Mariners Outright Seby Zavala
The Mariners sent catcher Seby Zavala outright to Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle designated him for assignment on Friday when they promoted Emerson Hancock to take Luis Castillo’s spot in the rotation.
That was a predictable transaction. The M’s had only promoted Zavala a few days earlier when Castillo hit the injured list. Seattle didn’t need a fifth starter for a few days between Castillo’s IL placement and the Hancock recall. They briefly added to their depth behind the plate by calling Zavala to serve as the #3 catcher behind Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver. Zavala didn’t get into a game before being DFA for the third time of the season.
Zavala was presumably aware that this stay on the roster could be brief. He at least picked up a few days of major league pay. Acquired from Arizona in the Eugenio Suárez deal, Zavala has hit .154 in 18 games for Seattle this season. He’s hitting .188/.325/.376 across 33 contests with Tacoma. The 31-year-old defensive specialist has a .205/.268/.345 slash over parts of five seasons in the majors.
As was the case when Zavala cleared waivers for the first two times this season, he has the right to elect free agency. It’s likelier he’ll accept the assignment and stick around as injury insurance for Raleigh and Garver. Zavala would become a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason unless the M’s call him back up.
Guardians’ George Valera To Undergo Patellar Tendon Surgery
Guardians outfield prospect George Valera is headed for season-ending surgery, tweets Mandy Bell of MLB.com. The 23-year-old sustained a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee while trying to make a catch at the wall in Triple-A. The procedure comes with a six-to-nine month recovery timetable, so it’s likely Valera will open next season on the injured list.
Injuries have sapped some of Valera’s value. The lefty-swinging outfielder appeared at the back half of Baseball America’s top 100 prospect lists in both 2022 and ’23. Valera underwent hamate surgery during the 2022-23 offseason and has had brief injured list stints because of hamstring issues in the last couple years. He’d been healthy between the start of May and the middle of September this year, spending the entire time on optional assignment to Triple-A Columbus.
Valera had hit very well through Double-A. His Triple-A numbers are closer to average. He’s a career .229/.336/.424 hitter in 205 games at the level. That includes a .248/.337/.452 line with 17 homers in 374 plate appearances this year. While Valera has a strong 12% walk rate, he has gone down on strikes at a lofty 27% clip. A center fielder early in his career, he has played all but nine innings in the corners or at designated hitter this year.
Cleveland has carried Valera on the 40-man roster going back to the 2021-22 offseason. He has spent the past three seasons on optional assignment. Most players can only be optioned to the minors in three separate seasons. MLB sometimes grants teams a fourth option for players who have less than five full seasons on a minor league or MLB roster.
Valera, who didn’t play a full season at an affiliate until 2021, could be a candidate for a fourth option. That’d afford the Cleveland front office an extra year of flexibility. If Valera is out of options going into next season, Cleveland would need to carry him in the majors or make him available to other teams once he is ready to return from the injured list.
Red Sox Likely To Shut Liam Hendriks Down For The Season
TODAY: Hendriks will receive a cortisone shot on Monday and then resume throwing mid-week, he told the Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams. While he admitted his chances of pitching may hinge on how the Red Sox are faring in the playoff race, “the door’s not closed” on Hendriks appearing on the mound in 2024. “It’s normal to have a hiccup. It’s normal having to have little things like that, but it’s frustrating at how late it happened in the process,” Hendriks said.
SEPT 12: It seems Liam Hendriks’ debut with the Red Sox will wait until 2025. Manager Alex Cora said before tonight’s extra-inning loss in the Bronx that the Sox are “probably … going to shut him down” from throwing (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). Boston pulled the veteran reliever off his minor league rehab assignment last week when Hendriks reported arm discomfort.
The three-time All-Star has been working back from an August 2023 Tommy John surgery that ended his time with the White Sox. Cora indicated that Hendriks’ recent discomfort is on the outside of his forearm rather than in the elbow. An MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage and the team believes the issue is normal soreness related to his build-up after a long layoff.
While there doesn’t seem to be any long-term concern, the calendar doesn’t offer Hendriks time for even a minor setback. There are 17 days left in the regular season. Boston’s loss tonight dropped them 4.5 games back of the American League’s last Wild Card spot. It’s probably too risky to ask Hendriks to push through minor forearm discomfort to aid a long shot playoff chase.
Hendriks signed a two-year, $10MM free agent deal early in Spring Training. It’s a backloaded contract that follows the typical structure for a pitcher rehabbing a major arm surgery. Hendriks made $2MM this season and is set for a $6MM base salary next year. He’s guaranteed a $2MM buyout on a mutual option for 2026. The Aussie could unlock up to $10MM more via incentives next season depending on his innings and games finished totals.
The latter category would take on particular importance if Hendriks opens next season as Cora’s closer. He’d secure $1MM apiece for every fifth game finished between 45 and 65 contests. Hendriks led the American League with 38 saves for Chicago back in 2021. He saved another 37 games the next season. Hendriks would’ve filled a middle relief or setup role had he gotten back on the mound this year. The ninth inning could be there for the taking next spring.
Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin are concluding two-year deals signed when Chaim Bloom was chief baseball officer. Both pitchers have been effective, but the Sox could let them each walk in free agency. Boston reportedly tried to find a trade partner for Jansen both before Opening Day and at times in the season’s first half. It looks unlikely they’ll re-sign him. Martin seems to have a better chance of returning, but he has a lot less closing experience than Hendriks brings. Deadline acquisitions Lucas Sims and Luis García are also headed to the market.
First-year chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, a former reliever, has hit on a couple unheralded bullpen pickups. Rule 5 pick Justin Slaten has had an excellent rookie season and should be ticketed for high-leverage work. Greg Weissert, acquired in the Alex Verdugo deal, has been solid. There’ll surely be a few acquisitions in the offseason. Boston isn’t going to let each of Jansen, Martin, Sims and García walk without bringing in some kind of veteran help. The next few months should clarify whether Hendriks will go into 2025 as Boston’s closer.
In any case, he’ll certainly be in the late-inning mix if he stays healthy. Hendriks getting back to peak form would be a fantastic story not only for Boston but for baseball as a whole. Last year’s surgery interrupted a triumphant return to the mound after Hendriks beat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The ’25 season could be his opportunity to reemerge as one of the game’s best relievers.
Rangers Activate Jacob deGrom
Today: The Rangers have officially activated deGrom to make his first start of the 2024 season. In a pair of corresponding moves, the team optioned right-hander Owen White to Triple-A and transferred Corey Seager to the 60-day IL.
Sept. 10: Jacob deGrom makes his season debut on Friday. The Rangers announced that the two-time Cy Young winner will start that evening’s game in Seattle. It will be his first major league appearance since April 2023. deGrom underwent Tommy John surgery last June.
While deGrom’s return comes too late to give Texas any hope of a playoff push, it’s part of what should be a very exciting series. The Rangers will turn to top prospect Kumar Rocker for his MLB debut in Thursday’s opener. deGrom goes the following night. Manager Bruce Bochy told the beat this evening that Max Scherzer will be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start on Saturday (X link via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News). Texas will need to create space on the 40-man roster for both Rocker and deGrom.
deGrom has gotten through four rehab starts within the past few weeks. He has mowed down minor league hitters, striking out 15 while allowing only five baserunners over 10 2/3 innings. deGrom tossed four scoreless innings in just 49 pitches with Double-A Frisco on Saturday. Kennedi Landry of MLB.com wrote over the weekend that the Rangers had envisioned deGrom throwing somewhere around 60 pitches in that outing, though they ultimately elected to cap him at four innings when he pitched so efficiently. That could point to a potential 65-75 pitch count during this week’s start.
The Rangers should get three or four starts from deGrom before the end of the season. They’re not going to be of much significance in the standings (beyond the indirect effect of playing the Mariners, a fringe contender, at least once). Getting deGrom back for a few starts should at least give the pitcher and the front office some comfort going into the offseason. deGrom had battled a handful of arm issues late in his Mets tenure. He only managed six starts and 30 1/3 innings with Texas before suffering the significant elbow injury.
Few players are more important to the Rangers’ hope of a return to contention in 2025. deGrom may still be the best pitcher on the planet when healthy. He was utterly dominant for the Mets when he was able to pitch. He’d carried that form over in his first month in a Texas uniform, working to a 2.67 earned run average while striking out almost 40% of batters faced.
deGrom is going into the third season of a five-year, $185MM free agent deal. He’ll make $40MM next season, followed by successive salaries of $38MM and $36MM through 2027. The Tommy John surgery triggered a conditional team option in his deal for 2028. That’s valued at $20MM, though deGrom could push it to $30MM if he finishes in the top five in Cy Young balloting in any of the next three years.
Scherzer, meanwhile, has been out since the start of August because of a shoulder issue. He’d also missed most of the season’s first half rehabbing offseason back surgery and battling a nerve problem in his throwing hand. Scherzer has been limited to eight starts this season, turning in a 3.89 ERA across 39 1/3 innings. The future Hall of Famer will be a free agent next offseason. Scherzer has already declared he intends to continue pitching; he’ll be one of the top risk/reward plays in the starting pitching class.
Corey Seager To Undergo Sports Hernia Surgery
Today: As expected, the Rangers have transferred Seager to the 60-day IL, making room for deGrom on the 40-man roster and formally ending Seager’s 2024 season.
Sept 12: Corey Seager will undergo season-ending sports hernia surgery tomorrow, Rangers GM Chris Young told reporters (link via Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). The five-time All-Star was placed on the 10-day injured list last week with what the team initially announced as hip discomfort. Texas could move him to the 60-day IL in a procedural move to activate Jacob deGrom tomorrow.
It’s the second sports hernia surgery of the year for Seager. He underwent the same procedure in January, albeit with an important distinction. Seager’s previous hernia was on his left groin; Grant writes that tomorrow’s procedure will address the right side. The injury is not expected to impact the shortstop’s readiness for Spring Training.
Seager suffered his previous hernia injury during last year’s postseason. He attempted to rehab without surgery but went under the knife a couple months later when the initial treatment plan was unsuccessful. That set him back during Spring Training but did not require a season-opening injured list stint. He’ll hope for a similarly swift recovery this time around so as not to have much of an impact of his offseason.
It’s a sour end to another excellent season for Seager. He popped 30 homers with a .278/.353/.512 batting line over 533 plate appearances. He started the year slowly, likely in part because of his limited ramp-up after January’s surgery. He has been one of the best players in the league since the start of May, raking at a .290/.362/.569 clip with 28 of his home runs. By measure of wRC+, Seager has been one of the ten best qualified hitters since May 1.
While this was a step back from last year’s MVP runner-up showing, Seager’s first few seasons in Arlington couldn’t have gone much better. He has been an All-Star in all three years as a Ranger. He has reached 30 homers in each. Texas disappointed this season, but Seager was obviously the best player on last year’s World Series winner. He’ll make $32MM next season before receiving $31MM annual salaries for the final six years of his $325MM free agent contract.
Josh Smith has taken over as the primary shortstop in Seager’s absence. He’ll presumably get the majority of the playing time there in the final couple weeks of the season. Smith was a rare bright spot in the Ranger lineup earlier in the year. He stepped in at third base when Josh Jung was out and was arguably the team’s second-best player behind Seager. Smith’s production has dropped off sharply in the second half, though he still carries an impressive .265/.350/.407 slash in 134 games overall.
Brewers Activate Enoli Paredes From 60-Day IL
The Brewers reinstated reliever Enoli Paredes from the 60-day injured list. He rejoins the bullpen for tonight’s game in San Francisco. Milwaukee optioned Elvis Peguero to Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move. To open a 40-man roster spot, the Brewers transferred southpaw Rob Zastryzny to the 60-day IL.
Paredes has been down since early July on account of forearm inflammation. Milwaukee moved the righty to the 60-day IL when they activated DL Hall last month. Paredes, who signed a minor league deal last November, has gotten good results in 14 appearances since the Brewers selected his contract in May. He’s allowed just two runs through 16 2/3 innings, although his 12:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio isn’t particularly encouraging.
That’s broadly in line with Paredes’ career work. He pitched with the Astros between 2020-22 and managed a decent 3.90 earned run average despite huge walk tallies. Paredes has been utterly dominant in Triple-A this season, striking out nearly 40% of opponents with a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings. He’s out of options, so the Brewers can’t send him back to Nashville without running him through waivers.
Zastryzny has been out since July 25 with elbow tendinitis. The injury cropped back up when he tried to start a rehab assignment last month. Today’s transfer officially rules Zastryzny out until the final week of the regular season. It’s not clear if he’ll be healthy enough to return this year. Working mostly as an opener, the lefty has logged 7 2/3 frames of one-run ball since Milwaukee called him up at the end of June.
Dodgers Sign Zach Logue To Minor League Deal
The Dodgers signed left-hander Zach Logue to a minor league contract. He has been assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he’ll make his organizational debut tonight (h/t to OKC broadcaster Alex Freedman).
Logue elected free agency a week ago after being waived by the Braves. The 28-year-old had spent nearly the entire season with Atlanta’s Triple-A team. The Braves selected his contract in July but never got him into an MLB game. They designated him for assignment on September 1 when they signed John Brebbia.
A Kentucky product, Logue was one of four players whom the Blue Jays dealt to the A’s for Matt Chapman shortly after the lockout. The southpaw pitched at the major league level with Oakland in 2022 and had a brief stint with the Tigers last season. Opponents hit him hard, as Logue allowed nearly seven earned runs per nine across 68 innings. He struck out a below-average 17% of batters faced and allowed home runs far too frequently (2.12 per nine innings).
While Logue has yet to fool MLB hitters, he has had a very nice year in Triple-A. He worked in a swing capacity with Atlanta’s top affiliate, starting 12 of 23 appearances. Logue worked 90 2/3 frames of 2.68 ERA ball — the best ERA of any Triple-A pitcher with at least 75 innings. He struck out a solid 23.5% of opponents while keeping his walks to a modest 7.4% clip. He also had a lot more success keeping the ball in the park, allowing just 0.79 home runs per nine.
Logue will make the jump to the Pacific Coast League for the final two weeks of the minor league schedule. He’s ineligible for the postseason but could be an option for a spot start or long relief work in the regular season — especially if the Dodgers secure a first-round bye and want to rest their presumptive playoff arms in the final weekend. Logue would qualify for minor league free agency at the start of the offseason if the Dodgers do not call him up.
James Paxton Planning To Retire
Red Sox left-hander James Paxton plans to retire after this season, he tells Rob Bradford of WEEI. The 11-year big league veteran announced the news on Bradford’s Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (X link).
“I’m hoping that we can squeak into the postseason and I get an opportunity to pitch again. But I think, after this season, I’m going to be retiring and moving on to the next chapter,” Paxton said. The 35-year-old called it a “tough” decision because he remains confident in his ability but indicated he feels it’s the right time to “settle in at home.” Paxton told Bradford he has already gotten to work on building a company focused on addressing athletes’ mental health.
While there’s a small chance he gets back on the mound this year, it’s likely his playing career is over. Paxton tore his right calf in mid-August and was placed on the 60-day injured list last month. He’s ineligible to return until the middle of October. The Sox would need to erase a four-game deficit in the Wild Card race and likely need to make a run into at least the ALCS for Paxton to be able to get on the mound.
Injuries were an unfortunately frequent occurrence. This season was only the fifth in which he reached 100 MLB innings. Paxton was a very productive pitcher when healthy, highlighted by a four-year peak with the Mariners and Yankees at the end of the 2010s.
The Blue Jays initially drafted Paxton, a British Columbia native who’d eventually earn the “Big Maple” nickname. Toronto selected him 37th overall in the 2009 draft. The sides couldn’t agree to contract terms, however, sending the 6’4″ southpaw back to the draft the following year. Seattle selected him in the fourth round, a move that would pay off a few seasons later.
Paxton was immediately one of the M’s top pitching prospects. He got to the big leagues as a September call-up in 2013, firing 24 innings of 1.50 ERA ball. Paxton battled shoulder and finger injuries, respectively, over the following two seasons. He was limited to 13 starts in each year but managed a sub-4.00 earned run average both times. Paxton topped 100 innings and reached 20 appearances for the first time in 2016, turning in a 3.79 ERA with nearly a strikeout per inning.
The following season saw Paxton emerge as an upper mid-rotation starter, at least on a rate basis. He fired 136 frames with a career-best 2.98 ERA while striking out more than 28% of opponents. Paxton continued to miss bats in bunches the following year, when he fanned 32.2% of batters faced with a 3.76 ERA across 160 1/3 innings. Among pitchers with 150+ innings, only Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole had a better strikeout rate that year.
That 2018 campaign saw Paxton log the highest workload of his career and included perhaps his two best performances. Paxton no-hit the Jays at the Rogers Centre in May 2018, becoming the second Canadian pitcher in MLB history to throw a no-hitter. That was one of two complete game victories he posted that month, though those arguably weren’t even his best outings. Paxton also struck out a personal-high 16 A’s hitters over seven scoreless innings in the start preceding his no-hitter. Overall, he struck out 51 hitters with a 1.67 ERA across 43 innings that month.
At the end of that season, the M’s traded Paxton’s final two seasons of arbitration eligibility to the Yankees for a three-player return. The headliner, Justus Sheffield, did not pan out. Erik Swanson, included as the secondary piece, developed into a productive reliever. Paxton had a strong first season in the Bronx, tossing 150 2/3 frames of 3.82 ERA ball while punching out nearly 30% of opposing hitters. He started a trio of postseason games for a Yankee team that lost to the Astros in the ALCS. Barring a surprise run from this year’s Sox, those were the only playoff appearances of his career. Paxton fanned 20 while allowing five runs in 13 innings (3.46 ERA).
That was Paxton’s final full season. He sustained a flexor strain during the shortened 2020 season, limiting him to five starts in his walk year. The Mariners brought him back during his first free agent trip on a buy-low $8.5MM deal. Paxton pitched once before his elbow blew out. He underwent Tommy John surgery and wouldn’t pitch again until 2023.
Paxton made 19 starts and logged 96 innings for the Red Sox last season, the second year of a $10MM free agent deal. He returned to the open market and signed with the Dodgers on a contract that eventually paid him $13MM after he hit certain start bonuses. L.A. squeezed him off the roster just before the trade deadline and flipped him back to Boston. Paxton made three starts for the Sox before suffering the calf injury. He’ll finish the year with a 4.40 ERA across 100 1/3 innings between the two clubs.
While the injuries kept Paxton a bit below 1000 innings, he finishes his career with a solid 3.77 earned run average. Paxton recorded his 1000th strikeout against former teammate Justin Turner on July 30. He made 177 appearances, all starts, and compiled a 73-41 record with a pair of complete games. Paxton’s one shutout was a memorable one — the aforementioned no-hitter in his home country. Baseball Reference credits him with roughly 14 wins above replacement, while he was worth 19 WAR at FanGraphs. B-Ref calculates his earnings at nearly $50MM. MLBTR congratulates Paxton on a fine career and sends our best wishes on his worthwhile endeavor to help athletes with their mental health.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Pirates Plan To Discuss Contract With McCutchen After The Season
While Andrew McCutchen is a few weeks from free agency, it seems inevitable that he’ll re-sign with the Pirates. The franchise legend has made clear on multiple occasions that he intends to finish his career in Pittsburgh. The Bucs have reciprocated that interest.
Comments this week from both McCutchen and general manager Ben Cherington point toward the former MVP eventually returning for a 12th season. In June, the 37-year-old told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he planned to continue playing. McCutchen restated those intentions in a chat with the beat on Tuesday (link via Alex Stumpf of MLB.com). This morning, Cherington confirmed the Pirates hope to keep him around.
“He’s proving again this year that he can hit and hit at a level that helps us win games,” the GM told reporters (link via Noah Hiles of the Post-Gazette). “I would just repeat what I said before. We would love to find a way for Andrew to finish his career in a Pirates uniform. Glad he feels good, feels like he can still do that and still play. As I did last year, as we get to the end of the season, we’ll have a conversation with Andrew after the season’s over.”
This is indeed how things played out last fall. McCutchen had returned to Pittsburgh on a one-year deal over the 2022-23 offseason. In early October, Cherington said the sides would talk about a new contract over the winter. It took until December, but the parties eventually hammered out a $5MM deal for 2024.
As he did in 2023, Cutch has performed well offensively. He’s reached the 20-homer threshold for the first time in three seasons. He’s hitting .241/.338/.432 in 470 plate appearances. His strikeout and walk rates have each gone in the wrong direction, but he’s hitting for more power than he did last season.
By measure of wRC+, McCutchen has been 14 percentage points above league average offensively for a second straight year. That’s second on the team behind Bryan Reynolds among those with 300+ plate appearances. Reynolds, McCutchen, Oneil Cruz and Joey Bart (the latter of whom has 232 PAs) have been the only above-average hitters in the Pittsburgh lineup.
The five-time All-Star is almost exclusively a designated hitter. McCutchen has started two games in right field. His 102 other appearances have come as a DH. That limits the team’s flexibility. McCutchen is fifth in MLB in plate appearances as a designated hitter. The four players ahead of him — Shohei Ohtani, Marcell Ozuna, Kyle Schwarber and Brent Rooker — have each hit 30+ homers. McCutchen isn’t going to provide that level of production at this stage of his career, but he’s still one of the more potent bats in a Pittsburgh lineup that needs to be more effective. There’s a simple case for bringing him back even before considering McCutchen’s locker room presence and his iconic status within the organization.
It’d likely be another one-year deal. McCutchen has signed for $5MM in each of the last two offseasons. He’d be justified in seeking a modest pay bump this time around. When he signed after the 2022 season, he was coming off the only below-average offensive showing of his career. He’d bounced back last year, but the reunion was cut short by a partial tear of his left Achilles in September. He’s trending towards a healthy finish in 2024. That could push his salary up by a couple million dollars, though it’s fair to assume he’s more concerned with staying in Pittsburgh than he is about maximizing his earning power.
Guardians Release Scott Barlow, Outright Anthony Gose
The Guardians released veteran right-hander Scott Barlow and outrighted lefty Anthony Gose to Triple-A Columbus, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. Cleveland had designated both relievers for assignment in recent days. The Guardians announced that Gose accepted his assignment. He can be selected back to the big league roster whenever the team needs a fresh arm, and Barlow’s release creates an opening to do so rather easily.
Barlow pitched in 63 games for the Guardians this year. Cleveland acquired the right-hander in an offseason swap that sent Enyel De Los Santos to the Padres. It was a rare trade in which the Guardians took on a fairly significant salary — he ultimately settled on a $6.7MM deal for his final year of arbitration — to add the more established player. Barlow had been the Royals’ closer in recent seasons and worked in high-leverage spots with San Diego in the second half of last year.
That track record initially earned him important innings with Cleveland. Barlow had pitched fairly well through the season’s first few months. A tough second half had increasingly pushed him down the leverage hierarchy for skipper Stephen Vogt, however. Barlow has allowed nearly six earned runs per nine with a diminished 18.9% strikeout rate since the All-Star Break. He had fanned more than 32% of batters faced with a 3.52 ERA in 38 1/3 innings during the season’s first half.
Barlow’s overall numbers are passable. He has a 4.25 ERA with an above-average 28.2% strikeout percentage and a grounder rate above 47%. His 12.9% walk rate is high but not dramatically above last season’s 11.4% mark. The late-season dip in performance was concerning, though, and that’s especially true considering Barlow’s velocity. He had averaged 95 MPH on his fastball and 84-85 on his slider during his best seasons with Kansas City. Those respective marks dipped to 93 and 83 last year and are down further this season. Barlow’s slider has checked in around 81 MPH all year. His fastball had dipped to the 90-91 range in the last couple months.
The Guardians remain on the hook for the final few weeks of Barlow’s salary. He surpassed six years of major league service this season and would have been a free agent during the upcoming offseason in any case. Barlow could try to sign with another contender for the final couple weeks of the regular season, but he would not be eligible for postseason play. He may choose to look ahead to next offseason. Barlow could still find a big league deal going into 2025, though he’s unlikely to land the multi-year contract that seemed it’d be on the table a couple months ago.
As for Gose, an outright was the expected outcome after Cleveland designated him for assignment for the fourth time in the last month. The southpaw had the right to elect free agency but is clearly comfortable with the organization, as he either accepted an outright or re-signed on a minor league deal shortly after each of his previous DFAs. Gose has made three MLB appearances this season, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings. He carries a 3.27 ERA with huge strikeout (32.8%) and walk (14.7%) rates over 41 1/3 frames with Columbus.