34 Players Elect Free Agency
As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.
Catchers
- Alex Jackson (Rays)
- Andrew Knapp (Giants)
- Andrew Knizner (D-Backs)
- Reese McGuire (Red Sox)
- Jakson Reetz (Giants)
- Ali Sánchez (Marlins)
- Brian Serven (Blue Jays)
Infielders
- Diego Castillo (Twins)
- José Devers (Marlins)
- Thairo Estrada (Giants)
- Danny Mendick (White Sox)
- Cole Tucker (Angels)
- Jason Vosler (Mariners)
Outfielders
- Billy McKinney (Pirates)
- Cristian Pache (Marlins)
Designated Hitter
- Willie Calhoun (Angels)
Pitchers
- Phil Bickford (Yankees)
- Ty Blach (Rockies)
- Nick Burdi (Yankees)
- John Curtiss (Rockies)
- Kent Emanuel (Marlins)
- Cole Irvin (Twins)
- Casey Kelly (Reds)
- Matt Koch (Rockies)
- Steven Okert (Twins)
- Yohan Ramírez (Red Sox)
- Gerardo Reyes (A’s)
- Trevor Richards (Twins)
- Ryder Ryan (Pirates)
- Kirby Snead (Mariners)
- Touki Toussaint (White Sox)
- Tanner Tully (Yankees)
- Jordan Weems (Nationals)
- Mitch White (Brewers)
Blue Jays Making Several Changes To Coaching Staff
Oct. 1: In addition to Martinez, the Blue Jays are reassigning field coordinator Gil Kim and assistant pitching coach Jeff Ware, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. It seems they’ll remain with the club in other capacities but will no longer have direct roles on the major league staff. Assistant pitching coach David Howell is also slated for reassignment, per Davidi.
Kim was hired back in 2016, taking on the role of director of player development. He’s been on the big league staff since 2020. Ware was a minor league pitching coordinator and pitching coach in the Jays’ system for several years before joining the big league staff with a particular focus on the team’s bullpen in 2023. Howell was in his third season on the big league staff, and his focus has been on general pitching strategy.
Toronto will be on the lookout for some new staffers heading into the 2025 season and it’s possible that additional changes will be made.
Sept. 30: The Blue Jays are parting ways with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez, reports Scott Mitchell of TSN (X link). It’s the first change to John Schneider’s staff on the heels of a disappointing season.
Martinez has been Toronto’s hitting coach since the 2018-19 offseason. The Jays have also employed Don Mattingly as bench coach and offensive coordinator for the past couple seasons. However the Jays divided responsibilities between Mattingly and Martinez, they’ll look for a new voice at hitting coach.
The Jays had high expectations this year after winning between 89 and 92 games in each of the previous three seasons. Instead, Toronto finished at the bottom of the AL East with a 74-88 showing. The offense was a big part of that. The Jays finished 23rd in MLB with 671 runs. Their rate stats were closer to average. They hit .241/.313/.389, finishing between 13th and 20th in the slash categories. The Jays were 26th in home runs, though, certainly not providing the kind of power they’d anticipated. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connected on 30 homers; no one else on the team reached 20.
Guerrero looks like a top 10 hitter in MLB. The Jays got promising work out of rookie infielder Spencer Horwitz. There wasn’t a ton else that went right for the team offensively. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Turner were traded midseason. Leo Jiménez was the only other hitter (minimum 200 plate appearances) with a better than average wRC+, and his .229/.329/.358 line was marginally above par. Toronto’s biggest focus on the offensive side is getting Bo Bichette back on track. The star shortstop entered the 2024 campaign as a career .299/.340/.487 hitter. He hit .225/.277/.322 this season around a trio of injured list stints.
Pete Rose Passes Away
MLB hit king Pete Rose passed away today at age 83, the Reds confirmed. One of the most accomplished players in MLB history, his decision to gamble on his team as a manager leaves behind a complicated legacy that has ultimately kept him out of the Hall of Fame.
“Our hearts are deeply saddened by the news of Pete’s passing,” Reds owner Bob Castellini said in a press release. “He was one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen, and every team he played for was better because of him. Pete was a Red through and through. No one loved the game more than Pete and no one loved Pete more than Reds Country. We must never forget what he accomplished.”
A Cincinnati native, Rose signed with his hometown team out of high school. The Reds called him up in 1963. Rose hit .273 while appearing in 157 games during his debut season. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award while establishing himself as Cincinnati’s everyday second baseman. That kicked off one of the most illustrious playing careers in league history.
Rose suffered through a sophomore slump but rebounded with a strong ’65 season. He led MLB with 209 hits while running a .312/.382/.446 line. He earned his first All-Star selection and a sixth-place finish in MVP balloting. That was the first of six straight seasons in which Rose would appear among the Senior Circuit’s top 10 in MVP voting.
Throughout the rest of the 1960s, Rose never hit below .300 despite the league skewing extremely favorably for pitching. He topped 200 hits in four of the final five years of the decade. Rose won consecutive batting titles in 1968 and ’69, securing his first two top-five MVP finishes in the process. He moved off second base to the corner outfield midway through that run and would secure consecutive Gold Glove nods as an outfielder in 1969-70.
Excellent as those performances were, Rose truly broke out as an all-time great in the following decade. He was an integral part of the budding dynasty in Cincinnati that would dominate the National League during the 1970s. The Big Red Machine won their first pennant in 1970, a season in which Rose hit .316 with an MLB-best 205 hits. The Reds were bounced by the Orioles in the World Series. After missing the playoffs in ’71, they returned to the Fall Classic in 1972 behind Rose and Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Pérez. They dropped a seven-game set to the A’s.
Rose again led the majors in hits in ’72. His 1973 campaign, at age 32, was the best of his career. Rose tallied a personal-high 230 hits while hitting .338/.401/.437 over 752 plate appearances. He won his third and final batting title, secured his seventh All-Star nod and won the MVP. The Reds won another division title but were knocked out by the Mets in a closely fought NL Championship Series.
The switch-hitter’s production tailed off somewhat in ’74, although he led the majors with 45 doubles and earned another All-Star selection. The Reds won 98 games but missed the postseason thanks to a 102-win showing from the division-leading Dodgers before the introduction of the Wild Card. Cincinnati returned to the playoffs with a 108-win season in ’75. They swept the Pirates in the NLCS, setting up a showdown with the Red Sox that’d go down as one of the greatest series in MLB history.
Carlton Fisk’s heroics in Game 6 pushed that Series — which had five one-run contests — to a deserved seventh game. The Reds came back from three runs down in the decider, scoring four times in the final four innings to win 4-3 at Fenway. Rose tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the seventh before Morgan drove home the winner in the ninth. Rose’s .370/.485/.481 slash earned him World Series MVP honors.
The Reds returned to the Fall Classic following a 102-win regular season the next year. This one was a lot less of a nail biter, as Cincinnati swept the Phillies and Yankees en route to a dominant repeat. Rose didn’t hit well in that World Series but had an MLB-best 215 to earn a fourth place MVP finish in the regular season.
Rose remained in Cincinnati through the end of the ’78 season. He combined for 402 hits between 1977-78 while topping .300 in both seasons. Rose left his hometown club to sign a free agent deal with the Phillies going into ’79. That ended a 16-year run in Cincinnati, over which he hit .310 with nearly 3200 hits in more than 2500 games. He continued racking up hits and All-Star appearances over five seasons with Philadelphia, where he hit .291 across over 3200 plate appearances during his age 38-42 seasons. He was part of three playoff teams with the Phils and won his third World Series on the 1980 club.
The Expos signed Rose for the 1984 season. While his stint in Montreal was brief and generally unproductive, he picked up his 4000th career hit that April. Rose joined Ty Cobb as the only players to cross the 4000-hit threshold. A return to Cincinnati set the stage for Rose to pass Cobb’s mark of 4189 career knocks. He did just that late in the ’85 campaign with a single off San Diego’s Eric Show.
Rose finished his playing days in 1986. He retired not only as the all-time leader in hits but also games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). His durability was staggering. Rose led the league in plate appearances seven times. He had 15 seasons in which he came to the plate at least 700 times. Rose almost never missed a game despite the hard-nosed playing style that earned him his “Charlie Hustle” moniker — a reputation that endeared him to plenty of fans while no doubt earning the ire of those of other teams.
At the time of his retirement, Rose was a surefire Hall of Famer. The hits crown alone would have gotten him into Cooperstown with ease. Rose was also a 17-time All-Star, a former Rookie of the Year and MVP, and a three-time champion. He hit .303/.375/.409 with 160 home runs, 2165 runs scored (sixth all time), 746 doubles and 1314 RBI. No player got on base more often than Rose, who reached nearly 6000 times over his 24-year run.
While those records and accolades will never change, Rose’s seemingly inevitable Hall of Fame induction was halted by a bombshell revelation. Rose had acted as a player-manager with the Reds beginning in 1984 and continued to manage after his retirement from playing. Late in the ’89 season, MLB announced that an investigation determined Rose had bet on baseball. That included bets on the teams which he’d been managing. While Rose only bet on Cincinnati to win and there’s no indication he ever tried to fix any games, that’s a violation of MLB’s biggest rule.
A finding that a player or coach had bet on games in which their team was involved — whether to win or lose — warrants a lifetime ban. (That remains the case today and came back into play this past June when MLB banned Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life for placing bets on the Pirates while he was a member of the team in 2023.) In 1991, the Hall of Fame announced a policy that any person who had been hit with a lifetime suspension by MLB was ineligible for induction. Rose never got on the ballot.
Getting into the Hall clearly would have meant a lot to Rose, who unsuccessfully pushed for reinstatement in the decades following his suspension. That continued well into Rob Manfred’s tenure as commissioner. Manfred, maintaining that betting on baseball warrants a true lifetime ban, rejected Rose’s appeals. The commissioner did not directly weigh in on the Hall of Fame’s policy against considering induction for those on the ineligible list. With neither the league nor the Hall budging, Rose was and remains ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration.
Rose remained tangentially involved with the game as a media personality. He worked as an analyst for Fox Sports between 2015-17. His tenure with Fox came to an end after a woman alleged in a court filing that Rose had had sexual relations with her while she was a minor in the 1970s. The allegations surfaced well after the statute of limitations for criminal action had passed and Rose was never charged. Rose filed a defamation suit against former MLB investigator John Dowd, who first publicly alleged in 2015 that Rose had relations with underage girls during the 70s. The suit was dropped by mutual agreement in 2017.
Rose’s worthiness for the Hall of Fame has been a divisive topic among fans for decades. What is indisputable is that he was one of the most iconic figures in baseball history. His hit record will probably stand the test of time, as league batting averages have dropped sharply with the proliferation of strikeouts and velocity. Rose was among the best players of the 1960s and 70s and an instrumental figure on a Big Red Machine team stacked with Hall of Fame talent that won multiple championships. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, loved ones, friends and former teammates.
TMZ Sports was first to report Rose’s death. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Pirates Parting Ways With Hitting Coach Andy Haines
The Pirates are parting ways with hitting coach Andy Haines and bullpen coach Justin Meccage, report Andrew Destin and Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s not clear whether there’ll be other changes to Derek Shelton’s staff.
Pittsburgh hired Haines to replace Rick Eckstein over the 2021-22 offseason. The 47-year-old had spent the previous three seasons as hitting coach in Milwaukee and logged one year as an assistant with the Cubs. The Bucs ranked 26th in scoring over the past three seasons. They were 24th with 665 runs this year, while their .234/.301/.371 batting line placed them in the bottom third of MLB in all three slash stats.
As is the case with any coach, it’s difficult to judge their work based on the results alone. PNC Park isn’t an easy venue for hitters and the Bucs are light on proven offensive contributors beyond Bryan Reynolds and an aging Andrew McCutchen. Pittsburgh simply hasn’t gotten enough development from their young hitters in recent seasons, though. By measure of wRC+, only four of the 13 Pirates hitters with at least 200 plate appearances had above-average offensive performances. Reynolds and McCutchen were joined in that regard by Joey Bart and Oneil Cruz.
Bart, a reclamation flier from the Giants, dramatically cut his strikeouts and hit .265/.337/.462 in 80 games. The toolsy Cruz had his first 20-20 season, though he still struck out in more than 30% of his plate appearances. While this was a successful year for Bart and Cruz, the Pirates had a handful of disappointments.
Ke’Bryan Hayes and Jack Suwinski were expected to be key contributors but had terrible seasons. Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo didn’t make much of an impact. Former first overall pick Henry Davis has hit .191/.283/.307 in 99 games over the past two seasons. Buy-low free agent pickups of Rowdy Tellez and Michael A. Taylor didn’t pan out, nor did bringing in Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Bryan De La Cruz provide a jolt at the deadline. That’s certainly not all on the hitting coach, yet there’s no question the offense has held the Pirates back from breaking out of a rebuild that’ll be entering year six under Shelton and GM Ben Cherington.
Pittsburgh added Meccage to the staff in 2018 as an assistant pitching coach. He moved to bullpen coach going into 2020 and has held the position for five seasons. Pittsburgh’s bullpen had the fourth-highest ERA in the majors this season, allowing 4.49 earned runs per nine. They ranked 20th in strikeout percentage (22.9%) while posting the seventh-worst walk rate (10%).
Pittsburgh coaxed a breakout year from waiver claim Dennis Santana and got decent production out of Carmen Mlodzinski, Colin Holderman, Luis Ortiz and $10.5MM free agent pickup Aroldis Chapman. None of those players are lockdown late-game weapons, though. David Bednar was expected to anchor the group out of the ninth inning. He had a very poor season, struggling to a 5.77 ERA with a dip in strikeouts and a spike in home runs to lose the closing job. Bednar had broken out as one of the game’s best relievers under Meccage’s tutelage between 2021-23.
Brewers, Vinny Nittoli Agree To Minor League Deal For 2025
The Brewers have agreed to terms with reliever Vinny Nittoli on a minor league contract for next season, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (X link). He’ll get an invitation to big league Spring Training.
Nittoli, 34 in November, had an eventful 2024 campaign. While he only made nine appearances at the major league level, he was a part of four organizations. He began the season with the A’s on a minor league deal. They selected his contract and he pitched seven times, allowing two runs through eight innings. Nittoli cleared waivers after being designated for assignment and successively signed with the Cubs and Orioles. He didn’t pitch in the majors for Chicago and made two appearances with Baltimore, tossing four scoreless frames. He finished his season on a minor league deal with the Mets. He opted out of his deal with New York at the end of August and has been a free agent for a month.
The Xavier product has pitched in the majors in four consecutive seasons. This year’s 12 innings are a personal high. Nittoli has tossed 18 2/3 frames overall, allowing five runs. He has a 4.80 earned run average over parts of five years in Triple-A. Nittoli fared better at that level this season, working to a 3.60 ERA while punching out more than a third of his opponents across 30 innings.
Milwaukee has shown a knack for getting good work out of low-cost bullpen pickups. Nittoli’s big swing-and-miss numbers made him an early target for the Brew Crew, who add to next spring’s bullpen competition even as they prepare for their upcoming Wild Card series against New York.
Twins Outright Cole Irvin
September 30: Irvin has been outrighted to Triple-A St. Paul, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com.
September 25: The Twins made a handful of moves before tonight’s games against the Marlins. Minnesota designated left-hander Cole Irvin for assignment, optioned southpaw Brent Headrick and placed outfielder Matt Wallner on the 10-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. They’re replaced on the active roster by Justin Topa, Jorge Alcala and Austin Martin. Minnesota recalled Alcala and Martin from Triple-A St. Paul while activating Topa from the 60-day injured list.
Minnesota brought Irvin in on a waiver claim from the Orioles last week. The 30-year-old southpaw made four appearances out of Rocco Baldelli’s bullpen. He allowed five runs across 3 2/3 innings with four walks and only two strikeouts. Irvin made it through a scoreless inning yesterday against Miami but needed to work around a pair of free passes.
This has been a generally tough season for Irvin, whom the O’s had DFA twice as well. He bounced between Baltimore’s rotation and long relief work, combining for a 4.86 ERA across 107 1/3 innings. Irvin had been a durable source of roughly league average innings for the A’s between 2021-22, but he allowed 4.68 earned runs per nine over a season and a half in Baltimore.
The Twins will put Irvin on waivers in the next few days. He’ll almost certainly clear and would likely elect free agency at that point. Minnesota acquired Irvin after the calendar flipped to September. Even if they make the postseason — which now looks to be a long shot as they’ve fallen two games back of the Royals and Tigers with five to play — Irvin would have been ineligible to participate. It’s possible he’ll need to take a minor league deal this offseason.
Topa, 33, steps right into must-win games for his team debut. The Twins acquired him from the Mariners as part of the Jorge Polanco deal. They no doubt envisioned him as a high-leverage bullpen piece after he’d thrown 69 innings of 2.61 ERA ball in a breakout year for Seattle. A lengthy injury history had prevented Topa from emerging until his age-32 campaign, though, and that unfortunately resurfaced with his new organization.
The right-hander suffered a left knee injury in Spring Training and was eventually diagnosed with a partially torn patellar tendon. A rehab stint in July proved unsuccessful. Topa began a new rehab stint last week, pitching two innings in as many Triple-A appearances. With the minor league season finished and time running low for the MLB club, he’ll head to Target Field.
Minnesota’s bullpen has played a role in their second half collapse. Only the Red Sox have a higher bullpen ERA since the All-Star Break. They haven’t blown many leads but have had a tough time keeping games from getting out of hand. Baldelli might be reluctant to plug Topa into leverage spots after a six-month layoff. He’ll at least be a high-upside option in the middle innings.
The Twins will need to mount their playoff push without one of their more productive offensive players. Wallner is hitting .259/.372/.523 with 13 homers across 261 plate appearances. He’s done for the rest of the regular season and would miss at least the Wild Card series if the Twins qualify. Oblique strains usually cost a player multiple weeks, so there’s a good chance his season is over.
Max Kepler told reporters yesterday that he also won’t make it back during the regular season (link via Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Kepler has missed most of September with a left knee injury. The Twins are going with an outfield of Willi Castro, Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach tonight against Miami righty Edward Cabrera.
Skip Schumaker Will Not Return As Marlins’ Manager
TODAY: The Marlins officially announced Schumaker’s departure.
SEPT. 28: Skip Schumaker will not return as Miami’s manager in 2025, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. His tenure with the Fish concludes after two seasons.
The Marlins announced during Friday night’s win over the Blue Jays that Schumaker would return home to attend to a family health matter. Bench coach Luis Urueta will be the interim manager for the final two games of the season, tweets Isaac Azout of Fish on First. Passan writes that Schumaker informed Miami players that he would not be back next season after tonight’s game.
That couldn’t have come as much of a surprise to anyone on the roster. Schumaker has seemingly been on his way out of South Florida for months. Former general manager Kim Ng hired Schumaker — who’d been the bench coach in St. Louis — to replace Don Mattingly going into the 2023 season. He’d initially signed a two-year deal with a club option for 2025. Once the Marlins and Ng parted ways last offseason, Schumaker reportedly expressed frustration with the organization’s direction. The Marlins agreed to void the ’25 option as a result, giving the 44-year-old the chance to pursue other opportunities after this season.
The front office overhaul came within weeks of Miami surprisingly punching their ticket to the postseason. The Fish overcame a negative run differential to win 84 games and snag a Wild Card spot in 2023. While they were swept by Philadelphia in the first round, the unexpected postseason berth earned Schumaker the NL’s Manager of the Year award in his debut season. It was the team’s first playoff appearance in a 162-game schedule since their 2003 World Series title.
Owner Bruce Sherman was nevertheless dissatisfied with the organization’s recent misses in the draft and some ill-fated free agent moves (e.g. Avisaíl García, Jean Segura). Sherman tabbed former Rays GM Peter Bendix as president of baseball operations — a move that would’ve relegated Ng to second in the front office hierarchy. After Sherman informed Ng of his plans to hire a baseball ops president, she declined her end of a mutual option and moved on.
Bendix never seemed confident that the Marlins could replicate last year’s success. The Fish had a quiet winter — their only MLB free agent signing was a $5MM rebound flier on Tim Anderson — and seemed ticketed for another rebuild. A disastrous 0-9 start sealed their fate within the first two weeks. Miami traded Luis Arraez in early May and followed up with a major deadline sell-off involving most of their relievers, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trevor Rogers, Josh Bell and Bryan De La Cruz. Were it not for a devastating series of rotation injuries, they’d likely have torn things down further. Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett would have been clear trade candidates if healthy.
Bendix’s skepticism about the short-term outlook has been borne out in this year’s results. The Fish lost 100 games for the fourth time in franchise history. They’ll either finish with the second- or third-worst record in MLB. (They’re one game behind the Rockies at the bottom of the National League.) At the same time, it’s entirely unsurprising that Schumaker preferred not to embark on a multi-year rebuild orchestrated by a new front office just months after leading the team to the playoffs.
There should be plenty of interest in Schumaker’s services. His aggregate 144-178 record wasn’t great, but that’s far more a testament to this year’s roster than an indictment of his managerial ability. His work in 2023 earned ample praise. The White Sox and Reds have managerial vacancies after firing Pedro Grifol and David Bell, respectively. Schumaker has been loosely linked to both jobs before his contract with the Marlins has expired.
Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a few weeks ago that he was among the Sox’s top targets. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on Friday that Schumaker and former Cubs’ skipper David Ross are among the preliminary options under consideration for the Reds’ front office. It’s possible other jobs will open once the regular season concludes.
In Miami, Bendix begins his first managerial search as a baseball operations leader. The front office has presumably been preparing for a while, as they were no doubt aware of the probability that Schumaker would depart. It’s the next opportunity for Bendix and his group to put their stamp on the franchise as they go into another rebuilding year.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Braves Activate Reynaldo Lopez
TODAY: The Braves officially announced Lopez’s reinstatement from the 15-day IL. Right-hander John Brebbia was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.
SEPTEMBER 27: Reynaldo López will take the ball for the Braves tomorrow against the Royals, the team informed reporters (X link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). He’ll be reinstated from the 15-day injured list before the game. Atlanta will need to option a pitcher to open a spot on the MLB roster.
Atlanta has been without López for a couple weeks because of shoulder inflammation. That was the righty’s second IL stint in as many months. He also missed a couple weeks in August with a minor forearm issue. It’s not especially surprising that he’s battled some injuries down the stretch. López has taken on a significant workload jump in his return to the rotation. He has thrown 128 2/3 innings on the season, nearly doubling last year’s total of 66 frames while working out of the bullpen.
Aside from the injuries, the López signing couldn’t have worked out much better in year one. He has turned in a sparkling 2.03 earned run average. Among pitchers with 100+ innings, only rookie phenom Paul Skenes (1.99) has a lower ERA. While López’s peripherals aren’t quite that dominant, his 26.3% strikeout percentage and 8.1% walk rate are solid or better. If healthy, he’d slot behind likely NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale and Max Fried in a potential playoff rotation. Spencer Schwellenbach has had a fantastic rookie campaign and would be an excellent #4 option.
Of course, the Braves still have work to do if they’re to get into the postseason. They beat the Royals on Friday night to pull to 87-71. The Mets lost in Milwaukee, so the division rivals are tied with four games apiece to play. They have a doubleheader set for Monday. Splitting those would ensure the Braves have the tiebreaker. Both clubs are a half-game back of fifth seed Arizona pending the Diamondbacks’ result tonight.
Ha-Seong Kim Not Close To Return, May Require Offseason Labrum Surgery
The Padres have had to lock down a Wild Card spot without Ha-Seong Kim. The shortstop jammed his right shoulder diving into first base on a pickoff attempt on August 18. The Padres placed him on the injured list a couple days later with a diagnosis of shoulder inflammation.
San Diego initially expressed optimism it would be a short-term absence. Kim has instead been out for more than five weeks and is not on the verge of a return. Manager Mike Shildt provided a disappointing update on the Gwynn & Chris show on 97.3 The Fan in San Diego tonight (X link).
“He just hasn’t been able to get over that hump with his throwing,” Shildt said. “The hitting’s not a problem, that part’s good, but he hasn’t been able to consistently throw with anything behind it. … We’re still weighing what’s taking place, but right now, he’s not in a spot where we can count on him in the very near future.” In response to a follow-up question as to whether there’s a date at which the window for Kim to return this season officially closes, Shildt replied “there is, and we may be getting there.”
Making matters worse, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (on X) that Kim could require an offseason labrum repair. That’d be a brutal blow as he returns to free agency. The guaranteed portion of his four-year deal is coming to a close. As is the case with most players signing out of Korea or Japan, he’s eligible for free agency despite having less than six years of MLB service. Kim will decline his end of an $8MM mutual option for next season. He’ll collect a $2MM buyout and return to the market.
If healthy, he has a case for a strong four-year deal. Kim’s ability to play plus defense throughout the infield has been incredibly valuable. He stole 38 bases a season ago and has gone 22-27 on the basepaths this season. Kim doesn’t have overwhelming power, but he has gotten into double-digit home run territory in three straight years. He draws plenty of walks and rarely strikes out.
Kim hit .233/.330/.370 over 470 plate appearances during the regular season. He carries a .250/.336/.385 slash since the start of 2022. As of a couple months ago, Kim’s durability had ironically been one of his biggest selling points. This is the first time in his four MLB campaigns that he has landed on the injured list.
It’ll take at least a few more weeks to learn the impact of the injury on Kim’s free agent stock. The more immediate focus for the Padres is on their playoff infield. San Diego has kicked Xander Bogaerts back to the left side of the dirt. Jake Cronenworth has moved over to second base. That opens first base playing time for Donovan Solano and some defensive reps for primary DH Luis Arraez, with David Peralta drawing into the lineup at designated hitter while Arraez is in the field. The Padres called up Nick Ahmed last weekend to work as a defensive specialist behind Bogaerts.
Soto, Steinbrenner Held Private Meeting In July
Juan Soto and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had a one-on-one meeting in July, reports Brendan Kuty of the Athletic. The four-time All-Star confirmed the conversation, telling Kuty that “it was good to get to know the owner, get to see what he’s thinking about me and everything.”
Soto didn’t provide any specifics. However, Kuty reports that the general focus of the conversation was on Soto’s experience with the team. “It’s always good to see (an owner) coming over at least to say hi,” the outfielder told The Athletic, “see how we’re doing, what we have in mind, this and that. It’s great to have an owner that really cares for players.”
Steinbrenner hasn’t been shy about his desire to keep the superstar in pinstripes. The owner said in May that he was open to in-season extension talks. Soto closed that down a few weeks later, reiterating in June that he and agent Scott Boras would wait until the offseason to worry about contract terms. Considering Soto has reportedly declined a number of extension offers throughout his career, there was never much doubt that he’d test free agency.
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The Yankees are going to face a push from the crosstown Mets and should have some amount of competition for Soto’s services from every high-payroll franchise. One meeting between Soto and Steinbrenner isn’t going to change the odds of keeping him around, but it’s presumably a bit of a preview of the months to come.
Soto has established a new career high with 41 homers during his first season in the Bronx. He leads the American League with 128 runs scored and is hitting .288/.418/.572 across 704 trips to the plate. By measure of wRC+, Soto has been 80 percentage points better than a league average batter. That’s his best mark in a 162-game schedule.