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Marc Rzepczynski

USA Baseball Announces Olympic Qualifying Roster

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11:10AM: The full roster has been announced by USA Baseball (Twitter link).  Beyond the names already mentioned, the roster also includes Clayton Andrews, Jonathan Bowlan, Brandon Dickson, DJ Johnson, Trevor Lane, Matthew Liberatore, Drew Parrish, Marc Rzepczynski, James Sherfy, Simeon Woods Richardson, Tim Federowicz, Mark Kolozsvary, Nick Allen, Eddy Alvarez, Logan Forsythe, Luke Williams, Eric Filia, and Jon Jay.

9:54AM: The United States Olympic baseball team will have its full roster announced later today, though MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) reports that several well-known big league names will be part of Team USA.

Right-handers Homer Bailey, Edwin Jackson, and David Robertson will be part of the pitching mix, as will left-hander Anthony Gose.  Matt Kemp, Matt Wieters, and Todd Frazier are some of the veteran position players.  Bailey, Kemp, and Wieters all played in the majors as recently as 2020 and didn’t sign with a new team this past offseason, while Frazier appeared in 13 games for the Pirates just this season.  It was only back on May 13 that Frazier chose to become a free agent, after Pittsburgh designated him for assignment.

Beyond these experienced names, some notable youngsters will also be on the team, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe noted yesterday that Red Sox prospects Triston Casas and Jarren Duran are participating.  Rays right-handed pitching prospect Joe Ryan is also expected to be part of the team, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Any player not on a current 40-man Major League roster was eligible for Team USA, though naturally a team would have to agree to allow its minor leaguers to play.

Mike Scioscia will manage Team USA, and the team will take to the field on May 31-June 5 during a qualifying tournament in Florida.  The Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Canada, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela are the other seven teams involved, and the winner of the tournament will automatically qualify for the Olympics.  The second- and third-place finishers will advance to a final qualifying tournament against Australia, Chinese Taipei, and the Netherlands on June 16-20 in Mexico, and the winner of that event will claim the sixth and final Olympic berth.

Japan, Mexico, Israel, and South Korea have already qualified for the baseball event at Olympic Games, which are scheduled to be held July 23-August 6 in Tokyo.  Originally set to take place in 2020, the Olympics were naturally postponed for a year due to the pandemic, and the Games are still slated to get underway in July despite a worsening COVID-19 situation in Japan.

Blue Jays Release Marc Rzepczynski

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The Blue Jays have released left-hander Marc Rzepczynski, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. The veteran reliever had previously signed a minor league deal in hopes of earning a second stint with the Jays, but he wasn’t included in their 60-player pool for Summer Camp.

Last year marked the first time in a decade that the 34-year-old Rzepczynski didn’t throw at least 10 big league innings in a season. He spent the year with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate, struggling to a 5.04 ERA in 44 2/3 frames. His last full big league season came back in 2017.

Rzepczynski has long been one of the league’s more recognizable lefty specialists, holding same-handed batters to a career .227/.295/.305 batting line in 837 plate appearances over a decade in the Majors. Right-handed opponents, however, have logged an .822 OPS against him in 1035 trips to the plate. The new three-batter minimum rule doesn’t exactly do any favors for pitchers of this ilk, although Rzepczynski has had a few seasons along the way where he’s held righties in check for the most part.

In his 10 MLB seasons, Rzepczynski has pitched to a 3.89 ERA (3.88 FIP) with 8.5 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 0.74 HR/9 and a huge 59.7 percent ground-ball rate in 434 2/3 innings.

Blue Jays To Sign Marc Rzepczynski

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The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran left-hander Marc Rzepczynski, manager Charlie Montoyo revealed when meeting with reporters Monday morning (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling). Rzepczynski still needs to complete his physical, but once he does, the JBA Sports client will head to Major League camp as a non-roster invitee.

Rzepczynski, 34, didn’t pitch in the big leagues in 2019 — the first time since 2008 that he didn’t pitch at least 10 innings in a big league season. Instead, the southpaw spent the year with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate, where he pitched to a 5.04 ERA with 36 strikeouts against 28 walks in 44 innings of relief. Suffice it to say, the 2019 campaign wasn’t one of the southpaw’s best.

That said, Rzepczynski has a generally solid track record at the big league level. He’s compiled a 3.89 ERA and near-identical 3.88 FIP in 434 2/3 MLB frames — including a quality run from 2011-17 that saw him log a 3.61 earned run average (3.59 FIP) in 299 1/3 innings. It’s been two years since his last effective campaign at the MLB level, but there’s little harm in taking a speculative spring look to see a rebound appears possible.

Major League Baseball’s recent rule changes — the three-batter minimum for pitches, specifically — won’t do any favors for the man perhaps more commonly known as “Scrabble.” Rzepczynski has generally been used in a specialized left-on-left role throughout his career. Lefty hitters have mustered only a dismal .227/.296/.305 slash against him in 857 trips to the plate, but righties have had far less difficulty, as evidenced by a .280/.385/.437 output in 1035 plate appearances.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/27/19

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Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball (unless otherwise specified, reports come from Kegan Lowe of Baseball America):

  • The White Sox have released outfielder Paulo Orlando, who had been with the organization since it acquired him from the Dodgers on May 10. The 33-year-old Orlando didn’t produce much with the White Sox’s Triple-A team in Charlotte, as he hit just .242/.299/.426 with 10 home runs in 284 plate appearances. Orlando’s best known for his 2015-18 stint as a member of the Royals, with whom he batted .263/.289/.384 and totaled 14 HRs across 918 trips to the plate.
  • The Diamondbacks released left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski over the weekend, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page. The D-backs have now waved goodbye to “Scrabble” twice this season – they cut the 33-year-old at the end of May, only to re-sign him a few weeks later. Rzepczynski has spent the year with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, where he has pitched to a 5.04 ERA/6.25 FIP with 7.25 K/9, 5.64 BB/9 and a 53.8 percent groundball rate in 44 2/3 innings.
  • The Braves recently signed lefty Tyler Matzek, who was previously with the Texas Airhogs of the independent American Association. Matzek’s a decade removed from going to the Rockies 11th overall in the 2009 draft, but it’s fair to say the once-hyped hurler hasn’t lived up to the promise he had as a prospect. While Matzek was relatively successful with the Rockies from 2014-15 – a 139 2/3-inning run in which he recorded a 4.06 ERA/4.12 FIP despite unimpressive strikeout and walk rates (6.83 K/9, 4.06 BB/9) – he hasn’t pitched in the majors since then. The control-challenged 28-year-old owns a 5.16 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 5.6 BB/9 in 83 2/3 frames at the Triple-A level.

Diamondbacks Release Marc Rzepczynski

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The Diamondbacks have released left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski, according to Roster Roundup. He had been with the organization since signing a minor league deal in February.

The journeyman Rzepczynski has been an effective reliever for most of his career, which began with the Blue Jays in 2009, but hasn’t seen much action at the game’s highest level of late. After a 31 1/3-inning season with the Mariners in 2017, “Scrabble” threw just 10 1/3 frames between the M’s and Indians last year. Opposing offenses battered Rzepczynski during that small sample, collecting eight earned runs on 16 hits and 10 walks.

Prior to his release, Rzepczynski recorded mediocre numbers across 25 2/3 innings with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno. The 33-year-old pitched to a 3.86 ERA/4.74 FIP with 6.31 K/9 and 4.21 BB/9, though he did log a superb 60.5 percent groundball rate. Rzepczynski has also induced grounders at a high clip in the majors (59.7 percent), where he has posted a 3.89 ERA/3.88 FIP and 8.47 K/9 against 4.24 BB/9 in 434 2/3 innings. Most of his success has come at the expense of same-handed hitters, whom he has held to a .227/.296/.305 line.

Diamondbacks Sign Ricky Nolasco, Marc Rzepczynski

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The Diamondbacks have announced deals with two veteran hurlers. Both right-hander Ricky Nolasco and southpaw Marc Rzepczynski are slated to appear in MLB camp as non-roster invitees after signing minor-league pacts.

If he’s able to crack the roster, Rzepczysnki would earn at a $1.5MM rate, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). His deal also includes a $500K incentives package.

Another pair of former MLB relievers is also joining the Arizona organization, albeit without camp invites. Righty Michael Kohn and lefty Lucas Luetge also have minors deals in place. Bob Nightengale of USA Today first tweeted Kohn’s deal.

Nolasco will be looking to break back into the majors after sitting out the 2018 season. He did make 33 starts in the 2017 campaign, and spent camp last year with the Royals, so he hasn’t been on the sidelines for all that long.

Even ignoring the absence, it has been some times since the 36-year-old was effective. Nolasco’s strong 2013 season earned him a four-year deal with the Twins, but he carries a 4.99 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in the 575 innings he has thrown since that time.

The 33-year-old Rzepczynski did see MLB action last year, though he was knocked around in both the majors and minors in stints with the Mariners and Indians organizations. At his best, Rzepczynski is an exceedingly tough assignment for opposing left-handed hitters, who have hit just .227/.296/.305 against him in his career.

Kohn and Luetge are each even deeper comeback candidates. Neither has seen the majors since 2015 and neither played in the affiliated ranks at all in 2018.

Pitching Market Rumors: Giants, Gray, Rangers, Allen, Scrabble

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The pitching market continues to proceed at a steady but unhurried pace, with today’s reunion between the Giants and Derek Holland marking the latest signing of note. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to cover the news from the team’s perspective. While the organization has undergone front office changes since Holland wrapped up a solid performance on a one-year deal in 2018, new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi still made the call to bring back the southpaw. That was due in no small part to the club’s positive experience with him last year, both on and off the field. Zaidi emphasized that the team still wants to find more rotation depth this winter, though it’s far from clear that any further MLB signings will be pursued. It certainly seems possible that the club will add plausible rotation pieces via trade or on minor-league deals.

Here’s the latest on the pitching market:

  • Talks surrounding Sonny Gray have “ramped up” since Yankees’ lefty CC Sabathia was cleared to resume baseball activities last week, Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets. The Yankees are discussing Gray with six teams, including the Reds, per Heyman, though previous reports had indicated that Cincinnati’s interest had cooled off since adding Alex Wood and Tanner Roark. Gray agreed to a $7.5MM salary over the weekend, falling shy of MLBTR’s $9.1MM projection and perhaps making him a bit more appealing to clubs who’ve already added a fair bit of payroll this offseason.
  • The Rangers are maintaining interest in adding some free-agent arms to their bullpen and have been in recent contact with the representatives for right-handers Adam Ottavino and Cody Allen, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links). However, the likelier route is that the Rangers will add multiple lower-cost relievers rather than one higher-end piece. Rosenthal adds Adam Warren to the list of potential Texas targets and notes that the Rangers are also still looking to add an infielder. Meanwhile, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that the Twins still have interest in Allen. Minnesota was connected to Allen earlier this winter and has since signed Blake Parker, though they’re still in the market for additional relief help. Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey knows Allen quite well from his days in the Indians’ front office.
  • Free-agent lefty Marc Rzepczynski is hosting a showcase for big league teams tomorrow, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. The 33-year-old southpaw struggled tremendously in 2018 both at the Majors and in Triple-A, and he’ll look to audition for clubs on what figures to be a minor league deal with a chance to reestablish himself as a credible option. “Scrabble” has worked as a lefty specialist for the bulk of his career, as he hasn’t topped 50 innings since 2011 despite averaging 64 MLB appearances per season from 2012-17. In his career, he’s held lefties to an awful .225/.296/.305 batting line through 857 plate appearances.

Mariners Re-Sign Marc Rzepczynski To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have re-signed left-hander Marc Rzepczynski to a minor league deal, per Triple-A broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo first mentioned the reunion (also via Twitter).

Rzepczynski, 32, is technically being paid by the Mariners anyhow, as he signed a two-year, $11MM deal with Seattle in the 2016-17 offseason. However, after pitching poorly in each of the first season and a half of that pact, the veteran southpaw was designated for assignment and ultimately released. He landed with the Indians after that and notched 2 2/3 shutout innings before being designated for assignment and released for a second time.

Left-handed relief has been a need for the M’s for much of the season, in part due to Rzepczynski’s own struggles, and he’ll rejoin the organization as a depth piece. However, with James Pazos, Roenis Elias and the newly acquired Zach Duke — picked up in a Monday trade with the Twins — all in the big league bullpen, Rzepczynski won’t have much of a path to the Majors in the near future. In the event of an injury at the MLB level, though, or perhaps as a September call-up, he could potentially return to the big-league level with Seattle.

In 268 innings from 2011-16, Rzecpzynski worked to a 3.56 ERA with 8.6 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. In parts of 10 Major League seasons, he’s held left-handed opponents to a timid .227/.296/.305 slash in 857 plate appearances.

Indians Designate Marc Rzepczynski, Activate Tyler Olson

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The Indians have designated lefty Marc Rzepczynski, per a club announcement. That move will open a roster spot for the return of fellow southpaw Tyler Olson.

The 32-year-old Rzepczynski ended up making only five appearances in his second stint with the Cleveland organization. He threw 2 2/3 scoreless frames, but managed only one strikeout to go with one free pass.

Rzepczynski had struggled to open the year with the Mariners, then landed with the Indians after being cut loose by Seattle. Since the start of the 2017 season, he carries a 4.75 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 6.5 BB/9 over 41 2/3 innings in 87 appearances. The lefty specialist will likely end up heading back to the open market in search of another opportunity, with the M’s still on the hook for the balance of his $5.5MM salary.

As for Olson, he’ll be looking to return from both a lat injury and a rough opening to the season. Though he compiled 23 strikeouts (to go with eight walks) in his 17 1/3 innings to open the year, the 28-year-old coughed up 14 earned runs. Olson held opposing lefty hitters to a .216/.275/.378 batting line in that span, but surrendered a whopping 1.083 OPS to the 39 right-handed hitters that stepped into the box against him. Last year, when he turned in twenty scoreless frames in a breakout performance, he dominated hitters of all varieties.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/1/18

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Sunday’s minor moves…

  • The Indians cleared room for Rzepczynski by releasing lefty Shawn Morimando, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com tweets. Morimando, 25, had been with the organization since it selected him in the 19th round of the 2011 draft. He ascended to Triple-A in 2016 and has since pitched to a 4.45 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in 242 2/3 innings at the minors’ highest level. Morimando also had a 4 2/3-inning stint with the Tribe in 2016.

Earlier moves:

  • The Indians have selected the contract of left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski from Triple-A Columbus, per a team announcement. The club will need to create 40-man room for Rzepczynski, whom it signed to a minor league deal two weeks ago. “Scrabble” had been with the Mariners, who released him after he pitched to a 9.38 ERA with 13 hits allowed, nine walks and 10 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings this season. In doing so, Seattle cut the cord on a player it signed to a two-year, $11MM deal entering 2017. Now, Rzepczynski’s set for his second stint in Cleveland, where he previously pitched from 2013-15. The 32-year-old, a veteran of seven major league teams, owns a 3.92 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 4.25 BB/9 and an impressive 59.7 percent groundball rate in 432 career innings. He has also held southpaw swingers to a weak .222/.295/.303 line in the bigs.
  • The Yankees announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander David Hale from Triple-A. The 30-year-old has yo-yoed between the Yankees and their top affiliate in Scranton this season, and he has also had a stint with the Twins. Hale has combined for just eight innings between New York and Minnesota in 2018, but he has amassed 55 frames in Scranton and pitched to a 4.20 ERA with 7.11 K/9 and 2.75 BB/9.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve outrighted infielder Corban Joseph to Double-A Bowie. The club designated Joseph for assignment this week after he saw limited action in Baltimore, collecting just 10 plate appearances. The 29-year-old Joseph has spent most of this season with Bowie, where he has hit .332/.398/.534 in 281 PAs.
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