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Archives for September 2021

Rays Outright Shawn Armstrong, David Hess

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The Rays announced that right-handers Shawn Armstrong and David Hess have each cleared outright waivers (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Both pitchers had the right to elect free agency, but they’ve each chosen to accept an assignment to Triple-A Durham. Tampa Bay had designated Armstrong and Hess for assignment last week.

Armstrong began the season with the Orioles, where he struggled badly and wound up designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers. He performed well with Baltimore’s top minor league affiliate, and the Rays acquired him for cash on the day of the trade deadline and selected him to the big league club a few weeks later.

The 30-year-old Armstrong worked sixteen innings over eleven frames of relief with Tampa Bay, pitching to a 4.50 ERA with rather bizarre peripherals. Armstrong’s strikeout and walk rates with the Rays have been stellar, as he’s punched out 33.8% of opponents while issuing free passes at only a 7.7% clip. But Armstrong was tagged for five home runs in that limited body of work, with an extremely low opponents’ batting average on balls in play and high rate of stranding baserunners keeping his ERA at a respectable level.

Hess has been up and down with a few teams this season. Originally signed by the Rays to a minor league deal, he was traded to the Marlins and made eighteen appearances with Miami. After being designated for assignment, he returned to Tampa Bay on another minors pact, and he’s already been selected and outrighted twice more since landing back in the Rays’ organization.

Between the two clubs, Hess has logged twenty innings with a 9.90 ERA. Like Armstrong, Hess has been plagued by the long ball, as he’s served up ten homers in his MLB action this season. Despite the nightmarish results at the big league level, Hess has been quite impressive with Durham. Over 35 2/3 frames with the Bulls, he has a 3.28 ERA with better than average strikeout and walk numbers (27.2% and 5.4%, respectively).

Red Sox Release Brandon Brennan

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The Red Sox have released reliever Brandon Brennan, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). He’d been with Triple-A Worcester after passing through outright waivers a couple months ago.

A Rule 5 draftee of the Mariners over the 2018-19 offseason, Brennan was a frequently-used bullpen option in Seattle in 2019. That year, he tossed 47 1/3 innings of 4.56 ERA ball, issuing a few too many walks but missing a fair amount of bats and racking up ground-balls at a 55.2% rate. The right-hander missed most of last season due to a severe oblique strain, though, and Seattle designated him for assignment this April.

The Red Sox claimed Brennan off waivers, but he’d only make one appearance with the big league club. He tossed three innings of scoreless relief but was designated for assignment the following night when Boston needed a fresh arm. Otherwise, Brennan has spent the year with Worcester, tossing 37 2/3 frames of relief for the WooSox. He’s only managed a 5.97 ERA, but his strikeout and walk rates (21.4% and 8.7%, respectively) weren’t far off the league average.

Brennan was plagued by opponents’ elevated .363 batting average on balls in play in Worcester and probably didn’t pitch as poorly as that run prevention mark would indicate. Nevertheless, he’d clearly fallen down the organizational depth chart, as the front office called upon other hurlers to come up in recent weeks while the big league pitching staff dealt with a series of COVID-19 related absences. Brennan will now be free to sign elsewhere, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see another club add the 30-year-old on a minor league deal to bolster their bullpen depth.

Red Sox Activate Martin Perez

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SEPTEMBER 14: As expected, Boston reinstated Pérez from the injured list before Tuesday’s game against the Mariners. To create roster space, righty Kaleb Ort has been removed from the active and 40-man rosters and returned to Worcester.

SEPTEMBER 13: The Red Sox have activated reliever Hirokazu Sawamura from the COVID-19 injured list. Fellow reliever Austin Davis is also back from paternity leave. In corresponding moves, Brad Peacock and Stephen Gonsalves were returned to Triple-A Worcester. Peacock and Gonsalves had each been selected to the roster as COVID replacements, so they can be removed from the active and 40-man rosters without being exposed to waivers. Additionally, right-hander Eduard Bazardo has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Worcester.

Sawamura has been out since August 31 after testing positive for the virus as part of the spread throughout the Sox’s clubhouse. Signed to a two-year deal over the offseason after a nine-year career in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Sawamura has a 3.09 ERA over 46 2/3 innings during his first MLB season. The 33-year-old has shown some worrying control issues, walking 14.2% of opposing hitters, but he’s also punched out an above-average 26.5% of batters faced.

Peacock has made two appearances (including one start) since being acquired from the Indians and called up in the early stages of the outbreak. He has allowed nine runs in 5 1/3 innings. Gonsalves, meanwhile, has worked 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball in relief, his first big league action since he tossed 24 2/3 frames as a rookie with the 2018 Twins.

Manager Alex Cora provided updates on a few more players on the COVID IL (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). Lefty Martín Pérez is expected to make it back tomorrow, while closer Matt Barnes will make a couple minor league rehab appearances and is expected to return to the big league club this weekend. The team hopes that ace Chris Sale, who tested positive on September 9, will make it back to start a game against the Orioles this weekend.

Padres Sign Ross Detwiler To Major League Contract

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The Padres announced they’ve signed reliever Ross Detwiler to a major league contract. Righty Shaun Anderson was optioned to Triple-A El Paso to clear active roster space. San Diego already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no move was necessary in that regard.

Detwiler had previously spent the entire 2021 campaign with the Marlins, who signed him to a one-year, $850K guarantee over the offseason. The veteran southpaw spent the year as a bullpen option for Miami manager Don Mattingly, working primarily in lower-leverage situations. Detwiler made 46 appearances (including five starts as an opener) and worked 45 1/3 innings of 4.96 ERA ball.

It has been an interesting season for Detwiler, who has revamped his plan of attack. Generally a low-strikeout, ground-ball oriented hurler, he’s tweaked his pitch mix and gotten wildly different results than he has in years past. Detwiler has cut his sinker usage nearly in half in favor of a more four-seam heavy approach. That has resulted in a career-best strikeout rate (28%), with hitters taking a career-high 19.2% of his offerings for called strikes. But it’s come with an accompanying dip in ground balls, as Detwiler has gone from inducing grounders on more than half the balls in play against him between 2019-20 down to 39.7% this season.

With Detwiler nearing free agency anyways, the non-contending Marlins designated him for assignment and released him over the weekend. Miami will remain on the hook for the majority of Detwiler’s remaining salary, with the Friars responsible for paying him only the prorated portion of the league minimum for his final couple weeks of work.

Detwiler signs with San Diego after August 31, so he won’t be eligible for the Padres’ postseason roster if the team makes it to the playoffs. The 35-year-old will get an opportunity to pitch in meaningful games down the stretch, though, as he tries to help the Friars get into the postseason before again reaching free agency this winter.

For the Padres, there’s no real harm in bringing Detwiler aboard. They enter play tonight tied with the Cardinals, half a game behind the Reds for the National League’s final playoff spot. Their season quite obviously hangs in the balance over their final nineteen games, but the pitching staff continues to deal with injuries. Chris Paddack landed on the injured list last night, and Blake Snell left his most recent start early. Detwiler’s not a true rotation option at this stage of his career, but he’s capable of shouldering an inning or two to deepen an overall pitching staff that might have to rely on a few bullpen games down the stretch.

Phillies Release Vince Velasquez

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The Phillies announced they’ve released Vince Velasquez. That was the anticipated outcome once Philadelphia designated him for assignment over the weekend.

Velasquez was on the injured list at the time of his designation (although he had begun a minor league rehab assignment). Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, and with the trade deadline having passed, Velasquez’s designation meant he’d wind up released. That’s mostly a formality anyhow, since he would’ve had the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency while still retaining his entire salary as a player with more than five years of MLB service time.

If Velasquez clears release waivers, he’ll be free to sign elsewhere. That seems likely, as claiming him would require a team to assume the remainder of his $4MM salary (approximately $452K through season’s end). If he clears waivers, a new club could sign the right-hander for the prorated portion of the league minimum while leaving the Phils on the hook for the bulk of the salary.

Whether he’s claimed or signed as a free agent after clearing waivers, Velasquez wouldn’t be eligible for a new team’s postseason roster since he was released after August 31. It’s still possible a team on the fringes of contention could look to bring him in for a couple weeks in an attempt to bolster their pitching depth as they try to make a playoff push. Velasquez worked 3 2/3 innings during his rehab outing last Wednesday, so he’s seemingly nearing readiness in his recovery from the blister issue that landed him on the IL last month.

The release concludes an up-and-down tenure for Velasquez in Philly. Acquired from the Astros as part of the December 2015 Ken Giles trade, the 29-year-old spent parts of six seasons with the Phils. He got off to a very promising start, tossing 131 innings of 4.12 ERA ball while striking out 27.6% of batters faced, a mark that dwarfed that year’s 20.2% league average for starting pitchers. That ultimately proved to be the high-water mark of Velasquez’s tenure in Philadelphia, though.

Over the next five seasons, Velasquez never posted an ERA below 4.85. He showed flashes at times, working in the mid-90s and missing bats at a league average or better rate. But he also issued walks at a higher than average clip in four of his last five seasons (2019 being the exception) while giving up a fair amount of hard, airborne contact. That predictably led to consistent troubles with home runs — particularly in Philadelphia’s hitter-friendly home ballpark — that inflated his run prevention totals.

Velasquez’s up-and-down performances will make him an interesting free agent this winter. (Even if he signs elsewhere for this season’s final couple weeks, he’ll again reach the open market this offseason). He’s still only 29 years old, and Velasquez has shown enough bat-missing promise to remain intriguing. Between their park and lackluster team defenses in recent years, the Phillies haven’t been in position to get the greatest results from their pitching staffs. Perhaps a club with a more pitcher-friendly environment and/or solid defense feels they can yet coax mid-rotation production out of Velasquez, with a multi-inning relief role a fallback possibility if he continues to scuffle as a starter.

Cubs Select Trayce Thompson

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The Cubs announced they’ve selected outfielder Trayce Thompson to the big league roster. Jason Heyward is landing on the seven-day concussion injured list in a corresponding move. To open space on the 40-man roster, Chicago transferred outfielder Michael Hermosillo from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Thompson is back in the big leagues for the first time in three years. The right-handed hitter broke in with the White Sox in 2015 and saw some MLB time in each of the following three seasons, with his biggest workload coming with the 2016 Dodgers. Thompson hit for a fair amount of power and can cover all three outfield spots, but his overall productivity was limited by swing-and-miss issues. In 589 big league plate appearances, he owns a .206/.276/.389 mark with 22 home runs but an alarming 28% strikeout rate.

He’s split the 2021 season between the Triple-A affiliates of the D-Backs and Cubs, spending most of the campaign with Chicago’s top farm team in Iowa. Thompson has popped 21 round trippers in 358 plate appearances there but continued to punch out quite a bit. He owns a .233/.344/.492 line with a 32.4% strikeout rate with Iowa this season.

Orioles Select Pat Valaika

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The Orioles announced they’ve selected infielder Pat Valaika back to the big league roster. Baltimore also recalled righty Marcos Diplán from Triple-A Norfolk. Left-hander Tanner Scott has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left knee sprain, while utilityman Jorge Mateo was placed on the 60-day IL due to right lumbar inflammation.

Valaika has logged substantial big league action with the O’s in each of the last two seasons. He flashed some intriguing power potential last year, popping eight home runs in 150 plate appearances en route to a solid .277/.315/.475 showing. But he struggled badly over a slightly longer look this year, posting a .192/.251/.280 line over 212 trips to the dish. He was designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers last month. Valaika will be eligible for arbitration this offseason, but given his disappointing season, he looks like a non-tender candidate.

Baltimore grabbed Mateo off waivers from the Padres last month, with the rebuilding O’s in a far better position than the win-now Padres to give regular playing time to the former top prospect. (Mateo is out of minor league option years, so he’d spent much of his San Diego tenure in a bench role). The 26-year-old showed fairly well in his look with the Orioles, hitting .280/.328/.421 with a pair of homers and five stolen bases over 116 plate appearances. His season comes to a premature end because of the injury, but he’s seemingly done enough to warrant a spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster over the upcoming offseason.

Unlike Mateo, Scott isn’t officially ruled out for the rest of the year by his IL placement. Nevertheless, manager Brandon Hyde suggested to reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) the hard-throwing reliever is unlikely to make it back this season. Scott appeared in 62 games and tossed 54 innings of 5.17 ERA ball, striking out a solid 27.9% of opponents but issuing walks at an elevated 14.7% clip. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason.

Yankees Designate Brooks Kriske, Re-Sign Sal Romano

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The Yankees announced Tuesday that they’ve re-signed Sal Romano to a Major League contract and designated right-hander Brooks Kriske for assignment to open space on the roster. Romano elected free agency over an outright assignment just yesterday but will almost immediately return to the MLB roster.

Kriske has been an up-and-down reliever for New York over the past couple seasons. This year alone, the Yankees have optioned him on seven separate occasions, recalling him six times when the need for a rested bullpen arm presented itself. Amidst the back-and-forth, Kriske has made eight appearances after pitching in his first four big league games last year. He’s yet to find any success against major league hitters, combining for 11 1/3 innings of 20-run ball to this point. Kriske has struck out fifteen batters, but he’s also issued eleven walks and served up six home runs in his rather limited time.

That said, the 27-year-old has a generally strong body of work in the minors. The USC product posted dominant numbers up through Double-A and has performed fairly well in his first taste of Triple-A this year. Over 28 1/3 innings with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Kriske has a 3.81 ERA with a massive 36.6% strikeout percentage, although throwing strikes has also been an issue at the minors’ top level. He’s doled out free passes to 12.5% of batters faced in the minors this season, and also issued walks at a similar clip in Double-A in 2019.

The Yankees will pace Kriske on waivers over the next few days, where another team could take a no-risk look to see if he can yet carry over that strong swing-and-miss stuff against big league hitters. His fastball has averaged north of 95 MPH in his MLB action, with a mid-80s split his featured secondary offering. Kriske still has one minor league option year remaining after this season, so any claiming team could continue to shuttle him between the majors and Triple-A as the Yankees recently have through the end of next season — so long as they keep him on the 40-man roster.

It has been an eventful past couple weeks for Romano. The 27-year-old signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees in mid-August (his second such arrangement of the season), then was selected to the big league roster but designated for assignment in relatively rapid succession. After clearing waivers, he very briefly hit free agency but will now step right back onto the Yankees’ active roster.

Between the Reds, Yankees and Brewers, Romano has worked 24 innings of relief at the big league level this season. He’s posted subpar numbers, but he has shown well at Triple-A and evidently continues to intrigue the New York front office. Romano is out of options, so the Yankees either have to keep him on the active roster moving forward or again risk losing him on waivers.

A’s Designate Burch Smith For Assignment

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The Athletics announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-hander Burch Smith for assignment to open space on the roster for righty Domingo Acevedo, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Smith has spent the past two seasons in Oakland after being acquired from the crosstown Giants in February 2020. He missed a good chunk of last season with a forearm strain but performed well in his brief look when healthy, tossing twelve innings of three-run ball out of the bullpen. Oakland brought Smith back on a low-cost deal to avoid arbitration, but his 2021 season hasn’t been as promising.

After missing a month early in the season, Smith returned to the active roster in early May. He’s worked mostly low-leverage relief innings over the past few months and hasn’t found much success. Over 43 1/3 innings, the 31-year-old has a 5.40 ERA with a 14.9% strikeout rate that’s nearly ten percentage points below the league average for relievers. That’s come with a correspondingly low 7.5% swinging strike rate — a career-worst mark — while his fastball velocity and spin rate have ticked down a bit relative to last season.

The A’s will now place Smith on waivers in the coming days. Any claiming team would assume the approximately $76K remaining on his arbitration contract. Should he pass through waivers unclaimed, Smith would have the right to elect free agency as a player who has previously been outrighted in his career.

Acevedo is up for his second stint on the 40-man roster. A longtime Yankees’ farmhand, the 27-year-old signed a minor league deal with Oakland last offseason and was selected to make his major league debut in June. He ultimately made three appearances, tossing as many innings of three-run ball before being designated for assignment and released. (Acevedo was seemingly injured in the minor leagues at the time of his designation, and injured players cannot be placed on outright waivers). He quickly re-upped with the A’s on a new minors pact.

Spending much of the season with the A’s top affiliate, Acevedo has been highly impressive. He’s worked 32 2/3 frames of 2.48 ERA ball, striking out a massive 42.1% of batters faced while walking just 4.8% of opponents. That success has come in spite of the extremely hitter-friendly nature of that Las Vegas affiliate, earning Acevedo another MLB look down the stretch. The Athletics enter play tonight two and a half games back of the Yankees and Red Sox, who are tied for the American League’s final postseason spot (with the Mariners also ahead of Oakland in the standings).

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