The Diamdonbacks announced they’ve designated righty J.B. Bukauskas for assignment. The move creates a 40-man roster spot for Zach Davies, who has officially signed his one-year free agent guarantee to return to the desert. According to the team, Davies’ deal also contains a mutual option for the 2024 campaign.
Bukauskas was a first-round pick of the Astros in 2017 and appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects the following spring. The University of North Carolina product was credited by scouts with a promising three-pitch mix that included a sinker, slider and high-quality changeup. Evaluators raised questions about how consistently he’d throw strikes thanks to a high-effort delivery, though, with many projecting a future move to the bullpen.
While Bukauskas worked as a starter up through Double-A, he’s indeed moved to relief in recent years. At the 2019 trade deadline, Houston sent him to Arizona alongside Josh Rojas, Seth Beer and Corbin Martin in the Zack Greinke blockbuster. Bukauskas made two Double-A starts the rest of the year and didn’t pitch in 2020 because of the cancelation of the minor league season.
After the 2020 campaign, Arizona added him to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He was called up for his major league debut that April and wound up pitching 21 times out of Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. He allowed 19 runs in his first 17 1/3 innings, thanks largely to the four longballs he served up. Bukauskas struck out 14, walked seven and missed bats on a slightly above-average 12.2% of his offerings.
Unfortunately, injuries have thrown off his attempts to carve out a permanent spot in the Arizona relief corps. Bukauskas missed roughly six weeks in 2021 thanks to a strain in his throwing elbow. More notably, he began last season on the 60-day injured list after suffering a Grade 2 strain in the teres major muscle in his shoulder. That kept him out of action until mid-July, when he was reinstated and optioned to Triple-A Reno. He pitched quite well in that hitter-friendly environment, working to a 2.66 ERA with a solid 23.8% strikeout rate and an excellent 5% walk percentage over 20 1/3 relief innings.
Despite that performance, Arizona never gave him a look in a floundering MLB bullpen in 2022. He’s now been squeezed off the 40-man entirely, with the Snakes having a week to trade him or try to run him through waivers. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Bukauskas land elsewhere given his prospect pedigree and Triple-A performance last year. He still has a minor league option year remaining, so another team could keep him in Triple-A for a season if they’re willing to devote him a 40-man roster spot.
Arizona making moves!
Is anyone gonna make the joke?
That move is going to blow up on their face?
What this man has been able to accomplish in life, saddled with the name Bea Jay Boo Cakkie should not be underestimated. If you’re looking for heroes, here’s your guy.
1st round pick of the Astros in 2017. Assistant GM/Scouting Director at the time? Mike Elias. Welcome to Baltimore
AZ released JB to make room for Zach Davies. Davies was traded by the Orioles in 2015 for Gerardo Parra which was a terrible trade
If the plural of octopus is octopi, then what is the plural of Bukauskas?
That joke? :o)
Yeah, didn’t his relative Michael, run for President?
It’s an audio joke:
I’m gonna fight for you JB, by John Mayall, one of the most painful pieces of music ever penned.
???
From “The Turning Point”?
That song’s great!
As a fellow Lithuaninan-American, sign him Tigers!
Since the Tigers are pretty active on the waiver wire, you might get your wish very soon. But the Tigers usually merely claim players after they were DFA’d, and Bukauskas might be traded before he hits waivers.
Gruß,
BSHH
This is where nearly every fan base states they should sign him because minor league deals are basically risk free.
I’m always surprised teams don’t work out a trade ahead of time for whoever is viewed as their 40th/bubble man on the roster. Then when you’re ready to sign a Davies or whoever, you make the trade BEFORE signing/announcing the deal, instead of waiting until teams know the player is headed out the door and can be had even more cheaply. A guy with the draft pedigree of JB and an option should certainly draw interest, but undoubtedly for less than if teams didn’t know you were going to deal him..
Because every team is sitting on their own version of J.B.
Good concept but the reality is that I want more than you’re willing to offer. And in the interim I’ve found the next guy so the reality is that DFA is what happens.
Get Milwaukee for Broussard
*Brosseau
Milwaukee still needs him. We’ll give them Chris Singleton.
Boo caucus. I don’t like caucuses.
Is B.A. Barracus still available?
The Dutch Bomber? Yeah he is still available.
Another bad prospect deal by the Dbacks. At least Greinke didn’t go on to win an MVP award in St. Louis like Goldschmidt. All we’ve got left from that great trade is a .220-hitting catcher who is about to be replaced. With an arm like his, JB will be claimed and hopefully back to throwing 100 mph strikes for someone else who can coach pitchers.
3/4 not settling in is most definitely not good (and there are still shots that Martin/Beer pan out; I’m fairly confident some team claims J.B.), but it’s not like they got completely washed in the deal.
Josh Rojas has given 4.2 fWAR to the DBacks and still has four years of control, while Greinke gave 5.2 fWAR to the Astros during his time with them.
And technically Carson isn’t all that’s left from the Goldy deal, because they received a CBB pick that was used on Fletcher; plus, Weaver was dealt for 5.5 years of Rivera. They did receive some MLB contributions in return for one year of Goldschmidt and the trade lineage is still alive.
Neither deal was the wild success that we were hoping for, but they have received a decent amount of MLB value between the two of them; it’s still likely that returns from those trades contribute to the next contending DBacks team (cost effectively).
That’s more than can be said for a large number of prospect deals (particularly ones that forgo quality for quantity).
My mind is a gutter.
Osh Kosh Bukauskassukassukassaukas
Pirates/A’s, here is your man. Great no risk option to claim.
Fetter in Detroit could definitely work with what Bukauskas brings to the table. Looks like a Harris special whether it’s by trade or claim.
Would like him back in Houston, but I don’t think he gets that far.