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National League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm CT. Here’s a rundown of fairly minor players on National League teams who have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month.

All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency without being placed on waivers. They’ll be eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 teams. It’s not uncommon to see non-tendered players almost immediately return to their previous organization on a minor league deal.

The transactions:

Latest Moves

Earlier

  • The Reds have non-tendered relievers Derek Law and Reiver Sanmartin. Cincinnati also confirmed the previously reported non-tender of Nick Senzel.
  • In addition to Rowdy Tellez and Brandon Woodruff, the Brewers have non-tendered right-hander J.C. Mejía. He failed a PED test in September, the second such result of his career, and was suspended for 162 games.
  • Former Rookie of the Year winner Kyle Lewis was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks. He played in only 16 games after being acquired from the Mariners last offseason.
  • The Cubs non-tendered relievers Ethan Roberts, Brandon Hughes and Codi Heuer. All three are recovering from surgeries.
  • Right-hander Tommy Doyle was non-tendered by the Rockies. Colorado designated him for assignment when acquiring Cal Quantrill this morning.
  • The Cardinals have non-tendered catcher Andrew Knizner, first baseman Juan Yepez and starting pitchers Jake Woodford and Dakota Hudson. St. Louis reportedly tried to deal Hudson this afternoon but evidently did not find a taker.
  • The Mets have non-tendered relievers Jeff Brigham, Sam Coonrod and Trevor Gott. New York also cut loose infielder Luis Guillorme and confirmed the reported non-tender of Dan Vogelbach.
  • Left-hander Josh Fleming was non-tendered by the Phillies, the team announced. Philadelphia just snagged the southpaw off waivers from the Rays a few weeks ago.
  • The Marlins have non-tendered catcher Jacob Stallings and infielder Garrett Hampson, per a club announcement. Stallings spent two seasons as the primary catcher after being acquired from the Pirates at the 2021-22 offseason. Hampson signed a minor league deal with the Fish last season.
  • The Pirates non-tendered Osvaldo Bido and Hunter Stratton, tweets Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Neither had yet been eligible for arbitration. Both right-handers made their big league debuts in 2023; Mackey suggests the Bucs will try to bring them back on minor league pacts.
  • The Nationals announced they’ve non-tendered first baseman Dominic Smith and right-hander Cory Abbott. Both players were designated for assignment earlier in the week, making this an inevitability.

Rockies, Geoff Hartlieb Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent righty Geoff Hartlieb, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The former Pirates and Mets reliever, a client of Paragon Sports International, will presumably head to spring training as a non-roster invitee.

Hartlieb, 29, spent the 2023 season in the Marlins organization and tossed four innings of one-run ball in the Majors. The rest of his season was spent in Triple-A Jacksonville, where he notched a solid 3.63 ERA with a 23.8% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 47.6% ground-ball rate in 44 2/3 innings of bullpen work.

Through parts of four Major League seasons, Hartlieb has been tagged for a 7.17 ERA in 70 1/3 innings, due largely to lackluster command. He’s averaged better than 96 mph on his four-seamer and better than 94 mph on his sinker, generating grounders at a healthy 49% rate and missing enough bats (20.4% strikeout rate) to get by if he could pare down the free passes. Hartlieb, however, has walked 15.1% of his opponents in the Majors, which has unsurprisingly proven untenable.

The Rockies have minimal certainty in their bullpen and figure to have multiple spots up for grabs heading into the 2024 season. It stands to reason that Hartlieb will be one of many experienced bullpen options brought in on minimal or no-commitment deals such as this one. He’s out of minor league options, so if he cracks the big league roster at any point, he’ll have to stick in the Majors or else be designated for assignment and exposed to waivers.

Rockies Select Four Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Rockies announced their 40-man roster moves in advance of today’s Rule 5 deadline, bringing their allotment back up to a full 40 players.  Colorado selected the contracts of infielder Adael Amador, outfielder Yanquiel Fernandez, and right-handers Juan Mejia and Angel Chivilli.

There wasn’t much suspense over the first two moves, as Amador and Fernandez are two of the better prospects in all of baseball.  Baseball America and MLB Pipeline each rank Amador as the 21st-best minor leaguer in the game, while Fernandez is ranked 47th by BA and 49th by Pipeline.  The duo each reached the Double-A level in 2023 but didn’t perform particularly well, though Amador missed a lot of time with a broken right hamate bone.  It seems likely that Colorado will start both back at Double-A Hartford to begin the 2024 campaign, but it wouldn’t be a shock if either Amador or Fernandez got a cup of coffee in the majors before the year is out.

Mejia had a combined 5.06 ERA over 58 2/3 combined innings with High-A Spokane and Double-A Hartford in 2023, but as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding wrote this week, Mejia looked quite impressive in Arizona Fall League action.  Though Mejia had nine walks over his 8 1/3 innings in the AFL, he also struck out 17 batters, highlighting in rather extreme fashion his career-long trend towards both missing bats and battling control problems.  The Rockies felt Mejia’s live arm is worth the protection, so the 23-year-old will now make a 40-man roster for the first time.

The 21-year-old Chivilli ran into some home run issues in Spokane this season, contributing to the 5.61 ERA he posted over 61 combined innings (57 in High-A ball, four at Double-A).  Like Mejia, Chivilli has saved some of his best work for the offseason, pitching well in Dominican Winter League action.

Rockies Claim Jalen Beeks Off Waviers From Rays

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The Rockies announced this afternoon that they have claimed left-hander Jalen Beeks off waivers from the Rays. The club’s 40-man roster now stands at 36.

Beeks, 30, made his big league debut in 2018 as a member of the Red Sox, but made just two appearances with Boston before being shipped to the Rays in the Nathan Eovaldi trade. Upon joining the Rays for the stretch run, Beeks pitched to a 4.47 ERA and 4.45 FIP in 44 1/3 innings of work, before largely repeating that performance over a full season in 2019 with a 4.31 ERA and 4.41 FIP across 104 1/3 innings. Beeks took something of a step forward with the Rays in the shortened 2020 season, pitching to a solid 3.26 ERA with a sterling 1.76 FIP bolstered by a 32.1% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, his 2020 season would be halted prematurely by Tommy John surgery, which wiped out his 2021 campaign as well.

Upon returning in 2022, Beeks posted the best full season of his career with a 2.80 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 61 innings of work. Things took a turn for the worse in 2023, however, as the southpaw struggled badly to a 5.95 ERA in 42 1/3 innings despite a solid 3.82 FIP that was reminiscent of his standout campaign the year before. Beeks is projected for a $1.8MM salary this season by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz, a level at which the Rays clearly weren’t comfortable committing to the lefty after his tough 2023.

That being said, it’s easy to see why the Rockies would take a chance on Beeks. The lefty has posted a 27.3% strikeout rate against a 9% walk rate in 122 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2020 season, and Colorado is in desperate need of addition pitching depth headed into next season. Beeks has had most of his success in short-inning relief throughout his career, but has been stretched out for long relief in the past, giving the Rockies a flexible left-handed option out of the bullpen for 2024, particularly valuable for a club that’s losing left-hander Brent Suter to free agency this offseason.

Mariners, Rockies Discussed Pitching Trade Last Offseason

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  • The Rockies and Mariners discussed a trade last offseason that would’ve brought some pitching to Colorado, according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.  The specifics of the trade talks weren’t revealed, though it makes sense that the pitching-needy Rockies would’ve at least checked in with Seattle, given how rumors swirled last winter that the M’s were open to moving one of Marco Gonzales or Chris Flexen.  Given how the Rox ended up signing Flexen as a free agent back in July, it is fair to wonder if he was perhaps the particular name under discussion.  Purely speculatively, the Rockies also might’ve aimed higher in their pitching goals, perhaps dangling Brendan Rodgers to the Mariners (who needed second base help) as part of a trade package involving George Kirby or Logan Gilbert.  Colorado had some degree of talks with the Marlins last offseason about a Rodgers-for-Edward Cabrera swap, and Saunders suggest that Rodgers “might be a trade candidate again” in the coming months.  It would be something of a sell-low move for the Rockies at this point with Rodgers, as while he has two remaining years of arbitration control, he only played 46 games last season due to a dislocated shoulder.

Ty Blach, Matt Koch Elect Free Agency

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TODAY: Koch and Blach have elected to become free agents, according to the MILB.com transactions tracker.

OCTOBER 18: The Rockies have outrighted three players off the 40-man roster, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Right-handers Karl Kauffmann and Matt Koch and southpaw Ty Blach all went unclaimed. The latter two will have the opportunity to test free agency. Kauffmann will remain in the organization without holding a 40-man spot.

Blach is the most well-known of the three. The former Giants starter has pitched parts of two seasons with his hometown club in Colorado. He threw 44 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball a year ago and logged 78 innings across 20 appearances (including 13 starts) while allowing 5.54 earned runs per nine this year. The strike-throwing southpaw kept his walks to a modest 6.8% clip but struck out a below-average 14.2% of opponents.

With between three and four years of service, Blach would have been eligible for arbitration this winter. A projected $1.8MM salary always made a non-tender seem likely. The outright serves as an early equivalent. It’s possible the Rox could try to re-sign him on a minor league pact.

Koch inked a non-roster deal over the winter. Colorado selected him onto the major league team in June. The 32-year-old (33 next month) wound up logging 38 2/3 innings over 39 appearances down the stretch. He pitched to a 5.12 ERA with a modest 16.6% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.5% walk percentage. The former third-round pick has pitched in parts of six major league campaigns. This was his longest stint since he started 14 games for the 2018 Diamondbacks.

The Rockies selected Kauffmann with the 77th pick in the 2019 draft. The Michigan product made his debut this year, pitching 35 innings over 11 appearances. His initial look at big league hitters didn’t go well, as he allowed an 8.23 ERA with matching 10.1% strikeout and walk rates. Kauffmann spent the majority of the season at Triple-A Albuquerque. He started 19 games in that extremely hitter-friendly setting, posting a 6.43 ERA over 92 1/3 innings.

Colorado has taken six players off the roster since the regular season concluded. Barring additional changes in the next few weeks, their 40-man count will sit at 36 at the start of the offseason.

Rockies Outright Ryan Rolison

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The Rockies announced that left-hander Ryan Rolison has been outrighted off their major league roster, indicating he passed through waivers unclaimed. He will stick in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

Rolison, now 26, was the club’s first-round pick in the 2018 draft, getting selected 22nd overall. But he hasn’t been able to deliver much on that promise so far, mostly due to injuries. The minor leagues were wiped out by the pandemic in 2020 and Rolison was then limited to just 16 starts in 2021, missing over two months due to an appendectomy. Nonetheless, the Rockies added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2021 to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

In 2022, the Rockies placed Rolison on the 60-day injured list in April due to a shoulder strain and he missed that entire season, eventually undergoing surgery in June. Since he was on the major league injured list, he collected a full year of service time despite not making his major league debut. He wasn’t fully healthy at the start of the 2023 campaign and was on the 60-day injured list to begin the campaign, but was reinstated and optioned at the end of May. But shoulder issues quickly resurfaced and he was placed on the 60-day IL again in July, not returning to action in the second half. There’s no IL in the offseason, so Rolison was on the verge of needing to be added back to the roster, but the club has outrighted him instead.

The current state of his shoulder isn’t known but he only made four appearances in the minors this year, tossing just 11 innings. The combination of the pandemic year, the appendectomy and the shoulder issues has resulted in Rolison throwing just 82 2/3 over the past four years combined. Despite his pedigree as a former first-rounder, it’s not surprising that none of the 30 clubs is currently willing to give him a roster spot, given all the ongoing uncertainty around his health.

If he can get past the shoulder issues in the future, he should be able to earn his way back into the plans in Colorado. The Rockies have very little certainty on their pitching staff right now and could easily fit him back onto the roster if he shows any hope of getting back on track.

The Rockies are currently slated to start the offseason with a 40-man roster count of 35, though future transactions could obviously alter that.

Rockies Outright Austin Wynns, Harold Castro, Matt Carasiti

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The Rockies announced that catcher Austin Wynns, infielder/outfielder Harold Castro and right-hander Matt Carasiti have been outrighted off the major league roster. Their 40-man roster is now at 37 with five players on the 60-day injured list who will soon need spots, though the impending free agencies of Brent Suter, Chase Anderson and Chris Flexen will open three more.

Wynns, 32, began his career with the Orioles but went into journeyman mode this year. He went through three fifths of the National League West in 2023, bouncing from the Giants to the Dodgers and then the Rockies. Between those three clubs, he got into 51 games and hit .208/.268/.277 with positive defensive grades.

He could have been retained via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a salary of $1MM, but it seems the Rockies didn’t plan to tender him a contract. Since Wynns was outrighted, that means he passed through waivers unclaimed. Players with more than three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject a further outright assignment in favor of electing free agency, with Wynns qualifying on both counts.

Castro, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and cracked the Opening Day roster. He got into 99 games this year in a utility role, playing all three outfield spots and the three infield positions to the left of first base. Unfortunately, he didn’t offer much at the plate, hitting just .252/.275/.314 for a wRC+ of 43. Given that production, it’s unsurprising the club moved on instead of opting for a projected $1.8MM arbitration salary. He has over three years of service time and a previous career outright, giving him the right to elect free agency.

Carasiti, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies and was selected to the roster in May. He made 16 appearances at the big league level with a 6.49 earned run average, striking out just 14.5% of opponents while walking 10%. He doesn’t have three years of service but does have a previous career outright, meaning he also has the right to elect free agency.

29 Players Elect Free Agency

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October brings postseason play for a handful of teams and their fanbases. Just over two-thirds of the league is now in offseason mode after being eliminated, however. As the season comes to a close, a number of veterans will hit minor league free agency.

These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Rockies Interested In Trades For Starting Pitching

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  • The Rockies have a bit of a logjam between first base, right field, and DH headed into next year, as noted by Luke Zahlmann of the Denver Gazette, as he listed each of Kris Bryant, Charlie Blackmon, Elehuris Montero, Sean Bouchard, and Michael Toglia as each vying for playing time at the three positions. Bryant and Blackmon figure to be regular players, though that would leave just one spot for the other three, a situation that Zahlmann ties to the club’s desire to add additional starting pitching depth this offseason. Dangling a player from that mix in trade talks could allow the Rockies to complement a rotation that currently figures to enter 2024 with plenty of question marks, and Zahlmann even notes that top prospects like Zac Veen and Jordan Beck could be dangled “in the right deal.” Of course, the 103-loss Rockies would surely require a quality starter with multiple years of control if they were to part with any of their top-100 prospects in a trade for pitching this offseason.
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