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Nationals Notes: Kuhl, Kieboom, Dickerson

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Prior to this evening’s game against the Cubs, the Nationals placed starter Chad Kuhl on the 15-day injured list. The placement is retroactive to April 30, ruling him out for the next two weeks. Cory Abbott was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take the open active roster spot.

Kuhl told reporters he sprained the big toe on his right foot during Saturday’s appearance against Pittsburgh (relayed by Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). He stayed in the game and logged 3 2/3 innings but was tagged for eight runs. It was another rough appearance for the 30-year-old, who has allowed four-plus runs in four of five outings this year. He hasn’t gotten past five innings in any of his appearances.

All told, Kuhl lands on the shelf with a 9.41 ERA through his first 22 frames in a Washington uniform. He’s striking out a below-average 16.8% of opponents while walking a lofty 15% of batters faced and surrendering more than two home runs per nine innings. The offseason minor league signee will obviously have to perform better once he returns from the IL if he’s to hang onto his roster spot for the entire season.

The rebuilding Nationals enter play Monday with a 4.75 rotation ERA that ranks 18th in the majors. Young pitchers Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore are both faring well from a run prevention perspective, though Gore has walked an alarming 14.4% of opponents. Trevor Williams has provided a 4.10 ERA over 26 1/3 frames, while veterans Kuhl and Patrick Corbin have been hit hard.

Abbott seems likely to step into Kuhl’s rotation spot. The righty started nine of 16 big league outings last year and has opened all five of his appearances in Rochester this season. He carries a 6.46 ERA in spite of a strong 28.8% strikeout rate over 23 2/3 Triple-A innings.

The Nationals also provided reporters with injury updates on the position player side. Infielder Carter Kieboom is soon to report to Double-A Harrisburg for a rehab stint, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. That sets the stage for a forthcoming return to major league action, which’ll be Kieboom’s first MLB game time since 2021. The right-handed hitter missed all of last season with a forearm issue that eventually required Tommy John surgery; he’s been out for the first month of this year on account of a shoulder impingement. A former top prospect, Kieboom carries a career .197/.304/.285 batting line and is looking to establish himself as a potential long-term piece.

Outfielder Corey Dickerson landed on the IL with a strained left calf two games into the season. He’s further behind in his recovery. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, Dickerson has been throwing and swinging a bat but is not yet cleared to run. He signed a $2.25MM free agent deal over the winter to add a veteran left-handed bat to the corner outfield rotation.

Astros Place Jose Urquidy On Injured List

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The Astros have placed starter José Urquidy on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder discomfort, per a club announcement. Righty Brandon Bielak was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land to take the vacated active roster spot.

Urquidy departed last night’s start against Philadelphia with the injury. The club announced postgame he was headed for an MRI. Chandler Rome of the Athletic tweets the team has yet to provide any specifics on the imaging, as Urquidy is slated to meet with medical personnel to analyze the results this evening. Regardless, Houston determined they weren’t going to run Urquidy back out there within the next two weeks.

The 28-year-old righty has started six games this year. He owns a 5.20 ERA through 27 2/3 innings. He’s striking hitters out at a below-average 18.7% clip while walking a career-high 8.1% of opponents. While it has been a bland first month, Urquidy has been a reliable mid-rotation control specialist for the bulk of his big league career. He’d allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine in spite of middling strikeout tallies for the past few years, including a 3.94 ERA across a personal-best 164 1/3 innings last season.

Houston is also without Lance McCullers Jr. due to injury. The Astros are down to a four-man starting staff of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia and touted rookie Hunter Brown (who has had an excellent first month in a big league rotation). Bielak has starting experience but manager Dusty Baker said the club will use him out of the bullpen initially (relayed by Mark Berman of Fox 26). Houston has an off day Thursday, allowing them to potentially skip the fifth starter this week while keeping everyone else on regular rest.

Jacob deGrom Leaves Start Early With Forearm Tightness

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April 29: The Rangers don’t yet have an update on deGrom, but manager Bruce Bochy expects they’ll know more before tonight’s match against the Yankees, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com.

April 28: The Rangers removed Jacob deGrom in the fourth inning of tonight’s matchup against the Yankees. Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters postgame that deGrom had experienced some forearm tightness but called the removal a “precautionary” measure (relayed by Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). He’ll be reevaluated tomorrow.

It’s the second time this year in which deGrom has left a start early. He experienced some wrist soreness during an appearance against the Royals a couple weeks back. deGrom maintained at the time he’d make his next start and he did just that. Any mention of forearm discomfort is more alarming than wrist soreness, though, considering that forearm tightness can be a precursor to ligament issues in the elbow.

deGrom’s recent injury history was the primary question when he hit free agency for the first time last offseason. There was no doubt of his brilliance but health concerns kept him off the mound for over a full calendar year between 2021-22. deGrom left a few starts early during the 2021 campaign before a midsummer forearm issue that wound up cutting his season short. Forearm tightness sent him to the injured list around the All-Star Break that year; then-Mets’ president Sandy Alderson later said deGrom had been dealing with a low-grade tear in his UCL, an eyebrow-raising assertion considering the right-hander had undergone Tommy John surgery before making his MLB debut. The pitcher refuted that, calling his ligament “perfectly fine.”

While he returned from that forearm issue to start 2022, he was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his scapula (shoulder blade) the following spring. That prevented him from making his season debut until August. Once he returned to the mound, he was effective as ever, striking out a laughable 42.4% of opposing hitters over 11 starts.

Texas made deGrom the centerpiece of a pitching-heavy offseason, inking him to a five-year, $185MM deal. The Rangers have gotten exactly what they’d hoped for from the two-time Cy Young winner when he’s been on the mound. After today’s appearance, he’s up to 30 1/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball. deGrom has punched out an elite 39.1% of batters faced while walking just 3.5% of opponents.

The Rangers’ revamped rotation entered play tonight with a 3.82 ERA, the ninth-lowest mark in the majors. deGrom and Martín Pérez have been excellent. Nathan Eovaldi has quality strikeout and walk numbers but a middling ERA, while the opposite is true of Jon Gray. Andrew Heaney has a strong strikeout rate but been a little homer-prone through his first few starts.

Angels To Place Jose Quijada On Injured List, Likely To Select Chris Devenski

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The Angels are going to place reliever José Quijada on the injured list tomorrow, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Bullpen mate Chris Devenski is joining the major league club and appears likely to be formally selected onto the MLB roster before their evening matchup with Milwaukee.

Quijada woke up this morning with some discomfort in his throwing elbow. He told reporters he went for an MRI to determine the extent of the issue. More will be known once the imaging results come back but the southpaw is feeling enough discomfort he’ll be out for at least 15 days.

The 27-year-old Quijada has been a situational relief arm for the Halos since being claimed off waivers from the Marlins heading into the 2020 season. He owns a 4.89 ERA over 108 2/3 career innings in parts of five seasons. Quijada has allowed seven runs (six earned) in nine innings this year. All of that damage has been concentrated in his past two appearances, which have seen him shelled for seven combined runs after eight scoreless appearances to open the season. Quijada didn’t blame the injury for his rough recent results, telling Fletcher and other reporters he hadn’t experienced any elbow soreness until this morning.

With Quijada headed to the IL, a spot in the relief corps opens for Devenski. The Angels had to make a decision on the veteran right-hander soon, as he’s one of a number of players who could opt out of his minor league contract if not promoted by next Monday. The Halos will ward off his possible departure by installing him in the MLB bullpen.

Devenski, 32, has had a solid first month with Triple-A Salt Lake. He’s worked nine innings over seven appearances, allowing four runs with a 9:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s picked up swinging strikes on a quality 17.5% of his pitches. It was an impressive enough showing to get him a big league look for what’ll be an eighth consecutive year.

The Cal State Fullerton product was an elite multi-inning relief option for the Astros between 2016-17. Injuries — most notably a 2021 Tommy John surgery — intervened thereafter. He hasn’t posted a sub-4.00 ERA since 2017. He’s been hit particularly hard for the past three years, including a 2022 campaign split between the Diamondbacks and Phillies. Devenski allowed 14 runs over 14 2/3 MLB innings last season, in large part because of three home runs allowed. He didn’t miss many bats last year, though he only walked one of 67 opposing hitters to demonstrate excellent control.

Los Angeles will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. They can do so by transferring Logan O’Hoppe from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list; the rookie backstop will miss the majority of the season after undergoing labrum surgery.

Dodgers Place J.D. Martinez On Injured List, Activate Will Smith

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The Dodgers announced a handful of roster moves before tonight’s series opener with St. Louis. Will Smith has been reinstated from the concussion injured list, while Max Muncy and Brusdar Graterol are each back from paternity leave. In corresponding active roster moves, J.D. Martinez was placed on the 10-day IL while Luke Williams and Justin Bruihl were optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Smith missed a little under two weeks after sustaining a concussion on a series of foul tips off the mask. The Dodgers were originally planning to stretch his IL stay into this weekend but Martinez’s injury accelerated his return by a day or two. Smith won’t immediately hop back behind the dish; he’s in tonight’s lineup as the designated hitter in Martinez’s stead.

The Dodgers will stick with three catchers on the active roster for the time being. Smith’s injury led L.A. to sign Austin Wynns to a major league contract to back up Austin Barnes. Wynns can’t be optioned to the minor leagues, so the Dodgers would have to keep three catchers on the active roster if they don’t want to risk losing him.

Martinez’s IL placement was backdated to April 25, ruling him out for at least a week. He’s been hampered by back soreness in recent days; the club announced the issue as lower back tightness. The offseason signee is off to a strong start to his Dodger tenure. Through 23 games, he carries a .250/.306/.534 line with four home runs over 98 plate appearances.

Meanwhile, the decision to option Williams means L.A. will keep rookie Michael Busch on the MLB roster for now. The Dodgers promoted the top hitting prospect once Muncy hit the paternity list earlier this week. There was some thought it could be a temporary promotion but Busch will get more than the three games he’s logged so far. The North Carolina product has started his MLB career 1-11.

White Sox Outright A.J. Alexy

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The White Sox have sent right-hander A.J. Alexy outright to Triple-A Charlotte, tweets Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Since there’d been no indication that Alexy was designated for assignment, the move frees a spot on the 40-man roster. The roster count now sits at 39.

Chicago added Alexy off waivers from the Twins in January. He’d bounced around the league last offseason, going from the Rangers to the Nationals to Minnesota before landing in Chicago. All those transactions were via waivers aside from the move from Washington to Minnesota, which saw the Twins send a minor league pitcher to the Nats in a small trade.

Alexy held his roster spot with the Sox into the regular season. He was optioned to Charlotte in Spring Training. The 25-year-old has started four games for the Knights but been hit hard in ten innings. He’s allowed 17 runs, largely thanks to a staggering 18 walks out of 54 batters faced (exactly one third). Alexy has been an inconsistent strike-thrower throughout his career but has never battled his control to this extent. The Pennsylvania native has walked 12.8% of opponents over 406 1/3 career innings in the minor leagues.

While Alexy hasn’t pitched at the MLB level this season, he got there with Texas between 2021-22. Over 30 innings, he worked to a 6.30 ERA as a swingman. Alexy averaged north of 94 MPH on his fastball but had more walks than strikeouts in that brief look. He’d punched out a decent 23.5% of batters faced with a 5.91 ERA in 96 Triple-A frames last year.

Alexy has never previously been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of major league service. He therefore won’t be able to elect free agency. He’ll stick with Charlotte and look to get his strike-throwing back on track to put himself on the radar for an MLB look later this season. Alexy would qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the year if he’s not on the 40-man roster by that point.

14 Veterans With Upcoming Opportunity To Opt Out Of Minor League Deals

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As part of last year’s collective bargaining agreement, MLB and the Players Association agreed to a few automatic opt-out dates for some veteran players on minor league contracts. Article XX(B) free agents — players with over six years of MLB service who finished the preceding season on a big league roster — who sign minor league contracts more than ten days before Opening Day now receive three uniform chances to retest free agency if they’re not added to the majors.

The first comes five days before the start of the season. For players who pass on that initial opt-out, they have additional windows to explore the open market on both May 1 and June 1 if they’ve yet to secure a spot on the 40-man roster. As that second opt-out date nears, it’s worth checking in on a few players with opt-outs under the CBA. We’ll also look at a few players who don’t meet those criteria but reportedly negotiated forthcoming opt-out dates into their own non-roster deals.

Anderson was an Article XX(B) player who passed on his first opt-out chance. The 35-year-old finished last season with nine outings (seven starts) for the Reds, allowing a 6.38 ERA in 24 innings. He returned to the organization and has started five games for their top affiliate in Louisville. He carries a 4.30 ERA over 23 frames with a modest 19% strikeout rate while walking 13% of opposing hitters. It’s not a great first few weeks but the Reds don’t have much certainty behind their top three starters. Connor Overton is on the injured list, while Luis Cessa has been rocked for 20 runs in 16 2/3 innings.

Devenski also forewent his Spring Training opt-out. The 32-year-old accepted a season-opening assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake, where he’s made seven relief outings. In nine innings, he’s allowed four runs with nine strikeouts and three walks. It’s a decent if not overwhelming performance. Devenski was an elite multi-inning relief option for the Astros between 2016-17 but he’s battled injuries and performance fluctuations since then. He threw 14 2/3 MLB innings between the Diamondbacks and Phillies last year, allowing an 8.59 ERA with a modest 17.5% strikeout rate but only walking one of the 67 hitters he faced. The Angels have a number of relievers who can’t be optioned to the minor leagues, perhaps reducing their flexibility to add another player of that ilk in Devenski.

Doolittle bypassed an opt-out chance in Spring Training after returning to Washington over the winter. He’s spent the year on the injured list as he continues to work back from last summer’s internal brace UCL surgery. The veteran threw a live batting practice session this week and could see game action in the not too distant future (via MLB.com injury tracker). It stands to reason he’ll stick with the Nats.

Duffy has spent the season on the injured list. He’s working back from forearm issues that have prevented him from throwing a major league pitch since July 2021. He already passed on a Spring Training opt-out and seems likely to do so again.

Ortega built an April 29 opt-out date into the minor league deal he signed with the Rangers earlier this month. He’d spent the spring in camp with the Yankees but didn’t crack New York’s roster and retested the market. Since signing with Texas, he’s played 17 games for Triple-A Round Rock. He carries a middling .219/.324/.313 line with one homer through 74 plate appearances. He’s drawing plenty of walks but not hitting for power and striking out a little more often than he has in recent seasons.

The lefty-hitting outfielder is coming off a reasonable .241/.331/.358 showing for the Cubs in 2022. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots but is probably best suited for a corner. Texas has gotten strong early-season work from minor league signee Travis Jankowski and has Adolis García and Leody Taveras penciled into starting roles. The Rangers haven’t gotten much production from any of their left field options aside from Jankowski, though, and it’s questionable how long the journeyman can keep up anything approaching his current .340/.415/.447 pace.

Gamel, 31 next month, has been a decent left-handed platoon outfielder in recent seasons. He typically hits around a league average level, including a .232/.324/.369 line over 115 games with the Pirates last year. After signing with the Rays, he’s off to a .217/.316/.406 start in 79 plate appearances at Triple-A Durham. He’s walking at a customarily strong 12.7% clip but has gone down on strikes in more than 30% of his trips. Left-handed hitting outfielders Josh Lowe and Luke Raley have had excellent starts for Tampa Bay, which could make it hard for Gamel to play his way into the MLB mix anytime soon.

Hamilton, 32, returned for a second stint with the White Sox over the winter. He’s appeared in 14 games with Triple-A Charlotte but hasn’t produced, stumbling to a .150/.292/.175 batting line. The speedster has been successful on all three of his stolen base attempts but likely needs to show a little more at the plate to earn the pinch-running/defensive specialist role he’s played for a number of teams over the past four-plus seasons. The White Sox recently selected Adam Haseley onto the MLB roster to serve as a glove-first fourth outfielder.

Hoffman didn’t sign early enough to receive the automatic opt-out for Article XX(B) free agents. He negotiated opt-out chances on both May 1 and July 1 into his April deal with the Phils. The righty has pitched seven times for their top affiliate in Lehigh Valley, allowing eight runs across 7 2/3 innings. He’s punched out 13 hitters but handed out five free passes. Hoffman had a reasonable 3.83 ERA through 44 2/3 frames for the Reds last season, missing bats at a league average rate but walking nearly 12% of his opponents. The Phils only have three out of eight relievers who can’t be optioned to the minors, giving them some room to add the veteran if they’re intrigued by Hoffman’s swing-and-miss capabilities.

Naquin was an Article XX(B) free agent who didn’t break camp with the big league club. He split the 2022 campaign between the Reds and Mets, combining to hit .229/.282/.423 over 334 trips to the plate. The left-handed hitting outfielder has played in 12 games for Triple-A Nashville, hitting .273/.319/.409. He’s not hitting for much power in the early going and has never been one to take too many walks. Naquin spent a bit of time on the injured list this month but was reinstated earlier in the week.

Milwaukee lost center fielder Garrett Mitchell to a season-threatening shoulder procedure and has gotten middling offensive production from rookie outfielder Joey Wiemer. They’re soon to welcome Tyrone Taylor back from the injured list, though, and Naquin’s serviceable but unexceptional Triple-A production may not force the front office’s hand.

Rosenthal has had his last couple seasons washed away by injury. He lost 2021 to thoracic outlet syndrome and hip surgery, while his ’22 campaign was wiped out by hamstring and lat strains. The Tigers took a look at the one-time star closer in Spring Training and kept him in the organization with their highest affiliate in Toledo. Rosenthal pitched twice in the season’s first week before being placed on the minor league IL with a sprained throwing elbow. Jason Beck of MLB.com tweeted yesterday that Rosenthal is headed for physical therapy, suggesting he won’t be ready for game action in the near future.

Ross is recovering from last June’s Tommy John surgery and will spend most of the year on the injured list. He bypassed his first opt-out chance in March and seems likely to do the same next week.

Sánchez’s May 1 opt-out was built into his contract, as he didn’t sign early enough to receive the automatic opt-out under the CBA. The general expectation was that the veteran backstop would play his way onto the big league roster. That was particularly true once San Francisco lost Roberto Pérez to a season-ending shoulder injury. Sánchez hasn’t done anything to force the issue with Triple-A Sacramento, though.

He’s hitting a woeful .191/.350/.213 without a home run and a 25% strikeout rate over 13 games. Sánchez connected on 16 longballs in the majors for the Twins last year but only reached base at a .282 clip. There’s a path to playing time behind the dish at Oracle Park. Still, Sánchez’s early performance hasn’t been what the organization envisioned. Promoting him would lock in the prorated portion of a $4MM salary for this season, which could prove a disincentive for the club.

Sanchez served a depth role for Minnesota last season, logging 60 innings over 15 outings (ten starts). He was tagged for a 6.60 ERA at the MLB level but performed well enough in Triple-A the organization brought him back. He’s started five games with St. Paul this season, logging 22 1/3 innings. While his 2.42 ERA is excellent, it belies a middling 19.2% strikeout percentage and a huge 17.2% walk rate. Minnesota has quite a bit more rotation depth than they did last summer and would probably look to players already on the 40-man roster (i.e. Simeon Woods Richardson and Louie Varland) before tabbing Sanchez if injuries necessitate.

Stammen suffered a capsule tear in his shoulder in Spring Training. The 39-year-old has spent the year on the injured list and has admitted the injury might unfortunately end his career.

Rockies Release Jose Urena

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The Rockies have released starter José Ureña, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. That was the anticipated outcome when Colorado designated the right-hander for assignment on Tuesday.

Ureña had been off to a very rough start to the season. Through five outings, he’d tossed 18 1/3 innings of 22-run ball. He walked 14 while recording just nine strikeouts and generating swinging strikes at a career-worst 7.2% clip. He and Ken Waldichuk are tied for the major league lead with nine home runs allowed.

That’s obviously not the caliber of production the Colorado front office had in mind when signing Ureña to a $3.5MM free agent deal last winter. It was a return to Coors Field for the sinkerballer, who spent the final four months of last season in Denver. Ureña posted a 5.14 ERA through 89 1/3 innings last season. While not overwhelming production, it was serviceable enough for a Rockies team that’s light on rotation depth. Ureña hadn’t come close to replicating those numbers through this season’s first month and Colorado moved on rather quickly.

Ureña is still due around $2.5MM in salary through season’s end, plus a $500K buyout on a 2024 club option. No team is going to take that off Colorado’s hands, so it’s a near certainty he’ll go unclaimed on release waivers. At that point, the 31-year-old hurler will be free to explore other opportunities. Any team that carries Ureña on its MLB roster would only owe him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary, which would be subtracted from Colorado’s obligations. Given the extent of his early-season struggles, he seems likely to be limited to minor league offers.

There should be some interest around the league in adding him to a Triple-A rotation. Ureña has never posted impressive strikeout or walk rates but he’s consistently kept the ball on the ground at a higher than average clip. He has 813 big league innings over parts of nine seasons, carrying a career 4.92 ERA.

Yankees Notes: Judge, Trivino, Loaisiga

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9:51pm: Judge said postgame he expected to be sidelined for a few days but downplayed any significant concern (Boland link).

9:23pm: AL MVP Aaron Judge left tonight’s game in Texas in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Yankees later informed reporters that Judge was experiencing some discomfort in his right hip (relayed by Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Oswaldo Cabrera came off the bench to take over right field.

The club will surely provide more on Judge’s status in the near future. At the moment, there’s nothing to suggest it was more than a precautionary move to keep the star slugger healthy. Judge has been in the starting lineup for all 26 of New York’s games. While he’s not hitting at last year’s superhuman level, the four-time All-Star has a well above-average .261/.352/.511 batting line with six home runs in 108 trips to the plate.

Elsewhere on the Yankee roster, manager Aaron Boone provided reporters with injury updates on a pair of relievers before tonight’s contest. Right-hander Lou Trivino is headed for a second opinion on his injured elbow, tweets Greg Joyce of the New York Post. Trivino hasn’t pitched this season because of an elbow sprain. The Yankees had announced early in Spring Training that he’d be out into May but that timeline was further pushed back when he recently experienced renewed soreness. The 31-year-old met with Yankees’ physician Christopher Ahmad yesterday.

Acquired from the A’s alongside Frankie Montas last summer, Trivino threw 21 2/3 innings of 1.66 ERA ball down the stretch for New York. The former Oakland closer had been quite effective from 2020-21 but was off to a rough first half to the ’22 campaign before righting the ship in the Bronx. He could be a medium to high-leverage arm in the Yankee relief corps if healthy but the mention of a second opinion for an elbow concern raises the possibility of a long-term absence.

Fellow righty Jonathan Loáisiga has been out since the second week of the season with inflammation in his throwing elbow. While it doesn’t seem there’s a ton of long-term concern there, Boone told reporters the 28-year-old was experiencing some soreness after a throwing session yesterday (via Erik Boland of Newsday). The club hasn’t provided many specifics, though it’s possible Loáisiga finds himself a little behind schedule in his rehab process as a result.

Mariners Release Justus Sheffield

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The Mariners are releasing left-hander Justus Sheffield from Triple-A Tacoma, tweets Rainiers’ director of media relations Paul Braverman. The southpaw had already been taken off the 40-man roster over the offseason but had remained in the system after going unclaimed on outright waivers.

Sheffield had been hit very hard through his first 10 outings in Tacoma. He’s allowed 17 runs over 8 1/3 innings, walking 11 batters with only four strikeouts. Given that production, he surely wasn’t on the radar for an imminent look at the MLB level. Seattle will instead officially part ways with the 26-year-old hurler, a disappointing conclusion to a four-plus year tenure in the organization.

The M’s first acquired Sheffield from the Yankees in the James Paxton trade over the 2018-19 offseason. One of the game’s top pitching prospects at the time of the deal, Sheffield was regarded by many prospect evaluators as a potential mid-rotation starter. He was the headlining piece of the trade return, though righty Erik Swanson wound up outperforming him after moving to the bullpen.

Sheffield struggled in a brief look in 2019 but flashed some of that promise during the shortened 2020 campaign. Sheffield had a 3.58 ERA through 10 starts that year, inducing ground balls at a quality 50.6% clip. Over the past two seasons, though, the former first round draftee has allowed over six earned runs per nine innings at the MLB level. His ERA was pushing 7.00 over 24 starts in Triple-A last season.

That led to him clearing waivers in January, preceding his immense struggles through this season’s first month. He’ll hit the open market in search of a new landing spot, which would assuredly be via minor league contract.

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