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Red Sox Release Richard Bleier

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The Red Sox announced that left-hander Richard Bleier, who was designated for assignment on Monday, has been released.

Bleier, 36, came over to the Sox in the offseason deal that sent Matt Barnes to the Marlins. That transaction hasn’t worked out especially well for either side, as Barnes allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine innings before undergoing hip surgery in July that he seems unlikely to return from this season. Bleier, meanwhile, made 27 appearances for Boston this year with a 5.28 ERA and has now been cut from the roster.

The southpaw had signed a contract extension while with the Marlins prior to the 2022 season, a pact that followed his 2.95 ERA over 68 appearances the year prior. The two-year, $6MM deal covered 2022, which was supposed to be his final arbitration season, as well as 2023 and came with a club option for 2024. He was paid $2.25MM last year, is earning $3.5MM this year with the 2024 option valued at $3.75MM with a $250K buyout.

Bleier went on to have a solid 3.55 ERA last year before this year’s disappointing results. There’s still over $1MM left to be paid out on that deal, as well as the buyout on the option. The combination of that money and his struggles this year meant that no club was going to claim him on waivers and take on that contract. But he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining the money, so the Sox have simply skipped the formalities and sent him to the open market. They will still be on the hook for the remainder of the contract.

He’ll now be free to sign with any club, who would only be responsible for paying him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay. Despite his 2023 numbers, he will likely still garner interest. He had a 3.09 ERA over 144 appearances in the 2020-2022 period and his peripherals this year aren’t drastically different. His 55.2% ground ball rate in this season is shy of his 60.5% rate in the previous three years, but not by much. His 3.8% walk rate is right in line with the 3.9% mark from the preceding seasons. His 12.1% strikeout rate is certainly low, but even in the more successful 2020-2022 period he was only at 16.9%.

Bleier’s inflated ERA this year is likely due to a couple of factors. His 65.8% strand rate is shy of his own career rate and league average, pushing some more runs across. On a related note, his 17.9% rate of fly balls leaving the yard is a career high. He has a 4.25 SIERA on the year that’s over a full run better than his ERA and closer to his career marks.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, teams have few options for adding talent and depth to their systems. Since Bleier has a track record of success and comes with virtually no financial cost, he’s likely to latch on somewhere.

Mariners Claim Ryan Jensen, Release Matt Festa

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August 9: The Mariners announced that Festa has indeed cleared waivers and become a free agent.

August 8, 9:56pm: Festa’s transaction log at MLB.com indicates he has been placed on release waivers, as required. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll be a free agent later in the week.

3:20pm: The Mariners announced a series of transactions today, claiming right-hander Ryan Jensen off waivers from the Cubs and recalling righty Ryder Ryan from Triple-A. Jensen will report to Triple-A Tacoma. Righty Bryan Woo was placed on the 15-day injured list with right forearm inflammation, retroactive to August 5, while righty Matt Festa was designated for assignment in corresponding moves.

Jensen, 25, was a first-round pick of the Cubs, getting selected 27th overall in 2019. He quickly became considered one of the top 10 prospects in the club’s system though his stock has fallen since then thanks to some mediocre results.

After the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020, Jensen split 2021 between High-A and Double-A with a 4.16 ERA. Last year, he made 17 Double-A starts with a 4.25 ERA, striking out 23.2% of batters faced while walking 15.1% of them. Nonetheless, the Cubs still had enough belief in him to give him a 40-man roster spot in November, to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Here in 2023, things haven’t gone much better. He made six Double-A starts at the beginning of the year but had a 5.31 ERA in those. In early May, he was moved to the bullpen and has since been promoted to Triple-A, but he has a combined 6.06 ERA in 32 2/3 innings since that time. He has struck out 26.2% of opponents since that bullpen move but given free passes at a 17.7% rate.

It had not been publicly reported that the Cubs removed Jensen from their roster, but they evidently tried to quietly sneak him through waivers with the M’s swooping in to snap him up. They will presumably try to get him to rein in his recent control issues and get him back on a good track.

In order to grab Jensen, the M’s are risking losing Festa, who has now been removed from the roster. He has 89 major league appearances from 2019 to the present season, posting a 4.32 ERA in those. He struck out 29.2% of batters faced last year but also allowed 10 home runs and finished the year with a 4.17 ERA.

Here in 2023, he’s spent most of the season in Triple-A, with a 0.53 ERA in 34 innings. That’s come with a .114 batting average on balls in play and 91.9% strand rate, both of which are unsustainable. His 21.9% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate are both subpar, leading to a 4.81 FIP at that level.

According to his transactions tracker at MLB.com, he was placed on the minor league injured list last week. Since injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers and the trade deadline has passed, Festa should be released in the coming days. He’ll be out of options next year but has less than two years of service time, meaning he could be controlled for five future seasons by a club that gives him a roster spot.

Ryan, 28, was just added to the club’s 40-man roster last week. Despite getting that roster spot, they kept him in the minors initially though he will now get a chance to make his major league debut. He’s thrown 40 2/3 innings in Triple-A this year with a 3.54 ERA, 23.3% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate.

As for Woo, the severity of his injury isn’t known, but this sheds some light on the earlier report that the M’s are promoting pitching prospect Emerson Hancock. It had been speculated by some that the club could potentially use a six-man rotation for a while, but now it seems a more straightforward situation where Hancock will step in for Woo.

Red Sox Designate Dinelson Lamet For Assignment

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1:30pm: The Red Sox have now officially announced these moves.

10:08am: The Red Sox are planning to designate right-hander Dinelson Lamet for assignment as part of a series of roster moves, reports MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith. His spot on the roster will go to veteran righty Kyle Barraclough, whose contract is being selected from Triple-A Worcester. Boston is also set to recall lefty Brandon Walter from Worcester, with righty Nick Robertson being optioned there in his place.

Lamet’s stay on Boston’s big league roster will prove extremely brief. The former Padres and Rockies hurler was only just selected to the Majors two days ago. He appeared in one game, serving up three runs on three hits and a walk with one strikeout and a wild pitch in two innings of work.

Lamet was a legitimate Cy Young contender during the shortened 2020 season, but injuries have been a major issue for the 31-year-old righty in the seasons since. He’s encountered a biceps strain, a UCL sprain, forearm inflammation and a hip injury that required a “cleanup” procedure in the years since that scintillating 2020 effort (wherein he posted a 2.09 ERA and 34.8% strikeout rate in a dozen starts).

Including this brief, unsightly stop with the BoSox, Lamet has a 6.81 ERA in his past 107 big league innings. While he had pitched decently over in Worcester prior to his call to the big leagues, Lamet will make a quick exit in favor of a fresh arm — fellow veteran hurler Barraclough.

The 33-year-old Barraclough has appeared in 288 big league games, all coming out of the bullpen, and posted a 3.61 ERA with a very strong 28.9% strikeout rate but also a woeful 14% walk rate. The bulk of his Major League success came early in his career with the Marlins, from 2015-18. Since that time, he’s logged just 55 2/3 innings while pitching to a 5.17 ERA.

Interestingly, the Red Sox have been using Barraclough as a starter in Worcester, and the experiment has gone quite well. Seven of his eight appearances since signing out of the independent Atlantic League have been starts, and Barraclough has recorded a sharp 2.57 ERA in 42 innings. Granted, his strikeout rate is down considerably (17.8%), and walks remain an issue (11.9%). The Sox either see more to like in Barraclough than Lamet or simply need another fresh arm after Kutter Crawford was knocked out of the game in the fourth inning yesterday, leading to three relievers covering 5 2/3 innings. Lamet and Robertson combined to cover five of those frames.

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the Sox’ only options with Lamet are to place him on outright waivers or release waivers. He has more than five years of big league service, so he’ll be able to reject a minor league assignment and become a free agent even if he goes unclaimed. Because of that service time, he’d have been a free agent at season’s end even if he’d stuck on Boston’s roster and performed well for the remainder of the year.

Barraclough, meanwhile, entered the season with 4.089 years of Major League service. The most he’ll be able to accrue from here on out is 54 days, which would leave him shy of five years of service, thus making him eligible to be retained another two seasons via arbitration. There’s quite a ways to go before that’s even a consideration, and it’s likelier that Barraclough will have a brief stay on the roster himself, but that remaining club control is at least worth noting in the event that he sustains his Triple-A pace in the big leagues.

Dodgers To Sign Top Korean Pitching Prospect Hyun-Seok Jang

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The Dodgers have agreed to terms with South Korean right-hander Hyun-seok Jang, his agency in South Korea announced (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). It’s a $900K signing bonus for the 19-year-old Jang, who is forgoing the KBO amateur draft to pursue MLB opportunities. Yoo notes that Jang was widely expected to be the top pick in this year’s KBO draft. Daniel Kim first reported that the two parties were nearing an agreement.

The signing of Jang likely would not have been possible were it not for last week’s trade with the White Sox, which saw the Dodgers ship a pair of minor leaguers — Aldrin Batista and Maximo Martinez — to Chicago in exchange for additional space in their international bonus pool. The Dodgers’ $4,144,000 pool for the 2023 signing period tied the Rangers for the smallest league-allotted pool. And, as Baseball America’s Ben Badler outlined in detail this past spring, Los Angeles used the overwhelming majority of that pool (all but $1500 of it) on shortstop Joendry Vargas, outfielder Arnaldo Lantigua, right-hander Jesus Tillero, shortstop Daniel Mielcarek, catcher/outfielder Eduardo Quintero, shortstop Elias Medina and right-hander Samuel Sanchez.

The collective bargaining agreement, however, allows teams to trade international bonus pool space. Any team can acquire additional space totaling up to 60% of its initial league-allotted pool size. After their initial signing spree when the period opened, Badler noted that the White Sox still had more than $1MM remaining in pool space. That set the stage for them to either sign additional talents down the line or, as they ultimately wound up doing, trade some of that remaining pool space.

Jang, listed at 6’2″ and 198 pounds, has allowed one run with a 42-to-14 K/BB ratio in 27 1/3 innings during his final high school season and was recently the only amateur named to the South Korean National Team, per Yoo. He’s already reached 97 mph on his fastball and will add a power arm — albeit one that is likely years from realistically making an MLB impact — to the lower levels of the Dodgers’ perennially strong farm system.

Diamondbacks Re-Sign Nabil Crismatt To Minor League Deal

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The D-backs have re-signed right-handed reliever Nabil Crismatt to a minor league pact, per their team transaction log. Crismatt, who opted out of a minor league deal earlier this month, will return on a new arrangement after just six days on the open market.

Crismatt, 28, was released by the D-backs last week but quickly re-upped on a new minor league pact and already returned to their Triple-A club last night, tossing four innings and yielding four runs in his third start of the season. He’d spent the bulk of the year pitching in the bullpen — frequently in two-inning stints — but has made his past three appearances as a starting pitcher. The transition hasn’t been a smooth one, as after a sharp first outing (five innings, one run against the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate) he’s since been tagged for 13 runs in 7 1/3 frames.

That rough patch out of the rotation has sent his ERA ballooning north of 7.00, although Crismatt has a much better track record than that — particularly in the big leagues. From 2020-22, the right-hander logged 157 innings of 3.38 ERA ball between the Cardinals and Padres, fanning 21.8% of his opponents against a strong 7.1% walk rate. Crismatt also excelled at keeping the ball in the yard (0.97 HR/9) and on the ground (50.5%) during that stretch.

The 2023 season has been a nightmare both in the big leagues and in the minors, however. Crismatt was rocked for a 9.82 ERA in 11 innings with San Diego prior to being released this year. His 7.76 ERA in 31 1/3 Triple-A frames is only marginally better, but he’ll get another chance to get back on track with the D-backs’ top affiliate as he looks to rediscover that solid 2020-22 form.

Pirates, Dom Nunez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates have agreed to terms on a minor league deal with catcher Dom Nunez, per their transaction log at MLB.com. The ALIGND Sports client will be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Nunez, 28, was released by the Cubs over the weekend but quickly found a new home with the Pirates organization. The former Rockies backstop hit .216/.367/.366 in 147 plate appearances with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Des Moines, drawing a walk in a whopping 17.4% of his plate appearances but also striking out at an untenable 27.5% clip.

A sixth-round pick back in 2013, Nunez has a career .229/.346/.433 batting line in parts of three Triple-A seasons but has managed only a .180/.280/.373 output in 347 Major League plate appearances. He’s belted a dozen homers, 16 doubles and three triples in that time, showing above-average power, but Nunez’s 34% strikeout rate as a big leaguer has been too large an obstacle to overcome thus far.

Nunez’s career 29% caught-stealing rate (minors and majors combined) is better than average, although like many catchers, he’s seen a dip following rule changes that have emboldened baserunners. He’s sitting at 23% in Triple-A this year. He regularly graded as a plus framer earlier in his minor league career, per Baseball Prospectus, although his marks have dipped closer to average this season. Statcast credits him as slightly above-average in terms of both framing and blocking throughout the 826 innings he’s caught at the MLB level.

The Pirates traded catcher Austin Hedges to the Rangers prior to the deadline, paving the way for top prospects Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis to get more playing time behind the plate. (Davis has played almost exclusively in right field in the Majors.) That trade and the pair of promotions thinned out Pittsburgh’s depth in the upper minors, so it’s not all that surprising to see the Bucs scoop up an experienced catcher to provide some depth. Between Rodriguez, Davis and Jason Delay, the Pirates have three catching options on the current big league roster. That jams up Nunez’s path to the big leagues, but he should get playing time in Indianapolis alongside 2018 fifth-rounder Grant Koch — and he’ll be an option if the Bucs wind up needing to tap into their catching depth for any reason.

The Opener: Mariners, Martinez, Severino

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As MLB’s 2023 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Hancock promotion inbound:

The Mariners are poised to promote right-hander Emerson Hancock to the big leagues today for tonight’s game against the Padres. Hancock, the club’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft, was a consensus top-50 prospect in the game as recently as 2021. That being said, his prospect shine has dimmed a bit since then, as he entered the 2023 campaign below right-handers Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo on both the organizational depth chart and prospect rankings over at FanGraphs.

Hancock, 24, has spent virtually all of his professional career at the Double-A level, and sports a career 3.99 ERA in 210 innings of work at the level since 2021. He sports a solid 24.1% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk rate in that time. While his walk rate has stayed mostly consistent (9.2%) and his ERA has ticked up a bit (4.32) in 2023, Hancock is actually striking out the most batters of his career in 2023 with a 26% figure. That fact gives Seattle reason for optimism as Hancock makes his big league debut this evening and extend the team’s six-game winning streak. The club will have to clear space for him on the 40-man and active rosters before he takes the mound.

2. Martinez to undergo MRI on nagging injury:

Dodgers slugger J.D. Martinez flew back to Los Angeles last night to undergo an MRI with the hope of determining the root of a lingering lower-body issue, per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. Martinez, 35, is having a resurgent season at the plate with the Dodgers, hitting .260/.312/.558 with 25 home runs. However, he’s also been plagued throughout the season by what the club has termed “left groin/hamstring tightness” that has at points, per Ardaya, left Martinez “feel[ing] like he is unable to walk.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Dodgers beat that the issue dates back to Spring Training, and the hope is that Martinez can avoid a trip to the IL after receiving an injection. Should Martinez require a trip to the shelf, the club will likely turn to one of their previously-optioned youngsters, Michael Busch or Miguel Vargas, to fill the void at the big league level.

3. Will Severino make his start?

Right-hander Luis Severino’s spot in the Yankees’ rotation comes up against the White Sox this evening, but the club has been non-committal regarding whether or not Severino will actually take the mound. As noted by Greg Joyce of the New York Post, manager Aaron Boone said yesterday afternoon that Severino is set to make his start today “as of now” but, following the game, said the club still needed to discuss how to handle today’s game and that they are “considering everything.”

With right-hander Randy Vasquez expected to take the spot of left-hander Carlos Rodon in the rotation, the club’s options seem somewhat limited: they can either utilize Severino, skip his start and opt for a bullpen game, or call up a surprise youngster who has yet to make his MLB debut. Once one of the most promising young arms in the game, Severino has fallen off in a big way in 2023 with a brutal 7.74 ERA and 6.56 FIP in 13 starts. His struggles have been particularly pronounced as of late, with a stunning 11.22 ERA over his past six starts.

Mariners To Promote Emerson Hancock

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The Mariners are calling up pitching prospect Emerson Hancock for his big league debut, reports Robert Murray of Fansided. Hancock, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2020 draft, is not yet on the 40-man roster and will need to have his contract selected.

Hancock, 24, has tossed 98 innings in Double-A this season, working to a 4.32 ERA with a career-best 26% strikeout rate, a 9.2% walk rate and a 42% ground-ball rate. He’s been prone to nightmare outings this season, twice being tagged for nine runs in a start and serving up seven runs in another. Outside those few hiccups, he’s generally been excellent; dating back to June 1, he’s sitting on a 2.97 ERA — despite the fact that one of those nine-run drubbings occurred along the way. Over his past four outings, Hancock has a 1.44 ERA and 26-to-4 K/BB ratio in 25 innings.

Widely regarded as one of the Mariners’ top five prospects, Hancock sits in the mid-90s with his heater and has a trio of secondary offerings — all of which garner average or better ratings on MLB.com’s scouting report on the right-hander. FanGraphs touts Hancock’s changeup as his best bat-missing offering, while his slider also draws above-average grades.

Hancock will become the latest in a growing line of homegrown pitching talent to join the Mariners’ roster. Seattle also drafted and developed George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, all of whom ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects prior to their respective debuts. Hancock might not be quite as highly touted as some of those arms were at the time of their own promotions, but he’s nevertheless a former top-10 pick with some success at the Double-A level and a good chance at laying claim to a spot in the Seattle rotation.

It’s an increasingly crowded starting staff in Seattle — hence ample trade interest in the Mariners’ young, controllable arms at this year’s deadline — as the staff also features ace Luis Castillo and injured veterans Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales. Ray will be out well into next year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, however, and Gonzales has been limited to just 10 starts this season. It’s an enviable wealth of pitching talent — one that figures to draw interest again in the offseason.

For now, Hancock’s promotion will give the club six starters, though it’s possible one of Woo or Miller could see their workload reduced in the near future. The former only tossed 57 innings in the minors last year but is already up to 99 this season between the majors and minors. Miller got to 133 2/3 last year and is up to 105 1/3 here in 2023. Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reported yesterday that the club has been considering deploying a six-man rotation, in light of those concerns about their younger hurlers. Hancock logged 98 1/3 frames last year and is up to an even 98 this season, which may put a ceiling on how many innings he has to give as well. In the short term, an injured list stint for Woo keeps the rotation at five players.

The club has been hot lately, winning six in a row and nine of their last 11. That’s helped them leapfrog teams like the Red Sox and Yankees and put the M’s in the top spot among American League teams not currently in playoff position. They’re still two games back of the Blue Jays for the last Wild Card spot but they are firmly in the mix for a playoff run, with Hancock hopefully giving them a boost in that regard.

Injury Notes: Means, Neto, Treinen, Heim

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The Orioles are sending left-hander John Means on a minor league rehab stint on Thursday, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He’ll take the ball for their Double-A club in Bowie.

It’ll be Means’ first game action since he underwent Tommy John surgery last April. The 16-month recovery timetable is towards the longer end of the typical TJS rehab, in part due to a back strain Means suffered this past May. The rehab outings represent his final steps as he builds back to MLB readiness. Pitchers are typically allotted 30 days on a stint, though players working back from Tommy John procedures can get a longer window with league approval.

If all goes well, it stands to reason Means will be back on the Camden Yards mound sometime next month. The 2019 All-Star will get to pitch in a pennant race for the first time in his career. After tonight’s dramatic loss at the hands of the Astros, Baltimore holds a two-game lead on Tampa Bay in the AL East.

A few other health situations around the game:

  • The Angels placed shortstop Zach Neto on the 10-day injured list on Friday due to lower back inflammation. A specific recovery timetable is unclear, though he’ll be out well past the minimal stay. Manager Phil Nevin informed reporters (including Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com) that Neto will be out for several weeks after recent imaging revealed increased inflammation. The club still expects the rookie infielder back before season’s end, but it’s another hurdle for a team that has been floundering since the deadline. Luis Rengifo has kicked over to shortstop with Neto out while Brandon Drury handles second base.
  • Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen has missed the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery last November. The club announced a rough 10-month recovery timetable at the time of the operation. Almost exactly 10 months out, Treinen has yet to begin a rehab assignment. The veteran right-hander has been throwing bullpen sessions, however, and he told reporters this afternoon he remains hopeful of getting back to the majors this year (relayed by Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times). Treinen has barely pitched over the last two seasons because of shoulder woes but had a 1.99 ERA over 72 1/3 frames in 2021. The Dodgers hold an option for next year valued somewhere between $1MM and $7MM depending on his health status.
  • Rangers All-Star backstop Jonah Heim took batting practice and caught a bullpen session this afternoon, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. It’s his first cage work since tearing a tendon sheath in his left wrist two weeks ago. The Rangers expressed initial concern that Heim would require season-ending surgery, though it seems he’ll be able to play through the discomfort (likely before an offseason surgery). Grant notes that Heim — normally a switch-hitter — may have to swing solely from the left side for the time being, as the wrist is in more pain when he hits right-handed. Heim has been excellent from both sides of the dish this season, and Texas has righty-swinging catchers Mitch Garver and Austin Hedges as their duo with Heim out. Even if skipper Bruce Bochy wanted to limit Heim’s looks against left-handed pitching, Garver — a career .272/.366/.523 hitter against southpaws — should be well equipped to step in.

White Sox Sign Jose Urena To Minor League Contract

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The White Sox have signed hurler José Ureña to a minor league deal, according to an announcement from their Triple-A club. He’ll report to the Sox’s top farm team in Charlotte.

Ureña was cut loose from a minor league pact with the Nationals last week. Chicago is his third organization of the season. He began the year with the Rockies after re-signing on a $3.5MM free agent contract. He was blitzed for 22 runs in 18 1/3 innings over his first five starts, however, and the Rox quickly moved on.

Things didn’t go much better in the Nats’ system. Ureña picked up 15 starts for their top affiliate in Rochester but managed a 6.31 ERA over 67 frames. His 8.4% walk percentage there was fine, but he struggled with home runs and only punched out 18.2% of opposing hitters.

While his 2023 performance has been below-average, Ureña adds some experience to the upper minors of the Sox’s system. He’s a veteran of nine major league campaigns, working mostly as a starter over that time. Ureña had back-to-back sub-4.00 ERA showings for the Marlins in 2017-18. He’s allowed more than five earned runs per nine in each of the five seasons since then, though he still throws fairly hard. Ureña averaged north of 95 MPH on both his four-seam and sinker during his early-season big league stint with the Rox.

Colorado is on the hook for Ureña’s $3MM salary and a $500K buyout on a 2024 option. If the Sox called him up at any point in the season’s final couple months, they’d pay him only the prorated portion of the $720K minimum rate. Ureña will head back to free agency at the start of the offseason whether he earns a big league call or not. He’ll offer some injury insurance in the interim as the White Sox play out a disappointing season.

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