As the postseason rolls along, players hit minor league free agency daily. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.
Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.
MLBTR covered 34 players who qualified for minor league free agency last week. We’ll periodically provide updates as plenty more hit the open market, as reflected on the MiLB.com transactions log.
Pitchers
- R.J. Alvarez (Mets)
- Shaun Anderson (Blue Jays)
- Anthony Castro (Orioles)
- Alex Claudio (Mets)
- Phillip Diehl (Mets)
- Dusten Knight (Rays)
- Brian Moran (Angels)
- Cristofer Ogando (Rays)
- Cam Vieaux (Pirates)
- J.B. Wendelken (D-Backs)
Infielders
- Mike Ford (Angels)
- Deven Marrero (Mets)
- Yolmer Sanchez (Mets)
- Elliot Soto (Twins)
Outfielders
- Luis Barrera (A’s)
Thanks Anthony and all the writers at MLBTR for providing these updates surrounding minor league free agency. I know minor league free agency isn’t as important as major league free agency but their are always more players hitting minor league free agency that it can be difficult to keep up with them all. They for sure do elect free agency daily.
Also if you care enough you can check mlb.com transactions section.
I check it daily. But if you want to be even better check the minor league transactions website
I do that to.
Any diamonds in the rough here? Or all 50 to 1 odds of becoming a viable major leaguer?
Some of those pitchers are likely an adjustment or two from being a decent middle reliever. Vieaux and Knight stand out there. Position Players no
Vieaux is a dud but he could be good if given a chance.
The Pirates brought Vieux up and he had a couple of good games and then a bad one and they outrighted him.It’s not like they had a lot of good left handed relievers here.
True true.
I’m rooting for Mike Ford to be a Luke Voit-type.
I liked Ford in his limited time with the Angels. I wouldn’t mind seeing the Angels signing him again as minor league depth, especially with Jared Walsh potentially not being ready for opening day.
Wendelken basically a lock to go back to Oakland, where he was successful the first time to the tune of a 2.30 ERA over 74 IP between 2018-2020. No idea what’s happened to him since he left the A’s…
Luis Barrera needs to add power but would be an interesting OF if he did.
It’s easier and convenient to get information here.
Pass….I will wait on the next group to file….
Funny how five of the 15 minor league free agents are in the Mets system.
And this besides the number of major league free agents the Mets will have this year. It was a veteran packed AAA club in Syracuse. It will be a lot of work to put a lot of pieces in place for Eppler this off-season.
It’s actually not that funny. The Mets took a lot of flyers in these types of players throughout the season since the cost was just a small amount of money. SAC has shown a willingness to make these moves for AAA depth where the Wilpons were loathe to spend even the smallest additional dollars. I would expect this trend to continue.