Angels promote Luke Murphy from Double-A

This is a bit of a surprise. The 26-year-old Franklin is hitting .249/.375/.360 in Triple-A with six home runs and 17 steals. Meanwhile, Heston Kjerstad is hitting .276/.309/.431 with eight home runs in 59 games in Triple-A for the Orioles. If he wasn’t going to get an opportunity, you wonder if the Orioles could have found any takers for him at the deadline.

This seemed likely after the White Sox traded for Joey Bart on Monday, but it is noteworthy nonetheless. Quero was a top 100 prospect, but the 23-year-old has a .245/.308/.318 slash line with seven home runs in 596 MLB plate appearances so far while playing below-average defense behind the plate.

With Luis Castillo and Huascar Brazobán joining the White Sox pitching staff, the team needed to make room on the active roster. Schweitzer had a 2.78 ERA in 22 2/3 innings for the White Sox in 11 appearances this season and will likely get another opportunity this summer.

Mayer was shockingly traded during Monday’s deadline to the Giants for reliever Erik Miller, and more reporting is coming out that might suggest why. Obviously, some of those reports might be organizational cover, but there have been a few reports that suggest Mayer and the Red Sox organization were not seeing eye-to-eye. Mayer has had 364 plate appearances in Boston and posted a .223/.278/.346 slash line with seven home runs and three steals. His season was cut short by injury in 2025, and he’s currently on the injured list with a forearm injury, so that may explain the shorter leash. It sounds like a fresh start may be what the former top prospect needs.

It makes sense. If George Lombard Jr. is coming up to be the Yankees’ shortstop of the future, then the team needs to figure out if they can play Volpe in another place. If Volpe were to look good at second, then the Yankees could shift Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to third base.

There was some expectation that this would happen after Liam Hicks was traded to Tampa Bay, but it’s still a bit of a surprise. Hicks was being used primarily as a designated hitter with Joe Mack entrenched as the catcher, so Ramírez will either be a short-side platoon at catcher or the designated hitter, or a little bit of both. The consequence of that would be that one of Griffin Conine, Heriberto Hernandez, or Owen Caissie will no longer be penciled in as the full-time designated hitter in the wake of Hicks’ trade.

Bubic hasn’t pitched since the middle of May and will be returning when Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back) are also likely back in the Dodgers’ rotation. That means that Bubic will most likely serve as a bulk relief option for the Dodgers in September and potentially the playoffs.

Lauer was originally slated to move to a bulk relief role, but the team decided to send Emmet Sheehan down to Triple-A and keep Lauer in the rotation. Of course, Blake Snell (elbow) is also close to returning, and Tyler Glasnow (back) is beginning a rehab assignment, which means Lauer may be moving to the bullpen shortly. For now, he’ll start Wednesday against the Cubs.

The Cubs didn’t add a veteran closer before the deadline, so it looks like Palancia will have a chance to get his job back upon returning. He’ll definitely need at least a couple of rehab appearances first.

Vásquez last pitched Thursday against the Giants, throwing 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. JP Sears started that game, but he was in the pen and gave up two runs in an inning in Sunday’s game.