Taylor Rashi

Every National League team has officially announced their non-tender decisions. It was a quiet evening in terms of subtractions, with only the Rangers parting with any marquee players. All players who were non-tendered are free agents without going on waivers. A few teams dropped pre-arbitration players from the back of the 40-man roster. It’s possible they preferred not to expose them to waivers and are hopeful of re-signing them to non-roster deals.

Here’s a full list of today’s activity in the NL, while the American League movesare available here. All projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

• The Braves announced that right-handersAlek Manoah andCarson Ragsdale were not tendered contracts. Both had been acquired earlier in the offseason via waivers, and both are now free agents. Manoah was projected to earn $2.2MM. Ragsdale was not arb-eligible.
• The Brewers tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class,per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
• The Cardinals chose not to tender contracts to leftyJohn King, catcherYohel Pozo and rightySem Robberse, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatchreports.Jorge Alcala, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, was also non-tendered, John Denton of MLB.comadds. King and Alcala were both projected for a $2.1MM salary. The others were not arb-eligible.
• The Cubs non-tendered catcherReese McGuire,per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. He hit .226/.245/.444 through 140 plate appearances in a backup catcher role and was arb-eligible for the final time. He’d been projected to earn $1.9MM. Right-handerEli Morgan, who was projected to earn $1.1MM, was also non-tendered,according to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.
• The D-backs non-tendered left-handerTommy Henry, who’d already been designated for assignment, and right-handerTaylor Rashi. Neither was eligible for arbitration. They tendered contracts to their entire arb class.
• The Dodgers did not tender a contract to closerEvan Phillips,reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He was only under club control for one more season and projected for a $6.1MM salary but underwentTommy John surgery in June. Dodgers rightyNick Frasso, who was not arb-eligible and finished the season on the 60-day IL, was also non-tendered,per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
• The Giants non-tendered left-handerJoey Lucchesi,reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Lucchesi pitched to a solid 3.76 ERA with a below-average 18.8% strikeout rate and strong 7.3% walk rate in 38 1/3 innings and had been projected for a $2MM salary. San Francisco also non-tendered catcher Andrew Knizner, who was designated for assignment this afternoon when the Giants acquired Joey Wiemer from Miami.
• The Marlins tendered contracts to all of their eligible players,per Isaac Azout of Fish On First.
• TheMets are non-tendering right-handerMax Kranick, according toWill Sammon of The Athletic. Kranick, 28, posted a 3.65 ERA in 37 innings with the Mets this year. It was his first big league opportunity since a five-inning cameo with the Pirates back in 2022. Kranick’s season came to an abrupt end back in July due to flexor tendon repair surgery. SouthpawsJose Castillo andDanny Young were also non-tendered,Sammon adds. Young had Tommy John surgery back in May. Castillo was a waiver claim who pitched for four different teams in 2025.
• The Nationals tendered contracts to their entire roster, per a team announcement.
• ThePadresannounced that leftyOmar Cruz and rightySean Reynolds were non-tendered. Neither was arbitration-eligible. They tendered contracts to every member of their arbitration class.
• The Phillies non-tendered rightiesMichael Mercado andDaniel Robert, neither of whom was arbitration-eligible. They’re both free agents. The Phils tendered contracts to all of their arb-eligible players otherwise.
• The Pirates non-tendered outfieldersAlexander Canario andRonny Simon, as well as rightiesColin Holderman andDauri Moreta. All four were designated for assignment earlier in the week. Holderman was projected for a $1.7MM salary and Moreta for $800K. The others weren’t arb-eligible.
• The Reds announced that catcherWill Banfield and right-handersCarson Spiers andRoddery Munoz were not tendered contracts. They’re all free agents. None of the three were arbitration-eligible, but by non-tendering them rather than designating them for assignment, Cincinnati bypasses the need to place them on waivers and can try to quickly re-sign any of the bunch to minor league deals, if the Reds are so inclined.
• The Rockies non-tendered first basemanMichael Toglia, the team announced. He’d been designated for assignment earlier in the week, making today’s non-tender all but a formality.

The Diamondbacks announced today that right-handerTaylor Rashi and infielderConnor Kaiser have been recalled from Triple-A Reno. In corresponding moves, they have optionedJuan Burgos to Reno and placed outfielderLourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list with a torn right ACL.

It was apparent that Gurriel was injured last night. He and center fielderBlaze Alexander were both chasing a ball in the gap. Gurriel hopped to avoid his teammate but then collapsed on the ground in obvious pain. He eventually had to be carted off, unable to properly put weight on his leg.

Today’s diagnosis is obviously awful for both Gurriel and the Snakes. They haven’t announced an expected timeline but a torn ACL can often require something close to a year of recovery before the player is back to full strength. Gurriel will certainly miss the remainder of this season and a notable chunk of 2026 as well.

Gurriel was initially acquired ahead of the 2023 season alongsideGabriel Moreno, as part ofthe trade which sentDaulton Varsho to the Blue Jays. Gurriel was an impending free agent at the time but re-signed after one good season in Arizona. He returned via a three-year, $42MM pact with a club option for 2027 and an opt-out chance for him after 2025.

Triggering the opt-out wasn’t especially likely. He is only hitting .248/.295/.418 this year, with that line translating to a 94 wRC+. However, he does have 19 home runs and it’s possible the overall lack of production is due to a .254 batting average on balls in play. That’s well below this year’s .291 league average and Gurriel’s personal career rate of .305.

His decision would have effectively come down to whether he felt he could beat one year and $18MM. His current contract pays him $13MM next year, with a $5MM buyout on the $14MM club option for 2027. Perhaps a hot finish could have made him think about walking away from that money but it’s a moot point now. Since he’s going to miss some amount of next year, he’ll surely forgo his opt-out chance.

For the Diamondbacks, this adds to their 2026 body count well before the season has even begun.Corbin Burnes required Tommy John surgery in June and will therefore miss most or perhaps all of the upcoming campaign.Tommy Henry,Blake Walston,A.J. Puk andJustin Martínez also underwent UCL surgeries this year and are facing lengthy absences. Now Gurriel adds another name to the list.

Those other names are all pitchers while Gurriel subtracts a key part of the club’s outfield mix. Without him, the 2026 outfield consists of guysCorbin Carroll,Alek Thomas,Jake McCarthy,Jorge Barrosa and Alexander. Carroll is a star but it’s a questionable group after that. Thomas is in his fourth season and has good defensive grades but he hasn’t hit. McCarthy has shown occasional flashes of competency at the plate but his good seasons may have been fuelled by BABIP luck and he’s been awful this year. Alexander is having a nice run right now but he strikes out a lot and has only recently moved from the infield to the outfield. Barrosa has just 58 big league plate appearances and hasn’t impressed yet.

Going into the winter, the Diamondbacks have a lot to do. Given their injuries, deadline trades and impending free agents, they need to remake almost their entire pitching staff. They have question marks at the infield corners after tradingJosh Naylor andEugenio Suárez at the deadline. Those spots could be filled by guys likeJordan Lawlar andTyler Locklear but neither is a lock yet. Gurriel could have been a solid regular on next year’s team but now there’s one more thing on the to-do list.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images

The Diamondbacks announced that they have recalled infielderJordan Lawlar and left-handerBrandyn Garcia. First basemanPavin Smith has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 28th, due to a strained left squad. Right-handerTaylor Rashi has been optioned to Triple-A Reno in the other corresponding move.

Lawlar, now 23, has been one of the top prospects in baseball for a while now. He forced his way up to the majors late in 2023, just after his 21st birthday. However, he didn’t immediately hit the ground running, producing a .129/.206/.129 line in is first 34 plate appearances. The Snakes were in contention then and weren’t in a position to just throw him out there as an experiment.

Going into 2024, the Diamondbacks weren’t quite ready to just hand him a big league job, given his youth and those numbers. They already hadGeraldo Perdomo andKetel Marte at the middle infield spots. They could have tried Lawlar at third base but instead acquiredEugenio Suárez from the Mariners. At the time, he had one guaranteed year remaining on his contract.

Lawlar could have forced his way into taking the job from Suárez, especially when Geno struggled badly early in 2024. However, Lawlar required thumb surgery in March and was out of action for several months. Then a hamstring injury cost him more time. He would only play 23 minor league games that year. Meanwhile, Suárez had such a strong surge in the second half that the Snakes picked up his $15MM option for 2025.

That left Lawlar fairly blocked for big league playing time this year. He did his best to unblock things, as he slashed .336/.413/.579 in Triple-A through mid-May and basically forced the Snakes to call him up. They believed that they could spread the playing time around but it didn’t really work out. He was recalled on May 12th but optioned back down on May 29th. In that stretch of barely over two weeks, he got into eight games and received 22 plate appearances. He didn’t take to the sporadic playing time, not recording a hit in that span.

The Diamondbacks fell out of contention and sold at the deadline, which included sending Suárez back to the Mariners. Ideally, Lawlar would have come up to take over at the hot corner but he had suffered a hamstring strain in late June. He got back on the field a couple of weeks back. After ten Triple-A games to get back in shape, he’s now coming up.

The Snakes can now use the final month of the season to finally give Lawlar some regular big league playing time and see how he handles it. His performance could then impact their offseason moves. He will still have one option season after this one, so they don’t have to give him the job in 2026. However, he doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, so it’s probably time to let him sink or swim in the show.

That’s perhaps especially true given the club’s other priorities. Arizona traded away impending free agentMerrill Kelly at the deadline.Zac Gallen is still on the club for now but is an impending free agent himself.Corbin Burnes is had Tommy John surgery and will miss at least part of 2026. The bullpen lostJustin Martínez andA.J. Puk to UCL surgeries. The front office will definitely be looking for pitching this winter. Outfield upgrades might also be on the menu, given the struggles ofAlek Thomas andJake McCarthy.

With all of that going on, the front office might lean towards going into 2026 with Lawlar andBlaze Alexander competing for the third base job, as opposed to spending money or prospect capital to bring in someone else.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected right-handerTaylor Rashi to the roster. In a corresponding active roster move, fellow rightyJuan Morillo has been optioned to Triple-A Reno. To open a 40-man spot, infielderTristin English has been designated for assignment.

Rashi, 29, gets called up to the big leagues for the first time in his career. He was originally a Giants draftee but the Snakes grabbed him in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. His first couple of seasons after switching organizations weren’t amazing. He spent most of 2023 on the injured list and only pitched 14 1/3 innings. Last year, he was healthy enough to throw 51 2/3 innings but with a 4.70 earned run average.

Here in 2025, the results have been intriguing. He has thrown 67 1/3 innings over 40 appearances for Triple-A Reno with a 3.48 ERA. Considering the Aces play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, that’s a nice number. His 10.3% walk rate this year is a bit high but his 24.7% strikeout rate and 49.4% ground ball rate are both a bit above average.

The Diamondbacks are focused on the future. They fell back in the standings and acted as sellers at the deadline. They can use the remainder of the season to see if Rashi can get outs in the big leagues and decide how much to plan on his contributions in 2026.

English, 28, was selected to the roster in July whenPavin Smith landed on the injured list. Since then, he’s been optioned to Reno and been recalled a few times. He’s only been put into seven big league games and produced a .091/.130/.136 line in his 23 plate appearances.

He has produced a much better .321/.367/.524 line in Triple-A this year, though that is undercut somewhat by a .348 batting average on balls in play and 5.8% walk rate. In the Pacific Coast League, that kind of production translates to a 110 wRC+, or 10% above average.

Evidently, the Diamondbacks didn’t feel he would be a meaningful part of their future, so he’s been bumped off the roster. With the trade deadline having passed, he’ll be placed on waivers. He still has a full slate of options and no service time. If there is a club out there intrigued by his minor league production, he could potentially be a cheap depth piece for the long term. Defensively, he’s capable of playing all four corner spots. If he clears waivers, he would stick with the Diamondbacks as a non-roster depth piece.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images