Kansas City acquired Abreu from the Rangers just two weeks ago, but he loses his roster spot after four appearances. He only allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings with K.C., but he also issued four walks and only fanned three batters. Abreu also had more walks than strikeouts (12:9) during his early-season stint in Texas, and those control woes have pushed him off two rosters.

Abreu can’t be optioned to the minor leagues, so teams have to either keep him on the active roster or designate him for assignment. That status has squeezed the hard-throwing reliever off both the Yankees’ and Rangers’ rosters recently, but he’s drawn the attention of rival clubs both times. Kansas City will now have a week to try to work out another trade or see if he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed.

Vizacino signed a minor league deal over the offseason and made it back to the majors in late May after posting a 1.76 ERA through 15 1/3 frames in Omaha. The former Brave appeared in seven games, tossing 5 2/3 frames of four-run ball. He issued seven free passes and struck out just three hitters, however, and he’ll lose his 40-man roster spot as a result. Having already cleared outright waivers, Vizcaino will have the right to elect minor league free agency and look for opportunities elsewhere if he doesn’t want to rejoin the Storm Chasers.

Greinke is the only one of the three IL players who is going to the 15-day IL with a designated issue, implying that Peacock and Speier are on the COVID-related injury list.  Isbel had also been on the COVID list due to virus symptoms, though it ended up being a non-COVID illness that sidelined the outfielder for four days.

Greinke is suffering from a right flexor strain, and the veteran righty recently told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters that he has been dealing with related soreness for “a little bit.”  While any injury in the forearm or elbow area is a red flag, Greinke added that he has been dealing with some degree of elbow problems for years, so it’s possible that a 15-day absence might be all it takes for Greinke to heal up.

The injury could explain Greinke’s lack of success in his last four starts, as the former Cy Young Award winner has a 9.50 ERA in his last 18 innings of work.  His ERA now sits at 5.05 over 51 2/3 innings, with only a minuscule 11.2% strikeout rate.  Between this lack of whiffs and a lot of hard contact allowed, there isn’t much to like about Greinke’s numbers apart from his typically excellent walk rate (4.5%).

Vizcaino is on the verge of his first MLB appearance since the 2019 season, when he tossed four innings for the Braves before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.  The veteran didn’t return to the field at all until 2021, when he tossed 7 2/3 innings with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, and Vizcaino then inked a minor league with the Royals this past winter.

After essentially three full years off, it’s hard to know what to expect from Vizcaino in his return to the Show, though he was a very capable bullpen arm for Atlanta in his heyday.  He has also looked quite good with Triple-A Omaha, posting a 1.76 ERA and 29.7% strikeout rate in 15 1/3 innings.  Vizcaino’s 9.4% walk rate is a little on the high side, but actually an improvement over his career 10.8% walk rate at the big league level.

The 27-year-old Cuas has finally reached the majors after a pro career that has seen him bounce around the minors and independent leagues, and change his position entirely from infielder to pitcher.  An 11th-round draft pick by the Brewers in 2015, Cuas wasn’t getting anywhere as a position player, but his fortunes changed after converting to relief pitching in 2018.  Over 126 2/3 career innings in the minors, Cuas has a 2.63 ERA, with a sidearm delivery and a sinker-slider combo that induces a lot of grounders and a good amount (22.22%) of strikeouts.

• The A’s have optioned southpaw Sam Selman to Triple-A, per the team, lowering the number of players in camp to 38. Selman appeared in each of the past three seasons with the Giants, but also made 18 appearances with the Angels after being acquired as part of the Tony Watson deal. Oakland later claimed Selman off waivers. He’ll continue to serve as bullpen depth in Oakland for the time being.
• The Royals announced a handful of minor league assignments today. Colten Brewer, Jose Cuas, Brad Peacock and Arodys Vizcaino; infielders Gabriel Cancel, Iván Castillo, Clay Dungan and Vinnie Pasquantino; and outfielders Dairon Blanco, Brewer Hicken and JaCoby Jones were all assigned to minor league camp.

Vizcaíno has appeared in parts of seven major league seasons, with the bulk of his time coming with the Braves. He debuted with Atlanta in 2011, making 17 appearances as a rookie. Vizcaíno required Tommy John surgery the following Spring Training and missed the entirety of the next two seasons. While rehabbing, he was traded to the Cubs. After making five appearances with the North Siders in 2014, Vizcaíno was flipped back to Atlanta, where he’d spend the next few years.

Between 2015-18, the Dominican Republic native was a generally reliable member of the Braves relief corps. He posted 30+ innings with a sub-3.00 ERA in three of those four campaigns, spending a good chunk of time as Atlanta’s closer. Vizcaíno underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in April 2019, though, and he hasn’t appeared in the majors since. Flipped to the Mariners for salary relief, he qualified for free agency at the end of the 2019 campaign. Vizcaíno went unsigned in 2020 and only made seven outings with the Mets Triple-A affiliate last year.

It has now been more than three years since Vizcaíno was a regular member of a big league bullpen. Yet there’s no harm for the Royals in taking a flier on a pitcher with some MLB success on his resume. Vizcaíno has sported a mid-high 90’s fastball in the past. If that velocity returns a few years after his shoulder procedure, it’s possible he’ll factor into the Kansas City bullpen at some point.

• The Mets released left-hander Mike Montgomery today, per Tim Healey of Newsday (via Twitter). Montgomery was thought to have a shot at making the Mets bullpen as a non-roster invitee, but he now heads back to free agency. The 31-year-old is best known for getting his first career save to close out the Cubs’ game seven World Series victory in 2016. He never quite rose to the level that many expected of him, but he nevertheless has put together a six-year career as a swingman for the Mariners, Cubs, and Royals. The Royals acquired him from the Cubs midway through the 2019 season with the plan to finally install him regularly into their starting rotation. He made 13 starts the rest of the way covering 64 innings with a 4.64 ERA/4.74 SIERA. He logged just 5 1/3 innings in 2020, however. Montgomery had pitched well in spring training, but the Mets would have been on the hook for $2.25MM if they rostered him, notes MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (via Twitter). He had an opt-out clause in his contract for today.
• The Mets also announced a series of roster cuts today. Jerry Blevins, Jerad Eickhoff,  Caleb Joseph, Jose Peraza, Mallex Smith, and Arodys Vizcaino were informed that they will not make the opening day roster, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). Blevins, 37, will head to the Mets’ alternate site in Brooklyn. He’ll be joined there by fellow southpaw Stephen Tarpley, who was optioned to Triple-A. Tarpley has two options remaining.

The speedy Smith was a 3.5-fWAR and 40-steal player with the Rays as recently as 2018, but his production has gone downhill since then. While Smith did steal 46 bases with the Mariners the next season, he didn’t hit much then, and his offensive issues continued this year. He’s the owner of a terrible .220/.290/.323 line across 613 plate appearances in the past two seasons. Nevertheless, Smith could now succeed free agent Jake Marisnick as the Mets’ backup for Brandon Nimmo in center field.

The Red Sox signed Peraza, previously a Red, to a $3MM guarantee last offseason. That deal didn’t work out for Boston, as Peraza recorded a meek .225/.275/.342 line over 120 PA. It was the latest below-average season at the plate for Peraza, who has historically been an underwhelming option at the plate.

Vizcaino, 29, has had some enormously successful seasons with the Braves in the past, but injuries have destroyed his career of late. Vizcaino hasn’t pitched since April 7, 2019, after which he underwent shoulder surgery. He hasn’t taken the mound in the majors since then, but perhaps he’ll recover and emerge as a buy-low steal for the Mets next season.

12:51pm: The Mariners announced that they’ve acquired left-handed reliever Jesse Biddle and right-hander Arodys Vizcaino from the Braves in exchange for right-hander Anthony Swarzak and cash. Vizcaino’s inclusion in the trade would appear to be purely a financial component of the trade, as he’s a free agent at season’s end and is not expected to pitch again in 2019 after undergoing shoulder surgery. Vizcaino is on the 60-day injured list, so there are no additional 40-man moves required by the Mariners to accommodate the addition of Biddle, who will report to the team’s Major League bullpen.

Biddle, 27, gave the Braves 63 2/3 innings of 3.11 ERA ball with 9.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.85 HR/9 and a 55.6 percent ground-ball rate in 2018, but virtually nothing has gone right for the southpaw so far in 2019. Through 15 appearances and a span of 11 2/3 frames, Biddle has served up seven earned runs (and another four unearned runs) on 18 hits and 10 walks with 11 strikeouts. His velocity has remained strong, as Biddle has averaged 94.1 mph on his fastball so far in 2019.

Because he was out-of-options and playing on a win-now club, Biddle’s fate looked largely sealed as this year’s control struggles continued from April into May. He was designated for assignment by the Braves last week. The Mariners will hope that they’re able to turn him around and get him back to his 2018 form. If they can manage to do so, they’ll control Biddle through the 2023 season. However, he’ll have to sort things out at the big league level, as his lack of minor league options means he can’t be sent down without first being passed through waivers.

For the Braves, they’d already decided to move on from Biddle and stood to watch Vizcaino leave as a free agent at the end of the year, so they’re not really giving up anything to take a cheap look at Swarzak. The 33-year-old Swarzak has struggled to a 5.27 ERA and eight walks (one intentional) in 13 2/3 innings with the Mariners, but he’s also racked up 17 strikeouts. Injuries have hampered him considerably since signing a two-year, $14MM contract with the Mets prior to the 2018 season, as he’s dealt with an oblique strain and a pair of shoulder-related injuries.

In his last full, healthy season in 2017, however, Swarzak turned in 77 1/3 innings with a 2.33 ERA, 10.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.70 HR/9 and a 43.9 percent grounder rate between the White Sox and Brewers. That success is recent enough to give the Braves something to dream on as they scour what is likely an extremely thin trade market for bullpen help at this juncture of the season. Atlanta will surely be active in pursuing additional pieces over the next couple of months, but few teams are willing to sell off quality arms in mid-May — and those that are willing to do so generally place lofty asking prices on said arms given the scarce supply this time of year.

Swarzak will head to Atlanta without any sort of guarantee that he’ll be a long-term piece for the remainder of the season. The fact that the Braves unloaded the remaining $3.43MM on Vizcaino’s deal and acquired cash from the Mariners makes it likely that Seattle sent enough money to make this a cash-neutral swap. Swarzak is being paid an $8.5MM salary in 2019 and has about $6.08MM of that sum still to be paid out.

An Athletic earlier in his career, Blevins never made it back to Oakland this year after returning to the organization on a minor league contract in the offseason. The 35-year-old instead tossed 10 2/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball with 13.5 K/9 and 3.38 BB/9 with the A’s Triple-A affiliate.

Blevins had to settle for a role in the minors after a trying 2018 as a member of the Mets, with whom he posted a 4.85 ERA, 8.65 K/9 against 4.64 BB/9, and a measly 21.8 percent groundball rate. Difficulty retiring same-handed hitters played into Blevins’ struggles last year, a season in which he declined sharply after a largely impressive run with the A’s, Nationals and Mets. From 2016-17, his first two full seasons in New York, the soft-tossing Blevins managed a stingy 2.87 ERA with 11.97 K/9, 3.86 BB/9 and a 43.3 percent grounder mark across 91 innings. He was tough on both left- and right-handed hitters in the first of those two seasons, though the latter teed off on him in 2017.

Blevins will now join an Atlanta bullpen which is in dire straits, having limped to the majors’ eighth-highest ERA (4.74) with its worst walk rate (5.87 per nine) and second-worst fWAR (minus-0.7) this season. In the Braves’ estimation, the fact that lefties Jonny Venters and Jesse Biddle are on the injured list and fellow southpaw A.J. Minter has been awful helped create a need for Blevins.

This news represents a major hit to a Braves relief unit that was already under fire. That’s true of many other clubs — including several division rivals — but that doesn’t make it easier to bear. A.J. Minter, the club’s other top option for the ninth inning, has scuffled out of the gates. Others in the bullpen currently include Wes Parsons, Luke Jackson, Jesse Biddle, Shane Carle and Chad Sobotka, although of that bunch, Carle and Sobotka have struggled quite a bit in the season’s first few weeks.

The Atlanta organization isn’t short on promising arms in the upper minors, though the bulk of their top-regarded arms are in rotation roles. Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright opened the year in the big league rotation, in fact, though each has since been optioned down to Triple-A Gwinnett. Southpaws Luiz Gohara and Kolby Allard are both starting at the Triple-A level as well.

Right-hander Mike Soroka, arguably the most promising young arm the Braves have in-house, didn’t appear to be an option in the hours leading up to the news on Vizcaino’s shoulder. To the contrary, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweeted that afternoon that it’s likely that Soroka will be recalled to start tomorrow’s game for the Braves. He’ll at least temporarily step into a rotation that is expected to get top starter Mike Foltynewicz back by the end of the month.

It won’t go unnoticed that there is still a rather prominent free agent reliever still left unsigned. Long-time Braves closer extraordinaire Craig Kimbrel held talks earlier in the winter but failed to come to terms with the value-conscious Atlanta organization. He’s still reportedly seeking a multi-year deal; the Braves will be loath to commit to a lengthy accord, but Kimbrel’s leverage may be on the rise as late-inning relief units falter around baseball.

Signing Kimbrel before the June draft would cost the Braves a pick in the 2020 draft, as Kimbrel rejected a qualifying offer from the Red Sox upon conclusion of the 2018 season. Nevertheless, the on-paper fit is now more pronounced than ever, and fan outcry for the organization to broker a reunion with an already beloved franchise icon has been audible since late in the offseason.

The Braves kicked off the winter with a high-profile signing of Josh Donaldson but then went largely dormant, negotiating only small-scale returns for Brian McCann and Nick Markakis. At the time of the Markakis signing, general manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke of the contract’s below-market rate perhaps giving the team flexibility to make further moves down the line — in addition to Braves leadership already having spoken of increased spending capacity earlier in the winter — but that has yet to come to fruition.

As for Vizcaino, the injury may well prove to be the end of his Braves tenure. The hard-throwing righty entered the season with five years, 168 days of Major League service time, meaning he’s already now surpassed the six-year service mark needed to qualify for free agency. Perhaps the Braves will look to retain him on a bargain contract next offseason, but Vizcaino will have the ability to listen to offers from any and all interested parties. He’ll quite likely be forced to settle for a one-year deal with a low base salary and plenty of incentives, if not a minor league contract, as teams throughout the league look at him as a potential bounceback candidate. He won’t turn 29 until November, though, so at the very least, Vizcaino will have age on his side in free agency.

Vizcaino has been battling shoulder inflammation, which is part of the reason why he hasn’t pitched since April 7. This is the second straight year in which Vizcaino has dealt with shoulder problems. He did open the season in decent fashion, though, with four innings of one-run, three-hit ball and six strikeouts against three walks. His absence should lead to more save opportunities for co-closer A.J. Minter, who converted his lone chance on April 8.

Newcomb, 25, emerged as a capable starter for the Braves from 2017-18, when he combined for a 4.06 ERA/4.16 FIP and 9.14 K/9 over 264 innings. However, Newcomb walked 4.7 batters per nine during that span and has continued to fight control problems this year. Prior to his demotion, Newcomb posted more walks (eight) than strikeouts (five) across his first three starts, during which he yielded a combined six earned runs. There’s no indication how long Newcomb will stay in the minors, but for now, his rotation spot is likely to go to fellow promising youngster Touki Toussaint. The just-recalled righty impressed during six innings of relief in a win over the Mets on Saturday.

It’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of teams have adopted a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning that once arbitration figures are exchanged with a player, negotiations on a one-year deal will cease. The two parties may still discuss a multi-year deal after that point, but the majority of players who exchange figures with their team today will head to an arbitration hearing.

As always, all salary projections referenced within this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and we’ll also be updating our 2019 Arbitration Tracker throughout the day…

Today’s Updates

• Rounding out contract numbers for the St. Louis Cardinals, Dominic Leone will take home $1.26MM, Chasen Shreve will make $900K, and outfielder Marcell Ozuna will earn $12.25MM in his last season before free agency, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Ozuna has the most high-impact potential as he looks to rebound from a still-productive season in 2018 that saw his power output hindered at times by a balky shoulder. He still managed 23 home runs and a .280/.325/.433 slash line while playing just about every day outside of a 10-day DL stint late in August.
• The Diamondbacks came to terms with a slew of players, per Feinsand (via Twitter), including Matt Andriese for $920K, Steven Souza Jr. for $4.125MM, shortstop Nick Ahmed for $3.6625MM, and potential closer Archie Bradley for $1.83MM.
• The Rockies and starting pitcher Jon Gray have come to an agreement on a $2.935MM deal, per Feinsand (via Twitter). Gray had an up-and-down 2018 that is generally considered to be more promising than the optics of his 5.12 ERA make it seem.
• The Pirates have come to terms on one-year deals with both of their arbitration eligible players, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Left fielder Corey Dickerson signs for $8.5MM, and reliever Keone Kela takes home $3.175MM. It’s a small arb class for the Pirates, whose list will grow next season as players like Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, and Joe Musgrove, among others, reach their first season of eligibility.
• The Dodgers signed a couple of their remaining arbitration-eligible players yesterday, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links). Utility man Chris Taylor has a $3.5MM deal, while outfield Joc Pederson settled at $5MM.

Earlier Updates

Read more

Vizcaino, 27, was in the midst of a dominant season when he hit the disabled list due to shoulder inflammation in mid July. That injury cost him two months of the season, but he’ll return to finish off a season he began with 32 2/3 innings of 1.65 ERA ball. Along the way, Vizcaino picked up 15 saves and averaged 9.4 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and 0.55 HR/9 with a 32.9 percent ground-ball rate. His return will give the Braves another power arm to add to the relief corps at a time when top relievers A.J. Minter and Dan Winkler have had some struggles.

The Braves, at this point, have all but locked up the National League East, as they hold a 7.5 game lead over a rapidly fading Phillies club that has won just twice in its past 10 contests. A healthy Vizcaino, though, should better position Atlanta for success in an eventual NLDS appearance that few would’ve predicted prior to Opening Day.

As for Gohara, he’ll receive an extra 18 days of big league service that he may not have been expecting when he landed on the minor league disabled list in late August. He’ll still finish out the 2018 season with under a full year of service time, though he’ll be paid at the MLB rate for the final few weeks of the year even though his season is now definitively over.

Some more notable injury updates from around the league…

• The NL East-leading Braves should have Arodys Vizcaino back in action on Friday of this week, per Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links), but righty Jose Ramirez won’t pitch again this season. Vizcaino hasn’t pitched since mid-July due to a shoulder issue and was moved to the 60-day DL earlier this month when the Braves made a series of moves to accommodate September roster expansion. They’ll need to make a 40-man move to accommodate Vizcaino’s return; Ramirez, already on the 60-day DL with a shoulder problem of his own, won’t be that move. Meanwhile, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets that third baseman Johan Camargo exited tonight’s game due to groin tightness. The team will likely have additional information available either after the game or tomorrow morning.
• Mark Saxon of The Athletic takes a look at the shoulder troubles that have plagued Marcell Ozuna all season (subscription required). Saxon notes that Ozuna has had difficulty with day-to-day tasks such as taking off a sweatshirt in recent weeks and has played through discomfort all season. Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak again acknowledged that the team was aware of some ongoing shoulder troubles with Ozuna when trading for him but felt, if anything, they’d impact his throwing from the outfield — not his offense. Still, Mozeliak says surgery has not been recommended for Ozuna, so it seems he’ll hope rest, rehab and perhaps physical therapy this offseason can help. To his credit, Ozuna has absolutely raked at a .333/.371/.615 clip in his past 143 PAs even while playing through that pain.
• The Angels are shutting down right-hander Nick Tropeano for the season, tweets Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The right-hander’s rehab stint was recently halted, and Fletcher adds that he’ll undergo a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right shoulder in hopes of avoiding offseason surgery. Three separate trips to the DL for shoulder issues limited Tropeano to just 76 innings in 2018, and he struggled to a 4.74 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in that time. Those 76 frames were actually a career-high for the 28-year-old Tropeano, whose career has been proliferated by injuries — most notably Tommy John surgery in 2016. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter.

There’s a lot to unpack here, though the most exciting news for Atlanta is the addition of Wright. The ex-Vanderbilt standout entered the 2017 draft as a potential No. 1 pick, but he fell to No. 5, leading the Braves to scoop Wright up and sign him to a then-record bonus worth $7MM. Wright has made good on that pick by emerging as one of the majors’ elite pitching prospects, evidenced in part by MLB.com ranking him as the game’s 24th-best farmhand. The 22-year-old is set to become the latest highly promising Braves hurler to debut in 2018, joining the now-injured Mike Soroka, Touki Toussaint and Kolby Allard.

While Wright has a chance to eventually emerge as a high-end starter, he’ll work out of the playoff-contending Braves’ bullpen down the stretch, per Burns. Wright did make three relief appearances out of seven at the Triple-A level this year, but he has primarily served as a starter in 2018. Across 27 appearances and 24 starts between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Wright pitched to a 3.46 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.

Elsewhere in the Braves’ bullpen, Vizcaino’s move to the 60-day DL looks discouraging on the surface, but he’s still likely to make it back in 2018, manager Brian Snitker told Burns and other reporters on Saturday. Vizcaino had been on the 10-day DL since July 14 with right shoulder troubles, so he’s now ineligible to return until mid-September. His absence has paved the way for lefty A.J. Minter to close for the Braves, and the latter has converted 11 of 13 saves while notching a 3.12 ERA with 10.21 K/9 against 2.94 BB/9 in 52 innings this season.

While the the latest development regarding Vizcaino isn’t ideal, McCarthy’s setback is downright discouraging, as it’s now possible he has thrown his last major league pitch. McCarthy, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since June 24, announced earlier this month that he plans to retire at the end of the season. The 35-year-old has started in all 15 of his appearances this season, but he was set to finish the year as a reliever upon his return.

Adams, whom the Braves signed to a minors pact in mid-July, saw action with them earlier season and last year, totaling 143 plate appearances and batting a respectable .270/.345/.460. The 28-year-old was out of the Atlanta organization for a brief period in 2018, though, as he elected free agency in late April and then latched on with the Cubs. But Adams struggled with Chicago’s top minor league affiliate before rejoining Gwinnett, with which he hit an unappealing .191/.238/.266 with no home runs in 101 PAs this season.

Here’s more from the East Coast:

• Left knee problems have limited Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia to 13 PAs this season and shelved him since May 31, though there is optimism he’ll return in 2018, according to manager Alex Cora (via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). “We don’t have anything set as far as timetables, but we’re feeling good with the progress,” Cora said of Pedroia, adding that the 35-year-old will “contribute here in the dugout” even if he’s unable to play again this season. The Pedroia-less Red Sox haven’t gotten much production from any of their second base options this year, evidenced in part by their minus-0.2 fWAR at the position, though the team has still managed easily the majors’ best record (90-40).
• The Mets may promote one of their top prospects, first baseman Peter Alonso, when rosters expand next month, manager Mickey Callaway told Brian Heyman of MLB.com and other reporters on Saturday. The 23-year-old Alonso, whom Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs regard as a top-75 prospect, has slashed .243/.345/.545 with 17 home runs in the hitter-friendly environs of Triple-A Las Vegas this season. In the process, Alonso has overtaken the struggling Dominic Smith as the Mets’ best first base prospect. Smith earned his first promotion last August, when multiple outlets viewed him as a top-50 prospect, but his stock has plunged since then. The Mets, despite being well out of contention, demoted him to Las Vegas on Friday in order to give veteran outfielder Jay Bruce an extended look at first.
• The NL East-leading Braves expect to get closer Arodys Vizcaino and fellow relievers Shane Carle, Brandon McCarthy and Peter Moylan back by mid-September, perhaps “much sooner” in some cases, Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. The two most effective members of that group this season have been Vizcaino and Carle, though both have battled shoulder issues. McCarthy has been on the shelf since June 24 because of knee troubles, meanwhile, and he’ll be pitching the final innings of his career when he does come back. The 34-year-old announced earlier this month that he’s going to retire at season’s end.