Archives for April 2022

White Sox Sign Johnny Cueto To Minor League Deal

By Tim Dierkes | April 5, 2022 at 12:08am CDT

The White Sox have signed veteran righty Johnny Cueto, according to Mike Rodriguez of Univision. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Cueto signed a minor league deal and will earn a prorated $4.2MM in the Majors. According to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, Cueto has a May 15 opt-out. Cueto is represented by Bryce Dixon.

Cueto, 36, provides rotation depth for a White Sox club that recently saw Lance Lynn go under the knife for a slightly torn right knee tendon. Lynn is expected to be out for nearly two months. The club also recently took a couple of hits in the bullpen – a voluntary one with the trade of Craig Kimbrel to the Dodgers, and an unfortunate injury with Garrett Crochet needing Tommy John surgery.

The White Sox will still slot Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, and Dallas Keuchel into their first four rotation spots. The newly-added Cueto will look to ramp up and join a fifth starter mix that already includes Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez. Cueto has familiarity with White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz, who worked for the Giants from 2019-20, and he’s been training in recent offseasons with Lopez.

After Cueto posted a solid age-24 season back in 2010, then-Reds GM Walt Jocketty had the foresight to lock him up on a four-year, $27MM deal with a club option. That gave Cincinnati two extra years of control, a period during which Cueto blossomed into a Cy Young contender. When free agency did approach, Jocketty shipped Cueto the Royals for their World Series run. The righty capped his brief Royals career with a complete game victory in Game 2 of that World Series.

About a month after the parade, Cueto signed a six-year, $130MM free agent deal with the Giants under Brian Sabean’s regime. Cueto was excellent in his first season for the Giants, but the investment failed to pan out for San Francisco. Cueto’s contract included an opt-out after the second year, which he might have utilized if not for a flexor strain in ’17.

Cueto then developed an elbow sprain in May of 2018, which led to Tommy John surgery in August of that year. He returned to pitch in September of 2019, a surprisingly brief 13-month recovery. Cueto served as the Giants’ Opening Day starter in 2020, taking all of his turns in the shortened season.

In ’21, Cueto missed nearly a month with a lat strain, and then more time late in the season with flexor and elbow strains. His final appearance for the Giants was a September 30th relief outing – the first of his storied 14-year career. Given his limitations, Cueto wasn’t able to crack the Giants’ NLDS roster, and the club made the unavoidable choice to buy out his $22MM club option for $5MM. Still, Cueto tallied 114 2/3 innings for the Giants in 2021, the first time he’d exceeded 63 1/3 in a season since 2017.

Since 2020, Cueto has a 4.55 ERA, 20.1 K%, 7.3 BB%, and 39.1% groundball rate in 178 innings. Even in his heyday, Cueto wasn’t a big strikeout pitcher, and he threw harder in 2021 than he did in his last strong season, back in 2016. Though it’s surprising Cueto wasn’t able to secure a Major League contract, his salary in the bigs will be hefty compared to the typical minor league deal. A couple of other AL Central teams, the Twins and Tigers, at least considered Cueto after the lockout. There’s a good chance the control artist will find himself in Chicago before long as the team attempts to weather Lynn’s injury.

With Opening Day two days away, the free agent market for starting pitching is down to Brett Anderson, Jake Arrieta, Trevor Cahill, Mike Foltynewicz, J.A. Happ, and Matt Harvey.

Tigers Acquire Austin Meadows

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 10:31pm CDT

The Tigers announced this evening they’ve acquired outfielder Austin Meadows from the Rays for infielder Isaac Paredes and a Competitive Balance Round B selection. Tampa Bay had reportedly been shopping Meadows in recent weeks, and he’ll land in Detroit.

It’s a notable, largely unexpected strike for Detroit. There wasn’t any indication the Tigers were on the hunt for outfield help, as they’d seemingly been content to open the year with a Robbie Grossman, Víctor Reyes, Akil Baddoo trio. Top prospect Riley Greene fractured his foot over the weekend, however, and is expected to be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks. Whether Greene’s injury increased the urgency for general manager Al Avila and his staff to add to the outfield isn’t clear, but they’ll do so by bringing aboard a player who’s only a couple seasons removed from an All-Star campaign.

Meadows was part of the Rays now-famous haul from the Pirates at the 2018 trade deadline for Chris Archer. A top prospect during his days in the Pittsburgh farm system, he hit the ground running with a solid rookie showing before breaking out the following season. Meadows hit a massive .291/.364/.558 with 33 home runs in 591 plate appearances in 2019, seemingly emerging as one of the sport’s top young sluggers.

He hasn’t kept up that pace in the past two seasons. The lefty-hitting Meadows stumbled to a .205/.296/.371 line during the shortened 2020 campaign, striking out at an alarming 32.9% clip. That was obviously an anomalous year, and the the former 9th overall pick did bounce back this past season — albeit not close to his 2019 levels. Meadows hit .234/.315/.458 in 591 plate appearances, somewhat offsetting his 27 homers with a mediocre batting average and on-base percentage.

To his credit, the strikeout woes that had plagued Meadows in 2020 were corrected. He only fanned in 20.6% of his trips to the dish last season. His 77.2% contact rate was right in line with the league mark, while his average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard contact percentage were all a bit higher than average. Meadows was instead plagued by a career-low .249 batting average on balls in play.

That can’t all be chalked up to misfortune, as he has gotten increasingly fly-ball oriented over the past couple seasons. Among 135 hitters with 500+ plate appearances in 2021, no one had a higher fly-ball rate than Meadows’ 53% clip. That’s a recipe for hitting for power but also for poor ball in play results, as non-homer fly balls rarely turn into hits.

Whatever concerns one may have about Meadows’ batted ball profile, it’s still easy to see his appeal to the Tigers. Over parts of four big league seasons, he owns a .260/.333/.489 slash line — offensive production that checks in 22 percentage points above league average by measure of wRC+. While he hasn’t been at his best in two years, he was still an above-average hitter in 2021, and the 2019 campaign offers a hint of the kind of offensive upside he possesses if he can again bring his fly-ball rate closer to that season’s 42.9%.

Meadows does have rather marked platoon splits. For his career, he’s a .271/.351/.525 hitter against right-handed pitching. He owns a more pedestrian .237/.295/.412 slash against southpaws. The Tigers outfield already skewed a bit left-handed, with Greene and Baddoo hitting from that side of the dish while Reyes are Grossman are switch-hitters. Meadows doesn’t need to be a strict platoon player, though, and the rest of the Detroit lineup is heavily right-handed. Presumably, Meadows will step into an everyday corner outfield role for skipper A.J. Hinch, who’ll have the freedom to perhaps drop him down a bit in the order on days when the opposing team will roll out a tough lefty starter.

It’s an immediate upgrade for a Detroit team that has also added Javier Báez, Eduardo Rodríguez, Tucker Barnhart, Andrew Chafin and Michael Pineda this winter. Avila and his staff are clearly trying to pull out of their recent rebuild, and the Meadows addition should be a notable upgrade to the offense. It’s not an absolute win-now move, though, as the 26-year-old (27 next month) is controllable for three seasons via arbitration. Meadows and the Rays had settled on a $4MM salary for 2022, and he’s not slated to hit free agency until after 2024.

That makes Meadows a fairly affordable pick-up for Detroit, but he was part of a large arbitration class that might’ve put a strain on the Rays payroll. Even after subtracting his $4MM salary from the books, Tampa Bay has a projected franchise-record $83MM player payroll, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. The Rays reportedly made a run at Freddie Freeman, so they were willing to stretch beyond their typical comfort zone for the right player, but that surprising pursuit always seemed to be a recognition of Freeman’s star status.

In addition to whatever payroll constraints president of baseball operations Erik Neander and his staff might’ve been facing, they clearly felt prepared to deal from a position of organizational depth. The Rays have Randy Arozarena, Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot on hand as outfield options. Top prospect Josh Lowe, meanwhile, seems ready for a big league look after hitting .291/.381/.535 in 111 games with Triple-A Durham last season.

The team apparently feels Lowe is ready for a significant role on a team with World Series aspirations. Rays pre-game broadcaster Neil Solondz tweets that the club plans to recall the 24-year-old to break camp in the majors. Given his status as a consensus Top 50 prospect, Lowe will certainly be in line for regular at-bats. He, Margot and Kiermaier are each possible plus defenders at all three outfield spots, giving manager Kevin Cash a chance to run some excellent defensive groups on the grass. (Arozarena is primarily a corner outfielder but rates well there in his own right).

In exchange for dealing from that outfield depth, the Rays add another young bat to their infield mix. Paredes has been on the prospect radar for quite some time, but he only recently turned 23 years old. A right-handed hitter, he doesn’t possess overwhelming power or athleticism but he has excellent bat-to-ball skills.

Paredes hasn’t produced much in limited big league action the past couple seasons. Over 163 plate appearances, he owns a meager .215/.290/.302 line with a pair of home runs. He has posted excellent offensive numbers all the way up the minor league ladder, though, and the Rays are betting on those skills eventually carrying over against big league pitching.

Paredes, who appeared at the tail end of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects in both 2019 and 2020, is coming off a .265/.397/.451 showing in 315 Triple-A plate appearances. He hit 11 homers and walked at a huge 17.8% clip while only striking out 14.9% of the time. Among 96 Triple-A East hitters with 300+ plate appearances, Paredes sported the third-highest walk rate. No one in that group had a better walk to strikeout ratio, with minor league veteran Tyler White the only other player in the league to even walk more often than he punched out.

While Paredes has experience at each of second base, third base and shortstop, he’s primarily played the former two positions in recent years. He’ll step into a Tampa Bay infield mix that is quite crowded itself. Wander Franco and Brandon Lowe have the middle infield spoken for, while Yandy Díaz joins Paredes and fellow former top prospects Taylor Walls and Vidal Bruján in the mix at third base. Díaz figures to assume some DH at-bats vacated by Meadows’ departure, which would enable the Rays to get their younger players some action at the hot corner. All three of Walls, Bruján and Paredes have minor league option years remaining, so they can each bounce between St. Petersburg and Durham as well.

The Rays have never shied away from churning players off the big league club to bolster the long-term organizational depth. Paredes has just over one year of big league service under his belt. He won’t reach free agency until at least after the 2026 campaign, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he spends enough time in the minors this season to push that trajectory back a year further. Tampa Bay also adds a draft choice that’ll fall after the second round, currently projected for #71 overall. Along with a Competitive Balance Round B pick of their own, the Rays now own four of the top 75 selections — along with the accompanying bonus pool space that stockpiling picks provides.

It’s a fascinating deal between two teams envisioning both immediate and long-term contention in the American League. The Tigers add a potential middle-of-the-order bat, bolstering an outfield fresh off an injury setback. (In a fun tidbit, they also raise the possibility of Meadows pairing with his younger brother Parker — a High-A outfielder in the Detroit system — in the Comerica Park outfield someday). The Rays continue to preemptively stockpile young players and draft capital, building the kind of organizational depth that allows them to perpetually deal good players like Meadows with the knowledge that additional talented players are on the horizon.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Roster Notes: Twins, Marlins, Pirates, Yankees, Cubs, Phillies

By Steve Adams | April 4, 2022 at 8:54pm CDT

With the season just a few days away, roster decisions around the game continue to trickle in. We’ll round up some notable non 40-man roster decisions here.

- Twins pitching prospect Jhoan Duran has made the Opening Day roster, per a club announcement. He’ll initially work out of the bullpen. Ranked the #9 prospect in the Minnesota organization by Baseball America, Duran draws praise for an upper-90s fastball and a power splitter that have helped him run plus strikeout rates throughout his minor league career.
- The Marlins have informed outfielder Roman Quinn he will not make the Opening Day roster, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (Twitter link). It comes as a bit of a surprise, as Quinn had seemed the favorite for a fourth outfield role after the Fish released Delino DeShields Jr. over the weekend. Presumably, that job will fall to utilityman Jon Berti early on.
- Infield prospect Diego Castillo has made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, tweets Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Castillo, acquired in the trade that sent righty Clay Holmes to the Yankees, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game.
- The Yankees announced they’ve reassigned outfielder Ender Inciarte and left-hander Manny Bañuelos to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Inciarte has an opt-out clause in his minor league deal and tells ESPN’s Marly Rivera he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll accept the assignment to Triple-A.
- The Cubs informed pitching prospect Ethan Roberts he’ll be on the Opening Day roster, he informed reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). A fourth-round pick in 2018 out of Tennessee Tech, the right-hander is the #33 prospect in the organization according to Baseball America. The reliever posted an even 3.00 ERA over 54 innings between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa last season. The Cubs reassigned non-roster invitees Jonathan Holder, Robert Gsellman, Steven Brault, Stephen Gonsalves and Ildemaro Vargas to Iowa, tweets Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.
- The Phillies reassigned non-roster invitees Ronald Torreyes, Yairo Muñoz and Dillon Maples to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, tweets Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Torreyes and Muñoz were competing for utility spots, while the hard-throwing Maples had been seeking a spot in the Philly bullpen.

Blue Jays To Select Gosuke Katoh

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 7:43pm CDT

The Blue Jays are planning to select infielder Gosuke Katoh to the big league roster, the team informed reporters (including Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet) this afternoon. Toronto already has a vacancy on the 40-man roster, meaning they won’t need to make another move in that regard.

Once finalized, Katoh will get his first MLB opportunity. The 27-year-old began his professional career back in 2013, when he was selected by the Yankees in the second round out of a California high school. The left-handed hitter spent the next few seasons in the low minors, drawing plenty of walks but rarely hitting for power and striking out quite a bit. He didn’t reach Double-A until 2018, and he spent some time there the following season after struggling to a .229/.327/.335 line.

After a more productive 2019 campaign split between the minors’ top two levels, Katoh qualified for minor league free agency. He signed on with the Marlins for 2020 but didn’t play in a game in the Miami organization because of the canceled minor league season. Katoh caught on with the Padres last winter and spent the entire year with their top affiliate in El Paso. He had a solid .306/.388/.474 showing over 402 plate appearances with the Chihuahuas. Katoh walked at a customarily strong 11.4% clip and his 20.9% strikeout rate was among the lowest rates of his minor league career.

That wasn’t enough for Katoh to get an MLB opportunity in San Diego, but he latched on with the Jays on a minors pact this winter. He impressed the front office and coaching staff enough to get a season-opening bench job that had been up for grabs. It had seemed as if first baseman Greg Bird was trending towards that spot, but Bird was let go this afternoon once the club had opted for Katoh instead.

In doing so, the Jays will forfeit some power potential for a bit more defensive flexibility. Katoh bounced between first, second and third base and left field for El Paso last season, whereas Bird would’ve been limited to first base or designated hitter. Katoh pairs with the righty-hitting Santiago Espinal as utility options behind the starting infield of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, Matt Chapman and Bo Bichette. He still has all three minor league option years remaining, so while he’ll be receiving his first MLB opportunity, Katoh could bounce between Toronto and Triple-A Buffalo for a while.

Rockies Select Ty Blach

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 6:32pm CDT

The Rockies announced this afternoon they’ve selected left-hander Ty Blach. The Denver native returns to the majors for the first time in three years, doing so with his hometown club. To create space on the 40-man roster, Colorado placed southpaw Ryan Rolison on the 60-day injured list.

Blach pitched in the majors each season from 2016-19. He spent the majority of that time in the NL West, suiting up with the Giants. Blach soaked up 163 2/3 innings for San Francisco in 2017, posting a 4.78 ERA. He never missed many bats, but the Creighton product filled up the strike zone and posted better than average ground-ball numbers.

After a capable first few seasons in the majors, Blach had a rough showing in 2019. He served up ten runs in his first 6 1/3 frames as a Giant that year, leading the club to designate him for assignment. Baltimore claimed him off waivers, and he made five starts for the Orioles down the stretch. Blach’s results weren’t any better there either, as he served up an 11.32 ERA. The O’s designated him that September, and he cleared waivers.

Blach returned to the Orioles as a non-roster invitee to 2020 Summer Camp, but he suffered an elbow injury that necessitated Tommy John surgery. He returned late in 2021 to toss 15 Low-A innings on a rehab assignment, but for all intents and purposes, the procedure cost him the last two seasons.

After qualifying for minor league free agency, Blach signed a minors deal with the Rox. He’ll break camp with the big league team, presumably in a long relief capacity. While he has experience as a starter, Colorado is set to open the year with a rotation of Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Austin Gomber and Chad Kuhl. The depth behind that group is pretty thin, however, meaning Blach could get a look in the event of an injury to any of the starting five.

Rolison was among the depth options, but he’ll miss at least the first two months of the season with what the team is calling a shoulder strain. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported this afternoon (Twitter link) that he’ll be shut down for two weeks after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection. He’ll need a fair bit of time thereafter to gradually ramp back up, so it’s not a huge surprise the club is ruling him out until at least early June.

A former first-round pick, Rolison has yet to make his big league debut. He made ten starts with Triple-A Albuquerque last season, pitching to a disappointing 5.91 ERA in 45 2/3 innings. Despite those struggles, Baseball America slotted him fourth in the Rockies farm system this winter. According to BA, his plus curveball and command could give Rolison a chance to emerge as a back-of-the-rotation option, but he’ll first need to get healthy.

Cardinals To Select Andre Pallante, Place Jack Flaherty On Injured List

By Steve Adams and Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 5:39pm CDT

The Cardinals announced this morning that right-hander Andre Pallante has made the Opening Day roster. They’ll need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move in the coming days to formally select the 23-year-old Pallante’s contract. Additionally, the Cards have formally placed right-hander Jack Flaherty on the 10-day injured list. It’s been known for some time now that Flaherty will miss the beginning of the season, and his absence figures to be a good bit longer than 10 days.

Pallante was the Cards fourth-round pick in 2019. The righty had pitched to a 2.59 ERA in three seasons at UC-Irvine, working out of the rotation for his final two campaigns with the Anteaters. While his fastball typically sat in the low-90s with UCI, he’s seen a velocity spike in pro ball. Baseball America wrote this winter that he averaged north of 95 MPH on his heater last season. BA also credited the 23-year-old with an above-average slider and named him the #16 prospect in the St. Louis organization.

Because of the canceled minor league campaign in 2020, last year marked Pallante’s first full season of professional game action. He spent the bulk of the year with Double-A Springfield, where he started 21 games and worked 94 1/3 innings. Pallante’s 19.4% strikeout percentage and 10% walk rate at that level aren’t especially exciting, but he induced grounders on nearly 60% of balls in play against him. That’s no doubt of appeal to a St. Louis front office that placed an emphasis on acquiring ground-ball specialists throughout the winter in an effort to maximize the effect of arguably the game’s top defensive infield.

Pallante will break camp with the big league club, presumably as a bullpen option. The Cards have a top four in the rotation of Adam Wainwright, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas with Flaherty out. Drew VerHagen appears to be the favorite for the fifth spot, with Aaron Brooks and Jake Woodford also seemingly ahead of Pallante on the rotation depth chart. Pallante only has two career Triple-A appearances under his belt, and it’s possible he’ll find himself back in the minors at some point. While the Cardinals will carry him on the Opening Day roster, he still has all three option years remaining and could bounce between St. Louis and Triple-A Memphis.

Flaherty recently underwent a platelet-rich plasma on an ailing throwing shoulder. His precise timetable for a return remains unclear, but he’ll surely need some time to progress through a throwing program and perhaps embark on a minor league rehab assignment. It’ll be the second consecutive season impacted by injury for Flaherty, who was limited to 17 outings by oblique and shoulder issues.

A’s Outright Vimael Machin, Reassign Eric Thames

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 4:41pm CDT

The Athletics announced this afternoon they’ve outrighted infielder Vimael Machín off the 40-man roster. Oakland’s 40-man roster now sits at 38. Additionally, Oakland announced that non-roster invitee Eric Thames has been reassigned to Triple-A Las Vegas.

Machín has suited up with the A’s in each of the past two seasons after being selected out of the Cubs organization in the 2019 Rule 5 draft. The left-handed hitter has tallied 108 combined MLB plate appearances, putting up a .179/.264/.200 slash line without a home run. The Puerto Rico native fared much better on optional assignment to Las Vegas, however. In 393 Triple-A plate appearances last year, he hit .295/.389/.479 with 11 homers. Along the way, he walked in an impressive 12.5% of his trips to the plate while striking out just 18.3% of the time.

With just over one year of big league time under his belt, Machín doesn’t have enough service to refuse an outright assignment. He’ll head to Las Vegas and remain in the organization as a non-roster depth option. With Machín off the big league club, it looks as if the A’s will open the season with an infield group of Jed Lowrie, Tony Kemp, Elvis Andrus, Kevin Smith and Sheldon Neuse.

It’s a moderate surprise Thames won’t be in that mix. The slugging first baseman joined the organization on a minors pact over the offseason. He’d been slated to spend the 2021 campaign with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, but he missed virtually the entire season after rupturing an Achilles in his first game. Lost season notwithstanding, Thames looked a good candidate to play first base for an Oakland team that traded Matt Olson to Atlanta. Instead, it seems the A’s will rely on a combination of Lowrie, corner outfielder Seth Brown and perhaps catcher Stephen Vogt at the position.

Whether Thames will wind up reporting to the Aviators is unclear. It’s not uncommon for non-roster deals for veterans of his ilk to contain opt-out clauses at the end of Spring Training if the player doesn’t make the big league club.

Red Sox Select Tyler Danish, Place Chris Sale On 60-Day Injured List

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 4:23pm CDT

The Red Sox announced this afternoon they’ve selected reliever Tyler Danish to the big league roster. In order to open space on the 40-man roster, seven-time All-Star Chris Sale has been placed on the 60-day injured list.

Danish, 27, will be returning to the majors for the first time in four years. A former second-round pick of the White Sox, he suited up for the South Siders each season from 2016-18. He only tallied 13 innings during that time, allowing seven runs with 11 strikeouts against 13 walks. Chicago outrighted him off the 40-man roster in September 2018. The right-hander went on to spend time in the Mariners and Angels systems on minor league deals but didn’t make it to the big leagues with either club.

Despite not seeing any MLB time in Orange County, Danish had a nice 2021 campaign in the Angels system. He worked 70 1/3 innings over 32 appearances, frequently pitching multiple innings out of the bullpen. Along the way, he posted a 3.84 ERA while striking out an impressive 26.8% of opponents against a minuscule 5.1% walk percentage. That earned Danish a non-roster invite to big league Spring Training with the Red Sox. He’s thrown six innings of one-run ball during exhibition play, evidently impressing Sox brass along the way.

To make room for Danish, Boston officially rules out their ace until at least early June. It’s a disappointing but not especially surprising development. Sale was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his rib in mid-March, an injury that was always expected to keep him from throwing for weeks. The southpaw has still yet to begin throwing, and he’ll need plenty of time between when he first picks up a ball and when he’s ready for big league action.

Sale will need weeks to build arm strength via a throwing program, then he’ll assuredly have to embark upon a minor league rehab assignment. Given that timetable, it makes sense the Boston front office didn’t consider it possible for him to make it back for a couple months. With Sale out, the Red Sox look likely to open the season with a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck, Rich Hill and Michael Wacha. Danish and Kutter Crawford — who was informed this morning he’d be on the Opening Day roster (link via Ian Browne of MLB.com) — are on hand as swing options.

{Related: view the transcript of Danish’s February chat with MLBTR readers}

Three Free Agents Suspended 80 Games After Testing Positive For PED

By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 3:55pm CDT

Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that three players — reliever Richard Rodríguez, utilityman Danny Santana and infielder José Rondón — have each been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone. All three are currently free agents. PED testing had been suspended during the lockout, but Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal reports (0n Twitter) that the trio tested positive before the work stoppage.

Rodríguez was one of the higher-profile remaining free agents, and today’s suspension offers insight into why he’s yet to sign. The 32-year-old isn’t far removed from being an excellent late-game option for the Pirates. Over three and a half seasons in Pittsburgh, he posted a 2.98 ERA in 196 1/3 innings of relief. Along the way, he punched out a strong 27.2% of batters faced while walking just 6.5% of opponents.

The rebuilding Bucs traded Rodríguez to the Braves at this past summer’s trade deadline. The 32-year-old’s performance dipped at the end of the year. While he managed a respectable 3.12 ERA in 26 innings as a Brave, he surrounded six home runs and struck out only nine batters in that time. Atlanta non-tendered Rodríguez at the end of the year. The Pirates were reported to have interest in a reunion in December, but it stands to reason the failed PED test put a damper on that pursuit.

Santana, 31, has appeared in the majors in each of the last eight seasons. Known for his speed and defensive versatility, the switch-hitting Santana has mixed in some solid showings at the plate but has an up-and-down overall track record. He’s coming off a tough year in which he hit just .181/.252/.345 with five homers and four steals over 38 games with the Red Sox.

Rondón has played in parts of four seasons, never tallying more than 157 plate appearances in a year. A right-handed hitting utility infielder, he owns a .216/.274/.353 slash in 380 career trips to the dish. Rondón had a respectable .263/.322/.413 showing in limited playing time with the Cardinals last season, but St. Louis non-tendered him in November.

Out Of Options 2022

By Steve Adams | April 4, 2022 at 2:48pm CDT

Every spring at MLBTR, we publish a list of players who are out of minor league options and, thusly, cannot be sent to the minor leagues without first clearing outright waivers. Option status is particularly relevant as teams set their rosters prior to Opening Day, given that a lack of minor league options is often a key reason a certain player will make the roster over another who had a superior spring performance (or, as with yesterday’s Blue Jays/White Sox trade, can be a contributing factor in a trade).

The following is a list of all 40-man players throughout the league with fewer than five years of service time — players with more than five years of service can refuse an optional assignment — and no minor league options remaining. We’ve included players who have signed extensions or multi-year deals, even though they’re often less likely to be optioned.

Angels