The frenzy of moves before the trade deadline always has ripple effects of players being nudged out of their roster spots. 15 players were designated for assignment on deadline day and several in the days leading up to it as well. That has led to many recent waiver claims, with the Marlins claiming seven different players in the past two weeks. But they can’t claim them all, so here’s a round-up of some guys who passed through unclaimed recently.
As a reminder, players can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have a previous career outright or at least three years of major league service time. Players need at least five years of service to both elect free agency and keep their salary intact.
- The Diamondbacks released Miguel Castro, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. The righty signed with the Snakes heading into 2023 on a one-year deal with a vesting option for 2024. He reached 60 appearances last year and locked in a $5MM salary for himself in 2024. Unfortunately, his results have tailed off as he has a 5.93 ERA this year. That has come in just 11 appearances as he missed close to three months with a shoulder strain. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and keep all of his money. Another club could now sign him and pay him just the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster with that amount subtracted from what Arizona pays. He has a career 4.20 ERA in 419 appearances with the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles, Mets, Yankees and Diamondbacks.
- The Pirates sent Ryder Ryan outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. This is his second career outright and he therefore has the right to elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so. The righty has an ERA of 5.00 in his 18 major league innings. He has thrown 27 1/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.61 ERA, 15.5% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 48.8% ground ball rate.
- The Mets sent catcher Logan Porter outright to Triple-A Syracuse, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. It’s his first career outright and he has just a few days of service time, so he’ll have to accept the assignment. The backstop was signed just a couple of weeks prior to the deadline after opting out of his minor league deal with the Giants, which had been acquired from the Royals. He was hitting .319/.428/.575 for the Royals’ Triple-A club before the Giants acquired him, but then his results tapered off. The Mets were still intrigued enough to give him a 40-man spot but the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.
- The Dodgers sent left-hander Nick Ramirez outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has previous career outrights and therefore has the right to elect free agency. Acquired from the Yankees in early April, he spent most of the year on optional assignment. He logged 11 1/3 big league innings over seven appearances with a 6.35 ERA. In his 23 Triple-A innings since the trade, he had a 2.35 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, 3.3% walk rate and 54.5% ground ball rate.
- The Braves have sent right-hander Darius Vines outright to Double-A Mississippi, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. This is his first career outright and he doesn’t have the necessary service time to elect free agency. He has a 5.82 ERA in 34 big league innings between last year and this year. His 2024 output at Triple-A includes 77 innings over 14 starts with a 5.14 ERA, 16.6% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 40.3% ground ball rate.
- The Cardinals sent right-hander Jacob Bosiokovic outright to Triple-A Memphis, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty had his contract selected at the end of June, his first time added to a big league roster, but was optioned a few days later without getting into a game. That means this is his first outright and he doesn’t have the necessary service time to elect free agency. He has 43 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year with a 4.15 ERA, 28.9% strikeout rate, 13.4% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate.
What happened to Vines?….he had that great outing at Coors field last season and then pretty much crickets after that. Seems AA and other powers at be are slowly wearing down our starting pitching at both levels arm by arm sheesh.
The Braves are finished this year. Losing is a disease as catching as syphilis.
Snitker and the Braves front office happened. They only bring him up for one start a month, and a few relief appearances. No way to get anything rolling like that. I hate the way they use these young pitchers. Destroying confidence by being sent down after a single rough outing, which then causes them to try to over-pitch in future starts and I think it contributes to more bad outings and possibly blown up arms.
Vines splits
– as starter – 3.74 ERA
– as reliever – 9.49 ERA
Some other things I have noticed in those relief games are that he does not have relief pitcher stuff. He is not going to overpower most hitters. He is a pitch to contact guy and I believe those pitchers tend to have better stats early in games as hitters are a little juiced up and haven’t settled down yet. I am not talking about turns through the order, but just early game situations. For later innings when the hitters have had some cuts and are into the game and focused, those control/pitch to contact guys tend to put up worse numbers than power pitchers. It’s probably the reason so many relievers these days are throwers and not pitchers.
I am not trying to say Vines is a great prospect or future this or that, but I just do not like the Braves are using these guys. Same goes for Dodd, Shuster before he got traded, AJSS, and even Winans. I just have to wonder how Glavine, Smoltz or Maddux careers would have turned out had they been constantly benched/sent down after a single bad outing.
Heck, even Schwellenbach had a rough first couple of starts, but due to all the inuries the Braves pretty much had to keep running him out there (like Anderson and Elder in years past), and they all figured it out at some point. Then the next year hit and the Braves started the ‘you were great last year, but after a handful of starts we think you suck now so, bye ,, nonsense.
I agree, they’re yoyo-ing these pitchers around and it’s not working or getting guys hurt both physically and mentally. The Braves FO absolute refusal to sign any Free Agents or Trade deadline acquisitions of substance is not only putting stress on the MLB staff but also the MiLB staff. Plenty of above average starters could’ve been had for relatively cheap to eat innings and/or allow younger guys more time to develop…..It’s going to be interesting this off season seeing them justify sitting on their hands with Fried, Morton gone, a rehabbing Strider, a brittle Sale and a ‘let’s see if he can repeat it’ Lopez heading into 2025.
Logan Porter not only got a 40 man spot from the NYM when SFG didn’t add him to their 40 man, they gave Porter an MLB contract, at least that was MLBTR’s reporting at the time.
If he does have a MLB contract while in the minors what exactly does that mean? I presume it does mean he’s accruing service time, odd though a player can be on an MLB deal but not on the 40 man?
Porter is owed the [prorated?] portion of the league minimum. He’ll get that in the Minors. No service time though.