Braxton Ashcraft is aiming to join the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation, hopefully as soon as next season. For now, the 25-year-old right-hander is putting up impressive numbers while being used prudently in his first taste of major league action. Since debuting in late May, Ashcraft has made 23 appearances — all but six of which have come out of the bullpen — while logging a 2.47 ERA and a 2.85 FIP over 58 1/3 innings. Moreover, he’s allowed just 49 hits, only two of which have left the yard.

His previous lack of durability is the reason behind the caution. When our 2025 Pirates Top Prospects list came out in the spring — Ashcraft was no. 2 with a 50 FV — Eric Longenhagen wrote that “injuries are an inescapable aspect of Ashcraft’s profile due to his history and the violent nature of his delivery.” Drafted 51st overall in 2018 out of Waco, Texas’ Robinson High School, the righty entered the year having thrown just 235 professional innings, including a career-high 73 frames a year ago. Counting his time in the minors, he is up to 106 2/3 in the current campaign.

His stuff is clearly plus, and not just because his heater averages 96.9 mph. The best of Ashcraft’s five pitches is his slider, which he’s thrown 32.6% of the time to the tune of a .202 batting average allowed and a 30.7% whiff rate. Delivered at 91.8 mph, it was aptly referred to by our lead prospect analyst as the talented young hurler’s bread and butter.

Ashcraft discussed his repertoire, including the angle that makes his pitches so effective, when the Pirates visited Fenway Park at the end of August.

———

David Laurila: When I talked to him back in February, Bubba Chandler said that you and he are similar in some respects. Do you agree?

Braxton Ashcraft: “In a lot of ways, yes. I think what drives a lot of our success is leveraging counts. His fastball is a lot different than mine in terms of the perception of hitters; his extension is longer than mine, and obviously the velo is a little bit higher. So is the vert. It’s just a different fastball, one that is pretty unique. Read the rest of this entry »

A Player’s View piece that ran here at FG a month ago was one of my favorites to put together all season. Entertaining as well as informative — good anecdotes were in abundance — it was self-explanatorily titled: Pitchers Weigh In On Their Catch Play Partners (Some Are Nasty). As evidenced within, a casual tossing of baseballs back and forth is far from what is actually happening.

Last weekend, I learned that Bubba Chandler has scratched Paul Skenes from his partners list.

“We’ve trained together the last two off-seasons, and we’ve played catch,” the Pittsburgh Pirates rookie told me. “I don’t want to give him his flowers, but my vision isn’t great, and he’s a guy who throws hard and his pitches move a lot. The eyes can’t really keep up with the ball. And then you’re throwing in 50-degree weather with clouds and a light mist — or maybe it’s a super-bright day — and you can’t see it. And he’s just freaking ripping it. I’ll never play catch with him again.

“I got friggin’ popped in Baton Rouge this year, and that was actually indoors,” continued Chandler. “He threw his stupid sinker, and it didn’t sink. It rose off the top of my glove, right to my shoulder. So yeah, I’ll never do it again.”

As is common for starters, Chandler typically does his in-season catch play with a bullpen catcher — a breed whose job requirements make catching most anyone a comparable piece of cake. But what about other pitchers? Is Chandler an easy partner, or someone best to avoid?

“Throughout the week I’m an easy catch-play, but the day before I pitch, I let it eat a little bit,” said the righty, whose heater flirts with triple digits. “It’s not a lot of volume, maybe just 20-25 throws, but that’s the day I throw hard and it moves pretty good. I assume guys don’t want to play catch with me on that day.”

Chandler, who has made three relief appearances since being called up in late August, is scheduled to make his first MLB start this afternoon.

———

RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Eddie Mathews went 18 for 36 against Moe Drabowsky.

Carl Yastrzemski went 10 for 16 against Bill Gogolewski.

Greg Luzinski went 15 for 34 against Andy Messersmith.

Bill Mazeroski went 20 for 50 against Don Nottebart.

Ted Kluszewski went 23 for 50 against Warren Hacker.

———

Pete Crow-Armstrong was a high-profile prospect when I approached him on the back fields of the Chicago Cubs spring training complex in 2023. The young outfielder’s thoughts on his development as a hitter is what I were after, and one of the things he said in our relatively brief conversation stood out: “I feel like you’re probably going to ask me about the power.”

Two-and a-half years later, PCA, as he is affectionally called by Cubs fans, has 28 home runs and a .496 slugging percentage in his second full season in the big leagues. With that in mind, I reminded him of what he had said to me in Mesa. Looking back, was he self-conscious, or perhaps a little defensive, about his power potential?

“That was kind of the topic of conversation in my offensive game at the time,’ Crow-Armstrong told me at Wrigley Filed on Friday. “I was very prepared to be approached about the lack of power. What everybody always wanted to talk about was how my hitting was like… I think that everybody knew that I could play defense, but everybody was always more skeptical about my bat. Rightfully so. So, I was always prepared to answer questions about what was lacking in my offensive game.”

Crow-Armstrong had also told me in our back-fields exchange that his power has “always been there.” Does he have more now than he did in the minors?

“I feel like I’ve developed into my power,” he said to that question. “I have the same wiry strength, but you’re seeing the natural evolution of a growing human being that’s gotten better at what he does.”

———

A quiz:

Nolan Ryan (at age 44, in 1991) is the oldest MLB pitcher to throw a no-hitter, while Amos Rusie (at age 20, in 1891) is the youngest. The next four youngest pitchers threw theirs between 1901-1912.

Who is the youngest pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the past 100 seasons? (A hint: he won a Cy Young award and three World Series rings.)

———

NEWS NOTES

Rich Hinton, a left-hander who appeared in 116 games while playing for five teams from 1971-1979, died recently at age 78 (per Newsweek). Pitching primarily with the Chicago White Sox, Hinton was credited with nine wins and three saves.

Davey Johnson died yesterday at age 82. A highly-successful manager following his playing days, the second baseman made four All-Star teams and won three Gold Gloves while strapping on the cleats from 1965-1978. Primarily a Baltimore Oriole, Johnson hit 43 home runs for the Atlanta Braves in 1973.

———

The answer to the quiz is Vida Blue, who threw a no-hitter in September 1970, 55 days after his 21st birthday. If you guessed Wilson Alvarez, his August 1991 no-hitter came 140 days after his 21st birthday.

———

Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt was asked about Fenway Park’s outfield dimensions prior to this past Monday’s holiday matinee in Boston, and as do many managers, he pointed not to the Green Monster, but rather to the large expanse on the other side of the diamond.

“It’s like a center field in right field,” Vogt told a cadre of reporters. “There are so many cool nooks and crannies. That’s why I love baseball. Not one field is the same. But yeah, we’ve got to get our work in. Even though it’s a day game, we’ve got to come out get looks and understand what we’re dealing with.”

I had a question for Vogt regarding the opponents the Guardians have had to deal with. Which is the best team you’ve played so far this season?

“That’s a good question,” Vogt replied. “I’m stumped here. The Dodgers are obviously… when we played the Dodgers it was a really good team. But I have so much respect for everybody. There are so many really, really good teams out there. So yeah. I don’t know.”

The Guardians lost two of three games when they hosted the Dodgers in late May.

———

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Munetaka Murakami has 18 home runs and a 246 wRC+ over 152 plate appearances in his return to action following an oblique injury (which was preceded by elbow surgery last winter). The 25-year-old Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger is considered a strong candidate to be posted following the NPB season.

Sung-mun Song is slashing .314/.389/.528 with 24 home runs and a 149 wRC+ over 581 plate appearances with the KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes. The recently-turned-29-year-old third baseman/second baseman has reportedly asked to be posted following this season.

Cody Ponce broke the KBO’s single-season strikeout record this past week. The 31-year-old Hanwha Eagles right-hander has fanned 228 batters while going 16-0 with a 1.76 ERA over 163-and-two-thirds innings. Ponce went 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020-2021.

Eric Stout is 7-4 with a 2.45 ERA over 113-and-two-thirds innings for the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s TSG Hawks. The 32-year-old left-hander out of Butler University appeared in 23 games for three MLB teams, mostly the Pirates, from 2018-2022.

———

A random obscure former player snapshot:

Gene Hiser’s lone big-league home run was especially memorable. Batting with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Chicago Cubs trailing the New York Mets by a count of 3-2, the outfielder cleared the right field fence at Wrigley Field to send the game to extras. The home team then walked off the June 19, 1973 contest in the 10th on a Jose Cardenal single that plated Billy Williams.

The rest of Hiser’s career wasn’t much to write home about. All told, the University of Maryland product played in 206 games for the Cubs from 1971-1975, logging 53 hits and a 45 wRC+. He did have success against a Hall of Famer. Hiser went 3-for-8 against St. Louis Cardinals legend Bob Gibson.

———

Eric Binder plays a key role in Cleveland’s pitching-development program, as well as in the organization’s draft decisions. I recently asked the assistant general manager for his thoughts on a pair of 19-year-old pitchers whom the Guardians selected in last year’s amateur draft.

“A young right-hander starter who recently transitioned from [the Arizona Complex League] to Lynchburg,” Binder said of Joey Oakie, who was selected 84th-overall out of Ankeny, Iowa’s Centennial High School. “High velocity. A fastball that we’re all excited about. How his delivery operates and with the profiles we’re seeing out of hand, he’s creating an interesting demand on the hitter with how that gets pieced together.

“Another guy from last year’s draft class,” Binder said of Braylon Doughty, who was taken 36th-overall out of Temecula, California’s Chaparral High School. “He broke with the Lynchburg team out of spring training. An incredible athlete, and you see that translate to his delivery. Some natural feel to create a lot of different shapes, with plus underlying spin traits. A natural strike thrower. We’re really excited to see him progress with us, as well.”

Doughty — seventh on our updated Guardians list, with a 45+ — has a 3.48 ERA, a 2.84 FIP, and a 27.3% strikeout rate over 85-and-a-third innings with Lynchburg. Oakie — 23rd on our list, with a 40+ FV — has a 5.31 ERA, a 4.59 FIP, and a 26.8% strikeout rate over 54-and-a-thirds between the AZL and Lynchburg. Topping out at 99 mph, Oakie has fanned 22 batters and allowed just one hit over nine-and-two-thirds innings in his last two outings.

———

FARM NOTES

Kendall George has a most-in-the-minors 101 stolen bases (in 125 attempts) to go with a .295/.409/.370 slash line, three home runs, and a 131 wRC+ over 514 plate appearances for the High-A Great Lakes Loons. No. 25 on our updated Los Angeles Dodgers Top Prospect list with a 40 FV, the 20-year-old outfielder was drafted 36th overall last year out of Humble, Texas’s Atascocita High School.

Gabriel Gonzalez is slashing .329/.397/.508 with 13 home runs and a 148 wRC+ over 510 plate appearances across three levels. Currently with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints, the 21-year-old outfielder was acquired by the Minnesota Twins from the Seattle Mariners as part of the January 2024 Jorge Polanco trade. Gonzalez is No. 9 in our updated Twins rankings, with a 45 FV.

Micah Ashman has a 1.95 ERA, a 1.55 FIP, and a 33.5% strikeout rate over 55-and-a-third innings between High-A and Double-A. An 11th-round pick last year out of the University of Utah, the 23-year-old left-hander was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Charlie Morton at this summer’s trade deadline.

The Midwest League’s West Michigan Whitecaps have the best record in the minors at 90-39. The Detroit Tigers’ High-A affiliate has a plus-289 run differential.

The Dayton Dragons (High-A Cincinnati Reds) won 15 consecutive games before losing to the Lansing Lugnuts 5-4 on Thursday night. The Dragons have the Midwest League’s worst record at 51-76, and a minus-114 run differential.

———

Kenya Huggins was caught by surprise when he learned that he’d been dealt from the Reds to the Athletics at this summer’s trade deadline. A fourth-round pick by Cincinnati in 2002 out of Chipola Junior College, the 22-year-old right-hander was eating a bowl of cereal when he received the news.

“It’s the craziest experience I’ve ever had,” said Huggins, who has been with High-A Lansing since changing organizations. “It’s funny, we were actually playing here [at West Michigan]. I had just gotten promoted to Dayton, and I was going to be pitching the next day. My manager pulled me into the office and said, ‘Hey, I need to talk to you.’ I was like, ‘Cool, let’s go chat.’ I was eating a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. Had just come in from shagging. Just a regular day. No problem.

“So, I go in the office,” continued Huggins. “He told me, ‘Hey, I wanted to let you know before you look at your phone that you’ve been traded for a big-leaguer. Miguel Andujar is going to the Reds and you’ll be heading to the Athletics.’ At that moment, I had no words. All I could say was, ‘I appreciate you.’”

The hard-throwing native of New Orleans appreciates his breakfast cereal, as well. I learned as much when I asked if he finished the bowl of Cap’n Crunch.

“Yeah, I finished it,” Huggins replied with a smile. “I drank the milk, took in the information, and that was that.”

Huggins has a 3.81 ERA and a 3.80 FIP over 78 innings on the season. He is No. 13 with a 40+ FV in our latest A’s prospect rankings.

———

LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

At NBC News, David K. Li looked at how the Women’s Professional Baseball League aims to make the most significant impact on women’s baseball since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which operated from 1943 to 1954.

Former Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Yonny Chirinos is pitching for the KBO’s LG Twins this season. Jee-ho Yoo wrote about him for Yonhap News Agency.

MLB.com’s Matthew Leach wrote about Minnesota Twins prospect Kala’i Rosario, who has 25 home runs and 25 steals for Double-A Wichita Wind Surge.

MLB.com’s Sarah Wexler introduced us to a prolific songwriter who has recorded hundreds of baseball tunes, many of them about specific MLB players.

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy is 70 years old and in the last year of his contract. Is this his swan song? Barry Bloom delved into the question at Sportico.

———

RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Milwaukee’s Quinn Priester is 11-0 with a 2.79 ERA since May 30. The Brewers have won all 17 games he’s appeared in since that time.

A good note from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers on Friday afternoon: “The wind is blowing out at Wrigley for just the 16th time in 68 games this season. Teams have combined to average 12.9 runs per game when it blows out, compared to seven when it blows in.

Luis Arraez recorded his 1,000th career hit earlier this week. The three-time batting champ currently has 1,005 hits, including 221 extra-base hits, as well as 224 walks and 211 strikeouts.

Freddie Freeman has 938 extra-base hits, the most among active players. He is tied with Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews for 58th all-time in that category.

Rafael Devers has 16 home runs and a 136 wRC+ in 70 games with the San Francisco Giants. He had 15 home runs and a 144 wRC+ in 73 games with the Boston Red Sox prior to being traded in June.

Ichiro Suzuki and Troy Tulowitzki went a combined 0-for-28 against Ryan Vogelsong. Omar Infante and Billy Hamilton went a combined 13-for-19 against Vogelsong.

On today’s date in 1971, Mickey Lolich went the distance to run his record to 23-10 as the Detoit Tigers blanked the Washington Senators 3-0 at RFK Stadium. Lolich finished the season 25-14 with a 2.92 ERA over 376 innings. He threw complete games in 29 of his 45 starts.

The Boston Braves swept a doubleheader from the Brooklyn Dodgers on today’s date in 1948, winning by scores of 2-1 and 4-0. Warren Spahn went the distance in the 14-inning opener, then Johnny Sain threw a complete game of his own while throwing half as many frames. The nightcap was called on account of darkness after the Dodgers batted in the top of the seventh.

Players born on today’s date include John Pawlowski, a right-hander who made eight relief appearances for the Chicago White Sox across the 1987-1988 seasons. A longtime college coach following his playing career, Pawlowski was on the winning end of his lone decision, the W coming courtesy of a Carlton Fisk walk-off home run against Oakland’s Eric Plunk.

Also born on today’s date was Stan Pawloski, an infielder whose big-league career comprised two games and one hit in eight at-bats for the Cleveland Indians in 1955. The Wanamie, Pennsylvania native spent nine seasons on the farm, the first of them with the 1949 Stroudsburg Poconos, a team that went 101-36 before going on to top the Peekskill Highlanders in the North Atlantic League championship series.

On Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani hit the second-hardest pull-side home run by a left-handed batter at PNC Park this season. If that doesn’t sound like it could make your head explode, well, that’s the point. I picked the most boring way to tell the story.

Anyone who saw this particular home run knows that a more accurate representation of the experience would be this: On Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani hit the hardest ball of his entire career, turning around a 99-mph Bubba Chandler fastball on the inside corner and launching a 120-mph missile that skimmed over the Pittsburgh turf and triggered a series of small explosions as it crashed into the right field bleachers. It was the third-hardest-hit ball of the entire 2025 season, and the sixth-hardest home run in the 10-year history of the Statcast era. Read the rest of this entry »

Lake Bachar was a kicker at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater before turning his full attention to baseball. He had a good leg. An all-conference performer, Bachar booted three field goals in the 2014 NCAA Division III championship game, a 43-34 Warhawks win over the Mount Union Raiders. Along with being a place kicker, he served as the team’s punter and kickoff specialist across his three collegiate seasons on the gridiron.

How good was he in his other sport?

“I was decent,” said Bachar, who now pitches out of the bullpen for the Miami Marlins. “I don’t know about NFL kicker, but at that time I was going to try do whatever I could to at least go to a [tryout] camp. The longest field goal I kicked in practice was 68 [yards] — good conditions, and all that — and the longest in a game was either high 40s or low 50s.”

Baseball has turned out to be a good career choice, although it took him awhile to reach the majors. Drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2016, the fifth-rounder was 29 years old when he debuted with the Marlins last September. His first full big-league season has been impressive. Over 43 relief appearances, the right-hander has a 5-1 record and a pair of saves to go with his 3.39 ERA and 3.77 FIP over 58-and-a-third innings. His strikeout rate is a solid 26.7%.

Selected off waivers by Miami shortly before his debut, Bachar attributes his late-bloomer breakthrough to “being in the right place at the right time,” as well as some fine-tuning of his pitches. A four-seamer that gets ride-run and a splitter that he’s thrown since 2020 comprise half of his arsenal. The other offerings are breakers new to this year. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no getting around the fact that the Pirates are a bad baseball team. At 54-74, they’re well on their way to their seventh consecutive losing season and ninth out of the past 10. Even so, they’ve only got the majors’ fourth-lowest winning percentage (.422) — it’s not like they’re the Rockies (.289) or the White Sox (.354). Yet it turns out the Pirates are chasing history, albeit in an under-the-radar and unflattering way. They’re in danger of becoming the first AL or NL team since the start of the 20th century to finish the season without a single hitter producing at a league-average level or better.

I don’t mean “without a single regular,” though depending upon how we define that term, that’s on the table as well. I mean anybody who’s stepped up to the plate while wearing the Pirates’ black and gold this season. The top Pirates hitters by wRC+ are infielders Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero, both of whom are sporting a wRC+ of 98. The 26-year-old Gonzales, Pittsburgh’s regular second baseman, is hitting .278/.322/.392 through 264 plate appearances. He’s been limited to 62 games due to a fractured left ankle, caused by his fouling a ball off himself during spring training, though he played on Opening Day and even homered off the Marlins’ Lake Bachar. After hobbling around the bases, he landed on the injured list and didn’t return to the lineup until June 3. Peguero, a 24-year-old infielder, has bounced between Triple-A Indianapolis and the majors, where he’s been playing with some regularity since late July; in 58 PA, he’s hit .208/.276/.453.

Six other Pirates have a wRC+ in the 90s:

Read the rest of this entry »

Tyler Glasnow was 21 years old and full of promise as he sat atop our 2015 Pittsburgh Pirates Top Prospects list when it was published in January of that year. Our then-lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel gave plus grades to both Glasnow’s heater and his hook, opining that the tall right-hander had no. 2 starter potential.

Despite an injury history that includes Tommy John surgery, Glasnow has largely lived up to expectations. Drafted 152nd overall in 2011 out of William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in July 2018 (a deadline deal Pirates fans would love to forget) and logged a 3.20 ERA and 3.10 FIP over 71 starts in his five-plus seasons there. Subsequently swapped to the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023, Glasnow has a 3.47 ERA and a 3.28 FIP over 31 starts with his current club. He is top-of-the-rotation quality when fully fit, but he has had trouble staying healthy. Just this season, he was out from late April until early July with shoulder inflammation.

What did Glasnow’s 2015 FanGraphs scouting report look like? Moreover, what does he think about it all these years later? Wanting to find out, I shared some of what McDaniel wrote and asked Glasnow to respond to it.

———

“Glasnow was drafted in the fifth round out of high school in 2011 as a low-profile pure-projection bet with fringy-to-average stuff and a limited track record.”

“That’s probably pretty accurate,” Glasnow replied. “I was fifth round, just more projectable, and throwing 89-91 [mph]. I had a decent curveball, but it wasn’t very good yet. My stuff was decent for high school, but compared to pro ball, not really. I was lower velo, mostly just two pitches, and I had a very bad changeup.”

“He blew up in 2013, dominating Low-A with a fastball that hit 97 mph. He continued his progress at High-A in 2014, sitting 93-96 mph and hitting 98 mph.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Cubs approached the trade deadline with pitching as their top priority. They traded for Michael Soroka on Wednesday to shore up the starting rotation and added Andrew Kittredge to the bullpen later that night. That didn’t stop them from making a trade to improve their hitters: Getting in on the Twins’ Thursday fire sale, Chicago acquired utilityman Willi Castro for two pitching prospects, Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong. And right before the buzzer, the Cubs also acquired left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers from the Pirates for outfield prospect Ivan Brethowr. This was the second swap Rogers was part of within a roughly 27-hour span, after he went from the Reds to the Pirates in Wednesday afternoon’s Ke’Bryan Hayes deal.

The Cubs have one of the best lineups in baseball. They lead the majors in runs scored and the National League in wRC+. So they didn’t necessarily need to upgrade their offense before the deadline. Castro’s calling card is his versatility, and that’s the primary reason they acquired him. Just this year, he’s played every position but catcher and first base. Defensively, he’s probably a little in over his head at either of the premium up-the-middle positions — his career FRV at shortstop is -3 and -2 in center field — but he’s perfectly acceptable as a second baseman (2 FRV) or in either outfield corner (5 in left, -2 in right). In previous years, he was also slightly above average at third (2 FRV) before taking a step back this season (-3), though small-sample caveats certainly apply for his defensive metrics at any specific position because of how much he’s moved around. Only once has he logged more than 500 innings at an individual position in a season, and that was back in 2021 when he played 713 2/3 innings at second base with the Tigers.

That said, he is way more than just a multi-positional backup. At the plate, Castro has been solidly above average since joining the Twins in 2023; during those first seasons in Minnesota, he posted a combined 107 wRC+ and accumulated 5.4 WAR. This season, his offensive production has been slightly better — .245/.335/.407, 109 wRC+ — than in recent years because he’s tapping into his power more. He’s already smacked 10 home runs in 344 plate appearances after hitting a career-high 12 last year across nearly 300 more trips to the plate. That he is a switch-hitter only adds to his flexibility. He has been platoon neutral for his career, but he’s hitting left-handed hurlers much better this year (131 wRC+) than he has righties (100). Castro has been worth 1.1 WAR this season, a step back from his last two years despite his offensive improvements because his defensive value has declined. Some of this is due to a dip in his defensive metrics — his only plus position this season by FRV is left field — but it also has to do with the positional adjustment, as he’s spent more innings this season at positions further down the defensive spectrum; after playing 465 2/3 innings at shortstop in 2024 and another 211 1/3 in center field, he’s logged just 26 at shortstop this year to go along with a one-inning cameo in center. Read the rest of this entry »

At the time of this writing, the Kansas City Royals’ playoff odds sit at 12%. They’re 54-55, 3.5 games back of the third AL Wild Card, packed in tight with a bunch of average teams chasing the major contenders, including the Rangers, Guardians, Rays, and Angels. (I’m going to go ahead and count the Twins out.) It’s a tough spot. You don’t necessarily want to go all in with a 12% chance of making the playoffs, but it’s a good enough shot that a sell-off would go down pretty poorly.

Threading this needle with precision, the Royals made a series of moves that filled key roster holes without gambling away any significant long-term pieces. The first of those went down yesterday morning, when they picked up two solid, controllable right-handers in Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek in exchange for backup catcher Freddy Fermin.

Later in the day, the Royals made two more trades. The first further shored up a depleted rotation; the second improved a truly abysmal outfield. First, they brought in lanky left-hander Bailey Falter from the Pirates, parting with up-and-down lefty Evan Sisk and Callan Moss, a first baseman with a .790 OPS in High-A who went undrafted in 2024. And a few minutes after the deadline passed, Jon Heyman reported that they’d picked up Mike Yastrzemski from the Giants for A-ball hurler Yunior Marte. Read the rest of this entry »

As Thursday’s 6 PM deadline approached, the New York Yankees finally made their big bullpen moves, first trading for closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates and sending back catcher Rafael Flores, catcher Edgleen Perez, and outfielder Brian Sanchez. Bednar, with a year of arbitration remaining next season, has allowed a 2.37 ERA and a 1.96 FIP while striking out 51 batters and walking only 10 in 38 innings this year.

Also donning (non-purple) pinstripes is Jake Bird, whom the Yankees acquired from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for second baseman Roc Riggio and left-handed starter Ben Shields. Bird, in his fourth year with the Rockies, has a 4.73 ERA for the season, but a much sunnier 3.45 FIP, and he has struck out nearly 11 batters per nine innings, easily the best mark of his career.

But that wasn’t quite enough for the Yankees, and as the clock approached the top of the hour, they picked up Camilo Doval from the San Francisco Giants for three prospects: catcher-third baseman Jesus Rodriguez, right-handed starter Trystan Vrieling, and first baseman Parks Harber. Read the rest of this entry »

Not every deadline trade is a dramatic one, but that’s OK — teams need to make low-key moves, too. Do you think James Bond saved the world every day? No! Some days, he had to do paperwork. Some days, he had to go to the dentist, or take the car to the gas station to vacuum up the leftover Cool Ranch Doritos crumbs on the floor after they spilled out on his drive from Baltim… I mean Bristol. So let’s catch up on some of Wednesday’s smaller moves.

The Seattle Mariners acquired left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates for right-handed starter Jeter Martinez

The Mariners have been operating with a shortage of southpaws this season, with Gabe Speier mostly being the only lefty on the active roster. Speier’s been good, holding lefties to a .609 OPS this season, but he can’t pitch in every playoff game, and Andrés Muñoz, who handles lefties quite well, generally doesn’t make his entrance before the ninth inning, so a depth-targeted upgrade to give the team another option down the stretch and during October makes a lot of sense. Caleb Ferguson has shed some strikeouts this year as he’s more heavily integrated his sinker into his repertoire, but he’s compensated for that loss by shedding a walk per nine from last season and becoming one of the hardest pitchers in baseball to make good contact against. Of all the pitchers with at least 30 innings this season, only Adrian Morejon has allowed a lower hard-hit percentage. Ferguson gives the Mariners a second lefty in the ‘pen they can count on, something they couldn’t really say about Joe Jacques or Tayler Saucedo. Read the rest of this entry »