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Caleb Boushley Accepts Outright Assignment With Twins

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Right-hander Caleb Boushley has cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago, with Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com among those to relay the transaction on X. The righty had the right to elect free agency but has accepted his outright and will report to Triple-A St. Paul.

Boushley, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason. He was added to the club’s roster in May but mostly kept on optional assignment, only getting into one big league game. That brought his tally of big league appearances to two, as he also appeared in one game with the Brewers last year. He has a 6.23 earned run average in his 4 1/3 innings at the top level.

He’s made 16 Triple-A starts this year with a 4.68 ERA. His 20.8% strikeout rate is a bit below par but he’s limited his walks to a tiny rate of 4%. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a 4.55 ERA in 463 1/3 minor league innings with a 19.4% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate.

He still has a full slate of options yet the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to claim him and bring him aboard as pitching depth. Since he was outrighted by the Brewers last year, he had the right to elect free agency but has chosen to stay in the Twins’ system.

Minnesota lost Anthony DeSclafani for the year to flexor tendon surgery but their rotation is currently pretty healthy apart from that. At the moment, it consists of Pablo López, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack and Simeon Woods Richardson. Guys like David Festa and Louie Varland are on the 40-man and currently in Triple-A, with Boushley now providing more depth alongside them in a non-roster capacity.

Twins Acquire Rylan Bannon From Mets

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The Twins have acquired infielder Rylan Bannon from the Mets, per their transaction log at MLB.com. The return isn’t specified, though it’s typical for midseason trades of non-40-man players of this ilk to send cash the other direction. Speculatively speaking, Bannon may have had an out clause in his deal with the Mets; he was hitting well in Triple-A Syracuse prior to this swap.

Bannon, 28, has played in parts of two big league seasons, spending time with the Orioles, Braves and Astros. Despite having suited up for three clubs in 2022-23, he’s tallied only 21 plate appearances at the MLB level and gone 2-for-20 with a walk and eight strikeouts.

A seventh-round pick by the Dodgers back in 2017, Bannon was one of five players the Dodgers traded to Baltimore in the 2018 Manny Machado deal and for a few years looks as though he could have a role with the O’s in the majors. Bannon ranked among the Orioles’ top 30 prospects at MLB.com from 2019-21, sitting between 18th and 23rd on their list along the way. He’s had an inconsistent but at-times productive track record in the upper minors.

That minor league track record includes a strong three-month stint with the Mets organization to begin the 2024 season. Bannon appeared in 79 games and tallied 342 plate appearances with the Mets’ Syracuse affiliate, batting .254/.392/.475 with 15 homers, seven steals and a gaudy 17.5% walk rate. He played second base, third base, shortstop and both outfield corners during his time in the Mets’ system but ultimately didn’t receive a call to the majors.

The Twins have a crowded but increasingly banged-up infield mix, so it’s not a shock to see them adding some more depth. Third baseman Royce Lewis is on the shelf with an adductor strain, and Minnesota placed Jose Miranda on the injured list with a back issue just prior to the break. Neither player is expected to be in for an especially lengthy IL stint. The Twins selected the contract of infielder Diego Castillo just before the break when Miranda hit the injured list.

Carlos Correa, in the midst of his best season since signing with the Twins, is skipping the All-Star Game due to an ongoing bout of plantar fasciitis. There’s no indication yet that Correa will head to the injured list, and the Twins still have top prospect Brooks Lee to slot in at third base and All-Star utilityman Willi Castro as an option at second base. If Correa does require a stint on the 10-day IL, Edouard Julien could be recalled from St. Paul, with Castro or Lee taking over at shortstop.

Giants’ Logan Porter Triggers Opt-Out Clause

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Catcher Logan Porter has triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Giants, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. San Francisco has 48 hours to either add Porter to its 40-man roster or trade him to another team that will do so. He’ll become a free agent if neither happens.

Porter, 29, made his big league debut with the Royals in 2023 but appeared in only 11 games and took 38 plate appearances. He hit .194/.323/.324 in that brief cup of coffee. He became a free agent at season’s end, and Kansas City re-signed him to a minor league deal over the winter. However, he was traded to the Giants earlier this season in exchange for cash or a player to be named later.

While Porter’s small-sample numbers in the bigs last year aren’t going to turn any heads, he’s slashing a combined .293/.390/.500 in 223 plate appearances between the Triple-A affiliates for the Royals and Giants. He’s also nabbed a solid 26% of runners who’ve tried to steal against him (11-for-43). In parts of three Triple-A seasons, Porter is a .260/.373/.424 hitter with a 24.6% strikeout rate and a huge 14.6% walk rate.

The Giants don’t have a dire need for catching help in the majors, not with former first-round pick Patrick Bailey in the midst of a breakout year. Bailey debuted in 2023 and quickly established himself as perhaps the game’s premier defender behind the dish but did so while posting a tepid .233/.285/.359 batting line. This year, he’s erupted with a .283/.354/.430 slash that checks in 25% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. That massive step forward has cemented Bailey as the franchise’s catcher of the future.

Backing up Bailey is veteran Curt Casali, who’s in his second stint with the team. The 35-year-old isn’t hitting much, just .220/.350/.260 in 61 plate appearances, so it’s at least possible the Giants could look at Porter as a potential upgrade. If not, the opt-out clause ensures that the league’s other 29 clubs will have the chance to bring him aboard. Even if no club is interested in putting Porter directly onto its 40-man roster, there’s still value in taking the opt-out and exploring opportunities. A team with a less-entrenched starting catcher or a club that’s planning to trade away some big league catching help could offer Porter a more realistic path to the big leagues on a new minor league contract.

Reds Sign Patrick Weigel To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Patrick Weigel, who’s spent the bulk of the season pitching with the Mexican League’s Saraperos de Saltillo, has signed a minor league deal with the Reds, as first announced by his now-former club. Weigel was assigned to Double-A Chattanooga and tossed a perfect inning with one strikeout on Sunday.

Weigel, who turned 30 last week, pitched in a pair of big league seasons in 2020-21. The former seventh-round pick ranked as one of the Braves’ top organizational pitching prospects for years, climbing as high as the system’s ninth-best prospect on Baseball America’s 2017 list and ranking within BA’s top 20 Braves prospects each year from 2017-21.

Despite being a prospect of some note for more than a half decade, Weigel has just 4 2/3 innings at the big league level under his belt. He yielded four earned runs on six hits and seven walks with nine punchouts in that tiny sample. He’s posted sterling numbers throughout the lower and middle levels of the minors but stumbled a bit upon reaching Triple-A, where he carries a career 4.68 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in 209 2/3 innings across parts of four seasons.

Weigel’s run with Atlanta came to an end in 2021, when the Braves traded him to the Brewers alongside fellow righty Chad Sobotka in the deal that netted current shortstop Orlando Arcia. Weigel was cut loose following that 2021 season and has since pitched for the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate and for the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association in addition to this year’s stint in Mexico.

He’ll need to pitch his way into bullpen consideration for the Reds, but Sunday’s spotless frame was a good start — and his work in a very hitter-friendly Mexican League setting was intriguing as well. Weigel tossed 37 2/3 innings and worked to a sharp 2.87 earned run average while fanning 28.3% of his opponents against a tidy 7.9% walk rate.

The Opener: All-Star Game, Draft Day 3, MLBTR Chat

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As the festivities of the All-Star break continue, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. 2024 All-Star Game:

The 94th MLB All-Star Game is set to take place in Arlington tonight. Hometown manager Bruce Bochy will manage the American League. The National League team will be managed by Arizona manager Torey Lovullo. The NL club will send Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes (1.90 ERA) to the mound to begin the game, while Bochy will counter with Orioles ace Corbin Burnes (2.43 ERA) to represent the AL.

Last year, the NL eked out a 3-2 win over the AL for their first victory in the All-Star Game since 2012, and they’ll look to make it two in a row this evening at 7pm CT. They’ll do so without Fernando Tatis Jr. in the starting lineup, as the Padres star is sidelined by injury and has been replaced by Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez. A similar situation has played out at second base in the AL, where Astros star Jose Altuve has stepped back from the All-Star Game due to a hand injury and ceded his spot in the starting lineup to Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien.

2. Draft Day 3:

Yesterday saw all 30 organizations select a variety of potential future big leaguers in Rounds 3-10 of the MLB draft. The draft will conclude today with Rounds 11-20 starting at 1pm CT. At this point in the draft, most top-tier talents are prep players expected to honor their commitments to play collegiate ball. To have a realistic shot of signing any of them, a club would have to have saved up a considerable portion of their bonus pool from the first two days. Players like right-hander Dax Whitney (committed to Oregon State), outfielder Garrett Shull (an Oklahoma State commit) and shortstop Sawyer Farr (a Texas A&M recruit) are all widely considered to be among the best 50 to 100 talents in this year’s overall draft class but could be tough signs, given bonus pool limitations and strong college commitments.

3. MLBTR Chat Today:

With MLB’s All-Star festivities fully underway and the 2024 draft reaching its final stage, the attention of MLB clubs will soon turn to the coming trade deadline on July 30. If you have any questions about your favorite team’s direction in the coming weeks or a trade idea you have in the back of your mind, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is holding a live chat with readers at 1pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.

Corbin Burnes Named Starting Pitcher For American League All-Star Team

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Orioles right-hander Corbin Burnes has been named the starting pitching for the American League side in this year’s All-Star game, per announcements from Major League Baseball and the O’s. This will be his fourth All-Star selection but his first time starting.

Burnes, 29, has been one of the best pitchers in the majors in recent years. He spent most of his career with the Brewers but came to the O’s via an offseason trade. From 2020 to 2023, Burnes logged over 600 innings with Milwaukee, posting a 2.86 ERA in that time. He struck out 30.9% of batters faced, limited walks to a 7.1% clip and kept balls in play on the ground at a rate of 46.4%. He made the All-Star team in three straight years from 2021 to 2023 and won the National League Cy Young in the first season of that stretch.

Since coming over to the American League, he has largely continued in the same manner. Through 19 starts as an Oriole, he has a 2.43 ERA in 118 2/3 innings. His 23.3% strikeout rate is down relative to his past work but he’s also lowered his walk rate to 5.3% and increased his ground ball rate to 49.4%.

It was a bit questionable as to whether Burnes would be able to participate in the game as his wife recently gave birth to twins, but she apparently signed off on him appearing in the game, per Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic on X. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy is the skipper for the American League and mentioned the success of the O’s as well as the track record of Burnes as factors leading to his decision, per Jake Rill of MLB.com on X.

Burnes is in his final season of arbitration and will be a free agent at season’s end. He placed second on the most recent edition of the MLBTR Free Agent Power Rankings, trailing only Juan Soto of the Yankees.

Notable Draft Signings: 7/15/24

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The 2024 draft is still underway, as Rounds 11-20 will take place tomorrow. Almost everyone who has come off the board within the first 10 rounds will sign over the next few weeks, with one notable deal already hammered out.

  • The Mariners have an agreement with second-round pick Ryan Sloan on a $3MM bonus, pending a physical, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com (X link). Seattle drafted the high school pitcher with the 55th overall selection last night. They went well above the pick’s $1.64MM slot value to sign him away from a Wake Forest commitment. (Seattle could agree to an underslot deal with first-rounder Jurrangelo Cijntje to save some of the bonus pool space they’re committing to Sloan.) A 6’5″ right-hander from Illinois, Sloan was ranked as a back of the first round talent by each of Baseball America, FanGraphs and The Athletic’s Keith Law. All three outlets credited him with mid-upper 90s velocity, a potential plus slider and the athleticism to have a shot of sticking as a starting pitcher. The $3MM bonus falls between the slot values for the 29th and 30th selections, aligning with those publications’ rankings.

Giants, Clayton Andrews Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Giants signed lefty reliever Clayton Andrews to a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MLB.com. San Francisco assigned Andrews to their Arizona complex for the time being, though he’ll presumably head to Triple-A Sacramento before long.

A former 17th-round pick by the Brewers, Andrews has five MLB appearances under his belt. The 5’6″ southpaw reached the majors with four outings for Milwaukee last season. He made a lone appearance this year for the Yankees, who acquired him from Milwaukee in February. Andrews recorded one out and surrendered a homer to Luke Raley during his only game in pinstripes. New York designated him for assignment and ran him through outright waivers when they signed Tim Hill late last month.

Andrews has cleared waivers twice this season. After the second outright, he had the ability to choose minor league free agency instead of heading back to Triple-A with the Yankees. He took that opportunity and lands with an organization that plays much closer to home. The 27-year-old went to high school in Santa Rosa and attended Long Beach State.

The Giants have been light on lefty relief depth. Taylor Rogers and Erik Miller are the only southpaws to work multiple innings out of Bob Melvin’s bullpen all year. Raymond Burgos made a one-inning cameo in his MLB debut but was quickly outrighted off the 40-man roster. San Francisco has made a couple recent additions to their 40-man in an effort to shore up the group. They acquired Alex Young from the Reds for Austin Slater and grabbed Kolton Ingram off waivers from the Cardinals.

San Francisco takes a non-roster flier on Andrews, who has shown the ability to miss bats in the minors. He punched out almost 26% of opposing hitters over 24 2/3 Triple-A frames for the Yankees. Over parts of six seasons in the minors, Andrews has fanned nearly a third of batters faced. He hasn’t managed to harness that intriguing stuff consistently. Andrews has walked more than 12% of opponents in his professional career and dished out free passes to 22 of 108 opponents (20.4%) in the Yankees’ system.

Noah Syndergaard Planning 2025 Comeback

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Noah Syndergaard has not pitched professionally since he was released by the Guardians at the end of last August. He reportedly drew interest from the Padres and Pirates over the winter but ultimately remained unsigned.

With more than half the ’24 campaign in the books, it seems Syndergaard is turning his attention to next year. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that the former Mets star will make a comeback effort in 2025. He’ll presumably conduct a few showcases next offseason in hopes of finding a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Syndergaard was one of the game’s most fearsome starters at his peak. His triple digit velocity hasn’t returned since he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020. Syndergaard overcame the diminished stuff to turn in a decent 3.94 ERA in 134 2/3 frames between the Angels and Phillies in 2022. Things went downhill last season, though, as he struggled for both the Dodgers and Guardians.

Over 12 starts with Los Angeles, Syndergaard turned in a 7.16 earned run average. He spent a couple months on the injured list before being flipped to Cleveland in a change of scenery swap sending Amed Rosario to Southern California. Syndergaard returned from the IL and stepped into the Cleveland rotation for the month of August. The new setting didn’t provide much of a turnaround. He allowed a 5.40 ERA over six starts for the Guardians before being cut loose.

Syndergaard closed the year with a 6.50 ERA across 88 2/3 cumulative innings. His strikeout rate fell to a personal-low 14.3% clip. An 8.2% swinging strike rate was similarly unimpressive. Syndergaard still filled up the strike zone, walking fewer than 5% of batters faced, but he did so without anything close to the stuff he wielded at his peak. His four-seam fastball and sinker each sat around 92 MPH.

His camp will hope that a year away from game action can help rebuild some of the arm speed that he has lost over the past couple seasons. Syndergaard turns 32 in August, so there’s still plenty of time for him to resume his career. There should be no shortage of teams that have scouts in attendance if he throws a couple showcases over the winter.

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