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Trade Rumors Front Office: Changes To Article Delivery

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Four years ago, I created our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription service.  Facing some challenges with the online advertising revenue model, we launched a premium version of MLBTR with a paid subscription.  For $29.89 per year, a Trade Rumors Front Office subscription removes ads on all our sites and in our app, grants access to tools such as the Contract Tracker and Agency Database, and provides exclusive articles and chats from Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, Anthony Franco, and Nicklaus Gaut.  I think we’re offering great value for the price.

To date, the exclusive articles and chats have been delivered entirely via email.  This has resulted in a missed benefit for new subscribers, who had no access to previously-sent articles.  Sometimes people sign up specifically because they hear about a certain Front Office original we sent out.  They would inquire about it and I’d forward the email to them along with other recent exclusives.  This was not an efficient system, so I’ve decided to create an archive of Trade Rumors Front Office articles on MLBTR itself.  New subscribers will be able to go back and check out previous content as soon as they sign up.

This will be accomplished in the form of a paywall.  Roughly once per day on average, a paywalled Trade Rumors Front Office article or live chat will appear on MLBTR.  We averaged 16.6 posts per day on MLBTR last year, to give you a sense of how often you’ll run into this paywall.  If you’re a logged-in subscriber, you will not see the paywall.  Everyone else will see just a snippet of the article before running into it.

Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers will continue to receive these articles via email as well.  If you’re a subscriber and you decide you no longer need the emails because the articles are on the website, you can go here and unsubscribe from emails as needed.  We have not yet built the paywall technology in our iOS and Android apps, so the exclusive articles will not appear there.  If you’re an app user and paid subscriber you’ll want to continue receiving the emails.

Putting these Front Office articles on MLBTR is not just about creating an archive.  It will also serve as marketing for the subscription service.  A portion of MLBTR readers are interested in paying to read these articles, and I don’t think it makes sense to hide them.  Some people will see the topics and read an excerpt and be convinced to subscribe.  If that may apply to you, I should point out that it’s risk-free, in that we offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you’re unsatisfied for any reason.

Others will choose not to subscribe, whether due to lack of interest or their financial situation.  Our ad-supported readers remain appreciated and vital to this website.  It’s worth pointing out that the core function of MLBTR is not changing. We’re still going to curate, contextualize, and analyze news from the around the game in real-time and provide up-to-the-minute transaction breakdowns as we have since 2005.  That remains free and ad-supported.  The Trade Rumors Front Office articles that will appear on this site are opinion and analysis-based, as you’ll see.  We have no intention of paywalling news posts, which would not make sense.

We’re producing six Trade Rumors Front Office MLB articles/chats per week at present, two of which are fantasy baseball-centric.  Could the number increase from six?  It’s possible we’ll paywall additional opinion and analysis posts, particularly time-intensive ones such as our Offseason in Review and Offseason Outlook  series.

Whether you’re a Trade Rumors Front Office subscriber or someone who enjoys the free ad-supported MLB Trade Rumors, you’re welcome here.  After 18+ years we’re still going strong, and it’s a privilege to be able to do this for a living.  Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

Mike Trout To Undergo Knee Surgery

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The Angels announced on Tuesday that Mike Trout is undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee. He was placed on the 10-day injured list. Alden González and Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that Trout would undergo knee surgery. The club hasn’t provided a timetable but expect Trout back this season, though González and Passan report that four to six weeks would be a best-case scenario, with the caveat that doctors will need to get a closer look.

It’s unclear when Trout suffered the injury, as he was playing in last night’s game and wasn’t removed at any point. González relayed a two-minute video clip on X of Trout discussing the issue. Trout said he felt it a little bit in the third inning but it didn’t seem like a serious issue. But it was sore after the game and this morning, so he got it tested.

Needless to say, it’s an awful development for the Angels and for Trout himself. The superstar was in good form to start the 2024 campaign. He has already launched ten home runs and drawn walks in 12.7% of his plate appearances. He currently has a line of .220/.325/.541 for the year, which translates to a wRC+ of 142, indicating he’s been 42% better than the league average hitter. He also stole six bases in seven tries.

But that performance is now put on pause, the latest setback for a player who has become frustratingly injury prone in recent years. The last time he was able to play 120 games in a season was 2019 and he’s only gone beyond the 82-game plateau once in that span. He was healthy in 2020 but the pandemic shortened the season to 60 games. A right calf strain was the culprit in 2021, followed by back problems the year after that and a left hamate fracture last season. Now he’s set to miss some undetermined amount of the 2024 season while recovering from this surgery.

As has so often been the case, the Angels are struggling despite Trout’s best efforts. They are currently 11-18, which puts them ahead of just the Astros and White Sox in the American League standings. Now they will have to proceed without their franchise player in center field for the foreseeable future.

How the club will proceed without Trout remains to be seen. They just designated Aaron Hicks for assignment yesterday, subtracting one outfielder from the mix. Now Trout’s inevitable placement on the injured list will subtract a second.

Jo Adell has plenty of center field experience and has been hitting well so far this season, currently sporting a monster batting line of .321/.373/.623. Perhaps most importantly, he’s only striking out at a 23.7% clip, compared to a 35.4% rate in his big league time coming into this year. Taylor Ward is having a good season at the plate and should stick in left field.

Mickey Moniak may need to jump into a regular role, though his fortunes have completely flipped since last year. In 2023, he rode a .397 batting average on balls in play to a line of .280/.307/.495. This year, his BABIP has cratered to .189, leading to a line of .143/.200/.214. He was due for regression based on last year’s 35% strikeout rate but he has actually lowered that to 30% this year, despite the far worse results. Multi-positional players like Brandon Drury, Luis Rengifo, Cole Tucker and Ehire Adrianza have some outfield experience. Jordyn Adams is on the 40-man but currently on optional assignment. The Angels also signed Kevin Pillar to a big league contract shortly after announcing Trout’s injury.

Trout’s contract runs through the 2030 season. Many speculated that he might ask for a trade away from the Angels now that Shohei Ohtani is gone and the team made little effort to improve the roster this past winter, despite his personal attempts to lobby the club’s decision makers to do more. But in February, he said that asking for a trade would be “the easy way out” and that he still wants to win with the Angels.

Astros To Option José Abreu

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First baseman José Abreu is not with the Astros right now and will be optioned tomorrow to West Palm Beach. As a veteran with over five years of major league service time, Abreu cannot be optioned without his consent but agreed to be sent down in an attempt to overcome his struggles. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the news on X.

Abreu, now 37, signed a three-year deal with a $58.5MM guarantee with the Astros going into 2023. Houston was undoubtedly hoping for Abreu to continue performing like he did with the White Sox. He hit 243 home runs for that club from 2014 to 2022, slashing .292/.354/.506 in the process.

But things have not been going well since he joined the Astros. He was hitting .211/.276/.260 through May last year, before bouncing back with a solid showing of .277/.322/.466 in June and July. He was brutal again in August, hitting .188/.278/.271, before mounting a solid finish by slashing .237/.299/.536 in September and October. That up-and-down season finished with a line of .237/.296/.383, which translated to a wRC+ of 86, but he provided a bit more optimism by slashing .295/.354/.591 in the postseason.

Unfortunately, things have gone from bad to worse here in 2024, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco looked at last week. Abreu has just seven hits so far this season, with his one double the only extra-base knock of the bunch. He currently has a line of .099/.156/.113 on the year. His -21 wRC+ is the worst in the majors among players with at least 70 plate appearances.

His .130 batting average on balls in play is surely due for some regression, but Abreu isn’t hitting the ball with much authority either. He has yet to barrel a ball this season, per Statcast’s definition, while his exit velocity and hard hit rate are way down relative to his previous work.

As mentioned, veteran players cannot be optioned without their consent but Abreu has agreed to go down to the minors. General manager Dana Brown told reporters that both sides decided Abreu should go down to the farm “to get some at-bats and his timing back right,” per Rome, linked up top. “He unselfishly was on board and agreement with going back to West Palm Beach,” Brown said.

Obviously, it would be great for everyone involved if this plan were successful in getting him back on track. The Astros are off to their worst start in years, currently 9-19 and in last place in the American League West. Abreu’s struggles have obviously been a part of that but he could also be part of the solution if he were able to turn things around.

For now, it’s not totally clear what the plan will be at first base. Joey Loperfido was just added to the roster today but he will be playing outfield for now, Brown said, per Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. The Astros have Jon Singleton available to play first base but he’s not having a great year either, currently slashing .238/.319/.286.

Trey Cabbage could perhaps be an option, as he’s on the 40-man roster. He was just up with the club as their 27th man for the Mexico City Series but was sent back down after. Position players normally have to wait ten days after being optioned to be recalled again, but a “27th man” situation doesn’t count as being optioned.

Cabbage generally provides pop and can take a walk, but also racks up his share of strikeouts. He’s been hitting .271/.440/.486 in Triple-A this year, walking 23.1% of the time but striking out at a 31.9% clip. He also provides some wheels, having stolen seven bags on the year so far.

The Astros won’t officially option Abreu until tomorrow, so they will play a man short tonight and the corresponding move will be clear at that time.

Angels Sign Kevin Pillar

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The Angels announced they’ve signed veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar to a major league contract. He steps into an outfield that just lost Mike Trout for at least 4-6 weeks to knee surgery. Pillar is represented by All Bases Covered Sports Management.

Pillar spent last season with the Braves, where current Halos skipper Ron Washington was on staff as third base coach. He held his roster spot with Atlanta all season despite a tepid .228/.248/.416 batting line over 206 plate appearances. That’s in large part a testament to the regard with which he was held in the Braves clubhouse. Pillar signed a one-year deal with the White Sox for 2024 but turned in a .160/.290/.360 slash in 32 trips to the plate.

The Sox designated him for assignment last week when they added Tommy Pham onto the big league roster. Pillar cleared waivers and became a free agent, but it didn’t take long for him to get another MLB job. He adds a right-handed complement to Mickey Moniak, who is in line for the majority of the center field reps while Trout is on the injured list. Pillar is no longer a high-end defender in center field, but he’s capable of playing all three outfield spots.

Taylor Ward and Jo Adell will take the majority of the corner outfield reps. Moniak is off to a very slow start, hitting .143/.200/.214 in 60 plate appearances. Pillar will serve as a fourth outfielder alongside infield/outfield hybrids like Cole Tucker and potentially Luis Rengifo, who played 134 innings on the grass a year ago.

There’s no financial downside for the Halos. Pillar will only cost them the prorated $740K league minimum for whatever time he spends on the roster.

Brewers Promote Tyler Black

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4:05pm: The Brewers have made it official, announcing they have selected Black’s contract. Miley was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man spot while Miller was optioned to make room on the active roster.

1:35pm: The Brewers are expected to call up infield prospect Tyler Black today, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Black is not on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary, though Wade Miley could easily be transferred to the 60-day injured list since he is going to miss the rest of the season due to Tommy John surgery. Another move would still be necessary to get Black onto the active roster.

Black, 23, was selected by the Brewers with the 33rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. Since then, he has climbed the minor league ladder, earning huge amounts of praise for his plate discipline. He spent 2022 in High-A, walking more often than he struck out. He was limited to 283 plate appearances in 64 games due to a fractured scapula but drew 45 walks while getting punched out 44 times, leading to respective rates of 15.9% and 15.5%. He only hit four home runs but his .281/.406/.424 batting line translated to a 137 wRC+.

He got over his injury and returned to the field last year, playing 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A. He walked in 15.8% of his trips to the plate on the year while striking out at a 17.9% rate, hitting 18 home runs in the process. He hit a combined .284/.417/.513 between the two levels for a 145 wRC+. He returned to Triple-A this year and has produced a batting line of .303/.393/.525 so far.

Though the plate discipline is his most standout tool, he also has some speed to offer. He stole 13 bases in his injury-shortened 2022 campaign before swiping 55 bags on 67 tries last year. He’s tallied another three in the early going here in 2024.

Defensively, he’s more of a question mark. He was a second baseman in college and the early parts of his minor league career, spending some time in center field in 2022 as well. But since the start of last year, he’s been exclusively on the infield corners, primarily at third.

Regardless of the defensive question marks, the strong offense and the speed are enough for him to be considered one of the best prospects in the league. Baseball America currently lists him as their #73 prospect. MLB Pipeline has him at #42, ESPN at #51 while Keith Law of The Athletic put him in the #44 spot. Though for a dissenting opinion, Black doesn’t crack the top 100 at FanGraphs and Eric Longenhagen put him at just #10 in the Brewers’ system last month. Longenhagen expresses concern that Black won’t stick at third base and will eventually end up at first, where his contact-over-power approach will be insufficient.

Given the current Milwaukee infield alignment, it would seem that Black probably has a better path to playing time at first base for now. Joey Ortiz has been the regular at third and is hitting a strong .279/.392/.426 so far this year, 134 wRC+. First base has been split between Rhys Hoskins and Jake Bauers, though the latter hasn’t been performing especially well. Bauers is hitting .200/.250/.383 while striking out in 37.5% of his trips to the plate this year.

Both Bauers and Black are left-handed hitters, so it seems Bauers is the player most likely to lose playing time with Black promotion. Bauers is out of options and would have to be designated for assignment if he is to be squeezed off the roster. Though if the Brewers want to keep him around as a bench bat, they could option someone like Joey Wiemer, Oliver Dunn or Owen Miller.

It’s late enough in the season that Black can’t earn a full year of service time, at least not the traditional way. A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs 172 days in the big leagues, or on the major league injured list, to get to the one-year mark. Since we’re over a month into the 2024 campaign already, Black can’t quite make it to that line.

The current collective bargaining agreement contains measures to disincentive service time manipulation, by rewarding clubs for promotion top prospects while also allowing such players a path to getting one year of service even if held down. If a player is on two of the three top 100 lists at BA, MLB Pipeline or ESPN, they are considered eligible for the prospect promotion incentive, which applies to Black since he’s on all three.

Had the Brewers promoted Black earlier in the year, they could have earned themselves an extra draft pick depending on how he performed in awards voting, but that won’t be in play now. Black will be able to earn a full service year if he can finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting, the other new measure in the CBA, though he will have an uphill battle in achieving that. Players like Shota Imanaga Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jared Jones, Jackson Merrill, Masyn Winn and others have already had a head start of over a month to rack up stats while Black is just getting started.

Even if he comes up short of the one-year mark here in 2024, he would be in line for Super Two status after the 2026 campaign if he can stay up in the big leagues from this point forward. He would be able to go through arbitration four times instead of three before being slated for free agency after 2030, though future optional assignments could delay either of those trajectories.

New Team Rumors Functionality On MLBTR Mobile Website

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In early March, we rolled out improvements to MLBTR’s search functionality.  As I mentioned at the time, in the process we eliminated a somewhat inconvenient Teams menu that had been in the navigation bar on the mobile website.  To review, the new way to get to the team page is to type a few letters of that team name into the search box. You can start with the city name or the team name. Usually about three or four letters does the trick:

That’ll bring you to our team archive, with all posts tagged with that club in chronological order:

Based on reader suggestions, we have created two additional ways to access team rumors.  The first utilizes the favorite teams you have selected in your MLBTR account.  Here’s how to select your favorite teams.

First, create a free commenter account on MLBTR if you don’t already have one.  Then, once you’re logged in (assuming you’re on a mobile device), tap the three lines icon in the upper right, then the dropdown for My Account, and then Choose Your Favorite Teams:

We’re going to make some improvements to simplify the Favorite Team picker, which currently shows NFL teams by default.  But for now, on the left you’ll see MLB, so tap that.  Scroll to the team(s) you want and select them.  Then hit Save:

After you save your favorite teams, navigate back to mlbtraderumors.com in your browser.  Go to the flame menu up top.  You’ll see that the first entry is now a link to the team rumors pages of your favorites.  This will show up to three favorite teams for a given sport.

So those are two options to reach a team’s rumor page: type it into the search bar, or favorite it and access it via the flame menu.  We have also brought back the original way: choosing a team from a list of all of them.  To do so, go to the three lines icon in the upper right, then hit the dropdown for Teams.  You’ll see all 30 teams listed by division, with minimal need for scrolling.  Tap a team and you’ll go to its rumor page.

After you land on a team rumor page, you can also hit your browser’s Back button to return to this list of all 30 and select a different team.

If you’re on the MLBTR mobile website, you now have three different ways to navigate to a team’s rumor page.  Enjoy!

Angels Designate Aaron Hicks For Assignment, Select Cole Tucker

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The Angels announced a series of roster moves today, recalling right-hander Davis Daniel from Triple-A Salt Lake and selecting the contract of infielder Cole Tucker. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Zac Kristofak to Salt Lake and designated outfielder Aaron Hicks for assignment.

Hicks, 34, was a pretty low risk pick-up for the Angels, at least from a financial perspective. His contract is still being paid by the Yankees, since they released him last year. The Angels added him to their roster but would only have to pay Hicks the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Yankees are paying.

There was a decent chance of them seeing a positive return on that investment, since Hicks seemed to bounce back with the Orioles last year. The O’s picked him up after the Yanks let him go, then Hicks went on to hit .275/.381/.425 in his time with Baltimore. That production translated to a wRC+ of 129 and Hicks also stole six bases in six tries.

But he’s looked far worse since donning an Angels uniform. Through 18 games this year, he’s produced an ugly line of .140/.222/.193 while striking out in 36.5% of his 63 plate appearances. His 9.5% walk rate is a bit above league average but below his career rate and even last year’s clip.

As Hicks has struggled, other outfielders have been in decent form. Both Mike Trout and Taylor Ward have been healthy and productive so far this season, while Jo Adell seems to finally be enjoying his long-awaited breakout.

Adell, 25, was selected 10th overall in 2017 and was a top 100 prospect on his way up the minor league ladder, but he struggled badly with strikeouts in his attempts to establish himself in the big leagues. He got sporadic playing time in the majors from 2020 to 2023 but was punched out in 35.4% of his plate appearances while hitting .214/.259/.366. This year, however, he’s hit .327/.382/.592 so far for a wRC+ of 174. Some regression is certainly forthcoming since he won’t be able to maintain a .382 batting average on balls in play, but he’s only striking out at a 23.6% clip so far this year.

The Angels are seemingly going to ride the hot hand and go with Adell next to Ward and Trout. Mickey Moniak is hitting a dismal .143/.200/.214 on the year but his .189 BABIP will surely come up over time. He’s striking out 30% of the time but that’s actually an improvement over last year’s 35% rate, when he rode a .389 BABIP to a line of .280/.307/.495. Since he’s younger than Hicks and comes with three additional years of cheap control, in addition to being out of options, he will hang onto the fourth outfielder job while Hicks is bumped off the roster.

By getting rid of Hicks, the Angels will add to their infield by selecting Tucker. Anthony Rendon and Michael Stefanic are on the injured list while Brandon Drury and Miguel Sanó have each missed a few games due to minor injuries in the past week. Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto and Luis Rengifo have been the club’s three healthy infielders getting regular playing time, while Ehire Adrianza has picked up some playing time with Drury and Sanó banged up.

Coming into the season, the 27-year-old Tucker was in a similar position as Adell, a former first-round pick who hadn’t lived up to the hype. Selected 24th overall by the Pirates in 2014, Tucker has a batting line of just .216/.266/.318 in 479 major league plate appearances, scattered over the past five seasons.

He signed a minor league deal with the Mariners back in January but was granted his release back in March. He tells reporters today, including Sam Blum of The Athletic and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, that the Mariners offered him a coaching position after he was reassigned to minor league camp. But he wasn’t ready to quit playing yet and secured a minor league deal with the Angels.

He reported to the club’s Triple-A squad in Salt Lake and has been in great form of late. He’s made 42 plate appearances over 10 games, drawing eight walks and striking out nine times for rates of 19% and 21.4%, respectively. His .313/.439/.469 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 132, even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

That’s a fairly small sample size relative to Tucker’s larger career struggles. In addition to his aforementioned major league work, he hit a tepid .243/.350/.363 in the minors over the 2021 to 2023 period. Regardless of his offensive abilities, Tucker can provide the Angels with some cover all over the diamond. He has played all four infield positions in his career and spent some time in the outfield as well. As mentioned, the club has various moving parts with the infield injuries, so Tucker can bounce around as needed.

He is out of options and will have to stick on the active roster or else be removed from the 40-man entirely if he gets squeezed from the club’s plans down the road. But if he manages to have a long-awaited breakout like Adell, he can be controlled for many seasons beyond this season since he has just over two years of major league service time.

The Angels will have a week to trade Hicks or pass him through waivers. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining the remainder of his contract, which runs through 2025. Any club willing to give him a roster spot would be in the same spot as the Angels just were, only having to pay the prorated league minimum with the Yanks on the hook for the rest.

Red Sox Acquire Garrett Cooper

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5:24pm: The deal is now official, as noted by Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. The Red Sox transferred Casas to the 60-day injured list to make room for Cooper on the 40-man roster.

2:39pm: The Red Sox have acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper, the Miami Herald’s Craig Mish writes (via X).  MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported (X link) earlier this afternoon that the Sox were “closing in on” a deal for Cooper’s services, and Cotillo and Sean McAdam report that the Cubs will receive cash considerations in return.

Chicago designated Cooper for assignment earlier this week, and today’s trade officially ends Cooper’s time in Wrigleyville after 12 games and 41 plate appearances.  Cooper signed a minor league deal with the Cubs during the offseason and made the Opening Day roster, then hit a respectable .270/.341/.432 with one home run over those 41 PA.

The Cubs intended to use Cooper as a veteran complement to Michael Busch at first base, but Busch has hit so well that the Cubs simply couldn’t take him out of the lineup, limiting Cooper’s playing time to mostly DH and pinch-hitting work.  Cooper was also DFA’ed so Chicago could add Matt Mervis to the active roster, as Mervis was on such a heater at Triple-A that the Cubs wanted to give him more of a look in their lineup, leaving Cooper as even more of an odd man out.

While Cooper’s avenues to playing time were closed off in Chicago, the Red Sox had an unwelcome vacancy created at first base when Triston Casas went on the 15-day IL.  Casas’ recovery timeline is still very fluid, as Casas stated that estimates have ranged from anywhere from 3-9 weeks.  Boston had interest in Cooper back in January when he was still a free agent, and the Sox have now finally landed their man perhaps a few months later than expected.

Over eight MLB seasons, Cooper has hit .268/.337/.435 over 1854 career plate appearances, with 57 home runs.  Translating to a 111 wRC+, Cooper tended to fly under the radar as a member of a rebuilding Marlins team for much of his career, and his playing time was further limited by injuries.  He even made the All-Star team in 2022, though Cooper’s production dipped to a modest .251/.304/.419 over 457 combined PA with Miami and San Diego in 2023.

Cooper made a pair of appearances in left field for the Cubs this season, marking his first bit of outfield work since 2021.  While not exactly a versatile player, Cooper can at least chip in as an outfielder in a pinch, extending his value to the Red Sox even after Casas eventually returns.  With Cooper now on the roster, Bobby Dalbec (acting as the interim first baseman) is probably getting sent back to Triple-A, as Dalbec has struggled badly at the the plate this season.

Orioles Option Jackson Holliday

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The Orioles announced today that they have optioned infielder Jackson Holliday to Triple-A Norfolk. His roster spot will go to outfielder Ryan McKenna, whose contract has been selected. To open a spot on the 40-man for McKenna, catcher David Bañuelos has been designated for assignment.

Holliday, 20, came into this season as the consensus top prospect in baseball. The first overall pick of the 2022 draft, he mashed his way through four levels of the minor leagues last year. He went from Single-A to High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .323/.442/.499 along the way.

Coming into 2024, there seemed to be a legitimate chance of Holliday cracking the Opening Day roster, despite his young age. Back in December, general manager Mike Elias said as much, telling reporters that it was a “very strong possibility.”

During Spring Training, Holliday seemed to be ticking all the boxes when he hit .311/.354/.600 in official Grapefruit League action. Yet despite that huge stat line, the club decided to send him back to Triple-A to start the year. Elias stated that Holliday needed a bit more work against left-handed pitching and a bit more experience at second base, having only recently moved there from shortstop.

Some observers wondered if this was simple service time manipulation, but the O’s made another surprising move when they called Holliday up on April 9, less than two weeks into the season. He had only played 10 Triple-A games to start the year, hitting a huge .333/.482/.595 in that time, and he was still called up early enough that he could earn a full year of service time by staying up for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Unfortunately, his major league career has gotten out to an incredibly slow start. Through 10 games and 36 plate appearances, he has struck out 18 times, a massive 50% clip. He only has two hits, both singles, and two walks. That leads to a batting line of .059/.111/.059.

That’s a tiny sample size but the O’s have evidently decided that the best move is to send Holliday down to Norfolk and get back into a groove. It wouldn’t be a surprise if that doesn’t take very long. He’s still very young and clearly incredibly talented, while his struggles consist of a small sliver of time in the grand scheme of things. Plenty of star baseball players have struggled initially and still gone on to great success. To use just a couple of examples, Chandler Rome of The Athletic pointed out this afternoon that Alex Bregman had two hits in his first 38 at-bats while Kyle Tucker had just nine in his first 64.

While Holliday could realistically be back in short order and slugging in the big leagues, he’ll first have to catch his breath in Norfolk and string some good plate appearances together, which is likely going to push back his path to free agency and perhaps to arbitration.

A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs only 172 to reach a year of service time, meaning a player can be sent to the minors for 15 days and still get a full year. Holliday missed the first 12 days of this season and was still in position to get to the one-year mark here in 2024 but he’ll now be a pace behind that. A position player optioned to the minors has to stay down for ten days before being recalled. An exception is made if someone else is going on the injured list, but the likeliest scenario is that Holliday will be in Norfolk for at least a few weeks.

He could also earn a full year of service time in the less-traditional way. The latest collective bargaining agreement added measures to combat service time, one of which was the ability for a top prospect to earn a full year of service even if not called up early enough if they finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting in their league. Though for that scenario to play out now, Holliday would have to quickly produce better results in order to secure a fast recall and then thrive in the majors for several months. With rookies like Colton Cowser, Wilyer Abreu, Mason Miller and Evan Carter already racking up decent numbers, Holliday would be challenged to end up getting into the top two.

For the club, they will also be taking their prospect promotion incentive off the table for now. Another new measure of the CBA is that teams can earn an extra draft pick if they promote top prospects early enough to get a full service year, and that player goes on to earn a Rookie of the Year award or a top three finish in MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration years. That was on the table for Holliday with his promotion a couple of weeks ago but won’t be a factor now. That could still come into play next year if Holliday retains his rookie status through the end of 2024.

As for arbitration, a player needs three years of service to automatically qualify. Each year, a subset of player get in early by what is known as “Super Two” status. That line moves from year to year since it goes to the 22% of players with the most service between two and three years. Holliday could qualify for Super Two status after the 2026 season, depending on how much time he spends in the majors between now and then, as well as where the cutoff is after that year.

In addition to Holliday’s struggles, the O’s are able to make this move because so many other players are performing so well. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg have both been excellent and seem likely to take the bulk of the middle infield playing time. Westburg had been spending more time at third but could now move to the keystone on a regular basis with Holliday’s demotion, with Ramón Urías getting more time at the hot corner. Urías isn’t hitting well this year but has solid career numbers at the plate and he is considered an excellent defender at multiple positions. Jorge Mateo is available as a depth infielder off the bench.

McKenna, 27, gets back on the Baltimore roster just a few weeks after being removed. He spent the past three years serving as a glove-first bench outfielder for the club. From 2021 through 2023, he hit just .221/.299/.318 but racked up eight Defensive Runs Saved and seven Outs Above Average on the grass. He also stole eight bases in nine tries.

He exhausted his option years in that time and was nudged off the club’s Opening Day roster this year, but was passed through waivers and stuck in the organization. It was reported earlier this week that McKenna was taking some reps at second base to expand his versatility, but he didn’t get a chance to take the infield during actual game action for the Tides before getting added back to the big league roster.

For now, it seems like he will go back to his role as a depth outfielder, behind the regulars Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins, Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad. Once Austin Hays is ready to return from the injured list, McKenna may be in jeopardy of losing his roster spot again, though Kjerstad getting optioned back to the minors is another possibility.

Bañuelos, 27, has been bouncing on and off the roster in the past week-plus, mostly out of convenience. He has been traveling with the team on the taxi squad as an emergency third catcher behind Adley Rutschman and James McCann. Twice in the past ten days, he was added to the roster when someone else was hurt, seemingly because he was there and ready to suit up. In both cases, he was designated for assignment shortly thereafter.

The first DFA led to Bañuelos passing through waivers unclaimed and sticking with the O’s. If he were to pass through unclaimed again, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with a previous career outright. He has one major league plate appearance, a flyout, and hit .270/.369/.526 in Double-A for the Twins last year.

Wade Miley To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Brewers left-hander Wade Miley needs repair on the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The lefty will be undergoing Tommy John surgery, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. McCalvy adds that Miley will spend the next 10 to 12 months rehabbing from the surgery before deciding if he will continue his career. McCalvy adds in a second tweet that Miley is leaning towards coming back. “I’ve always said I want to go out on my own [terms],” he said. “I still feel like I’ve got more in the tank.”

The news of the surgery doesn’t come as a total shock. He was placed on the injured list earlier this week with elbow inflammation and was clearly trying to avoid thinking of the possibility of going under the knife. “I don’t want to be concerned,” he said a few days ago. “Obviously, the ugly thought probably ends it for me, so I’m trying not to take myself there right now. I don’t know if I’d be willing to go through something like that and I’m hoping it’s nothing to that extent. But like I said, without imaging, we won’t know.”

Since then, despite getting the bad news, he seems to have turned a corner in terms of his acceptance of the situation. As mentioned up top, he’s now leaning towards coming back. Rosiak relays a two-minute clip on X of Miley discussing the situation, in which he actually seems sort of optimistic at times. “Weirdly, kind of excited,” he says. “Get this thing fixed and maybe I can pitch without pain for a little bit, you know? I’ve been dealing with elbow stuff for four, five years now. Looking on the bright side, if we get this thing fixed up, who knows?”

It’s true that Miley, 37, has been dealing with his share of injury setbacks in recent years. From 2012 to 2017, he tossed at least 157 innings in six straight seasons, posting a combined 4.37 earned run average in that time. But in 2018, he only got to 80 2/3 innings, missing a couple of months due to an oblique strain. He got up to 167 1/3 in 2019 but then fell shy of 15 innings in the shortened 2020 season, missing time due to a groin strain and a shoulder strain.

He was able to stay healthy enough in 2021 to log 163 innings over 28 starts, but then was capped at 37 frames in 2022, spending time on the IL due to elbow inflammation and a shoulder strain. There was another uptick last year, as he got to 23 starts and 120 1/3 innings, though a lat strain and elbow discomfort did separately send him to the IL a couple of times.

Now he’s unfortunately going to have to endure the lengthiest absence of his career and it seems there’s at least some possibility he never comes back. Given his comments today, it seems more likely that he’ll try to return at some point in 2025, but he’ll have plenty of time to think about it.

He signed a one-year deal with the Brewers in the offseason, which comes with a mutual option. Those options are almost never picked up by both sides and the surgery makes it a certainty that the Brewers will decline their end, sending Miley back to the open market.

Free agent pitchers that are coming off a notable surgery such as this will often sign two-year deals, with the signing club knowing that they may not get much return on their investment in the first season while the pitcher is hurt. Miley will be an interesting case since he’s already 37 years old, with his next birthday in November. A two-year deal would therefore be covering his age-38 and age-39 seasons, a few years older than most pitchers who sign such deals. But he’s still been effective when on the mound, as he had a 3.14 ERA with Milwaukee just last year.

For now, the Brewers will have to move forward with yet another starter subtracted from their rotation mix. Brandon Woodruff required shoulder surgery late last year and it’s questionable whether or not he can return this year. Corbin Burnes was traded to the Orioles in the winter. DL Hall and Jakob Junis are both currently on the IL and now Miley is going to miss the rest of the year.

Their current rotation consists of Freddy Peralta, Colin Rea, Joe Ross, Tobias Myers and Bryse Wilson. Ross hardly pitched over the previous two years due to various injuries. Myers just made his major league debut this week while Wilson was just moved in from the bullpen, having not had a regular starting gig since 2022.

There’s plenty of uncertainty in that group, but the club is managing to hold onto the division lead for now. Coming into today, they are half a game up on the Cubs, with the three other clubs not far behind. As the season rolls along, improved health from Hall or Junis could play a factor, or perhaps prospect Robert Gasser could work his way into the mix. But it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the club searching for pitching at this summer’s deadline, given the setbacks they’ve been dealt.

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