Feb. 10: The Rangers have announced the signing.
Feb. 5, 5:22pm: Foltynewicz will earn $2MM with incentives, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who tweets that the deal is done pending a physical. The incentives could reach $500K, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays.
2:54pm: The Rangers are closing in on a one-year, Major League contract with free-agent right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (via Twitter). Foltynewicz is a client of Excel Sports Management.
Foltynewicz was a quality starter earlier in his career with the Braves, especially in 2018. That year, he threw 183 innings of 2.85 ERA/3.77 SIERA ball while averaging a career-high 96.4 mph on his fastball and posting a well-above-average strikeout percentage of 27.4. But Foltynewicz’s production dropped off in 2019, in which the Braves demoted him to the minors. And though he did enjoy a late-season rebound in 2019, he wasn’t able to carry that into last year.
Foltynewicz made one appearance with the Braves in 2020 (on July 27) and allowed six earned runs on four hits and and four walks in 3 1/3 innings. The 29-year-old’s fastball averaged a startlingly low 90.5 mph in that contest, and the Braves then booted him from their 40-man roster. He went unclaimed on waivers, as no club was willing to pick up the remainder of his salary, and he spent the rest of the year at their alternate site before electing free agency earlier in the offseason.
The right-hander could have elected free agency at the time he was outrighted, but doing so would’ve meant forfeiting the remainder of his salary, as he was just a couple weeks shy of the five years of service time required to reject an outright assignment while still retaining salary. Because he’s shy of that five-year service mark, he’s now controllable for the Rangers through the 2022 season via arbitration.
Foltynewicz will get a chance to bounce back from his horrid 2020 as a member of the Rangers, whose rotation was among the worst in the game last year. Kyle Gibson, Jordan Lyles and Kolby Allard had terrible years a season ago, though Foltynewicz and new acquisitions Dane Dunning and Kohei Arihara could provide reasons for hope.
Best of luck and good wishes to Folty. Tons of potential and talent if he can overcome whatever plagued him the last couple of years.
Potential and MPH are highly correlated and his plummeted
If it’s between the ears, then maybe he’s fixable and is worth a major league contract. If it’s physical, the the poor ol’ Rangers may have just wasted their time and money.
Potential? He’s 29.
Sure!
He’s only 29, plenty of good years left if he can fix whatever his issue is and stay healthy
Makin me feel old here man!
Unless…here’s hopin you were born in ‘41!? Hahaha
Unlikely, I know
I liked Folty. Could be his last decent payday if he doesn’t get his body and mind fixed.
I think he might have let himself become deconditioned during the delayed start to the season last year. If that’s all it was, and he’s back in playing shape, it might be a good pickup for the Rangers.
He has bone spurs he never got them removed and he is a head case that unravels when anything goes off course
hope for their sake he’a fixable. still think he was just a one year wondee though.
*he’s *wonder jeez im all over the place
His stuff was always legit but he needed a sports psychologist in the worst way.
remember when he blew up at a fan at a Chick-fil-A years ago asking for an autograph?…And a lot of us took Foltys side (myself definitely included) because the fan called the cops?!….years later now I blame Folty now smh
Take that Dodgers!
I didn’t LOL, but I COL’d (Chuckled Out Loud).
Ouch lol
Rangers13 must be feeling good rn. Idk how I feel about him, but I will give him a chance. I just have a weird feeling we’re looking at Shelby Miller 2.0. Let’s hope he does well though.
He has a high upside hopefully, still young, and as long as the salary is reasonable no real risk for Texas. No one had to be traded for him, and with the innings limits likely on Dunning and Cody and probable poor performance of Lyles, it is a minimal risk move. He doesn’t really block anyone either as if Cody, Palumbo, Winn, or Hearns become ready to enter the rotation, Folty goes to the bullpen. If he is doing well he will be a frugal extension or trade chip candidate.
If this forces Jordan Lyles out of the rotation then I am behind this move 4000%.
He’s 29 though… Not THAT young.
Ted, that last comment makes me feel very old.
I’m not sure I understand the logic of signing him to a one-year deal. If he sucks, he’s just taking innings from a young starter who could use them. And if he’s good, you’re just rehabbing him for his next team in a likely sub-.500 season anyway.
If he’s good you trade him for a low ceiling prospect or an average, controllable relief pitcher. Something like that.
More dumpster diving by JD.. hope they are saving their $$ for next yrs free agent class
fathead0507 Not sure what you expected JD to do. Trading Lynn was a pretty obvious sign they are punting on next season and using it as a rebuild year. They weren’t a Bauer or LeMahieu signing away from October even with Lynn.
Bauer’s annual salary is 68% of the Rangers overall payroll
oof
You realize all teams “dumpster dive” in some way, right? And if they don’t, they’re not doing their jobs.
this is a low risk high upside move for tex if he’s spot on early he helps limit the innings on you young kids and trade him at the deadline. if he sucks move to the pen of dfa him at worst your out 2mil
Noooooooo he was supposed to go to the Orioles
Looking good Ben Lindbergh! MLB deal!
A fellow minor league free agent draft enthusiast!
It just seemed like last season on July 27, Mike Foltynewicz, making his first start of the season for the Braves, was in the game for 4 minutes and then I read the team DFAd him. Something happened between the time he was asked to leave the game until his dismissal from the team and, invariably, his whole MLB experience for 2020. In 2018 Folty had a 2.85 ERA, 202 K’s, a 1.08 WHIP, won 13 games, and made the NL all star team. I have a feeling that this whole coverup runs deeper than the Watergate tapes even. Of course, his next best seasonal ERA was 4.31. So maybe we’re just looking at an outlier and this is who Foltynewicz really is. Having said that, Texas is a nice landing spot for him.
Tinfoil hat engaged.
1 in 7 seasons that were good ? I’d say there’s something wrong with him. The Braves were way too patient with him and it’s bizarre.
Far easier to say this guy didn’t take his training seriously during lockdown lost a bunch of weight and wouldn’t cooperate with the team to get ready to play. Maybe he has put the weight back on and is ready to go. Or maybe you are right and he is apart of Qanon or something.
Is this Rusty Shackelford?
His problems are well documented. He lost a lot of weight in the off season and wasn’t willing to accept responsibility. He blamed a faulty radar gun and then the rain for his velocity drop.
He needed, and hopefully got, mental help.
The guy is a conservative conspiracy believing Trumpist, not sure if he’s q level crazy.
I still wish him the best, hope he can turn it around in Texas.
Rangers a joke
That’s your whole life, nutsac
The paradigm for “Sign and Flip (at the deadline)”.
Why not? The pedigree is there. Might work.
And ya, teams like the O’s, Tigers, etc. should be doing this. Now ultimately is Folty’s choice, but I’m sure they can offer some enticements.
Altho I think he gets less than Bauer……
Al Avila is a great baseball man and has my utmost respect.
Perfect landing spot for Folty. Time to figure things out.
was hoping he’d end up with the Cubs
Yea I don’t know if I was “hoping” for him, probably not the right word but I thought he was an interesting cheap bounce back candidate. Now I do hope we can sign Jack back at this point, really don’t like the idea of a shark reunion.
Kinda surprised it’s a major league deal.
Soooo absolutely perfect spot for him to land. Rebuild, he’s a vet that needs some time to regain what he lost (mentally and physically). At this moment there are no financials, so I won’t assume it’s more than a couple mil. So prob a reasonable contract… but honestly a major league deal just seems kinda dumb… unless it’s league min, he’s still high risk and per reports still has many of the same velo issues he showed last year.
Clearly I’ve watch him for years. But the kid completely lost it last year. Something is completely off. He looked thinner, like he was taking illegal junk. His game was always power junk. He doesn’t command the zone well enough to lose velo, so I don’t know why anyone would give him a major league deal unless it was at roughly league min to 1 mil. Sounds outrageous… but true
Yeah, he came in last year looking like a shell of nb his former self. I heard rumblings that he went to a new vegan diet, and went overboard with it. However, I also heard some reports that he was severely depressed, and was having a hard time dealing with his depression and anxiety issues in a healthy manner…
Who knows what the truth is, but if he cam regain his fastball velo, he could definitely be a solid bounceback candidate. Right now though, his velo is still down about 3-4MPH, and I cannot see him having any success at that rate..
Probably needs to drink a few ounces of bleach and shine an ultra-violet light up his bottom.
Sounds like the perfect recipe for success
probably bounce back with them Lynn had a great time with the rangers good signing
Lynn was substantially more established prior to his TEX tenure.
I was just stating that he was awesome with Tex he wasn’t nearly as good with the yanks
I would still love Walker, but tbh this means that the rotation work is done. We have enough options there in Cody, Gibson, Dunning, Lyles, Hearn, Allard, Arhiara, and Folty that we don’t need another starter on top of that. Next off-season though… next off-season…
Rangers are heading for a top 3 pick again, and absolute race to the bottom!
Which is what this team needs: more elite prospect talent. The #2 pick coming up should help.
Bauer probably looking at this upstaging him at the top of the feed and is punching the air right now
Nice buy low candidate. Flip him at the deadline worst case scenario
I think crashing and burning would be the worst case scenario. Flipping him at the deadline would be one of the better case scenarios.
Good pickup for the Rangers. Change of scenery could do him good
He will do well in Texas. Rangers get a steal here. The guy can pitch. No pressure in Texas, as its in the move with a whole new team.
Rangers aren’t expected to compete this year and they’ve had some successful reclamation projects in the past couple seasons. If the signing doesn’t work, it’s not like it’s going to hurt the team in the long-term. If the signing does work, they can flip him for some prospects at the trade deadline. Seems like a solid gamble for the Rangers.
Worst case scenario is that he struggles on a poor team and gets released. Best case scenario is that he bounces back to some degree and is able to be traded for something at the deadline. Either way, the Rangers aren’t really losing.
The Rangers might be World Series bound!
I’d like to buy a vowel
Rangers didn’t learn that signing garbage from ATL rotation was a mistake?
Guess they didn’t get the memo with Allard and Teheran.
Soooo my question is, if he gets 2mil, then why not spend an extra mil and try for somone like king Felix or Chris archer (im sorry if I got their contracts wrong but I believe the Felix deal was 3mil)
It would be the same theory but a higher upside, and would get people to maybe want to watch this team amd/or go to games if they open the stadium at all this year
The Rangers going all in on dumpster diving in Texas.
Is that Arlington, Texas or the cemetary!!
This guy’s a stiff!!
Good pick up/bounce back candidate
I thought the Cubs should have moved on him.
He’s still a young guy. His salary even with the incentives would have been a low cost investment. Yes, even for the Cubs.
Now that Folty is off the board, go get Paxton.