The Nationals announced this afternoon that infielder/outfielder Jake Alu has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. Alu, 27, was selected by the Nats in the 24th round of the 2019 draft and made his big league debut with the club last season. He struggled in 51 games last year, hitting just .226/.282/.289 with five extra-base hits in 175 trips to the plate. While Alu contributed minimal value with the bat last year, he was nonetheless an interesting bench piece for the club thanks to his versatility. Alu played left field as well as both second and third base for th ..read more

The Nationals have placed Joey Gallo on the 10-day injured list, as the first baseman/outfielder is dealing with an AC sprain in his left shoulder.  Outfielder Alex Call was promoted from Triple-A to take Gallo’s spot on the active roster.  (The Talk Nats blog reported earlier today that Call was headed to the majors, but the corresponding move wasn’t known at the time.) Gallo signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal over the offseason, and has worked mostly as Washington’s everyday first baseman with a few appearances as a corner outfielder and DH.  Gallo had seen more work in t ..read more

“There’s no way you want to go explore somewhere else when you feel comfortable, when you’ve got your teammates and you’ve got your organization’s love.  There’s no doubt in my decision.  I don’t want to go anywhere else,” Marcell Ozuna told The Athletic’s David O’Brien about his desire to sign a contract extension with the Braves.  Ozuna’s four-year, $65MM deal is up at season’s end, though the Braves hold a $16MM club option for 2025 that looks like a sure bet to be exercised give how well Ozuna is performing at the plate.  Coming off a 40-homer campaign in 2023, Ozuna ha ..read more

3:12pm: It’s a Grade 2 sprain, manager Davey Martinez announced to the Nationals beat (X link via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). While not a worst-case scenario, that points to an absence of some note for the Nats’ everyday right fielder. 12:56pm: The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve placed outfielder Lane Thomas on the 10-day injured list due to an MCL sprain in his left knee. Infielder Trey Lipscomb has been recalled from Triple-A Rochester in his place. Andrew Golden of the Washington Post first reported that Lipscomb would be called up if Thomas required a trip to the injured ..read more

The Nationals announced today that they have select the contract of right-hander Jacob Barnes. He will take the active roster spot of left-hander Robert Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to influenza, retroactive to April 21. To open a 40-man spot for Barnes, infielder/outfielder Jake Alu has been designated for assignment. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com noted that Barnes was in the clubhouse prior to the official announcement. It would appear that an influenza virus is spreading around the Nats’ clubhouse. Catcher Keibert Ruiz came down with the illness and also lan ..read more

The Mets are hoping that veteran slugger J.D. Martinez can join the big league club to make his debut on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). In the meantime, DiComo adds that Martinez will move his rehab assignment up to Triple-A Syracuse while he works toward being ready to return to the big leagues. Martinez, 36, signed with the Mets on a one-year deal just before Opening Day. Thanks to the slugger missing the entirety of Spring Training, he began the season in the minor leagues in order to build up for his debut with the big league Mets. That ..read more

We’re three weeks into the 2024 season, and this year’s crop of Rule 5 picks has had an atypical amount of staying power. That’s perhaps in part due to the fact that only ten players were selected in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, but as of this writing, only one Rule 5 selection has been returned to his original organization. For those unfamiliar, in order to be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, a player must not be on his team’s 40-man roster and must have played in either parts of five professional seasons (if they signed at 18 or younger) or four professional seasons (if they signed at 19 or older ..read more

April 15: Washington officially recalled Parker to start tonight’s game. The Nats also brought up catcher Drew Millas from Triple-A Rochester and placed Keibert Ruiz on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 12, because of the flu. Washington also reinstated Nick Senzel from his season-opening IL stint and optioned infielder Trey Lipscomb. April 14: The Nationals will call up left-hander Mitchell Parker on Monday to make his Major League debut.  Grant Paulsen of 106.7FM Radio (X link) reported the news earlier today, and Nats manager Davey Martinez confirmed to ..read more

Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker began the 2024 campaign on the injured list due to a shoulder issue, but he’s making good progress en route to a return to action. As noted by Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, club manager Rob Thomson told reporters recently that Walker would begin his rehab assignment with the club’s Single-A affiliate in Clearwater, Florida this week. That first rehab outing occurred Thursday night, with Walker allowing two runs over four innings of work while striking out four and walking none. Per Thomson, that start was the first of what is expected to be four ..read more

6:30pm: Gray told the Washington beat that the strain is muscular (relayed by Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). Imaging revealed that his UCL is fully intact. Needless to say, it’s a significant plus that there doesn’t appear to be any kind of structural damage that would raise the possibility of surgery. 3:2opm: The Nationals announced that right-hander Josiah Gray has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow/forearm flexor strain. The move is retroactive to April 6 and righty Joan Adon has been recalled in a corresponding move. The Nats have not yet provided any kind of i ..read more