Joely Rodriguez Elects Free Agency
Left-hander Joely Rodriguez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Red Sox and elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.
The 32-year-old Rodriguez had two stints with the Red Sox this season, pitching a combined 13 2/3 innings with a 5.93 ERA but more encouraging secondary marks. While Rodriguez’s 18.8% strikeout rate is a few percentage points shy of league-average, he issued walks at a tiny 3.1% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a gaudy 59.2% rate. Metrics like FIP (4.93) and especially SIERA (2.87) are far more bullish on this year’s work.
In 170 2/3 innings in the majors, Rodriguez has pitched to a 4.80 ERA. That pedestrian mark belies more encouraging strikeout and ground-ball numbers (22.5% and 56%, respectively), although Rodriguez’s ability to miss bats and keep the ball out of the air have both been undercut by sub-par command. He’s walked 10% of his career opponents and struggled to strand the runners he does allow (career 64% left-on-base rate).
This year’s 90 mph average sinker is down nearly five miles per hour from Rodriguez’s peak, but he still pitched reasonably well in Triple-A and still managed to pile up grounders in bulk at the big league level. He’ll be a depth option for clubs seeking lefty relief in the season’s final month.
White Sox Release John Brebbia
The White Sox released veteran right-handed reliever John Brebbia after designating him for assignment earlier this week, tweets Vinnie Duber of CHGO Sports. He’s now a free agent.
Brebbia inked a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the ChiSox in the offseason and has had a tumultuous tenure with the club. The 34-year-old righty started the season on a run of six scoreless appearances and had a sharp 3.38 ERA in mid-May before falling into a monthlong slump that ballooned his ERA to 7.71. He bounced back with a dominant five-week run kicking off in early June, wherein he rattled off 18 1/3 innings while allowing just two runs with a 27-to-4 K/BB ratio. Since that time, he’s been tagged for another 16 runs in 11 2/3 innings, however.
The end result of that roller coaster is a 6.29 ERA in 48 2/3 innings, although Brebbia’s rate stats are far more encouraging. He’s fanned a strong 26.9% of his opponents against a tidy 7.9% walk rate. Home runs have been a prominent issue for the righty (1.66 HR/9), however, and have typically been at the root of his struggles. That’s been especially true at the homer-friendly Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, where Brebbia has posted an ERA north of 7.00 and allowed seven of his nine homers on the season.
While Brebbia’s run with the White Sox won’t go down as an overall success, the right-hander has a solid track record and an encouraging K-BB profile even during his down 2024 showing. Brebbia entered the 2024 season with a career 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate in 299 2/3 innings. He’d pitched in six big league seasons prior to the ’24 season and logged a sub-4.00 ERA in five of them.
Now that he’s been released, the Brebbia can sign with any club. If he lands with a new team on or before Aug. 31, he’d be eligible for the postseason roster, provided he can turn things around in the season’s final month. Any team that signs Brebbia would owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster or injured list. The White Sox are on the hook for the remainder of his 2024 salary.
Astros Option Chas McCormick
The Astros optioned outfielder Chas McCormick to Triple-A Sugar Land following last night’s game — presumably to clear an active roster spot for the pending arrival of newly signed outfielder Jason Heyward. The team didn’t formally announce the move yet, but McCormick took it upon himself to call the Astros beat over to his locker last night and inform them of the news after he’d been told (X links via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Houston still needs to clear a 40-man spot for Heyward.
It’s the first time McCormick has been sent to the minors since June 2022 — a trip that only lasted one day, as he was quickly recalled to the big leagues after Michael Brantley landed on the injured list. With the exception of that one-day trip to Sugar Land, this new optional assignment is the first time McCormick has been sent down since initially being called to the majors. (He’s briefly played in the minors in the past two years while on injury rehab assignments but hasn’t actually been optioned.)
The 2024 season has been a nightmare for the 29-year-old McCormick and a noted departure from the productive three-year stretch he enjoyed from 2021-23. McCormick posted a solid .257/.319/.447 slash as a rookie in 2021, enjoyed a more productive year in 2022 and broke out with a career-best .273/.353/.489 slash last year. McCormick enjoyed career-best marks in home runs (22), doubles (17), stolen bases (19), plate appearances (457), strikeout rate (25.6%), wRC+ (134) and wins above replacement (3.3 fWAR, 3.6 bWAR) during that standout 2023 campaign.
Everything has trended in the wrong direction in 2024. The 2017 21st-rounder has posted a disastrous .192/.256/.292 batting line in 243 plate appearances this season. McCormick’s 28.8% strikeout rate isn’t a career-worst but is a significant increase from last year. His 6.6% walk rate is a career-low. McCormick has chased pitches off the plate at the highest rate of his career (33.1%) and made contact on pitches within the strike zone at the lowest rate of his career (76%). The contact he’s made has generally been weak. Statcast pegs him with career-worst marks in average exit velocity (85.2 mph), barrel rate (7.8%) and hard-hit rate (31.4%). McCormick has hit more infield flies (six) in a career-low 243 plate appearances this season than he has in any previous campaign.
Depending on the amount of time McCormick spends in Sugar Land, there could be contractual implications. He entered the 2024 season with exactly three years of service, meaning he’d need 172 days in the majors to hit four years of service. At the moment, he’s accrued 154 days of major league service. McCormick still needs another 18 days to cross four years of service and remain on track for free agency in the 2026-27 offseason. If he’s not recalled on or before Sept. 12, his path to free agency will be pushed back by a year.
For now, the focus will be getting McCormick back on track down in Triple-A, where he can get everyday at-bats that haven’t been available as a contending Astros club looks to stay atop a closely contested AL West race. McCormick did pinch-hit in last night’s game and swat a two-run homer, though that was just his fourth hit in 48 plate appearances since the trade deadline.
At the moment, with Kyle Tucker still on the shelf, the Astros’ outfield mix includes Jake Meyers, Yordan Alvarez, utilityman Mauricio Dubon, journeyman Ben Gamel and (soon) the aforementioned Heyward. With Alvarez working primarily as a designated hitter (81 games there versus 43 in left field) and three lefty-swinging options in the outfield mix (Alvarez, Gamel, Heyward), there should be room for McCormick’s right-handed bat if a brief minor league reset can get him back on track. That’s particularly with rosters set to expand from 26 to 28 players on Sept. 1. While he’s struggled against lefties and righties alike this season, McCormick is still a career .286/.358/.508 hitter against southpaws.
Orioles Claim Forrest Wall, Designate Dillon Tate For Assignment
The Orioles announced that they have claimed outfielder Forrest Wall off waivers and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment by the Marlins earlier this week. To open a 40-man roster spot for him, right-hander Dillon Tate has been designated for assignment.
Wall, 28, fits the classic speed-and-defense mold that contending clubs tend to acquire this time of season. He gives the Orioles a bench option down the stretch in September and perhaps into the postseason, if they’re willing to dedicate a roster spot to what’s effectively a pinch-running specialist and potential late-game defensive replacement.
Selected 35th overall by the Rockies in 2014, Wall has played in a pair of big league seasons, suiting up for the Braves last year and for Atlanta and Miami this season. He has only 50 MLB plate appearances under his belt, with a .311/.380/.432 slash to show for it. That’s strong production, of course, but it bears mentioning that Wall is only a .269/.355/.380 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons; he’s not likely to sustain that small-sample big league production over a lengthier period.
Be that as it may, the Orioles won’t be counting on him to do so. Baltimore has a stout lineup as is, but Wall offers 93rd percentile sprint speed. That’ll be his carrying trait for the Orioles for however long they carry him on the roster down the stretch. We’ve seen plenty of clubs successfully employ this tactic with expanded September rosters and into the postseason in the past — the 2015 Royals and Terrance Gore come to mind. Baltimore, for all its offensive prowess, lacks this type of premium speed at the moment. Jorge Mateo is even faster than Wall, but he’s on the 60-day IL due to a subluxation in his shoulder. Cedric Mullins leads the club with 23 steals but isn’t nearly as fast as Wall.
Baltimore’s claim of Wall will bring to an end a lengthy Orioles tenure for Tate. The 30-year-old righty and former No. 4 overall draft pick came to the O’s back in 2018 as the former front office regime kicked off the rebuild that led to the development of the Orioles’ current impressive core. For several seasons, Tate was a staple in the Baltimore ‘pen, but injuries have set him back.
From 2020-22, Tate pitched 158 innings with a 3.65 ERA, 19.1% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and huge 57.9% grounder rate. He looked to have solidified himself as a quality late-inning piece for manager Brandon Hyde, but a flexor strain wiped out Tate’s entire 2023 season. Since returning, he’s shown diminished velocity with lesser strikeout and grounder rates: 15.5% and 50.9%, respectively. He’s been tagged for a 4.59 ERA in 33 1/3 innings this season, although Tate sports a 2.16 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 4.3% walk rate and 40.4% grounder rate in 16 2/3 Triple-A innings as well.
With the trade deadline behind us, the Orioles will have no choice but to place Tate on waivers. Given his track record, modest $1.5MM salary and additional club control, it’s possible Tate will be picked up by another club. The new team would only owe Tate the prorated portion of that salary — just $250K through season’s end. A new club could also retain him for another two seasons via arbitration. While Tate entered the season with 4.048 years of MLB service, he won’t spend enough time on the big league roster this season to cross five years. As such, he’ll be controllable through the 2026 campaign if another team wishes to claim him.
In the event that Tate goes unclaimed, he’d have enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, since he doesn’t yet have five years of service, doing so would require forfeiting the remainder of this year’s $1.5MM salary. As such, he’s likely to accept a minor league assignment if he’s not claimed. In that scenario, Tate would be eligible to become a free agent at season’s end unless he’s added back to the 40-man roster prior to that point.
Cubs Expected To Pursue Catching Upgrade In Offseason
There are multiple driving factors behind the Cubs’ disappointing 2024 season, but one of the most prominent flaws has been a catching corps that ranks near the bottom of the league in terms of offensive production. By measure of wRC+, only the last-place White Sox and Marlins have received lesser contributions than the Cubs’ collective .221/.265/.352 from their backstops.
The quartet of Yan Gomes, Miguel Amaya, Tomas Nido and Christian Bethancourt have accounted for all of the Cubs’ plate appearances at catcher this season. And while Amaya has turned things around of late — he’s hitting .358/.402/.589 over his past 105 plate appearances — adding some catching help remains a “priority” for the Cubs in the forthcoming offseason, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports.
As Sharma explains at greater length, Amaya’s turnaround isn’t necessarily a small-sample fluke. He changed his setup in the batter’s box and ditched his leg kick for a toe-tap back in early July, and his results have taken off since. At the same time, it’s only 105 plate appearances (during which he has a .372 BABIP), and the Cubs understandably aren’t ready to put all their eggs in that one basket just yet.
Adding catching help is a natural goal for the Cubs, not only because of the 2024 group’s overall dearth of production but also because the lineup generally needs more offense but lacks clear areas for potential change. In the outfield, Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki and Pete Crow-Armstrong are locked into a rotation. It’s possible Bellinger triggers an opt-out in his contract at season’s end, but he’s no lock to do so when he’s hitting .269/.328/.423 on the season.
Around the infield, things are mostly set with deadline pickup Isaac Paredes at third base, Dansby Swanson at shortstop, Nico Hoerner at second and Michael Busch at first. The Cubs don’t have a set designated hitter, but with four outfielders all meriting regular playing time, one of that quartet can line up as the DH on any given day.
It’s at least possible the Cubs could look to shake up the current group on the offseason trade market, but their options there are limited. Swanson, Happ and Suzuki all have no-trade clauses. Paredes was only just acquired and isn’t going to be moved so quickly. Busch has had a productive rookie season and has five additional seasons of club control. Crow-Armstrong started slow at the plate but has picked up steam of late — and he’s an elite defender who’s gone 26-for-27 in stolen base attempts. Like Busch, he has five seasons of club control remaining.
The middle infield has been a letdown for the Cubs in terms of offensive production. Swanson hit .244/.328/.416 with 22 homers in his first season as a Cub last year but has dipped to .229/.303/.369 this season. He’s still playing exceptional defense, however, and as previously noted cannot be traded without his consent. (The remaining five years on his contract wouldn’t generate huge interest on the heels of a down season at the plate anyhow.) Hoerner’s name popped up on the rumor mill prior to this season’s deadline, with the Dodgers reportedly among the interested teams. He’s hitting .257/.326/.351 as of this writing. Like Swanson, it’s sub-par offense that’s paired with premium defense and baserunning. Hoerner is signed through 2026 and was an above-average hitter as recently as 2023.
All told, the Cubs’ lineup is largely set, with the exception of next year’s starting catcher. Amaya has another month to stake his claim to that role, but catcher is a natural spot for president of baseball ops Jed Hoyer to look to inject some life into his lineup. The Cubs reportedly pursued young Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe prior to the deadline, so it’s hardly a surprise to see that they’re gearing up to look for upgrades this winter.
That said, the upcoming class of free agents doesn’t include a clear-cut answer. Danny Jansen is the top option on the open market, but after hitting .237/.317/.487 (121 wRC+ from 2021-23, he’s stumbled with a .214/.303/.363 slash this season (90 wRC+). Gary Sanchez, Elias Diaz and Carson Kelly are among the other options, but none is a clear candidate to serve as a meaningful upgrade.
The Cubs have a strong farm system and could use some of that prospect depth to pursue alternatives. Their interest in O’Hoppe suggests they’ve perhaps already laid the groundwork on some pursuits of this nature. There’s no indication the Angels are open to moving O’Hoppe, but the Cubs could revisit that scenario. There are other clubs with ample catching depth to spare. The Dodgers have Will Smith signed for another decade but prospects Dalton Rushing and Diego Cartaya behind him (though the latter hasn’t hit well in Triple-A and has seen his stock drop considerably). The Mariners have Cal Raleigh locked in at catcher, but 2021 first-rounder and top prospect Harry Ford isn’t far from MLB readiness. Perhaps the A’s would be open to moving Shea Langeliers and his 22 home runs as he gets another step closer to arbitration.
That’s a speculative list of options, to be clear, but the underlying point remains clear. The Cubs have a need to improve the lineup but little flexibility as they strive to do so, with catcher the most straightforward option. But while that’s a straightforward need, the path to achieve it is obscured by a lack of impactful free agents and clear impact trade candidates at a generally thin position.
Marco Gonzales To Undergo Flexor Surgery; Hunter Stratton Undergoes Knee Surgery
Pirates lefty Marco Gonzales will undergo surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his left elbow, the team announced to reporters Wednesday (X link via Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Additionally, right-hander Hunter Stratton already underwent knee surgery to repair the ruptured patellar tendon he recently suffered. Gonzales’ procedure will be performed in early September and comes with a recovery timetable of nine months to a year, while Stratton’s procedure was completed today. He’s projected to need seven to ten months to be ready for a return to a big league mound.
Pittsburgh acquired Gonzales in a trade with the Braves this offseason, taking on $3MM of the veteran lefty’s $12MM salary in the process. (Atlanta had taken on Gonzales’ contract as part of their deal to acquire Jarred Kelenic from the Mariners.) A pair of forearm injuries will ultimately limit Gonzales to only seven starts for the Bucs — the first five of which were quite effective. The 32-year-old notched a 2.70 ERA over 26 2/3 frames in that stretch, fanning 17.3% of his opponents against a 5.5% walk rate. In his final two starts with the Pirates, however, Gonzales yielded nine runs on 15 hits and five walks in only seven innings.
The Bucs technically hold a 2025 option on Gonzales, but that’s priced at $15MM and comes with no buyout if the team opts to decline it. Given Gonzales’ recent injury troubles and the now lengthy rehab period he’ll face following surgery, it’s a foregone conclusion that the team will decline the option and make Gonzales a free agent. He’ll likely be ticketed for a minor league deal in free agency.
Injuries have held Gonzales to only 17 starts and 83 2/3 innings over the past two seasons, but prior to that the lefty was a fixture in the Mariners’ rotation. Seattle acquired him from the Cardinals in a straight-up swap for then-prospect Tyler O’Neill, and Gonzales quickly cemented himself in Seattle’s rotation thereafter. From 2018-22, Gonzales started 131 games for the Mariners, tallying 765 2/3 innings of 3.94 ERA ball with a 17.6% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate.
While Gonzales’ injury likely ends his tenure with Pittsburgh, that’s decidedly not the case for Stratton. The 27-year-old will finish the current season with just over one year of big league service time, meaning he’s controllable for five seasons beyond the current campaign. Given the solid nature of his results in 2024, Stratton has likely pitched his way into a future role with the team, so long as he can make a full recovery from his knee injury.
Dating back to last year’s MLB debut, Stratton has pitched 49 2/3 innings for the Pirates, during which he’s turned in a 3.26 ERA with a 21% strikeout rate, 4.9% walk rate and 41% ground-ball rate. He’s averaged 95.6 mph on his heater, done a nice job at dodging hard contact and recorded a hearty 12.6% swinging-strike rate that suggests some growth in his strikeout rate remains possible.
If Stratton is able to return on the short end of the team’s provided timetable, he’d be ready for game action near the end of spring training next year. That might ticket him for an early stint on the injured list, but a return in April would be feasible. If he skews closer to the lengthier end, a summer return would still be in the cards.
Royals Place Michael Lorenzen On Injured List
The Royals have placed right-hander Michael Lorenzen on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring, per a team announcement. Righty Steven Cruz has been recalled from Triple-A Omaha in his place. Lorenzen sustained the injury yesterday when covering first base on a grounder.
Acquired in a deadline swap that sent lefty reliever Walter Pennington to the Rangers, Lorenzen has been a boon to the Kansas City rotation. In five starts, he’s pitched 24 1/3 innings of 1.85 ERA ball, striking out 17% of his opponents against a 10% walk rate. Metrics like FIP (4.20) and SIERA (5.11) aren’t nearly as bullish, given the righty’s pedestrian strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates.
Even if Lorenzen can’t be reasonably expected to continue producing a sub-2.00 ERA, the results thus far have been an unequivocal jolt for a team that had been struggling to get production from fifth starter Alec Marsh. Kansas City has won each of Lorenzen’s last three starts, and there’s little blame to be placed on him for the team’s loss in his Royals debut; he tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a game the Royals eventually lost by a score of 6-5.
The Royals didn’t provide a timetable for Lorenzen’s return, but he’ll be down for at least two weeks. The aforementioned Marsh is the likeliest candidate to step back into the rotation in his stead. In 20 starts this season (plus one relief appearance), the 26-year-old Marsh has tossed 106 innings with a 4.67 earned run average.
Marsh’s 21.3% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate are both better than Lorenzen’s season-long marks between Texas and Kansas City, but he also faded significantly following a strong start to the season. Over his past eight trips to the mound, he’s been rocked for a 6.46 ERA and surrendered seven homers in 39 innings (1.62 HR/9). Marsh was sharp in four Triple-A starts this month after being optioned (1.80 ERA, 19-to-5 K/BB ratio in 15 innings), and the Royals will now need to hope for more of that type of output while Lorenzen mends.
As for the 25-year-old Cruz, this’ll be his first look with the Royals in 2024. He made his big league debut last year, pitching 12 2/3 innings with a 4.97 ERA and a 15-to-11 K/BB ratio in that short time. Kansas City acquired the hard-throwing righty in the 2022-23 offseason trade that sent Michael A. Taylor to the division-rival Twins. He’s pitched exclusively out of the Omaha bullpen this season and recorded a 3.35 ERA with a 26.6% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate in 48 1/3 innings. Cruz’s four-seamer has averaged 96.9 mph in Triple-A this season, and he’s primarily paired that pitch with a slider that sits at 89.4 mph.
Red Sox Designate Brad Keller; Place Lucas Sims, Luis García On Injured List
4:50pm: The Sox have also placed right-hander Luis García on the injured list, with righty Josh Winckowski recalled in a corresponding move. Chris Cotillo of MassLive was among those to relay that swap on X.
3:42pm: The Red Sox have designated right-hander Brad Keller for assignment and placed righty Lucas Sims on the 15-day injured list due to a right lat strain, per a team announcement. Keller’s DFA paves the way for lefty Rich Hill to be selected from Triple-A Worcester — a move that was originally reported earlier this morning. Right-hander Greg Weissert is up from Worcester to take Sims’ spot in the bullpen.
Keller, 29, has been up and down with the Red Sox several times this season. The longtime Royals hurler originally inked a minor league deal with the White Sox over the winter but latched on with Boston after being quickly cut loose in Chicago. Keller was summoned to the majors for a third stint with the Red Sox earlier this week and allowed three runs in four innings of long relief during yesterday’s doubleheader. He’s posted a 5.84 ERA with the Red Sox and an overall 5.44 mark in 41 1/3 innings between Chicago and Boston this year.
It’s been a rough decline for Keller, who from 2018-20 was a regular in the Kansas City rotation. He pitched 360 1/3 innings of 3.50 ERA ball for the Royals and looked to be settling in as a solid mid-rotation arm. His production dwindled in 2021-22, however, and in 2023 he walked 45 batters in 45 1/3 innings of work. That alarming deterioration of his command led to an IL trip, and imaging/testing eventually revealed symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. Keller underwent surgery last summer, and while he’s pitched well in Triple-A recently, he’s yet to rediscover his form at the big league level.
The Red Sox will place Keller on release waivers or outright waivers shortly. He’s already cleared a couple of times this season and figures to do so again. Once he clears, he can become a free agent and sign with any team, although last time he was in that spot, he simply re-signed with the Red Sox on a new minor league pact. A similar series of events this time around would come as little surprise.
Sims, 30, was a trade deadline pickup for the Sox but has been torched for nine runs in 10 innings since coming over from the Reds. That’s a far cry from the 3.57 mark he notched in 35 1/3 innings prior to the swap, which sent minor leaguer Ovis Portes to Cincinnati. Whether his rocky performance was due to injury or a change in pitch selection — Boston significantly scaled back the usage of his four-seamer in favor of a cutter — isn’t clear. Most lat strains require an absence of some note, however, and if Sims is out for any substantial period of time, that could spell the end of his time in Boston entirely. He’s slated to become a free agent at season’s end.
Twins Designate Trevor Richards For Assignment
The Twins announced their waiver claim of right-hander Michael Tonkin, which was previously reported. To open a 40-man spot, righty Trevor Richards has been designated for assignment. To take the active spot of Richards, the club has selected the contract of righty Caleb Boushley. To open a 40-man spot for Boushley, righty Joe Ryan has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Richards was the Twins’ lone deadline pickup a month ago, coming over from Toronto in exchange for minor league infielder Jay Harry. The right-hander had scoreless outings in seven of his ten appearances with Minnesota but also had three shakier outings, leading to a 4.15 ERA in 13 innings overall.
That may not seem particularly poor at first glance, but Richards walked a massive 18.6% of his opponents during his time with the Twins and even more incredibly uncorked seven wild pitches during those 13 frames. He also hit two batters. Overall, the lack of command he showed proved too alarming for the team to continue on with the right-hander.
Richards has had some big league success in the past, both as a starter (261 2/3 innings of 4.22 ERA ball in 2018-19) and a reliever (3.50 ERA, 31.1 K% in 64 1/3 innings in 2021). However, even though he’s shown a consistent ability to miss bats and regularly flummoxed lefties with a plus changeup, he’s struggled with command and been far too hittable against fellow righties.
Richards came to the Twins as a rental who’d been struggling with his former team, so the cost of acquisition to acquire him was quite low. Still, the Twins surely hoped for better results, particularly given their lack of other deadline additions. Instead, he’ll give way to Tonkin, who’s back for a second 2024 stint with the team that originally drafted him in the 30th round back in 2008. Richards will now hit waivers and presumably clear, as a team would need to be willing to pay the remaining $358K on his $2.15MM salary in order to place a claim.
As for the 30-year-old Boushley, this’ll be his second stint with the Twins this year as well. He pitched two innings and allowed two runs a few months back, but has spent the rest of the season in Triple-A, where he has a 4.97 ERA in 116 innings. That earned run average is skewed in part by a calamitous nine-run shellacking at the hands of the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate back on July 3, but Boushley has been struggling in general as of late. Even setting aside that nine-run bonanza, he’s been tagged for a 6.55 ERA in his past seven starts with the Saints.
White Sox Designate John Brebbia For Assignment
The White Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever John Brebbia for assignment and optioned third baseman Bryan Ramos to Triple-A Charlotte. Their roster spots will go to infielder Jacob Amaya, whom the Sox recently claimed off waivers, and right-hander Prelander Berroa, who’s being recalled from Charlotte.
It’s been a rollercoaster of a season for Brebbia, who signed a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the Sox over the winter. He started the season with five scoreless appearances and was generally sharp through mid-May before enduring a massive three-week slump. He righted the ship in early June and went on a dominant six-week stretch where he pitched to a sub-1.00 ERA with elite strikeout and walk rates … only to fall into another, even lengthier slump from which he’s yet to escape. Dating back to July 14, Brebbia has allowed 16 runs in 11 2/3 frames.
All told, Brebbia’s Jekyll-and-Hyde act will result in a grisly 6.29 ERA through 48 2/3 innings. He had multiple stretches where he pitched far, far better than that ultimate mark would suggest him to be capable of, but when Brebbia has been off his game, things have often snowballed in a hurry. He’s had six different relief outings this season in which he’s been tagged for at least three earned runs — including a four-run drubbing in what’ll now be his final outing with the Sox.
Ugly as this season’s results have been, Brebbia has a nice track record overall. In six prior big league seasons, he pitched 299 2/3 innings with a 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate between the Cardinals (2017-19) and Giants (2021-23). Brebbia missed the 2020 season due to Tommy John surgery and struggled to a 5.18 ERA in his 2021 return (albeit in just 18 1/3 innings). Outside of that short ’21 showing and this year’s implosion with the South Siders, he’s posted a sub-4.00 ERA every season.
Even with that track record and some legitimately impressive stretches interspersed throughout his 2024 season, Brebbia won’t be claimed off waivers. He’s owed not only the balance of his $4MM base salary (about $688K) but also a $1.5MM buyout on next year’s $6MM club option. If that combined $2.188MM for a four-week rental isn’t dissuading enough, Brebbia would also pick up a $250K bonus the next time he takes the mound, under the terms of his current contract. (He’s already earned $500K of bonuses for reaching 45 and 50 appearances and had identical bonuses available at 55 and 60 games pitched.)
Instead, Brebbia will pass through waivers unclaimed and become a free agent (whether by straight release or rejecting an outright assignment). At that point, a new team could sign him for only the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the majors. The incentives built into his White Sox contract would not follow him to a new team on a new free-agent deal, so that $250K bonus and the option buyout (which is still owed to him by the White Sox) will be nonfactors for Brebbia’s next team.
Even with this season’s poor bottom-line results, Brebbia has whiffed 27% of his opponents and limited walks at a sharp 7.9% clip. A contender in need of bullpen depth might be intrigued by that K-BB profile and take a low-risk flier on the veteran righty. So long as he’s with his new organization on or before Aug. 31, he’d be postseason-eligible.