July 10: Clarke went unclaimed on outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. As previously noted, he’ll likely accept. Clarke picked up 48 days of service earlier this season while on the major league injured list, bringing him to 4.168 years of service — just four days shy of the five years he’d need to reject the outright but retain his salary. (Clarke did not receive big league service time during his DFA window, as he was in Triple-A at the time he was designated.)
July 3: The Brewers have designated right-hander Taylor Clarke for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for newly acquired right-hander Aaron Civale. The right-hander did not pitch in the majors for Milwaukee after coming over from Kansas City in an offseason trade sending minor league right-hander Ryan Brady and minor league infielder Cam Devanney back to the Royals.
The 31-year-old Clarke pitched in the big leagues for the 2019-21 D-backs and 2022-23 Royals. He had a nice showing with Kansas City in 2022, tossing 49 innings of 4.04 ERA ball with a solid 23.6% strikeout rate and pristine 3.9% walk rate. He couldn’t sustain that production into the 2023 campaign, however, evidenced by a 5.95 ERA in 59 frames. Clarke punched out an even better 24.4% of his opponents but also walked 9% of the batters he faced and yielded considerably more hard contact en route to a bloated 1.83 HR/9 mark.
Milwaukee, likely intrigued by Clarke’s 95 mph average heater, ability to miss bats and remaining minor league option, sent a pair of minor leaguers to Kansas City after the Royals had designated Clarke for assignment themselves (to make room for the signing of Seth Lugo). He opened the season on the minor league injured list and has been stretched out as a starter since returning, though the results haven’t been encouraging. Clarke has pitched in 11 games, nine of them starts, and been tagged for a dreary 5.30 earned run average. He’s back to showing strong command (5.2% walk rate) but has seen his strikeout rate dip to 19.5% while last season’s home run troubles persist (1.77 HR/9)
The Brewers will either trade Clarke or place him on outright waivers within the next five days. (Waivers themselves are an additional 48 hour process.) He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minors in the event that he goes unclaimed, but doing so would require forfeiture of the remainder of this season’s $1.25MM salary. Given that arbitration salary and his struggles in the upper minors, it seems likely that Clarke will clear and remain with the Brewers in Triple-A Nashville. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster before season’s end, he’d be eligible for minor league free agency, as is the case with all players who possess three-plus years of service but have been removed from a team’s 40-man roster.
Vinny Capra stilllll has a roster spot! Pfff
could be worse, it could be Josh Van Meter
Its the time of year that team’s clean excess inventory. If Royals liked what he did in the organization, they whould let him clear and sign him. Omaha is not overwhelmed with pitching right now., and his arm is relatively fresh.
No, Hoyer. Just no. Don’t do it.