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MLB NEWS WIRE
Rays, Phillies lose important pitchers; Astros' Correa returns from IL

By MLB.com staff
09/08/2025

9/5 -- Red Sox release Walker Buehler: Despite a recent run of success, the Red Sox have decided to cut ties with Walker Buehler and pay him the remainder of his 2025 salary, plus his $3 million buyout for 2026. That total comes out to roughly $5.7 million, and is expected to sign with a different team "in the coming days", per a source close to the pitcher.

Since the beginning of July, he's lowered his ERA from the low 6's to the high 4's, but his peripherals have not been as kind, especially over the last month. In August, despite a 2.73 ERA, his FIP and SIERA have been over 5.00, owing to a very high walk rate and low opponents' BABIP, suggesting that he's had some fortuitous luck in run prevention despite walking a lot opposing hitters.

Any team that signs him in the coming days (to a major league contract) will only be subject to paying him the pro-rated league minimum; and also in the offseason, his $3 million that he's already banked from the buyout will likely hurt him in free agent negotiations.

A minor league deal will not subject him to that rule, unless the minor league deal comes with some kind of bonus that cannot exceed the pro-rated amount remaining.

9/5 -- M's Raleigh breaks record with homerun: With his three-run homerun in the fifth off Erick Fedde, the record for homeruns in a season by a primary catcher now belongs to Cal Raleigh with forty-nine. He broke Salvador Perez's record of 48 set just four seasons ago back in 2021.

His homerun put the Mariners up 5-2 in that inning, and they would go on to post a 5-4 victory to stave off a three-game losing streak. His 49th homerun ties him for second in the league with Shohei Ohtani; and both are second to Kyle Schwarber's fifty longballs.

"Personal records and accolades are nice, especially when it's a record that belonged to someone like Salvy Perez," he said after the game, "But we just need to keep stacking wins and get this thing to the postseason. That's the goal right now."

Their series with Atlanta continues tonight at 7:10 PM Eastern time from Truist Park in suburban ATlanta, where Luis Castillo will go up against Dane Dunning.

9/6 -- Orioles sign Basallo to extension: After only all of six days and four games with the Orioles, they have signed rookie catcher Samuel Basallo to an eight-year, $67 million extension. The deal also includes a ninth season, determined by a club option worth $18 million, although it can be bought out for $7 million.

The deal also comes with a $5 million signing bonus and escalators that could take the total compensation of the deal to nearly $89 million if all prerequisites are met.

Basallo hasn't played since Wednesday after suffering a thigh bruise, but hit his first MLB homerun on that day, and has generally been praised by the Orioles' staff for his limited work behind the plate so far.

The one big negative for the extension is that it takes him out of the running for the Orioles to receive a PPI compensation pick down the road if he would happen to place in the top two of the Rookie of the Year voting next season, or in the top three of MVP voting sometime over the next three seasons.

However, if he ends up fulfilling his vast promise as a player, especially if he ends up sticking at catcher instead of moving to first base or left field, it is a risk worth taking.

9/6 -- Rays' Pepiot to miss remainder of season: Even though Tampa Bay's postseason chances are quite remote (<5% by FanGraphs), those remote chances took another big hit with the loss of starter Ryan Pepiot. The young right-hander and budding ace is expected to miss the rest of the season with a partially torn labrum.

Torn labrums are not the months-long injuries they used to be, especially in Pepiot's case where surgery is not required and could heal up on its own. However, Pepiot opted for surgery to correct the problem, and is expected to be out of baseball activities for at least the next several months.

The surgery was reportedly successful, which could end up shortening the recovery time if the upcoming rehab goes well. He's expected to be at full strength for spring training next year according to manager Kevin Cash.

"We're pretty fortunate to have some nice depth on which to draw from," Cash noted when asked about Pepiot's timetable for recovery. "Joe (Rock) is up and pitching well, we have Joe Boyle really hitting his spots out of the bullpen, so we still feel good about where we're at."

Tampa would still have to leapfrog five teams with twenty games to go to reach the postseason; not an impossble task, but losing one of their top starters for the remainder of the year is not likely to help their cause.

9/7 -- Phillies' rotation suffers massive blow: With the resurgence of the Padres and Cardinals in the postseason race, the Phillies all of a sudden find themselves in a perilous position as they are only a game ahead of St. Louis, and two games ahead of the Padres in the wildcard race, as they themselves hold the number-two spot.

That position went from bad to worse when it was announced that veteran righty Zack Wheeler will be out of the rest of the season. He left his start at Milwaukee after just four and one-third innings on Thursday night, with a similar injury to Tampa Bay's Ryan Pepiot that will knock him out for the rest of the season.

However, Wheeler's torn labrum is much more serious, one that will require surgery and a longer rehab time at his age. In fact, it's not 100% certain that he'll be ready on Opening Day for next season, as he's expected to miss the next six-to-eight months after undergoing surgery on Saturday per a team source.

"Not going to lie, this is going to hurt us quite a bit," said manager Rob Thomson, not mincing words. "Zack not only brings the ability, but his leadership and knowledge and steady hand is going to be missed. Not having him around in the clubhouse is a big blow. But we're just going to have to pick it up elsewhere, whether it's scoring more runs or just pitching better."

Many thought with the injury that the Phillies would finally call up Andrew Painter from Triple-A, but they opted to re-call Matt Manning from the minors, whom they acquired in a trade with the Tigers back before the deadline. They are also reportedly linked to the recently-released Walker Buehler, who has ample postseason experience from his time with the Dodgers.

Painter has struggled in Triple-A this season, pitching to a 5.12 ERA in 95 innings of work with the Phillies' top minor league affiliate in Lehigh Valley. He's coming off a start on Saturday in which he allowed six earned runs on ten hits in 3 2/3 innings in an 11-10 loss at Buffalo.

9/7 -- Astros' Correa returns to lineup: It's been a bit of a struggle offensively for Carlos Correa since returning to the team that drafted him earlier this season via trade, but manager Joe Espada said that the lineup is much better with than without him.

"He just adds that extra presence that makes teams have to account for him," he said. "He hasn't had quite the success since coming back that he may have hoped for, but he still plays great defense, and is a player the younger guys look up to."

After Correa's 0-for-3 in a loss to Texas last night, he has just an 76 OPS+ in ninety-four plate appearances, with twenty-four strikeouts to just six walks. Jeremy Pena, who had been the primary shortstop in Correa's absence and a former Gold Glove winner himself, will go back to being the primary DH while Yordan Alvarez is still on the injured list.

"We've talked about giving Carlos some rest a few times a week and putting him in the lineup as the DH," Espada said. "But I think for now, we'll go back to the lineup we had with both of them pre-injury."