According to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America, 422 players became minor league free agents Monday. Hilburn-Trenkle provides the full list, but right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, outfielders Jorge Bonifacio and Domingo Santana, and catcher Tyler Heineman are among the notables.
Foltynewicz spent the previous six seasons with the Braves, and he looked like a front-line starter at times. During his best season, 2018, Foltynewicz threw 183 innings of 2.85 ERA/3.37 FIP ball with 9.93 K/9 and 3.34 BB/9. His career began coming off track the next season, though, as the Braves demoted him to Triple-A during the summer. While Foltynewicz did return to the majors and finish on a positive note, he wasn’t able to carry that momentum into 2020. The 29-year-old made just one appearance – on July 27 – gave up six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings and experienced an alarming drop in velocity, going from the 95 mph range to 90.5. The Braves then designated Foltynewicz for assignment, but no one claimed him and he spent the remainder of the year at their alternate training site.
The Indians took a $1.5MM gamble on Santana last winter after a 21-home run season with the Mariners, though he struggled in the second half of the 2019 campaign and hasn’t recovered since. He amassed 84 plate appearances as an Indian and hit a nonthreatening .157/.298/.286 with a pair of home runs. To no one’s surprise, the Indians declined the 28-year-old’s $5MM option for 2021.
Bonifacio was once a top 100 prospect with the Royals, but he has fallen on hard times since a promising start in 2017. An 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs limited him in 2018, during which he offered subpar production over 270 PA, and Bonifacio took only 21 trips to the plate the next season. The Royals then released Bonifacio, who signed a minors deal with the division-rival Tigers. Though he did get back to the majors with the Tigers, the 27-year-old logged the worst production of his career, hitting .221/.277/.326 line and two homers across 94 PA.
Heineman, an ex-Marlin, became a Giant on a minors pact in January. He cracked their season-opening roster, started Game 1 and was a regular into mid-August, but he lost almost all of his playing time to Joey Bart and Chadwick Tromp from there. Heineman ended the campaign with a .190/.292/.214 line and no homers in 50 attempts.
I hope the Phillies sign Foltynewicz
no thanks. one year wonder.
Still worth a shot as the cost will not be much. I was thinking about Boston. He should have many teams talking to him although none will provide an offer sufficient to ink him early. He’s the kind of pitcher another organization will try to “fix”. Would anyone be surprised if Houston grabs him?
As a Red Sox fan I’d also be open to them signing him and giving him a shot to rediscover himself. I was wondering if there’s been any news/updates on what his fastball has looked like since he was sent down to the alternate site. Not sure if anyone knows or there were any workouts/simulated games posted from the Braves site but would be interested to know if anyone’s got any info on what he looked like after being optioned down. If he can get his velocity back, or even partially back — I would think he’d have a solid shot at re-establishing himself. If he doesnt/hasnt gotten any of it back… I’d be curious to find out if there’s some type of injury at play. Guys typically don’t lose 5MPH off their fastball in their late 20s/early 30s… so I feel like there has to be some type of explanation. And if it’s mechanical, id like to see the Sox take a chance on him and try to build him along… seems like the type of move Bloom might be inclined to make — assuming there is some hope for him to regain the FB and not an underlying arm issue that’s going to require surgery.
all you could ever get from Anthopolous in Atlanta was he was quickly regaining velocity at the alternate site…however it speaks volumes he was never given another shot with the whole rotation decimated so who knows. At end of the day Folty showed up rail thin, lost tons of velocity and got rocked. Not sure what happen but no other team claiming him says something too i guess
I remember hearing somewhere Folty had lost quite a bit of weight and strength as well. Probably thought that there wouldn’t be a season and didn’t prepare. He’s one of the guys that cannot afford to lose much weight and muscle anyways.
Yeah cause that Philly pitching staff was so fantastic last year
Or the last 5
Speaking as a Braves fan, I hope the Phillies sign him too.
Philly should be in on Lynn.
@BillGiles as a Braves fan, I would love for the phillies to sign him so we can tee off on him, rather than bearing the brunt of said teeing
I believe Folty can be a good pitcher on a championship team. His talent is the kind of chance a lot of teams desperate for pitching are willing to take a chance on. Unfortunate that this is how his time in Atlanta ends, but it’s best for both sides to move on after so many twists and turns since 2015.
He’s a major head case this is his main issue. He beats himself on the mound
He and Matz should form a support group. There are probably a dozens others around baseball who should join.
Dodgers Folty
That feels about right. The Dodgers might be in on a buy low arm like Foltynewicz or Kluber, the former perhaps with designs to convert them to relief.
I’m curious to see what they do, it feels like they might be able to take advantage of most teams being spendthrifts in 2021.
Is there a team that is not in on buy low arms?
Probably not. But not every good team is actually good at resurrecting careers in the dumps. La is on that list
and they did this with Nelson and wood last year. It’s their MO
There’s a reason I said “buy low arms like…” in this case. The pitchers themselves fit what the Dodgers have gone after before, not merely that they’ll probably be cheap.
I agree with you DB. was talking to LGDB
Folty and Archer will be the Angels rotation signings for the offseason, they’ll sign a bunch of free agent bats and declare themselves winners of the offseason
Then blame Dipoto because they are still bad. Halohonk will tell us the Angels are a year away. The problem is they are a year away from being bad again.
Was folty non-tendered? I was under the impression he had at least another year of team control
Yes, since he cleared waivers and was not added back to the 40-man roster, he becomes a minor league free agent. I believe if he was added back to the roster, ATL would have to tender him a contract (3rd arb for 2021).
He was not non-tendered, he was DFA early in the season and cleared waivers. I think we are on the same page, but just clarifying that.
You’re right – thanks for the clarification.
Yay!!!!!! My favorite list of the year!
Folty just needs to get his head right. May I suggest a looong vacation to Colorado, California or any one of Several other enlightened states that have legal medical weed.
How on earth Bonifacio is still on a mlb roster ? He had 1000 chances, give your own prospects a shot at this point
Long overdue for Faulty! Peace and never come back.
Next one will be Wright!
Wright will be given chance after chance…predicting he will be released in 3 years.
Braves will be giving him chance after chance until they finally realize he is hopeless. The team is slow!
Why would you give up on Wright already – even if you didn’t believe he was going to be what you drafted him to be? You’re not getting back his record signing bonus. His salary is peanuts. IMHO he’s Gausman 2.0 – and look what Gausman’s rate is now…after ATL released him. You don’t want to give Lucas Sims any more ammunition to saying that ATL stifles natural development.
Did Lucas Sims really say that lol?…Can you really argue with him? There are plenty of example of pitchers who succeed after leaving the Braves organization….but I’m sure every team has those same stories
I agree… Wright is only 24 years old and while sure he hasn’t really established himself yet (at all really) in the majors he has still shown well at times in the minors and is still certainly young enough that he could turn things around and develop into a legitimate ML SP. Maybe he won’t ever be the true “ace” that the Braves hoped for when drafting him… but there’s still certainly plenty of middle ground where he could be a valuable enough middle of the rotation arm with a few minor adjustments — or should that fail — maybe he’s a guy who could convert to a RP and possibly see his pitches play up in smaller outings. Either way, I say it’s far too early to just give up on him so soon.
No, you trade him before he loses any more value.
On Twitter Sims replied to someone posting a highlight of his ridiculous slider for CIN asking why he didn’t know to do that as a Brave. His reply, “Cause the Reds actually care about making their pitchers great at what their good at.” Matt Wisler had a good year for MIN in the pen, but sometimes it just clicks somewhere else, under different guidance and situations.
Folty seems like a candidate for the annual Dayton Moore minor league contract who ends up playing a major positive role on the team and then gets flipped for a prospect. Bonus points for being an ex-brave.
When those 4 are “ noteable” you really mean a whole lot of AAA players.
Did we ever find out why Folty lost so much weight in the offseason? He was alarmingly frail and weak. From what little was written about it, he seemed to be gaining some weight back down at the ATS and with that his velocity started to come back. I would think that a team might offer him a major league deal at close to the minimum (maybe $1M base) with lots of incentives for games played, innings pitched, etc. Given his past success, I’m sure there will be multiple teams willing to give him another chance. TLB2001 nailed it with his Dayton Moore comment. He is the prototypical rebound candidate that the Royals sign for cheap and flip for a decent return or ride out the cheap performance. Look what they did with Rosenthal and Holland just last year. I too would love to see the Red Sox take a flyer on him. Really no downside to doing so if the price is right.
Folty’s velocity isn’t what it used to be. If he can find it again he’ll got opportunities.
He was always more of a thrower than a pitcher. Lot’s of guys are throwing 95+ these days so it isn’t like he’s anything special. Harsh but true.
Someone will pick up Heineman. He’s excellent defensively—including a terrific arm—and he’s a switch-hitter that has hit well in the minors The Giants made a mistake not giving him more playing time.