Rockies To Release Connor Seabold
The Rockies are releasing right-hander Connor Seabold, per Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. In doing so, they’ll open a spot on their 40-man roster to make a selection in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.
Seabold, 27, was a third-round pick of the Phillies back in 2017 and has twice been traded — first to the Red Sox as part of the deal bringing Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to Philadelphia, and second to the Rockies last winter in exchange for cash.
Earlier in his professional tenure, Seabold ranked among the top pitching prospects in both the Phillies and Red Sox systems, but elbow and forearm injuries shortened his 2021 and 2022 seasons. Seabold came to the Rockies with a solid track record in the upper minors, but his lone season with the Rox proved nightmarish both in Colorado and with their Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque.
Seabold started 13 games and made another 14 relief appearances with Colorado this past season but was tagged for a gruesome 7.52 ERA in the process. He posted a sharp 6.9% walk rate but struggled with a well below-average 16.4% strikeout rate and a sky-high 1.96 HR/9. Seabold’s status as a pronounced fly-ball pitcher did him no favors at Coors Field, and he allowed hard contact a fair bit more often than the average big league pitcher (40.5%). Things didn’t go any better in Triple-A, where Seabold posted a 7.47 ERA in 31 2/3 frames.
As recently as 2022, Seabold tossed 86 2/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball with Triple-A Worcester in the Sox’ system, striking out 24.7% of his opponents against an excellent 5.3% walk rate. However, he’s also out of minor league options, so the Rox would’ve needed to carry Seabold on the Opening Day roster or else trade him, expose him to waivers or (as they’ll apparently do today) release him. Once he formally becomes a free agent, Seabold will be able to explore minor league deals with other organizations and perhaps gauge interest from teams in Japan and South Korea.
Added To The 40-Man Roster: Friday
Tonight at 8:00pm ET is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster and thereby protect them from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. In other words: there will be a significant amount of 40-man roster moves made over the course of the next 13 or so hours. Six clubs already made moves to protect prospects from the Rule 5 yesterday, and each of the remaining 24 clubs should make moves today as well.
In brief: players drafted/signed at 18 years of age or younger must be added to the 40-man roster within five years of signing or be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Players drafted/signed at 19 or older must be added within four years. Those interested in all of the specifics can refer to articles from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Perhaps of greater interest is that Mayo lists all of the prospects from MLB.com’s Top 100 list and from their organizational Top 30 lists that much be protected in advance of tonight’s deadline, while Cooper provides brief write-ups on each player that has been protected (and will continue to do so as additions are made).
Here are today’s additions to the 40-man roster. You can check out Baseball America’s coverage to learn more about the individual players listed below …
- The last team to report is the Giants, who have added a host of names to their 40-man: pitchers Ty Blach, Clayton Blackburn, Kyle Crick, Ian Gardeck, Adalberto Mejia, Steven Okert, Jake Smith, and Chris Stratton. With the roster filled up with that many pre-MLB arms, it’s fair to wonder whether the team anticipates trading from among that group.
- In their second set of 40-man promotions today, the Astros have selected the contracts of outfielder Andrew Aplin and infielder Nolan Fontana.
- Moving onto the Marlins 40-man are lefty Jarlin Garcia and a trio of righties: Jacob Esch, Austin Brice, and Nick Wittgren.
- The Cubs have placed backstop Willson Contreras, righty Pierce Johnson, third baseman Jeimer Candelario, and first baseman Dan Vogelbach onto their 40-man, the team announced.
- The Phillies added outfielder Roman Quinn and righties Jimmy Cordero and Edubray Ramos.
- Joining the Royals‘ 40-man are pitchers Matthew Strahm, Alec Mills, and Kyle Zimmer, infielder Ramon Torres, and outfielders Brett Eibner and Bubba Starling, the club announced.
- The Rockies have selected the contracts of righties Carlos Estevez and Antonio Senzatela, infielder Trevor Story, and outfielder Raimel Tapia.
- The Rays will add righties Jacob Faria, Taylor Guerrieri, and German Marquez to the 40-man roster along with infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter and rising lefty prospect Blake Snell.
- The Pirates have added top prospects Tyler Glasnow and Josh Bell to the club’s 40-man, along with fellow youngsters Harold Ramirez (an outfielder) and Max Moroff (a middle infielder).
- Righty Victor Alcantara has been placed on the Angels‘ 40-man, the club announced. As MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez notes on Twitter, Alcantara is probably now the team’s single best prospect.
Earlier Updates
- Joining the big league side of the roster for the Yankees are righties Johnny Barbato and Rookie Davis along with outfielder Ben Gamel, the team announced.
- The Reds announced the additions of right-handers Robert Stephenson, Sal Romano, and Stephen Johnson to the 40-man roster to keep them from Rule 5 eligibility.
- Going onto the Rangers‘ 40-man roster are outfielder Nomar Mazara, lefty Yohander Mendez, and righties Jose Leclerc and Connor Sadzeck.
- The Dodgers brought righties Jharel Cotton and Ross Stripling onto their 40-man, per a team announcement.
- Infielder Marco Hernandez, righty Pat Light, and lefty Williams Jerez are the newest members of the Red Sox 40-man, the club announced.
- The White Sox have protected righties Brandon Brennan and J.B. Wendelken from the Rule 5 by giving them roster spots.
- The Orioles have added a trio of pitchers, per an announcement. Parker Bridwell and Andrew Triggs throw from the right side, while Chris Lee is a southpaw.
- Moving onto the 40-man for the Indians are righties Mike Clevinger, Shawn Morimando and Dylan Baker, as well as outfielders Tyler Naquin and James Ramsey, per the club.
- The Mets announced the additions of outfielder Brandon Nimmo and righties Seth Lugo, Jeff Walters, and Robert Gsellman to the club’s major league roster.
- Second baseman Joey Wendle and left-hander Jose Torres were added to the Athletics 40-man roster, per the club.
- The Mariners announced that they have purchased the contracts of infielder Patrick Kivlehan and outfielder Boog Powell, thereby adding them to the 40-man roster and protecting them from the Rule 5 Draft.
- The Astros announced the additions of catcher Alfredo Gonzalez and right-handers Jandel Gustave, Juan Minaya, Joe Musgrove and David Paulino to the 40-man roster. Notably, Gustave was a Rule 5 pick last year and found himself with both the Padres and Royals before ultimately being returned to Houston.
- The Tigers announced that they’ve added right-handers Michael Fulmer and Montreal Robertson as well as left-hander Jairo Labourt to the 40-man. Fulmer was the main piece picked up in Detroit’s trade of Yoenis Cespedes, while Labourt was one of three lefties acquired from Toronto in the David Price trade.
Draft Signings: Abdullah, Simcox, Pruitt
We’ll keep tabs on the day’s notable draft signings here, with slot values via Baseball America.
- Dodgers eleventh rounder Imani Abdullah will sign for $647,500, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com tweets. SB Nation’s Eric Stephen has done some digging on the young hurler, who is fairly new to the mound and did not earn placement on any major prospect lists. He had been set to play for San Diego State University. All but $100K of L.A.’s spending on the projectable righty must be accounted for from its overall bonus allocation. The Dodgers have yet to agree to terms with many of their picks from the first ten rounds, including four of their first five selections (three of whom just finished playing in the finals of the College World Series).
- The Tigers have agreed to a $600K bonus to land 14th-round pick A.J. Simcox, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports on Twitter. A half-million of that payday will count towards the club’s overall pool limits. The University of Tennessee product is said to be a slick defensive shortstop. Baseball America graded him the 217th-best player available, saying that Simcox has a “line-drive swing” but has shown little in the way of power potential.
- Another $500K bonus is set to hit the books, this one going from the Blue Jays to 24th-round pick Reggie Pruitt, Callis tweets. The Vanderbilt commit drew some relatively high grades entering the draft, with Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs placing him 146th on his list. MLB.com had the outfielder in the 189th slot on its board, crediting him with outstanding speed while noting that his swing mechanics need work.
Mayo On Fernando Martinez and Johan Santana
Jonathan Mayo is a prominent writer on MLB.com, focusing on the minor leagues more recently. Mayo recently wrote a book called Facing Clemens, which "puts you right in the batter’s box against the Rocket Man." Mayo finished the book before the steroid allegations surfaced, but it sounds like an interesting read regardless. I asked Mayo some questions for publication on MLBTR.
MLBTR: Where do you stand on Fernando Martinez? Would the Mets regret trading him and a few other prospects for one year of Johan Santana?
Mayo: There’s always the risk when you trade a young player with so much upside potential that you’ll regret trading him, just like the Astros probably regret leaving Santana unprotected in the Rule 5 draft several years back. But I think that things work a little differently in a market like New York. There’s such pressure to win immediately and there’s the financial ability to fix things via free agency or trading for high-priced players in the future.
I think Martinez has the chance to be a very special player, but it could take several years for him to reach that potential. I’d love to see him become a star in New York, but I think the Mets would have to consider dealing him if they felt that Santana is the piece they need to get over the hump and back to the World Series. Besides, who says it’d be for just one year of Santana. I think that any of the teams who have been rumored to be in the Santana hunt would make a serious run at re-upping Johan for several years after 2008.
Jonathan Mayo Discusses Bruce For Bedard
You’ve probably heard of Jonathan Mayo. He’s a prominent writer on MLB.com, focusing on the minor leagues more recently. Mayo recently wrote a book called Facing Clemens, which "puts you right in the batter’s box against the Rocket Man." Mayo finished the book before the steroid allegations surfaced, but it sounds like an interesting read regardless.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that if you click the above Amazon link and buy the book, I’ll get 46 cents. Hopefully Mayo gets a better cut than that from his publisher!
Anyway, I asked Mayo a handful of questions for publication on MLBTR.
MLBTR: If you were Wayne Krivsky, would you trade Jay Bruce for Erik Bedard straight up? What players would you compare Bruce to? How does Bruce compare to Adam Jones?
Mayo: In a word, no. I wouldn’t trade Bruce for Bedard straight up. Frankly, and maybe I’m a little prospect-slanted, there’s not much I would trade Jay Bruce for. Not only is the guy going to be one of the game’s great hitters, he’s an outstanding individual who’ll represent the organization extremely well. I know that’s not the be-all, end-all, but Bruce is going to be a true ambassador for the game. He’s going to hit for average, get on base, hit for a ton of power, play good OF (eventually RF, but fine in CF for now), throw runners out, maybe even steal a few bases. It’s hard to come up with a good comparable, but I’ll go with Larry Walker. Maybe not quite as much speed, but it’s pretty close.
Jones is more of a prototypical five-tooler, who won’t hit for as much power right away. I think Bruce has more power potential than Jones, while Jones is likely a bit faster and will stay in CF.