A second-round pick for the Athletics in 2008, Ross began his career with three seasons for his hometown team before he was traded to the Padres during the 2012-13 offseason.  The right-hander reached another level with his new club, posting strong numbers as a member of San Diego’s rotation and receiving an All-Star nod in 2014.

Unfortunately for Ross, injuries limited his effectiveness after this promising run.  He pitched in only a single game in 2016 due to shoulder problems and eventually a surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.  After two injury-marred seasons, it seemed like Ross was regaining some of his old effectiveness during a solid 2018 year with the Padres and Cardinals, but after signing with the Tigers in December 2018, his time in Detroit was limited to only seven starts due to elbow problems.

Ross’ five innings of work in the Tigers’ 6-0 loss to the Twins on May 10, 2019 ended up being his final Major League appearance.  He signed a minor league deal with the Giants prior to the 2020 season but he chose to opt out of the pandemic-shortened season, and another minors deal with the Rangers in the 2020-21 offseason didn’t lead to any game time even in the minors before he was released that May.

Ross turns 36 in April, and he is hanging up his cleats after 203 MLB games (142 of them starts) and 904 2/3 innings.  During his time with the A’s, Padres, Rangers, Cardinals, and Tigers, Ross had a 4.04 ERA, relying on a grounder-heavy arsenal rather than blow-away strikeout numbers.  Ross had a 53.5% grounder rate to go along with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate.

As he embarks on this new role with the Dodgers, Ross now finds himself opposite his younger brother Joe on both sides of the heated Los Angeles/San Francisco rivalry.  Joe (who is recovering from Tommy John surgery) signed a minors deal with the Giants last month.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Tyson on a fine career, and we wish him the best as he moves into his post-playing endeavors in the game.

Ross, 33, opted out of the 2020 season and hasn’t pitched at the big league level since an ugly 2019 run with the Tigers (35 1/3 innings, 6.11 ERA). He’s battled shoulder and elbow troubles throughout his career, including a thoracic outlet procedure back in 2016. This’ll be the second Rangers stint for Ross, who was with the club in 2017 as well.

While injuries have derailed much of Ross’ career, there was a point where he was one of the better young starters in the National League. From 2013-15, Ross tallied 516 2/3 innings with the Padres and turned in a tidy 3.07 ERA with a 24.6 percent strikeout rate. That mark was more impressive at that point, as the league-average strikeout rate for hitters in that three-year span was 20.2 percent — a good bit lower than today’s average 23.4 percent.

Ross hasn’t had much success since that first Padres run, thanks primarily to injuries, but he did mix in a solid 2018 showing amid a series of injury-marred seasons. He returned to the Padres as a free agent in the 2017-18 offseason and gave them 22 starts of 4.45 ERA ball before being traded to the Cardinals and pitching well out of their bullpen. All in all, that 2018 season resulted in 149 2/3 innings of 4.15 ERA output — a far cry from his 2013-15 peak but still plenty useful for both clubs whose uniform he donned.

It’s anyone’s guess whether Ross can shake off the rust and the persistent injuries and return to form in a second go-around in Arlington. That he won’t report to big league camp indicates that he’ll be more of a mid-season option than a candidate to crack the Opening Day roster, but Ross is a no-risk veteran depth stash with a fair bit of MLB success under his belt. There’s no harm in seeing what he can bring to the table at this point, and if he does regain his form, he’s a versatile pitcher familiar with multiple roles who can help the Rangers navigate a 162-game slate that will prove challenging after last year’s 60-game schedule.

Ross had been released recently by the Giants, a move that was at least a bit surprising with “Summer Camp” about to launch. One might have expected the team to retain its veteran rotation depth at the outset of a quick sprint toward the start of the 2020 season.

It’s certainly possible that the release occurred after Ross advised the Giants that he had chosen not to participate in the campaign. Since he had originally joined the organization on a minor-league pact with the aim of earning his way onto the MLB roster, there wouldn’t have been any reason for either side to maintain a contractual relationship if Ross was not going to play this year.

Ross no longer resembles the high-quality rotation centerpiece he once was with the Padres, as injuries have largely derailed his career. But even in his diminished state, he’s still precisely the sort of depth arm that many teams like to have on hand.

Unless there’s more to the story we don’t know about, it seems the Giants won’t owe any further compensation to Ross. In theory, it would appear that the hurler could still change his mind and re-sign with the Giants or join another organization at some point during the campaign. If indeed he remains committed to laying low in 2020, Ross will presumably weigh whether to attempt a career re-boot next spring.

Ross and Vincent are each 33-year-old righties who had inked minor-league deals in the offseason. The former is best known for his days in the Padres rotation. The latter, a reliever, was also once an effective hurler in San Diego as well as with the Mariners.

Though he struggled in limited big league action last year, and has never recovered from serious shoulder injuries, Ross has a lifetime 4.04 ERA in ten MLB campaigns. He didn’t have much hope of cracking the starting staff, but was perhaps a multi-inning relief candidate. Ross struggled in his three outings in camp before the pandemic paused the action.

As for Vincent, he struggled with the long ball during a stint with the Giants last year. But he turned in a strong 14-inning run to end the season — 1.93 ERA with 17:4 K/BB — with a Phillies team that was managed by new Giants skipper Gabe Kapler. Vincent had coughed up three homers and seven earned runs in four Spring Training frames.

Westbrook has yet to appear in the majors, having reached minor league free agency after seven seasons in the Diamondbacks system. He turned in 514 plate appearances of .281/.358/.451 hitting in the upper minors last year, but obviously didn’t show enough in camp for the Giants to keep him in their 60-man player pool.

Ross fell flat last year with the Tigers, making seven middling starts before he was sidelined with nerve issues in his neck. Those troubles were never resolved. It’s not clear at this point just when Ross will be available to work off the mound, though the Giants can afford to be as patient as necessary with this low-risk agreement.

While he hardly returned to his once-lofty levels of performance in a bounceback 2018 season, Ross did show that he had something left in the tank. But he never came close to his prior heights — Ross’s 2018 swinging-strike rate was about a third lower than in his prime — and the more recent struggles raise yet more questions about his future. The former Athletics and Padres hurler lost more than a full tick on his fastball in 2019.

Clearly, there are some significant barriers. But teams around the game obviously saw some reason for hope, as the Giants were compelled to include a fair bit of contractual upside to lure Ross back out west.

Then-standout closer Wade Davis was the “big-time pitcher” the Royals traded to the Cubs for Soler in a December 2016 swap. Soler then endured a miserable first year with the Royals, who kept him in the minors most of the season, but has logged quality offensive production since. Consequently, as Flanagan notes, the 27-year-old is sure to opt into arbitration after the season. Doing so will enable Soler to collect a raise over the $4MM salary he’s currently slated to earn in 2020. That’ll be the ninth and final season of his contract.

More from the AL Central…

• There’s still no timetable for the return of Tigers right-hander Tyson Ross, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News writes. Ross hasn’t pitched since May 10 because of a nerve issue in his neck. He’s continuing to deal with “tightness” there, Tigers head athletic trainer Doug Teter said Sunday. In Teter’s estimation, there’s a connection between Ross’ neck problems and the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he underwent as a Padre in 2016. “According to the doctors, these aren’t Thoracic Outlet symptoms,” Teter said. “But that is a large surgery, a huge process, and it makes you wonder. I am going under the assumption that, yes, it does have something to do with it.” Ross’ TOS procedure helped knock what was an impressive career off the rails. The 32-year-old bounced back somewhat between San Diego and St. Louis in 2018, leading Detroit to hand him a $5.75MM guarantee in free agency last winter. Ross has given the Tigers just 35 1/3 innings of 6.11 ERA/5.99 FIP ball, though.
• Twins utilityman Willians Astudillo won’t return from an oblique strain until September, LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune tweets. This will go down as a nightmarish regular season for Astudillo, who has been out since June 27 and saw his numbers nosedive before he went on the injured list. The versatile Astudillo became a fan favorite in Minnesota last year, when he burst on the scene with a .355/.371/.516 slash in a 97-plate appearance debut, but he’s only carrying a .263/.282/.383 line in 142 attempts this season. Astudillo does, however, own rather interesting strikeout and walk percentages (3.5 K, 1.4 BB).
• The Tigers have halted concussed outfielder Christin Stewart’s rehab assignment as a result of “another setback,” according to manager Ron Gardenhire (via McCosky). Stewart, already down since July 29, will have to restart the concussion protocol. This adds to a tough rookie season for the 25-year-old Stewart, who has batted .239/.321/.393 with minus-0.6 fWAR in 327 trips to the plate.

The 26-year-old Greiner has gotten off to a dismal start at the plate in his first season as the Tigers’ starting catcher. He owns a .162/.231/.279 line (35 wRC+) with five home runs and 57 strikeouts against 13 walks over 169 PA. Behind the plate, Greiner has thrown out a solid 29 percent of would-be base stealers while earning roughly neutral grades as a blocker and framer.

Wilson, 36, will see his first action in Detroit since 2016, when he totaled 13 at-bats with the club. He spent last season in Minnesota, which had been the latest stop in a nomadic major league career, and then joined the Tigers prior to the current campaign. Wilson has hit an unimpressive .208/.264/.313 (56 wRC+) in exactly 1,000 major league PA, though he’s known as a quality defender.

The demotion of Carpenter is notable considering he’s tied for fourth on the Tigers in starts this season. A few of those performances have been disastrous, though, evidenced by the 28-year-old Carpenter’s 8.82 ERA/7.04 FIP in 32 2/3 innings. He toed the rubber for the seventh time of the year Friday and had another night to forget. The Indians roughed Carpenter up for eight runs (six earned) on eight hits and four walks in just three innings, leading the Tigers to demote him to the minors.

The greater question is: just how many appealing pieces do the Tigers even possess? Morosi lists the usual suspects, citing Castellanos, Matthew Boyd and Shane Greene as potentially movable assets. Beyond that trio, appeal in Detroit veterans will be limited.

Most of the one-year signees the Tigers added over the winter have minimal value because they’re on the injured list and/or performing poorly. Josh Harrison underwent hamstring surgery this month and didn’t hit when healthy. His double-play partner, Jordy Mercer, is on the IL for the second time and has turned in the worst offensive rates of his career in the 19 games he’s managed to play. Tyson Ross is out indefinitely. Matt Moore looked great for two starts… before he had season-ending knee surgery. Jordan Zimmermann’s contract has looked impossible to move since 2016, and now he has a UCL injury (though he’s trying to pitch through it). Miguel Cabrera? No one was touching that contract even before the Tigers announced the “chronic changes” to his knee that will impact the rest of Cabrera’s career. Aside from Greene, the bullpen’s numbers aren’t especially impressive.

Detroit does have a pair of somewhat interesting, relatively young options it could market in addition to Boyd, Greene and Castellanos, although neither is anywhere near free agency.

Super-utilityman Niko Goodrum has played all four infield positions and all three outfield slots since the Tigers picked him up as a minor league free agent in the 2017-18 offseason. In 740 plate appearances as a Tiger, Goodrum has batted .241/.315/.419 with 22 homers and 16 steals. This season, his average exit velocity (89.3 mph) is in the 77th percentile, while his average sprint speed is in the 93rd percentile of MLB players, per Statcast. In some respects, he’s like Detroit’s version of Marwin Gonzalez — albeit with a lesser overall track record. He’s controlled for four years beyond 2019, so there’s no urgency to move him, but teams looking for a versatile upgrade on the bench could look at Goodrum as an intriguing possibility.

In the outfield, Detroit has seen JaCoby Jones explode at the plate recently. On May 4, the 27-year-old Jones’ OPS sat at a lowly .413. In 127 plate appearances since that time, he’s mashed to the tune of a .315/.389/.595 slash with 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, a triple, seven homers) and a perfect 5-for-5 in the stolen base column. He’s had his share of BABIP luck, but Jones’ K/BB numbers have improved over that stretch as well. Contact seems like it’ll always be an issue, but there’s a fairly interesting blend of power and speed with Jones. Stastcast puts him in elite company (93rd percentile) both in hard-hit rate and average exit velocity. He’s in the 81st percentile in terms of sprint speed.

Defensively, Jones was excellent in 2018 (10 DRS, +6.1 UZR, 7 Outs Above Average), but those same metrics have soured on his center field glovework in 2019 (-7, -6.4 and 0, respectively). Like Goodrum, he’s controllable through 2023. I don’t know that teams are going to line up to acquire Jones based on what amounts to five weeks of strong offensive output, but he’s at least worth monitoring over the next several weeks. There aren’t going to be too many appealing center fielders on the trade market, after all.

As for the three most logical chips — Boyd, Greene and Castellanos — they’ll face varying levels of interest. Boyd is appealing to any club within a stone’s throw of contending, as he’s in the midst of what looks to be a legitimate breakout season. The 28-year-old is controlled through 2022 and has thus far pitched to a 3.08 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9. Fielding-independent metrics are buying him as a breakout star (2.91 FIP, 3.20 SIERA), and only five qualified pitchers have a better K-BB% than Boyd’s 26.2 percent mark. The cost to acquire him should be enormous, given the time he’s still controlled.

Greene won’t carry as high a price tag, given that he’s controlled through 2020. But he’s sitting on a 1.00 ERA with career-best marks in strikeout percentage (27.4 percent), walk percentage (6.6 percent) and ground-ball rate (52.2 percent). He’s unequivocally elevated his stock in 2019, making the Tigers’ decision not to move him at last year’s deadline look wise. Like Boyd, Greene is appealing to any contender.

Castellanos, meanwhile, faces a less robust market. Defensive metrics suggest he’s improved in right field but is still below average there. More concerning is the fact that Castellanos hasn’t hit that much in 2019. His 21 doubles lead the AL, but his overall .263/.315/.454 slash is roughly league average, per OPS+ and wRC+, and he’s on pace for fewer home runs than last year’s 23. Casteallnos has seen his line-drive rate dip by more than seven percent, and his hard-hit rate has fallen off a bit as well. Corner bat rentals never yield all that great a return these days — as the Tigers learned in trading J.D. Martinez two years ago — and Castellanos’ downturn in production won’t help the team’s cause. There’s certainly time for a rebound, but it’s tough to see Castellanos fetching a sizable return even if his bat wakes up in the next few weeks.

The general expectation is that the Tigers will continue their tear-down this summer, but the pieces they have to market, in the end, aren’t that plentiful. Greene seems like a lock to be moved for a decent haul, and because Castellanos isn’t playing like a qualifying offer candidate, it’s probably best to move him even if the return is modest. But the Tigers’ best asset, Boyd, is controlled for three more years and the only other somewhat interesting pieces are controlled even longer. If the team doesn’t move Boyd between now and July 31, the summer market might not boost the Tigers’ farm as much as fans would hope.

Zimmermann, down since April 26 with a sprained right UCL, pitched a rain-shortened rehab game at the Single-A level Saturday and “just didn’t feel comfortable with his stuff,” manager Ron Gardenhire told Fenech, adding: “He wants to get back into a normal routine before he comes up here and pitches, which is absolutely 100% right. You can’t come up here with below average stuff.”

The 33-year-old Zimmermann will make another rehab stint this week with a to-be-determined affiliate, per Fenech. At this point, it’s unclear how much more time Zimmermann will miss. Barring setbacks, though, a pitcher’s rehab stint is allowed to go on for up to 30 days. Zimmermann’s began June 8.

Ross, 32, hasn’t started a rehab assignment since landing on the injured list May 12 with a nerve issue in his right elbow. He’s now dealing with a stiff neck and won’t return to throwing for “probably five days,” Fenech writes.

Thanks to an unattractive combination of injury and performance woes, Zimmermann and Ross are all but guaranteed to go down as failed free-agent signings for Detroit. Zimmermann parlayed high-end production as a member of the Nationals from 2009-15 into a five-year, $110MM contract with the Tigers heading into 2016, but the union hasn’t worked out at all for the club. Zimmermann owns a 5.29 ERA/4.82 FIP in 427 innings as a Tiger, and the former workhorse hasn’t exceeded 160 frames in a season since signing his deal. The Ross investment’s going to hurt Detroit a lot less, as it only gave him a one-year, $5.75MM guarantee last winter. Still, his woeful numbers – a 6.11 ERA/5.92 FIP with 6.37 K/9 and 4.58 BB/9 in 35 1/3 innings – aren’t what the Tigers had in mind when they signed Ross.

Injuries to starters, not just to Zimmermann and Ross, have been an unfortunate theme for struggling Detroit in 2019. In addition to the absences of Zimmermann and Ross, the Tigers have been without righty Michael Fulmer and lefty Matt Moore for all or most of the season. Fulmer underwent Tommy John surgery before the campaign began, while Moore turned in one and a half excellent starts before undergoing season-ending right knee surgery in mid-April.

With Zimmermann, Ross, Fulmer and Moore unavailable, the Tigers’ rotation has seen a potential ace emerge in Matthew Boyd, though the 28-year-old could be an in-season trade candidate. Meanwhile, fellow 20-somethings Spencer Turnbull and Daniel Norris have also offered encouraging signs. They’re the only members of the Tigers’ rotation who have racked up at least 10 starts this season. Ryan Carpenter and Gregory Soto, who have combined for 10 starts, have joined Zimmermann and Ross in recording horrific production.

In further unwelcome news for the Tigers, one of their top position players, Niko Goodrum, departed Tuesday’s loss to the Royals with “significant” right knee swelling, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets. It’s unclear whether Goodrum will require an IL stint, though. The switch hitter’s batting .233/.315/.393 (90 wRC+) with six homers and seven steals on nine tries through 248 plate appearances. More impressively, the versatile Goodrum has seen action at every position but pitcher and catcher this year.

MAY 15: The Tigers have already been hit hard by pitching injuries this season, and it doesn’t appear as if Jordan Zimmermann or Tyson Ross will be returning from the IL in the near future.  Zimmermann was sidelined with an UCL sprain on April 26, and he is still experiencing discomfort in his elbow when throwing from flat ground, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reports on Twitter.  Given that Zimmermann hasn’t pitched in nearly three weeks and hasn’t yet begun ramping up in earnest, it seems reasonable to anticipate that he won’t be ready to return to the Tigers’ staff for at least another few weeks, assuming that all goes smoothly here on out.

As for Ross, the outlook is perhaps even more ominous.  Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire told Woodbery (Twitter link) and other reporters that Ross has scheduled two separate visits with different doctors, as the right-hander tries to figure out the cause of the nerve problem in his throwing elbow.  Ross has a substantial injury history that includes thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, and one of his two medical visits is with the same doctor who performed his TOS surgery back in 2016.

Between Zimmermann, Ross, and season-ending injuries to both Michael Fulmer and Matt Moore, the Tigers are trying to make do without four-fifths of their intended starting rotation.  One internal option is Drew VerHagen, as Gardenhire told media (including Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press) that VerHagen will be stretched out as a starter at Triple-A.  This isn’t the first time that VerHagen has been tried as a starter, as he made three starts for Detroit in 2017-18, though the large majority of VerHagen’s MLB experience (111 of 115 career games) has been as a reliever.

VerHagen is back at Triple-A Toledo after being outrighted off Detroit’s 40-man roster over the weekend, and the 28-year-old has now been outrighted in consecutive seasons.  While obviously VerHagen is far from the Tigers’ ideal option for a starter, the team has been forced to leave no stone unturned as it deals with its plague of rotation injuries.  It’s worth noting that VerHagen does have some decent career numbers at Triple-A, though his grounder-heavy arsenal and lack of missed bats (6.9 K/9 in his career) hasn’t translated well to the big leagues, as his 5.20 career ERA would attest.

If you’re wondering whether or not star prospect Casey Mize could be an answer to the Tigers’ pitching problems, seemingly nothing has changed from earlier this month, when Gardenhire said that such highly-touted Double-A arms as Mize, Alex Faedo, and Matt Manning weren’t going to be called up.  As dire as the injury situation may be, it’s clear that the Tigers aren’t prepared to alter their developmental plans for the sake of covering some innings in a rebuilding year.  At least from a long-term perspective, there’s a lot to be excited about with Tigers pitching — MLB.com’s most recent top 100 prospects list ranks Mize as the top pitching prospect in baseball, and the #6 prospect overall.  Mize’s ranking will only improve throughout the year, as four of the names ahead of him (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Eloy Jimenez, and Nick Senzel) have already reached the majors and will soon lose their prospect status.

In other Tigers prospect news, it has been announced that right-hander Franklin Perez is set to make his season debut for Detroit’s high A-ball affiliate in Lakeland.  A shoulder strain has kept Perez from pitching in 2019.  Originally acquired from the Astros as part of the Justin Verlander trade, the 21-year-old Perez is another well-regarded building block, ranking 71st on MLB.com’s latest prospect list.

May 12: The Tigers have placed right-handed starter Tyson Ross on the 10-day injured list, reports Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. It’s a nerve issue in his right elbow that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.

Certainly, this development is most unwelcome for a Detroit ballclub that has already endured several injuries to starting pitchers. Michael Fulmer and Matt Moore are both sidelined for the remainder of the season, and Jordan Zimmermann recently joined them on the injured list. With Ross joining them, the Tigers will be pressed to find solutions from within the organization.

Of course, those losses have been mitigated by the performances of Matthew Boyd and Spencer Turnbull, each of whom has dazzled with dynamic strikeout stuff, emerging as the most productive Tigers starters. Daniel Norris has joined the rotation in the wake of the slew of injuries, though there appears to be a dearth of options behind the existing slate of starters.

Ross has endured a season of inconsistencies thus far in 2019, posting a lackluster 6.11 ERA in his first 7 starts. His 1.39 K:BB ratio has been unimpressive, as walks have once again inhibited Ross’s success. It’s an unfortunate break for Ross, who struggled through a frustrating start in Saturday’s matchup with the Twins, allowing six runs in five-plus innings. It’s unclear just how serious the nerve issue is, or how long it will keep Ross on the shelf, but the outlook is certainly not a rosy one for the Tigers.

2:58PM: The Tigers have struck a deal with free agent righty Tyson Ross, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a $5.75MM guarantee over a single season, with a readily achievable roster bonus that would add another $250K, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

Ross, 31, finally got back on track last year after a pair of injury marred campaigns. He ended up throwing 149 2/3 innings of 4.15 ERA ball, with 7.3 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 along with a 45.9% groundball rate.

Clearly, that’s not quite a vintage Ross showing. He was a 3.07 ERA hurler over a 516 2/3 inning run from 2013 to 2015. For a pitcher who once steadily worked in the mid-nineties, it’s hardly promising to see a career-low 91.7 mph average fastball. And he was far shy of his peak strikeout and groundball rates.

All that being said, it’s still rather impressive that Ross was able to turn in a full season after shoulder issues and eventual thoracic outlet procedure sidetracked his career. His prior effort, in 2017 with the Rangers, had fallen notably flat as he struggled to stay in the zone.

For Detroit, Ross will join the recently inked Matt Moore to help fill out the rotation and perhaps provide the club with a summer trade chip. That approach yielded dividends this past season with Mike Fiers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

More on the pitching market…

• Free-agent left-hander Yusei Kikuchi “really likes” San Francisco and “might” have the Giants atop his list of preferred teams, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle hears. The Giants, for their part, seem interested in landing the 27-year-old Kikuchi, who’s poised to immigrate to the majors after starring in his native Japan. Kikuchi’s soon-to-be former employer, the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, posted him for MLB clubs Dec. 2, giving him until Jan. 2 to sign. The Giants look like as logical a fit for Kikuchi as any team, given the short- and long-term uncertainty throughout their rotation.
• As the Giants wait to see what happens with Kikuchi, they’ve “checked in on” free-agent righty Tyson Ross, Schulman tweets, though he suggests a signing is hardly imminent. The Bay Area is familiar to Ross, a Berkeley, Calif., native who pitched for the Athletics earlier in his career. The 31-year-old divided last season between San Diego and St. Louis and posted a 4.15 ERA/4.39 FIP with 7.34 K/9, 3.73 BB/9 and a 45.9 percent groundball rate in 149 2/3 innings (31 appearances, 23 starts). It was Ross’ first fairly healthy season since he underwent the dreaded thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2016.
• The pitching-needy Rangers have interest in re-signing lefty Martin Perez and righty Adrian Sampson, according to TR Sullivan of MLB.com. Texas moved on from both hurlers last month, at least temporarily, as it declined Perez’s $7.5MM option in favor of a $1MM buyout and non-tendered Sampson. Perez, 27, has been a passable back-end starter at times, but he endured a horrid 2018. Sampson, also 27, hasn’t experienced much big league success over a limited sample of work (27 2/3 innings). He spent most of last season at the Triple-A level.

There’s no indication St. Louis gave up anything for Ross, which means the team will only take on what’s left of his $1.75MM salary (approximately $500K). Ross will presumably slot into a Cardinals rotation that has been dealing with its share of injury issues. Top starter Carlos Martinez just went on the disabled list for the third time this season on Tuesday, while both Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha have each been out for a significant period with injuries of their own. As a result of their absences, the Cardinals’ rotation currently consists of Miles Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, Luke Weaver, John Gant and Austin Gomber. Either Gant or Gomber could exit the group in favor of Ross.

The 31-year-old Ross, whom arm injuries have weighed down as his career has progressed, had been amid a strong bounce-back season until July. That disastrous month, in which Ross posted an 8.87 ERA with matching strikeout and walk rates of 5.79 per nine over 23 1/3 innings, seemingly went a long way toward killing his trade value.

In all, Ross has logged a useful 4.45 ERA/4.55 FIP with 7.81 K/9, 3.79 BB/9 and a 43.8 percent groundball rate over 123 1/3 innings, though ineffectiveness against left-handed hitters and struggles during his second and third times through opposing batting orders have negatively affected his numbers. Ross has given up a .294/.380/.462 slash versus lefty-swingers, and he has seen his ERA rise from 2.59 while facing an order for the first time to 4.47 the second and 7.59 the third.

Despite his flaws, the Cardinals have taken a low-risk flyer on him as they continue to hold out hope of earning a postseason berth. That’ll be a tall order for 57-54 St. Louis, which is 7 1/2 games out of playoff position.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

10:49am: An unknown team has claimed Padres right-hander Tyson Ross on revocable trade waivers, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The Padres have 48.5 hours from the time of the claim to trade Ross to the unidentified team, pull him off waivers or allow him to go to the claiming club for no compensation.

[RELATED: How August Trades Work]

As the rules dictate, Ross first would have had to go through waivers in the Padres’ league, the NL. Given Ross’ affordability (he has approximately $500K left on his $1.75MM salary), it seems unlikely that the 31-year-old would have gotten past every other NL club without being claimed.

With the rebuilding Padres not in contention for a playoff spot, Ross looked like a strong candidate to end up on the move prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. He stayed put, though, perhaps because of a rough July in which he logged an 8.87 ERA with matching strikeout and walk rates of 5.79 per nine across 23 1/3 innings.

On the whole, Ross has offered passable production this year, having pitched to a 4.45 ERA/4.55 FIP with 7.81 K/9, 3.79 BB/9 and a 43.8 percent groundball rate over 123 1/3 frames. Given the serious arm troubles the former front-line starter dealt with in recent years, his performance this season has been more impressive than it looks on paper.

Although Ross has functioned solely as a starter through 22 appearances this year, it’s possible a playoff-contending claiming team would have interest in deploying him out of its bullpen. He does have prior experience as a reliever, after all, and may be better equipped to function in that role down the stretch. Ross has declined substantially this year when going through teams’ batting orders multiple times. His ERA jumps from 2.59 the initial time through to 4.47 on the second and a whopping 7.62 on the third. Ross has also held opposing lineups to a paltry .170/.284/.308 line when facing them for the first time.

Of course, before figuring out whether Ross will finish the season as a starter or reliever, we’ll have to see which uniform he puts on the next time he takes the hill. In what may go down as his final outing as a Padre, Ross threw five innings of three-run ball in a loss to the Cubs on Friday.