June 8th: The Cardinals are optioning center fielder Victor Scott II to Triple-A Memphis today, as first reported by KMOV’s Tamar Sher. Fellow outfielder Nathan Church will return from the 10-day IL today and take Scott’s roster spot, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. Church will presumably see the bulk of action in center field.

It’s the first time that Scott, 25, has been optioned since the 2024 season. He spent all of 2025 in the majors and has been a regular player in 2026 despite nonexistent offensive output. He’s hitting .194/.276/.258 (57 wRC+) through 184 turns at the plate thus far. Scott only has six extra-base hits (two homers, four doubles).

Scott has swiped nine bases but been caught four times; that’s already as many times as he was caught stealing in all of ’25, when he swiped a total of 34 bags. His 29.7 ft/sec sprint speed is still elite, sitting in the 98th percentile of big leaguers, but it’s down half a foot from last year’s 30.2 ft/sec, which tied him for tops in the game. Scott’s 8.7% walk rate is almost average, and his 23.9% strikeout rate isn’t egregious, but he has the sixth-worst hard-hit rate among the 235 players to tally at least 150 plate appearances this season.

Defensively, Scott still grades out quite well, though not to the same extent as in 2025. Last year, he was credited with 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 16 Outs Above Average in 1087 innings. This year, through 471 innings in center, OAA has credited Scott as a positive but not elite defender (3), while DRS has dinged him at -2.

If Scott stays in the minors for at least 20 days, this will burn the second of his three minor league option years. It’s unlikely to impact his potential free-agent and arbitration timelines, as he’s already less than three weeks from reaching two years of MLB service time. If Scott spends the rest of the season in Triple-A, he wouldn’t reach two years of service, thus giving St. Louis an extra season of club control, but it feels likely that he’ll be back at some point, whether because he hits his way onto the roster or because the Cardinals incur an injury in the big league outfield mix.

Church, also 25, has struggled at the plate in his own right, but not to the same extent. He’s taken 156 plate appearances and turned in a .247/.282/.390 slash (88 wRC+) with five homers, six doubles, a 3.8% walk rate and a 21.2% strikeout rate. He’s also making hard contact at lower-than-average levels, but not quite at the same bottom-of-the-scale levels as Scott. Church also has the more productive Triple-A track record; he slashed .335/.400/.521 in 242 plate appearances there last year. Scott’s only Triple-A work came back in 2024, when he hit .210/.294/.303 (58 wRC+) in 362 trips to the plate.

The rest of the Cardinals’ outfield mix seems largely set. Lars Nootbaar is back after missing the first couple months of the season and should see regular action in left, plus occasional time in center. Jordan Walker, in the midst of a full-fledged breakout, is entrenched in right field. (Nootbaar could play right field if the Cards give Walker a day off or a DH breather.) Nelson Velazquez, Jose Fermin and Bryan Torres can all mix in occasionally. Fermin and Torres have minimal opportunities in an infield with Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman getting regular work (though Gorman isn’t hitting enough to justify regular at-bats for the remainder of the season).

As a refresher on the system, a team can extend a one-year qualifying offer to an impending free agent if he played the entirety of the just-finished season on one team and has never previously received a QO in his career. Teams have until five days after the World Series to decide whether or not to issue a QO to an eligible player. The players then usually have ten days to asses the market before deciding whether or not to accept, though the most recent offseason gave the players 12 days.

If the player rejects the QO and signs elsewhere, his previous team is entitled to compensation in the form of an extra draft pick. The value of that pick varies, depending on whether the team is a luxury tax payor or a recipient of revenue sharing. Conversely, the signing team is subject to draft and international bonus pool penalties, which are also dependant on tax payor/revenue sharing status. If a player rejects a QO but ultimately re-signs with his previous team, no penalties or compensation picks are applied. These links have details on the penalties and compensation in 2025.

The value of the QO is determined by averaging the salaries of the 125 top-paid players in the league. The value generally increases over time as player salaries continue rising with inflation. Here are the QO values in past seasons:

• 2012-13: $13.3MM
• 2013-14: $14.4MM (8.3% increase from the year prior)
• 2014-15: $15.3MM (6.3%)
• 2015-16: $15.8MM (3.3%)
• 2016-17: $17.2MM (8.9%)
• 2017-18: $17.4MM (1.2%)
• 2018-19: $17.9MM (2.9%)
• 2019-20: $17.8MM (-0.6%)
• 2020-21: $18.9MM (6.2%)
• 2021-22: $18.4MM (-2.6%)
• 2022-23: $19.65MM (6.8%)
• 2023-24: $20.325MM (3.4%)
• 2024-25: $21.05MM (4.6%)
• 2025-26: $22.025MM (4.6%)
• 2026-27: $23.1MM (4.9%)

If MLBTR’s estimate proves to be fairly accurate, then this would be the fifth straight year of the QO rising by roughly $1MM. The percentage jump would be the greatest in the past four years. The only bigger percentage jumps in the past ten years were in seasons following slight drops.

For most players who receive a QO, it’s a formality to turn it down and then sign for a much larger guarantee on a multi-year deal. Last year was a notable exception as 13 players received a QO and four accepted: Gleyber Torres with the Tigers, Shota Imanaga with the Cubs, Trent Grisham with the Yankees and Brandon Woodruff with the Brewers. That’s an acceptance rate of over 30%. Of the 144 players to receive a QO in previous years, only 13 accepted, a rate of barely 9%.

Going into this offseason, most of the top free agents will be QO candidates, though there are some exceptions. Michael King already received a QO from the Padres last offseason. If he opts out of his contract and returns to free agency, he would not be eligible for another. The same would apply to players like Bo Bichette or Corbin Burnes, though neither player currently looks likely to opt out of his current deal. Guys like Grisham, Imanaga, Torres, Woodruff, Kevin Gausman, Sonny Gray and Nick Martinez have also received QOs earlier in their careers. If any notable free agent gets traded this summer, then they would become ineligible to receive a QO at season’s end since they would not be spending the entire campaign with just one team.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

It has become more common in recent years for clubs to commit to their young players before the make it to the majors, or perhaps after just a handful of games in the big leagues. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, from 2006 to 2016, there were six extensions signed by players with less than a year of service time. From 2017 to the present, that number is 25, with 15 of them being inked in the past four years.

Milwaukee has played a notable role in that data set, particularly in signing pre-debut deals. In 2023, they gave Jackson Chourio an eight-year, $82MM pact when he was considered one of the top two prospects in the league. That was the record deal for a pre-debut player at the time, though Colt Emerson later broke that record when he signed a $95MM deal with the Mariners. Earlier this year, the Brewers signed another pre-debut deal, though on a lesser scale. They and Cooper Pratt agreed to an eight-year deal worth $50.75MM back in April, though Pratt has remained in the minors on optional assignment since signing that deal.

This deal with Lara comes in at an even lower level. The guarantee is barely a third of what Chourio received and just a bit more than half of Pratt’s deal. Coming in well shy of Chourio is no real surprise. As mentioned, Chourio was one of the top prospects in the league at that time. Lara is a solid prospect but is perhaps more of a borderline top 100 guy right now. Pratt and Lara have some similar prospect rankings but the Pratt deal was seen by some as a bit of an overpay.

Lara, now 21, was an international signee of the Brewers back in 2022. Milwaukee gave him a $1.1MM signing bonus at that time. Lara’s size is notable, as he is listed at 5’7″ or 5’8″, depending on the source. As you would expect for such a player, there’s not a ton of power, but he does have speed. He has 447 minor league games under his belt to this point with just 17 home runs but 144 stolen bases. On account of that speed, his defense also receives high praise, with some evaluators considering him a future Gold Glover.

The offense is more of a question. As mentioned, the power is light, though perhaps Lara is building strength as he ages. He never hit more than four homers in any previous season but is already up to seven in 2026, in just 247 Triple-A plate appearances. The plate discipline appears to be strong, however, as he has often posted strong walk and strikeout rates. This year, his first at the top level of the minors, he has a 15.8% walk rate and 13% strikeout rate. Those are both excellent figures.

Baseball America currently lists Lara as the #5 prospect in the system, a couple of spots behind Pratt. That outlet has Pratt #44 on their Top 100, with Lara in the #50 spot. FanGraphs had Lara #11 in the system back in the winter, before he started putting up good numbers at Triple-A here in 2026. ESPN bumped Lara up to #5 in the system in a recent system update. MLB Pipeline has Lara listed #91 overall and the #5 Brewer.

The Brewers presumably feel good about Lara coming up and being a major league contributor. It seems that Lara’s speed and defense would give him a solid floor even if he doesn’t hit much. If he can maintain his strong approach at the plate and add a bit of power as he gets deeper into his 20s, then that just makes the deal all the more attractive for them.

From Lara’s perspective, he is cutting off the most extreme edges of his earning abilities, as is the case for any prospect signing an early extension. If he hadn’t been able to hit in the majors, he could have ended up in the role of a speedy fourth outfielder, which likely wouldn’t have paid him much. Accepting this deal allows him to bank more money than he would have in that scenario. But if he turns into an All-Star caliber regular, he won’t have as much ability to cash in on that. This deal will lock in his age-21 through age-27 seasons, with the three club options taking him through age-30. He could still theoretically get a nice deal at that point, going into his age-31 season, but could have had more earning power if he managed to hit the open market in his late 20s.

As mentioned, Lara is going to stay in the minors for now. At the major league level, Milwaukee has an outfield group consisting of Chourio, Garrett Mitchell and Sal Frelick, with Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers and Blake Perkins chipping in on occasion. They also have Brandon Lockridge on the injured list, Tyler Black and Akil Baddoo on optional assignment, and Jett Williams in Triple-A in a non-roster capacity.

In the long run, it’s fair to wonder if the Brewers will trade from that group in order to open up playing time. Bauers is an impending free agent but everyone else is under club control for a while. Yelich’s deal is guaranteed through 2028. Chourio is signed through 2031 with two club options. Mitchell can be retained via arbitration through 2028, Frelick and Perkins through 2029.

For now, the Brewers have enviable outfield depth on a club that has few obvious holes. They have a 41-23 record which is second-best in the National League, behind only Atlanta. Though they will undoubtedly be looking to add to the roster ahead of the trade deadline, perhaps they could do so while flipping out an outfielder from their big league roster as they look for more pitching or help on the left side of the infield.

Spencer Michaelis of the Brewers Fanatic Podcast first reported that the sides had agreed to a deal of roughly $30MM over eight years with two club options. Jon Heyman of The New York Post clarified that it’s actually a seven-year deal worth $31MM. Jeff Passan of ESPN confirmed the 7/$31MM framework and noted there are three club options, with a $79MM max. Passan also added that Lara will be staying in the minors for now. Photos courtesy of Dave Kallmann, Imagn Images.

Steve Adams

• Good afternoon! I’ll get going at the top of the hour, but feel free to start sending in questions now.

Cards Fan

• Gorman a change of scenery candidate?

Steve Adams

• I don’t think they’ll get a ton for him, but at a certain point, I don’t know why they wouldn’t move on. He’s trending toward a non-tender, and he’s had a pretty substantial leash both in ’26 and more broadly over the past several seasons. Does feel like a change-of-scenery guy, whether this summer or in an early-November trade or just as a free agent with a new team after he’s non-tendered.

Dave

• Who says no: Josue De Paula straight-up for CJ Abrams?

Steve Adams

• One prospect — and De Paula is a good one! — isn’t going to pull two-plus years of Abrams.

Yankeespitching

• Do you think Jac Caglione would be worth keeping or dropping. I was hoping for a break out year but so far it hasn’t worked out

Steve Adams

• Always depends on league context, but if you’re in a standard 10- or 12-team mixed league, yeah, I don’t see a need to hang onto him. If it’s a deep mixed league or an AL-only format, might be another story

Guest

• If the Astros are 4+ GB at the deadline, what are the odds they trade Yordan Alvarez?

Read more

11:17am: The White Sox are calling up top outfield prospect Braden Montgomery, as first reported by Matt Snyder of CBS Sports. Chicago will have to open space on the 26-man and 40-man roster to accommodate Montgomery, who currently ranks 33rd on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect rankings.

Selected No. 12 overall out of Texas A&M by the Red Sox in 2024, Montgomery landed with the White Sox as the co-headliner (alongside catcher Kyle Teel) of the blockbuster trade sending Garrett Crochet to Boston. The 23-year-old Montgomery opened the 2026 season in Double-A and has since been promoted to Triple-A, tormenting opposing pitchers at both levels. He’s appeared in 56 games this season, taken 258 plate appearances between those two levels, and turned in a stout .314/.422/.548 batting line (152 wRC+) with 10 homers, 13 doubles, three triples, five steals (albeit in 11 attempts), a huge 15.1% walk rate and a 24.8% strikeout rate.

Montgomery has been particularly productive at the dish as of late. After falling into a mini-slump that saw him go hitless for 16 plate appearances, he’s turned things around with a .474/.580/.711 batting line over his past 10 games. In that time, the switch-hitter has popped a pair of homers and three doubles while drawing 10 walks against seven strikeouts. The dip in strikeouts is notable, as the main knock on Montgomery for many scouts is a penchant for swinging and missing that leads to bearish grades on his hit tool; Baseball America pegged his hit tool at a 40 (on the 20-80 scale) heading into the season, while FanGraphs gave him a present-day 30 with a chance to get to a 40.

Even if Montgomery strikes out more than the Sox would prefer, he garners praise for elite bad speed, plus-plus raw power and a prodigious arm in right field. That latter element is to be expected for a former two-way star who ran his heater up to 96 mph as an amateur. Montgomery has focused solely on hitting and playing the outfield in pro ball, but the fact that he was a touted amateur pitcher as well only underscores his natural athleticism.

Montgomery is the latest promising young hitter to join an increasingly exciting White Sox core. The Sox have already called up Sam Antonacci and former first-rounder Jacob Gonzalez this season. They’re getting a full-fledged breakout from former top prospect Miguel Vargas. Former first-rounder Colson Montgomery has cemented himself as a potent source of power and claimed the long-term shortstop role. Chase Meidroth (also acquired alongside Montgomery and Teel) is light on power but has hit for average and gotten on base while staking a claim as the organization’s long-term second baseman. And, of course, the White Sox struck gold when they signed NPB slugger Munetaka Murakami to a two-year contract after the market failed to produce the type of long-term pact most envisioned for the 26-year-old. The aforementioned Teel has been out all season due to a knee injury but hit .273/.375/.411 in 78 games as a rookie last year.

For all that young potential, Chicago’s outfield is still pretty open. Antonacci has been a nice tablesetter in left field. Tristan Peters has hit well in center, but he’s a 26-year-old rookie whose production is buoyed by a .385 average on balls in play that he won’t sustain over a larger period. None of Derek Hill, Luisangel Acuna, Everson Pereira, Tanner Murray, Rikuu Nishida or veteran Andrew Benintendi has been a standout thus far; Pereira has hit reasonably well in 71 plate appearances but has a 30% strikeout rate and is out with a pectoral injury. Montgomery should have a path to regular at-bats in either center field or right field moving forward.

Based on the timing of Montgomery’s promotion, he’s not going to receive a full season of big league service unless he hits the ground running and finishes top-two in AL Rookie of the Year voting with a massive four-month finish to the season. Barring that unlikely event, the Sox will have six years of club control over him beyond the current season. He’s probably going to fall just a few days shy of Super Two eligibility, meaning he’ll be eligible for arbitration the standard three times rather than four, though that assumes he’s in the majors to stay. Whether that proves to be the case will hinge on how well he adjusts to big league opponents.

That theoretically opens the door for the Rox to get a jump on the trade market. Colorado and the Angels might be the only teams that can’t cling to any hope about a 2026 turnaround. If almost every team remains reluctant to deal from the MLB roster two months out from the deadline, that could create an opportunity for the couple clearly non-competitive teams to move earlier.

It doesn’t seem that’s Colorado’s approach, however. President of baseball operations Paul DePodesta told Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post over the weekend that the team’s trade talks thus far have been preliminary. “We haven’t canvassed the league or anything like that, but we are starting to have some conversations if there is a potential match,” DePodesta said.

Colorado’s baseball operations leader wouldn’t speak in absolutes when asked if anyone on the roster was untouchable, though he implied there are a few core players they’re unlikely to trade. “There would be certain guys that would be really, really hard for us to move. I think that’s probably true of any team,” he told Saunders. “There are guys that we feel are hopefully foundational players for us going forward.”

He followed up by noting that the front office needed to be “opportunistic” if teams called about certain players while saying “there are a lot of guys that we’re not actively shopping.” DePodesta didn’t specifically highlight anyone in that group, though it seems safe to assume they’re not going to trade currently injured starter Chase Dollander.

Power-hitting catcher Hunter Goodman is under club control through 2029 and would be one of their better trade chips. The Rockies have shied away from trading players with that kind of remaining club control at the last handful of deadlines. Those came under previous front offices but the same Monfort ownership group.

24-year-old shortstop Ezequiel Tovar was supposed to be a foundational piece of the rebuild. He’s signed for $51.5MM between 2027-30 and is hitting .209/.259/.323 on the season. Tovar is a gifted defender but hasn’t shown any signs of improving an overaggressive approach in the batter’s box. Even if the Rockies could find a team willing to take the rest of the contract — which seems unlikely given how poorly he’s hit over the past couple seasons — the return would be so diminished that they probably won’t move him.

Which players on the Colorado roster are they likely to shop over the coming weeks?

Reliever Antonio Senzatela is the most obvious candidate. The righty has gone from struggling starter and fringe roster player to quality late-game arm. Senzatela carries a 1.98 earned run average across 36 1/3 innings on the season. His 21.4% strikeout percentage is still a bit below average but easily a personal best. Senzatela’s average fastball has jumped two ticks to 97.3 mph, and he’s getting strong results on a low-90s cutter which he added late last season.

Senzatela is playing on a $12MM salary, around $7MM of which is still owed. That’ll drop to roughly $3.5MM by the August 3 deadline. There’s a $14MM club option for the 2027 season that still seems a little too expensive. Teams will probably view Senzatela as a rental, and while he’ll likely be the third or fourth best arm in a contending bullpen, he should net the Rockies a couple mid-level prospects.

There aren’t many other obvious trade candidates in the bullpen. There’d certainly be teams interested in taking a flier on Seth Halvorsen, who is controllable for five seasons and has a triple digit fastball, but those traits are similarly appealing to Colorado. Jimmy Herget and Brennan Bernardino aren’t going to net more than an organizational depth type.

Colorado made a handful of one-year free agent rotation additions as potential deadline candidates. None of Jose Quintana, Michael Lorenzen or Tomoyuki Sugano has pitched well enough to get much interest from a contender.

Quintana suffered an elbow sprain that’ll likely take him out through the deadline. Lorenzen has an earned run average above 8.00. Sugano’s 3.92 ERA is solid on the surface, especially given the Coors Field effect, but it comes with one of the league’s worst strikeout rates (13.6%) and continued home run concerns. Statcast has Sugano with a 7.52 expected ERA based on the lack of whiffs and amount of hard contact he allows.

Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy are each in their arbitration window and could get some interest as complementary outfielders. Moniak, currently out with right ankle tendinitis, has raked at Coors Field over the past season and a half. He doesn’t hit lefties or provide much defensively but could be a strong side corner outfield platoon target. He’s playing on a $4MM salary and could jump into the $7-8MM range next season, assuming he’s tendered a contract for his final arbitration season.

McCarthy is making just $1.525MM and controllable for two years after this one. He can play center field but is probably best suited in left. McCarthy has alternated solid and awful offensive seasons but is back on the upswing, batting .282/.324/.453 in 188 plate appearances. The center field trade market is thin enough that a team like the Rays, Astros or Guardians could view him as a viable regular.

The 29-year-old had previously spent the season in Pat Murphy’s relief group. Woodford is a low-leverage arm who logged 23 1/3 innings across 16 appearances. He allowed just under seven earned runs per nine innings with a bel0w-average 17.9% strikeout rate. Woodford has never missed bats but is willing to attack the strike zone and can cover multiple innings.

It’s the seventh straight season in which Woodford has picked up a decent amount of big league work. His rate metrics have been well below-average for the past few seasons, but he’s been a durable depth arm. Woodford has a 5.25 earned run average in a little under 300 big league innings. He owns a 4.07 mark across parts of seven Triple-A campaigns. Woodford has been a starter for most of his minor league career and could work from the rotation in Nashville.

1. Brewers/A’s in Vegas

The Athletics are playing at Las Vegas Ballpark this week. The first matchup in the extremely hitter-friendly venue delivered. The Brewers escaped with a 15-14 win in 12 innings. The clubs combined for 11 home runs, including a 483-foot shot by Shea Langeliers, the longest of the season. William Contreras seemed to put the game away in the 10th inning on a three-run homer that gave Milwaukee a four-run lead. No margin is safe in this ballpark, though. The A’s pulled within a run on a Nick Kurtz homer, then tied it with a Jonah Heim solo shot. Milwaukee regained the lead in the 12th inning, and Chad Patrick stranded a runner at third base to secure the win. This was just the first of six games at Las Vegas Ballpark.

2. Cease slated to return

Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease is expected to get the ball on Tuesday against the Phillies. The free agent acquisition is returning from a minimum stint on the injured list with a left hamstring strain. Cease scuffled through his lone rehab appearance, allowing five earned runs on six hits and two homers across four innings. He got up to 75 pitches, so he should have close to a normal workload against Philadelphia. Toronto is finally getting healthy in the rotation. Max Scherzer is lined up to start Wednesday, and Shane Bieber is also only a couple of rehab outings away from rejoining the club.

3. Mancini back in the majors

Veteran first baseman Trey Mancini made his long-awaited return to the big leagues on Monday with the Angels. The 34-year-old hadn’t seen MLB action since 2023 with the Cubs. Mancini wasted no time checking back in, recording an RBI single in his first at-bat. He picked up two more hits later in the contest. Mancini had been a strong producer in the middle of the Orioles’ lineup for multiple seasons. He struggled mightily after being dealt to the Astros, then failed to stick with the Cubs. Mancini inked a minor league deal with the Angels in January. He could factor in at first base and DH with Nolan Schanuel still playing through an ankle injury.

Photo courtesy of  Lucas Peltier, Imagn Images

Of course, there’s plenty of time for things to turn around. As we’ll get into in the full breakdowns of our top 10, several players on this list stumbled through poor March/April showings before finding their form in May. If that continues through season’s end, then a poor April performance will be a mere footnote that teams pay little heed. That cuts both ways, however. An impending free agent who’s out to a strong start right now could suffer an injury of note or tank his stock with a poor four-month finish to the season. Power rankings are subjective and inherently fluid — perhaps more so than ever with this class.

As a reminder, our rankings at MLBTR are based on earning power. We’re not ranking these free agents based on potential impact in 2027 or 2028. Sonny Gray is having a nice season, but he’ll be 37 in November and probably isn’t going to command more than two years in free agency, for instance. Despite the fact that he’d be a big boost to a team’s 2027 chances, he’s not likely to land on any installments of this year’s power rankings (unless the class really tanks as a whole over the next few months).

With that preamble stated, let’s dive into the rankings…

1. Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers

Skubal’s recent elbow surgery rules out a third consecutive American League Cy Young Award, but it doesn’t do much to alter his broader free agent stock. He’s on a fast track to recovery after undergoing a cutting-edge “NanoNeedle” arthroscopic procedure to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow. Skubal had surgery one month ago, was throwing two weeks later, and threw a five-inning rehab start yesterday. A return later this week isn’t out of the question.

In seven starts pre-surgery, Skubal looked as good as ever. He pitched 43 1/3 innings with a 2.70 earned run average, a 27.1% strikeout rate and a 3.6% walk rate that would register as a career-best mark over a full season. The left-hander’s velocity was down a mile per hour relative to 2025 but right in line with his overall career mark. His 13.7% swinging-strike rate is great but not up to his previously elite 16-17% levels. Then again, Skubal clearly wasn’t pitching at 100%. Posting the marks he did with an elbow issue that eventually required an elbow scope is impressive.

If Skubal comes back strong, teams aren’t going to pay much mind to the elbow procedure. He’s been the best pitcher in baseball since 2024 and won’t turn 30 years old until November. The expectation entering the season was that Skubal would reach free agency and set a new record for the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher, eclipsing Yoshinbou Yamamoto’s $325MM guarantee. That’s still firmly in play, barring diminished performance during his return.

And, if the Tigers can’t pull themselves back into contention and ultimately have to trade Skubal, he’ll come with the added benefit of being ineligible for a qualifying offer, meaning he won’t cost his new team a draft pick. Even if the Tigers hold Skubal, however, his status is so high that no team is going to balk at the draft cost to sign him. Pitchers like this just don’t come around often, and when they hit the open market, a bidding war should be expected.

2. Freddy Peralta, RHP, Mets

Peralta isn’t having his best season, but he’s having a very good one and getting better as it progresses. Peralta, who turned 30 last week, celebrated his birthday a day early with six innings of one-run ball in a win over the red-hot Mariners. He’s posted a 2.98 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 43.1% grounder rate in 45 1/3 innings across his past eight trips to the mound. Overall, Peralta touts a 3.38 ERA, 23.9% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 42% ground-ball rate in 13 starts — all while averaging about 5 2/3 innings per appearance.

One of baseball’s most consistent starters since establishing himself, Peralta pitched to a 3.30 ERA from 2021-25. His ERA each season was between 2.70 and 3.86. His strikeout rate sat between 27.1% and 33.6% each season along the way, and his walk rate fell between 7.9% and 9.7%. Peralta hasn’t had a hiccup or a true down season. He’s a playoff-caliber starter year-in, year-out. Peralta turns 31 next June, which is still young enough to command five, six or even seven years in free agency.

The quality of his finish will play a significant role in which of those lengths ultimately comes to fruition, but Peralta is a clear candidate for a contract north of $100MM. A look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows Max Fried (eight years, $218MM), Blake Snell (five years, $182MM), Aaron Nola (seven years, $172MM), Jacob deGrom (five years, $185MM) and Kevin Gausman (five years, $110MM) as the starting pitchers who’ve reached free agency ahead of their age-31 season (if not older) over the past half decade and commanded nine-figure deals. Peralta isn’t likely to reach the very top end of that spectrum, but he has a better track record than Gausman did when he signed his deal five years ago.

Like Skubal, Peralta is pitching for a losing club that entered the season firmly expecting to contend. If the Mets bite the bullet and decide to sell some veteran pieces this summer, Peralta will be among the most sought-after names on the trade market. A trade would render him ineligible for a qualifying offer, which would only enhance his appeal on the open market.

3. Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B, Yankees

Chisholm had a 30-30 season in 2025 and went 24 homers/40 steals in 2024. Speed/power packages of this caliber are rare and often locked up on early-career extensions. That’s not the case with Chisholm, who’ll reach free agency at 28 and play all of his first free-agent year at 29. Entering the season, it seemed like a compelling package with a $100MM+ deal on the horizon.

A couple months into the ’26 campaign, and things aren’t so rosy. Chisholm had one of the worst months to begin the year. Through April 30, he was hitting .202/.281/.330 — 26% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. He looked more like a candidate to sign an opt-out-laden bounceback deal than a long-term contract.

Chisholm turned a corner in early May, and since the calendar flipped beyond April, he’s looked like his typical self. Dating back to May 1, he carries a .265/.331/.460 batting line with five homers and seven steals. That’s a 120 wRC+ (20% better than league-average production), which is right in line with last year’s season long 126 mark. Chisholm has walked at a 9.4% rate and fanned at a 29.1% clip since May — again, not far off last year’s season-long numbers.

If Jazz is back to being Jazz, his poor April probably won’t matter much. He’s a clear candidate to receive and reject a qualifying offer in that scenario, and the associated draft pick cost might cause some teams to shy away. The market generally doesn’t pay second basemen, but Chisholm would likely be valued based on his overall offensive prowess rather than his defensive home. That he can at least claim the ability to play on the left side of the infield or in the outfield helps his cause, even if he’s clearly best-suited for work at second base.

In most seasons, Chisholm would be closer to the No. 8-10 spots on this list, but it’s a grim class and he offers a blend of youth, offensive upside and track record not present elsewhere in this class. A big finish will make him the consensus top position player in the class. A poor or only slightly above-average showing over the next four months will leave him in a difficult spot — likely weighing disappointing long-term offers versus higher-risk, short-term deals with opt-outs.

4. Michael King, RHP, Padres

King isn’t technically a free agent yet, but he can opt out of the final two seasons of his three-year, $75MM contract at season’s end. Based on the way things have been going thus far, that seems likely to happen. The right-hander’s 2025 season was derailed by injury, but King has averaged just over 5 2/3 innings over his first 13 starts, turning in a 3.41 ERA over 74 innings. His 23.3% strikeout rate is down from the 27.7% mark he logged in a career-best 2024 season but is still better than average. His 9.8% walk rate is a career-worst mark — the first time he’s been worse than average in that regard — but he’s kept 47% of batted balls against him on the ground (about five percentage points north of average).

King’s 94.1 mph average fastball is up slightly from the past couple seasons. His 10.9% swinging-strike rate is close to average, sitting between last year’s 10.4% mark and 2024’s 12% mark. He doesn’t have age on his side, as he’ll turn 32 next May, but King rejected a qualifying offer from the Padres last November and is accordingly ineligible to receive a second one.

King’s age probably caps him at a four-year deal. Blake Snell and Jacob deGrom are the only two pitchers in the past decade to score a contract of five or more years on the open market ahead of their age-32 season. It’s possible King is again limited to three-year offers with a hearty annual value, but he pulled a guaranteed $75MM on the back of an injury-ruined season, so him topping that guarantee after a healthy season — even when he’s a year older — seems plenty possible.

5. Randy Arozarena, OF, Mariners

Arozarena has been quite consistent since becoming established as a big leaguer. From 2021 to 2025, he hit between 20 and 27 home runs each year and stole 20 to 32 bases. His wRC+ finished in the 114 to 127 range. FanGraphs credited him with two to four wins above replacement in each campaign. In short, he has been a solidly above-average corner outfielder with some power and speed.

His 2026 season has largely been more of the same. He only has six home runs, which is a bit shy of his usual pace. However, some batted ball luck has actually made his overall offense a bit better than usual. He has a .285/.376/.442 line and 138 wRC+ on the year. That is due in part to his .358 batting average on balls in play but some regression in that category would nudge him into his usual range.

He already has 18 stolen bases in less than half the season, putting him on pace to set a new career high. His defensive numbers are trending up slightly. Outs Above Average has always disliked him in the field, giving him minus-6 grade in 2024 and 2025. This year’s minus-1 isn’t great but is a relative improvement. Defensive Runs Saved has wobbled for Arozarena but had him below average in 2024 and 2025. This year, he’s at +3 DRS so far. Put it all together and Arozarena is at 2.2 fWAR already, on pace to beat his previous best of 3.9.

Though he is generally having a good season, Arozarena’s earning power is capped by a few factors. He was a late bloomer and is getting to free agency at a relatively older age, as he’ll turn 32 before next year. As a corner-only guy, that’s a profile that doesn’t lead to major long-term deals.

A look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that the biggest deal for an outfielder that age or older in recent years was the four-year, $78MM deal the Mets gave to Starling Marte, who was still a viable center fielder. Next on the list is the three-year, $66MM pact the Dodgers gave to Teoscar Hernández, a deal which contained notable deferrals. Mitch Haniger, Jorge Soler and Jurickson Profar signed three-year deals in the $42-43.5MM range. Those deals give a vague approximation of what Arozarena could reasonably expect, though he’s probably closer to Hernández territory than the latter trio.

6. Brandon Lowe, 2B, Pirates

Like Arozarena, Lowe is a 32-year-old who plays a position that the market doesn’t tend to value all that highly. As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, the only second basemen to land deals of three or more years in free agency over the past half decade have been foreign players coming over from the Korea Baseball Organization. Hyeseong Kim and Sung-Mun Song, however, signed for modest annual values that reflected the uncertainty surrounding whether their offensive output could be sustained against major league pitching.

Marcus Semien is the last pure second baseman to land a notable multi-year free agent deal, but his seven-year, $175MM isn’t a clean comp for Lowe, either. Semien was 31 in the first year of that contract and was coming off a Gold Glove-winning season at second base after years spent as a shortstop. Most clubs viewed him as a viable option at shortstop. The Rangers only kept him at second base because they also signed Corey Seager that winter. Semien was also coming off a 6-WAR season. Good as Lowe has been, he’s not going to get to that point.

Be that as it may, there’s reason to believe Lowe can buck the trend of 32-year-olds and second basemen being shrugged off by the market. He has a long track record of hitting for power and is doing so at a level we haven’t seen from him since 2020-21. Lowe has already belted 15 homers in 60 games. His .270 ISO (slugging minus batting average) is his best since a 39-homer campaign back in 2021. His 10.7% walk rate is a nice rebound after a couple down seasons in that regard, and his 25.2% strikeout rate — while still higher than league average — is the second-best mark of his career. Most encouraging is that Lowe’s 82% in-zone contact rate is the second-best mark of his career as well.

Lowe can credibly claim that he’s the second-best offensive second baseman in the sport behind Brice Turang this year. His oft-maligned defense has improved, too. Whether it’s sustainable or a one-year blip is an open question that scouts will have to weigh heavily, but he’s been credited with positive marks from both Defensive Runs Saved (2) and Outs Above Average (5) in 2026 after drawing cumulatively negative grades the over the five preceding seasons (including career-worst marks of -14 DRS and -14 OAA in 2025).

Lowe has some experience in left field and at first base, even if he’s spent the vast majority of his playing time at second base. He also has more than enough bat to be an above-average designated hitter. Even though second basemen are rarely paid well, we saw Jorge Polanco get a two-year, $40MM deal for his age-32 and age-33 seasons last year. Lowe’s performance has been steadier over the years, and his production right now is outpacing what Polanco did last year in a rebound season after an awful 2024 campaign.

There are probably some teams that would prefer Lowe’s left-handed bat at second base to Arozarena’s right-handed bat in left field. A deal north of $60MM seems plausible if he can continue his blistering start to the season.

7. Casey Mize, RHP, Tigers

For a former first overall pick, it is perhaps underwhelming to some that Mize hasn’t turned into an ace. But expectations aside, Mize has developed into a valuable mid-rotation starter. In 2021, he took the ball 30 times for the Tigers and posted a 3.71 earned run average. His 19.3% strikeout rate was low but he only walked 6.7% of batters faced and induced grounders on 48.1% of balls in play.

Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2022 and 2023 seasons. In 2024 and 2025, he was back to his previous form. He posted a 4.12 ERA over 251 1/3 innings across those two campaigns. His 20.1% strikeout rate was again below par but with an excellent 6% walk rate and solid 43.2% ground ball rate. He made two postseason starts last year with a flat ERA of 3.00 in those.

Here in 2026, he has twice gone on the injured list due to an adductor issue, but the results have been encouraging around that. In his nine starts, Mize has thrown 47 2/3 innings with a 2.27 ERA. His 35.2% ground ball rate is a drop for him but he has increased his strikeout rate to 26.5% while keeping his walks at a 6.5% level. He has thrown his slider way more at the expense of his slurve. He went to the slider 16.3% of the time last year but that’s up to 25.1%, while his slurve usage has gone from 13.3% to 4.7%.

A reliable mid-rotation starter going into his age-30 season can land a healthy contract, even for pitchers who haven’t shown Cy Young upside. In recent years, Eduardo Rodriguez, Taijuan Walker, Marcus Stroman, Jameson Taillon and Luis Severino have signed deals of three or four years in the range of $67-80MM while in their early 30s. Just below that are guys like Jon Gray, Nick Pivetta and Steven Matz (Cardinals deal), who signed in the $44-56MM range.

8. Luis Arraez, 2B, Giants

Luis Arraez the hitter is well known. He doesn’t have a ton of power and doesn’t draw many walks but is the game’s preeminent contact hitter. In an age where the league average strikeout rate is around 22%, Arraez is usually somewhere about a third of that. He won three straight batting titles from 2022 to 2024.

He had a bit of a dip in 2025. As he battled a thumb injury, his batting average dipped to .292, a strong number for most but low for him. Since that’s his main asset, that reduced his overall output. He hit just eight home runs on the year and only walked in 5% of his plate appearances. That left him with a .292/.327/.392 line and 104 wRC+, barely above league average. Since his defense has generally been poor in his big league career, he went into free agency last winter without a ton of juice. He settled for a one-year, $12MM deal with the Giants.

Here in 2026, the offense is back. He has only two homers and just a 5.4% walk rate but the batting average is up to .323, much more normal for him. His .323/.359/.431 line leads to a 120 wRC+, a nice improvement relative to last year.

What might be more interesting is the improvement he has shown in the field. The Giants plugged Arraez in as their regular second baseman, which seemed like a recipe for disaster. He came into this year with almost 3,000 innings at the keystone and had graded at minus-6 Defensive Runs Saved and a shocking minus-36 Outs Above Average in that time. The Twins started giving him more time at first base back in 2022. The Marlins tried moving him back to second in 2023 but the Padres acquired him in 2024 and mostly had him back at first. He only had 82 innings at second in 2025.

The idea of Arraez suddenly becoming a strong second baseman in his age-29 season wasn’t on most people’s radar but that seems to be happening. In over 500 innings this year, DRS has put Arraez at league average. OAA, which was so remarkably down on Arraez, has him at +9 this year. JJ Wetherholt is the only second baseman ahead of Arraez on the OAA leaderboard.

Defensive metrics can be wonky in small samples, so some of this is to be taken with a grain of salt. Nico Hoerner has +8 OAA on the year, for instance, and most people probably don’t think Arraez is suddenly better than Hoerner on the dirt.

Still, the fact that Arraez seems playable at the keystone should open up his market. Second basemen don’t usually get big paychecks in free agency but being passable there is better than being viable at first base only. Jeimer Candelario and Jorge Polanco recently signed deals in the $40-45MM range as solid bats with questionable defense but the capacity to at least play a couple of infield positions.

9. Adrian Morejon, LHP, Padres

The only reliever in the top 10, Morejon has some of the best stuff of any southpaw in the game. His 99.4 mph average sinker speed is tops among left-handed fastballs and eighth overall. He has a plus slider and an excellent changeup, which he uses almost exclusively against righty hitters.

Morejon is among the top 10 relievers in swinging strikes and has the third-highest opponents chase rate (minimum 20 innings). He’s top five in ground-ball percentage at 61.6% while posting plus strikeout (28.2%) and walk (5.3%) marks. His 2.34 FIP and 2.08 SIERA are among the best in MLB.

It’s all the ingredients of a wipeout back-end arm. Morejon was just that between 2024-25, combining for a 2.42 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of opponents in 137 1/3 innings. His ERA has spiked to an ugly 4.60 mark this season, though that comes mostly from a handful of bad early-season outings. Morejon allowed runs in four of his first six appearances but carries a 2.92 ERA dating back to April 14. He has reeled off 11 scoreless appearances in his past 12 around a three-run clunker against Philadelphia last week.

Morejon only has six career saves, as he has been a setup arm in front of Robert Suarez and Mason Miller for the past few seasons. It’s admittedly an indictment of the overall free agent class that a setup arm with a near-5.00 ERA nabs a spot on the top 10, but it’s also a testament to Morejon’s ceiling. There are probably teams that feel he’s one of the three to five best left-handed relievers in MLB right now. He’s squarely in the prime of his career, turning 28 next February. Tanner Scott commanded a four-year deal with a lesser track record at age 30. Devin Williams secured a three-year, $51MM deal at 31 with a similar gap between his ERA and much stronger underlying marks.

It’s also worth considering the possibility another team targets Morejon as an upside play for the rotation. He already has the changeup and plus command that clubs prefer in a starter. Morejon was a high-end rotation prospect in the minor leagues who only moved to the bullpen because of a series of early-career arm injuries (2019 shoulder impingement and Tommy John surgery in ’21). Morejon continued to battle injuries through 2023 but has been fully healthy for the past two and a half seasons.

Morejon will be eligible for a qualifying offer. The Padres have shied away from making the QO to borderline candidates in recent years as they navigate short-term payroll concerns. The franchise’s forthcoming sale to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones could change that, but Morejon still seems a longer shot qualifying offer candidate.

10. Ian Happ, OF, Cubs

Happ and Arozarena have been bucketed pretty similarly on previews of the class. They’re both left fielders who’ll turn 32 before Opening Day 2027. Both players have been consistently above-average but shy of elite offensive players. They’re having similarly productive ’26 campaigns.

The main separator is a spike in Happ’s strikeout rate. The former #9 overall pick has fanned at a 32.1% clip on the season, easily his highest rate since 2018. Happ has never had great pure hitting ability but had trimmed his strikeouts to a slightly higher than average 23.4% mark between 2022-25.

Despite the increased swing-and-miss, Happ has some of the best numbers of his career. He’s walking at a typically excellent 13.9% rate while hitting for power. Happ has 14 home runs through the team’s first 66 games, putting him on pace to eclipse 30 for the first time in his career. Even if he doesn’t quite maintain this kind of power production, he’s essentially a lock for his fifth 20-plus homer season in the past six years (and sixth of his career).

Happ has done a disproportionate amount of this year’s damage versus right-handed pitching. He has been better from the left side of the dish throughout his career, though he’s generally close to average versus lefties and well above against right-handers. This year, he’s mashing righties at a .267/.395/.559 clip while limping to a .153/.228/.319 mark versus southpaws. It might just be a blip but is something interested suitors will need to weigh if it continues all season.

Although he’s limited to a corner, Happ has a reputation as one of the top defensive left fielders in the game. He has won the NL Gold Glove in four straight seasons. Outs Above Average has typically rated him right around par. Happ has traditionally fared better by Defensive Runs Saved but also has an essentially neutral grade (+1) in 521 1/3 frames this season. Assuming they remain in contention and avoid a deadline sale, the Cubs will need to weigh qualifying offers for Happ and Seiya Suzuki.

Note: While players with opt-out clauses are eligible, MLBTR currently projects Bo Bichette, Tatsuya Imai and Corbin Burnes not to test free agency.

Honorable Mentions (listed alphabetically): David Bednar, Kris Bubic, J.P. Crawford, Kevin Gausman, Sonny Gray, Trent Grisham, Clay Holmes, Shota Imanaga, Ryan Jeffers, Nick Martinez, Michael Soroka, Seiya Suzuki, Gleyber Torres, Daulton Varsho, Taylor Ward, Brandon Woodruff

Images courtesy of Imagn Images.

That would ordinarily point toward a likely deadline seller. However, a mediocre American League playoff picture has kept every team aside from the Angels within range of a postseason spot. With almost two months to go until the trade deadline, front offices aren’t going to be eager to sell. That’s certainly true in Houston, where general manager Dana Brown said the team hasn’t even considered the possibility of trading its two best position players.

“We’ve had zero discussions about trading (Jeremy Peña or Yordan Alvarez) internally,” Brown told Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle. “We’ve had zero conversations. So we can’t go trading two pillars. Both those guys hit at the top of our lineup.”

It’s not surprising given the playoff picture and Houston’s general win-now posture. No one would’ve expected the Astros to seriously entertain trading either of those players in June. Alvarez has been the best hitter in MLB this year and is signed for two seasons beyond this one at $26MM annually. Peña is making $9.475MM and will likely land around $15MM for his final season of arbitration in 2027.

Both players would have immense appeal on the trade market. They’re also crucial to Houston’s hope of returning to the postseason after a narrow miss in 2025. Owner Jim Crane has operated with a win-now mentality for more than a decade. Brown, who is in his fourth season as GM, is in the final year of his contract. He’ll surely be motivated to add if the Astros are around the playoff mix.

“To be sellers, for me, it would be like we failed,” the GM told Kawahara. “So I don’t think this team is a team that’s going to be sellers at the deadline. I think we’re good enough. I think the division is wide open. We’ve gone through some injuries; I think other teams are starting to experience some injuries as well. The division is wide open, the postseason is wide open. So, I don’t foresee us being sellers.”

The Mariners, generally viewed as the preseason division favorites, are 35-32 and have the second-best run differential in the American League (+32). They’re two games up on the Rangers, three up on the A’s, and 4.5 clear of Houston. The Astros have a better path in the Wild Card, where a 32-33 Texas team currently holds the last playoff spot. Toronto, the A’s, and Baltimore sit between the Rangers and the Astros.

Alvarez, Peña, and Hunter Brown (eligible for arbitration through 2028) would be impact trade chips if Houston reversed course. It stands to reason the Astros haven’t given any thought to dealing their ace either. Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes were much discussed over the offseason. Walker, signed for $20MM annually through next season, has rebounded from a middling ’25 campaign to hit .252/.324/.500 with 16 homers through 278 plate appearances. Paredes is hitting a slightly disappointing .241/.331/.415 in 257 trips, though his bat has picked up over the past couple weeks.

Houston’s injury-riddled pitching staff was the biggest issue during their ugly first month. That has been better of late, particularly a bullpen that has the fifth-lowest ERA (2.88) over the past 30 days. They recently welcomed Josh Hader back in the ninth inning and could see Hunter Brown return from a shoulder strain next week. A lineup that was among MLB’s best early in the season has gone cold as the arms have come around, however. Houston hitters own a .221/.293/.375 slash line in the last month.

Injuries to Carlos Correa and Yainer Diaz have exposed preexisting concerns about the lineup depth. Walker has cooled after a blistering start to the season. Second-year right fielder Cam Smith has been inconsistent. Center fielder Jake Meyers hasn’t hit since coming back from an oblique injury. Left field has been a revolving door. Diaz’s own oblique issue has left them with Christian Vázquez as their starter behind the dish.

Adding to the outfield feels like a must if they’re in position to buy. They unsuccessfully tried to acquire a proven lefty-hitting outfield bat over the offseason, reportedly by floating Paredes in trade conversations. That was motivated by a perceived infield surplus that no longer exists with Correa out for the season, but Houston’s thin farm system and lack of margin under the luxury tax limit their flexibility on the trade front.

Moncada seemingly never fully recovered from the right knee issue that cost him five weeks last summer. The veteran switch-hitter said the injury most severely impacted him when he would bat from the right side. The Angels accordingly limited him to 26 plate appearances versus lefty pitching this year. That wasn’t enough to avoid an IL stint, nor apparently to stave off surgery.

This is the fifth straight season in which Moncada has missed time. He has lost over a month in each of the past four years and hasn’t reached 400 plate appearances in a season since 2022. Moncada remained a slightly above-average hitter when he was able to take the field between 2023-25. That hasn’t been the case this season, as he batted .189/.308/.297 in 130 trips before going on the shelf.

Moncada is playing his second season in Anaheim on a $4MM contract. He’ll return to free agency in November. If this procedure winds up sidelining him for most or all of the remaining 2026 schedule, he’d very likely be limited to a minor league deal next offseason.

Journeyman utility player Donovan Walton has gotten the bulk of the third base playing time over the last couple weeks. The Halos recalled 22-year-old Denzer Guzman from Triple-A this evening. He’s mashing at a .336/.403/.571 clip in the minors and is one of the better prospects in a weak farm system. Guzman is in the lineup at the hot corner tonight against Houston. That’ll be the plan for the time being, as skipper Kurt Suzuki told reporters (including Jack Janes of The Sporting Tribune) that Guzman will be the primary third baseman.

It’s the start of what’ll likely be more than a month-long buildup. Acquired from the Cubs as a prospect in the 2023 Jeimer Candelario deadline trade, Herz started 19 games for the Nats a year later. He posted a solid 4.16 ERA while striking out nearly 28% of batters faced as a rookie. He was the top swing-and-miss arm in the rotation that year.

Washington starters are middle of the pack in strikeout rate this season. They’re nevertheless in the bottom third of MLB with a 4.59 earned run average, largely thanks to one of the sport’s highest home run rates. The rotation has been better of late, albeit with the aid of a heavy usage of openers.

Their actual rotation has been fairly settled all season, however. Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Jake Irvin, Miles Mikolas and Zack Littell have gone every fifth day as either a starter or bulk arm behind an opener for most of the season. The Nats lost Irvin to a shoulder strain in late May, necessitating their first real change of the year.

Lefty Andrew Alvarez appears to have that job for the time being. The 26-year-old made his first start of the season on Wednesday, working 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the Marlins. He’s slated to start the second game of their ongoing series in San Francisco tomorrow.

Alvarez was on and off the active roster twice early in the season. He has worked as a starter in Triple-A but had pitched long relief at the MLB level in 2026 until last week. Alvarez only sits in the low-90s, but he has recorded a 27% strikeout rate over 20 1/3 big league innings this year. He had some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in Triple-A as well, relying mostly on his slider and curveball to compensate for the mediocre fastball.

“Right now, we have our rotation set,” manager Blake Butera said over the weekend (link via Jessica Camerato of MLB.com). They are carrying Mitchell Parker and Brad Lord on the big league roster, but they’ve been full-time long relievers this season after holding rotation spots for a good chunk of 2025. Rookie righty Riley Cornelio is also in a multi-inning relief role despite working as a starter with Triple-A Rochester.

Cornelio just came back up over the weekend. Washington optioned righty reliever Cole Henry in a corresponding move. Henry goes back down for the first time since his MLB debut last April. The former second-rounder tossed 52 2/3 innings of 4.27 ERA ball as a rookie. He has been limited to 12 frames this year by a rotator cuff strain that cost him six weeks. Henry has surrendered 10 runs (eight earned) on 14 hits and six walks.

While they’ve tinkered on the pitching staff, the Nationals have not made any roster moves on the position player side in almost a month. They’ve carried the same 13-man hitting group since they optioned Brady House and Joey Wiemer to recall Dylan Crews and Andrés Chaparro in the middle of May. House’s demotion opened the third base job, which Curtis Mead has seized.

Mead, acquired from the White Sox after failing to break camp with Chicago, has hit .247/.356/.487 with nine home runs through 180 trips to the dish. He’s making contact at a career-high rate and chasing fewer pitches off the plate. The 25-year-old former top prospect has played his way into the middle of the lineup. He’s mostly at the hot corner after beginning the season in a first base/designated hitter role (though he was back at first base tonight).

Luis García Jr. has been the primary first baseman all season. He has a league average .256/.284/.442 slash through 208 plate appearances. 24-year-old Abimelec Ortiz, one of five prospects acquired from Texas in the MacKenzie Gore deal, has 10 longballs with a .263/.361/.514 line in Rochester. Although there’s a case for giving Ortiz a look, Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic wrote last week that the Nationals are unlikely to call him up until after the All-Star Break.

That seemingly suggests they’re content with García, whose bat picked up in May after a rough April, continuing as an everyday first baseman. García has plenty of second base experience in his career but seems to have firmly moved off the position. No team has gotten less offensive production from the keystone, where Nasim Nuñez and Jorbit Vivas (plus a few scattered at-bats from Mead and José Tena) have combined to hit .185/.279/.208.

Minnesota has an opening on the 40-man after designating outfielder James Outman for assignment on Saturday. Rashi has a full slate of minor league options, so the Twins wouldn’t need to make any corresponding moves if they assign him to Triple-A St. Paul.

It’s the latest bullpen dart-throw for a team trying to cheaply build a functional relief group. The Twins have also acquired Yoendrys Gómez and Justin Lawrence via in-season trades. They added mostly reclamation targets or minor trade pickups over the winter, taking a volume approach after tearing down an excellent bullpen at the 2025 deadline.

Rashi is a 30-year-old righty who has appeared in 13 MLB games over the past two seasons. He owns a 5.40 earned run average despite a near-30% strikeout rate over 20 big league frames. Rashi has a stellar 1.03 ERA over 26 1/3 innings with Triple-A Reno this year. He has fanned an above-average 25.5% of batters faced but walked nearly 12% of opponents.

Despite the Triple-A production, an Arizona team light on bullpen depth dropped Rashi from the roster. That’s explained mostly by his below-average velocity, as he averages around 91 mph with his fastball. He leans heavily on his secondary stuff as a result, mixing a slider, curveball and splitter.

The Twins have the sixth-highest bullpen ERA in MLB. They’ve been better of late, ranking 14th over the past month, but that has come in spite of the third-highest walk rate. Gómez and Anthony Banda have worked around some free passes to manage strong recent results as part of a committee approach to leverage spots.

Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic first reported the trade.

Tromp spent a couple weeks on Atlanta’s active roster. He was called up in mid-May when Drake Baldwin went on the injured list. Atlanta lost Sean Murphy and Baldwin in quick succession almost immediately after they’d squeezed Jonah Heim off the roster. Murphy had returned from hip surgery but quickly broke his finger. Baldwin then strained his oblique, leaving the Braves with a light-hitting catching duo of Tromp and Sandy León.

It’s now León and Wynns. Tromp started six of his 12 appearances during his brief MLB stint. He went 5-25 with a double. Tromp didn’t walk and struck out seven times. He was charged with a couple errors and a passed ball while throwing out one of six attempted base stealers. Tromp has now played at the highest level in each of the last seven seasons. He has yet to top the 64 plate appearances he logged as a rookie with the 2020 Giants.

The Braves like the out-of-options Tromp enough as a third or fourth catcher that they’ve given him some MLB time every year since 2022. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they look to bring him back on a minor league deal despite his .169/.253/.325 showing over 24 games with Triple-A Gwinnett.

Atlanta is light on healthy organizational catching depth. Jair Camargo and 25-year-old Adam Zebrowski are the current catching tandem for the Stripers, who placed Maverick Handley on the injured list last week. Handley is on the 40-man roster. Camargo and Zebrowski, who have a combined five games of MLB experience, are not. Baldwin could be back within the next two weeks but Murphy will likely be down beyond the All-Star Break.

The Halos also confirmed their previously reported call-up of rookie infielder Denzer Guzman, who’ll make his season debut tonight with a start at third base. In corresponding moves, they placed Vaughn Grissom (left oblique strain) and Adam Frazier (right elbow inflammation) on the 10-day injured list. Grissom’s placement is retroactive to June 5, while Frazier’s is retroactive to June 6. Yoán Moncada moves from the 10-day to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man roster spot for Mancini.

Mancini signed an offseason minor league contract. He had sat out the 2024 campaign and only played a half-season in Triple-A with the Diamondbacks last year. Mancini never seemed likely to break camp as a result. Assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake, he has hit .273/.377/.464 with six home runs across 224 plate appearances. Mancini has walked at a huge 14.3% clip against an average 22% strikeout rate.

They’re not dominant numbers but are a little better than those of the average Pacific Coast League hitter. Mancini struggled in his most recent look at big league pitching, as he posted a .234/.299/.336 slash over 79 games for the Cubs in 2023. He hasn’t been an above-average MLB hitter since he was traded from the Orioles at the ’22 deadline, but he made a couple strong defensive plays to help the Astros win that year’s World Series.

The Angels welcomed Nolan Schanuel back from the injured list over the weekend. Schanuel missed a couple weeks with left ankle inflammation. He played on Saturday and Sunday but will get a day off tonight after reporting lingering soreness (relayed by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). Schanuel said he does not expect to need another stint on the injured list.

Moncada has been on the injured list since May 22. He has battled right knee discomfort going back to last summer. He’s now officially out into the middle of July, all but removing any chance the Angels could find a trade partner at the deadline willing to assume any portion of his $4MM salary.