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Giants Sign Corey Oswalt, Luis Gonzalez, Joe Palumbo To Minor League Contracts

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The Giants have recently signed right-hander Corey Oswalt, left-hander Joe Palumbo, right-hander Sam Delaplane and outfielder Luis Gonzalez to minor league contracts, as reported by Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle.  All four players were minor league free agents, and thus eligible to be signed during the lockout.

Gonzalez and Palumbo are both back for what is technically their second stint with the Giants, as San Francisco claimed both off waivers in 2021 (Gonzalez from the White Sox in August, Palumbo from the Rangers in November) before releasing the duo back at the November 30 non-tender deadline.  There was speculation at the time that the Giants would look to re-sign both to fresh contracts post-deadline, and now both Gonzalez and Palumbo are back and clear of the 40-man roster.

Oswalt is the new face, joining the Giants after being outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man in October and opting for free agency.  A seventh-round pick for the Mets in the 2012 draft, Oswalt has spent his entire pro career with New York, including 94 2/3 innings over parts of the last four seasons.  The majority (64 2/3 frames) of that work came in Oswalt’s 2018 rookie season, and he has since been back and forth between New York and Triple-A Syracuse on multiple occasions.

The righty has a 5.89 ERA and a 17.2% strikeout rate during his MLB career.  Oswalt has worked mostly as a starter in the minor leagues, but the Mets experimented with him as something of a swingman or a multi-inning reliever.  Given the Giants’ success at unlocking potential in seemingly unheralded pitchers in recent years, Oswalt’s flexible usage could provide the team with an interesting weapon if the coaching staff can get him on track.

Gonzalez underwent a season-ending shoulder surgery in August, which also triggered his release from the White Sox due to some 40-man roster machinations.  San Francisco jumped in to claim Gonzalez off release waivers, giving the Giants some extra outfield depth heading into 2022.  The 26-year-old Gonzalez was a third-round pick for the White Sox in 2017, and he has hit .266/.345/.414 with 32 home runs over 1539 minor league plate appearances.  Gonzalez has appeared in each of the last two Major League seasons, playing in nine total games in a White Sox uniform.

Palumbo is another longtime member of another organization, having been a member of the Rangers since being selected in the 30th round of the 2013 draft.  Splitting time between starting and relief duties, Palumbo has a strong 2.92 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate in 363 2/3 career innings in the Texas farm system, though he was limited to only 6 2/3 frames in 2021 due to injury.  Palumbo tossed 19 innings over nine games at the Major League level in 2019-20 without much success, with a 9.47 ERA to show for that brief time in The Show.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/30/21

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We’ve now passed the deadline for teams to tender contracts to pre-arb and arbitration-eligible players. We’ll keep track of the more minor players non-tendered in the National League here. The American League non-tenders are available at this link.

As a reminder, you can view MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projected salaries for arbitration-eligible players here:

  • The Cardinals announced they’ve non-tendered utilityman José Rondon. The right-handed hitting infielder tallied 90 plate appearances this past season while suiting up at a handful of position.
  • The Giants announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Luis González, right-hander Sam Delaplane and southpaw Joe Palumbo. None of that trio was arbitration-eligible, and all three were recently acquired via minor transactions. It wouldn’t be a surprise if San Francisco attempts to work out minor league pacts with one or more of that group now that they’ve been removed from the 40-man roster.
  • The Phillies have non-tendered southpaw Kyle Dohy and re-signed him to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll remain in the organization but no longer occupies a spot on the 40-man roster. Dohy made on major league appearance in 2021.
  • The Padres announced they’ve non-tendered relievers José Castillo, Trey Wingenter, and Matt Strahm. Castillo and Wingenter haven’t pitched since 2019 because of arm injuries that necessitated Tommy John surgeries. Strahm was limited to just 6 2/3 frames in 2021 by health issues himself.
  • The Cubs are non-tendering reliever Jason Adam, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The southpaw missed much of the season after suffering a gruesome ankle fracture in Triple-A in May, but he made a triumphant late-season return to the big leagues. Adam ultimately tossed 10 2/3 innings over 12 outings. Chicago also announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Michael Hermosillo, who made a late-season appearance on the big league roster.
  • The Mets have non-tendered outfielder Mark Payton, per a club announcement. The left-handed hitter was acquired from the Reds midseason but never suited up for New York at the major league level.
  • The Reds have non-tendered righty Brandon Bailey, per a team announcement. The 27-year-old made five appearances with the Astros in 2020. He missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, the second such procedure of his career. Bailey is re-signing on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, reports C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic.
  • The Nationals announced three non-tenders: relievers Wander Suero and Ryne Harper and first baseman Mike Ford. Suero is the most notable of the group, having been an effective set-up option at times during his four-season run in D.C. He struggled to a 6.33 ERA across 42 2/3 innings in 2021, though.
  • The Mets have non-tendered reliever Stephen Nogosek, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). The right-hander made just one three-inning appearance at the big league level in 2021. He worked 35 innings of 5.14 ERA ball with Triple-A Syracuse.
  • The Diamondbacks are non-tendering reliever Taylor Clarke, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). The 28-year-old has pitched with the D-Backs in each of the past three seasons. The left-hander worked to a 4.98 ERA over 43 1/3 innings this past season, showing solid control but posting a 20.1% strikeout rate that was about four percentage points below the league average mark for bullpen arms.
  • The Dodgers have non-tendered southpaw Andrew Vasquez, tweets Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Vasquez wasn’t eligible for arbitration, but Los Angeles decided to bump him off the 40-man roster without placing him on waivers. Acquired in a minor trade with the Twins, Vasquez made two appearances for the Dodgers in early September. The 28-year-old struck out a massive 37.4% of batters faced in Triple-A in 2021.
  • The Pirates have non-tendered right-hander Chad Kuhl, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). A productive back-of-the-rotation arm at times, Kuhl has developed escalating control problems over the past couple seasons. The 29-year-old throws in the mid-90s and has posted decent strikeout numbers, but he’s coming off a 4.82 ERA/4.89 SIERA over 28 appearances (including 14 starts)
  • The Mets have non-tendered reliever Robert Gsellman, reports Tim Healey of Newsday (on Twitter). The right-hander has appeared with New York in each of the past six seasons, moving to the bullpen full-time in 2018. While Gsellman showed quite a bit of promise over seven starts as a rookie, he’s yet to find much consistent success in the years since. The 28-year-old did manage a solid 3.77 ERA with a 49.5% ground-ball rate over 28 2/3 innings in 2021, but he also missed a couple months because of a lat strain and only punched out 14.3% of batters faced.

Giants Claim Luis Gonzalez From White Sox

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TODAY: The Giants recalled Gonzalez from Triple-A today and placed him on the Major League version of the 60-day IL.

AUGUST 12: The Giants officially announced González has been claimed off waivers. He has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. With third baseman Evan Longoria expected to return from the 60-day injured list in the coming days, it seems likely González will wind up on the 60-day IL whenever Longoria’s ready for reinstatement.

AUGUST 11: The Giants are claiming outfielder Luis González off release waivers from the White Sox, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN (Twitter link). González was released on Monday when the Sox reinstated Luis Robert from the 60-day injured list.

The move was a cost savings measure on Chicago’s part. González suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during an optional assignment to Triple-A Charlotte. Players on the minor league IL remain on the 40-man roster and can’t be outrighted. To remove González from the 40-man, the ChiSox had to either place him on the major league 60-day IL — where he’d receive MLB pay and service time — or release him.

Chicago elected for the latter course of action, presumably with the intent of re-signing González to a minor league deal if he cleared waivers. Doing so saved the White Sox from paying the 25-year-old the major league minimum salary for the remainder of the year. (They’re not unique in this regard, as the Tigers and Diamondbacks did the same thing with Franklin Pérez and Jon Duplantier, respectively, this season). Releasing the player instead of adding him to the major league IL comes with the risk of losing him, however — either via claim or the player signing elsewhere after clearing waivers.

The Giants intervened to add an interesting young player with an eye towards 2022 and beyond. Baseball America ranked González the #19 prospect in the White Sox system midseason, writing that he projects as an average hitter with gap power and the ability to play some center field. He had a decent season with Charlotte, hitting .241/.352/.423 with seven homers over 163 plate appearances.

San Francisco figures to immediately place González on the 60-day IL. He’ll make the major league minimum for the remainder of the year and won’t cost the team a 40-man roster spot during the season. González will have to be reinstated from the IL at the start of the offseason. If he sticks on the 40-man roster all winter, he’ll offer the Giants a lefty-hitting depth option for the outfield. González has one minor league option year remaining beyond this season.

White Sox Activate Luis Robert, Release Luis Gonzalez

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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve reinstated center fielder Luis Robert from the 60-day injured list. Outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte in order to open a spot on the active roster. Minor league outfielder Luis Gonzalez was released in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Gonzalez’s release may initially surprise some fans, given his standing as one of the organization’s 10 to 20 best prospects over the past few years, but he’s slated to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the team’s only recourse was to either release Gonzalez or add him to the MLB roster and place him on the Major League 60-day injured list. The Sox will opt for the former path and presumably look to re-sign him to a new minor league contract, as is fairly common in these instances.

As for the dynamic Robert, he’ll return after missing more than three months due to a Grade 3 hip flexor sustained back in early May. The injury initially called for a rehab period of 12 to 16 weeks, and he’ll return on the shorter end of that timetable. Robert appeared in a dozen minor league rehab games — four in Class-A Advanced and eight in Triple-A — and notched a combined .268/.388/.390.

Robert, 24, won a Gold Glove and finished second to Kyle Lewis in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He’s played in 81 big league games to this point in his young career, batting .259/.320/.444 with 12 home runs, 17 doubles, a triple and 13 steals (in 16 attempts). Strikeouts have been an issue (30.6 percent), but Robert has been regarded as an elite prospect since he left Cuba and signed with the Sox for a $26MM bonus (that came with a $26MM overage penalty for Chicago, whose bonus pool was just north of $2.9MM at that point). He then inked a six-year, $50MM contract extension with a pair of club options before even suiting up for his first big league game.

The White Sox lost both Robert and Eloy Jimenez early in the 2021 season, but they’ve nevertheless been able to steamroll a feeble American League Central, building a 10.5-game lead  over the second-place Indians as of this writing. With Robert and Jimenez now back from injury and Craig Kimbrel at the back of the bullpen, the South Siders are as strong as they’ve been at any point this season. The division title has long looked like a foregone conclusion, but the return of their promising young outfielders and a few key deadline pickups have better positioned the Sox as a postseason threat.

Injury Notes: Antone, Gray, Engel, Buxton

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The Reds announced Tuesday morning that they’ve reinstated right-hander Tejay Antone from the injured list and optioned Scott Heineman to Triple-A Louisville to open a roster spot. Antone ultimately missed only 11 days due to a bout of forearm inflammation and will be returning at a perfect time; Cincinnati used every reliever on the roster during last night’s 12-inning marathon against after starter Tyler Mahle lasted just four innings. The 27-year-old Antone has been one of baseball’s best relievers in 2021, pitching to a minuscule 1.41 ERA with a lofty 34.5 percent strikeout percentage against a 9.5 percent walk rate. He’s worked multiple innings with regularity, though it remains to be seen whether the club will drop him right back into a multi-inning stint after an injury layoff — even in spite of the taxed bullpen.

Cincinnati right-hander Sonny Gray could also be closing in on a return, as C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reports Gray will make a rehab start with the Reds’ top minor league affiliate Thursday. The 31-year-old hit the injured list a couple weeks ago due to a groin strain, and the team was hopeful at the time that he’d only need to miss a pair of starts. It may end up being a bit longer, but if all goes well with Gray’s rehab outing, he’d be looking at only about a three-week absence from the rotation. The veteran righty has a 3.42 ERA and a 30.1 percent strikeout rate in 50 innings for the Reds this season.

A couple more injury scenarios of note around the league…

  • The White Sox announced Tuesday that outfielder Adam Engel is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a strain of his right hamstring. Outfielder Luis Gonzalez is up from Triple-A Charlotte in his place. It’s the second IL stint of the season for Engel, who opened the year on the shelf with this same injury and missed almost two months of action. Engel joins fellow outfielder Adam Eaton, who is also dealing with a right hamstring strain, on the injured list, further depleting a White Sox outfield that is also without stars Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert. The 29-year-old Engel batted .241/.313/.552 in just 32 plate appearances between IL stints. The club didn’t place a timetable on his return, although this new IL stint was backdated to June 20.
  • The Twins are still determining whether Byron Buxton’s fractured left hand will require surgery, manager Rocco Baldelli said prior to today’s game (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Uncertainty as to whether the injury will require surgical repair likely contributes to the vague response Baldelli have when initially prompted for a timetable on the injury to Buxton, who was hit on the left hand by a Tyler Mahle heater last night and found to have a boxer’s fracture. For now, the team is still “looking into the best approaches for recovery,” per Baldelli. It’s common for players to get opinions from multiple doctors and/or specialists when a potential surgery of any kind is on the table.

White Sox Activate Lance Lynn From Injured List

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The White Sox are reinstating righty Lance Lynn from the injured list to start this afternoon’s game against the Indians (via James Fegan of the Athletic). Outfielder Luis González has been optioned to the alternate training site in a corresponding move.

Lynn went on the IL on April 18 with a right trapezius strain. He’ll wind up missing just a couple starts. One of Chicago’s biggest offseason acquisitions, Lynn got off to a fantastic start with his new team. Over his first three appearances, the veteran righty tossed 19.2 innings of four-run ball (two earned), striking out 27 while only issuing two walks. He’ll now rejoin Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Carlos Rodón and Dylan Cease in the rotation.

With Lynn sidelined, Michael Kopech stepped in to start a pair of games. The young righty was stellar- particularly in his most recent appearance, when he struck out ten Rangers’ hitters without a walk over five innings. Still, Chicago is likely to move Kopech back into a relief role as they keep an eye on his innings total. He missed all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery and opted out of last season due to concerns about COVID-19, so the Sox will surely be cautious building his arm strength back.

White Sox Place Adam Engel On IL, Select Luis Gonzalez

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The White Sox have placed outfielder Adam Engel on the injured list and selected fellow outfielder Luis Gonzalez’s contract from their alternate training site, James Fegan of The Athletic was among those to report.

Chicago put Engel on the IL because he may have come into contact with someone who has the coronavirus. However, Engel has not tested positive for it. The IL placement interrupts a solid start to the season for Engel, who has batted .263/.317/.500 with a pair of home runs in 41 plate appearances.

Gonzalez, 24, was a third-round pick of the White Sox in 2017 who could now receive his first major league action. After producing nice offensive numbers at the Single-A and High-A levels from 2017-18, he debuted in Double-A last year and batted .247/.316/.359 with nine homers and 17 steals in 535 trips to the plate. MLB.com ranks Gonzalez as the White Sox’s 13th-best prospect, noting he has a “sweet left-handed swing,” a “plus arm” and the versatility to play all three outfield positions.

White Sox Announce 60-Man Additions

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The White Sox announced the addition of 16 players to their 60-man player pool Tuesday. They’ll all head to the team’s alternate camp site in Schaumberg, Ill. Today’s additions include (* = non-roster invitee):

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Outfielders

As Opening Day draws nearer, the White Sox will option additional players to their alternate camp site. There are currently 43 players in big league Summer Camp with the South Siders, and they’ll need to trim that number to 30 by the time the opener rolls around.

Today’s list of additions contains several notable names, including 2020 first-round pick Garrett Crochet, whom the Sox selected 13th overall out of the University of Tennessee. Farm director Chris Getz isn’t ruling out the possibility of Crochet making his MLB debut sometime this year, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets.

Getz also spoke about another recent White Sox first-round pick in Zack Burdi, whom they took 26th in 2016, saying (via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times): ’We hope to build off how he finished major league camp. It’s the best we’ve seen him in a while. His last couple outings were very encouraging. It’s a special arm.”

Significant injuries have prevented the hard-throwing Burdi from realizing his potential or even reaching the bigs since the White Sox drafted him. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, barely pitched the following year as a result, and then succumbed to a ligament tear in his patella last season. Burdi’s still a well-regarded relief prospect, though, and may have a chance to factor into Chicago’s bullpen this season.

Remembering A Disastrous World Series Performance

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The worst bullpen meltdown of the 2001 World Series was not the one you think. You probably go right to Byung-Hyun Kim blowing saves in games four and five in Yankee Stadium, putting the Diamondbacks on the brink of elimination heading into game six. But that’s not it.

You might also think of Mariano Rivera blowing the save in game seven. Mark Grace singled, Rivera turned a sac bunt attempt into runners on first and second, Tony Womack eventually knocked home the tying run. Then Tim McCarver – without so much as a spoiler alert – laid out exactly what was about to happen like he’d seen it already, and Luis Gonzalez shoveled a ball over the drawn in infield to win the World Series. Just like that, the greatest closer of all time blew game seven of the World Series, ending a Yankee dynasty in its tracks.

But that’s not it either. I’m talking about Jay Witasick’s beautifully disastrous performance in game six.

With the Yankees up three games to two in the 2001 World Series, the series shifted back to Arizona for a critical game six. The Yankees were just one win away from their fourth consecutive World Series championship, while the Diamondbacks, in their fourth season, hadn’t yet existed in a world in which the Yankees were not the champs. Kim’s consecutive blown saves put Arizona in this position, but in game six, it would be the Yankees bullpen that would implode. Though Jay Witasick’s meltdown didn’t come in as high a leverage situation as Kim’s (nor Rivera’s), it was something to behold.

Witasick entered Game 6 with runners on second and third with the Yankees trailing 5-0. It was still early. The game was in reach. Here’s how hitters fared against Witasick that inning:

  • Single to LF
  • Single to LF
  • Single to LF
  • Single to RF
  • Tony Womack strikes out swinging (phew!)
  • Single to CF
  • Double to LF
  • Single to CF
  • Double to CF
  • Reggie Sanders strikes out swinging (finally!)

In a game when the Yankees could have clinched a World Series victory, Joe Torre let Witasick stay in the game to surrender four consecutive hits – twice! – in one inning. By the time Reggie Sanders finally struck out, the Diamondbacks led 12-0. Relievers are often made to wear it the way Witasick did here, but a win in this game meant a World Series title. This wasn’t a normal game. This was the type of game when – normally – you never give up. Witasick’s 8 earned runs tied him with Grover “Pete” Alexander for the most runs ever given up in a World Series game. Alexander took 2 1/3 innings to give up that many in the 1928 World Series against the Yankees. 

Witasick would give up two more hits the next inning (he started another inning!), giving him a final line that looks like this (parents, cover your children’s eyes): 1 ⅓ innings, 10 hits, 9 runs (8 earned), 4 strikeouts. Randy Choate came on and allowed Witasick’s stragglers to score, by which point the Diamondbacks led 15-0. Luis Gonzalez – their consensus best player – was pulled for rest in the bottom of that inning (the 4th inning!). Given the stakes of the game, it’s amazing that Torre allowed Witasick to get shelled the way he did. 

I’ll give Torre this: games four and five of the 2001 World Series went into extra innings, and leading 3 games to 2 going into game six, the Yankees had some cause to pack it in by the time Andy Pettitte left the game without recording an out in the third inning. And it’s not as if Witasick was giving up home runs. These were mostly bleeders through the left side of the infield – but they weren’t totally cheap knocks either. 

On the other hand, when Pettitte exited the game, it was still just a 5-0 deficit in the 3rd inning. Of course, Torre also had reason to doubt whether his offense could come back from a deficit that large. In the first five games of the series combined, the Yankees had scored a total of four runs in innings 1 through 8. Without a pair of clutch ninth-inning home runs from Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius, the Yankees came dangerously close to losing all 7 games of the series (which, of course, would have been impossible). 

Still, Witasick’s ill-fated stint in the third and fourth inning of game 6 stands out as a woeful performance with the season on the line. Witasick put together a solid professional career, pitching for 7 teams over 12 years with a 4.64 ERA/4.69 FIP, and it’s hardly his fault that Torre decided to pack this one in by the third inning, but it’s worth a re-watch nonetheless.

Winter Meetings Previews: Royals, White Sox

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In advance of the winter meetings, let’s take a moment to quickly preview a couple teams from the American League Central…

  • The Kansas City Royals will look for value buys on the free agent market, per Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star. Given the sale of the team and the managerial transition underway, the Royals have more justification than usual for patience this offseason. With Kansas City, however, there’s often a sense that internal valuations of the talent on hand differs from those of the general public. The Royals continue to present the idea that they are happy with their core, an impression bolstered by the “moon, sun, and stars” type packages the Royals are demanding for players like Whit Merrifield, Danny Duffy and Ian Kennedy. Senior VP of Baseball Ops & GM Dayton Moore refined his fence-walking trick recently while saying both, “…we’re very encouraged with where we are based on how our players performed individually last year,” and also, “I think we’ve got to upgrade everywhere, really.” Pitching is definitely a target, and Moore has been active in trade discussions already, enough to have a sense of where trades might happen – though from Moore’s comments, it seems the Royals are disinclined to be major players on the trade market unless opposing GMs become more amenable to Moore’s ask(s). They do have four open spots on the 40-man roster and should be active in the Rule 5 draft, per The Athletic’s Alec Lewis.
  • After being spurned by Zack Wheeler, the White Sox remain in the hunt for starting pitching, per MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. Chicago was also among the teams in on Jordan Lyles before the righty signed with the Rangers, tweets the MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Their rotation candidates are currently made up of high-ceiling but largely-unestablished youngsters, fronted by 2019 breakout superstar Lucas Giolito. Speculatively, Dallas Keuchel fits nicely from a culture perspective as the perennially-attention-starved White Sox have already added Yasmani Grandal from the nobody-believes-in-us free agent pool – and they like playing with a chip on their shoulder on the southside. As for position players, Chicago boasts close to a full house now that Grandal and Jose Abreu are officially on board. With prospects Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal expected to play a large portion of 2020 in the big leagues, they have one of the more intriguing groups on that side of the ball. Still, there’s definitely room to tinker around the edges, especially in the outfield, where Luis Alexander Basabe, Daniel Palka, Leury Garcia, Adam Engel, and Luis Gonzalez make up the flexible collection of candidates to join Eloy Jimenez and Robert in the outfield.
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