MLB Trade Rumors and News: Blue Jays sign John Axford, Tigers release Wilson Ramos

The MLB Daily Dish is a daily feature we’re running here at MLBDD that rounds up roster-impacting news, rumors, and analysis. Have feedback or have something that should be shared? Hit us up at @mlbdailydish on Twitter or @MLBDailyDish on Instagram.

• The Rays will promote top prospect Wander Franco. The 20-year old has consistently be named on of the most talented young players in the game today. In Triple-A Durham, he’s slashing .323/.376/.601 with seven home runs in 173 plate appearances. And with a three game stint against the division rivals coming up, Tampa Bay is going to put their best bat forward when they face Boston this week. Only half a game behind the Red Sox, Franco could be the make or break factor that helps the Rays regain the lead.
• In a confusing move but we’ll rock with it, the Blue Jays have signed a deal with John Axford, reports Jamie Campbell of Sportsnet. The 38-year old hasn’t seen a major league mound since 2018. The bulk of his career came with the Brewers, playing in Milwaukee from 2009-13. While there, he pitched an average 3.35 ERA, and saving a league high 46 games in 2011. His last foray in baseball was with the Blue Jays minor league squad in 2019, however it was almost entirely on the injured list. Everyone loves a comeback story, right?
• The Tigers have released Wilson Ramos, according to a club announcement. The 33-year old signed a $2M deal with Detroit in the beginning of this year, and looked like he was really giving the Tigers the most value for their buck after sending six balls yard in his first nine games. Unfortunately that took a turn in early May, when a back injury completely derailed the 12-year league veteran. Should he be able to heal quickly enough for a late season renaissance, he would make a great extra backstop for a team in contention. Posting a 105 wRC+ for the Mets in 2019, he’s still got some gas left in the tank for whatever team is willing to take the risk.
• The Astros find themselves 2.5 games back in the AL West and things just got that much harder with an injury to one of their best players. Alex Bregman had to leave a game early after trying to beat out a ground ball with what was described as a quad injury. After manager Dusty Baker spoke to media after the game, it has become apparent that he is going to be out for quite some time although he hasn’t officially hit the injured list yet.
• Hot take alert, coming in with some scorching opinions (sort of): Gerrit Cole has a prime chance to win his first Cy Young Award.
• Rays ace Tyler Glasnow’s season is in jeopardy after he suffered a partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his right arm. He’ll initially try to rehab the injuries rather than immediately opting for Tommy John surgery. In an interesting crossover with the biggest story being discussed around baseball right now, Glasnow said MLB’s crackdown on foreign substances contributed to his injury, as he stopped using a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, and as a result he began gripping the baseball so hard that he injured his elbow.
• Max Scherzer was also placed on the IL Tuesday and will get some time to rehab the groin injury he suffered in last Friday’s start against the Giants. He’s not expected to miss much time but wanted to take a break in order to make sure he didn’t re-aggravate the injury.
• A lot has been made in recent weeks about the proliferation of foreign substances used primarily (but certainly not exclusively) by pitchers to get better grip on balls to have better command as well as to generate greater spin. It has been clear that MLB was going to crack down on the practice and now it looks like it has landed on its chosen punishment, as it was announced that players found to be using such substances will receive a 10 game paid suspension.
• The Cleveland Indians received some pretty rough news about the reigning 2020 CY Young Award winner as Shane Bieber landed on the IL with a strained shoulder. Cleveland’s pitching staff has struggled to stay healthy and/or effective for most of the season and with the loss of their best pitcher in Bieber for a few weeks at least, their quest to try and run down the division-leading White Sox just got that much harder.
• It is fair to say that the 2021 season has been a particularly weird one. Teams that we all thought would be good haven’t been and teams that were thought to be afterthoughts have been anything but. Our own Andersen Pickard broke down the five most surprising teams from the 2021 season so far.
• It’s the most glorious time of the year: here’s your 2021 MLB Draft primer for notable players, draft order, and more.
• The Twins are dragging their feet for extension talks with Jose Berrios, SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson reports. Berrios has one last year of arbitration eligibility before he’s free to sow his wild oats and hit the market in the 2022-23 offseason. And as of now, the Twins have done little to nothing to stop him. Could that be because the NL Central 4th place team is looking to use him as a lucrative trade chip come this year’s deadline? The 27-year old could bring a significant return for Minnesota, but is it enough to risk for them losing him? He’s having another strong season this year, with a 3.49 ERA and a 26% strikeout rate. Either way, as the trade deadline gets closer, we’ll see what moves the Twins are thinking of making.
• After going 5-24 in the month of May, the Arizona Diamondbacks are reeling and are already buried in an NL West where even a good season would not guarantee a playoff berth. In order to try to stop the bleeding and try to get back to some level of decency, Arizona fired hitting coaches Eric Hinske and Darnell Coles. Sadly, given the breadth of that roster’s issues, it seems like that they will still end up as one of the league’s worst teams.
• Baseball’s draft is slowly transitioning more and more to how drafts are run in other sports which is definitely a good thing. While the MLB draft has certainly been covered as an event, there were not a lot of players present during the draft festivities because of the conflict with the college season and the pre-draft workouts were largely private and lesser in number, again, because of conflicts with games being played. The league appears to be trying to change that as they announced a draft combine with over 100 players scheduled to attend towards the end of June.
• Designated hitter Khris Davis, the 2018 major league home run and an imposing slugger for the last half decade, has been designated for assignment by the Rangers after slashing .157/.262/.333 in 22 games with Texas. Davis, who was acquired from Oakland for Elvis Andrus in February, will now look to latch on with another club, though he may have trouble finding another opportunity considering that he’s no longer a viable option in the outfield.
• Yankees starter Gerrit Cole, long suspected to be one of baseball’s most prominent sticky substance users, delivered an extremely uncomfortable minute-long answer last week when asked by the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff whether he’s ever used Spider Tack while pitching. Cole did not provide an explicit yes or no, saying “I don’t know quite how to answer that, to be quite honest” and suggesting the shady practice was the fault of veterans who had passed it down to younger pitchers.
• Outfielder Jarred Kelenic, widely regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects and the potential savior of the Mariners organization, was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma last week after getting into an 0-for-39 slump. Kelenic, who played just 28 games in the upper minors (21 at Double-A in 2019 and seven at Triple-A this year) before reaching the majors, has an .096 batting average and .378 OPS in 23 major league games.
• After colliding with shortstop Brandon Crawford against the Cubs, Evan Longoria has been placed on the IL with a dislocated SC joint. The loss is devastating to the Giants, who are in heavy contention in the NL West with a razor sharp lead and will now be without the 35-year-old, who has absolutely been crushing the ball this season. Slashing .280/.376/.516 with nine home runs over 186 plate appearances, Longoria’s absence will certainly be felt. While a 4-6 week timetable is still on the malleable side, missed games for any prolonged amount of time will certainly have San Francisco longing for its third baseman back.
• The Orioles have placed John Means on the injured list for a strain in his throwing shoulder, which yes, is totally a bummer from any standpoint. While an MRI revealed no structural damage, reports Roch Kubatko of MASN, Baltimore isn’t taking any chances exacerbating his shoulder. He’ll be reevaluated after seven to ten days and the team will have a clear decision on what to do from there. In the meantime, Zac Lowther has been recalled from Tripe-A Norfolk to take his place.
• The Nationals really needed Stephen Strasburg to look like the Stephen Strasburg from their World Series run in order to be consistently competitive during the 2021 season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been what we have seen from Strasburg as he has lost some velocity and his stuff is not as crisp. Now, the Nats got even worse news after Strasburg was forced to leave his start against the Braves early as he was placed on the 10 day injured list with a neck strain that is causing nerve irritation.
• Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty could miss extended time with an oblique strain that manager Mike Shildt called “significant.” That’s a huge loss for St. Louis, as Flaherty has a 2.90 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP over 11 starts this season.
• The Mets had been hopeful to get Noah Syndergaard back in their rotation soonish to try and hold off their division rivals in what has been a surprisingly bad National League East. Unfortunately, they will have to wait a good bit longer, as Syndergaard’s rehab hit a setback, and elbow inflammation will keep him out until at least August.
• Mickey Callaway has been awaiting his official fate from the league in the wake of some some serious and troubling allegations regarding his treatment of female members of the media. Well, MLB announced the results of their investigations where they found that Callaway had engaged in lewd and inappropriate conduct regarding his sexual advances towards journalists. He is now suspended through at least the 2022 season, and the Angels immediately fired him upon the decision being made.
• Corey Kluber has been one of the league’s better stories during the 2021 season, especially in the wake of his recent no-hitter. Unfortunately, we got a reminder the existence of Father Time and that the laws of physics do not always get along with the human body as Kluber hit the injured list with a shoulder strain.
• The Rays have traded Willy Adames to the Brewers in a four-player deal. Trevor Richards was also dealt to Milwaukee in exchange for relievers Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen. The 25-year old Adames was arguably the core of the Rays’ young lineup last season, though he had struggled this season before being dealt. He will be taking over as the shortstop for that Brewers, who have been starved for consistency at the position and in desperate need of an offensive boost.
• Perennial MVP candidate Mike Trout probably won’t win the AL MVP Award in 2021, as he’s going to spend the next 6-8 weeks on the shelf recovering from a calf strain. Even though Trout had slumped in May, he still led the majors with a .466 OBP and 1.090 OPS due to the ridiculous .425/.523/.781 slash line he posted in April, and his loss is as massive as can be for an Angels team that was already struggling to stay above water in the AL West.
• The Dodgers signed veteran slugger Albert Pujols to a major league deal, less than a month after he was designated for assignment and released by the Angels. For a moment there was a rumor floating around that the 41-year-old might sign with the Cardinals so he could play out his career with the team he made his name with. But clearly the Dodgers believe he has some fuel left in the tank, despite the .198/.250/.372 slash line he posted with the Angels this season.
• Remember when the league and MLBPA got in a very public back and forth that resulted in MLBPA essentially calling the league’s bluff and calling for a shortened slate of games with the idea that the players were going to file a grievance? Do you remember that Manfred tried to one-up that by saying no season was going to happen at all unless the players waived the right to file a grievance? That was fun...and that grievance has arrived as MLBPA formally accused the league of negotiating in bad faith on the terms of the 2020 season.