The Mets recently signed left-hander Alex Claudio and right-hander Stephen Nogosek to minor league deals, Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America reports. The signings are allowed during the lockout since both players are minor league free agents.
Claudio was released by the Red Sox in late September after inking a minors deal with Boston in August. That deal with the Sox came on the heels of a 5.51 ERA over 32 2/3 innings with the Angels, as Claudio had some uncharacteristic struggles against left-handed batters and with his control (10.1% walk rate).
Known for his durability and his knack for inducing grounders, Claudio enjoyed some solid success with the Rangers and Brewers from 2014-20, even if his lack of a traditional high velo/high strikeout bullpen resume twice led Milwaukee to non-tender him. Claudio’s early-career numbers (a 2.66 ERA over 162 1/3 innings from 2014-17) were better than his more recent work (4.28 ERA in 149 1/3 IP in 2018-20), and he has also had trouble keeping the ball in the park in two of his last three seasons. In 2021, Claudio posted a 26.1% homer rate, allowing six home runs over his 32 2/3 frames with the Halos.
Only just entering his age-30 season, Claudio could be an interesting candidate for something of a rebound year, particularly since the defensively-challenged Angels weren’t a great fit for a groundball pitcher. The Mets can take a closer look at Claudio in spring camp, and he would seemingly have a good shot at winning a job in a New York bullpen thin on southpaws. David Peterson represents the only healthy left-handed pitcher on the Mets’ entire 40-man roster.
For Nogosek, it marks a quick return to the organization after the Mets cut him loose at the November 30 non-tender deadline. Nogosek (who just turned 27 earlier this week) first came to the Mets from the Red Sox in July 2017 as part of the trade package for Addison Reed, and the righty has eight career MLB games on his resume. Between 6 2/3 innings over seven appearances in 2019 and a single three-inning appearance this past season, Nogosek has a 9.31 ERA in his brief big league career.
As a minor leaguer, Nogosek has a 3.55 ERA over 238 innings, working as a reliever for all but three of his 170 games. Nogosek can miss some bats (27.01% strikeout rate) but control has been an issue, with an above-average 11.91% walk rate in his time on the farm. He struggled to a 5.14 ERA over 35 innings with Triple-A Syracuse in 2021, and also spent about six weeks on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation.
This is exactly what I want to see. Sign as many of these bullpen arms as we can. You never know how they’re going to be from year to year so let’s take as many fliers as we can.
Like your handle. One my favorite all time Angels.
Thanks man. Never had the pleasure of watching him play, but it’s one of the most tragic sports stories of all time. Also in todays era of the greedy diva athletes, a man of honor and integrity like Lyman will never exists again. Dude had a horrible first year after signing a big (for the time) FA contract and actually tried to give it back! When the team didn’t accept, he donated it to charity.
If he had lived, it would have been a great season for the Angels. I will never forget him and the local news break when I first heard it.
It was actually just his 1st month that was bad. Gene Autry refused to take the money back. Both Gene and Lyman were great men. I’ll never forget that tragic day my friend.
Oh, man the Lyman Bostock murder was horrific. He was such a good ball player. Career and life cut tragically short.
Claudio has CL before as well!
Yawn. In a lockout, this passes for news.
Why take the time to come here, read the story, and the complain if the news is so slow during the lockout? Take a few weeks off, read a book or something.
Exactly. As a met fan, I actually found this interesting. Hardcore fans want to know this kind of info. Maybe next time you’re scrolling MLBTR don’t click and comment on an article that doesn’t interest you. It’s not like you didn’t see the headline. Maybe next time you’re yawning you should take nap, instead of making dumb pointless comments here.
Claudio has been effective every year of his career up until 2021, even if he’s several years away from peak. Lefty ground-ball pitchers who induce weak contact and in their 20s (barely) will always find a job.
however, with 3 batter rules, he had to face right-handed batters. that’s when disasters struck!
That 3 batter rule is the dumbest rule. RP’s are facing batters they should not face strategically speaking.
While the 3 batter rule is not ideal, MLB had to do something about this issue. I was at a Red Sox game where 3 pitchers were brought in to face 3 total batters (1 pitcher for each batter). The 1/2 inning lasted over 30 minutes due to how long it took for the manager to come out, the relief pitcher to ‘jog’ to the mound from the OF bullpen and then for the relief pitcher to warm up..it made the game borderline unwatchable! You can still have a specialist on the staff but you have to pick your spots when to use him. If you bring him in the game with 2 outs and he gets the 3rd out right away, he doesn’t need to start the next inning even though he only faced one batter. Using 3-4 pitchers to get 3 outs was a real problem for pace of play so they had to do something about it.
The 3 batter rule is fine. Its the runner on 2nd that we need rid of. Here you are watching super star players and it gets to the 10th inning and you bring in little league rules, Id rather see tie games , Whats next hitting off of a batting tee?
Fair. But maybe there’s a way to make the transfer faster. Maybe the manager doesn’t have to run out. Maybe the reliever doesn’t need warm up pitches. They do that in the pen anyways. I know they wanna feel the mound and throw with the backdrop, but that’s a sacrifice you have to make if you wanna be so specialized.
Multiple relievers facing only one batter each is terrible for the game and it’s a strategy that needed to be killed.
I think that was more of a problem in the AL with the DH.
Claudio hasn’t been good in 5 years, 2017 and can’t get RH batters out, other than that he’s a solid bet,
Angels need this guy back, wouldn’t you agree?
If they could send him to AAA and there wasn’t the three batter minimum rule, sure.
But to lock him into a roster spot last year when the Angels had so many mediocre RPs locked into roster spots already was beyond explanation.
I have no idea how that got past so many Angel fans.
I don’t think it did, we seen the writing on the wall. Jk btw
I took a ton of abuse last year for pointing it out.
Question – the 5 seasons Claudio spent in Texas, was it enough that if/once he reaches 10 years of service to get him 10 and 5 rights? Or was it not enough of 5 full seasons? How’s it work for relievers?
i believe it has to be 5 years with the current team.
You are correct, Vizionaire. The 5 has to be with the current team.
It’s service time not innings pitched if that’s what you’re asking lol.
I actually have always liked Nogosek. He was a good player on the college level, and in the minors, and in the big leagues of course the results have not been there yet; but he could be a late bloomer and I’m glad he is still the organization
I was thinking the same thing.
Thank God Claudio signed with someone. Don’t need him back with the Angels.
Claudio could be a sneaky good signing for the Mets. Even though his ERA has risen considerably over his last 3+ seasons, he’s had an ERA+ of 100 or better in every season except for 2021. Claudio fits best on a team with an above average infield defense as he is pitch to contact pitcher. The Mets should have an above average infield defense this year, even if Alonso remains at 1B (he’ll DH a lot too if the NL adopts the DH). Claudio would have been an excellent pickup for the Cardinals or Rays as well. He won’t blow anyone away and tends to put runners on base but he has an excellent knack for getting out of jams. I think he has a very good chance of making the major league roster and I’m sure his salary will be well below $2M if he does indeed earn a bullpen spot. Even the highest salaried teams need to have affordable veterans on the roster and Claudio certainly fits that category. Worst case, he either stays in the minors (and off the 40 man) or he gets added, doesn’t perform well and gets put on waivers. He’d probably clear waivers and remain in AAA as a depth piece. Every playoff team needs a few ‘Claudio’s’ to make it through a full season. Smart gamble for the Mets.
Is the Mets infield D really good? Lindor is the only plus fielder who will start. McNeil, Cano and Escobar are all below average.
Claudio is a situational disaster.Can’t get out lefties and he’s a gas can on the bump.Think his ERA is bad,inherited runners were a burden for his team and pitchers Claudio followed.
Chill, it’s a minor league deal and relievers turn things around all the time. If he had more recent success then he wouldn’t be so cheap
On minor league deals? I’ll take it.
I would love to sign Collin McHugh to a minor league contract but that’s not realistic, the above signings are.
Claudio was another in a long string of disappointments. Our infield defense definitely didn’t help, either.