative leave as part of a sports betting investigation. That news not only severely damaged whatever hopes the Guardians may have had of making it to the playoffs this year, but also took one of their most valuable trade chips off the market.

That led the Guards to make just two trades this summer: one that shipped Sewald to the Tigers for a player to be named later or cash, and a second one that sent Shane Bieber to Toronto for right-hander Khal Stephen. Both trades were sensible moves. Stephen is a particularly well-regarded prospect to receive for a pitcher who hasn’t thrown at the big league level this year, and the Sewald trade cleared the remainder of a currently injured rental reliever’s $7MM salary. Bigger than the moves they did make, arguably, is the ones they did not: outfielder Steven Kwan and star reliever Cade Smith, among other rumored trade candidates, remain in Cleveland as controllable building blocks for the future.

Kansas City Royals

Despite sitting around .500 for the majority of the year, the Royals were actually the most aggressive buyer in their division. They made their intention to eschew selling clear when they extended Seth Lugo on a deal that could keep him in town through the end of the 2028 season. Aside from locking up Lugo, the Royals deepened their lineup and pitching staff.

A trio of controllable, starting-caliber arms were brought in to join Lugo and Michael Wacha in the short-term while providing depth behind Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic for the future. Bailey Falter was acquired from the Pirates, while the Royals surrendered backup catcher Freddy Fermin to the Padres in a deal that netted both Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert. Aside from those rotation additions, the club made a trio of rental acquisitions to try and boost the offense. Adam Frazier is unlikely to be a needle-mover, but both Mike Yastrzemski and Randal Grichuk have been impactful complementary pieces for playoff clubs in the past.

Even if the Royals end up missing the postseason, they won’t have lost much by pushing in this year; their best trade chip (Bubic) suffered a season-ending injury shortly before the deadline, and No. 15 prospect (per Baseball America) Yunior Marte was the top young talent they surrendered (in return for Yastrzemski).

Minnesota Twins

The Twins completely changed the trajectory of the trade deadline when they kicked off a massive fire sale. The club made ten trades in total while moving 11 players out of the organization. Paddack and Dobnak were shipped to Detroit in a deal for catching/first base prospect Enrique Jimenez that also cleared the remainder of Dobnak’s low-cost but ill-fated $9.25MM extension off the books. Rentals Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, and Danny Coulombe were shipped out in deals that should help to fill out the middle ranks of the Minnesota farm system. Fellow rental Ty France was packaged with dominant young reliever Louis Varland to bring back a big league-ready outfielder, Alan Roden, and Triple-A southpaw Kendry Rojas (The new No. 7 prospect in the Twins’ revamped system, according to MLB Pipeline).

Varland wasn’t the only star reliever to move. The Twins traded both Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax to the Phillies and Rays, respectively. Duran netted a pair of top-100 prospects from the Phils, who surrendered catcher Eduardo Tait and right-hander Mick Abel to get the deal done. Jax was traded away in a one-for-one swap that brought back young starter Taj Bradley. A slightly less impactful bullpen arm with control remaining was also moved when Brock Stewart was shipped to the Dodgers in a deal for post-hype outfielder James Outman. Of course, the most shocking trade of the deadline was the Twins’ decision to deal Carlos Correa back to the Astros in what amounted to a salary dump. 26-year-old High-A southpaw Matt Mikulski was the only player who Correa brought back to Minnesota, even as the Twins ate $33MM of the $103.5MM Correa is owed going forward.

On the one hand, the Twins undeniably did well with the return for several of the players they moved. Abel, Bradley, and Rojas form a wave of young, upper-level starting pitching talent that could impact the team as soon as 2026. They should form an organizational strength in conjunction with young arms like Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews, and David Festa going forward. On the other hand, dumping two-thirds of Correa’s salary for no prospect return and decimating a bullpen that has been a major strength are tough pills to swallow for fans.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox had a surprisingly quiet deadline for one of the league’s most obvious sellers. They acquired Will Robertson and Blake Sabol while dealing away Tristan Gray in three separate cash deals with the AL East, though none of those moves is much of a needle-mover. Outside of those minor transactions, they added a rental veteran starter in Aaron Civale and change-of-scenery first baseman Andrew Vaughn to the Brewers in order to get the deal done. Vaughn has blossomed (albeit in a small sample) with Milwaukee, which would surely be easier for fans in Chicago to swallow had the White Sox managed to flip Civale for a prospect return. Civale is pitching well of late but remains on the South Side.

The White Sox made just two sell-side trades ahead of the deadline. Outfielder Austin Slater was shipped to the Yankees in a deal that brought back right-hander Gage Ziehl (the club’s new No. 14 prospect, per Pipeline), and the biggest deal of the club’s deadline sent righty Adrian Houser to Tampa. In return for Houser, the White Sox brought in infielder Curtis Mead, Triple-A reliever Ben Peoples, and Triple-A starter Duncan Davitt. Davitt seems likely to be a back-end starter or swingman in the mold of Houser. Peoples seems unlikely to be more than a middle reliever. Still, it’s a solid return for a rental arm signed in-season, particularly when considering that Mead was a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport just a few short years ago. Chicago didn’t make many trades for a selling club, but the ones they made look like strong ones.

Most surprising was the South Siders’ decision to hang onto Luis Robert Jr. The talented center fielder finally began to come alive at the plate in early June, and many thought the Sox would capitalize on his first productive stretch since 2023 to bring in some young talent, even if it meant paying down Robert’s contract. Instead, they held onto Robert and will now consider picking up the first of two $20MM club options for the 2026 season. If Robert keeps raking down the stretch, it may prove to bring a better return in the long run (assuming he eventually is traded), but there’s plenty of risk in this approach.

No division in baseball did less buying than the AL Central this year. While the Royals made some savvy additions and the Tigers at least bolstered their depth, no impact additions were made as the Guardians, Twins, and White Sox all focused on selling at varying levels. Who did the best of this quintet during trade season? Have your say in the poll below:

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls Minnesota Twins

51 comments

Royals Sign Jonathan Heasley To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | August 5, 2025 at 8:01pm CDT

The Royals signed right-hander Jonathan Heasley to a minor league contract. The 28-year-old has not pitched in a game since being released by the White Sox at the end of March.

Heasley returns to his original organization. K.C. selected him in the 13th round of the 2018 draft. The Oklahoma State product debuted three years later and pitched with the Royals between 2021-23. He combined for a 5.45 ERA in 36 appearances. Heasley started 21 games in 2022 and moved mostly to the bullpen a year later. Kansas City traded him to Baltimore during the 2023-24 offseason.

With the Orioles, Heasley made four MLB appearances and pitched 10 times in Triple-A. He was released in July after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury while in the minors. Heasley was able to get back on the mound for three appearances with the White Sox during Spring Training. Chicago initially assigned him to their Arizona complex but released him a few days into the regular season.

Heasley owns a 5.89 ERA in 139 big league innings. He has also struggled at the Triple-A level (5.47 ERA across 164 2/3 frames) but is a familiar face for the Royals and can provide long relief depth once he’s ready to report to Triple-A Omaha.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Transactions Jon Heasley

2 comments

Twins Claim Thomas Hatch

By Anthony Franco | August 4, 2025 at 5:39pm CDT

The Twins claimed righty Thomas Hatch off waivers from the Royals, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Kansas City had designated him for assignment over the weekend. The Twins subsequently announced the claim and added that the corresponding active roster move will be announced when Hatch reports to the team tomorrow. Minnesota had two vacancies on the 40-man roster after last week’s sell-off.

Hatch will be hoping for a longer run in the Twin Cities than he received in Kansas City. He only made one big league appearance with the Royals, giving up two runs in one inning. He’s out of minor league options, so the Royals quickly designated him for assignment after they selected his contract earlier in the week. It was the second time this season that K.C. had designated him almost immediately after a call-up. He went unclaimed on waivers in June, but the Twins placed a claim this time around as they look for fresh arms to fill out a bullpen that they tore down at the deadline.

The 30-year-old Hatch should be able to provide length out of Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen. He has worked as a starter with Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate for the entire season. Hatch has managed decent results, working to a 4.22 earned run average across 91 2/3 innings. His 20.1% strikeout rate is a little below average, but he’s getting grounders at a 53% clip while showing solid control. Hatch has a five-pitch mix and sits around 93 MPH with both his sinker and four-seam fastball while working as a starter. He was able to push that into the 94-95 range in his lone MLB appearance in short relief.

Hatch has now pitched in parts of five big league seasons, combining for a 5.14 ERA across 70 innings. He had a brief stint in Japan last year and would have pitched this season with the Doosan Bears in Korea had the team not flagged something in his physical. The Twins will need to keep him on the MLB roster or designate him for assignment themselves.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins Transactions Thomas Hatch

9 comments

Marlins Claim Joey Wiemer

By Steve Adams | August 4, 2025 at 12:42pm CDT

The Marlins have claimed outfielder Joey Wiemer off waivers from the Royals and optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald. He was designated for assignment by Kansas City last week.

Wiemer, 26, once ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects during his time in the Brewers system. The 2020 fourth-rounder had a huge season between Class-A and High-A in 2021 and hit well as a 23-year-old between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022.

Wiemer made his big league debut in 2023, showing off some of the power, speed and defense that made him a well-regarded prospect but also some of the red flags that troubled scouts. He popped 13 homers and swiped 11 bags in 410 plate appearances but also hit just .204/.283/.362. Nearly all of his production came against left-handed pitching. He received only 28 plate appearances the following season, and he’s since been traded to the Reds and the Royals before now landing in Miami.

It’s a small sample, but in 139 major league plate appearances, Wiemer has hit .263/.295/.481 (108 wRC+) against left-handed pitching. He’s still fanned in nearly 32% of his plate appearances versus southpaws, however, and he’s just a .169/.271/.281 hitter in 299 plate appearances versus righties. Wiemer can handle all three outfield positions and draws positive marks from both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average.

Wiemer hasn’t had much success in Triple-A this year, and it’s fairly damning that a team with outfield struggles as pronounced as those we’ve seen in Kansas City never game him a look in the majors. In 296 Triple-A plate appearances this year, he’s hitting .182/.291/.312 with nine homers and 12 steals.

This is Wiemer’s final minor league option year. He’ll need to stick on a big league roster in 2026 or else be designated for assignment (assuming, of course, he sticks on a 40-man roster until next year, which is no sure thing). He’ll give the Fish some depth in the outfield for the time being but could eventually emerge as a bench option/fourth outfielder if he can turn things around in Jacksonville between now and season’s end.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Miami Marlins Transactions Joey Wiemer

12 comments

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/2/25

By Nick Deeds | August 2, 2025 at 10:57pm CDT

Here’s the latest on a trio of players who were recently designated for assignment. All information is courtesy of the transactions log on that respective player’s MLB.com profile page.

  • Veteran southpaw Rich Hill has elected free agency after being DFA’d by the Royals earlier this week. Hill, 45, is the oldest active big leaguer and held off on signing a contract this year until he joined the Royals on a minor league deal back in May. He was added to Kansas City’s big league roster late last month and made two starts for the club, pitching to a 5.00 ERA in nine innings of work with eight walks against just four strikeouts. It was a lackluster pair of outings for the veteran, and he’s served as more of an innings-eating depth starter as he’s entered his mid-40s with a 5.38 ERA over 159 innings of work since the start of the 2023 campaign. The lefty has 21 years in the majors with 14 different MLB clubs under his belt at this point, however, and if one of the other 16 clubs in the league picks him up at some point down the stretch he’d surpass Edwin Jackson (with whom he’s now tied after joining the Royals) as the player to suit up for the most clubs in MLB history.
  • Outfielder Sean Bouchard has been outrighted to the minor leagues after being DFA’d by the Rockies late last week. The 29-year-old was a ninth-round pick by the Rockies back in 2017 and made his big league debut with the club during the 2022 season. He’s spent each of the past four seasons in a Rockies uniform as an up-and-down bench player, and in his first two seasons he excelled with a .304/.428/.563 slash line in 48 games. Unfortunately, he’s struggled badly in 63 games over the past two seasons, hitting just .178/.272/.274 with a 33.1% strikeout rate. Bouchard now figures to serve as non-roster depth for the Rockies down the stretch, but will have the opportunity to elect free agency after the 2025 campaign if not added back to the 40-man roster.
  • Right-hander Tyler Owens has been released after being DFA’d by the Tigers earlier this week. The 24-year-old made his big league debut with Detroit earlier this year and surrendered one run on three hits and three walks across three innings of work while striking out one batter during that abbreviated cup of coffee. Owens had been sidelined by a hip injury was he was removed from the club’s 40-man roster, which means he could not be assigned outright to the minors and had to be released after clearing waivers. He’s now free to sign with any MLB club, though a 5.40 ERA in 30 Triple-A innings with nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (27) makes it likely that he’ll be limited to only minor league offers.
Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Colorado Rockies Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Transactions Rich Hill Sean Bouchard Tyler Owens

8 comments

Royals Designate Thomas Hatch For Assignment

By Leo Morgenstern | August 2, 2025 at 12:34pm CDT

The Royals activated recent trade acquisitions Bailey Falter and Ryan Bergert this morning, ahead of their afternoon matchup with the Blue Jays. To make room on the roster, Jonathan Bowlan was optioned to Triple-A, while Thomas Hatch was designated for assignment. In additional news, the team also announced that Michael Massey has been returned from a rehab assignment.

Hatch, 30, was selected onto the roster earlier this week, taking the place of veteran Rich Hill. However, after bolstering the starting rotation with Falter and Bergert ahead of the trade deadline, the Royals no longer had a job for Hatch. He didn’t help his cause when he gave up two runs on a double and a homer last night in his team debut. (He was also selected to the roster earlier this season but did not appear in a game.)

The Cubs drafted Hatch in 2016, and he debuted with the Blue Jays in 2020. The right-hander went on to appear in parts of four seasons with Toronto, pitching to a 5.40 ERA and 4.81 SIERA in 46 2/3 innings as a long reliever and occasional starter. The Blue Jays DFA’d him during the 2023 season, and he finished the year with the Pirates, pitching to a 4.03 ERA and 4.48 SIERA in another 22 2/3 innings (two starts). Meanwhile, he pitched to a 4.63 ERA and 4.94 FIP over 46 2/3 innings with both teams’ Triple-A affiliates in his first minor league season as a primary reliever.

Hatch spent the 2024 season in Japan, pitching for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, with whom he returned to a starting role. He then signed with the KBO’s Doosan Bears for 2025, but his contract was later voided due to concerns over his physical. Eventually, he inked a minor league deal with the Royals instead. Over 18 starts (91 2/3 innings) with Triple-A Omaha this season, he pitched to a 4.22 ERA and 4.10 FIP, striking out batters at a mediocre 20.1% rate but inducing grounders on 52.9% of balls in play.

A team in need of some quick innings could put in a waiver claim on Hatch, but a lack of options hurts his case; any club that claims him would need to add him to the active roster. If he passes through waivers, he has the right to reject an outright assignment, having already been outrighted by the Royals once this year.

Massey landed on the IL with a left ankle sprain on June 10. He then suffered a hairline fracture in his right wrist after he was hit by a pitch during his first rehab assignment later that month. While he began another rehab assignment on July 18 – and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reported at the time that pain from his injuries had decreased – he has not played in a game since July 30. Today, manager Matt Quatraro told Rogers that Massey’s back, which has caused him pain in the past, is giving him trouble again. The team will provide an update on his timeline after he goes for further evaluation.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Transactions Michael Massey Thomas Hatch

9 comments

Royals Designate Joey Wiemer For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | July 31, 2025 at 10:26pm CDT

The Royals designated outfielder Joey Wiemer earlier today, and shifted left-hander Kris Bubic from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL.  The moves cleared some 40-man roster space after a busy day of transactions for Kansas City, as Mike Yastrzemski, Bailey Falter, Stephen Kolek, and Ryan Bergert were all brought into the organization.

Wiemer came to K.C. in another prominent trade last November, when Wiemer and Jonathan India came to the Royals from the Reds in exchange for Brady Singer.  Wiemer hasn’t received any big league playing time since the deal, and he has hit just .182/.291/.312 over 296 plate appearances at Triple-A Omaha.  This is Wiemer’s fourth straight season with at least a bit of action at the Triple-A level, and after some big numbers with the Brewers’ top affiliate in 2022, his production has steadily declined.

Almost all of Wiemer’s big league experience came in his 2023 rookie season, when he hit .204/.283/.362 over 410 plate appearances with Milwaukee.  He stole 11 bases in 15 attempts and displayed very good glovework at all three outfield spots, and those same skills combined with his hitting prowess early in his minor league career helped Wiemer get some top-100 prospect attention.  However, he made just 28 trips to the plate over 21 games with the Brewers and Reds in 2024, and the Royals are now the third team to seemingly lose faith in Wiemer’s ability to turn it around at the plate.  Some teams could take a flier on Wiemer as a late bloomer.

Even just as a glove-only bench piece, Wiemer has some value to other teams on the waiver wire, especially now that the deadline has passed and depth options are harder to acquire.  If Wiemer clears waivers, he can’t reject an outright assignment off the Royals’ 40-man roster, since he has neither a past outright on his resume or enough service time to be eligible for free agency.

Bubic will miss the rest of the season due to a rotator cuff strain, so it was just a matter of time before the Royals made it official by placing the southpaw on the 60-day IL.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Transactions Joey Wiemer Kris Bubic

3 comments

Royals Acquire Mike Yastrzemski

By Steve Adams and Tim Dierkes | July 31, 2025 at 6:23pm CDT

The Royals have acquired outfielder Mike Yastrzemski from the Giants in a last-minute deadline swap. In exchange, the Giants will receive right-handed pitching prospect Yunior Marte. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was the first to report that Yastrzemski was headed to Kansas City.  The deal is now official.

Yastrzemski, 34, has slipped to a 97 wRC+ in 372 plate appearances for the Giants this year in his seventh season with the club.  From 2023-24, he’d managed a 109 mark.  A left-handed hitter, Yaz has always excelled against right-handed pitching, including a 118 wRC+ this year.

Yastrzemski, who has primarily played right field in the Majors, joins a 54-55 Royals team that nonetheless sits three games back in the Wild Card race.  He’s a perfect pairing with the newly-acquired Randal Grichuk, a right-handed hitter.  Rookie Jac Caglianone, who had spent time in right field, is on the IL with a hamstring strain.  Yastrzemski, famously the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl, will be eligible for free agency after the season.

As Justice delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury News notes, “With Yastrzemski gone, the door is open for Luis Matos to step into a starting role [for the Giants]. It’s very possible Grant McCray and Marco Luciano see some time in right field as well.”

In parting with their longtime right fielder for the next few months, the Giants add Marte.  The 21-year-old has spent the season in A ball, posting a 2.74 ERA and 18.4 K-BB% in 19 starts.  Baseball America assigned him a 50 high risk grade, noting that he “features two above-average pitches in his arsenal.”

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Newsstand San Francisco Giants Transactions Mike Yastrzemski Yunior Marte (b. 2003)

72 comments

Royals Acquire Bailey Falter

By Leo Morgenstern | July 31, 2025 at 4:46pm CDT

The Royals have acquired left-handed starter Bailey Falter from the Pirates, with lefty Evan Sisk and minor league first baseman Callan Moss headed back to Pittsburgh in return. Both teams have announced the trade.

Falter, 28, settled in as a capable back-end starter for the Pirates over the past two seasons. From 2024-25, he has made 50 starts, averaging just over five innings per game. He has a 4.12 ERA and a 4.99 SIERA in that time. Neither a strikeout pitcher nor a groundball pitcher, none of Falter’s pitches stand out as especially dangerous, but he survives thanks to average control and elite extension. He will offer the Royals some much-needed rotation depth, with Kris Bubic out for the season and Cole Ragans, Michael Lorenzen, and Alex Marsh also on the IL. Falter might not be the kind of pitcher the Royals want starting in a postseason series, but he can help them in the uphill climb they’re facing to get to the playoffs. He is making $2.22MM this year and will be under team control through arbitration for another three seasons.

Sisk, now 28, was drafted by the Cardinals in 2018 and traded to the Twins in 2021 as part of a package for J.A. Happ. A year and a half later, the Twins flipped him to the Royals as part of the deal that brought Michael A. Taylor to Minnesota. Almost seven years after he was drafted, Sisk made his MLB debut for KC earlier this year. He threw a total of 5 1/3 innings in two separate stints with the big league club, giving up just one earned run and striking out 11. He also pitched to a 3.77 ERA and 3.83 FIP in 28.2 innings with the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers. Sisk has never been a top prospect, in no small part due to questions about his ability to retire right-handed hitters at the highest level. That helps explain why he has pitched at Triple-A with two different organizations in parts of four separate seasons, and he’s only managed to earn five big league appearances.

Moss, now 21, signed with the Royals as an undrafted free agent last summer. While he is not a highly-regarded prospect, the righty batter crushed the baseball last year at Single-A (177 wRC+ in 22 games) and has continued to hit well this year at High-A (123 wRC+ in 92 games). He’s also added a total of 17 stolen bases in 24 attempts.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post was the first to report that Falter was heading to Pittsburgh, while Alex Stumpf of MLB.com was first on the return of Sisk and Moss.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Kansas City Royals Newsstand Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions Bailey Falter Evan Sisk callan moss

168 comments
Load More Posts
Show all
    Top Stories

    2025-26 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings: August Edition

    Write For MLB Trade Rumors

    Red Sox Extend Roman Anthony

    Buxton: Still No Plans To Waive No-Trade Clause

    Rob Manfred Downplays Salary Cap Dispute With Bryce Harper

    Tanner Houck To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Yankees Release Marcus Stroman

    Cubs Release Ryan Pressly

    Cubs To Host 2027 All-Star Game

    MLB Trade Tracker: July

    Padres Acquire Mason Miller, JP Sears

    Astros Acquire Carlos Correa

    Rays, Twins Swap Griffin Jax For Taj Bradley

    Padres Acquire Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano

    Rangers Acquire Merrill Kelly

    Yankees Acquire David Bednar

    Blue Jays Acquire Shane Bieber

    Mets Acquire Cedric Mullins

    Padres Acquire Nestor Cortes

    Last Day To Lock In Savings On Trade Rumors Front Office

    Recent

    Alex Bregman To Wait Until Offseason To Discuss Contract

    MLBTR Chat Transcript

    Justin Verlander “Would Like To Continue Pitching” In 2026

    Luke Jackson Elects Free Agency

    Hunter Greene Slated To Return To Reds’ Rotation On Wednesday

    Rays Haven’t Yet Discussed Extension With Junior Caminero

    Rangers, Omar Narváez Agree To Minor League Deal

    Rockies Sign Xzavion Curry To Minor League Deal

    Cardinals Claim Jorge Alcalá

    Diamondbacks Release Seth Brown

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Every MLB Trade In July
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    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

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version