TODAY: The Rangers have placed Miller on unconditional release waivers, as per executive VP of communications John Blake (Twitter link). This might not necessarily be the end of Miller’s time with the organization, as MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan (via Twitter) reports “there has been some talking” between the two sides about Miller re-signing on a minor league deal and then pitching as a reliever at Triple-A.
MONDAY: The Rangers have designated righty Shelby Miller for assignment, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was among those to cover on Twitter. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by recently claimed southpaw Jesse Biddle.
It’s understandable that the Texas organization finally ran out of patience with Miller, who signed a $2MM deal over the winter. Inked in hopes that he’d bounce back after a series of injury-ravaged campaigns, the former All-Star never gained traction in his new home.
Yanked from the rotation after eight messy starts, Miller has been hit nearly as hard in 14 2/3 innings as a reliever. All told, he carries a brutal 8.59 ERA with 30 strikeouts and 29 walks through 44 frames on the year.
Miller is throwing as hard as ever, with his average fastball sitting just under 95 mph, but that’s about the only promising aspect of his showing this year. He has induced opposing hitters to chase out of the zone just 21.2% of the time and carries a meager 7.5% swinging-strike rate.
By cutting the cord now, the Rangers will avoid paying roster and innings-pitched bonuses beyond those already accrued (a total of $400K for spending over ninety days on the active roster). That contractual factor likely didn’t play much of a role in the team’s decision, as it’d have been happy to pay up had Miller been producing at a worthwhile level.
A small price to pay for salvation.
This… does put a smile on my face
r/UnexpectedThanos
Tigers could use him maybe
I was thinking maybe Cardinals could add him. In need of a pitcher and maybe a reunion might revive his career.
Stick a fork in him
not with that fastball. He needs to find ,movement in his pitches and then he needs to find control. I know, easier said than done..
Oh never say that to Friedman. He’s a genius. Just ask him. He’ll go dumpster diving and turn this guy into ?
Shelby Miller!
Oh, wait. That’s who he was already.
Miller has been through two of the best pitching organizations is baseball..St.Louis and Atlanta but he is the train wreck that he is.
If nothing else, he can tell his grandkids how he was the cornerstone of one of (if not the) most ill advised trades ever.
With the benefit of hindsight, I’d argue that the Chris Archer trade is the most lopsided in recent memory. But the Miller trade looked bad from the moment it was agreed on.
Only silver lining for AZ is that Aaron Blair was a bust and Inciarte seems to be slowing down. The only piece I would regret surrendering at this point is Swanson. It’s still more than enough to make it a terrible trade though.
not even close to as bad as the heatcliff slocumb for jason varitek plus derek lowe deal.
I agree but I was born in 1998 so my definition of “recent memory” is probably different
James Shields for Fernando Tatis anyone?
Erik Bedard for Adam Jones and Chris Tillman?
He can also tell his grandkids, that once he gave up a hit to the lead-off hitter and then retired the next 27 hitters in order.
When did he do that? Was he a Brave back then or a Cardinal? Hard to believe a pitcher could fall so hard that fast.
Well, maybe the Braves could take him back for a few weeks? At least until Foltynewicz gets his head straight. Who knows, maybe being in ATL could get some of his long-lost mojo back.
He’ll be replaced by Jesse Biddle — a terrible cast-off from ATL. Whew! Biddle is terrible!
If only Odor could be next but they owe him too much money!
I get the “money thing” BUT……Odor has been stinking it up for 3 seasons, save for a few short weeks. Another bad sign by Jon Daniels which MUST be dealt with……. the current hamstring strain is a perfect reason to land him on the IL and then an extended rehab period in minors to either get it worked out or trade or DFA…… now that we have Santana, something has to get his attention to either produce or take a hike!!! I’m just sick of Odor!!
He would be the one guy who NEVER gets hurt.
It figures…..
I mean, I feel bad for the guy but he’s just not getting it done. Another benefit to a young player (especially pitchers) signing an early career extension. Then the team is forced to stick with you too long. Seen it happen too many times…..
… and there was much rejoicing.
Hey, they took a shot. Pretty cheap; didn’t work out. Still was very much worth the effort.
Not all re-furb guys wound up resurrected.
This sounds ,like a perfect candidate for Professor Searage and his Academy of Lost Souls who Lost the Strike Zone !
.
A move to the bullpen would do him well, even if it’s just for the rest of 2019 season.
They tried that, and he was just as bad
Make him a closer?
Still 10x better than Edwin Jackson, getter done shatkins
Man. That is sad. The Braves traded Jason Heyward to get Shelby Miller and even though JayHey had one of the best years of his career immediately following that trade, Shelby still pitched so well that it was easily a bargain for the Braves. Then the Braves trade Shelby back to Tony La Russa in exchange for Aaron Blair, Ender Inciarte and then most recent #1 overall first round draft pick Dansby Swanson. I know Blair got traded and Inciarte is injured and having a poor season, but the Braves already got 3 consecutive NL Gold Glove awards from Inciarte at center field and Swanson looks like a very good all around starting shortstop with the Braves for years to come. Shelby Miller pitched horribly for Arizona from day one. So bad that he had to be flat out released. Can you imagine the D-Backs fan base reaction to that? They must’ve been livid about the entire scenario. The only funny (not really) part about that is the fact after paying Miller $2 million the Rangers are now releasing him to make room for a relief pitcher who has much bigger walk problems and whose ERA is about a full run higher than Shelby Millers is this season. The crazy part is that Biddle was already another Braves cast off this season. The Braves DFA’d Biddle and then basically traded him to Seattle for a better pitcher and cash (I know Vizciano was in the deal but due to a season ending injury he will be a free agent before he pitches for any team. His acquisition from the Braves was the cash). After being DFA’d and traded to a non contender Biddle got even worse. So bad that the Mariners DFA’d him too… and now t Biddle is the guy that is considered too valuable to let the once renowned Shelby Miller have a roster spot. If Millers velo is up and he is still this terrible I think he still probably has a serious undiagnosed injury. Maybe shoulder, maybe knee, maybe back, maybe neck or maybe he just didn’t go to the right surgeon to get his TJ surgery done and needs to get it fixed. Healthy pitchers that young who were that good don’t go so bad that fast without something physical being wrong. I hope a very health/mechanics conscious team with the best trainer and doctors in baseball pick him up on a minor league deal and help him figure it out. Same with Trevor Rosenthal. Even as bad as Miller has been, I have a hard time believing he could be worse than Jesse Biddle. The Mariners thought Swarzak was worse than Biddle. Swarzak came to Atlanta in may and allowed 1 run since then. He just recently got placed on the IL but could be considered the best Braves relief pitcher until that point. Since then the M’s released Biddle and I am sure they regret the trade. Not to say the Rangers WILL technically regret the roster move, but they might. I don’t see how it’s even possible the team will get better for it though. To make matters worse, Biddle is out of options so the Rangers have to keep him on the Major League 25-man roster.
Dude. Paragraph breaks. The return key is your friend.
True but very informative. Thank you.
Thanks. I should use paragraph breaks. I rarely use comma’s. I figure it’s just a comment on a post so who cares but then the next thing I know I have been typing for several minutes and it is way more than I envisioned it being initially. To be honest, at that point I am just too lazy to go back and adjust it. It also doesn’t help that I am always typing on a cheap cell phone screen that for some reason gives me less than half an inch worth of view of what I have typed so far. I don’t know what it is, but between my keyboard and the header, the “Show only new comments” button always blocks about 80% of my typing view all the time. I am only that lucky when I use the mobile version. The desktop version is even more difficult. Anyone else experienced that on this site?
Good post. Consider signing up for the Athletic. It’s worth every nickel and then some. Plus a large number of posts are informative and well-thought, like yours was. Not to mention, the grammar police don’t pounce on everyone. It’s pretty refreshing.
Haha I’ll be ironic and say it was more of a formatting issue than a grammar arrest. It reads quite rushed, but the information is legitimately worthwhile, so I actually read it. One or two clicks and it’s a really nice piece.
Also, the Athletic really is a fantastic source; it’s well worth the subscription price.
Yep, my phone does the same thing, man. It’s understandable.
What the heck can we do about it? Is it just me or does the mobile version seem basically exactly like the desktop version? It seems like the “Show only new comments” button is literally placed in the worst possible area. Why would someone design a button that goes right in the middle and almost completely over everything you can see when you type? It seems like this should be a relatively easy yet extremely helpful fix.
Turn your phone sideways when you reply.
Type it in a Google Doc and paste it into the reply box.
Could Miller end up with the White Sox? The team has a penchant for signing former starters on the decline, hoping against hope that they will give the team innings and keep it in the game for a while. Let’s see. So far this year it’s been Nova, Santana, Despainge, and now Detwiler, with Santiago waiting in the wings. Who am I missing?
Honestly, I could see them going for him. The last time I saw him pitch he was with the Diamondbacks and he gave up a ton of runs against the SF Giants. I don’t know how much he has left… just judging from his stat-line and what people are saying, he looks to be cooked.
I’m sure there will be a few White Sox fans that’ll chime in with the usual “Coop will fix ’em’ nonsense though.
Cooper is overrated but I’d still give Miller some starts over Nova and Banuelos.
I think he could come back to St. Louis. They r in need of some pitching again. He can’t be any worse than what they have now.
What the Rangers should also do is tosend Odor to the barber shop and ungently. He looks homeless making all that money. Also, kids are watching his display of unbuttoned shirt. Unreal!
Dude’s done. Put him out to pasture.
Back to Braves and they can trade him to the Diamondbacks for more prospects.
You have to think the Cardinals are all over Miller again!
It’s incredible that TEX has had such a good first half with the likes of Miller, Smyly, and Odor on the roster. Props to the rest of the team for picking up their slack, and that’s been a LOT of slack to pick up.
Padres…
Brewers bout to be all over him
A typical dumpster dive reclamation project the Yankees would do.
Probably not . Nothing impressive about his spin rates or velo
If he’d be ok with AAA for a bit to fix his mechanics, I’d love for Milwaukee to pick him up.
Word is Atkins picked up the phone before one of his assistants said, “wait, we got Nick Kingham.” Then he hung up the phone.
As the scout said to Dennis Quaid in that movie The Rookie, and I’ll paraphrase… if I have a pitcher throwing over 90, and I dont tell the club? I’ll be fired.
So you got a pitcher throwing 95. Its either a mental or physical issue. Shelby needs to work with a pitching guru. The Pitcher Whisperer. Someone can fix him. Just gotta find the right club with the right guy. I bet the Astros
Didn’t even know he was still playing.
Braves should go grab him on a minor league deal. He pitched amazing for us but more importantly, I think it would kinda be that awesome final straw to that terrible deal with the diamondbacks. Hey look, they guy y’all traded a lot of your future for, he’s now on a cheap low risk minor league deal for us lol.
Should have listened to Molina, now look where you are!
Clearly shelby needs to sign back with the braves where he can go back to his future.
Remember when the Diamondbacks traded the number 1 pick in the draft for him lol
I’m sure Mozeliak of the Cardinals will pick up Miller. Package him in a deal with Brett Cecil for a player to be named later.