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Twins Activate Kody Funderburk From Injured List

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The Twins announced that they have reinstated left-hander Kody Funderburk from the 60-day injured list. Catcher Jair Camargo was optioned to open an active roster spot. Outfielder Max Kepler has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Prior to the official announcement, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reported on X that Funderburk would be activated.

Funderburk, 27, had an intriguing debut last year. Called up in August, he was able to pitch 12 innings for the Twins with a 0.75 earned run average. He struck out 40.4% of batters faced and got grounders on 54.5% of batters faced.

He hasn’t been able to maintain results that strong in 2024. He currently has 33 2/3 innings on the year with a 5.61 ERA. His ground ball rate is the same as last year but his strikeout rate has essentially been halved, landing at 20.3% so far. In July, he landed on the 15-injured list due to a left oblique strain, later being transferred to the 60-day version.

The Twins have just one lefty in their bullpen at the moment in Caleb Thielbar. They have had Steven Okert, Cole Irvin and Brent Headrick on the roster somewhat recently but Okert and Irvin were designated for assignment in recent weeks while Headrick was optioned a couple of days ago.

The club’s season is currently hanging by a thread. They are three games back of the Tigers and Royals with each team having three games remaining. The Twins hold the tiebreakers over both of those clubs but still have long odds of getting back into a playoff spot at this point. Funderburk will give manager Rocco Baldelli a second lefty option in the bullpen as they try to hang on. The Twins host the Orioles this weekend as the Royals are in Atlanta and the Tigers host the White Sox.

As for Kepler, this move will end his season, regardless of whether the club makes the postseason or not. He landed on the IL September 2 due to left patellar tendinitis in his knee. He told Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic a couple of days ago that he wasn’t likely to return and might need offseason surgery.

That would be unfortunate timing as he is heading to free agency for the first time in his career. He and the Twins signed a five-year, $35MM extension going into 2019, with that deal containing a $10MM club option for 2024 that was eventually picked up.

Kepler is a strong defender on the grass, with career tallies of 50 Defensive Runs Saved and 66 Outs Above Average. He has occasionally paired that with strong offense, though not consistently. He hit 24 home runs last year and drew walks at a 9.2% clip, leading to a .260/.332/.484 batting line and 123 wRC+. But this year, around multiple IL stints, he has just eight homers and a 5.5% walk rate. His .253/.302/.380 line has led to a 94 wRC+.

Garrett Crochet Open To Extension Talks With White Sox

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White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet spoke to members of the media yesterday, including Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, indicating that he would be open to having contract extension talks this winter. “I would be receptive to conversations,” Crochet said. “Those conversations are not reliant on only myself and what I might want. I know that (GM Chris) Getz does everything with the team’s future in mind. So I think we can trust that to be true.”

It’s perhaps notable that Crochet isn’t immediately shooting down the idea of a long-term deal, but a willingness to have conversations doesn’t necessarily indicate that a deal is likely or even plausible.

Up until this point in his career, Crochet’s earning power has been fairly modest by MLB standards but it is about to shoot up. In 2023, he surpassed three years of service time and therefore qualified for arbitration. However, since he missed significant time while recovering from Tommy John surgery, he was only able to secure himself a slight pay bump. He is making $800K here in 2024, just barely above the $740K league minimum.

But this year, he moved from the bullpen to the rotation with outstanding results. To this point, he has tossed 142 innings over 31 starts. That has come despite the club scaling back his workload in the second half, as he hasn’t thrown more than four innings in an outing since June. He has a 3.68 earned run average on the year and perhaps deserves better. His 35.1% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate are all strong numbers. His 18 home runs allowed are the biggest weak point, which is why an ERA estimator like SIERA that normalizes home run rate has him down at 2.54.

The excellent results turned Crochet into a much-discussed trade chip this summer, though his unique circumstances seemingly prevented a deal from being consummated. The White Sox were well out of contention and Crochet was plenty available, but there were questions about what his second half would look like. After being drafted, he was quickly shot up to the majors during the 2020 season and subsequently missed time due to his aforementioned surgery. As such, he had been able to throw just 85 1/3 professional innings over the 2020-23 period.

Though he had flourished as a starter in the first half of 2024, teams were naturally going to wonder how he would hold up if kept in that role during a pennant race and into the postseason. Crochet and his reps reportedly expressed a desire for him to continue starting and secure a contract extension before pitching in October.

Perhaps due to those complications, no trade occurred prior to the deadline, but it’s generally expected that those talks will be revisited this winter. The workload concerns should be less of an issue going forward with the base he established this year. Crochet has two arbitration seasons remaining and it will be difficult for this historically bad White Sox club to return to contention in that timeframe. His salary will leap up from $800K but will still be quite low compared to free agent rates, giving him plenty of surplus trade value. Rather than continuing to run out Crochet to be the best player on a bad team, there’s logic to flipping him for players that can help the club down the line, which Crochet seemingly alluded to in his comments yesterday.

An extension with the White Sox could change that calculus by keeping him around longer, but there are reasons not to expect that to happen. Crochet is only 25 years old, meaning he is currently slated to hit free agency just after his 27th birthday.

Pitchers almost never reach the open market that young, apart from guys coming from international leagues. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was coming over from Japan this past offseason at the age of 25 and had widespread interest, eventually managing to secure a $325MM guarantee from the Dodgers. That kind of spending on a player with no major league experience, plus the $51MM posting fee the Dodgers had to cough up, suggests that the league values that youth highly.

Crochet will be two years older as a free agent that Yamamoto was, but he could have a decent track record in the big leagues by then. There is risk by going year to year, as Crochet could always suffer another injury between now and then, but it would likely take a fairly notable investment to get him to give up that kind of opportunity. In August, MLBTR’s Anthony Franco wrote a piece for Front Office subscribers that looked at some recent pitcher extensions and compared them to Crochet, suggesting that the lefty could get something close to a nine-figure deal.

The White Sox have never given out a guarantee larger than the $75MM they gave to Andrew Benintendi. Given that they are currently at the nadir of a rebuild, it’s probably not the time where they want to be setting new franchise records in that department.

Taking all these factors together, it still seems fair to expect a trade. If the club is interested in a public relations win after so many losses this year, they could consider breaking the bank on Crochet. If they have such thoughts, he is at least willing to answer the phone and talk, but other clubs will also be calling and trying to pry him loose this winter. In comments made a couple of weeks ago, Getz suggested the club would likely be having trade talks involving Crochet this winter.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held live chat today, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Anthony took questions on the Tigers' surprising playoff run, the A's outlook for 2025, what the Giants should do this offseason, the status of the Nationals' rebuild, the state of the American League, Pittsburgh's catching situation, and much more.

 

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Chaim Bloom To Take On Larger Role In Cardinals’ Front Office

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The Cardinals are set to hold a press conference early next week, and it’s already been reported that there will be some notable organizational changes announced at that time. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat suggested as much earlier this week, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported a couple weeks back that former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, hired as an adviser last winter, could see his role expand. That’ll indeed be the case, and Katie Woo of The Athletic now further details that Bloom will be tasked with hiring a new director of player development and overhauling that department.

It’s not fully clear what title Bloom will hold, but Woo spoke with multiple Cardinals staffers about the manner in which their player development system — once the gold standard in the sport — has become antiquated and been neglected over time. Cardinals employees who spoke to Woo for a simultaneously fascinating and damning overview of the organization suggest the club is lacking in coordinators, minor league coaches, technology and other resources, leaving players unprepared to make the jump to the majors.

That’s created a vicious cycle, forcing president of baseball operations John Mozeliak to spend more in free agency to offset the lack of homegrown contributors. In doing so, he’s increasingly had to allocate his baseball operations budget to the big league roster at the expense of player development. It’s become a self-fulfilling prophecy in many ways. Readers (especially Cardinals fans) are encouraged to check out Woo’s piece in full for an exhaustive breakdown of how the Cardinals’ once unparalleled development practices have faltered and failed to position touted prospects like Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, Dylan Carlson and others for big league success.

From an even bigger-picture standpoint, the matter of Mozeliak’s future with the club has also been thrust into the spotlight. He’s signed through 2025 and has suggested previously that he’s likely to step down after that contract. MLB.com’s John Denton reports that it’s at least possible Mozeliak steps aside or transitions to a different role sooner than the end of his contract, however. Changes on the coaching front are expected too, as Jones reported earlier this week. Woo writes that manager Oli Marmol is expected to remain in place but points out that hitting coaches Turner Ward and Brandon Allen, game-planning coach Packy Elkins, first base coach Stubby Clapp and assistant pitching coach Julio Rangel are all signed only through the current season.

The full scope of the looming changes likely won’t be ascertainable until the Cardinals host their press conference Monday. What’s increasingly clear is that ownership and the majority of the baseball operations and player development staff recognize that changes are needed. Whether that results in a rebuilding effort of any magnitude isn’t yet clear. Woo reports that the Cardinals do not intend to go into a tanking-style rebuild but also plan to shift more focus on building up the player development staff and strengthening the minor league system.

Marmol, for his part, isn’t speaking like a manager who expects a pronounced step back. The recent focus on getting to 82 wins to avoid the first back-to-back losing seasons the Cardinals have endured in six decades hasn’t sat well with him, he tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s not a goal of mine when I go into a season to only finish above .500, if I’m being quite honest,” says Marmol. “I understand not wanting to have back-to-back losing seasons. We have aspirations for a lot more than that, and we have to build toward it, bottom line.”

Goold joins the rest of the Cards beat in reporting that large-scale changes are indeed expected Monday at a press conference where the team’s “next direction” will be among the topics. The Cardinals face several pivotal decisions, many of them on aging veterans. They hold $12MM club options over starters Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn — both coming with a $1MM buyout. Paul Goldschmidt is a free agent, though there’s been talk of a potential reunion. Veteran reliever Andrew Kittredge is also a free agent, and the Cards have some interest in re-signing him. The 2025 season is closer Ryan Helsley’s final year of club control. Prospects like Walker and Gorman aren’t necessarily at a crossroads but have also failed to cement themselves in the team’s plans. Both were optioned to the minors this season, though both have at least one option year remaining beyond the current season (two, in Gorman’s case).

Monday’s press conference should shed light on how some of those vital organizational decisions will play out. The broad takeaway, for now, is that simply maintaining the status quo no longer feels tenable.

The Opener: Freeman, Twins, Diamondbacks

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Ahead of the 2024 regular season’s final weekend, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Freeman nursing injury:

While the mood surrounding the Dodgers was largely celebratory last night in the aftermath of the club clinching their 11th NL West title in 12 seasons, there was one possible cause for concern: first baseman Freddie Freeman, who departed last night’s game against the Padres during the seventh inning due to an ankle injury. As noted by MLB.com’s Juan Toribio, Freeman was in a walking boot and on crutches following last night’s game but seemed optimistic after telling reporters that x-rays came back negative, revealing a sprain.

Freeman noted that while his ankle is swollen, club officials are “optimistic” he’ll be ready to go in time for the playoffs when the NLDS kicks off next Saturday. Freeman joins Miguel Rojas as the second member of Los Angeles’ everyday starting lineup who won’t be participating in the club’s final series against Colorado in hopes of getting healthy enough to participate in the upcoming playoff run. The Dodgers appear likely to shift Max Muncy over to first base while Freeman is out, thereby opening the hot corner up for Enrique Hernandez.

2. Twins facing elimination:

The Twins are staring down elimination after dropping four of their previous five games to the Marlins and Red Sox, leaving them with a disastrous 9-15 record that has allowed the Tigers to surpass them in the AL Wild Card race. Just one season removed from breaking their lengthy drought without a playoff series win, Minnesota now sports a 82-77 record headed into the season’s final series. Both the Tigers and Royals have identical 85-74 records, leaving the Twins in need of a miracle to return to the postseason at this point.

They hold the tiebreaker over both of their rivals, but the club would need to not only sweep the Orioles in their final series of the season but also benefit from either Detroit or Kansas City getting swept in their final series of the year in order to make it into the playoffs. Of those two possibilities, the Royals getting swept by the Braves appears to be more likely than the Tigers getting swept by the White Sox, although Chicago has plenty of incentive to do everything it can to sweep considering they’d avoid taking sole possession of the modern era’s all-time loss record if they can extend their current winning streak from three games to six. Minnesota’s last stand begins at 7:10pm local time this evening when Pablo Lopez (4.11 ERA) takes on Baltimore rookie and former Twins prospect Cade Povich (5.59 ERA in 15 starts).

3. D-backs look to clinch:

The Padres have already clinched an NL Wild Card spot, but their final series of the regular season will still have major playoff implications as they head to the desert to face the Diamondbacks in a three-game set. Arizona currently holds an NL Wild Card spot with an 88-71 record that leaves them essentially tied with the Mets (87-70) and one game up on the Braves (86-71). Still, their playoff hopes aren’t quite as solid as it might seem at first glance after the final two games of this week’s series between Atlanta and New York were rescheduled for Monday. That leaves the Snakes in need of a sweep this weekend in order to punch their ticket to the postseason without waiting on the results of Monday’s doubleheader, as both the Mets and Braves hold the tiebreaker over them.

If Arizona manages to sweep the Padres, they’d finish with a record of 91-71. Either the Braves or Mets could reach that win total, but at least one club is guaranteed to fall short as the Braves would need to win all five of their remaining games in order to do so while the Mets would need to go at least 4-1. Anything less than a sweep, however, leaves Arizona’s fate in the hands of a doubleheader that will occur after they’ve wrapped up their regular season, a frustrating circumstance for the Diamondbacks that would leave them in limbo ahead of a potential NL Wild Card series on Tuesday. They’ll kick off their attempt to clinch at 6:40pm local time this evening with veteran righty Merrill Kelly (3.71 ERA) on the mound opposite Padres veteran Yu Darvish (3.18 ERA in 15 starts).

White Sox Notes: Sizemore, Managerial Search, Crochet, Moncada

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When the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol (along with bench coach Charlie Montoyo, assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar and third base coach Eddie Rodriguez), they handed Grady Sizemore the unenviable task of steering the ship for the remainder of a historically inept season. The Sox are currently tied for the modern era record with 120 losses and figure to establish a new benchmark for futility in the coming days. At the time Sizemore was elevated to the top job in the dugout, general manager Chris Getz plainly stated that the Sox would conduct a managerial search and hire a new skipper from outside the organization after the season. It now seems that Sizemore will at least be considered for the permanent post, however.

“Grady’s in consideration,” Getz said this week (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). “He has a lot of traits we’re looking for.”

The Sox will still conduct an extensive search for their next skipper, Getz emphasized. Sizemore will be one of many candidates from what the GM called a “deep pool” that they’ve cultivated since Grifol’s dismissal. (It’s not clear whether that pool will include Double-A manager and former Sox reliever Sergio Santos, but he’s publicly thrown his hat into the ring and voiced a desire to manage the club.) Still, Getz noted that Sizemore’s “temperament is exactly what we needed” for the remainder of the current season and praised his rookie manager’s communication skills with the players. Van Schouwen adds that Sizemore has another year remaining on his coaching contract, so it seems likely he’ll remain with the organization beyond the ’24 season in at least some capacity.

ESPN’s Buster Olney and Jesse Rogers report that Sizemore had never voiced a desire to manage prior to being promoted to his current post, but his strong relationship with the players made him the front office’s pick. Time will tell whether that leads to a more solid appointment following the season.

More broadly, Olney and Rogers explore the staggering levels of dysfunction that have permeated the White Sox organization this season. It’s a deep dive into the team’s many failures across virtually all levels, highlighting clubhouse rifts that date back to the 2023 season and questionable decisions from owner Jerry Reinsdorf, among many other fascinating aspects.

As has been suggested in the past, Rogers and Olney write that former general manager Rick Hahn appeared to have zeroed in on A.J. Hinch as the team’s new manager following the 2020 season when Reinsdorf went over his head and hired longtime friend and former White Sox skipper Tony La Russa. One club source told the ESPN pair that Grifol inherited “as negative a place as I’ve seen anywhere” in the game when he took over as manager. La Russa remains involved with the organization as an advisor and, notably, gave positive feedback about Getz when Reinsdorf fired longtime baseball operations leaders Hahn and Kenny Williams. That’s not to say Getz was promoted based solely on La Russa’s recommendation, but it’s a notable bit of context given that he was tabbed the new GM after just nine days and with no external search conducted.

There are countless other bits throughout the ESPN piece making it a must-read piece for fans not only of the White Sox but any club. Rogers and Olney delve into some specifics on the trade deadline, noting that the Sox targeted top Phillies prospect Andrew Painter when Philadelphia was in pursuit of Garrett Crochet — a price at which the Phillies balked. The Dodgers, per the report, believed they could make a compelling offer without including catcher Dalton Rushing, but that offer “never developed” in the end. They instead acquired Jack Flaherty from Detroit in exchange for another top catching prospect, Thayron Liranzo, and current Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney.

Crochet stayed in Chicago, as Getz and his staff were intent on getting their price met or revisiting the trade market for Crochet this winter. That’ll surely be the case, and Crochet will enter the season as perhaps the top trade candidate in the sport. The asking price will again be astronomical, but there will also theoretically be more bidders for him — in addition to a lack of concern about his status for pitching in the postseason and/or his reported desire for a contract extension.

Crochet and Luis Robert Jr. will be the last vestiges of the core that propelled the White Sox to playoff berths in 2020 and 2021. The rest have either been traded or, like third baseman Yoan Moncada, will become free agents at season’s end. Moncada has a $25MM club option, but the Sox will pay a $5MM buyout on that option and send him into free agency for the first time in his career.

Moncada, still just 29 years old, tells Bruce Levine of 670 The Score that he plans to play winter ball this offseason in order to showcase his health for the other 29 teams in the game. He missed nearly the entire season due to an adductor strain and has scarcely played since being reinstated from the 60-day injured list earlier this month. Chicago has been committed too getting the younger Miguel Vargas — acquired at the deadline in the three-team Erick Fedde/Michael Kopech/Tommy Pham swap — regular playing time at the hot corner even as he struggles mightily at the plate.

That’s left Moncada with just one plate appearance this month, despite the fact that he was activated back on Sept. 16. He’s hitting .275/.356/.400 on the season in a tiny sample of 45 plate appearances. On the one hand, it’s confounding that the Sox would leave a talented and fairly productive veteran out of the lineup as they try to stave off their inevitable date with history. On the other, Moncada clearly isn’t in the team’s plans going forward, so there’s some sense to allocating those at-bats to younger players.

Moncada once ranked as the top prospect in the sport. He signed with the Red Sox after leaving Cuba, taking home a massive $31.5MM signing bonus (which cost Boston a 100% tax under the former international free agent system, bringing their total price to $63MM). He landed in Chicago alongside Kopech as one two headliners in the trade sending Chris Sale to Fenway Park. It took a couple years, but by 2019 Moncada looked on the cusp of stardom. He swatted 25 homers while batting .315/.367/.548 in just 559 plate appearances. That breakout contributed to Chicago extending Moncada on a five-year, $70MM deal covering the 2020-24 seasons.

The contract hasn’t aged well. Moncada gave the Sox one healthy, productive season in 2021 but has otherwise spent more time on the injured list than in the lineup. Even when healthy, he’s been below-average at the plate more often than not. He’s appeared in 404 of 703 possible games during that five-year period and slashed .244/.326/.395 along the way. That’s league-average production on the whole (101 wRC+), but the vast majority of that positive output came during the aforementioned ’21 season.

A healthy showing in winter ball would surely help Moncada’s stock this offseason. He’s likely looking at a low-cost one-year contract with incentives baked in to potentially boost his guarantee. There’s clearly a talented player beneath all the recent health troubles. Moncada has had seasons worth five wins above replacement (2019) and four WAR (2021). He’s still on the right side of 30. It wouldn’t be a total shock to see him return to form in ’25 — almost assuredly with a new club — and then cash in on a multi-year deal the following offseason.

Diamondbacks Activate Ryne Nelson, Recall Alek Thomas

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The D-Backs made a handful of moves on tonight’s off day. Arizona activated Ryne Nelson from the 15-day injured list and recalled outfielder Alek Thomas from Triple-A Reno. The Snakes optioned Yilber Diaz and Blake Walston to open spots on the active roster.

Nelson’s return is the biggest development. The right-hander has had a strong second half, working to a 3.39 ERA while striking out more than 27% of opponents since the All-Star Break. Nelson outpitched Jordan Montgomery to solidify his rotation spot. He held that job until the middle of September, when a bout of shoulder inflammation sent him to the injured list.

That temporarily drew Montgomery back into the starting five. Arizona could use both Nelson and Montgomery out of the bullpen this weekend. The D-Backs will start Merrill Kelly tomorrow to kick off their weekend series with the Padres. They haven’t announced starters for their final two games. Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt would be on schedule. They’re the third and fourth starters on paper, although Nelson had been handily outperforming both in the weeks leading to his IL placement. Zac Gallen tossed 97 pitches over six innings against the Giants yesterday. He’s potentially an option for Sunday on three days rest if the D-Backs are playing a must-win game.

Thomas returns to the outfield mix as a speed and defense option off the bench. The D-Backs optioned him to Triple-A in the middle of August. He suffered an injury within a week and was out of action until September 17. Thomas has only appeared in 37 MLB contests this year. He’s hitting .191/.248/.362 across 102 plate appearances. Jake McCarthy has surpassed him as the primary center fielder.

At 88-71, the Diamondbacks currently hold the final Wild Card spot. They’re percentage points behind the #5 seed Mets. Arizona is technically one game up on the 86-71 Braves, but the teams have an equal number of losses with Atlanta holding the tiebreaker. If the Braves were to win out, they’d leapfrog the D-Backs.

Atlanta’s final two games — scheduled for next Monday after this week’s hurricane-related postponements — are against the Mets. That means the Diamondbacks control their destiny. If Arizona wins out, they’d hang onto the sixth seed over the Mets even if the Braves passed them by also finishing 91-71.

There’s a lot at play. The Atlanta-New York postponement means there’s a good chance the D-Backs won’t know their fate until Monday, even though Arizona’s regular season ends on Sunday. The Mets are headed to Milwaukee this weekend, while the Braves host a Royals team that only needs one win (or a Twins loss) to punch its ticket to October.

Previewing The 2024-25 Free Agent Class: Designated Hitter

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MLBTR continues its position-by-position look at the upcoming free agent class. Before we move on to the pitching, we’ll wrap up the offensive group by looking at the designated hitters. Every position player technically could play DH, of course, but the vast majority of the class has been covered in one of our prior positional previews. We’ll limit this look to players who are either DH-only or have taken at least 150 plate appearances at the position this year.

Player ages, listed in parenthesis, are for the 2025 season. Stats are through play on September 25. Only players who have appeared in the majors this year are included.

Other Entries: Catcher | First Base | Second Base | Shortstop | Third Base | Center Field | Corner Outfield

Regulars

Bell had a rough first few months, hitting .239/.305/.394 in 104 games with the Marlins. He has found his stride after a deadline trade to Arizona, where he carries a .281/.363/.439 slash with five homers through 161 trips to the plate. The aggregate production is still middling — a league average .250/.320/.406 line with very poor defensive grades — but Bell is finishing the season on a high note. He has been a streaky hitter throughout his career who can hit in the middle third of a lineup when he’s at his best.

Martinez lingered in free agency before signing a heavily deferred $12MM contract with the Mets. Martinez had a typically strong first half, carrying a .263/.349/.457 line into the All-Star Break. His bat has absolutely cratered down the stretch, especially this month. Martinez is hitting .194/.276/.339 in the second half — including a staggering .068/.180/.091 line in September. The overall slash line is alright — .234/.318/.407 with 16 homers across 482 plate appearances — but the finish to the season is a red flag.

McCutchen has hit 20 homers with a slightly above-average .236/.333/.418 line across 507 plate appearances. That’s not huge production out of a DH, but McCutchen has still been one of the better performers in a light Pittsburgh lineup. He’s a franchise icon who has made clear he wants to finish his career in the Steel City. McCutchen plans to play again next season and it feels like only a matter of time before he and the Bucs hammer out a new deal — probably for something close to this year’s $5MM salary.

The D-Backs signed Pederson to a $12.5MM deal last winter. That’s a hefty investment in a DH-only player who almost never faces lefty pitching. Yet the Snakes certainly have no regrets. They brought in Pederson to mash against right-handed pitching and he has more than held up his end of the bargain. He’s hitting .284/.394/.538 with 22 homers through 401 plate appearances versus righties. Pederson will probably decline his end of a $14MM mutual option in favor of a $3MM buyout. He’s a candidate for a multi-year deal.

Turner is primarily a DH but can rotate through the corner infield spots. He had a fairly modest .256/.350/.372 showing over 91 games with Toronto. It looked as if he might be slowing down at age 39, but he has found another gear since being traded at the deadline. Turner owns a .263/.360/.397 slash with five home runs in 46 games with Seattle — impressive output in a home park that has stymied a lot of the M’s offensive acquisitions. By measure of wRC+, Turner has been 15 percentage points above league average at the plate. That’s slightly better than last year’s .276/.345/.455 showing with the Red Sox. Turner got $13MM last offseason and still hasn’t dropped off.

Winker hit .257/.374/.419 over 379 plate appearances for the Nationals after signing a minor league deal. Washington flipped him to the Mets, where his production has tailed off (.248/.317/.372 in 46 games). Winker is a below-average defensive left fielder who doesn’t do much against lefty pitching. It’s a limited profile as a platoon corner/DH bat, but he’s hitting .260/.366/.425 against righties this season and has an excellent track record against right-handers.

Depth

Carpenter has played a veteran mentor role in his return to the Cardinals. He has made 56 appearances and turned in a .238/.322/.385 slash across 150 trips to the plate. Teams aren’t going to view Carpenter as a primary designated hitter, but he could find interest in a bench role. He told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this week that he hopes to continue playing.

Vogelbach, who was a league average hitter for the Mets last season, appeared in 31 games for the Blue Jays early this year. He hit .186/.278/.300 and was released in June. He’s a minor league deal candidate.

Club Options

Ozuna’s four-year free agent deal with the Braves came with a $16MM club option or a $1M buyout. Ozuna has had a monster year, carrying an Atlanta lineup that has often floundered around him. He’s one homer away from getting to 40 for a second straight year. Ozuna has a .310/.384/.561 slash across 667 plate appearances. Carrying Ozuna and Jorge Soler on the same roster for a full season isn’t ideal, but that’s something the Braves can sort out after making the easy call to exercise the option.

If Ozuna’s option is a lock to be exercised, Jiménez’s is just as easy a decision in the opposite direction. The Orioles will buy this out for $1.5MM in lieu of a $16.5MM salary. Jiménez will collect a $3MM buyout overall; the White Sox are also on the hook for $1.5MM as part of the deadline deal that sent him to Baltimore. Jiménez looked like a burgeoning slugger early in his career. Injuries have set him back and his production has tanked this year. He’s hitting .238/.289/.336 across 349 plate appearances. Baltimore optioned him to Triple-A on Tuesday.

The Orioles hold an $8MM option for next season. O’Hearn’s strong first half made that look like a clear bargain. The left-handed hitter went into the All-Star Break with a .274/.335/.456 line with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. His plate discipline is still strong but his power has dissipated in the second half. He only has two homers with a .240/.327/.351 line since the Break. Baltimore should have a lot of payroll flexibility and could bet on O’Hearn to bounce back, but this is more of a borderline call than it seemed six weeks ago.

Clayton Kershaw Multiple Weeks From Return

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With the postseason getting underway next week, the Dodgers figure to be without Clayton Kershaw at least into the middle of October. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic) that the future Hall of Famer is “not going to be viable for a couple weeks.” Kershaw has been out since late August on account of bone spurs in his left big toe.

Roberts said earlier in the week that the three-time Cy Young winner was in a “holding pattern” on his rehab. That didn’t bode well for his availability for the start of the playoffs. That’s a lock now. The Dodgers would clinch the NL West and a first-round bye with a win over the Padres tonight. Assuming they wrap up the division — either tonight or during their weekend series in Colorado — they’ll punch their ticket to a Division Series beginning next weekend.

Kershaw clearly isn’t going to be ready by that point. The NLCS begins on October 13. Roberts’ timeline leaves open the possibility of Kershaw returning for that series if the Dodgers get there, but it’s far from guaranteed. The Dodgers have already ruled out Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone through the entire postseason. Kershaw’s return seems questionable at best.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty will take the ball in some order for the first two games of the postseason. Rookie righty Landon Knack probably lines up as L.A.’s Game 3 starter. The Dodgers haven’t managed to get Walker Buehler on track, while Bobby Miller pitched so poorly that he was optioned back to Triple-A a few weeks ago.

Kershaw’s regular season concludes with a 4.50 ERA over 30 innings. He didn’t make his season debut until shortly after the All-Star Break as he completed rehab from last November’s shoulder surgery. He made seven starts. That’s significant from a contractual perspective. Kershaw’s two-year, $10MM deal contained a ton of incentives. He tacked on $2.5MM to this year’s $5MM base salary. Getting to seven starts also added $5MM in escalators to next year’s player option. That option was initially valued at $5MM but will land at $10MM; Kershaw could boost that as high as $25MM if he makes 25 starts next year.

The Dodgers provided a few additional injury updates this evening. Miguel Rojas, who left last night’s game, said that he’s been diagnosed with a partially torn left adductor (groin) muscle (X link via Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times). The veteran infielder said he’ll need to undergo surgery in the offseason but believes he’ll be able to play through it during the postseason. Rojas has emerged as Roberts’ starting shortstop thanks to his defensive reliability and a solid .283/.337/.410 showing at the plate. He won’t play tonight. Tommy Edman moves in to play shortstop while Andy Pages steps into the lineup in center field.

The bullpen is also taking a hit. Roberts said that righty Brusdar Graterol is going back on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation (via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times). Graterol has battled shoulder problems dating back to Spring Training. He also lost a few weeks late in the year to a hamstring strain. The hard-throwing sinkerballer has been limited to seven appearances, during which he has thrown 7 2/3 frames of two-run ball. Graterol was one of the best relievers in MLB last year, turning in a 1.20 ERA across 67 1/3 frames.

Giants’ Reggie Crawford Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Giants prospect Reggie Crawford has undergone shoulder surgery. “Will never be beaten,” Crawford said in a post on X along with a picture of himself recovering from the procedure. “Thank you to Dr. ElAttrache for taking care of the shoulder. I will be back soon [emoji of hands making a heart shape]” The club later announced to members of the beat, including Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (X link), that the labrum surgery comes with an estimated recovery timeline of 10 to 12 months. He will therefore miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season.

Crawford, now 23, was selected by the Giants with the 30th overall pick in the 2022 draft. A two-way player in college, the Giants let him both pitch and hit last year, though his workload was limited. He had undergone Tommy John surgery late in 2021 and didn’t pitch at all in 2022, then dealt with various other ailments during the 2023 season including mononucleosis and a strained oblique. He tossed 19 innings on the year and made 19 plate appearances, splitting his time between Single-A and High-A. He went to the Arizona Fall League but didn’t pitch, hitting .138/.282/.276 in his 71 plate appearances there.

The Giants decided to have him focus exclusively on pitching in 2024. He hadn’t hit much in a small sample of work since being drafted but he had impressed with his stuff from the mound. His fastball is in the triple-digit range while both Baseball America and FanGraphs praised his curveball earlier this year.

Crawford tossed 18 1/3 innings this year, split between Double-A and Triple-A. He allowed 2.95 earned runs per nine while striking out 38.5% of batters faced. His 15.4% walk rate was quite high, perhaps unsurprising for a guy with so much missed time.

But his last appearance was in June and he’s now slated for another lengthy absence. Crawford is clearly talented but the numerous bumps in the road are less than an ideal for a pitcher who is still developing and harnessing his stuff. At this point, between college and the minors, he’s only thrown 53 2/3 of official gameplay.

He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft after sitting out the majority, or perhaps the entirety, of the 2025 campaign. Given his talent and status as a key prospect in the organization, the Giants will likely still protect him by giving him a roster spot. Still, this is a notable development for Crawford and the club. Getting the best version of Crawford was already going to be a project for the Giants and now he’s going to be on ice for close to a year, putting his development on pause.

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