Guardians Claim Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Matt Moore
In a swift retooling of the pitching staff, the Guardians have claimed right-handers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez and lefty Matt Moore off waivers from the Angels, Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN report. It’s a sudden, jarring final push to salvage a postseason appearance by Cleveland — one that would have seemed impossible just 72 hours ago.
The Angels’ decision to place roughly a quarter of their roster on waivers — Hunter Renfroe, Randal Grichuk and Dominic Leone all hit waivers on Tuesday as well — stunned the industry, though the rationale behind it is at least sound. The Angels aggressively pushed for a postseason berth at the deadline, acquiring Giolito, Lopez, Grichuk and C.J. Cron, but have since lost two-thirds of their games and fallen from postseason contention in a stacked AL West. (Somewhat amusingly, their 64-70 record is the same as the Guardians, though the AL Central is the sport’s weakest division.)
That slate of trades pushed the Halos over the luxury tax threshold, which would reduce their draft compensation in the event that Shohei Ohtani signs elsewhere after rejecting a qualifying offer. They’d also face steeper penalties in 2024 in the event that they exceeded the tax barrier next year. But, by waiving this slate of players and seeing each of Giolito, Lopez, Moore, Renfroe (Reds) and Leone (Mariners) all come off the books, the Angels will duck back under the tax threshold. Their theoretical comp pick for Ohtani’s departure would come prior to the third round of the draft rather than between the fourth and fifth rounds. They also won’t face any escalating penalties in the event that they wind up as a luxury tax payor next season.
It’s a bad look for MLB to see such a brazenly non-competitive move by a team that just four weeks ago energized its fanbase and clubhouse with a bold win-now push. At the same time, the Angels can’t really be faulted for the decision at this juncture, given the manner in which things have played out. They’re merely taking advantage of the rules that have been collectively bargained between the league and the Players Association. None of the players they waived would’ve been eligible or considered for a qualifying offer anyhow, so there’s quite literally no incentive for the Angels to hold onto them and strong incentive for them to engage in this tactic now that their playoff hopes are all but mathematically dashed.
While Major League Baseball perhaps ought to look into ways to prevent mass roster purges of this nature in future Augusts, there’s little to be done about it now — and the Guardians stand to benefit. Cleveland has spent the entirety of the year looking up at the Twins in the American League Central standings, and after taking two of three from Minnesota in their just-completed series now faces only a five-game deficit. It’s worth wondering what might’ve happened if the Twins had swept or at least won the series — Minnesota was within one strike of winning yesterday’s game, but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead — though perhaps Cleveland would’ve made the claims even if facing a six- or seven-game deficit.
A firm answer to that hypothetical probably can’t ever be known, but it’s a moot point anyhow; the Guardians’ comeback win yesterday brought them within striking distance of the Twins in the division, and they’ll now add three high-caliber arms to their pitching staff. Giolito, of course, is the most notable of the bunch and perhaps the most vital, given the extent of the pitching injuries that have ravaged the Cleveland rotation this year. Each of Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill has been out more seven weeks. The Guardians, acknowledging that their playoff hopes had slipped, traded Aaron Civale to the Rays prior to the deadline.
Giolito joins a rookie-laden rotation, adding a veteran arm to stand alongside the impressive trio of Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen. The expectation is that Quantrill will soon be ready to join that group, and the club has also expressed optimism that Bieber could return late in the month.
While the 2023 season has been Giolito’s worst in recent memory, that’s largely due to poor results with the team that just waived him. After pitching to a 3.79 ERA with a 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate in 121 innings with the White Sox, Giolito was torched for a 6.89 ERA with worse strikeout (22.8%) and walk (10.3%) rates as a member of the Halos. Most dramatically, an already too-high home run rate of 1.49 per nine innings pitched spiked to 2.76 as an Angel.
Looking at Giolito’s track record as a whole, however, it’s easy enough to see why he was claimed by several teams (the others all having lower waiver priority than Cleveland). Dating back to 2019, Giolito sports a 3.99 ERA in 743 innings. His strikeout rate has dipped over the past two seasons, but he’s still averaging 93-94 mph on his heater, punching out about a quarter of his opponents, and has generally shown good command throughout his MLB career. The Cy Young-caliber breakout many expected perhaps never came, but Giolito is a durable mid-rotation arm who misses bats, limits walks and is a playoff-caliber arm.
Meanwhile, an already excellent Cleveland bullpen will now add two formidable arms in Lopez and Moore. Guardians relievers already rank fifth in the Majors with a 3.48 ERA, and the addition of two veterans just in time for rosters to expand will put them in the conversation for best relief corps in baseball.
Lopez, 29, is one of MLB’s hardest throwers, averaging a blistering 98.4 mph on his heater this year. He’s seen his previously strong command erode in 2023, walking a career-worst 12.6% of his opponents, but he’s also fanning a career-best 29.8% of hitters and boasting a career-high 14.1% swinging-strike rate. In 55 innings of relief, the former top prospect has a 3.93 ERA. Lopez is limiting hard contact at the best levels of his career as well and throwing his blazing fastball more often than ever before — generally at the expense of his third and fourth pitches (curveball, changeup). He’s primarily been a fastball/slider pitcher this year, and while the results have been a bit mixed, he’ll add a power arm capable of missing bats in droves to Terry Francona’s bullpen.
Moore, meanwhile, gives Francona a second lefty alongside Sam Hentges. The 34-year-old has found new life in his career since moving to a full-time relief role last year. He’s pitched 44 innings for the Angels in 2023, working to a 2.66 ERA with a career-high 28% strikeout rate and a very strong 6.9% walk rate.
Once the game’s consensus top pitching prospect, Moore impressed early on with the Rays before Tommy John surgery derailed his career. The left-hander never seemed to fully recover. After pitching to a 3.53 ERA from 2011-14, he missed most of the 2014-15 seasons recovering from that surgery, and posted a 5.26 ERA over his next 620 2/3 innings post-surgery.
Moore had a one-year stop in Japan along the way and pitched fairly well there, but it wasn’t until signing a minor league deal with Texas last year that he became a pitcher of note at the big league level again. Moore’s 1.95 ERA set the stage for a $7.55MM deal with the Angels this year, and he’s now logged a combined 2.21 ERA in his career’s second act as a late-inning reliever.
All in all, it’s a borderline unheard-of boon to a Major League pitching staff at this stage of a season — and all it will cost the Guardians is the collective $3.727MM that remain on the trio’s 2023 contracts. Each of Giolito, Moore and Lopez will be a free agent after the season, and the Guardians won’t receive any compensation if and when they enter free agency. They’re still a long shot to erase that five-game gap in the standings, particularly with the Twins still having series against the A’s, Rockies, White Sox, Mets and a now-depleted Angels team. But the Guardians were presented an opportunity to do everything they could to boost their slim playoff odds, and just like the Angels did one month ago, they took their shot.
Reds Claim Harrison Bader, Hunter Renfroe
The Reds have claimed outfielder Harrison Bader off waivers from the Yankees, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Reds also claimed outfielder Hunter Renfroe from the Angels, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN. By joining the Reds prior to September 1, each will be eligible to participate in the postseason if the club eventually makes it.
Bader, 29, and Renfroe, 31, were two of several veteran players placed on waivers this week. There were many clubs who were still hovering around contention at the trade deadline but slipped back in the standings in the month of August. But the opportunity to trade impending free agents for any kind of return had passed by, leaving them little recourse but to place those players on waivers. By doing so, they could perhaps at least save themselves some money since the claiming team takes on the remainder of the contract, while allowing the player to move somewhere with a chance to contend and perhaps make the playoffs.
Both Bader and Renfroe will do just that, jumping from their respective clubs to the Reds, who have emerged from their rebuild in amazing fashion this year. Several rookies have been called up and have been able to hit the ground running, allowing the club to currently find themselves just one game out of a National League Wild Card spot with a record of 69-66. They will now add a couple of veteran players into the mix for their stretch run, for nothing but a financial cost.
Bader has long been an excellent fielder in center, starting with the Cardinals and continuing with the Yankees after a trade last year. In 621 career games, he’s tallied 53 Defensive Runs Saved, 67 Outs Above Average and a grade of 46.7 from Ultimate Zone Rating. Injuries have been an ongoing issue, however, with Bader only twice playing in more than 103 games in a season. Those instances were back in 2018 and 2019, with multiple IL trips in the seasons since.
At the plate, he’s been less impressive than in the field, usually hovering around league average. His career batting line is .244/.312/.399, which translates to a wRC+ of 93, but he’s hitting just .240/.278/.365 this year for a 76 wRC+. But his speed has allowed him to steal 74 bases in his career, including 17 already this season.
Renfroe is effectively the inverse to Bader, as his bat his generally his best trait, with his speed and defense considered subpar. Though his offense is his standout trait, he’s inconsistent in that regard, with his production oscillating between either side of league average. Over 2021 and 2022, he hit 60 home runs and produced a batting line of .257/.315/.496, amounting to a wRC+ of 118. But this year, he’s down a bit to .242/.304/.434 and a 98 wRC+.
Despite each player’s value, the Yankees and Angels fell back in the standings in August and gave up on their hopes of contending. Both of these players are impending free agents and neither would warrant a qualifying offer at season’s end, so their respective clubs placed them on waivers in the hopes that another team would put in a claim and take the remainder of the contract off their hands.
The waiver priority order is the reverse of the standings, with the worst clubs having first dibs. But non-contending clubs would have no incentive for claiming these players, so they have naturally skipped to a contender. In this case, some other fringe contenders like the Guardians and Marlins passed on Bader and Renfroe, though the Reds benefited by being in the playoff race but with a worse record than some of the clubs they are battling.
By adding Renfroe and Bader into the mix, the Reds have further crowded their outfield picture. In recent days, they have had TJ Friedl in center, with Will Benson and Nick Senzel getting regular work in the corners, backed up by Stuart Fairchild and TJ Hopkins. There’s also Jake Fraley, who is on the injured list but currently on a rehab assignment. Spencer Steer has been covering second base with Matt McLain on the IL but could end up back in the outfield if McLain returns.
There’s a lot of moving parts there but the Reds will likely figure out a way to make it work. Senzel is hitting just .219/.289/.371 this year and could be bumped from the regular lineup by Renfroe. Friedl was hitting .313/.379/.486 through June but has slumped to a line of .221/.278/.352 since the calendar flipped to July, perhaps leading to Bader taking some of his playing time. There’s also the designated hitter slot, which has been used by Nick Martini of late. He’s been red hot but in a small sample of just nine games.
However it plays out, the Reds are taking on some money to try to push themselves into the postseason. Bader is making $4.7MM this year with around $783K left to be paid out, while Renfroe has about $1.98MM left on his $11.9MM salary. That leaves the Reds taking on close to $2.76MM in these moves, though the savings for the other clubs will be greater.
The Yankees are set to pay the luxury tax for a second straight year and have been hovering around the fourth CBT tier. That means they will be paying a 75% tax on any spending over the $273MM line and a 90% tax on any spending over the $293MM line. By having Bader claimed on waivers, they will save the remainder of his contract and also reduce their tax bill.
For the Angels, they were narrowly over the lowest CBT threshold and may be able to duck below. In addition to the Reds claiming Renfroe, the Guardians claimed Lucas Giolito, Matt Moore and Reynaldo López while the Mariners claimed Dominic Leone. In addition to the straightforward cost savings, those claims could potentially push them out of payor status, though that won’t be officially known until the offseason. If they did successfully avoid the tax, that would impact the draft pick they receive in the event Shohei Ohtani signs elsewhere after rejecting a qualifying offer. A team that pays the luxury tax sees their compensatory draft pick moved back from just before the third round to just after the fourth, moving from around pick 75-80 to around 140. There are also compounding penalties for repeat payors, meaning that getting below the line here in 2023 could have impacts for the Halos into the future as well.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Brewers Sign Josh Donaldson To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed Josh Donaldson to a minor league deal, per Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The third baseman will report to Triple-A Nashville. By joining the organization prior to September 1, he will be eligible to play for the Brewers in the postseason.
Donaldson, 37, spent almost a decade one of the best third basemen in the league but has fallen on hard times of late. From 2013 to 2021, he hit 241 home runs and slashed .272/.373/.514 for a wRC+ of 141, indicating he was 41% better than the league average hitter in that time. But after being traded from the Twins to the Yankees prior to 2022, his production started to fall off. Last year, he hit .222/.308/.374 for a wRC+ of 98. His strikeout rate jumped to 27.1%, after being at 19.8% in that aforementioned stretch of excellence.
This year, he has hardly been able to take the field. He has twice gone on the injured list, first due to a right hamstring strain and then a right calf strain, only getting into 34 games on the season. He hit 10 home runs in that time but slashed just .142/.225/.434. He suffered through a tiny .076 batting average on balls in play in that time but his strikeout rate remained high at 26.7%.
He most recent IL stint began in mid-July, meaning he’s been out of action for about six weeks at this point. He was ramping up lately and nearing a rehab assignment but the Yankees released him earlier this week, giving him a chance to catch on elsewhere as they use the remainder of their lost season to get a look at younger players. Donaldson has now found that new chance with the Brewers.
Milwaukee has been using Andruw Monasterio as its primary third baseman in recent months, but he has cooled off lately. He was hitting .288/.369/.410 through August 14 but just .149/.216/.149 in his past 13 games. Brian Anderson has also seen some time at the hot corner but has experienced a similar cooldown. He was hitting .229/.317/.373 when he landed on the injured list in July due to a lower back strain. Since returning earlier this month, he’s hit just .150/.190/.250. Donaldson could also possibly nudge Carlos Santana, who has hit .219/.281/.419 since being acquired by the Brewers, from some time as the designated hitter.
Perhaps the Brewers will add Donaldson to their roster and try to catch lightning in a bottle to improve their output at third. Donaldson’s overall results haven’t been great but he’s still been good on defense and he won’t be able to sustain that tiny BABIP going forward. Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 tomorrow but Donaldson will need a 40-man spot if the Brewers decide to add him. Since he was set to go on a rehab assignment anyway, perhaps he goes to Nashville for a few days to get back into game shape.
The Brewers are currently atop the National League Central but the Cubs and Reds are within three and six games, respectively. For now, they are taking a no-risk look at Donaldson to see what form he’s in and if he can help them with their playoff push or maybe in the playoffs themselves. If they add him to the roster at any point, they will only owe him the prorated league minimum, since the Yanks are on the hook for the majority of what remains of his contract by releasing him.
White Sox Name Chris Getz General Manager
The White Sox announced Thursday that assistant general manager Chris Getz has been promoted to the position of senior vice president and general manager. Chicago fired longtime baseball operations executives Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams last week.
Getz, who turned 40 yesterday, will join the likes of Rangers GM Chris Young, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, Phillies GM Sam Fuld and Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes among high-ranking baseball operations executives who also played at the Major League level. (Fuld and Gomes are second on their respective organizations’ baseball operations hierarchies. Young, Dipoto and now Getz are their teams’ top baseball operations decision-makers.)
A fourth-round pick of the White Sox back in 2005, Getz played in parts of seven Major League seasons between the White Sox, Royals and Blue Jays. In 459 big league games and 1574 plate appearances, he posted a .250/.309/.307 batting line and swiped 89 bases in 117 tries. Getz was the White Sox’ primary second baseman in 2009 before being traded to the Royals as part of a package to acquire infielder/outfielder Mark Teahen, and he served as Kansas City’s primary second baseman from 2010-11.
Getz announced his retirement as a player in May 2014, and spent the next two years as a baseball operations and player development assistant with the Royals. The White Sox hired him in October 2016 to take over as the team’s new director of player development — a role he held from 2017-20 before being promoted to his most recent title of assistant general manager. Throughout his time with the Sox, Getz has overseen day-to-day operation of the minor league system and the team’s academy in the Dominican Republic. He’s also contributed to player evaluation and contract negotiations.
“Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience within our organization to this role,” owner Jerry Reinsdorf said Thursday in a statement within the press release announcing Getz’s promotion. “Most importantly, he knows our players, both at the major league level and in our system, knows our staff and is familiar with all aspects of our baseball operations department. Chris has impressed me greatly over the past seven years. In our conversations together this season, I have become energized by his vision, approach and sense of what this organization needs to become competitive again. With his existing knowledge of the organization, top to bottom, I believe his leadership will provide us with the quickest path forward to our goal, a consistently successful baseball team that competes and plays the game the right way. He will re-energize this organization.”
Since the dismissal of Hahn and Williams, most reports out of Chicago have indicated that Reinsdorf was likely to go with an in-house hire — many tabbing Getz as the favorite. While Getz has clearly put in time with the organization and risen through the ranks since his playing days, it’s still a move that’s likely to be unpopular among Chicago fans, who were hoping for an outside hire to shake up what has been labeled by multiple former Sox players as a chaotic organizational culture. Reinsdorf, however, has a reputation as perhaps the most fiercely loyal owner in all of sports — which is what made the firing of Hahn and Williams so surprising. Even prior efforts to turn the organization around have included the return of old faces, such as the 2021 hiring of Tony La Russa as a second stint managing the team.
Getz now has nearly a decade of experience working in player development and baseball operations, and he’ll take the knowledge he’s accrued over that time and attempt to win over a fan base that has grown frustrated with the lack of results from the team’s lengthy rebuilding effort. The Sox tore things down back in 2016, trading names like Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Adam Eaton, David Robertson and Todd Frazier and taking a hyper-aggressive approach to international free agency — which led to the signings of Jose Abreu and Luis Robert Jr.
The White Sox’ farm system was regarded as one of the best in the sport as prospects like Robert, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson and others began to graduate to the Majors, and things looked to be on track when the Sox went 35-25 in the shortened 2020 season and then steamrolled the AL Central with a 93-69 showing in 2021 — winning the division by 13 games.
However, the Sox fell flat in 2022, and the 2023 season has been an unmitigated disaster. The Sox opened the season 7-19 with a -58 run differential through their first 26 games, and it looked as though their season was lost before the end of April. That’s proven to be the case, as the Sox never really recovered from that opening swoon and spent deadline season trading away the likes of Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Kendall Graveman, Lance Lynn, Jake Burger and Keynan Middleton in an attempt to restock the farm.
With Getz now at the helm, the broader questions will surround precisely what Reinsdorf meant when referencing the newly minted GM’s “vision, approach and sense of what this organization needs to become competitive again.” The Sox eschewed trades of controllable talents like Jimenez, Kopech, Robert, Dylan Cease and Andrew Vaughn. If the Sox opt for another aggressive rebuild, any combination of that group could be on the trade market this offseason. On the other hand, that’s a talented core to try to surround with talent, and Chicago has more than $100MM coming off the books this winter — in addition to some new players in the upper levels of the system following the deadline sell-off of shorter-term pieces.
Time will tell which direction the team chooses, but Getz faces an uphill battle both in restoring the White Sox to prominence and in winning over a fanbase that had been pining for broader-reaching changes.
Nick Lodolo Reportedly Won’t Return This Season
Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo is done for the season, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. The southpaw has been on the injured list due to a stress reaction in his left tibia and it appears he won’t be able to heal up in time to rejoin the club.
It’s been a frustrating season for Lodolo, who was hoped to be part of a strong one-two atop the Cincinnati rotation this year alongside Hunter Greene. Both pitchers were first-round draft picks and highly-touted prospects before debuting with strong results in 2022. He tossed 103 1/3 innings over 19 starts last year with a 3.66 earned run average, 29.7% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build on that here in 2023. He made just seven starts with a 6.29 ERA before landing on the injured list with a leg injury. It was initially described as left calf tendinitis, though it was later diagnosed as a stress reaction in his left tibia and he was placed in a walking boot. He was expected back in August and began a rehab assignment but recently was diagnosed with an additional stress reaction in his tibia, which will keep him from coming back again this year.
It will ultimately go down as a mostly lost season for Lodolo, an unfortunate development for him and the club. The Reds have surged out of their rebuild this year, with various rookies debuting and helping the club emerge as legitimate contenders. That’s been thanks largely to a strong group of position players and in spite of a weak pitching staff. The Reds are 10th in the majors in terms of runs scored but have also allowed the eighth-most runs. Their rotation ERA of 5.30 is better than only the Rockies and the A’s.
In addition to Lodolo’s injury issues, just about every other starting pitcher has gone on the injured list or struggled at some point, with Graham Ashcraft the only pitcher on the staff to crack 100 innings so far this season. Despite all of that, the Reds are just one game back of a playoff spot but could have perhaps been in better position with just a little bit better luck in terms of pitcher health.
For Lodolo personally, he’s missed out on a chance to continue developing at the major league level and help his club. He’ll now go into the offseason with an uncertain status and could perhaps face workload concerns next year. Between his seven starts and then his truncated rehab, he only tossed 41 2/3 innings this year. His highest tally as a professional was the 116 he threw last year between the majors and the minors.
Without Lodolo, the Reds will go into the final month of their postseason push with a rotation that currently consists of Greene, Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott, Brandon Williamson and Ben Lively, with Lyon Richardson, Levi Stoudt and others on the 40-man and in the minors as depth.
Randal Grichuk Clears Waivers
Angels outfielder Randal Grichuk was not claimed on outright waivers, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’ll remain with the Halos unless they surprisingly choose to outright him to a minor league affiliate, at which point Grichuk would have the right to elect free agency.
Los Angeles acquired Grichuk from the Rockies on July 30. The veteran outfielder had a .308/.365/.498 batting line at the time. He hasn’t hit at all since landing in Southern California, posting a .168/.220/.347 slash in 109 plate appearances as an Angel. Grichuk’s strikeout rate is up more than four percentage points relative to his time in Colorado.
Dismal batted ball luck has surely played a role. After hitting .363 on balls in play for the Rox, Grichuk owns just a .181 BABIP for the Halos. Nevertheless, other clubs were concerned enough about his recent drop-off not to add him to the roster. Los Angeles successfully moved on from Hunter Renfroe — he was claimed by the Reds — so they’ll presumably keep Grichuk on the major league club to play out the stretch run.
The 32-year-old is making $9.33MM on the season. That’s being divided among three teams. The Blue Jays are covering $4.33MM as part of the trade that sent him to Colorado over the 2021-22 offseason. The Rockies are paying down around half the remaining salary as a condition of the trade with the Halos, leaving Los Angeles on the hook for the prorated portion of approximately $2.5MM. Grichuk will be a free agent at the end of the season.
Guardians Release Noah Syndergaard
The Guardians have released right-hander Noah Syndergaard following his recent DFA, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. If he signs with a new team by 11:59pm ET tonight, he’ll be eligible for that club’s postseason roster.
Cleveland acquired the former All-Star in a swap of underwater contracts at the deadline, sending infielder Amed Rosario to the Dodgers in hopes that a change of scenery could help get Syndergaard back to form. Syndergaard, who’d pitched to a 7.16 ERA in 55 1/3 innings with Los Angeles, signed a one-year, $13MM deal with the Dodgers over the winter. Rosario, an impending free agent who’d been the Guardians’ primary shortstop since 2021, was hitting just .265/.306/.369 at the time of the swap. Neither player has gotten his performance back up to previous levels since the exchange, however.
The Guards might’ve at least hoped that Syndergaard could stabilize an injury-plagued rotation down the stretch, taking some of the innings that were lost when Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie or Cal Quantrill went down with long-term injuries. That hasn’t happened. Syndergaard made six starts with Cleveland, pitching to a 5.40 ERA with a 12.4% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 33 1/3 innings. That 12.4% strikeout rate is the lowest of any pitcher since the time of the trade (min. 30 innings).
Now 31 years old, Syndergaard was one of the most promising power pitchers in the sport early in his career, breaking out as a legitimate Cy Young contender early on. Through his first 518 1/3 big league innings, the 6’6″ righty notched a 2.93 ERA, fanning 27.1% of his opponents and averaging 98.2 mph on his heater along the way. Unlike so many flamethrowers, Syndergaard possessed pristine command, too; his 5.5% walk rate in that stretch was outstanding. His ERA spiked to 4.28 in 2019, but Syndergaard retained premium velocity, strikeout and walk rates while logging a career-high 197 2/3 innings.
Unfortunately, the present-day version of Syndergaard doesn’t look much like that peak version. Tommy John surgery wiped out the 2020 and 2021 seasons for Syndergaard, who serves as something of a cautionary tale and reminder that for as common as the procedure has become, a return to form following such a major surgery is by no means a foregone conclusion. He still boasts outstanding command — he’s walked just 4.9% of his opponents this year — but Syndergaard’s fastball averaged 92.8 mph in Los Angeles and was down to just 91.9 mph during his brief stint with Cleveland. The once-wicked slider that averaged a ridiculous 93.1 mph is down to 85 mph in each of the past two seasons, and his peak 14.2% swinging-strike rate has plummeted to a well below-average 8.2%.
Syndergaard will now hit the market as a depth option for postseason hopefuls. He’ll cost a new club only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. With active rosters set to expand from 26 to 28 players tomorrow, he’ll have a clearer path back to a big league roster, although a team in the midst of a tight postseason race would likely be wary of plugging him right into the rotation. Many have wondered what Syndergaard might look like coming out of the bullpen — he’s only made two relief appearances in his career — and that could be another avenue for him to join a contender’s staff.
Mets To Promote Ronny Mauricio
The Mets are promoting infield prospect Ronny Mauricio, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase (Twitter link). He’ll join the club on Friday when active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players.
Mauricio, 22, joins the major league team for the first time. He has been one of the most highly-touted players in the system since signing out of the Dominican Republic during the 2017-18 amateur period. Baseball America has slotted him among the Mets’ five most talented farmhands at the start of each of the last five years, while he placed among the league’s Top 100 talents at BA every season from 2019-22.
A switch-hitter, Mauricio draws praise from evaluators for significant power potential from both sides of the plate. He’s an excellent athlete with a strong throwing arm and has a shot to stick in the middle infield. Few minor league players can match Mauricio’s physical ability, which he has put on display in the upper minors over the past couple seasons.
Mauricio has posted consecutive 20-20 seasons, spending last year in Double-A before moving up to Triple-A Syracuse for this year. He connected on 26 longballs with 20 stolen bases a year ago. Through 115 contests with Syracuse, he has hit 23 homers and gone 24-31 on the basepaths.
The main question is whether Mauricio is a selective enough hitter to continue performing against MLB competition. This year’s 6.6% walk rate is his highest at any full-season level but is still a couple points below the MLB average. The lack of free passes have generally resulted in below-average OBP marks as he’s climbed the minor league ladder. His prospect stock has dimmed slightly as a result. Baseball America no longer includes him in their Top 100, though he still ranked sixth in the organization on their midseason update. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN left him just outside a recent Top 50 list.
Mauricio is still a very good prospect, albeit perhaps more high-variance than most top minor league talents. To his credit, he has continued to perform well at the upper levels — generally against slightly older competition. Mauricio is hitting .295/.349/.511 across 527 Triple-A plate appearances. Alongside his marginally improved walk rate, he has cut his strikeouts to a lower than average 18.2% clip — nearly five points better than his Double-A figure. Mauricio has performed well from both sides of the dish, hitting .298/.358/.521 against southpaws while posting a .284/.316/.477 slash versus right-handed pitching.
The Mets have used Mauricio at shortstop for the majority of his pro career. He has logged nearly 500 innings of second base work in Syracuse this year. The latter position seems his likeliest fit at the MLB level given the presence of Francisco Lindor in Queens. New York could kick Jeff McNeil into left field while taking reps from Rafael Ortega as they get their first look at Mauricio to close a disappointing season.
Mauricio will retain his rookie eligibility headed into next year, leaving open the possibility of him netting the club a future draft choice if he meets the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He was already added to the 40-man roster two offseasons ago, so the Mets won’t have to make any additional moves to bring him up on Friday.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Yankees To Promote Jasson Domínguez, Austin Wells
The Yankees are calling up outfield prospect Jasson Domínguez, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Catching prospect Austin Wells will be promoted as well, per Greg Joyce and Joel Sherman of The New York Post. Both looming promotions were reported on earlier today. Neither player is on the 40-man roster but the Yanks already opened a couple of spots by releasing Josh Donaldson and Spencer Howard. Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 on Friday.
Domínguez, 20, was a much-hyped prospect even before joining the affiliated ranks, signing for a huge $5.1MM bonus in 2019 that accounted for the vast majority of the Yankees’ bonus pool that year. “The Martian” has since climbed the ranks of the minor leagues, showcasing the potential to be an all-around contributor.
After some tepid results in 2021, the switch-hitter went through three different levels last year, going from Single-A to High-A and Double-A. In 120 total games, he hit 16 home runs and stole 20 bases. He struck out in 24.2% of his plate appearances but also walked at a 13.6% rate. His .273/.375/.461 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 135, indicating he was 35% above average. This year, he hit .254/.367/.414 in 109 Double-A games for a 117 wRC+. His 25.6% strikeout rate is on the high side but he’s also walked at a 15.2% clip and stolen 37 bases. He was recently promoted to Triple-A and mashed in eight games there.
Defensively, Domínguez is a center fielder, though there’s much debate among prospect evaluators as to whether he’s a long-term fit there. Even if he has to move to a corner, he’s considered to have the arm strength necessary to be viable in right, though that would put more pressure on his bat than if he were to stick in center. Domínguez is currently ranked the #60 prospect in the league at Baseball America, #34 at FanGraphs, #78 at MLB Pipeline, #16 at ESPN and got the #27 spot from Keith Law of The Athletic.
Wells, 24, was a first-round pick of the Yanks in 2020, getting selected 28th overall. He’s considered a bat-first catcher, hitting left-handed, though many evaluators think he’s elevated his defensive reputation as he’s approached the majors.
He’s played in 95 games this year across three different minor league levels, hitting 17 home runs in that time and walking in 11.1% of his plate appearances. His combined slash of .243/.335/.447 amounts to a wRC+ of 105 and he also stole seven bases. BA considers him the #81 prospect in the league. He didn’t crack any of the other four aforementioned lists, though ESPN lists him as a “late cut” on their midseason update, which was capped at 50 names.
The Yankees are 64-68 and 11 games out of a playoff spot with just over a month left on the schedule. They have clearly shifted from contention mode, placing outfielder Harrison Bader on waivers this week, willing to essentially give him away for cost savings. They will use what is left of the season to evaluate some of their younger players, having recently promoted Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza, with Domínguez and Wells now joining them.
Assuming Bader is claimed off waivers tomorrow, it’s possible Domínguez gets to finish the year as the club’s regular center fielder, with the Yanks taking that time to evaluate him before deciding how to proceed this winter. Behind the plate, Jose Trevino is out for the season due to wrist surgery. The club has been using Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt as their catching duo lately but Wells will presumably take some of their playing time the rest of the way.
Neither player will have enough time to exhaust their rookie eligibility here in 2023, meaning they will still be rookies in 2024. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, the prospect promotion incentive can potentially provide extra draft picks to clubs who promote top prospects for an entire year of service time. To qualify, a player must be on two of the Top 100 lists at BA, ESPN and MLB Pipeline in the preceding offseason and then earn a full year of service time as a rookie. If they win Rookie of the Year or finish in the top three in MVP voting during pre-arbitration seasons, the parent club earns an extra draft pick in the following season just after the first round. Wells may or may not be in that camp, depending on how the offseason lists shake out, but Domínguez seems like a lock to have PPI status next year.
Though it’s undoubtedly been a disappointing season in the Bronx, fans will be able get a glimpse at some things to be excited about for future seasons, as they watch some players who could perhaps help the Yankees in future seasons.
Angels Place Lucas Giolito, Matt Moore, Reynaldo López, Hunter Renfroe, Randal Grichuk On Waivers
In a stunning development, the Angels have waved the white flag on their season, placing starter Lucas Giolito, relievers Matt Moore and Reynaldo López, and outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk on waivers, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Each player is an impending free agent and the Angels are apparently hoping to save some money by having some or all of them claimed off waivers while simultaneously allowing the players to join playoff contenders before the September 1 cutoff. Dominic Leone is also on the list, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
The Halos also placed starter Tyler Anderson on waivers last week, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). He went unclaimed and elected to stick with the Halos. That no one took Anderson on is hardly a surprise. He’s only in the first season of a three-year, $39MM free agent contract that hasn’t gone well in year one. In 117 2/3 innings, the veteran southpaw has a 5.35 ERA.
The Angels have been making a strong push to contend in recent years, trying to put a competitive ballclub around their superstars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. Part of their offseason upgrades included signing Moore and trading for Renfroe. The club hovered around contention through the trade deadline, deciding to hang onto Ohtani as well as making further additions, including Giolito, López and Grichuk.
Unfortunately, just about everything has gone wrong in the month of August, with the club having posted a record of 7-18 so far this month. As if that weren’t enough, Ohtani was diagnosed with a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his throwing elbow, which will prevent him from pitching again this season. Trout, meanwhile, attempted to return from his hamate surgery despite still being sore but was in too much pain to continue and landed right back on the IL.
This brutal month has pushed the Angels’ record to 63-69, which leaves them 11.5 games back of a playoff spot. Calculations from both FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus give the club no hope of coming back, making this a lost season. All six of the players reportedly on waivers are impending free agents, meaning they have no real use to the Angels now. The only player of the bunch that would warrant a qualifying offer, allowing the Angels to recoup draft pick compensation, would be Giolito but he’s ineligible to receive one since he was traded midseason.
Since the trade deadline passed four weeks ago, there’s no way for the Angels to exchange any of those players for any kind of future value. But by putting them on waivers, they at least give themselves a chance of saving some money. Giolito is making $10.4MM this year, without about $1.9MM left to be paid out. For Renfroe, those figures are $11.9MM and $2.18MM. For Moore, $7.55M and $1.38MM. López, $3.625MM and $633K. Leone is $1.5MM and $275K. Grichuk’s case is slightly more complicated since he’s making $9.33MM this year as part of the extension he signed with the Blue Jays, though that club is eating $4.33MM of that while the Rockies also sent some cash considerations is to the Angels when trading them Grichuk and C.J. Cron. There’s about $1.71MM left to be paid out though a claiming team wouldn’t be responsible for all of it.
Beyond the strict cash savings, dumping some salary will have luxury tax implications for the Angels. Roster Resource calculates the club’s competitive balance tax figure at $234.4MM, just $1.4MM over the base threshold of $233MM. Cot’s Baseball Contracts has them even farther over at $241.7MM. Both of those numbers are unofficial but highlight that the club is likely over the line by a small amount. The Angels are sure to make Ohtani a qualifying offer at season’s end and would receive draft pick compensation if he signed elsewhere. That compensation would be a pick just after the fourth round if they are a CBT payor but would move to just before the third round if they can dip below. That would roughly move the draft pick from around the 140th pick to the 75-80 range. Being a repeat payor also has escalating penalties, so avoiding paying the tax now could benefit the club if they decide to spend aggressively again next year.
In prior seasons, the July trade deadline was followed by a second deadline in August, though the latter portion required players to clear revocable waivers before being dealt. In 2019, MLB and the MLBPA agreed to a single deadline, with no trades allowed at all after the first deadline. There’s no longer any way for a club to make deals at this part of the calendar but players are still playoff eligible if they join an organization prior to September 1. That means they may find interest on the waiver wire, so long as the claiming club is willing to take on the salary of the player in question.
The waiver order goes in reverse order of standings, regardless of league. The previous August waiver trade system used to be league-specific but that’s no longer in place. As of today, the Athletics would have first dibs on any of these players, followed by the Royals, then the Rockies and so on, simply going from worst record to best, regardless of league. Of course, there’s little reason for those clubs out of contention to claim an impending free agent and take on their salary commitments. The claims are more likely to be made by clubs still hoping to make the playoffs, with those with worse records having a better chance of a successful claim than those at the top of the standings.
This will lead to some interesting calculations in the days to come. Many contending clubs have already spent the majority of the money they had allotted for the season, but will have to decide on whether it’s worthwhile to suddenly add another $1.9MM just for one month of Giolito to help with a stretch run, for example. He’s been inconsistent since joining the Angels but had a 3.79 ERA for the White Sox prior to the deal and has a longer track record of success, with a 3.86 ERA from 2019 to 2022.
Moore made a transition to the bullpen in recent years with excellent results, with a 1.95 ERA last year and 2.30 ERA this year. López is fairly similar, having gone from a fairly mediocre starter earlier in his career to effective reliever, including a 3.86 ERA this year. Renfroe’s production has been up-and-down, with a .240/.300/.480 batting line in his career but a lesser .239/.300/.425 showing this year. Grichuk is having another season with his blend of power but a subpar walk rate, slashing .261/.317/.435. Leone has struggled with control but has generally posted above-average strikeout rates.
For the players, they likely aren’t thrilled about being subject to the whims of the waiver wire, especially the ones who only just became Angels recently. But they will at least likely find themselves moving from a sinking ship to a contender in the coming days, giving them a chance to compete in a playoff race and perhaps get into the postseason.
As for the clubs considering a claim, this will be their best chance to bolster their rosters for the final month of the season, now that the deadline is long gone. It’s also possible that a new precedent has been set for the end of August, as it’s not just the Angels that have taken this tack. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic has reported that Carlos Carrasco of the Mets, Mike Clevinger of the White Sox and José Cisnero of the Tigers have also been placed on waivers, while Erik Boland of Newsday first reported that Harrison Bader of the Yankees is also on the list.
Though the moves make some sense for the Angels, it’s undoubtedly a frustrating low point as the attempts to contend have repeatedly failed. They gave up several notable prospects to acquire some of these players just a few weeks ago and are now trying to give them away for little more than cost savings. They are now sure to finish the season without having made the playoffs since 2014 and could potentially watch Ohtani sign with a new club this winter.