The Guardians announced some roster moves this afternoon, including the news that right-hander James Karinchak was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and then outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster. Karinchak was granted free agency, so the 29-year-old righty will now hit the open market.
The hard-throwing Karinchak burst onto the scene with a sixth-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2020, posting a 2.67 ERA over 27 innings while striking out an exceptional 48.6% of all batters faced. A 14.7% walk rate was attached to all those missed bats, however, which ended up being a constant over Karinchak’s time in the majors. Over parts of five seasons with Cleveland, Karinchak had a 36.3K% and 14.1% walk rate in 165 2/3 innings, with a 3.10 ERA.
While the bottom-line results were still okay, Karinchak’s performance diminished after the league’s crackdown on illegal substances in 2021, and continued control problems and injuries made him something of an afterthought for the Guardians. A teres major muscle strain cost him a big chunk of the 2022 season, he was shuttled back and forth from Triple-A multiple times in 2023, and he was limited to just 6 2/3 Triple-A innings in 2024 due to a shoulder injury suffered during Spring Training.
Karinchak was projected to earn $1.9MM in the arbitration process, so today’s transaction is essentially just an early non-tender. Karinchak is still arb-controlled through 2026 and he has one minor league option year remaining, so any interested teams could stash him in Triple-A to see if he can stay healthy or harness his control. The obvious strikeout potential will surely land Karinchak a minors deal somewhere, and a change of scenery could help him get his career back on track.
What team culture would he fit best in? He’s somewhat Pete Fairbanks-ian style wise.
Fit best? Idk, but I’d take Karinchak on my Pads 100%
Shatkins loves reclaiming Guarindians pitchers.
Bryant University Bulldogs legend… would be a great buy-low for my O’s
Angry passion=red sox?
Some team [the Giants?] will definitely pick him up and see if they can fix the control issues.
Mets should give him a shot. They gave Fuji $3 mil last year and Karinchak is much better
Mariners should throw an offer to try and fix him like they did Sewald, Steck & co. BP is a sneaky need for the M’s
He’s pretty twitchy on the mound, iirc
He has all the tools, but the guy is a head case, and for that reason CLE is out. Rockies may want to add him to their pen since they had success with Daniel Bard.
Mariners are another pitching clinic, they’d probably kick the tires on him. Hoyer might pick him up for the Cubs, he wouldn’t be expensive…
No worse a headcase than Josh Naylor.
A lot worse than headcase Josh Naylor
This is a guy worth taking a chance on.
Brewers
This is crazy to me. Only from the perspective that I never thought he would be in this position. Dude was nails for quite some time.
Any team would be lucky to sign this guy
I wish home good luck. He is truly the Ebby Calvin Nuke Laloosh of MLB. Maybe he needs an “Annie” to set him straight and get him under control.
I think StL should pick him up. Good buy low arm with upside. Could be a valuable bullpen piece.
He’s got Matt Blake written all over him… a reliever with options for Cashman to rotate to and from minors. . And Cole can show him how to adjust without spider tack… too good to be true.