Willson Contreras Dealing With Lingering Hand Pain
Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras is still dealing with pain in his right hand. He explained to reporters on Thursday that he’s been unable to swing the past two days due to lingering discomfort. Contreras has been out for a week after he was hit by a Jakob Junis sinker last Thursday.
Contreras had additional imaging done Wednesday. The scan didn’t reveal a fracture, he told reporters, including Christopher Smith of MassLive.com.
Boston has wrapped up a Wild Card spot and will begin postseason action on Tuesday. Contreras will have three more chances to suit up in the regular season before the playoffs. He said he’s unlikely to play in tomorrow’s doubleheader. Contreras added that he’d be open with the team about whether he could play in the first round of the playoffs.
“Iâm an honest guy,” Contreras said, as relayed by Smith. “And if I donât feel confidence in my hand to be able to play either Sunday or Tuesday, Iâll be completely honest with the team. I donât want to hurt the team in any way.”
If Contreras is unable to make the postseason roster, it’ll continue to be Nick Sogard and Mickey Gasper handling first base. Utility players Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa could chip in as right-handed hitting options. Sogard moved to first base when Contreras was knocked out of the game against the Rangers. He’s started six straight games at the position.
Missing Contreras for the Wild Card round would be a major loss for the Red Sox. The 34-year-old has a career-best 152 wRC+ this season. Contreras paces the Red Sox in home runs, RBI, and OBP.
The Red Sox did get one key contributor back in the lineup on Thursday. Outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela returned after leaving early on Wednesday. Rafaela had an MRI on his hamstring that came back clean, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. The hamstring injury occurred in Rafaela’s first game back after missing a couple of weeks with a quad strain.
Rafaela is wrapping up the best offensive season of his young career. After three seasons with a sub-.250 batting average, the outfielder was hitting .284 heading into tonight’s action. Rafaela has a solid 109 wRC+. He’s continued to provide Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field.
Boston also shared an update on injured starter Garrett Crochet. The left-hander is scheduled to face hitters on Saturday, per Tim Healey of the Boston Globe. He’ll do so in Florida, with rough weather coming to Boston. Healey adds that a decision on Crochet’s postseason roster spot will come after the live batting practice session.
Crochet has been sidelined since late April with shoulder inflammation. His recovery was delayed by a lat strain. He’s expected to operate as a reliever if he can make it back to the Red Sox.
Photo courtesy of Raymond Carlin III, Imagn Images
Don Cooper Passes Away
Longtime White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper passed away earlier this week, the team confirmed on Wednesday. Cooper was 70 years old.
Cooper coached in the White Sox organization for 33 seasons. He served as the big-league pitching coach for 18 years. Cooper was at the helm of some of the best pitching staffs of the 2000s. The foursome of Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, and Jose Contreras carried the White Sox to a 2005 World Series victory.
“He fixed Jose Contreras,” former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He helped Mark Buehrle become a borderline, arguably a Hall-of-Famer. Jon Garland, he made better. Brandon McCarthy, helped have a long career. Freddy Garcia, he helped with stuff. Bobby Jenks, he fixed, Cliff Politte, Neal Cotts. The list goes on and on of people that he helped, not only on the field, but off the field.”
Cooper was also there for the beginning of future Hall of Famer Chris Saleâs career, which included five All-Star selections and four top-five Cy Young finishes. Sale came into the league as a reliever with big strikeout upside and questionable control. By the time his White Sox tenure ended, he was one of the most dominant starters in the sport.
“I wouldnât be here without him,” Sale said after his start on Wednesday, as relayed by Mark Bowman of MLB.com.
While he’s best-known for his work as a coach, Cooper also spent four seasons pitching in the big leagues. He was drafted by the Yankees in 1978. After two years in the organization, Cooper was taken by the Twins in the Rule 5 draft. He pitched to a 4.30 ERA across 27 appearances as a rookie in 1981. Cooper appeared in six games the following season. He would close his playing career with brief stints with the Blue Jays and Yankees.
Cooper wrapped up his time in the majors after the 1985 campaign. He received his first coaching job in 1988 at Single-A in the White Sox organization. Cooper worked his way up the ladder, briefly serving as the big-league pitching coach in 1995. He’d get the gig for good in 2002, holding the role through 2020.
MLBTR sends our condolences to Cooper’s family, friends, and loved ones.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
Phillies’ Luis Arraez Removed With Ankle Injury
Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez was pulled from Thursday night’s game against the Brewers with a left ankle sprain, the team announced (h/t Matt Gelb of The Athletic). He had to be helped off the field and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg. Arraez was replaced by Edmundo Sosa.
The injury occurred on a ground ball to shortstop. Cooper Pratt fielded the ball and threw wide to first, forcing Jake Bauers to come up the line to catch it. Arraez tried to sidestep Bauers, but planted awkwardly and went down in a heap (video link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com).
It’s obviously brutal timing, with the Phillies less than a week away from the Wild Card round. Arraez has been the everyday option at the keystone since coming over from the Giants at the trade deadline. He’s hit .283 with a pair of homers in the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup.
The Phillies reconfigured their defensive alignment after the Arraez trade. Bryce Harper went to the outfield for the first time since 2022. Primary second baseman Bryson Stott shifted to third base, with Alec Bohm heading across the diamond to first base. The adjustment allowed Arraez to stay at a position where he’s comfortable while keeping all of the primary Phillies bats in the lineup.
If Arraez is forced to miss time, Philadelphia could revert to its Opening Day setup in the infield. Bryan De La Cruz and Derek Hill would be candidates to pick up additional playing time in the outfield. The versatile Sosa could also just take over in the infield if the Phillies didn’t want to move everyone around again. He came in to play third base tonight, with Stott moving over to second base.
In more positive news, left-hander Jesus Luzardo completed a 30-pitch bullpen on Thursday. Interim manager Don Mattingly told reporters, including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that the next step would be facing live hitters. Luzardo has been out since early September with left shoulder inflammation.
“He’s feeling good,” Mattingly said, as relayed by Zolecki. “He wasn’t shaking his shoulder during the bullpen or anything like that.”
Getting back on the mound puts Luzardo a step closer to being ready for the Wild Card round. Philadelphia hasn’t officially locked up a playoff spot, but could take care of it as soon as Thursday. The club would then turn its attention to the playoff roster. Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez will likely start the first two games. Luzardo would be a candidate to start the final game, if needed, though he could also be used out of the bullpen.
âWhatever role they need me,” Luzardo said, per Lochlann March of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “If they need me one inning, two innings out of the bullpen, three innings. I could start. I could be the bat boy. Whatever they ask of me, I’ll do. I just want to win.â
The shoulder injury cut short a tremendous campaign for Luzardo. He pitched to a 2.87 ERA across 29 starts. Luzardo pushed his strikeout rate above 30% for the first time since his brief debut with the Athletics in 2019. He’s formed an imposing three-headed monster with Sanchez and Wheeler in Philadelphia’s rotation.
Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images
Astros Place Daulton Varsho On Injured List
The Astros announced that they have placed outfielder Daulton Varsho on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 23, with left wrist inflammation. Fellow outfielder Jorge Barrosa has been selected to take Varsho’s place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Barrosa, right-hander Jason Alexander has been designated for assignment.
Varsho has been dealing with issues in that left wrist all year. He also had an IL stint due to inflammation while with the Blue Jays back in June. Per Chandler Rome of The Athletic, Varsho has two cysts in his wrist which have gotten worse of late.
Perhaps the wrist problems offer some explanation for his downturn in production. Last year, Varsho hit 20 home runs in just 271 plate appearances. This year, in a larger sample of 526 plate appearances, he has just 12 home runs. He had a .238/.284/.548 line and 123 wRC+ last year but is down to a .221/.281/.355 line and 78 wRC+ this year. Things have been even more grim lately, as Varsho has hit just .172/.224/.311 since being traded to Houston at the deadline.
Given that production, this IL placement isn’t a huge loss for the Astros, but they were surely hoping for more and their fallback plans aren’t great either. They have been trying to add a nice lefty bat to their outfield since trading away Kyle Tucker before the 2025 season. JesÚs SÃĄnchez, Dustin Harris, Daniel Johnson and many others have been thrown into the mix without much success. The Varsho experiment looks like another whiff, at least for now. Varsho will miss the Wild Card round but could return by the ALDS if the Astros are still alive at that time.
For now, they still have to secure a playoff spot. They are half a game back of the Rangers in the American League West but hold the tiebreaker, so they just need to be even by Sunday night. With Varsho out, Lucas Spence might be the top option to cover the position, even though he has just 45 plate appearances with a .150/.244/.175 line. He is starting there tonight. Taylor Trammell could be moved from left to center at times, with LaMonte Wade Jr. taking more time in left, but Trammell is stretched defensively up the middle. Jake Meyers and Brice Matthews are also on the IL.
Barrosa will also be in the mix but he’s a glove-first guy and likely to be on the bench for late-game defensive substitutions. He has a .179/.244/.301 batting line in his career but five Defensive Runs Saved and 12 Outs Above Average in 647 2/3 innings on the grass. He was outrighted off the roster this week but has quickly been added back. He won’t be eligible for the postseason because he was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks September 6, after the September 1 eligibility cutoff. He can help out for now but he’ll be left behind if Houston makes it into the postseason.
Alexander, 33, was claimed off waivers from the Athletics in May of last year. That was a solid pickup for the Astros last year, as Alexander went on to log 71 1/3 innings over 14 appearances with a 3.66 earned run average. His 19.9% strikeout rate was subpar but his 7% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate were both good figures. He got some help from a fortunate .273 batting average on balls in play and 79.8% strand rate but his 4.65 FIP and 4.19 SIERA suggested he was pitching pretty well for a depth guy grabbed from the waiver wire.
This year, he has mostly been on optional assignment. He has only tossed 18 1/3 innings in the majors, allowing 19 earned runs in those. He also has an uninspiring 5.03 ERA in Triple-A, though with the caveat that he has been pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Alexander is in his final option year, meaning he will be out of options going forward. That will reduce his appeal as a depth starter, so he has been squeezed off the roster. With the trade deadline long gone, he will have to be placed on waivers. He could perhaps be claimed by a club needing some innings to finish out the regular season. If he clears, he would have the right to elect free agency because he has been outrighted previously in his career.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
Orioles Select Albert Suarez
Veteran swingman Albert Suarez is headed back to the Orioles. Baltimore selected his contract for the fifth time this season. Trey Gibson was optioned to the Spring Training complex to clear a big-league spot. Kyle Bradish was moved to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.
The Orioles snuck in one last Suarez transaction before the end of the regular season. He’ll provide some innings for the club in the final series against the Yankees. The right-hander has been designated for assignment on five occasions this year. He’s always found his way back to the organization, either through accepting an outright assignment or signing a new minor league deal.
The arrangement has worked out well for both sides. Suarez is added to the roster whenever the club needs a fresh arm, is put through waivers when he’s no longer needed, goes unclaimed, then heads back to the minors to do it all over again. He gets the occasional MLB paycheck, and Baltimore gets what amounts to an extra man on the roster.
Suarez has pitched reasonably well in the majors. He’s notched a 4.12 ERA in 29 appearances. While he’s made some starts for the team in the past, he’s operated strictly as a reliever in the majors this season.
Gibson has been up and down several times this season. His first big-league campaign ends with a 6.13 ERA over nine appearances (eight starts). The young righty is one of the more highly-regarded pitching prospects in Baltimore’s system. He reached Triple-A at the end of last year and spent most of this season at the level.
The 24-year-old Gibson routinely posted big strikeout numbers in the minors, but his walk rate bordered on troublesome. The control problems were exacerbated at the highest level. Gibson posted a 14.6% walk rate in his 39 2/3 innings with the Orioles. He did end the season on a high note, firing 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Blue Jays in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.
Bradish hit the injured list in mid-September with lower abdominal discomfort. The injury was later diagnosed as a sports hernia. The most recent update from the team was that Bradish was weighing surgery. If he goes that route, the typical recovery time would put him on track to be ready for Spring Training in 2027.
Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images
Braves Select Elieser HernÃĄndez
The Braves announced that left-hander MartÃn PÃĐrez has been placed on the 15-day injured list with low back inflammation, a move that was previously reported. Right-hander Elieser HernÃĄndez has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for HernÃĄndez, righty Hurston Waldrep has been recalled and placed on the major league 60-day injured list.
Atlanta and HernÃĄndez have been doing this dance all year. It’s a dance the club used to do with guys like Jesse Chavez and Carlos Carrasco. The steps are that the pitcher is added to the roster, used to soak up innings for a short time, then he is designated for assignment. After clearing waivers, he usually elects free agency and signs a new minor league deal, setting him up to start the process all over again. This is the fourth time this year that the club has selected HernÃĄndez’s contract.
The appeal is obvious for the team, as they effectively get a 41st man on their 40-man roster. They can turn to this extra arm whenever the rest of the staff is taxed, then cut him to bring in another fresh arm as needed. For the player, he would presumably prefer a more steady gig but the fact that he keeps clearing waivers indicates no club is willing to give him that. With this on-off cycle, at least he gets sporadic hits of big league pay and service time.
Around the transactions, HernÃĄndez has absorbed 11 innings over four appearances for Atlanta this year. He has allowed three earned runs and struck out 11 opponents but has given out six walks and hit a batter.
The team has little on the line for the next few days. Technically, a first-round bye is still possible, but not very plausible. They are four back of the Dodgers with four games to play. Atlanta holds the tiebreaker and could get in if they run the table as the Dodgers lose out the remainder, but the most likely situation is Atlanta having to play in the Wild Card round.
For the next few days, their priority will be keeping their pitchers healthy for that series. Tyler Mahle is scheduled to take the ball tonight with TBD after that. HernÃĄndez will step in to work some innings at some point and may be bumped off the roster right after.
As for Waldrep, it was reported in August that he would require Tommy John surgery. He will miss the remainder of this season and likely all of next year as well. Now that he has been called up and put on the major league IL, he will collect big league pay and service time for a few days. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so he will need to be reinstated to the 40-man roster at that time.
Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images
Yankees Place Clarke Schmidt On Injured List
The Yankees announced that right-hander Clarke Schmidt has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to September 21, with right bicep neuritis. Fellow righty Bradley Hanner has been recalled as the corresponding move.
Schmidt had a good run as a member of the Yankee rotation but he has been a non-factor for a while. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2025. He was just reinstated from the IL last week. He made one appearance, tossing two thirds of an inning last Wednesday. On Sunday, he was warming up to come into the game but experienced some biceps cramping and didn’t come in, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. It was thought to be a pretty minor issue but it seems he didn’t make progress in recent days and has been put on the shelf.
Schmidt hasn’t pitched in over a week but IL stints can only be backdated by a maximum of three days. He was under consideration for a spot on the postseason roster but that’s off the table now. His timeline will make him ineligible for the Wild Card round and the start of the ALDS. He could be in play for the ALCS if he gets healthy and the Yankees make it that far but he would still be a risky choice given his lengthy absence and continued arm issues.
Removing Schmidt from the equation will make things slightly easier for the club’s decision makers but they still have a lot in the air. Per Joel Sherman of The New York Post, the club is considering an unusually heavy lean towards position players to face the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, perhaps carrying as many as 16 position players to just 10 pitchers.
That decision would be about having a heavy mix of righty and lefty bats to play matchups. The Yankees have lefties Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Luis GarcÃa Jr., Spencer Jones, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon on the roster right now. Trent Grisham is on the IL and trying to get healthy for the postseason. To complement that group, righty bats Heliot Ramos, George Lombard Jr., Amed Rosario, JosÃĐ Caballero, Paul Goldschmidt, Ali SÃĄnchez and Anthony Volpe could be in the mix for spots. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are on the IL but both are trying to get into game shape before the playoffs begin.
If the Yanks take 16 guys from that group, it would mean relying heavily on their starting pitchers, with Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole expected to start the three games in some order. Carlos RodÃģn and Will Warren could be needed for long relief because, as Sherman points out, there’s no free runner in extra innings in the playoffs. A really long game is still rare but can happen, such as when Game Three of last year’s World Series went to 18 innings.
That would leave just five spots for traditional relievers. David Bednar, Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn would have three of those. That would leave only two for a group consisting of John Schreiber, Michael Fulmer, Ryan Yarbrough, Tim Hill and and Luis Gil. Schmidt would have been in that group but is now out.
There are a couple of other wild cards in the mix as well. Ryan Weathers is on the injured list with a forearm strain but is trying to make it back. Then there’s Carlos Lagrange, who is also trying to come back from injury. He suffered a capsular strain in his throwing shoulder in July and is still trying to get built back up from that.
Lagrange still hasn’t made his major league debut but has electric stuff, with triple-digit heat. The Yankees view him as a long-term starter but moved him to relief this summer, just before that shoulder injury, in the hopes that he could be a late-season impact arm. It’s a risky gambit with clear upside, as Lagrange has always had big strikeout numbers in the minors but also with lots of walks. He has a huge 31.8% strikeout rate in his minor league career but also a 13% walk rate. He has made just one official game appearance since June, getting into a Triple-A contest last week.
Turning back to Schmidt, the Yankees will have to decide what to do with him for next season. He can be controlled for 2027 via arbitration before he’s slated for free agency. Since he missed essentially all of this year, it should be possible to retain him for the same $4.5MM salary he made this year. That’s a perfectly fine price for a guy who posted a 3.85 ERA over 323 innings from 2023 to 2025, as long as he is expected to be healthy next year.
However, the Yankees may not have a rotation spot for him. Their 2027 rotation projects to include Fried, Schlittler, Cole, RodÃģn, Warren, Weathers, Lagrange and others. Schmidt now has over five years of big league service time and can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. It would be selling low to put him on the block after missing almost two whole years but he doesn’t currently have a great path to a spot in next year’s rotation.
Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images
Braves To Place MartÃn PÃĐrez On Injured List
The Braves are going to place left-hander MartÃn PÃĐrez on the 15-day injust list with lower back inflammation, per JesÚs Cano of The Athletic. The corresponding move hasn’t yet been publicly reported.
It’s an out-of-nowhere hit to Atlanta’s pitching staff, just before the start of the postseason. PÃĐrez just pitched on Sunday and it didn’t appear anything was amiss. He tossed 4 1/3 innings, throwing 79 pitches in the process. Now he’s going to be unavailable for a while. Atlanta can backdate an IL stint to Monday but that will still prevent PÃĐrez from being on the Wild Card or NLDS roster.
PÃĐrez has been a staple in Atlanta’s rotation for most of this year. He has made 26 starts, and four relief appearances, posting a 3.04 earned run average over 142 innings. His 17.1% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate are worse than league average but his 45.7% ground ball rate is strong. He has gotten some help from a .253 batting average on balls in play and 79.7% strand rate but has also done a good job at avoiding damage. Statcast pegs his barrel rate in the 90th percentile of qualified pitchers, his hard hit rate 75th and his average exit velocity 67th.
His 4.31 FIP and 4.91 SIERA suggest he is due for regression but he has been a key part of the club’s rotation regardless and would have been in the mix for playoff appearances as well. Atlanta has Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle locked into two spots but things get murky after that.
Grant Holmes has a 3.47 ERA but, like PÃĐrez, less impressive peripherals such as a 4.66 FIP and 4.72 SIERA. JR Ritchie has a rotation spot right now but with a 4.79 ERA. AJ Smith-Shawver has a 6.43 ERA this year and is currently in the bullpen. Bryce Elder and Reynaldo LÃģpez are each trying to come back from IL stints right now. Hurston Waldrep, Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider are also on the IL but aren’t expected to return this year.
For the short term, the absence of PÃĐrez won’t be too massive. The remaining regular season games are largely inconsequential. Technically, the club still has a chance to catch the Dodgers for a first-round bye, but it’s incredibly unlikely. They would have to win their final four games while the Dodgers lose their final four. Apart from that, they don’t have anything on the line for the next few days. In the best-of-three Wild Card round, they can go to Sale, Mahle and Holmes for those contests.
If they manage to advance to the NLDS, that’s where the loss of PÃĐrez could be more impactful as the club will likely need a fourth starter at some point in that series. Without PÃĐrez, they may have to turn to Ritchie, LÃģpez, Elder, Smith-Shawver or some creative arrangement. If they manage to survive into the NLCS and PÃĐrez can get healthy, he could re-enter the club’s plans. If not, then they would have to continue being creative.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
Offseason Outlook: Cincinnati Reds
The Reds plummeted down the standings after a strong April. They lost one of their top two starters to Tommy John surgery that’ll likely cost him all of 2027. Most of the rotation underperformed and the back half of the lineup was as bad as any in the league. There’s still elite high-end talent, but this year was a major disappointment for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series in three decades.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Chase Burns, RHP: $103MM through 2033
- Hunter Greene, RHP: $33MM through 2028 (including buyout of ’29 club option)
- Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B: $29MM through 2029 (including buyout of ’30 club option)
- Emilio PagÃĄn, RHP: $10MM player option for 2027
- Jose Trevino, C: $6.25MM through 2027 (including buyout of ’28 club option)
Option Decisions
- RHPÂ Emilio PagÃĄn holds $10MM player option
- Team, DH/3BÂ Eugenio SuÃĄrez hold $16MM mutual option
- Team, RHPÂ Pierce Johnson hold $8MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)
Additional Commitments
- Owe $3MM buyout to released Jeimer Candelario
2027 financial commitments: $43.75MM
Total future commitments: $185.25MM
Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries to be added later)
- Tejay Antone: (5.145)
- Nick Lodolo (5.000)
- Graham Ashcraft (4.130)
- Tony Santillan (4.099)
- Spencer Steer (4.035)
- JJ Bleday (4.013)
- Matt McLain (3.140)
- Brandon Williamson (3.139)
- Andrew Abbott (3.119)
- Elly De La Cruz (3.118)
- Oswaldo Cabrera (3.072)
- Dane Myers (3.037)
Non-tender candidates: Ashcraft, Santillan, McLain, Cabrera
Free Agents
- Brady Singer, Eugenio SuÃĄrez, Tyler Stephenson, Brock Burke, TJ Friedl (eligible for minor league free agency), Pierce Johnson, Will Benson (eligible for minor league free agency)
The Reds hoped that an 83-79 showing and a playoff berth in 2025 would be a stepping stone to more consistent success. That didn’t happen this year, as a few standout performances were spoiled by an underwhelming supporting cast. There are issues in all facets — offense, defense, starting pitching, bullpen — that’ll be hard to fix in one offseason.
The onus will remain on president of baseball operations Nick Krall, general manager Brad Meador, and their front office. Krall told Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer last week that he’s had conversations with ownership and doesn’t anticipate any significant leadership changes. Owner Bob Castellini confirmed that plan when speaking with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic this week. Future Hall of Fame skipper Terry Francona is also expected back for a third season, the final guaranteed year of his contract. The Reds hold an option on Francona for 2028; Krall’s contract length was unreported.
Cincinnati is limping to a last place finish in the NL Central. Only the Athletics and Rockies have a worse run differential this year. This is probably a bottom three team in the National League. Krall nevertheless said around the All-Star Break that he didn’t feel the organization needed a full rebuild. The focus would be on a return to contention in 2027.
Those comments came two weeks before they lost one of their top arms for potentially the entire ’27 season. Hunter Greene underwent the second Tommy John surgery of his career in the middle of August. That only makes a short-term return to competitiveness more difficult, but there’s nothing to suggest that’s not still the plan.
Cincinnati didn’t do anything notable at the deadline, shipping out impending free agent role players Nathaniel Lowe and Caleb Ferguson for minimal returns. (They also acquired former well-regarded second base prospect Juan Brito out of DFA limbo from the Guardians.) The Reds held impending free agents Brady Singer, Tyler Stephenson and Brock Burke — as well as every player who was under club control beyond this season.
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Rays Select Jake Woodford
The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jake Woodford. Fellow righty Mason Englert has been optioned to Triple-A Durham as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man had a vacancy but is now full.
Woodford is still in his 20s, as he turns 30 next month, but is nonetheless a veteran journeyman at this point. Over the past few years, he has bounced from the Cardinals to the White Sox, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Cubs and now the Rays.
He doesn’t strike many guys out but he fills up the strike zone and can get some grounders, allowing him to be deployed as a serviceable swingman. The overall results aren’t great but he can chew up some innings when a club wants to spare other pitchers. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has made 64 appearances, logging 145 1/3 innings with a 6.87 earned run average, 14.7% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.
For Tampa, they appear to be monitoring the workloads of their pitchers for the playoffs. Ian Seymour was scheduled to start yesterday’s game. Instead, the Rays recalled Englert to start, optioning Alex Cook as the corresponding move. Englert allowed eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, throwing 86 pitches in the process. He wasn’t going to be available for the next few days and wasn’t going to be in consideration for a postseason roster spot, so he has been sent down.
Woodford gives the Rays a fresh arm and one capable of eating multiple innings. He signed a minor league deal with Tampa in August after losing his roster spot with the Cubs. Since then, Woodford has made seven starts for Triple-A Durham with a 4.25 ERA. His last outing was a week ago when he went five innings.
The Rays have Seymour, Freddy Peralta and Griffin Jax listed as their starters for the next three games and TBD on Sunday. Since the club has already clinched the top spot in the American League and a bye through the Wild Card round, they don’t need to push their pitchers beyond whatever they think is best for preparing them for the ALDS. At some point, Woodford could be thrown in there while other guys sit down. Woodford is out of options and would need to be bumped off the 40-man if the Rays want to get another fresh arm in at some point.
Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images
