Headlines

  • Cubs To Sign Carlos Santana
  • Red Sox To Extend Aroldis Chapman
  • Red Sox Release Walker Buehler
  • Pirates Place Isiah Kiner-Falefa On Outright Waivers
  • Randy Rodriguez Recommended To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
  • Padres Place Xander Bogaerts On IL With Foot Fracture
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rays Rumors

Rays Re-Sign Logan Driscoll To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | August 29, 2025 at 7:45pm CDT

The Rays re-signed catcher Logan Driscoll to a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. Tampa Bay had released him a couple weeks ago. Driscoll has been battling an ankle injury and hasn’t played all year, and the Rays wanted to take him off the 40-man roster without paying him an MLB salary.

Driscoll, 27, is a former second-round draftee of the Padres. The Rays acquired him in a 2020 trade that sent Emilio Pagán to San Diego. Driscoll has spent six seasons in the system and got a brief major league look last season. He played in 15 games, batting .171 with one home run. The lefty hitter owns a solid .287/.362/.460 slash in 370 plate appearances over two seasons at Triple-A Durham.

Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia are splitting the major league catching reps. They’re now the only two catchers on the 40-man roster. Matt Thaiss, Tres Barrera and Dominic Keegan are all active for Triple-A Durham. Thaiss would probably be the choice if either Feduccia or Fortes suffer an injury before the end of the season. Tampa Bay will need to decide this offseason whether to add Keegan to the 40-man roster or expose him to the Rule 5 draft. The Vanderbilt product is hitting .239/.311/.383 in 52 Triple-A games.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Logan Driscoll

6 comments

Rays Option Joe Boyle, Recall Brian Van Belle For Potential MLB Debut

By Anthony Franco | August 22, 2025 at 6:05pm CDT

The Rays optioned Joe Boyle to Triple-A Durham this afternoon. They recalled swingman Brian Van Belle in a corresponding move, setting the 28-year-old up to make his MLB debut.

Boyle has held a spot in Kevin Cash’s rotation for the past month. Tampa Bay optioned and eventually traded Taj Bradley in part because they felt Boyle deserved a starting look. The hard-throwing righty had brilliant numbers out of the rotation in the minors (1.85 ERA with a 33% strikeout rate in 15 appearances) and looked similarly sharp in relief against big league opposition. His rotation audition hasn’t been as smooth.

Four of Boyle’s five recent starts have been underwhelming. While he fired five scoreless innings against the Dodgers on August 3, he gave up at least four earned runs in every other outing. That includes each of his past three. The Cardinals put up six runs (five earned) on nine hits and a trio of walks in four innings yesterday.

The Rays haven’t named a replacement in the rotation. Rookie lefty Ian Seymour seems the likeliest option. He turned in a 2.62 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate in 16 appearances out of Durham’s rotation. Seymour’s first 12 MLB outings have come in relief. He carries a 3.86 earned run average while fanning 27% of opponents.

Van Belle could also be a consideration, though it seems likelier he’ll pitch out of the bullpen. The former undrafted free agent has combined for a 3.17 ERA in 105 Triple-A frames divided between three organizations. The Rays acquired him from Cincinnati at the deadline as an ancillary piece of the Zack Littell trade.

A Miami product, Van Belle is approaching his 29th birthday and sits around 90 MPH with his fastball. He’s not really a prospect, but his plus changeup and elite control have fooled Triple-A hitters. Van Belle spent two days in the majors with the Red Sox in early June but didn’t make it into a game. He’ll hope to achieve that milestone with Tampa Bay and should be available in long relief behind scheduled starters Adrian Houser and Ryan Pepiot this weekend.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Brian Van Belle Joe Boyle

7 comments

Rays Promote Carson Williams

By Darragh McDonald | August 21, 2025 at 5:20pm CDT

5:20pm: The Rays have now made it official. Williams has been selected with Kim landing on the 10-day IL due to low back inflammation, retroactive to August 20th. Outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Fairchild hit the 10-day IL July 22nd due to a right oblique strain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he could be reinstated in late September if he’s healthy by then.

12:20pm: The Rays are calling up infield prospect Carson Williams, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He will take the active roster spot of Ha-Seong Kim, who is going on the injured list, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Kim departed yesterday’s game due to back stiffness. The Rays will also need to open a 40-man roster spot.

Williams, 22, is the Rays’ top prospect and one of the top prospects in the entire league. The Rays took him 28th overall in the 2021 draft. He is currently ranked 74th overall at Baseball America, 14th at FanGraphs, 24th at ESPN and 47th at MLB Pipeline.

As can be seen from the disparity in those numbers, Williams is a divisive prospect. Keith Law of The Athletic gave him the #8 spot coming into the year but then did a midseason update of 60 names with Williams not getting a mention.

The gaps seem to be because Williams has a solid floor but big questions about his ceiling. He is considered a strong defender at short and a plus runner, which gives him the floor. Offensively, he has huge power but strikes out a ton. Prospect evaluators seem split on how much those strikeout concerns will undercut his future career as a big leaguer.

On the optimistic side, FanGraphs compares him to players like Elly De La Cruz, Oneil Cruz and Ezequiel Tovar, who have enough talent to work around strikeout totals. They suggest it’s possible Williams rounds into a player like Willy Adames at some point, while also nothing that an Adalberto Mondesí future seems possible.

Looking at traditional numbers, it’s easy to see the optimistic view. Williams hits about 20 home runs per year and steals 20-35 bases annually as well. From 2021 to 2024, across multiple levels, he stepped to the plate 1,578 times. He struck out in 30.6% of those but also drew walks at an 11.4% pace while hitting 62 home runs. His combined batting line of .256/.353/.478 translated to a 132 wRC+.

His 2025 performance highlights the pessimistic view and perhaps explains why Law bumped Williams off his midseason update. Williams has taken 451 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this year. He still has 23 home runs and 22 stolen bases, as well as a strong 12.4% walk rate, but a huge 34.1% strikeout rate has cut into his batting average and on-base percentage. His .213/.318/.447 line this year translates to a subpar 98 wRC+.

It’s quite difficult to succeed in the majors while striking out that often. Among qualified hitters this year, Cruz has the highest strikeout rate in the league at 31.9%. He has hit some huge bumbs but his .207/.304/.398 line translates to a wRC+ of 92. Players like Riley Greene and James Wood also have strikeout rates above 30% with more success, but it’s a tricky area to be in.

Clearly, there’s a wide range of possible outcomes here. If Williams can rein in the strikeouts or work around them, there’s star-level upside. The floor isn’t awful, as being a glove-first shortstop with speed can still be a useful player, but that’s something well below a star.

At some point, the Rays will have to put him in against big league pitching to see what happens, and now is a logical time. As mentioned, Kim is heading to the injured list, opening up playing time at shortstop. The club has fallen to 6.5 games out of a playoff spot. They’re not totally buried in the standings but probably leaning towards focusing more on the future than on 2025.

It also works out in terms of the prospect promotion incentive. A player can earn his club an extra draft pick if they are top prospects and hit certain criteria in terms of awards voting. A player is PPI eligible if he begins a season on two of the three top 100 lists from BA, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. If the club then promotes the player early enough in a season to earn a full service year, that club will get an extra draft pick if the player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top three in MVP or Cy Young voting during his pre-arbitration years.

It is now too late in the season for a player to get 45 days of service time. That means Williams will retain rookie status going into 2026 if the Rays keep him from getting to 130 at-bats. Assuming he still ranks on prospect lists going into 2026, he would be PPI eligible if the Rays put him on their Opening Day roster in 2026.

Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Newsstand Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Carson Williams Ha-Seong Kim Stuart Fairchild

22 comments

Rays Sign Cooper Hummel To Minor League Contract

By Mark Polishuk | August 17, 2025 at 8:21pm CDT

The Rays have signed outfielder Cooper Hummel to a minor league deal, according to KPRC 2’s Ari Alexander.  The Astros designated Hummel for assignment earlier this week, and he elected free agency on Friday after clearing waivers and declining an outright assignment to Houston’s Triple-A affiliate.

Tampa Bay will be Hummel’s fourth different organization of the 2025 season, as he has previously been with the Yankees and Astros (on minors deals) and the Orioles (on a guaranteed contract).  The outfielder has been bouncing on and off rosters all year in a flurry of DFAs, outrights, and trips to free agency, and through it all has appeared in 37 games at the big league level.  One of those games was with the O’s and the rest were with the Astros, as Houston’s swath of outfield injuries led to some playing time once Hummel’s minor league deal was selected to Houston’s roster in mid-June.

Over 105 plate appearances, Hummel has hit only .170/.298/.273 with three home runs.  This represents the most MLB exposure Hummel has received since his 2022 rookie season, when he had 201 PA over 66 games with the Diamondbacks.  In between those two seasons, Hummel got into 10 games with the Mariners in 2023 and six games with Houston last year.

Between his ability to decline outright assignments and his lack of minor league options, Hummel is one of those players who seems somewhat stuck in a perpetual transaction cycle.  Despite his lack of production in the Show, Hummel has a very impressive .284/.418/.480 slash line across 1487 career PA at the Triple-A level.  He has played only as a corner outfielder this season, but he has some experience at first base and even at catcher, though Hummel hasn’t suited up behind the plate since 2023.

There’s no risk for the Rays in bringing aboard a depth outfielder with big league experience, but the Hummel signing could be a hedge against a possible trip to the injured list for Josh Lowe.  Some oblique tightness kept Lowe out of the lineup today, and while the injury isn’t thought to be too serious, adding Hummel gives Tampa some cover if Lowe indeed has to miss time.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Cooper Hummel

3 comments

Rays Release Logan Driscoll

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2025 at 2:13pm CDT

The Rays announced Friday that they’ve released catcher Logan Driscoll, who’d been on the 40-man roster in Triple-A. Driscoll suffered an ankle injury back in March and hasn’t played yet in 2025. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the Rays — needing a roster spot for the selection of first baseman Bob Seymour — will cut Driscoll loose entirely. Seymour’s previously reported promotion has now been made official, and Tampa Bay optioned outfielder Tristan Peters to clear a spot on the 26-man roster.

Driscoll, 27, made his big league debut with Tampa Bay last September, appearing in 15 games and taking 37 plate appearances. He batted .171/.189/.257 in that tiny sample. The former No. 73 overall pick (Padres, 2019) was far better in the minors, hitting .292/.367/.473 with seven homers, 24 doubles and a triple in 294 Triple-A plate appearances.

Driscoll originally came to the Rays alongside Manuel Margot in the 2020 trade sending righty Emilio Pagan to San Diego. He’s a career .269/.348/.437 hitter in parts of five minor league seasons. Given that he hasn’t suited up for a game all season, it’s hard to imagine Driscoll getting onto the field in 2025, but his former draft status and solid minor league track record make him an interesting option for teams eyeing catching help in the 2026 season.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Bob Seymour Logan Driscoll Tristan Peters

2 comments

Rays To Promote Bob Seymour

By Mark Polishuk | August 14, 2025 at 6:39pm CDT

The Rays are planning to call up first base prospect Bob Seymour from Triple-A Durham prior to Friday’s game, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Since Seymour isn’t on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay will have to make at least one corresponding move to create space on both the 40-man and 26-man rosters.

The 26-year-old Seymour will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game.  A 13th-round pick for the Rays in the 2021 draft, Seymour has been productive at every level of the minor league ladder, including big numbers in Durham in each of the last two seasons.  Seymour has hit .263/.327/.553 with 30 home runs over 443 PA at Triple-A this year, and his 30 homers lead the International League.  Just this past Tuesday, Seymour highlighted his huge year with a three-homer game against Triple-A Nashville.

As evidenced by his 89 homers over 1736 career PA (and 410 games) in the minor leagues, there’s a lot of pop in Seymour’s bat.  There was also a lot of swing-and-miss, though Seymour has significantly reduced his strikeout rate from 34.9% in 2024 (in 218 PA with Durham) to 25.7% over his 443 PA this season.  He also enjoyed some inflated BABIPs in past seasons, yet a more neutral .292 BABIP in 2025 indicates that the first baseman isn’t just relying on a lot of good fortune.

Despite all this power, neither MLB.com or Baseball America list Seymour among the top 30 prospects in Tampa’s farm system.  It seems as though Seymour is viewed in limited terms as a first base-only player who has only big power and hard-contact skills as calling cards, yet evaluators may doubt that those abilities can translate into production against Major League pitching.

Still, it’s hard to argue that Seymour’s big 2025 campaign hasn’t earned him at least a look in the Show.  Seymour is a left-handed hitter who could replace Jonathan Aranda in the lineup to some extent, playing mostly as a designated hitter since Yandy Diaz is locked in at first base.  Aranda is one of five Rays position players on the injured list, so with Tampa Bay a little thin on the bench, there are worse ideas than calling up a 30-homer slugger.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Bob Seymour

24 comments

Rays Place Taylor Walls On 10-Day IL With Groin Strain

By Leo Morgenstern | August 12, 2025 at 8:45pm CDT

The Rays have placed shortstop Taylor Walls on the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain, the team announced. In a corresponding move, outfielder Tristan Peters was recalled from Triple-A.

Walls has been Tampa Bay’s primary shortstop this year, with 77 starts and 94 appearances at the position. It was particularly noteworthy that he still got his fair share of starts at shortstop when both he and Ha-Seong Kim were healthy. Kim signed a two-year, $29MM deal with the Rays over the offseason (a sizeable deal by their standards) with the expectation that he would become the starting shortstop. While injuries have limited Kim to just 18 games this year, the fact that Walls has shared the position with Kim lately shows how highly the Rays must think of Walls’ defense. Indeed, Walls was scheduled to start at shortstop on Saturday before he was scratched from the lineup. Kim has since started at shortstop in each of the team’s last three games.

Manager Kevin Cash explained that Walls still felt “closer to 75% rather than 100%” before today’s matchup with the Athletics, so the team decided he needed “a couple days to let [his groin injury] continue to calm down” (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).

Tampa Bay will be just fine in the middle infield in Walls’s absence. Kim can play shortstop full-time (with Tristan Gray around as a backup), and All-Star Brandon Lowe can return to playing second base on a daily basis. Lowe had recently started a handful of games at first base and DH to make room for Kim at second base when Walls was starting at short. The problem is that with Lowe at second base and Yandy Díaz at first, the Rays are left without a good option to DH. All-Star Jonathan Aranda is on the IL with a broken wrist (hence Díaz’s return to first base). He remains hopeful he’ll return this season (per MLB.com’s Joey Johnston), but it’s far from a guarantee. For as long as Aranda is out of the equation, the Rays are at their best with Walls and Kim sharing middle infield duties while Lowe and Díaz cover first base and DH. They have not yet offered a timeline for Walls’s return, but they will hope his groin strain proves to be minor.

Entering play today, the Rays are 5.5 games back of the last AL Wild Card spot. They’re a talented team, with a +43 run differential that is far more impressive than their sub-.500 record. However, they’re running out of time to make a comeback. Both FanGraphs and PECOTA have their postseason odds below 5%. With Aranda out indefinitely and Shane McLanahan officially done for the season, they can’t afford for much else to go wrong.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Taylor Walls Tristan Peters

6 comments

Shane McClanahan Undergoes Season-Ending Arm Procedure To Address Nerve Problem

By Mark Polishuk | August 11, 2025 at 7:38pm CDT

Shane McClanahan’s 2025 season is officially over, as Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters that the southpaw underwent a surgery on his throwing arm today, intended to try and fix a long-lingering nerve problem.  The procedure officially closes the book on whatever chance there was that the southpaw could return to the majors before season’s end.

Troublingly, Cash indicated that there isn’t any guarantee that the surgery will solve the issue once and for all.  “[The doctor] is not sitting there saying ’he’s fixed.’  That’s not the case,” Cash told media, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  “It’s, ’this is one step, and we’ll see how this goes.’  And hopefully we get good results.  And if we don’t, then let doctors decide what else is needed, if anything.”

The uncertain nature of nerve-related injuries has now led to months of frustration for McClanahan, and cost him another year of his promising career.  It was almost exactly two years ago that McClanahan underwent a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of 2024, though it seemed like he emerged from that rehab in good shape, as he tossed seven scoreless innings in Spring Training and looked well on his way being part of the Opening Day rotation.

However, late in camp, the nerve problem in McClanahan’s left triceps emerged.  He began the year on the 15-day injured list, and was shifted to the 60-day IL near the end of April.  McClanahan was feeling well enough to begin a minor league rehab assignment in July and pitched in three games before his rehab was shut down due to biceps tendinitis.

During a radio interview on Friday, Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said McClanahan’s nerve problem was “still in play just enough” to keep the left-hander from resuming his throwing progression, with “no huge setbacks, but also no huge progress or breakthroughs.”  Neander also made note of the unique nature of the injury, saying “this is a new one to all of us really, and in many regards to the baseball community.  So we’re learning as we go.”

McClanahan’s best-case scenario is now a clean bill of health for Opening Day 2026.  While this gives McClanahan six months of recovery time until the start of Spring Training, it is clear that no timeline will be established until McClanahan is examined post-surgery.

Losing McClanahan in 2023 was a big blow to a Rays team that reached the postseason, but was swept out of the wild card series by the eventual World Series champion Rangers.  Tampa Bay went 80-82 in 2024 and, at 57-62 entering today’s action, is on pace for another losing record, as some early-season success was undone by a brutal slump in July.  One can only guess as to how the last three seasons might’ve differed for the Rays if they’d had a pitcher who was emerging as the ace of the rotation.

In a rare case of a player getting his first taste of MLB action in the playoffs, McClanahan’s first four games came during the 2020 postseason, as he posted an 8.31 ERA in 4 1/3 relief innings for a Rays team that reached the World Series.  McClanahan made his official debut in 2021, and hit the ground running in 2021 by finishing seventh in AL Cy Young Award voting.  He was then named an All-Star in both 2022 and 2023, and the 2022 campaign (McClanahan’s only full big league season) saw him finish sixth in AL Cy Young Award voting.  Over 404 2/3 regular-season innings, McClanahan has a 3.02 ERA, 46.8% grounder rate, 28% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate.

Tampa signed McClanahan to a two-year, $7.2MM deal in January 2024 that allowed the two sides to avoid arbitration for the lefty’s first two years of eligibility.  As a Super Two player, McClanahan is arb-eligible both this winter and during the 2026-27 offseason, though his 2026 salary won’t be very high given his two years on the IL.  Injury uncertainty notwithstanding, there would seem to be very little chance the Rays would non-tender McClanahan given his modest price tag, and his upside if he is able to return healthy for 2026.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Newsstand Tampa Bay Rays Shane McClanahan

26 comments

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The AL East?

By Leo Morgenstern | August 11, 2025 at 5:03pm CDT

The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Starting last week, MLBTR began running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. So far, the Phillies, Reds, Padres, Mariners, and Twins have each come out on top in their respective divisions. Today, we’ll be finishing the series with the AL East. Here’s a look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays bolstered their bullpen, their offense, and their catching depth ahead of the trade deadline, but their biggest move was a high-risk, high-reward deal to upgrade the top of their rotation. Seranthony Domínguez and Louis Varland give manager John Schneider two more hard-throwing late-inning options, and while Domínguez is a rental, Varland is under team control through 2030. Ty France has played almost every day since he came over from the Twins alongside Varland, alternating between first base and DH. It’s been several years since he was much more than a league-average bat, but he’s hit well so far with Toronto. Former Padres prospect Brandon Valenzuela offers catching depth at Triple-A.

The crown jewel of general manager Ross Atkins’s deadline was 2020 AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, who is nearing his return from the Tommy John surgery that’s kept him out since last April. The Blue Jays will hope he can be the ace they’ve been lacking all season. In a best-case scenario, the Jays acquired the pitcher who will start game one of their first playoff series as they try to break out of a long postseason losing streak. In a worst-case scenario, they gave up a promising pitching prospect (Khal Stephen) in exchange for a guy who won’t be able to pitch like he did before his injury. Bieber has a $16MM player option for 2026 with a $4MM buyout.

In exchange for Bieber, Domínguez, Varland, France, and Valenzuela, Toronto parted with young major leaguers Alan Roden and Will Wagner, as well as pitching prospects Stephen, Kendry Rojas, and Juaron Watts-Brown. That’s no small price to pay, but the Blue Jays are hoping they added enough to help them secure their first AL East title in a decade.

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox made the biggest trade of the season in June, sending All-Star slugger Rafael Devers (and the nine years left on his contract) to the Giants in exchange for Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, James Tibbs III, and Jose Bello. Yet, they were rather quiet ahead of the trade deadline. They reportedly expressed interest in a wide variety of players, including Jhoan Duran, Eugenio Suárez, Yandy Díaz, Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell, and Dalton Rushing, as well as front-line starters Dylan Cease, Mitch Keller, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Sandy Alcantara, and, until late on deadline day, Joe Ryan. However, all they ultimately added was a back-end starter, Dustin May, and a left-handed long reliever, Steven Matz. They did not pick up any bats. May has a 4.93 ERA and 4.31 SIERA in 20 games (19 starts) this year, including a poor first outing with Boston last week. Matz has pitched well in his first season as a full-time reliever, putting up a 3.22 ERA and 3.53 SIERA in 58 2/3 frames. He has yet to allow a run in three outings with the Sox. Both will be free agents at the end of the year.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s seeming failure to add a more talented starting pitcher, the kind Boston would feel confident starting in a playoff series, looked all the worse after the news broke that Tanner Houck would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the season. That being said, the Red Sox have continued to play well since the deadline. They now hold the second Wild Card spot and boast the highest run differential in the American League. While they didn’t add much to help them make a playoff push, the flip side is that they didn’t have to give up much either. For instance, they held onto Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, two players the Twins were reportedly seeking in exchange for Ryan – and two players who have been key contributors for the Red Sox all year.

New York Yankees

The Yankees were one of the league’s busiest buyers at the deadline, adding three notable bullpen arms and several complementary pieces for the lineup. All-Star closers David Bednar and Camilo Doval arrived in New York, alongside fellow righty Jake Bird, to join a bullpen that already featured Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. All three have had their struggles since they joined the team (as has Williams), but at its best, this Yankees bullpen still has the potential to be the best in the American League. Bednar is enjoying another dominant season after putting his poor 2024 behind him, and Doval, too, has bounced back from a disappointing 2024 campaign to post strong numbers in 2025. Bird was optioned to Triple-A after just three appearances for his new club, but he’s an experienced big league reliever with intriguing stuff. At worst, he’s a durable depth piece with options remaining, and at best, he’s a whole lot more. All three bullpen additions are under team control beyond this season: Bednar for one more year, Doval for two, and Bird for three.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. can only play one position at a time, and when that position became second base again, the Yankees needed a real solution at third. Ryan McMahon is that solution, and utility men José Caballero and Amed Rosario (when healthy) can help him out with a left-handed pitcher on the mound. GM Brian Cashman also brought righty-batting outfielder Austin Slater aboard to join Caballero and Rosario in balancing out a lefty-heavy lineup. Unfortunately for the Bombers, Rosario and Slater have both already hit the IL. Rosario is expected back from a minor shoulder sprain shortly, but Slater will be out for most of the regular season with a hamstring strain. Even so, the Yankees aren’t exactly missing Oswald Peraza, whom they flipped to the Angels; the former top prospect struggled badly for the past three years and desperately needed a change of scenery.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays started July with a top-10 record in MLB and sole possession of the first AL Wild Card spot. By deadline day, they had fallen below .500. Of course, it’s hard to say if that changed their deadline plans at all. As usual, the Rays did a bit of selling and a bit of buying. They dealt two key members of their starting rotation, Taj Bradley and Zack Littell, and two members of their regular starting lineup, utility man Caballero and catcher Danny Jansen. Yet, they also added a rental starter, Adrian Houser; two new catchers, Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia; and two relievers, Griffin Jax and Bryan Baker. Jax and Houser were two of the more sought-after players on the market, Houser due to his cheap contract and surprisingly dominant numbers with the White Sox, and Jax because he’s one of the game’s best relievers under team control for several more years.

Also noteworthy are the players the Rays chose not to trade. A few days before the deadline, they were said to be open to trading Yandy Díaz and Brandon Lowe, but they ultimately held on to both veterans. The Rays also kept closer Pete Fairbanks. A week before the deadline, a report suggested they would “strongly prefer” to keep Fairbanks, but it’s not as if he wasn’t drawing interest. Lowe, Díaz, and Fairbanks are three of the tight-fisted Rays’ more expensive players. Fairbanks and Lowe only have one year of team control remaining after 2025, while Díaz is signed through 2026 with a club option for 2027. The team’s decision to keep them around seems to suggest they’re hoping to contend this year, even after parting with the likes of Bradley, Littell, Caballero, and Jansen.

Baltimore Orioles

They weren’t quite as active as the Twins, but the Orioles took advantage of a seller’s market to make the most of their disappointing situation. They traded 2025 All-Star Ryan O’Hearn, the surprisingly productive Ramon Laureano, long-tenured center fielder Cedric Mullins, utility infielder Ramon Urías, veteran starter Charlie Morton, and relievers Domínguez, Baker, Andrew Kittredge, and Gregory Soto. In exchange, they brought back Boston Bateman, Brandon Butterworth, Cobb Hightower, Victor Figueroa, Tyson Neighbors, and Tanner Smith (O’Hearn/Laureno); Raimon Gomez, Anthony Nunez and Chandler Marsh (Mullins); Twine Palmer (Urías); Micah Ashman (Morton); Juaron Watts-Brown (Domínguez); Wilfri De La Cruz (Kittredge); Wellington Aracena and Cameron Foster (Soto); and a 2025 Competitive Balance (Round A) draft selection, No. 37 overall (Baker).

According to MLB Pipeline, Bateman slots in as their No. 9 prospect, while Watts-Brown slots in at No. 13, De La Cruz at No. 24, Hightower at No. 26, and Aracena at No. 29. Only time will tell how well these trades work out for the Orioles, but it’s hard to deny they made the right call to sell when they did, and they succeeded in dealing almost all of their healthy impending free agents. Meanwhile, they didn’t part with any pieces that could contribute significantly in 2026 and beyond. Fans can hope that GM Mike Elias will use the money he saved and prospects he added at the deadline to improve the O’s roster over the offseason and bring winning baseball back to Baltimore next year.

Entering the season, many thought the AL East would be the most talented and competitive division in the league. It could very well still produce three playoff teams and four clubs above .500, but not many would have guessed the division would shake out quite like this, with the Blue Jays leading at the deadline and the Orioles selling off parts. There are still seven weeks left for the AL East to continue surprising us, and the moves each team made at the deadline could play a big part in all that. So, which of these five do you think had the best deadline? Have your say in the poll below:

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays

42 comments

Latest On Shane McClanahan

By Mark Polishuk | August 10, 2025 at 11:00pm CDT

Shane McClanahan has been sidelined all season by a triceps nerve injury that arose during Spring Training.  This latest issue added to what was already an extended absence for the left-hander following Tommy John surgery in August 2023, and it has now been over two years since McClanahan threw his last pitch in a Major League game.

Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander gave a sobering update on McClanahan’s status during a radio appearance on WDAE on Friday (hat tip to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times), and the lack of any new information provides fresh doubt that we’ll see McClanahan in action this year.  The southpaw is still dealing with “lingering symptoms,” according to Neander, and is “not getting over the hump” in terms of readiness.

“No huge setbacks, but also no huge progress or breakthroughs.  The clock’s obviously ticking at this point as we sit here today….We’re not getting the progress that we or certainly he is hoping for.  Really unfortunate.  But we’ve got to do what’s best for him and take care of him and try to stay at it the best we can.”

It seemed like McClanahan was on the road to recovery when he started a minor league rehab assignment in July, but after three outings, he was shut down due to biceps tendinitis.  Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash told MLB.com and other reporters on July 28 that McClanahan “felt okay, nothing great” after a game of catch from a 60-foot distance.

Neander didn’t mention the biceps problem so it would seem like that injury has been resolved.  However, the lingering nerve problem “is still in play just enough.  This is a new one to all of us really, and in many regards to the baseball community.  So we’re learning as we go.”

Selected 31st overall by the Rays in the 2018 draft, McClanahan posted a 3.02 ERA, 46.8% grounder rate, 28% strikeout rate, and 7.1% walk rate over 404 2/3 innings during the 2021-23 seasons.  After finishing seventh in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2021, McClanahan followed with a sixth-place finish in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, and he was named to the AL All-Star roster in both 2022 and 2023.  By all appearances it seemed like McClanahan was emerging as an ace of Tampa’s rotation, before his career was suddenly put on ice.

As Neander noted, McClanahan doesn’t have much time remaining before the season is over.  The unclear nature of nerve injuries means that McClanahan could technically wake up tomorrow and feel fine, yet it might take such a sudden turn-around to give the lefty a chance at a 2025 return.  Given that he is still limited to light throwing, McClanahan would still need at least a month for a full throwing progression (i.e. bullpen sessions, live batting practices, and several minor league rehab games) that would get him back to game readiness.

If he is physically able, returning even for one appearance with the Rays would surely give McClanahan some peace of mind heading into the offseason.  Building up enough arm strength to return as a reliever wouldn’t take as long as it would take to prepare for a starter’s workload, so a temporary move to the bullpen could be possible if McClanahan simply wants to pitch in any capacity.  On the other hand, Tampa Bay might opt to simply shut him down if the timeline becomes too compressed, as the 57-62 Rays are only on the outskirts of the wild card race and aren’t likely to be playing meaningful games in late September.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Tampa Bay Rays Shane McClanahan

14 comments
Load More Posts
Show all
    Top Stories

    Cubs To Sign Carlos Santana

    Red Sox To Extend Aroldis Chapman

    Red Sox Release Walker Buehler

    Pirates Place Isiah Kiner-Falefa On Outright Waivers

    Randy Rodriguez Recommended To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Padres Place Xander Bogaerts On IL With Foot Fracture

    Cardinals To Promote Jimmy Crooks

    Red Sox To Promote Payton Tolle

    Corey Seager To Undergo Appendectomy, Not Ruled Out For Season

    Frankie Montas To Undergo UCL Surgery

    Guardians Release Carlos Santana

    Brewers Place Trevor Megill On IL Due To Flexor Strain, Sign Erick Fedde

    Guardians Place Carlos Santana On Outright Waivers

    Astros Reinstate Yordan Alvarez From Injured List

    Nathan Eovaldi Likely Out For Season Due To Rotator Cuff Strain

    Mets To Promote Jonah Tong

    BBWAA To Institute Relief Pitcher Of The Year Award In 2026

    Zack Wheeler Recommended For Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery

    Frankie Montas Done For 2025 Due To “Pretty Significant” UCL Injury

    Orioles Extend Samuel Basallo

    Recent

    Nationals To Promote Andrew Alvarez For MLB Debut

    Cubs To Sign Carlos Santana

    Nick Anderson Elects Free Agency, Reaches Deal With Mariners

    Red Sox To Extend Aroldis Chapman

    Dodgers Notes: Stewart, Kopech, Hurt

    Pavin Smith Unlikely To Return In 2025 Due To Quad Strain

    Astros Sign Matt Bowman To Minor League Deal

    Vinny Nittoli Opts Out Of Orioles Deal

    Orioles Outright Cody Poteet

    Orioles Release Matt Bowman

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Every MLB Trade In July
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2026-27 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version