Welcome back to another week of Rumor Roundup, where we dive into all the recent talk, transactions, and trends from around the league, balancing both fantasy baseball implications and real-world baseball analysis through the lens of a front office.
Injury Updates
The following players have started rehab assignments this week:
- LHP Garrett Cleavinger (TB)
- C Sean Murphy (ATL)
- INF Jackson Holliday (BAL)
- RHP Quinn Priester (MIL)
The following players have been placed on the IL this week:
- OF Joey Loperfido (HOU) — right quad strain
- RHP Mick Abel (MIN) — right elbow inflammation
- INF Jonathan India (KC) — right shoulder subluxation
- RHP Edwin Díaz (LAD) — right elbow loose bodies
- INF Brendan Donovan (SEA) — left groin muscle strain
- RHP Sonny Gray (BOS) — right hamstring strain
- INF Francisco Lindor (NYM) — left calf strain
- INF Eugenio Suárez (CIN) — left oblique strain
Finally, the following players have seen their IL status change this week:
- OF Kyle Stowers (MIA) — activated
- RHP Cristian Javier (HOU) — moved to IL60
- C Adley Rutschman (BAL) — activated
- RHP José Buttó (SF) — moved to IL60
- INF Royce Lewis (MIN) — activated
- OF Juan Soto — activated
- RHP Edwin Uceta (TB) — moved to IL60
- RHP Yimi García (TOR) — moved to IL60
- RHP Zack Wheeler (PHI) — activated
Recent Transactions
The following players have been DFA’d this week:
- INF Tyler Fitzgerald (TOR) — posted a -16 wRC+ with a 70% K rate in Triple-A with the Jays after they claimed him via SF this year.
Trades and FA signings from the following week:
- RHP Lucas Giolito has agreed to terms with the San Diego Padres on a one-year deal. He turned in a 3.41 ERA/4.17 FIP in 145 IP last year with the Red Sox.
Promotions/demotions:
- LHP Tyler Samaniego (BOS) — the 27-year-old has excelled in his brief major league stint, posting a 2.53 FIP (0 ER) and a 31% K rate in 6.2 IP over 5 appearances.
- LHP Eduardo Rivera (BOS) — the 22-year-old was called up for one appearance, entirely skipping Triple-A, and absolutely shoved in relief. He tossed 3.1 scoreless innings while striking out 3 batters.
- LHP Payton Tolle (BOS) — an absolute masterclass of a performance from Tolle the other day, striking out 11 batters and allowing just one earned run (0.94 xERA) over six innings in his 2026 debut.
- RHP Didier Fuentes (ATL) — optioned to Triple-A
In Other News…
The Boston Red Sox have shockingly gutted their staff, parting ways with six key staff members. Manager Alex Cora, Third Base Coach Kyle Hudson, Bench Coach Ramon Vazquez, Hitting Coach Pete Fatse, Assistant Hitting Coach Dillon Lawson, and Game-planning Coordinator Jason Varitek all got the boot after Boston’s 17-1 win over Baltimore. Triple-A manager Chad Tracy is reportedly taking over the team as the interim manager, while Double-A manager Chad Epperson, who interviewed for the Washington Nationals managerial position this offseason, is getting promoted to the show as well.
For some of these names, their time was coming. Point blank. I have covered the Red Sox for nearly a decade on various social platforms, and I can confidently say Pete Fatse’s departure is one of the most obvious staff moves anyone could’ve ever seen coming. Frankly, many, including myself, thought that he would be out of the role over two years ago. Between inconsistent performance and the lack of a data-driven approach in a model-heavy organization, the entire scenario just seemed like a bad fit.
Varitek never seemed like a great fit, either. His approach was extremely old school and did not tie into the next-gen approach the Red Sox were striving to take at every level in their organization. He was so subpar in his role as the catching coordinator years ago, the Red Sox reassigned him to a new, self-created role called the “Game-planning coordinator”. Clearly, this was a major disaster because the Red Sox have not seemed prepared or “game-planned” since this role was created.
Lawson, formerly of the rival Yankees, was somewhat successful in some categories with the team, but had led this specific group into the ground with his philosophy. Less aggression in-zone, causing an increase in leverage counts for pitchers to generate more chase and whiff? Yeah, I’m all set.
Hudson played a major role in developing the Red Sox outfield defensively — he will not be forgotten. He’s certainly made some major blunders as the third base coach, notoriously down the stretch last season, but that could happen to anyone in such a small sample size. He was well-respected in the organization but was a major catalyst in what the staff was cooking up, so he was sent packing.
Finally, Cora is one of the best managers in baseball. Plain and simple. For what he was given over the course of his tenure, I thought he did a relatively good job. Every skipper comes with their pros and cons; Cora was never the best at managing the pitching staff (particularly the bullpen), but he was elite at building relationships with players. Cora’s lineups sometimes feel odd at first but end up working out well. Players, especially from outside of the US, have talked to me about how great it is that Cora is from out of the states, can speak multiple languages, was a ballplayer himself, and really cares about his clubhouse. They resonate with him, and that’s a rare, non-numerical skill you can’t develop in guys.
With that being said, maybe it was time for a change. The Red Sox have notoriously come out of the gates slow under Cora for years now. The bullpen mismanagement is a pain to watch. Longer leashes with players who objectively need to be moved have occurred time and time again, even during that generational 2018 season. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow has won the power struggle, but there are still a handful of moves to be made… it’ll be interesting to watch how the dominoes fall as the year progresses.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) | Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire
