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Royals Select Evan Sisk

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The Royals announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Evan Sisk. He was set to become a minor league free agent but the Royals will keep him in the organization by giving him a 40-man spot.

Sisk, 28 in April, was drafted by the Cardinals back in 2018. The 16th-rounder has since been a part of two notable trades. He went to the Twins as part of the July 2021 deal that sent J.A. Happ to the Cardinals and then to the Royals as part of the January 2023 trade that sent Michael A. Taylor to Minnesota.

A sidearming lefty, Sisk’s minor league career has thus far been defined by decent numbers of strikeouts and grounders but also a high number of walks. Over the past four years, he has thrown 234 1/3 innings, allowing 3.34 earned runs per nine. He has walked 12.6% of batters faced in that time but also punched out 27.9% of them while getting grounders about half the time that batters do put the ball in play.

Despite the apparent control issues, the Royals are intrigued by the overall package. Players with seven years in the minors, including 2020, are eligible for minor league free agency. The Royals clearly didn’t want that to happen, so they’ve added Sisk to their roster and into their relief mix.

Cardinals Claim Roddery Muñoz

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The Cardinals announced that they have claimed right-hander Roddery Muñoz from the Marlins. The Fish evidently put him on waivers in recent days with St. Louis grabbing him off the wire.

Muñoz, 24, just made his major league debut with the Marlins this year. As they suffered a large number of injuries to their rotation, they had to reach into their depth, with Muñoz getting a shot in the big leagues.

The numbers weren’t especially impressive, as Muñoz posted a 6.53 earned run average in 82 2/3 innings this year. His 18.5% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 34% ground ball rate were all below league average.

Despite the uninspiring debut, Muñoz has a bit of prospect pedigree and some decent minor league results. Since the start of 2021, he has struck out 24.3% of batters faced on the farm. His 11.4% walk rate in that time was high and his 5.18 ERA unimpressive. However, a low strand rate of 64.8% could be a factor there, leading his 4.83 FIP to be a bit more palatable.

The Cardinals are set to engage in a reset year where they cut payroll and overhaul their player development apparatus. They just declined club options on Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. They could look into trading pricey vets Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas or Steven Matz this winter.

Those moves could be accompanied by others that bring in younger, cheaper and more affordable arms, but going with less-proven guys could mean depth arms become more important. Claiming Muñoz is the first of what could be many transactions that impact their rotation picture this winter.

Athletics Outright Kyle Muller, Tyler Nevin

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The Athletics announced that left-hander Kyle Muller and infielder Tyler Nevin have each been passed through waivers unclaimed and outrighted off the 40-man roster.

Muller, 27, was a second-round pick of Atlanta and a notable prospect with that club. He came to the A’s in the December 2022 trade that sent catcher Sean Murphy the other way.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t done much to impress the A’s since coming over. He has tossed 126 1/3 innings as an Athletic over the past two years, allowing 6.20 earned runs per nine. His 8.5% walk rate and 42.5% ground ball rate are both around average but his 16% strikeout rate is well below par. He also has a 6.48 ERA in the minors since the start of 2023.

He exhausted his final option year in 2023 and was out of options in 2024. The A’s outrighted him off the roster midseason, with Muller clearing waivers and sticking in the organization. He was selected back to the roster but has now been waived once again.

Since this is his second career outright, he has the right to elect free agency. If he does so, it will be another development in making the Murphy trade look quite poor in hindsight. Royber Salinas, another player in that deal, was claimed back by Atlanta just today. Freddy Tarnok and Manny Piña departed the organization long ago. That leaves Esteury Ruiz as the only of the five players they received that’s still with the club. He is a big base stealer but has hit just .243/.297/.343 in his big league career thus far.

Nevin, 27, has bounced around the league and is settling in as a Quad-A type. He has continued to put up strong numbers in Triple-A but has flailed in the majors. At this point, he has a .204/.299/.315 batting line and 81 wRC+ in his big league career but a .313/.391/.536 line and 135 wRC+ at Triple-A over the past three years.

He exhausted his final option year in 2023 and has since bounced around. Since the start of 2024, he went from the Tigers to the Orioles and then the A’s. He was outrighted by Oakland midseason and added back to the roster. Since this is his second career outright, he has the right to elect free agency.

Marlins Claim Christian Roa

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The Marlins announced that they have claimed right-hander Christian Roa off waivers from the Reds. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com relayed the claim on X prior to the official announcement. The Fish also announced that right-handers Shaun Anderson, Darren McCaughan and Adam Oller as well as infielder/outfielder David Hensley have been outrighted to Triple-A Jacksonville. Oller is expected to elect free agency and pursue opportunities in Asia, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X.

Roa, 25, was on Cincinnati’s 60-day injured list but the IL goes away five days after the World Series. Rather than reinstating him to the 40-man roster, the Reds evidently tried to pass him through waivers but the Marlins grabbed him.

The righty was a second-round pick of the Reds and has been a notable prospect in the club’s system since then. He has racked up a fair number of strikeouts as a minor leaguer but also given out a large number of walks. He has thrown 318 2/3 innings in his minor league career with a 4.46 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate.

He was added to Cincinnati’s 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He spent this year pitching in Triple-A with a 5.55 ERA. His walk rate was still high at 13.5% and his strikeouts dropped to a rate of 21.2%. In August, the Reds recalled him to the majors and added him to their 60-day IL with a right shoulder sprain in order to open up a 40-man roster spot.

The Marlins will take a shot on him and see if they can help him rein in that control a bit. Roa still has two more option seasons and less than a year of service time. For a rebuilding club like the Marlins, they can take their time and see if the Roa project can bear some fruit for them down the line.

The four outrighted players were all fairly recent additions to the Miami roster. The club suffered a high number of injuries in 2024 and was often grabbing players from everywhere in order to keep the roster filled as they played out the string on the campaign.

Anderson was designated for assignment by the Rangers at the end of May and got flipped to the Marlins for cash. He posted an 8.27 ERA in 16 1/3 innings for the Fish after that. McCaughan was claimed off waivers from the Guardians in July and went on to throw 36 innings for Miami with a 5.75 ERA. Oller signed a minor league deal with the club in July, later having his contract selected to throw 42 1/3 innings with a 5.31 ERA. Hensley was claimed off waivers from the Astros at the end of July and then hit .212/.293/.288 in 23 games as a Marlin.

The three pitchers have previous career outrights and therefore have the right to elect free agency. This is Hensley’s first outright but she should have the right to elect minor league free agency as a player with seven years on the farm.

Ty France Elects Free Agency

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The Reds announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably revealing that first baseman Ty France cleared waivers and elected free agency. He would’ve been arbitration-eligible and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.6MM in his final season of club control. Today’s outright and subsequent free agency election is effectively an early non-tender.

Cincinnati also passed catcher Austin Wynns, righty Tejay Antone and outfielder Nick Martini through waivers unclaimed. Like France, Wynns and Martini opted for free agency. Antone accepted an outright assignment and will remain with the club and continue mending from the third elbow surgery of his career.

France, 30, was an offensive force for his first three years with the Mariners from 2020-22, hitting a combined .285/.355/.443 with 42 homers, 68 doubles and three triples in 1418 plate appearances. He rarely struck out (16.7%), hit plenty of line drives and, after spending much of his minor league career playing other positions, worked his way into becoming an above-average defender at first base.

The 2023 season was a step back in all regards. France’s batting line slipped to .250/.337/.366 — still respectable but nowhere near his prior levels, particularly in the power department. His production dwindled further this year, and the Mariners designated him for assignment after he mustered only a .223/.312/.350 line in 88 games. The Reds swung a trade to acquire France in hope that a change of scenery would improve his output. France’s rate stats modestly improved, but not to the extent that one might hope when going from the league’s most pitcher-friendly stadium in Seattle to its most homer-happy park in Cincinnati. He finished the year at .234/.305/.365 between the two clubs.

France will now head to the free-agent market for the first time but do so coming off a sub-optimal platform spanning two years of struggles. He’ll likely be limited to one-year offers and guarantees well shy of the $8.6MM he’d been projected to earn in arbitration.

Wynns, 33, is the consummate journeyman backup catcher. He’s a career .230/.277/.332 hitter in 673 plate appearances split among five big league teams. He’s been with six different organization since the Orioles selected him in the tenth round of the 2013 draft. Wynns is regarded as a sound defender but has never provided much from an offensive standpoint.

Martini, 34, cracked the Reds’ Opening Day roster and belted a pair of homers in their first game of the season. It was downhill from there, however. He hit just .204/.266/.324 over his next 159 plate appearances before suffering a sprained thumb that ended his season in early July. Martini is a career .294/.399/.454 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A seasons and a .252/.336/.400 hitter in 575 big league plate appearances.

Braves Claim Royber Salinas

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The Braves announced that they have claimed right-hander Royber Salinas off waivers from the Athletics. The A’s evidently tried to clear a roster spot by passing him through waivers but Atlanta swooped in to grab him.

Salinas, 24 in April, now returns to his original organization. An international signing of Atlanta out of Venezuela, he posted some intriguing results in the lower levels of the club’s system before getting flipped to the A’s as part of the December 2022 trade that sent catcher Sean Murphy to Atlanta.

At the time of that deal, Salinas had just wrapped up a 2022 season that he finished with 109 minor league innings between Single-A and High-A, allowing 3.55 earned runs per nine. His 37.6% strikeout rate was quite strong but he also gave out walks at a high rate of 13.5%.

In 2023, he threw 71 2/3 innings on the farm with a 5.40 ERA. His walk rate improved to 10.2% but his strikeout rate fell to 30.2%. There was surely a bit of bad luck in there, as his 59.7% strand rate was on the unfortunate side and his 4.19 FIP was far better than his ERA.

He was added to the 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He made ten starts this year between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.60 ERA and 25.3% strikeout rate but a big walk rate of 17.2%.

His last start of the year was at the end of May. In July, Martín Gallegos of MLB.com relayed on X that Salinas had undergone season-ending shoulder surgery.

It’s unclear how long it will take the righty to get healthy in the wake of that procedure but Atlanta gets to reunite with a prospect they once signed and are plenty familiar with. Whenever he gets back on the mound, he’ll give the club some optionable rotation depth.

For the A’s, the Murphy trade continues to look like a big whiff for them. Of the five players they received in return, they have already parted ways with Salinas, Freddy Tarnok and Manny Piña. They still have Kyle Muller and Esteury Ruiz but neither inspires much confidence at the moment. Muller is out of options and has a 5.90 ERA while Ruiz is a threat on the bases but has subpar offense thus far.

Mariners Decline Option On Jorge Polanco; Luis Urias Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners on Friday declined their $12MM club option on second baseman Jorge Polanco, per a team announcement. He’ll be paid a $750K buyout and become a free agent. The M’s also announced that infielder Luis Urias went unclaimed on outright waivers and elected free agency. Their 40-man roster is currently at 36 players.

Seattle acquired the switch-hitting Polanco from the Twins last offseason in a trade sending reliever Justin Topa, veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani, prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen, and cash back to Minnesota. The hope at the time was that the steady Polanco  would solidify what had been a revolving door at second base for two seasons in Seattle. Instead, Polanco became the latest notable veteran to arrive in Seattle and see his offensive production unexpectedly decline in swift fashion.

Polanco hit .270/.338/.455 in nearly 2700 plate appearances with the Twins from 2018-23, only once posting below-average offense in a season (2020). He’d incurred some injury troubles in the two years immediately preceding the swap but was entering his age-30 season. There was little reason to expect a steep decline at the plate, but that’s exactly what played out. Polanco, a 2019 All-Star, got out to an awful .197/.285/.298 slash through the first three months of the season. He picked up the pace considerably in July, but by that point there was little salvaging his season. He wound up with career-lows in batting average (.213) and on-base percentage (.298). His .355 slugging percentage was exactly one point higher than his career-worst .354 from that shortened 2020 season.

The career-worst showing at the plate for Polanco was at least in part due to knee troubles. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported a couple weeks back that Polanco was slated to undergo surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee. That’s the same knee that landed Polanco on the injured list for the final month of the 2022 season and for the first three weeks of the 2023 campaign. Depending on the extent to which the injury has been nagging him, it’s certainly possible that a healthier Polanco could return to form in short order next season. It’s not yet clear exactly how long he’ll need to recover, but if Polanco is expected back on time for Opening Day 2025, he ought to command a one-year deal with incentives this offseason.

As for Urias, this is the second time the Mariners passed him through waivers. He accepted an outright assignment last time around, as electing free agency following his midseason outright would’ve required forfeiting the remainder of his salary. He’s no longer on a guaranteed deal, however, and was arbitration-eligible — with a projected $5MM salary (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz). The M’s were never likely to pay that price a second time, leaving Urias as one of the more clear-cut non-tender candidates in the league. Today’s outright is tantamount to non-tendering him a couple weeks ahead of the deadline to do so.

Urias, 27, was one of the top prospects in baseball during his minor league days with the Padres. He had a pair of solid seasons following a trade to the Brewers, hitting a combined .244/.340/.426 in 2021-22. However, Urias’ production tanked with a .194/.337/.299 slash in 2023, and he wasn’t able to get back on track in 2024, hitting only .191/.303/.394. He’s capable of playing multiple infield spots but is better suited at second and third base than at shortstop. A team seeking a right-handed utility infielder could look to Urias on a minor league deal or perhaps a low-cost one-year pact with some incentives baked in.

White Sox Decline Option On Max Stassi

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve declined their $7.5MM club option on catcher Max Stassi. He’ll receive a $500K buyout and become a free agent. Chicago also formally announced that infielder Yoan Moncada’s $25MM club option was declined in favor of a $5MM buyout, as was reported yesterday. Both decisions were obvious long before the season ended.

Stassi, 33, never played a game for the White Sox and hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2022. He was acquired last offseason as part of a convoluted series of trades made by the Braves in their pursuit of effectively purchasing Jarred Kelenic from the Mariners. Atlanta acquired Kelenic, Evan White and Marco Gonzales from the Mariners, then flipped White’s contract to the Angels in exchange for Stassi and David Fletcher. Gonzales was traded to Pittsburgh, with the Braves footing most of the bill. Stassi was subsequently traded to Chicago for cash or a player to be named later, with Atlanta taking on nearly all of Stassi’s salary as well.

The ChiSox hoped Stassi would come to camp and pair with free-agent pickup Martin Maldonado, but he landed on the injured list during spring training due to inflammation in his hip. It was the second season in which Stassi had dealt with an injury in his left hip, and this time around it required season-ending surgery.

Stassi last appeared in a big league game in October 2022 with the Angels. He missed all of the 2023 season due to that hip injury and, far more importantly, to tend to a dire family matter. Stassi was absent from the Angels due to what was at the time an unknown personal matter and later shared that his son, Jackson, had been born more than three months premature. He understandably took the entire season to be with his wife and son, spending the bulk of the time in the NICU with his wife, Gaby. The couple opened up about their harrowing experience earlier this year in an interview with The Athletic’s Sam Blum. Thankfully, Jackson defied the odds and was eventually able to head home with his family after more than six months in the hospital.

Stassi’s story is one that puts any baseball angle into proper perspective. The game is a distant second to such a traumatizing family ordeal, but Stassi did speak optimistically to Blum about the possibility of his son someday seeing him take the field at a big league game. He reported to spring training with the White Sox this past season intent on playing before his hip injury intervened. There’s no indication he’s planning anything other than a return to his playing career, though any such opportunity will likely come on a minor league deal.

Such a pact should be there for Stassi, health permitting. He’s still just 33 years old, and from 2020-21 he gave the Halos 118 games and 424 plate appearances with a .250/.333/.452 batting line. Stassi ripped 20 homers in that time and provided standout defense behind the plate, as has long been his calling card. Teams in need of a veteran backup or a depth option to push a younger, inexperienced backstop could give him a look this winter.

Rhys Hoskins Exercises Player Option With Brewers

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First baseman/designated hitter Rhys Hoskins has triggered his player option for 2025. He’ll return to the Brewers next year on an $18MM salary instead of taking the $4MM buyout. The deal also has an $18MM mutual option for 2026 with another $4MM buyout. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com was among those to relay the news on X.

Hoskins, 32 in March, signed a two-year deal that guaranteed him $34MM last offseason. That contract, which came in the wake of a season lost to a torn ACL, allowed him to opt out after year one. The hope at the time, for all parties, was that Hoskins would return to form following that season-ending injury, giving the Brewers one year of middle-of-the-order production before marketing himself ahead of a more lucrative long-term deal. It didn’t play out that way, however, and Hoskins will now head back to Milwaukee in hopes of bolstering his output at the plate.

The 2024 season wasn’t necessarily a “bad” one for Hoskins, who still swatted 26 round-trippers and knocked in 82 runs. But Hoskins’ .214/.303/.419 slash was a far cry from the .242/.353/.492 slash he posted from 2017-22 with the Phillies. By measure of wRC+, Hoskins was 26% better than average at the plate during his time with the Phils. In Milwaukee, his offense clocked in two percent shy of average. For a defensively limited first baseman whose value is derived primarily from his bat, that understandably wasn’t a strong enough platform for Hoskins and agent Scott Boras to again test the market.

Hoskins’ season wasn’t without its positives. He actually got out to a nice start and hit quite well in the month of September as well. The interim three months, however, were engulfed by a prodigious slump. As of May 31, Hoskins was touting a .239/.342/.471 batting line that was generally in line with his career norms (129 wRC+). He hit .234/.355/.469 in his final 77 plate appearances in September as well. Those solid months bookended a disastrous summer that saw the longtime Phillies masher flail away at a a .198/.270/.383 pace, however.

If Hoskins is able to more consistently produce at his April/May/September levels in 2025, there’s still hope of landing another notable contract for him in free agency next offseason. While his strikeout rate spiked to a career-worst 28.8%, there were other encouraging signs in 2024. His 10.3% walk rate was lower than his excellent early-career levels but was right in line with his 2021-22 marks. His 41.9% hard-hit rate was a near-mirror image of his 42% career mark, and last year’s 12.7% barrel rate was higher than the 11.7% rate he carried into the year. He’ll aim to build upon those trends while cutting back on his mounting strikeout rate in the middle of Milwaukee’s lineup.

For the Brewers, this should come as no surprise. Hoskins wasn’t likely to top the net $14MM from which he’d be walking away on the open market. It’s still not an ideal allocation of their limited resources, however, so it’s at least feasible that Milwaukee looks for a trade partner over the winter. More likely, however, are trades of other veterans on notable salaries — Devin Williams (a free agent next winter) chief among them. As it stands, the Brewers’ projected 2025 payroll (including arbitration projections and the obvious decisions to exercise options on Freddy Peralta and Colin Rea) will already clock in higher than their 2024 payroll. There’ll be some wheeling-and-dealing by the Milwaukee front office, as is the case every offseason.

Angels Acquire Scott Kingery From Phillies

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The Angels have acquired infielder Scott Kingery from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. Kingery wasn’t on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster and won’t need to take a spot with the Angels.

Kingery, 31 in April, was once a highly-touted prospect. The Phils had enough confidence in his future that they signed him to a long-term extension before he had even made his major league debut. In March of 2018, the Phils gave Kingery a $24MM guarantee covering the 2018-2023 seasons, with three club options as well.

Unfortunately, Kingery wasn’t able to live up to his prospect billing or that contract. He can steal a few bases and and play defense all over the diamond but he simply hasn’t hit enough to be a useful big leaguer. He currently has a batting line of just .229/.280/.387 in 1,127 plate appearances in the majors.

The Phils outrighted him off their roster in both 2021 and 2022, with no club willing to grab the remainder of the contract off waivers. He had surpassed three years of service time and had the right to elect free agency instead of accepting those outright assignments. However, since he was under the five-year service mark, walking away would have involved leaving the remainder of his contract on the table. Naturally, he reported to the minors and continued playing out the rest of his deal. The Phils turned down his ’24 club option but he stayed in the organization at that point as well.

Though the contract was a bust, Kingery just wrapped up a solid season in the minors. He took 505 plate appearances for the IronPigs and hit 25 home runs. The offensive environment in the International League was quite strong this year, so his robust line of .268/.316/.488 was only marginally above league average, translating to a wRC+ of 104.

Kingery stole 25 bases and continued bouncing around the diamond this year, playing second base, shortstop and center field. He has past experience at third base and in the outfield corners.

With those traits, he could perhaps be a useful player even with some semi-competent offense. He hasn’t been able to do that in his major league career so far but it’s a low-risk move for the Angels as Kingery isn’t even taking up a roster spot for now.

The Angels have a few question marks in their position player mix. Luis Rengifo projects as the top second base option but his 2024 was ended by wrist surgery. Even if he comes back healthy, he might need to bounce to other positions. Third baseman Anthony Rendon has been extremely injury-prone in recent years and Rengifo has often had to cover the hot corner. Mike Trout has also missed significant time in center field recently and might get moved to a corner or into the designated hitter spot with more frequency going forward.

Kingery can give them some extra minor league depth all over the diamond. He will try to earn a roster spot and the opportunity for a post-hype breakout.

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