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Brewers Place Travis Shaw On Outright Waivers

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The Brewers have placed infielder Travis Shaw on outright waivers, according to Peter Gammons and Will Sammon, both of The Athletic.

Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, Shaw had his contract selected by the Brewers in March. That contract came with a guarantee of $1.5MM. He appeared in 56 games, splitting his time between first and third base, before going on the IL with a dislocated shoulder, producing a disappointing line of .191/.279/.337, a wRC+ of 68. Since that time, the club has shored up its corner infield with the acquisitions of Rowdy Tellez and Eduardo Escobar, both of whom have been excellent since joining the Brew Crew. It seems that this has left Shaw, who began a rehab assignment July 27th, the odd man out.

This marks yet another downturn in Shaw’s seesaw career. After coming to Milwaukee in a trade with the Red Sox, Shaw was incredible for his first two years with the Brewers, hitting over 30 home runs in both 2017 and 2018, producing a combined line of .258/.347/.497 with a wRC+ of 120. However, 2019 went completely in the opposite direction, a miserable .157/.281/.270 campaign, wRC+ of 48, that caused the team to opt for not tendering him a contract for 2020. The Blue Jays picked him up and saw Shaw rebound slightly to a line of .239/.306/.411 and a wRC+ of 92. Unfortunately, the return to Milwaukee resulted in his production turning downwards yet again.

Shaw will now almost certainly clear waivers and become a free agent. He is still owed about $400K of the $1.5MM on his contract. Any team that signs Shaw would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with the Brewers on the hook for the rest.

Giants Sign Brandon Crawford To Two-Year, $32MM Extension

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The Giants announced they’ve agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with shortstop Brandon Crawford. It’s a $32MM deal, with Crawford slated to receive matching $16MM salaries between 2022-23. The three-time All-Star had been slated to reach free agency at the end of the season. Crawford is represented by Wasserman.

The deal will tack on another two seasons for Crawford, who turns 35 years old in January, in orange and black. The Giants selected the Bay Area native in the fourth round of the 2008 draft after a standout career at UCLA. He made his big league debut three years later and has been an organizational fixture ever since. Crawford has been San Francisco’s starting shortstop for the past decade, contributing to the franchise’s 2012 and 2014 World Series titles.

While Crawford broke in as a light-hitting defensive specialist, he put together three consecutive solid seasons with the bat from 2014-16, earning the NL’s Silver Slugger award for shortstops in the second of those years. Beginning in 2017, he started to fall off at the plate and eventually bottomed out with a .228/.304/.350 line in 2019. Crawford looked destined to end his career as a bottom-of-the-order type, but he’s posted a remarkable turnaround over the past two seasons.

The left-handed hitter bounced back to put up a quality .256/.326/.465 line in 2020. It might’ve been easy to waive that away as a small sample in the shortened season, but he’s been an absolute force at the plate this year. Crawford enters play Friday carrying a .296/.364/.540 mark with nineteen home runs over 371 plate appearances.

That’s far and away the best offensive showing of his career, and it’s among the best production of any player in baseball. Crawford’s 139 wRC+ suggests he’s been 39 percentage points more productive than the league average hitter after accounting for Oracle Park’s pitcher-friendly nature. That’s the #27 mark among the 282 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. At shortstop, only Fernando Tatís Jr. has been better at the plate.

Crawford’s not making much more contact or drawing many more walks than he has over the prior few seasons. He’s simply hitting the ball harder more consistently. Crawford’s 44.7% hard contact rate is his best mark since 2015, up nearly ten percentage points over his run of poor offense from 2017-19. His barrel rate (essentially how often Crawford hits the ball hard at a launch angle conducive to power) is up to 14.4% — easily his highest clip since Statcast became public in 2015 and a 90th percentile mark leaguewide. He’s hitting more fly balls generally, and it’s no coincidence he’ll certainly surpass his previous career best in homers (21).

Equally as important, Crawford has shown no signs of decline on defense. He’s always been among the game’s most sure-handed defenders, and that hasn’t changed despite his age. Statcast has credited the three-time Gold Glove award winner with 10 outs above average this season, a mark that trails only Nick Ahmed, Francisco Lindor, Matt Chapman, Nicky Lopez and Andrelton Simmons among infielders. Crawford’s reputation and advanced metrics suggest he’s still among the game’s premier defenders.

Crawford’s production on both sides of the ball is a huge reason the Giants have surprisingly posted the league’s best record. Between his stellar production, longstanding importance to the organization, and previous ties to the Bay Area, it’s little surprise both sides were motivated to get a deal done.

Even after signing Crawford, the Giants have an abundance of future payroll space. Evan Longoria ($19.667MM), Tommy La Stella ($5.25MM) and Jake McGee ($2.5MM) are the only other players with guaranteed contracts on the books next season. For a franchise that has previously pushed payroll up near $200MM, there’s plenty of breathing room for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and the rest of the front office.

That abundance of financial flexibility reflects the huge crop of potential free agents in San Francisco, though. Like Crawford, catcher Buster Posey and first baseman Brandon Belt are franchise cornerstones having great seasons. Posey’s contract comes with a $22MM club option for 2022 ($3MM buyout), while Belt is scheduled to reach free agency at the end of the year. So is staff ace Kevin Gausman, as well as rotation mates Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto. (Cueto has a $22MM club option that looks likely to be bought out). Deadline acquisition Kris Bryant will be one of the top position players on the market.

There’s obviously quite a bit on the offseason to-do list for Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris. They’ve started their winter work early by ensuring that Crawford returns at shortstop. There’s a good chance this extension solidifies Crawford as a one-franchise player. Last month, he told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle he could consider retirement a couple years from now.

“As a competitor, I don’t ever want there to be a year like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the end for him,’” Crawford told Shea. “I want to still be a good player the last year of my career. That’s why I’d say, ‘Yeah, at least a couple of more years would be nice.’ I don’t want to be 39 or 40 and feel I can’t move around anymore at short. I still want to be a good shortstop when I decide to hang it up.”

Crawford’s previous extension, signed in November 2015, contained a full no-trade clause. This deal does not, but that’s presumably because such a provision was unnecessary. Crawford reached ten years of major league service in June. With it, he locked in full no-trade rights as a 10-and-5 player (one with ten years of MLB service, the last five of which have come with the same team).

The signing removes one of the best-performing impending free agents from next winter’s market. There’s been a huge amount of attention on the star-studded shortstop class, which will include Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien and Javier Báez. Crawford has been as or more productive than all of them this year. His age was always going to keep him from landing any sort of mega-deal, but Crawford could’ve been a target for immediate contenders needing a shortstop. Instead, he’ll forego the open market to stick with the only organization he’s ever known.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was first to report the deal’s specific terms. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Kevan Smith Elects Free Agency

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Catcher Kevan Smith has elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. The Braves designated Smith for assignment on Wednesday.

Smith signed a minor league deal with the Rays over the offseason. He was selected to Tampa Bay’s big league roster in early May and traded to the Braves less than two weeks later. The right-handed hitting Smith logged fairly decent playing time in Atlanta with Travis d’Arnaud on the injured list, but he hit just .165/.248/.198 over 101 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from Smith’s generally decent work at the dish, as the 33-year-old carried a career .272/.321/.384 line into the 2021 campaign.

That track record seems likely to garner Smith some minor league opportunities from clubs looking to bolster their catching depth. Should he latch on elsewhere before August 31, Smith would be eligible to be added to his signing team’s postseason roster.

Marlins Sign Dustin Fowler

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The Marlins have signed outfielder Dustin Fowler to a minor league contract, according to an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville. The 26-year-old made his first appearance as a Jumbo Shrimp this evening.

Fowler began his career in the Yankees system, emerging as one of the better outfield prospects in the league within a few years. He reached the big leagues as a 22-year-old midway through the 2017 season. Unfortunately, Fowler ruptured his right patellar tendon in a bizarre collision with an exposed electrical box at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field during his MLB debut. That ended his season, and he was traded to the A’s as part of the return for Sonny Gray not long thereafter.

Oakland gave Fowler a bit of run in 2018, but he hit just .224/.256/.354 over 203 plate appearances. He didn’t appear in the majors in either of the next two seasons, instead spending both years on optional assignment — 2019 in Triple-A, 2020 at the alternate training site. Oakland traded him to the Pirates for cash in February.

Fowler opened the year on Pittsburgh’s big league roster but was designated for assignment after a rough eighteen games. The lefty-hitting outfielder cleared outright waivers and only appeared in thirteen Triple-A games before being released last weekend.

Obviously, Fowler hasn’t yet found any success at the big league level. He’s still relatively young and not too far removed from his days as a high-end prospect, though, and there’s no real harm for the Marlins in bringing him aboard as high minors depth. Fowler is a career .294/.342/.508 hitter over parts of four seasons at Triple-A.

Giants Release Aaron Sanchez

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The Giants announced this evening that they’ve placed right-hander Aaron Sanchez on unconditional release waivers. That was the expected outcome after the club designated him for assignment last weekend.

San Francisco added Sanchez on a one-year, $4MM guarantee over the offseason. It was a low-risk shot on a reclamation candidate. Sanchez showed plenty of promise early in his career with the Blue Jays but he’d been beset by injuries over the past few years and missed all of last season recovering from September 2019 shoulder surgery.

While the addition didn’t pan out as hoped, it wasn’t a complete bust. Sanchez worked to a 3.06 ERA over 35 1/3 innings across nine appearances (seven starts). His 16.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk percentage weren’t especially impressive, but he induced grounders at a strong 52.3% clip. That’s not quite the elite groundball numbers Sanchez boasted at his peak, but it was his best season in that regard since 2016.

Unfortunately, Sanchez’s troubles staying healthy reappeared in early May. The 29-year-old landed on the injured list with right biceps tightness. Between that and blister issues that cropped up on his minor league rehab assignment, Sanchez missed nearly three months. He returned to make two appearances before being let go.

Sanchez is entitled to the entirety of his $4MM salary, about $1.1MM of which remains to be paid out. Any team that claims Sanchez off waivers would assume the remainder of that salary, but it seems more likely he’ll pass through unclaimed and reach free agency. At that point, rival clubs could sign Sanchez for the prorated portion of the league minimum salary, with the rest of the tab falling on the Giants.

Red Sox Designate Marwin Gonzalez For Assignment, Activate Kyle Schwarber

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The Red Sox are reinstating trade deadline acquisition Kyle Schwarber from the injured list, manager Alex Cora announced to reporters Friday (Twitter link via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo). In order to clear roster space for Schwarber, who’s making his team debut tonight, Boston has designated infielder/outfielder Marwin Gonzalez for assignment.

Gonzalez, 32, found a rather frigid market for his services in free agency this past offseason, lingering on the market until inking a one-year, $3MM deal in Boston on the heels of a poor 2020 showing in Minnesota. The versatile switch-hitter posted just a .211/.286/.320 slash in 199 plate appearances with the Twins last year and hasn’t been able to improve upon that in 2021, batting just .201/.282/.285 in a larger sample of 271 trips to the plate.

Gonzalez has, at times, been an average or better offensive contributor, but his lone standout season at the plate came during the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017. Gonzalez posted a massive .303/.377/.530 batting line with a career-high 23 home runs in 515 plate appearances. He’s hit just .240/.310/.376 in nearly 1500 plate appearances since that season.

Defensively, Gonzalez has played solidly around the diamond in Boston, where he’s logged time at all four infield positions and both corner outfield slots. Gonzalez has more than 1000 career innings played at all four infield positions and in left field (plus another 402 in right field).

Given that he’s still owed about $839K of this year’s $3MM base salary and has produced a lowly .206/.284/.300 batting line in his past 470 MLB plate appearances, Gonzalez is a lock to go unclaimed on waivers. He’ll become a free agent at that point and be able to sign with any team for the prorated league minimum. Any pay he receives from another club would be deducted from the remainder of the salary still owed to him by the Red Sox.

Schwarber is now in line to make his team debut. The slugger rode an absurd month of June to a .253/.340/.570 line over 303 plate appearances with the Nationals. He suffered a significant hamstring strain in early July and landed on the injured list. Washington fell out of contention not long thereafter and traded away a huge swath of players before the deadline — including Schwarber, who’s an impending free agent. Now that he has returned to health, Schwarber figures to get plenty of run at first base, a position he’s never played in the major leagues, with Boston.

Sal Romano Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Sal Romano has declined an outright assignment to Triple-A Nashville from the Brewers and instead elected free agency, the team announced Friday. Milwaukee had designated him for assignment earlier in the week after just one appearance.

The 27-year-old Romano opened the season with the Reds organization, where he’d spent his entire professional career since being selected in the 23rd round of the 2011 draft. He found himself designated for assignment in early May, however, and went the free-agent route over an outright assignment at that point as well. He’s since made a pair of scoreless appearances with the Yankees (2 1/3 innings) and that lone appearance with the Brewers, during which he yielded three earned runs in an inning of work.

Romano had a solid showing as a rookie back in 2017, pitching to a 4.45 ERA in 87 innings. His 19 percent strikeout rate and 9.6 walk rate were both worse than the league average, but Romano notched a strong 50.4 percent ground-ball rate and generally limited hard contact well. It’s been a struggle for him in the big leagues since that time, however. Romano got a lengthy audition in the Cincinnati rotation the following year but struggled to a 5.48 ERA in 25 starts. On the whole, he’s posted a 5.52 ERA in 187 1/3 innings since that rookie campaign.

Romano does have a fairly solid track record in Triple-A (3.87 ERA in 142 innings), but he’s out of minor league options at this point, which has prompted three DFAs this season from the Reds, Yankees and Brewers. He’ll look for another organization where he can latch on as a depth option for the final weeks of the season. He’s worked primarily as a reliever this year, so he’s not stretched out to serve as a spot starter or long man just yet. He reached 27 pitches in his most recent outing with the Brewers.

Mariners Release Taylor Guerrieri, David Huff, Ryan Dull

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The Mariners have released former big leaguers Taylor Guerrieri, David Huff and Ryan Dull from the organization, tweets Triple-A Tacoma broadcaster Mike Curto. All three had been pitching out of the bullpen in Tacoma (although Huff initially worked out of the Rainers’ rotation upon signing).

Guerrieri, 28, had worked to a 4.61 ERA with a 22.6 percent strikeout rate against a 9.7 percent walk rate through 27 1/3 innings since joining the Mariners on a minor league deal. On the one hand, he’d scaled back his ERA considerably after a rocky start, holding opponents to just four runs in his past 14 1/3 innings. On the other hand, the strong strikeout and walk rates he posted early in Tacoma had swung the other direction; he’d punched out 12 hitters against nine walks and two hit batters in that stretch of 14 1/3 frames.

A former first-round pick of the Rays and longtime top pitching prospect, Guerrieri has faced multiple arm injuries over the course of a decade-long professional career — most notably Tommy John surgery that wiped out the majority of his 2013-14 seasons. He does have 36 MLB frames under his belt, split between the Blue Jays and Rangers, but he’s struggled to a 5.50 ERA with a 27-to-22 K/BB ratio in that time.

The 36-year-old Huff had some strong outings but lacked consistency, logging a 5.25 ERA in 48 innings with Tacoma. He’s never been a big strikeout arm, and that was the case in 2021 as well, punching out just 16.5 percent of his opponents, albeit against an excellent 4.5 percent walk rate.

Huff hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2016 but does have 393 1/3 MLB frames under his belt. The best of that work came from 2011-14, when he posted a 4.03 ERA in 174 innings split among three clubs (Indians, Yankees, Giants). Huff struggled in a short stint with the 2016 Halos but went on to carve out a nice career overseas, spending two years in the Korea Baseball Organization and another two in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. He returned to the U.S. and spent the 2020 season pitching independent ball.

Dull, 31, was a standout reliever with the A’s back in 2016 but has never managed to replicate anything close to the 2.42 ERA he logged through 74 1/3 innings that year. He’s posted a 6.08 mark in 80 MLB innings since that time and had been scuffling again in Triple-A this year, as evidenced by a 6.06 ERA in 35 2/3 innings. Dull started his time in Tacoma with five shutout innings and a 6-to-1 K/BB ratio, but he’s since been tagged for 26 runs (24 earned) in 30 2/3 innings.

Diamondbacks Outright Jordan Weems

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The Diamondbacks announced that reliever Jordan Weems has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Reno. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster.

Arizona claimed Weems off waivers from the Athletics last month. He’s only made two big league appearances with the D-Backs after pitching in five games for Oakland earlier in the year. Between the two clubs, the righty worked 5 2/3 innings of ten-run ball, striking out seven and issuing six walks. It’s been a disappointing follow-up to a promising showing in brief work in 2020, when Weems posted a 3.21 ERA over fourteen frames with a massive 31% strikeout rate.

Weems doesn’t have the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment, so he’ll remain in Reno — where he’s spent the past few weeks after being optioned. The 28-year-old will look to pitch his way back into the majors before the end of the season. If he’s not reselected onto the 40-man roster before the end of the year, Weems will have the right to elect minor league free agency this offseason.

Blue Jays Release Tommy Milone

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The Blue Jays have released left-hander Tommy Milone, per a club announcement. He’s spent the bulk of the 2021 season on the injured list due to inflammation in his left shoulder but had gone out on a minor league rehab assignment recently.

Milone, 34, allowed 10 runs on 20 hits and three walks with 17 strikeouts through 14 innings with the Jays earlier in the season. His initial IL placement came back on May 2, and the club moved him to the 60-day IL later that month. He’s tossed 13 2/3 innings in Triple-A since beginning his rehab assignment, holding opponents to four earned runs on nine hits and five walks with nine punchouts.

It’s been a rough few seasons for Milone overall, although he got out to a strong start with the 2020 Orioles, notching a 3.99 ERA with a 24 percent strikeout rate against just a 3.1 percent walk rate in six starts (29 1/3 innings) before being traded to the Braves. Things didn’t go well in Atlanta, as Milone yielded 16 runs in three starts before heading to the injured list with inflammation in his left elbow.

Despite a rough patch in recent years, Milone is an experienced lefty with a lifetime 4.59 ERA in 927 2/3 big league innings. He’s never been a prolific strikeout pitcher (17.7 percent) and was averaging just 84-85 mph on his heater in his limited time with the Jays early in the season, but even at his best Milone only sat in the 87-88 mph range. Milone also has excellent control (5.6 percent career walk rate) and has had enough big league success that a team in need of pitching depth down the stretch could take a look on a minor league deal — assuming he’s healthy, of course. The trade deadline has passed, and elimination of revocable August trade waivers gives contending clubs very few avenues to stockpiling veteran depth at this point in the season.

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