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Archives for August 2024

Pirates Re-Sign Jake Woodford

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TODAY: Woodford elected free agency, but MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf reports (X link) that Woodford has re-signed with the Pirates on a new minor league contract.

AUGUST 29: Pirates righty Jake Woodford cleared outright waivers, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He has the ability to elect free agency because he has been outrighted before in his career.

Woodford pitched in six games for Pittsburgh before they designated him for assignment on Monday. The 27-year-old righty started four of those appearances and posted a 6.95 ERA across 22 innings. Woodford had allowed 10 runs over two starts with the White Sox earlier in the year and carries an 8.01 ERA over 30 1/3 frames.

A former supplemental first-round pick of the Cardinals, Woodford pitched parts of four seasons with St. Louis. He combined for 184 2/3 innings of 4.29 ERA ball. That’s decent run prevention but came with a well below-average 15.1% strikeout percentage. Woodford’s lack of missed bats has caught up to him, as he has followed up a 6.23 ERA last year with this season’s disappointing numbers.

Woodford has gotten better results in the upper minors. He has started 17 games in Triple-A this year, working to a 4.02 ERA through 85 innings. He carries a matching 4.02 mark over parts of six seasons at that level.

Royals Claim Tommy Pham, Robbie Grossman

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The Royals are bolstering their outfield with a pair of veterans, as K.C. has claimed both Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman off waivers.  The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported (X link) that Pham was claimed off the Cardinals’ waiver wire after St. Louis designated him for assignment yesterday, and MLB.com’s Anne Rogers (via X) reported that the Royals also claimed Grossman away from the Rangers.  Texas placed Grossman on outright waivers on Thursday.

Because these additions were made before September 1, Pham and Grossman would be eligible for the Royals’ postseason roster if K.C. makes it into the playoff bracket.  Coming off a dismal 106-loss season in 2023, the Royals have already far surpassed last year’s win total by posting a 75-61 record — Kansas City is in possession of the second AL wild card berth, and sit 2.5 games behind the Guardians for first place in the AL Central.

Despite this success, the outfield has been a clear weak link for K.C. for much of the season, and the ranks got even further thinned when Hunter Renfroe was placed on the injured list last week.  Beyond losing Renfroe, the Royals’ lineup took another big hit when Vinnie Pasquantino suffered a broken thumb Thursday and will likely miss the rest of the regular season.

The Royals were one of several teams who had interest in Pham prior to the trade deadline, when Pham was a very obvious trade candidate as a veteran rental on a rebuilding White Sox team.  The Cardinals ended up with Pham and Erick Fedde as part of a three-team trade involving the Dodgers and White Sox at the deadline, as St. Louis was hoping that Pham and right-hander Erick Fedde could boost both the lineup and rotation heading into the playoff stretch.

Unfortunately for Cards Nation, no surge materialized, as the Cardinals have an 11-16 record in August.  Pham himself didn’t provide much help, hitting .206/.286/.368 over 77 plate appearances during his brief stint in a St. Louis uniform.

Since Pham both wanted more playing time and wanted to join a contender, he discussed the possibility of a release with the Cardinals, and that wish has now been fully granted with the move across Missouri to the Royals.  From the Cardinals’ perspective, parting ways with Pham both created more outfield playing time for Jordan Walker, and saved a bit of payroll.  Pham has roughly $480K remaining on his original $3MM salary for the 2024 season, and Kansas City will now foot the rest of that bill.

The switch-hitting Grossman also began his season as a member of the White Sox, but was traded in May back to the Rangers, as Texas was thin on right-handed hitting.  Grossman was a known quantity in Arlington after being a regular for the 2023 World Series team, and he posted similar numbers in his second go-around as a Ranger, batting .238/.336/.362 over 122 PA for Texas this season.

The Rangers’ defense of their title has fallen far short of expectations, and thus the team put both Grossman and fellow outfielder Travis Jankowski on outright waivers to see if another team would clear a few dollars off the Rangers’ books.  Grossman has about $240K remaining of his $1.5MM base salary, so it makes for another inexpensive add for the Royals.

Grossman has continued to mash left-handed pitching and Pham has continued to post solid numbers against southpaws as well, giving Kansas City two new options to work within the lineup.  Either player could slot into Renfroe’s role as a regular right fielder who cedes some at-bats against righties to Adam Frazier, or either Pham or Grossman could spell MJ Melendez (another left-handed bat) in left field.  With the DH spot also up for grabs, it isn’t hard to imagine Pham or Grossman moving into more or less everyday roles, at least until Renfroe is able to return.

The Royals will be the ninth team Pham has suited up with at the MLB level over the course of his 11 big league seasons, while Grossman is joining his eighth team in a 12-year career in the Show.  The duo bring plenty of experience to a young Royals team, and we just need to look back to 2023 to see how Grossman and Pham (after he joined the Diamondbacks) can help out a playoff contender.

With a playoff berth hanging in the balance, general manager J.J. Picollo has now moved aggressively to try and address his team’s lineup needs before the September 1 cutoff date.  Depending on what happens in the pennant race, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Royals make other additions to try and just get into October, even if any newcomers after September 1 wouldn’t be part of any playoff rosters.

Royals To Acquire Yuli Gurriel

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4:49pm: While Gurriel has been on the minor league injured list with the Braves for just over a week now, Romero reports that the veteran is en route to Houston to report to the big league Royals amid their series against the Astros. The Royals did not need to add Gurriel to their 40-man roster upon acquiring him today due to the fact that he was on a minor league deal, but they’ll need to make corresponding moves to add him to the 40-man and active rosters in order to promote him to the majors.

4:19pm: The Royals are acquiring first baseman Yuli Gurriel, according to a report from Francys Romero. Gurriel, 40, has been with the Braves on a minor league contract this year. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Braves are receiving cash considerations in return for Gurriel’s services. Despite the trade deadline having passed last month, Gurriel was still eligible to be traded because he hasn’t played in the major leagues yet this season. The Royals subsequently announced the move.

Gurriel, 40, has played in the majors each of the last eight seasons after coming over following 15 years in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. Most of the veteran’s time in the majors was spent in Houston, for whom he played first base with occasional cameos at second and third. In seven years with the Astros, Gurriel slashed a solid .284/.328/.448 with a wRC+ of 111. That includes an excellent 2021 season with the club where he hit .319 en route to the AL batting title and earned his only career Gold Glove award. After a down 2022 season, Gurriel departed the Astros (who replaced him at first base with an ill-fated contract for Jose Abreu) but found a roster spot in Miami as a part-time first baseman and DH.

The veteran’s time in Miami did not produce the bounceback season he was surely hoping for, as Gurriel slashed just .245/.304/.359 (76 wRC+) with a career-high 13.4% strikeout rate and a career-worst .114 isolated slugging percentage. A second straight difficult season left Gurriel unable to find a roster spot ahead of his age-40 season, leaving him to catch on with Atlanta back in April. With the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett, Gurriel has looked impressive with a .292/.378/.495 slash line with 12 homers, 18 doubles, and a triple in just 333 trips to the plate this year.

Amid injuries around the Braves infield to Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies and that strong performance, the Braves even began to experiment with Gurriel at second and third base as they seemingly toyed with the possibility of a big league call-up for the veteran, though big league deals for Whit Merrifield and Gio Urshela closed the doors to joining the major league club in fairly short order. While Gurriel won’t make the majors with the Braves this year, another door has now opened up for the veteran as he searches for an opening to participate in his ninth major league season. Much like the Braves, the Royals also lost a key piece of their infield mix to injury recently when first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino suffered a broken thumb that Kansas City announced yesterday will sideline him for six to eight weeks.

That leaves a young Royals club that’s surging toward what would be their first playoff appearance since their World Series championship back in 2015 without one of their top hitters, and while the team added veterans Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman to their outfield mix earlier today those moves did little to shore up first base. Gurriel does just that by adding a longtime veteran at the position to the fold, offering them additional depth and a contact-oriented bat at the position down the stretch. The Royals have been relying on a combination of Nick Loftin and veteran backstop Salvador Perez on days where he isn’t behind the plate to take over for Pasquantino since he went on the shelf.

Rockies To Select Ty Blach

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The Rockies have scratched right-hander Cal Quantrill from his start against the Orioles tomorrow due to right triceps inflammation, as noted by several members of the Colorado beat, including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. In his place, the Rockies are expected to start left-hander Ty Blach, whose contract will be selected before tomorrow’s game. It’s not yet clear if Blach will replace another player on the active roster or will be the extra pitcher the club adds when rosters expand to 28 tomorrow. Either way, a corresponding move will be necessary to create room for Blach on the club’s 40-man roster.

Blach, 33, pitched 63 2/3 innings for the Rockies earlier this year, his seventh season in the majors and third consecutive year as a member of the Rockies. Prior to his time with Colorado, Blach was a fifth-round pick by the Giants in the 2012 draft and acted as a swing man for San Francisco from 2016 to 2019 before being traded to Baltimore midway through the 2019 campaign. Blach posted a 4.56 ERA and 4.23 FIP in a Giants uniform but suffered through five disastrous starts with the Orioles that wound up being the last appearances he’d make at the big league level until he resurfaced with the Rockies back in 2022.

During his tenure with the club, Blach has been shuttled between Triple-A and the majors regularly with a cumulative 5.90 ERA and 5.25 FIP in 186 innings of work. It’s been more of the same of those lackluster results this year, as he struggled to a 6.36 ERA with a 5.75 FIP in 18 appearances (including ten starts) before being designated for assignment just before the trade deadline last month. With Quantrill unable to take the ball and potentially ticketed for a stint on the injured list, however, it seems that the Rockies are now left to call upon Blach once again to eat innings for the club down the stretch.

As for Quantrill, it’s not yet entirely clear whether or not the right-hander will require a trip to the shelf, or if the club hopes that merely skipping his turn through the rotation will allow him to return to the mound next time up. Quantrill was a speculative trade target for pitching-needy clubs at the deadline last month due to his solid results (4.09 ERA in 21 starts) and the fact that the Rockies are reportedly uninterested in retaining the right-hander long term, but no deal ultimately came together involving the righty. Perhaps that’s for the best in the eyes of his potential suitors, as Quantrill has posted a brutal 7.23 ERA and 6.64 FIP in five starts since the trade deadline. That brutal stretch has caused his ERA to shoot up to 4.64 while his FIP has ballooned to 5.04, both well below league average figures, though perhaps his current triceps issue provides some level of explanation for the sudden struggles.

Mets To Select Pablo Reyes

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The Mets are poised to select the contract of infielder Pablo Reyes when rosters expand tomorrow, per a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post. A corresponding active roster move won’t be needed due to roster expansion, and the Mets’ 40-man roster already has a spot open to accommodate Reyes after the club designated outfielder Ben Gamel for assignment earlier this month.

Reyes, who will celebrate his 31st birthday on Thursday, began the season as a member of the Red Sox but was designated for assignment and outrighted to the minors after he cleared waivers. Once Reyes had been removed from the 40-man roster, the Mets worked out a deal with Boston to acquire the versatile infielder in a cash deal back in May. Since then, Reyes has been playing for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse with fairly strong results. In 57 games with Syracuse, Reyes has slashed .285/.364/.470 while splitting time between second and third base as well as shortstop.

Impressive as that slash line is, it can hardly be expected that he’ll post anything close to that down the stretch for New York. After all, Reyes has participated in parts of six MLB seasons and sports a career slash line of just .248/.309/.349 in 572 trips to the plate. His best stretch of his career came with the Red Sox last year, when he posted a roughly league average .287/.339/.377 slash line in 185 trips to the plate as a part time player. With that being said, if Reyes can post a slash line around that level while playing strong defense all around the infield, he’ll be a useful addition to a Mets infield mix that currently has only a slumping Jose Iglesias to back up the club’s primary infield of Mark Vientos, Jeff McNeil, and Francisco Lindor.

Reyes won’t be the only player joining the Mets in the aftermath of tomorrow’s roster expansion, as manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including those at SNY) that left-hander Alex Young will be recalled tomorrow to act as the club’s extra pitcher. Young, 31 next week, was claimed off waivers from the Giants back in July and has looked extremely good in nine innings of work at the major league level between the Reds and Mets this year. In that limited sample size, the lefty has a 1.00 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout rate.

While that’s certainly not enough of a sample size to project much off of, it’s worth noting that the lefty also has a strong 2.81 ERA in 31 appearances at the Triple-A level this year and pitched to a 3.36 ERA in 88 appearances in the majors between 2022 and ’23. At the very least, Young figures to offer the Mets another intriguing left-handed option down the stretch in a bullpen that currently only features Danny Young in terms of southpaws.

Padres To Select Elias Diaz

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The Padres are set to select the contract of catcher Elias Diaz tomorrow, according to a report from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Acee writes that Diaz will take the active roster spot created for a position player by tomorrow’s roster expansion, while left-hander Wandy Peralta will be activated from the 15-day Injured List to take the spot created for a pitcher. Lefty Tom Cosgrove will also be recalled from the minor leagues, though a corresponding move will be necessary to add him to the active roster. A corresponding move to make room on the 40-man roster will be necessary to accommodate Diaz.

Diaz, 33, joined the Padres on a minor league deal earlier this week after being released by the Rockies earlier this month. That release brought to an end a five-season stretch in Colorado that saw Diaz slash a solid .253/.305/.403 in 462 games with the club. That slash line was good for a wRC+ of just 80 due to the inflated offensive environment at Coors Field, but even that diminished figure is still well within the acceptable range for a glove-first catcher. Diaz proved to be a solid if unspectacular regular for the club behind the plate, even earning an All-Star appearance last year.

After a solid start to the 2024 campaign, the Rockies reportedly entertained trade offers for Diaz’s services, but the club’s plans to deal the veteran in his final year before free agency were thrown off course when he suffered a calf strain that caused him to miss three weeks in June. After returning, Diaz’s offense took a nosedive with a .194/.239/.239 slash line in 18 games in the run-up to the deadline. That seemingly scared off suitors to the point where the Rockies weren’t able to get a deal done, and it left them to try placing Diaz on waivers in mid-August in an attempt to find a suitor willing to absorb what remained of his salary. His offensive production had only improved marginally when the calendar flipped to August, however, and the club eventually released Diaz to allow him the opportunity to try and catch on with a contender elsewhere.

He’s now done just that with the Padres, and will have the opportunity to share catching duties with the club’s existing tandem of Luis Campusano and Kyle Higashioka down the stretch. Higashioka is in the midst of a career year at the plate with an excellent .230/.276/.520 slash line and 16 homers in just 215 trips to the plate, while Campusano has endured a bit of a down season with a slash line of just .233/.283/.372 in 87 games. Diaz should offer the club a solid defensive option behind the plate who, if he can regain his early season form, could offer an on-base ability that both of their current catchers lack.

As for Peralta, the veteran lefty has pitched to somewhat middling results in the first year of a complex four-year deal he signed with the Padres this winter. In 34 innings, the 32-year-old hurler has posted a 4.50 ERA despite a 5.70 FIP and a strikeout rate of just 13.6%. He’ll join fellow lefties Tanner Scott, Yuki Matsui, and Adrian Morejon in the club’s bullpen down the stretch, where the club will surely hope for Peralta to recapture the form that allowed him to post a 3.01 ERA in 200 appearances with the Giants and Yankees over the past four seasons.

Phillies Activate Jose Alvarado From Restricted List

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9:27pm: The Phillies have announced that they’ve activated Alvarado in the aftermath of tonight’s game against the Braves. Right-hander Yunior Marte was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move, meaning that Philadelphia will still have to add another pitcher to their staff when rosters expand tomorrow. The club’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.

4:14pm: The Phillies bullpen is set to be reinforced as the calendar flips to September, as left-hander Jose Alvarado told reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Athletic) that he will be activated from the restricted list tomorrow. Alvarado noted that he returned to Venezuela to handle a family matter during his absence from the team. No corresponding moves will be necessary to activate Alvarado, as the club’s 40-man roster currently stands at 39 and rosters will expand from 26 to 28 tomorrow.

Alvarado, 29, is in the midst of a down season this year as he’s posted a pedestrian 4.30 ERA with a 4.17 FIP in 52 1/3 innings of work across 56 appearances this year. Prior to this down season, Alvarado’s career had seemingly been on the upswing as he posted back-to-back dominant seasons with the Phillies where he sported a combined 2.53 ERA with an even more impressive 2.14 FIP and struck out 37.6% of opponents. His strikeout rate has plummeted to just 23.3% this year, however, and his groundball rate has similarly suffered. After sitting at an elite 55.1% from 2022-23, the 2024 campaign has seen it dip to a far more middling 45.8% figure.

Disappointing as Alvarado’s season has been across the board, the Phillies are nonetheless surely excited to welcome him back into the fold. After all, the club’s relief corps has fashioned a lackluster 4.57 ERA since the All Star break that’s left them bottom four in the NL over that stretch, and their 4.76 FIP is better than only the lowly Rockies among NL clubs. Even Alvarado’s roughly average numbers from this season would constitute a step forward for the struggling bullpen in Philadelphia, to say nothing of how meaningful a return to form would be for the club as they look to make their third consecutive trip to the NLCS.

Alvarado’s return should be particularly impactful for the club against southpaws. Even amid his lackluster results this year, the lefty has still done quite well against same-handed hitting with a 3.71 ERA and a 3.21 FIP. While his strikeout rate has suffered against hitters from both sides of the plate this year, he still generates grounders as effectively as ever against southpaws with an excellent 55.1% clip against lefty bats this season. That should help to take pressure off the Philly bullpen’s other two lefties, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks, and allow them to be used in more flexible roles by manager Rob Thomson going forward with Alvarado back to face tough pockets of southpaws in the opposing lineup.

Aside from Alvarado’s value as a third lefty for the club’s bullpen, the Phillies are also surely hoping that a return to action over the course of the season’s final month will help Alvarado regain the elite form he flashed the previous two seasons. After all, the lefty is under contract for 2025 with a $9MM team option for the 2026 season, and a return to form next season would likely make exercising that option something of a no-brainer for Philadelphia brass.

Cubs Activate Jordan Wicks From 60-Day IL

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September 1: Chicago has officially announced the activation of Wicks. Infielder Nick Madrigal was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a left pinkie fracture in a corresponding move. Madrigal was optioned to the minors back in June and suffered the fracture during his first game back at Triple-A. He’s been on the minor league IL ever since but has now been transferred to the big league IL in order to clear his spot on the 40-man roster.

August 31: The Cubs are set to activate left-hander Jordan Wicks from the 60-day IL tomorrow, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Megan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) earlier this evening. Wicks is scheduled to take the ball for tomorrow’s start against the Nationals in D.C. in a move that will push back the next start of right-hander Jameson Taillon. An active roster move won’t be necessary to make room for Wicks due to tomorrow’s scheduled roster expansion, but Chicago will still need to clear a spot on their 40-man roster in order to activate Wicks.

The lefty’s return to the majors is something of a birthday present for him, as he’ll turn 25 tomorrow. The youngster was the Cubs’ first-round pick back in 2021 and made his big league debut late last season. Since then, he’s pitched to roughly league average results with solid peripherals. His 4.31 ERA is almost exactly league average (99 ERA+), but his 3.98 FIP paints a somewhat rosier picture. Wicks was off to a strong start in 28 innings of work this year with a 25% strikeout rate against a 7.8% walk rate that left him with an impressive 3.10 FIP and 3.80 SIERA, but the southpaw has struggled to stay healthy this year.

After an elbow scare that proved to be insignificant cost him the month of May, Wicks has now missed two and a half months due to an oblique strain he suffered in mid June. Now that he’s healthy again, the youngster figures to slot back into the club’s rotation on a regular basis down the stretch. While the Cubs still sit on the periphery of the playoff race with a 70-66 record that leaves them four games back of a Wild Card spot, with playoff odds of just 5.4% per Fangraphs it seems likely that the focus for Wicks down the stretch will be establishing himself as a healthy and effective rotation option for the Cubs headed into next season.

Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga are poised to return next season as a strong top-of-the-rotation duo, while Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad figure to continue holding down the middle of the club’s rotation after solid seasons of their own. Franchise icon and 11-year MLB veteran Kyle Hendricks appears all but certain not to return in 2025, however, as the pending free agent has struggled to a ghastly 6.75 ERA in 102 2/3 innings of work this year. That leaves regular starts available in the club’s rotation next year that a number of young arms could look to capitalize on, including Wicks, right-hander Ben Brown, and top pitching prospect Cade Horton.

In the short term, however, the Cubs will have to decide how they want to set up their rotation for the stretch run this September. With Wicks back and Steele, Imanaga, Taillon, Assad, and Hendricks all healthy, they club could opt for a six man rotation or once again demote Hendricks to the bullpen. While the former would offer the club the opportunity to manage Imanaga’s innings as he continues his transition from NPB play to the majors, the latter is the route they took when they faced a rotation crunch back in May, when Hendricks was sporting a brutal 10.57 ERA through seven starts.

The soft-tossing righty’s 5.62 ERA in 12 starts since returning to the rotation has been an improvement over that aforementioned eye-popping figure, it’s still well below average, and given that reality it would hardly be a surprise if the Cubs moved him back to the multi-inning relief role that saw him post a solid 3.08 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 14 1/3 innings earlier this year. That’s particularly true given the fact that Imanaga has thrown just 146 2/3 innings so far this year, a figure that’s a good bit lower than the 170 frames that represents his career high during his time in Japan.

Cardinals To Activate Steven Matz From 60-Day IL Tomorrow

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The Cardinals are poised to activate left-hander Steven Matz from the 60-day Injured List tomorrow, manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) earlier today. A corresponding 40-man roster move won’t be necessary after the club’s recent losses of outfielder Tommy Pham and right-hander Shawn Armstrong on the waiver wire opened up 40-man space, and tomorrow’s roster expansion means a corresponding active roster move also won’t be necessary.

Matz’s return to action after a four-month layoff due to back issues that were aggravated further by a setback during his first comeback attempt back in June. He’s now made six outings at the Triple-A level this month without any further setbacks, however, and has pitched to decent results with a 4.29 ERA and 18.9% strikeout rate in that time. Now, Matz appears ready to step back into the Cardinals’ pitching staff, though it’s not entirely clear yet whether he’ll do so as a starter or a reliever.

The 33-year-old southpaw has experience in both roles but has mostly been a starter throughout his career, including in his six starts early in the year before being sidelined by injury. He’s maxed out at 85 pitches in the minors to this point, suggesting he’s stretched out enough to take a role in the rotation, but the club’s rotation is already full at this point with Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante, Miles Mikolas, and Kyle Gibson all currently pitching as starters. Pallante has pitched in relief before and is the least experienced of the group, but he’s arguably been the club’s best starter since the All-Star break with a 3.29 ERA and 3.34 FIP in his past seven starts.

If the club wants to use both Matz and Pallante in the rotation, other possibilities include moving to a six man rotation or moving Mikolas, who has struggled to a 6.12 ERA over his last eight starts, into a bullpen role. Of course, the impending return of veteran righty Lance Lynn from the injured list figures to further complicate St. Louis’s rotation picture, giving them plenty of options to sort through in the coming days.

Matz won’t be the only player joining the Cardinals’ roster tomorrow, as they’ll need to add another position player to their mix when rosters expand as well. That player could be center fielder Michael Siani, who Jones describes as a “strong candidate” to be activated tomorrow. The 25-year-old has been shelved due to an oblique strain for almost the entire month of July but is currently in the midst of a rehab assignment and appears to be on the verge of returning. The game where Siani was injured brought to a close a 12-game hitting streak during which he raked to the tune of a .432/.488/.460 slash line while playing his typical elite defense in center and going 4-for-4 on the basepaths.

That sort of electric play has been sorely missed by the Cardinals in recent weeks, as they’ve put together a lackluster 11-14 record in his absence while relying on Victor Scott II to cover center field. Scott has been decent enough at the plate since returning to the majors for the first time since his disappointing cup of coffee to open the season, but his .243/.274/.400 (86 wRC+) slash line in August hasn’t compared to the fantastic stretch Siani was in the midst of prior to his injury.

Dodgers Select Brent Honeywell

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The Dodgers have selected the contract of right-hander Brent Honeywell, according to a team announcement. Honeywell will take the active roster spot of right-hander Joe Kelly, who the club has placed on the 15-day Injured List due to right shoulder inflammation. A corresponding 40-man roster move was not needed to accommodate Honeywell, who will take the spot vacated by veteran outfielder Jason Heyward last week. The Dodgers have also officially announced the placement of veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw on the IL that was reported earlier this evening.

Honeywell, 29, returns to the big league Dodgers for a second stint after being designated for assignment by the club just two weeks ago. Once a consensus top-15 prospect in the sport with the Rays, Honeywell has faced a number of injury-related struggles throughout his career that caused him to miss three full seasons of action from 2018 to 2020 before being limited to just 103 1/3 innings of work across the 2021 and ’22 seasons.

Those long layoffs cost him several key years of development and robbed him of his ability to start, but he re-emerged as a big league reliever with the Padres last season. He posted decent middle relief numbers in San Diego before being squeezed off the roster and ending up with the White Sox, with whom he was shelled for seven runs in 5 2/3 innings down the stretch. That disastrous end to 2023 cost Honeywell his roster spot in Chicago, but he managed to find a minor league deal with the Pirates over the winter and made his way to the majors in July.

In 23 2/3 innings of work with the Pirates and Dodgers this season, Honeywell has posted strong results despite lackluster peripherals. His 2.28 ERA is nothing short of excellent, but the fact that he’s managing to prevent runs to that degree despite a microscopic 13.8% strikeout rate appears likely to be unsustainable, particularly if his whopping 89.6% strand rate regresses to a more typical figure. Even so, Honeywell figures to be as solid a bet as any to eat innings in a beleaguered Dodgers bullpen that was forced to use seven relievers after Kershaw departed in the second inning of last night’s game due to injury.

Honeywell will be taking the roster spot of one of those seven relievers, as Kelly is headed to the IL with a bout of shoulder inflammation. The 38-year-old hurler has been struggling mightily for the past month as he’s posted a 7.71 ERA with a paltry 18.2% strikeout rate and a hefty 13.6% walk rate. Last night’s outing was particularly difficult for the veteran as he surrendered two runs on three hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings of work while striking out just one and hitting two batters.

Kelly’s brutal results over the past month have caused his season numbers to go from solid to well below average, as he entered August with a 3.93 ERA and a sterling 2.41 FIP. Those numbers now sit at 5.20 and 4.83, respectively. It’s unclear how long Kelly is expected to be out of action, but with just a month left in the regular season it’s possible the right-hander won’t be healthy enough to return before then. Kelly could hypothetically return at some point in the postseason even if he isn’t able to make it back before the end of the regular season, though given his deep struggles of late it’s unclear how strongly he would factor into L.A.’s postseason plans even if healthy.

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