Madden, now 25, made his major league debut last year. He tossed 23 innings over six appearances. Only one of those was technically a start, with manager A.J. Hinch deploying his “pitching chaos” strategy, but each was a bulky outing between 2 1/3 and 5 innings. Madden allowed 4.30 earned runs per nine in that time.

He also had a 6.98 ERA over 22 minor league starts, though that’s likely a misleading number. His 28.3% strikeout rate was solid and his 9.8% walk rate only a tad higher than average. He allowed 18 home runs but also had a .371 batting average on balls in play and 58.9% strand rate. His 4.79 FIP was more than two runs lower than his ERA.

Going into 2025, Madden wasn’t likely to break camp in the rotation. Even with Alex Cobb likely to start the season on the injured list due to hip inflammation, the Tigers project to have Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Reese Olson in three spots. Candidates for the final two spots include Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda, Jackson Jobe, Brant Hurter, Keider Montero, Matt Manning and Madden. The Tigers should be fine in terms of cobbling a rotation together while Madden is out, but they will have one fewer depth option for the time being.

Another item of note in the injury report is that catcher Brian Serven has been diagnosed with a left oblique strain. Again, no specific timetable was provided for his injury but it seems fair to expect him to miss some time. Serven is in camp on a minor league deal and isn’t the most essential part of the organization. However, the Tigers only have two catchers on their 40-man roster in Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler. Assuming Serven could still be recovering in a few weeks, they could start the season with less non-roster depth. Tomás Nido is also in camp but perhaps the Tigers will bring in another veteran on a minor league deal, either now or when guys get squeezed out by camp cuts in the coming weeks.

The injury report also notes that Wenceel Pérez has been dealing with some low back tightness. That doesn’t seem to be an especially worrisome issue, but it’s something to keep an eye on, given the other hits to the outfield depth in Detroit. Matt Vierling has a rotator cuff strain and will start the season on IL while Parker Meadows has been battling a nerve issue in his right arm with an uncertain timeline.

Pérez is a logical guy to fill in while Vierling and perhaps Meadows miss some time, though that obviously wouldn’t happen if Pérez is himself injured. Per the injury report, both Meadows and Vierling have begun some light baseball activities, so perhaps the outfield concern won’t last too long into the season.

Serven, 29, joins the fourth organization of his career. A fifth-round pick of the Rockies in 2016, he got to the big leagues six years later. The Arizona State product appeared in 62 games as a rookie, hitting .203/.261/.332 in a backup role. He only made 11 appearances the following season, spending the bulk of the year in Triple-A on optional assignment. Colorado placed him on waivers last winter.

The Cubs claimed Serven and briefly carried him on their 40-man roster. Chicago designated him for assignment around one week later. He landed with the Blue Jays on another claim. Toronto ran him through waivers at the end of January but reselected his contract after Danny Jansen broke a bone in his wrist in Spring Training.

Serven spent the majority of the season on Toronto’s 40-man. He only made 28 big league appearances, hitting .159/.243/.222 across 71 trips to the plate. Serven showed much better on-base skills in the minors. The right-handed hitter put up a .265/.390/.379 slash over 40 Triple-A contests. His overall offensive track record is middling, though, and the Jays designated him for assignment when they claimed Tyler Heineman off waivers in September. Serven elected minor league free agency at season’s end.

Jake Rogers will open the season as A.J. Hinch’s primary catcher. Dillon Dingler is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He debuted this past season and struggled to a .167/.195/.310 batting line in his first 27 MLB contests. Dingler still has a couple minor league options remaining, so the Tigers could turn to a more experienced backup if they want the former second-round pick to continue playing regularly in Triple-A. Detroit could continue looking for upper minors depth, but there’s a decent opportunity right now for Serven to play his way into the backup role.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Catchers

• Alex Jackson (Rays)
• Andrew Knapp (Giants)
• Andrew Knizner (D-Backs)
• Reese McGuire (Red Sox)
• Jakson Reetz (Giants)
• Ali Sánchez (Marlins)
• Brian Serven (Blue Jays)

Infielders

• Diego Castillo (Twins)
• José Devers (Marlins)
• Thairo Estrada (Giants)
• Danny Mendick (White Sox)
• Cole Tucker (Angels)
• Jason Vosler (Mariners)

Outfielders

• Billy McKinney (Pirates)
• Cristian Pache (Marlins)

Designated Hitter

• Willie Calhoun (Angels)

Pitchers

• Phil Bickford (Yankees)
• Ty Blach (Rockies)
• Nick Burdi (Yankees)
• John Curtiss (Rockies)
• Kent Emanuel (Marlins)
• Cole Irvin (Twins)
• Casey Kelly (Reds)
• Matt Koch (Rockies)
• Steven Okert (Twins)
• Yohan Ramírez (Red Sox)
• Gerardo Reyes (A’s)
• Trevor Richards (Twins)
• Ryder Ryan (Pirates)
• Kirby Snead (Mariners)
• Touki Toussaint (White Sox)
• Tanner Tully (Yankees)
• Jordan Weems (Nationals)
• Mitch White (Brewers)

Serven has occupied a 40-man roster spot since the end of Spring Training. He has spent a chunk of the season on optional assignment, hitting .265/.390/.379 with a trio of homers in 40 games for Buffalo. Serven appeared in 28 MLB contests and ran a .179/.243/.222 slash over 71 plate appearances. He’s a career .187/.247/.293 hitter across 101 games split between the Jays and Rockies.

The Arizona State product owns a .244/.325/.435 mark over parts of four seasons in Triple-A. Serven isn’t much of an offensive threat, though he has graded highly by public defensive metrics in 730 career innings. As a player with multiple career outright assignments, he has the ability to elect free agency. Even if he sticks in the Toronto organization for the last week of the season, he’ll be a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason. Serven’s defensive reputation should land him a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.

Heineman, 33, clearly has some fans in the Toronto front office as this is his third stint with the club. He signed a minor league deal with the Jays going into 2022 and added to the club’s roster early that year, though he went to the Pirates on waivers in May of that season. In April of 2023, the Bucs designated Heineman for assignment and flipped him to the Jays for utility player Vinny Capra. That stint lasted until December of last year, when the Jays put him on waivers and lost him to the Mets.

The Mets later designated Heineman for assignment in January and flipped him to the Red Sox for cash. Heineman has served as an up-and-down depth catcher for the Sox this year, but perhaps became expendable by Boston acquiring Danny Jansen to bolster their catching depth, the same deal that opened some playing time behind the plate in Toronto.

Heineman has bounced around quite a bit in his career, never securing more than part-time work. He has appeared in five big league seasons but has just 286 plate appearances in 106 games over those. He has a combined batting line of .216/.297/.280 for a wRC+ of 66.

That’s not amazing production but his defense tends to be strong. Each of Statcast and Baseball Prospectus have given him positive grades for his framing, blocking and throwing. FanGraphs also grades him as a plus framer and lists a tally of six Defensive Runs Saved in his career.

It’s also possible that there’s a bit more in his bat, based on his numbers on the farm. From 2019 to the present, he’s hit .279/.372/.432 in the minors for a 107 wRC+, walking 11.3% of the time and striking out in just 17% of his plate appearances. That includes 51 games for Triple-A Worcester this year with Heineman posting a 14.1% walk rate, 16.1% strikeout rate, .252/.379/.403 batting line and 111 wRC+.

Perhaps the Jays see a path to Heineman providing plus defense and at least some adequate offense in the majors. He will finish this season with less than three years of service time, meaning the Jays can theoretically control him for four more years if he carves out a role as backup to Alejandro Kirk. However, Heineman will be out of options next year and will therefore be harder to keep on the roster.

To make room for Heineman, the Jays are risking losing Serven. He has appeared in 28 games for the Jays this year, mostly after the aforementioned Jansen trade opened up playing time alongside Kirk. Serven’s defensive metrics are roughly league average for the most part, but he has struck out in 31% of his plate appearances, leading to a line of .159/.243/.222 and a 38 wRC+. When combined with his earlier time with the Rockies, he has now slashed .187/.247/.293 in 299 big league plate appearances for a 43 wRC+.

The Jays will put him on waivers in the coming days. It’s possible he could attract interest based on his minor league numbers. He has hit .243/.325/.435 for an 87 wRC+ dating back to 2021. That includes a .265/.390/.379 line and 111 wRC+ in 40 Triple-A games this year. He still has one option season remaining after this one and less than two years of service time.

Some injury updates from the Blue Jays’ roster…

• Jordan Romano is set to throw a live batting practice session on Monday, manager John Schneider told Sportnet’s Shi Davidi (X link) and other reporters.  The Jays closer started the season on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation but has steadily been ramping up his work and looks to be heading towards a rehab assignment.  The absences of Romano and Erik Swanson have left the bullpen short-handed, though Swanson could potentially be activated as early as Tuesday.
• Schneider also provided an update on Danny Jansen, who is facing pitches from a high-velocity machine as he work his way back from a small fracture in his right wrist.  Jansen has yet to resume catching duties, though some consideration was given to the idea of Jansen catching a Single-A rehab outing today.
• With Jansen out, Brian Serven has been acting as the Blue Jays’ backup catcher, though Serven had a bit of an injury scare himself in Saturday’s game with the Yankees.  As Davidi relates in another piece, X-rays were negative on Serven’s left hand after Anthony Volpe’s checked swing hit Serven’s glove on what appeared to be a third strike.  (Volpe was awarded first base on a catcher’s interference call, leading Schneider to describe the unusual play as “almost like a loophole” in the interference rules.)  Serven finished the game but said he couldn’t feel his left hand for the rest of the game.  Alejandro Kirk was behind the plate today as Serven didn’t play, but if Serven also has to miss time due to his hand issue, the Jays might to go further down the depth chart.  Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a former catcher could fill in as a backup in a pinch, and Payton Henry is catching at Triple-A but would need a spot created on the 40-man roster.
• Alek Manoah began a rehab assignment with a start at Single-A Dunedin today, with some rough results.  As related by MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson, Manoah threw 58 pitches over 1 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) while also hitting a batter and issuing four walks.  Between this outing and a similarly shaky performance in his lone Spring Training performance, Manoah’s recovery from shoulder soreness is only part of the story as Manoah is still seemingly miles away from his pre-2023 form.  An All-Star and a burgeoning ace in 2022, Manoah stumbled badly during a 2023 season that saw him battle severe control issues, deal with some injuries, and spend a good chunk of the year in the minors.  It isn’t clear what the next step in Manoah’s rehab might be, as Matheson notes that today’s outing could delay the eventual plan to move Manoah’s rehab to Triple-A Buffalo.

Zulueta, 26, came up as a starter but significant control problems got him moved to the bullpen in recent years. The switch to a relief role didn’t help him rein in his stuff and now has contributed to bumping him off the roster entirely.

In 2022, he tossed 55 2/3 innings across four different levels with an earned run average of 3.72. He struck out 33.9% of batters faced that year but also gave out free passes at a 12.9% clip, starting 12 of his 21 appearances.

The Jays moved him more firmly into a relief role in 2023, as he started just seven of his 45 appearances at Triple-A. Even those seven starts were mostly two or three innings as an opener, leading to a tally of 64 innings on the year. He had a 4.08 ERA in that time while striking out 25.4% of batters faced and keeping 51.3% of balls in play on the ground, but also walked 15.7% of batters that came to the plate against him. Here in the spring, he tossed five innings, notching just two strikeouts but giving out four walks.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Zulueta or try to pass him through waivers. Despite his wildness, he has strikeout stuff and still has a couple of options remaining, which could make him appealing for a club with an open roster spot and a need for pitching depth. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Jays in a non-roster capacity.

Serven’s opportunity comes on the heels of catcher Danny Jansen suffering a wrist fracture earlier this month, leaving Kirk’s usual partner behind the plate ticketed for the injured list to open the season. Serven, who will celebrate his 29th birthday in May, has 73 games of big league experience under his belt since making his big league debut with the Rockies during the 2022 season. Since then, he’s hit just .195/.248/.314 in 228 plate appearances, all of which came during his time with Colorado.

While he posted quality framing numbers during his time in the majors, that wasn’t enough for the Rockies to keep him on the 40-man roster this offseason. He was designated for assignment by the club back in January and was promptly claimed off waivers by the Cubs, though he remained with Chicago for less than a week before he was once again DFA’d. This time, he was claimed by the Blue Jays, who were able to sneak him through waivers in late January, allowing them to keep him in the organization as non-roster depth headed into Spring Training.

That decision has now paid off, as Serven made the most of his opportunities this spring by clubbing three home runs while drawing walks at a 14.8% clip in his 27 trips to the plate across 12 spring games. While Spring Training numbers are of course rarely predictive of regular season performance, it’s possible Serven’s hot streak helped his case over fellow non-roster depth option Payton Henry, who appears set to begin the season at Triple-A Buffalo. While Serven has yet to hit much in the big leagues, his decent minor league numbers suggest that he could provide the level of offense associated with a major-league caliber backup behind the plate. He’s a career .240/.310/.418 hitter in the minors, including a .238/.305/.450 slash line in 134 career games at the Triple-A level.

That could point to a season-opening stint on the injured list, though the team has yet to specifically state as much. Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae tweets that the Jays will likely lean on non-roster catchers Payton Henry and Brian Serven to back up starting catcher Alejandro Kirk in the interim. If Jansen indeed opens the season on the injured list, Toronto will need to clear a 40-man roster spot to select the contract of either player.

It’s not an ideal start in what’ll be Jansen’s walk year before free agency. The soon-to-be 29-year-old backstop has been a steadily above-average offensive contributor — particularly relative to his position — over the past three seasons but routinely been hit with injuries along the way.

Since 2021, Jansen carries a stout .237/.317/.487 batting line with 43 home runs in 754 trips to the plate. He’s walked at a respectable 8.6% clip along the way, and his 19.9% strikeout rate is a few ticks lower than the league average. By measure of wRC+, Jansen’s been 21% better than an average hitter over the past three seasons. Considering the average catcher has been about 11-12% worse than average at the plate, Jansen’s contributions with the bat are all the more impressive.

From a defensive standpoint, Jansen is solid. He typically draws average or slightly better marks for his pitch framing at both FanGraphs and Statcast. He’s been a bit below average in terms of controlling the running game (career 22% caught-stealing rate), but Statcast rates Jansen (and Kirk, for that matter) as one of the game’s best at blocking balls in the dirt.

Both Henry and Serven joined the Jays organization in the offseason. The former inked a minor league deal after spending his career to date with the Brewers and Marlins. He hit .294/.341/.454 in 255 Triple-A games last season with the Brewers. He’s yet to make his MLB debut. Serven was a waiver claim who’s played his entire career in the Rockies organization. He appeared in 62 games with the 2022 Rockies and another 11 games last year, batting a combined .195/.248/.314 in 228 trips to the plate. In 534 career Triple-A plate appearances, he’s a .238/.305/.450 hitter.

Toronto just grabbed Serven off waivers two weeks ago. He has bounced between a few teams this winter. A former fifth-round pick of the Rockies, he was designated for assignment by Colorado in early January. The Cubs placed a claim but DFA him within a week. Toronto pursued a similar strategy and will retain Serven after successfully slipping him through unclaimed.

The Arizona State product has played in 73 MLB games over the last two seasons. Working mostly as a backup catcher to Elías Díaz in Denver, he hit .195/.248/.314 over 228 plate appearances. Serven has logged 534 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He owns a .238/.305/.450 slash there, including a .199/.241/.331 mark in 38 games a year ago.

Serven posted above-average pitch framing numbers in his MLB work. He’ll stick with the Jays as a non-roster depth catcher who’ll very likely get an invitation to big league Spring Training. The Jays are down to Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk as their only catchers on the 40-man roster. Barring further acquisitions this offseason, Serven would have a good chance of being reselected to the MLB club if either Jansen or Kirk require any time on the injured list.

Serven, 29 in May, had spent his entire career with the Rockies until earlier this month. He was claimed off waivers by the Cubs a couple of weeks ago and now changes organizations once again. He had been serving as a depth catcher for Colorado, getting into 73 big league games over the past two seasons. He’s hit just .195/.248/.314 in his first 228 major league plate appearances, though that’s a small sample and he’s fared better at Triple-A. Over the past three years, he has slashed .238/.305/.450 at the top level of the minors.

On the gloveside, Serven has generally been given strong grades. He has five Defensive Runs Saved in his small sample of big league action while each of FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus have looked fondly upon his framing, with BP also liking his receiving in the minors.

The Jays have Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk set to be their catching duo in the big leagues, but they lost depth catcher Tyler Heineman off waivers earlier in the winter. This claim of Serven gives the club a third catcher who still has a pair of option years remaining. He should be able to take regular at-bats in Triple-A until an injury creates a need for him to join the big league club, assuming he hangs onto his 40-man roster spot through the rest of the offseason.

Serven is a newcomer to the Chicago organization in his own right. The Cubs claimed him off waivers from Colorado six days ago. They’ll now trade him or, more likely, put him back on waivers within the next week.

Until that claim, Serven had spent his whole career with the Rockies. Colorado selected him in the fifth round of the 2016 draft out of Arizona State. He reached the majors six years later and worked as their backup catcher for a good portion of the ’22 campaign. The right-handed hitter posted a .203/.261/.332 batting line over 62 contests as a rookie.

Colorado went with a catching tandem of Elias Díaz and Austin Wynns for the bulk of last season. Serven only appeared at the MLB level 11 times. He got into 38 contests with their Triple-A team in Albuquerque. Despite an extremely favorable environment for hitters, he managed only a .199/.241/.331 slash over 162 plate appearances.

Serven had turned in better offensive results earlier in his minor league career. He’s a .240/.310/.418 hitter in a little under 1500 minor league plate appearances. That’s still fairly tepid work at the dish, but the Cubs placed a claim a week ago on the strength of his defensive reputation. Serven received solid marks for his pitch framing in 2022 and has strong caught stealing numbers throughout his minor league tenure.

2:24pm: The Rockies are planning to announce one-year deals with right-hander Dakota Hudson and catcher Jacob Stallings, per a report from Thomas Harding of MLB.com. The Rockies subsequently announced the moves, announcing two corresponding moves as well. Catcher Brian Serven was claimed off waivers by the Cubs while infielder Alan Trejo was outrighted to Triple-A.

A first-round selection by the Cardinals in the 2016 draft, Hudson was a quick riser who made his big league debut with the club back in 2018. Early in his career, the groundballer significantly outdid his peripheral stats to perform at a mid-rotation level for the Cardinals. From his big league debut until the end of the shortened 2020 campaign, Hudson impressed with a sterling 3.17 ERA in 241 innings of work despite a concerning 4.74 FIP. That elevated FIP was thanks primarily to a subpar 18.1% strikeout rate against an elevated 11.6% walk rate. Only Andrew Cashner, Antonio Senzatela, and Clayton Richard posted worse K-BB ratios than Hudson during that time among pitchers with at least 200 innings of work. With that being said, Hudson’s whopping 57.3% grounder rate actually led all pitchers over the same period.

Hudson lost nearly the whole 2021 season to Tommy John surgery and his performance began to take a turn for the worse the following season. In 139 2/3 innings of work across 27 appearances (26 starts) that year, Hudson saw his strikeout rate plummet to just 13.1% while his walk rate stayed relatively stagnant at 10.2%. That extreme lack of swing and miss left Hudson with a career-worst 4.45 ERA despite a still-strong 53% groundball rate and just 7.2% of the fly balls he did give up leaving the park for home runs.

Those red flags in Hudson’s profile led to an even more difficult 2023 season, where the right-hander spent much of the season in the minor leagues and struggled to a 4.98 ERA with a 5.06 FIP in 81 1/3 innings of work. When looking exclusively at the time Hudson spent in the Cardinals rotation following the departures of Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery at the trade deadline, Hudson’s numbers are even more concerning as he posted a 5.23 ERA and 5.45 FIP in 62 innings across those 11 starts. Hudson’s peripheral numbers also declined significantly as his groundball rate dipped to 51.5%, his strikeout rate fell to 12.7%, and his fastball velocity cratered to 91.3 mph. Each of those figures was the worst of his career and a far cry from the 57.3% grounder rate, 18.1% strikeout rate, and 93.8 mph fastball velocity Hudson showed in the first three seasons of his career.

Given Hudson’s longtime struggles and worsening peripherals, it wasn’t much of a surprise when St. Louis opted to non-tender the right-hander back in November rather than retain him for the 2024 campaign. While Hudson’s salary in Colorado isn’t yet known, it’s unlikely to be higher than Hudson’s arbitration projection (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) of $3.7MM. Given that, the signing is a solid, low-cost gamble by the Rockies. Groundballers like Hudson are less subject to the difficulties of pitching at Coors Field than pitchers that allow more contact in the air, as highlighted by the previous successes of arms like German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela in the ballpark.

With that being said, both of those aforementioned hurlers figure to open the season on the injured list while rehabbing Tommy John surgery. That leaves the Rockies without their rotation’s backbone, and Hudson figures to join the club’s Opening Day rotation alongside Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber as well as fellow offseason acquisition Cal Quantrill. Even if Hudson can’t recapture his previous form in Colorado, he could eat innings for the club until Marquez and Freeland are ready to return. And if Hudson manages to find success with the Rockies, the club can control the 29-year-old through arbitration in 2025.

Stallings, 34 last month, was a non-tendered back in November by the Marlins. A seventh-round pick in the 2012 draft by the Pirates, Stallings made his big league debut in 2016 and received brief cups of coffee in the majors over three seasons before earning a regular role as the club’s back-up catcher in 2019. He made the most of the opportunity, combining strong defense behind the plate with a respectable .262/.325/.382 (82 wRC+) slash line in 210 plate appearances. That strong full-season debut earned Stallings a look as the club’s primary catcher over the next two seasons, and he did well for himself in the role with a .246/.333/.371 (92 wRC+) line in 154 games behind the plate. Stallings also saw his already solid defense behind the plate improve to the point of winning a Gold Glove at the position in 2021.

During the 2021-22 offseason, the Pirates decided to ship Stallings to Miami in exchange for a package of three players. That decision proved to be a wise one as Stallings saw his performance quickly crater upon joining the Marlins. During his two seasons with the club, he’s slashed just .210/.287/.290 (62 wRC+) in 660 trips to the plate while his formerly Gold Glove caliber defense has crumbled to more or less league average. Statcast estimates Stallings to have been worth +2 framing runs and +5 blocking runs in 2021; by contrast, the veteran was worth -5 framing runs and just +2 blocking runs this past season. That massive downturn in performance on both sides of the ball led the Marlins to non-tender Stallings prior to his final trip through arbitration, where he projected to earn $3.6MM.

Like Hudson, the details of Stallings’s arrangement with the Rockies are not yet clear, though his guarantee is unlikely to surpass that aforementioned $3.6MM figure. In Colorado, Stallings figures to be reunited with Elias Diaz after the two shared time behind the plate in Pittsburgh back in 2019. After earning his first career All Star appearance in 2023, Diaz figures to remain the club’s primary catcher. With that said, Stallings represents a considerable upgrade over the combination of Serven and Austin Wynns the Rockies used to back up Diaz last year. With a stronger backup option to Diaz, the club can afford to take some of the load off of Diaz’s shoulders after a season where he caught a whopping 126 games.

Speaking of Serven, the 28-year-old backstop is headed to Chicago after being squeezed off the Rockies’ 40-man roster by the addition of Stallings. A fifth-round pick by the Rockies back in 2016, Serven made his big league debut in 2022 but has struggled to hit at the big league level with a career .195/.248/.314 slash line in 228 major league plate appearances. Serven appears unlikely to supplant Yan Gomes or Miguel Amaya as part of the Cubs’ primary catching tandem, but he has options remaining and could provide depth for the club at the Triple-A level alongside the likes of Jorge Alfaro and Joe Hudson, both of whom the Cubs brought in on minor league deals earlier this offseason.

As for Trejo, the 27-year-old made his big league debut with the Rockies back in 2021 and has held a utility role with the club ever since, slashing .243/.292/.367 in 145 career big league games while playing second and third base as well as shortstop. Trejo figures to head to Triple-A to open the season and act as non-roster infield depth for the Rockies going forward.

Alfaro, 30, makes it back to the big leagues for the first time this year. He has appeared in each of the past seven major league seasons but had to settle for a minor league deal with the Red Sox this winter. He was crushing for their Triple-A team, hitting .320/.366/.520 through 191 plate appearances, but the Sox never called him up. Alfaro triggered an opt-out in his contract and the club released him rather than giving him a roster spot.

He then signed another minor league deal, landing with the Rockies just five days ago. He played three games for their Triple-A club and hit .357/.357/.571 in that brief sample before getting called up. That kind of production would be welcome on any club, but it’s no guarantee Alfaro can provide it. He has often hit well in the minors, which has led to many big league opportunities over the years, as the Phillies, Marlins, Padres and now Rockies have all had him on their respective rosters at various points. But in 478 career games in the majors, he’s hit just .256/.305/.396 for a wRC+ of 89.

Alfaro has generally been considered a bat-first catcher and has tallied a cumulative -17 Defensive Runs Saved thus far in his career. Teams could surely tolerate a bit of that if Alfaro were producing with the bat, but he’s hasn’t been able to manage that quite yet.

Despite his tepid results in the big leagues thus far, it’s not surprising that the Rockies are willing to give him a shot. He’s been hitting very well in the minors this year and is a former top 100 prospect. They already have a couple of catchers on the roster in Elias Díaz and Austin Wynns but have been going with a three-catcher setup of late. Serven was recalled a couple of days ago as Díaz was dealing with a minor injury. Díaz sat out Sunday’s game but returned to the lineup for the next three contests.

Díaz is having a solid season, hitting .295/.351/.457 for a 105 wRC+ and is unlikely to be usurped as long as he stays healthy. Perhaps Alfaro will factor into the designated hitter mix, where the club doesn’t really have an everyday option now that Charlie Blackmon is on the injured list. Since he’s been gone, Díaz, Randal Grichuk and Jurickson Profar have each been given starts as the DH. If both Díaz and Alfaro were in the lineup, they would still have Wynns on hand as a safety net in the event of an injury.

The club will surely be hoping that Alfaro can give a boost to their lineup but he could also wind up as a summer trade chip if this is the year he finally puts it together in the majors. The Rockies have one of the worst records in the National League at 29-41 and could find themselves in position to sell. Since Alfaro is scheduled for free agency again this winter, he would be a logical candidate for such a move.

In order to take a shot on Alfaro, the Rockies are risking losing Calvo. Now 27 years old, he was drafted by the club in the 23rd round in 2019. Last year, he tossed 35 relief innings in Double-A with a 3.09 ERA, 32.2% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 57.6% ground ball rate. The club added him to the roster in November to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Unfortunately, his results haven’t been as strong this year, though he did throw one scoreless inning in his major league debut. The rest of the year has been spent at Triple-A, where he has a 7.43 ERA through 23 innings. There’s probably a bit of bad luck in there, as he has a .413 batting average on balls in play and 55.3% strand rate. His peripherals have gone in the wrong direction compared to last year, though not by too much, as he’s struck out 28.3% of opponents while walking 8.8% and getting grounders on 47.6% of balls in play.

Though his 5.02 FIP is much nicer than this ERA, he’s nonetheless lost his roster spot. The Rockies will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. In the event that he clears, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has neither a previous career outright nor three years of service time.

In addition, the club announced that outfielder Charlie Blackmon was being placed on the 10-day IL with a fractured hand, with DNVR’s Patrick Lyons notes could leave Blackmon out of action for several weeks. In 242 plate appearances this season, the 36-year-old veteran has slashed .265/.347/.422, good for a wRC+ of 97. Taking Blackmon’s place on the roster is catcher Brian Serven, who has posted a wRC+ of 43 in 72 big league plate appearances since making his debut with the Rockies last season.

10:21 AM: The Rockies are selecting the contract of infielder Coco Montes, as first reported by Blake Street Banter on Twitter. The club’s 40-man roster is currently at capacity, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Montes on the 40-man, though no such move has been announced at this point.

It’s a long-awaited day for Montes, who was a 15th round pick by the Rockies in the 2018 draft. Now in his sixth season in the Rockies organization, Montes is poised to make his big league debut after slashing an impressive .321/.401/.560 in 59 games at Triple-A this season, a line that converts to a well-above average 126 wRC+ even in the heightened offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. In addition to that impressive slash line, Montes has cut his strikeout rate down to just 23%, which would be his lowest full-season figure since 2019. Montes has paired that reduced strikeout figure with a solid 11.7% walk rate.

While Montes didn’t hit for much power prior to reaching the PCL, with just 34 home runs in 332 minor league games below the Triple-A level from 2018-2022, Montes will nonetheless try to provide a jolt to a Rockies lineup that lost Brendan Rogers before the season and has more recently had to go without both C.J. Cron and Kris Bryant. An infielder who has plenty of experience at each of third base, second base, and shortstop, Montes figures to join an infield mix in Colorado that currently contains Ryan McMahon, Ezequiel Tovar, Harold Castro, and Alan Trejo.