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The Guardians’ Bullpen Has Been Transformative

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Coming into 2024, the expectations for the Guardians were modest. They finished 76-86 last year and didn’t do much in the offseason. They made a few small trades, and their largest free agent signing was giving catcher Austin Hedges $4MM to be a glove-first backup to Bo Naylor.

Many in the baseball world expected the Twins to repeat as champions in the Central, since they ran away with it last year. Others suggested the Tigers or Royals as potential upstarts, as both of those clubs made some intriguing offseason moves to supplement their young cores. However, more than two months into the seasons, the Guardians are up top with a 43-23 record, five games ahead of the second-place Royals. That hot start is largely due to the Cleveland bullpen.

The club has sometimes found surprise success in the past based on strong starting pitching, but that hasn’t been the case this time. Shane Bieber required Tommy John surgery after just two starts. Gavin Williams has been on the injured list all year due to his own elbow issues. They’ve gotten some decent results from Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively, but Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen, Carlos Carrasco and Xzavion Curry have been mediocre or just bad. The rotation has a collective 4.23 earned run average that places them 18th out of the 30 clubs in MLB.

The offense has undoubtedly played a role in the club’s success this year, certainly more than last year. The team hit .250/.313/.381 overall for a wRC+ of 92 last year, 22nd in the league. After their quiet offseason, not much was expected out of the lineup in 2024, but they are currently hitting .239/.318/.398. That line isn’t markedly different from last year’s, but with offense down around the league, it actually translates to a 107 wRC+. That puts them eighth in the league, pretty good but not elite.

The bullpen, however, has been in a class of its own. Cleveland’s relief core has an ERA of 2.33, easily the best mark in the majors. The Dodgers are second at 2.92, a gap of more than half a run. The Brewers are in fifth place at 3.34, more than a full run behind. Here’s how it breaks down individually, sorted by innings pitched…

  • Emmanuel Clase: 32 1/3 innings pitched, 0.84 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate, 2.5% walk rate, 54.4% ground ball rate
  • Hunter Gaddis: 31 1/3 IP, 1.72 ERA, 23.7 K%, 4.2 BB%, 36.1 GB%
  • Cade Smith: 30 1/3 IP, 1.78 ERA, 34.5 K%, 6 BB%, 47.8 GB%
  • Nick Sandlin: 28 1/3 IP, 2.54 ERA, 26.5 K%, 8.8 BB%, 35.3 GB%
  • Scott Barlow: 27 IP, 3.67 ERA, 30.8 K%, 12 BB%, 51.5 GB%
  • Tim Herrin: 27 IP, 1.00 ERA, 25.5 K%, 10.8 BB%, 43.5 GB%
  • Pedro Avila: 23 1/3 IP, 3.09 ERA, 29.2 K%, 5.2 BB%, 48.4 GB%
  • Sam Hentges: 13 1/3 IP, 2.70 ERA, 33.3 K%, 2.1 BB%, 44.8 GB%

They also got some poor results from Tyler Beede as well as some small contributions from Eli Morgan, Peter Strzelecki and Wes Parsons, though none of those four are on the active roster at the moment. Of the eight guys currently in the mix, none of them has an ERA higher than Barlow’s 3.67. The league-average strikeout rate for relievers in the majors this year is 22.8%, meaning everyone in this group is ahead of the curve. Only Barlow and Herrin have walk rates worse than the 9.3% league average. The 43.4% league-wide ground ball rate is bested by everyone except Gaddis and Sandlin.

Relievers are notoriously volatile, and it’s fair to assume the entire group can’t stay this dominant forever. Most of the group have really low batting averages on balls in play, which could be related to the club’s strong defense, but there’s likely still some luck-based correction coming. League-average BABIP is .286 this year, but Gaddis, Clase, Herrin, Hentges and Sandlin are respectively at .232, .228, .203, .200 and .164.

But even if regression is coming, there’s still lots of good stuff going on and there are plenty of wins in the bank. The Guardians have gone 11-8 in one-run games and 6-2 in extra innings, no doubt thanks to this group of relievers.

The strong bullpen vaulting them to the top of the standings surely impacts their upcoming deadline plans. Last year, as the club was hovering around .500, they tried to walk the buy-sell line. They traded Aaron Civale to the Rays for Kyle Manzardo, a move that clearly downgraded the club at that time but could eventually work out in the long run if Manzardo clicks. They also made a couple of change-of-scenery swaps, sending Amed Rosario to the Dodgers for Noah Syndergaard in addition to flipping Josh Bell to the Marlins for Jean Segura and Kahlil Watson. Segura was released immediately and Syndergaard about a month later.

This year, they should be more firmly in the buyers’ camp and should have plenty of flexibility in what they can do. Relievers are generally cheaper than other players in terms of salary but can be pricey trade acquisitions at the deadline. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer put it this way at last year’s deadline, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune: “The price to go get a rental reliever or even a controllable reliever this time of year is often cost prohibitive. And so, to me, it just underscores the value of developing those guys yourself.”

With the results so far this year, the Guardians should have less need than any other club to shop in that aisle, freeing them up to focus on starting pitching or the lineup. Acquiring those kinds of players can also be pricey, but the Guards should have lots of wiggle room to make things work. Their tepid offseason means their payroll is relatively light, certainly by league standards but even by their own. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, they had an Opening Day payroll of $98MM. They were in the $120-135MM range in the three pre-pandemic years, so perhaps there’s an ability to take on a notable contract from another club with minimal prospect cost.

In the longer term, Bieber and Barlow are coming off the books this winter, subtracting respective salaries of $13.125MM and $6.7MM. Lesser contracts for Hedges, Carrasco and Ramón Laureano will also be expiring. Some of those savings will be needed for arbitration raises to McKenzie and Josh Naylor, but there’s only $45MM on the books for next year as of right now, mostly for José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez.

At least part of the reason the budget is so low is that the bullpen has largely been built on the cheap. Clase was acquired as a prospect and signed a team-friendly extension while still in his pre-arb years, making just $2.5MM this year. Gaddis, Hentges, Sandlin and Herrin are all Cleveland draftees making less than $1.2MM. Smith went undrafted in 2020, when the pandemic reduced the draft to just five rounds, and is still pre-arb. Avila is also pre-arb, acquired from the Padres in a cash deal after being designated for assignment in April. Barlow, an offseason trade acquisition, is in his final arbitration season and making the highest salary of the bunch at $6.7MM.

But even if they don’t want to be taking on significant money, the Guardians could make deals happen with prospect capital. Their farm system isn’t especially strong, with evaluators generally putting in the middle of the pack. FanGraphs puts them 13th, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline both put them 19th, while Keith Law of The Athletic puts them in the 22nd spot.

However, they are about to get a huge boost in a month’s time when the 2024 draft takes place. The Guardians can always count on a strong draft since they’re a small-market club and get competitive balance picks, but they also won the draft lottery in December, meaning they get the No. 1 overall pick despite having the ninth-best odds of doing so. That should allow them to bump their farm system up in those rankings when the draft takes place from July 14 to 16. And while they can’t trade the players they draft until after the season (nor can they use the player-to-be-named-later loophole to do so), a fresh influx of high-end talent will lessen the sting of dealing some prospects they already have in-house.

All of these factors will put them in a very interesting position when the deadline approaches on July 30. Even if they hit a slump in the next month or so, falling back a bit in the standings would still have them not just in playoff position but in contention for the division. The Central has been weak in the past, leaving those clubs to either win the division or not make the playoffs at all. But they are stronger this year with the Royals and Twins both currently holding Wild Card spots. Even if one of those two can gain ground on Cleveland, it wouldn’t significantly dampen their buyer position.

When the Guardians do start lining up deals, they should have plenty of options thanks to their financial position and the infusion of young talent that the farm system is about to receive from the draft. Adding to the rotation and the lineup will likely be the priorities and they should have every ability to do just that, with a big thanks to their elite bullpen.

Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies, Orioles Among Teams Interested In Tanner Scott

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Marlins closer Tanner Scott has already been drawing trade interest for several weeks, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post lists the Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies and Orioles as just some of the many teams showing interest in the hard-throwing lefty. Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic suggested this morning that Scott could be the next notable name to be moved — although that doesn’t necessarily indicate a trade of Scott is nearing the finish line. But the Marlins already showed their willingness to act early on the trade market when they moved Luis Arraez just five weeks into the season, and power bullpen arms are among the most sought-after commodities on the trade market every year.

That said, Scott alone isn’t likely to fetch the Marlins a sizable haul on his own. He clearly has trade value and should net some minor league talent, but the 29-year-old southpaw is in his final season of club control and will reach free agency at season’s end. The Marlins were willing to pay down nearly all of Arraez’s contract in their trade with the Padres, and doing so on Scott’s $5.7MM salary could help to enhance his appeal, but there are concerns even beyond the southpaw’s dwindling club control.

Command has always been an issue for the hard-throwing Scott, and 2024 is no exception. Quite the opposite, in fact. This year’s 16.8% walk rate is the highest of Scott’s career (excepting a 1 2/3-inning debut back in 2017). As noted here back in late May, he’s been slowly paring that number back since issuing an alarming swath of walks early in the season, but Scott has still walked 12% of his hitters dating back to May 1.

That’s not as troubling as a nearly 17% mark, but it’s still three percentage points higher than the average reliever — and the gap between that mark and last year’s career-best 7.8% mark is even wider. Scott has also seen his swinging-strike rate drop from a mammoth 17.4% in 2023 to 13.5% this year, while his opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate has fallen from 36.1% to 28.8% — a possible indicator that he’s missing by a much larger margin when he’s failing to find the strike zone.

To Scott’s credit, he’s been on an exceptional run of late. He surrendered a walk-off home run to Mets designated hitter J.D. Martinez yesterday, but those two runs were the first he’d allowed since April 30. Dating back to May 1, Scott has a minuscule 1.17 earned run average and huge 32.8% strikeout rate in 15 1/3 innings. Overall, the lefty touts a 1.93 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 52.5% grounder rate in 28 innings this year (in addition to that bloated 16.8% walk rate). He’s also averaging 96.9 mph on his heater.

Scott’s trade value would surely have been higher in the offseason, when he had a full year of club control and was fresh off a 33.9% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate in a career-high 78 innings. But the Marlins made the playoffs last year, and even after turning over their front office and largely idling throughout the winter, presumably wanted to see if the team could play its way back into postseason contention. A catastrophic 1-11 start to the season emphatically answered that question.

The Marlins could potentially package Scott with another trade candidate, such as coveted starter Jesus Luzardo, and look to extract a huge package by combining two sought-after players in a single trade. They could also hope that by moving Scott early, they can catch lightning in a bottle in the same manner that the Royals did last summer by moving Aroldis Chapman in late June — a trade that netted them current No. 1 starter Cole Ragans. (To be clear, Ragans was seen as a buy-low candidate at the time, and the Royals deserve credit for completely turning the former first-round pick’s career around.) Hitting that kind of jackpot almost certainly won’t happen, but that trade is illustrative of the fact that Miami could potentially get some MLB-ready help in return for Scott — provided the player in question is viewed as something of a project.

With regard to the teams linked to Scott, any of the bunch is a sensible target. The Yankees load up on bullpen arms every deadline they’re in contention, and they’ve regularly shown an affinity for ground-ball pitchers and power lefties. Scott checks both boxes. The Orioles know Scott better than any team in the game, having originally drafted and developed him — only to trade him to Miami in a deal they’d like to take back (Kevin Guerrero and Antonio Velez went to Baltimore in the deal). Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is always intrigued by high-end velocity and doesn’t need much help in the rotation right now, making a deeper bullpen a logical focus. The Dodgers have several notable relievers on the injured list at the moment (Brusdar Graterol, Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier) and lack this type of flamethrowing left-handed presence in their current bullpen.

There’s some overlap between the clubs eyeing Scott and those reportedly eyeing White Sox closer Michael Kopech, which is only natural. Playoff hopefuls always look to beef up the relief corps around the trade deadline, and with so few sellers on the market at the moment, the few teams that are willing to deal should see increased demand.

Giants Acquire Logan Porter From Royals

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The Royals announced via their player development account on X that they have traded catcher Logan Porter to the Giants for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Porter was not on the Royals’ 40-man roster and won’t need to be added to that of the Giants.

Porter, now 28, has a small amount of major league experience. He got into 11 games for the Royals last year while both Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were battling injuries. Porter hit just .194/.324/.323 in his 38 plate appearances. He was non-tendered after the season and re-signed on a minor league deal.

He has generally performed well in the minor leagues but slumped last year, though he now seems to be back in good form here in 2024. From 2018 to 2022, he hit .293/.428/.497 across various minor league levels, drawing walks 16.6% of the time while being struck out at just a 21.9% rate.

Last year, his batting line fell to .232/.339/.377 in 110 Triple-A contests, but he’s cranked that up to .319/.428/.575 in 32 games this year. He isn’t going to maintain a .400 batting average on balls in play forever but he has six home runs and is drawing walks at a 15.9% clip. His overall production this year translates to a 157 wRC+, indicating he’s been 57% above league average.

Porter would have had a hard time making it back to the majors with the Royals this year, with Fermin and Perez healthy. The club also has Austin Nola on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment, as well as having Brian O’Keefe around as non-roster depth. It seems they decided to give Porter a path to playing time elsewhere while perhaps pocketing a bit of cash.

For the Giants, they have been playing a bit of musical chairs at the catcher position this year. Offseason signee Tom Murphy has a significant knee sprain and an uncertain future. It was about six weeks ago that a timeline of four to six weeks was provided but there hasn’t been an update since then and he hasn’t started a rehab assignment. Patrick Bailey missed some time on the concussion injured list but has been back for about three weeks now. Curt Casali has replaced Murphy as Bailey’s backup but is hitting just .161/.297/.161 this year. Blake Sabol is on optional assignment but plays other positions. Jakson Reetz got a brief look while both Bailey and Murphy were hurt but has since been removed from the 40-man.

There are a lot of moving parts in that group but it’s possible Porter will be the next man up if there’s an injury or if Casali keeps struggling. If Porter gets a roster spot, he has a full slate of options and won’t be able to get to one-year of service time this year.

White Sox Select Chad Kuhl

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Chad Kuhl from Triple-A Charlotte. Chicago also reinstated outfielder Tommy Pham from the injured list and optioned righty Jordan Leasure and outfielder Zach DeLoach to Charlotte in a pair of corresponding moves.

Kuhl, 31, is a veteran of seven big league seasons who joined the South Siders on a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s made 13 appearances in Charlotte, 11 of them starts, and posted a 4.34 ERA in that time. Kuhl’s 17.3% strikeout rate is considerably below-average, while his 13.6% walk rate with the Knights is substantially higher than average. He’s turned in a strong 53.5% grounder rate and done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, averaging 0.8 homers per nine frames.

Kuhl spent the 2023 season with the Nationals organization but struggled through 16 appearances before being cut loose. He announced shortly thereafter that while he’d received contract offers to sign elsewhere, he was taking a leave from the game to support his wife, Amanda, as she battled Stage 3 breast cancer. She announced via social media in November that she’d completed her cancer treatments. The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt chronicled the couple’s journey through that harrowing ordeal this past April, revealing within that Amanda is thankfully in the “maintenance” phase of her treatment and no longer showing any sign of cancer.

Prior to Kuhl’s time with the Nats, he spent five seasons with the Pirates and a sixth with the Rockies. In all, he’s totaled 615 big league innings and pitched to a 4.98 ERA, though that number is skewed to an extent by last year’s grisly 8.45 mark while quietly dealing with that terrifying family issue away from the field. Kuhl’s best season came with the ’17 Pirates, when he started 31 games and logged a 4.35 ERA over the course of 157 1/3 innings.

The White Sox don’t have an immediate opening in the rotation, but Kuhl can provide a long relief option and perhaps step up next week if the Sox want to get their starters some extra rest. Top starter Garrett Crochet, notably, has already established a new career-high in innings pitched after shifting from a relief role to the rotation this season. For now, the Sox have Chris Flexen, Erick Fedde and top prospect Drew Thorpe lined up to make the next three starts in their road series with the Diamondbacks.

Red Sox Release Garrett Cooper

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The Red Sox have released first baseman Garrett Cooper, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive on X. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He’s now free to sign with any club.

Cooper, now 33, has had some strong results in the past but this hasn’t been his year. He came into the campaign with a career batting line of .268/.337/.435, production that translates to a wRC+ of 110. But he slumped a bit in 2023, as his .251/.304/.419 slash was a bit below his previous work and led to a subpar 96 wRC+.

It was an unfortunate time for a dip, as he was entering free agency for the first time and had to settle for a minor league deal with the Cubs. He cracked that club’s Opening Day roster and hit a solid .270/.341/.432, but with a .391 batting average on balls in play. Since he was striking out 31.7% of the time, it seems the Cubs figured his batted ball luck wouldn’t continue and they decided to quit while they were ahead, designating him for assignment.

The Red Sox were playing without first baseman Triston Casas and decided to take a chance on Cooper, sending cash to the Cubs to bring him aboard. Then designated hitter Masataka Yoshida also got hurt, prompting the Sox to add Dominic Smith as well.

But Cooper’s luck faded after joining Boston, as he had a .250 BABIP and a line of .171/.227/.229. Smith hasn’t been amazing but his .222/.333/.324 line is obviously far less bleak than what Cooper managed to produce. Cooper has played the outfield corners a little bit in his career but is mostly a first baseman. He’s considered a decent glove at first but obviously needs to hit more than that.

Cooper has now been set free by the Sox and can look for his next opportunity. The results have clearly been poor this year but he’s sure to be able to find a minor league deal somewhere based on his previous track record. It’s been a rough day for struggling first base/designated hitter types. In addition to Cooper, the Astros released José Abreu, the Rays released Harold Ramírez and the Blue Jays designated Daniel Vogelbach for assignment.

Rays Release Harold Ramirez

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The Rays have released designated hitter/outfielder Harold Ramirez following last week’s DFA, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’s now a free agent who can sign with any club.

Ramirez always seemed likely to end up on the open market after his DFA. As we noted when he was designated for assignment, the 29-year-old’s combination of offensive struggles and relatively notable salary obligation made him a virtual lock to pass through either outright waivers or release waivers. And since he surpassed five years of major league service time earlier this season (and thus gained the right to retain his salary even upon rejecting an outright assignment), there was no real distinction between the two types of waivers in his case.

The Rays will remain on the hook for the balance of Ramirez’s $3.8MM salary. There’s about $2.19MM of that sum left to be paid out as of this writing. A new team would only owe Ramirez the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster (about $426K from now through season’s end, or just shy of $4K per day). That sum would be subtracted from what Tampa Bay owes Ramirez, but the Rays are stuck with the significant majority of his salary regardless.

Tampa Bay explored trades involving Ramirez both at the offseason’s non-tender deadline and again during spring training but didn’t find a deal to their liking. That came in spite of a big 2022-23 showing that saw Ramirez slash .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, with a particular knack for pummeling left-handed pitching. Strong as that offensive output was, Ramirez lacks defensive value — he’s a poor defender in the outfield corners and at first base — and is a free-swinger who rarely draws a walk. He’s been primarily a designated hitter with the Rays.

The 2024 season has been a challenge for Ramirez. He’s hitting .268, a perfectly fine mark, but has coupled that with an ugly .284 on-base percentage and a punchless .305 slugging percentage. He’s hitting .310 in a small sample of 58 plate appearances against lefties but has only one walk and a .379 slugging percentage in those matchups. Effectively, Ramirez has been a singles-hitting, short-side platoon designated hitter. Because of his lack of walks and power, his overall offensive output has been 27% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+.

Given those struggles, it’s not at all surprising that no team wanted to commit nearly $2.2MM to Ramirez by placing a waiver claim. But now that he’s a free agent who’d cost the prorated minimum, Ramirez becomes a far more interesting flier who should draw broad-reaching interest — especially from teams who have been lacking production against left-handed pitching. Speculatively speaking, each of the Reds, Nationals, Rangers and Cardinals rank in the bottom-third of the league in terms of both DH production and production against left-handers. But, given the low cost of acquisition now associated with Ramirez — who can be controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration — it’s easy to make a case for the majority of teams taking a no-risk roll of the dice on his right-handed bat.

Cubs’ Ben Brown Diagnosed With Stress Reaction In Neck

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Cubs right-hander Ben Brown was placed on the injured list with a neck strain last week, but the team has now diagnosed him with a more ominous-sounding stress reaction in his neck, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (X link). It’s expected that Brown will be out longer than the 15-day minimum on his current IL stint, though a firm timetable isn’t yet known.

“We’re still trying to figure out how long and what it means and what he can do,” manager Craig Counsell told the Cubs beat regarding Brown’s updated diagnosis. “It’s a unique injury for a pitcher, so we’re trying to just get some more opinions.”

Acquired from the Phillies in the 2022 trade sending David Robertson to Philadelphia, the now-24-year-old Brown made his big league debut this season. He’s been quite good in 15 appearances with the Cubs — eight of them starts. In 55 1/3 frames, Brown has pitched to a 3.58 ERA with a terrific 28.8% strikeout rate, a solid 8.6% walk rate and a 38.9% grounder rate. Brown has only yielded 0.81 homers per nine frames. He’d recently stepped into a consistent rotation role — his last four outings were starts — and posted a 3.60 ERA with a 25-to-6 K/BB ratio in 20 innings.

Brown’s injury dovetails with the return of fellow rookie Jordan Wicks, who was out for six weeks due to a forearm strain. Also 24 years old, the left-handed Wicks came on in long relief of Brown when Brown exited after four innings. He tossed 3 1/3 frames that day and held the Reds to one run in that time. With Brown shelved, Wicks seems likely to step into the No. 5 spot in the rotation behind Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad.

Wicks made seven starts last season and barely kept his rookie eligibility intact. He’s up to 61 innings in his big league career (26 1/3 of them this year) and owns a 4.43 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate and 43.3% ground-ball rate. Wicks tossed 126 innings last season and, after missing six weeks of the current year, shouldn’t need to worry about soaring past that workload. But given his own injury earlier this season and some questionable depth in the rotation — particularly in light of veteran Kyle Hendricks’ struggles — it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cubs look into some rotation help at next month’s deadline, assuming the team is still in contention for a Wild Card spot. Chicago is currently 7.5 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central but just one game out in the NL Wild Card chase.

Blue Jays Designate Daniel Vogelbach For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Addison Barger, while designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster drops to 38.

For a second consecutive Friday, the Jays have cut a hitter struggling in the majors and replaced him with one hitting well in Triple-A as they look to generate some more offense. Infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio was cut from the roster one week ago, eventually getting traded to the Dodgers, with Spencer Horwitz taking his spot. This time, Vogelbach makes way for Barger.

Vogelbach, 31, is a fairly limited player as he is one of the slowest in the league and generally isn’t trusted defensively. He has appeared in 154 games at first base but hasn’t played the field since 2022 and it was only five innings that year. But he has tantalized clubs with his power from the left side and keen eye at the plate.

In 1,957 career plate appearances to this point, he has drawn walks in 15.1% of them. For reference, league average is typically around 8% or 9% and is at 8.3% this year. He has also hit 81 home runs, with a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2019, though that was the “juiced ball” season. He also got to double-digit home run tallies in 2022 and 2023 with far fewer plate appearances.

Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there this year. Vogelbach signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and made the Opening Day roster, but has received just 79 plate appearances in over two months on the roster. He was still drawing walks at a decent 11.4% rate but had just one home run, leading to a line of .186/.278/.300. His exit velocity and hard hit rates were still pretty strong but he was hitting the ball on the ground at a 49.1% clip, a career high apart from his eight-game rookie season.

Like with Biggio, the Jays have decided change was needed. Biggio was hitting just .202/.331/.289 when he was nudged off the roster. Horwitz was slashing .335/.456/.514 in Triple-A and has a line of .389/.476/.444 through five games since being recalled.

Barger was recalled for five games earlier this year and currently has a dismal line of .056/.056/.056, but he’s hitting .256/.380/.467 in Triple-A. He has drawn walks 15.2% of the time for the Bisons and also has eight home runs, perhaps giving the Jays some hope he can produce the kind of offense they were hoping to get from Vogelbach.

Even if he can’t quite produce those kinds of results against big league pitchers, he can provide more to the Jays in other facets of the game. During his brief time up with the club, his sprint speed was ranked in the 60th percentile, compared to Vogelbach being in the 2nd percentile. Barger has also played shortstop and the four corner positions for Buffalo this year, giving manager John Schneider far more options for getting him into the lineup.

Vogelbach and Joey Votto were in competition for a job this spring, as both were on minor league deals and looking to serve as a lefty bench bat/designated hitter. Votto got hurt during the spring while Vogelbach hit three home runs in spring contests, which essentially made the decision for the Jays. Now that Vogelbach is off the roster, that could open a path for Votto, but not in the immediate future. After rolling his ankle on an errant bat during the spring after one plate appearance, he’s still not one hundred percent. Schneider told reporters this week that Votto is getting close to playing in games, as relayed by Keegan Matheson on X. But after missing so much time, he’ll effectively have to restart spring training from scratch and will likely need a few weeks to get into form.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Vogelbach or pass him through waivers. There will likely be teams willing to take a chance on his bat, but they will probably wait until Vogelbach clears waivers. He is making a salary of $2MM this year but has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping that money. Based on his poor results this year, he will probably wind up on the open market and be free to sign with any club. If he gets a roster spot somewhere, that club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays owe him.

Marlins Designate Burch Smith For Assignment

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The Marlins announced Friday that right-hander Burch Smith has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Shaun Anderson, who has been recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.

Smith, 34, has pitched 29 2/3 innings out of the Miami bullpen this season and logged a respectable 4.25 earned run average with a subpar 17% strikeout rate but strong walk and ground-ball rates of 6.7% and 47%, respectively. He’s hit a rough patch of late, however, yielding five runs over his past 4 1/3 innings. Opponents have scored against him in three straight appearances.

This run with Miami marked Smith’s first big league work since the 2021 season. He spent the 2022 season with Japan’s Seibu Lions and the 2023 campaign with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles. Smith has previously pitched for the Padres, Royals, Brewers, Giants and A’s. In all, he’s pitched 220 2/3 innings at the MLB level and recorded a 5.79 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.

Burch signed with the Rays on a minor league deal back in January but exercised an upward mobility clause in that contract — a clause intended to give veteran players on minor league deals the option to opt out of their contract if another team is willing to place him on its 40-man roster. That scenario played out late in spring, when the Marlins showed interest in Smith. He made their Opening Day roster and has generally been used in low-leverage settings this season.

Smith will surpass five years of service time while in DFA limbo, meaning even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of this year’s $1MM salary. Miami will either trade him, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers within the next week.

Pirates Outright Ben Heller

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Right-hander Ben Heller went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Pirates and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s been outrighted previously in his career, which will give Heller the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency if he so chooses.

Heller, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Bucs in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster after punching out an eye-popping 43% of his opponents in 18 1/3 innings down in Indianapolis. His brief big league look with the Pirates could scarcely have gone worse, however. The former Yankees and Braves righty was rocked for five runs in an inning of work during his team debut and struggled even more considerably in his second appearance, yielding seven runs (six earned) in another inning. Heller’s ERA with the Pirates sits at a stratospheric 49.50.

Stunning as that number is, Heller entered the 2024 season with a career 3.06 earned run average in 50 innings. That includes 18 2/3 frames of 3.86 ball with Atlanta just last season. He’s fanned 20.4% of his big league opponents against an 11.3% walk rate and has generally kept the ball on the ground at an above-average level (45.1%). The Milwaukee native also has had plenty of success in the upper minors, pitching to a sharp 3.15 ERA with a 32.5% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in parts of six Triple-A campaigns — a span of 163 innings.

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