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Cubs Claim Shawn Armstrong

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The Cubs have claimed reliever Shawn Armstrong from the Cardinals, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). St. Louis had designated the righty for assignment on Tuesday.

Armstrong’s DFA ended a brief run in St. Louis. The Cards acquired him from the Rays at the trade deadline in a swap sending former top prospect Dylan Carlson to Tampa Bay. Armstrong pitched well in St. Louis, running a 12:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio while allowing only four runs in 12 2/3 innings. That was quite a bit better than the 5.40 earned run average he’d posted across 46 2/3 frames with Tampa Bay earlier in the year.

While Armstrong held up his end of the bargain, the Cardinals have had a tough month. They’ve dropped six games back of the last Wild Card spot. The front office has conceded the unlikelihood of a playoff run by waiving Armstrong and Tommy Pham, the two impending free agents they’d acquired at the deadline. Doing so allows them to offload what remains of Armstrong’s $2.05MM arbitration salary; they’d save the prorated portion of Pham’s $3MM deal if another team were to claim him.

The Cardinals lose Armstrong to their rivals, who are only one game closer to a postseason spot. Chicago enters play on Friday five games back of the Braves in the Wild Card mix. As with St. Louis, they’re long shots to get to the playoffs. The Cubs are riding a three-game win streak and kicking off a stretch of winnable games against the Nationals and Pirates. The front office isn’t completely throwing in the towel, adding to a bullpen that has pitched well over the past six weeks.

At 68-66, the Cubs had a higher waiver priority than any team that currently occupies a playoff spot (plus the Mariners, Red Sox and Mets). They’ll assume roughly $330K in salary commitments, plus another $66K in estimated luxury tax payments, to plug Armstrong into the bullpen for the season’s final month. Assuming the claim is officially processed tomorrow, he’d be eligible for Chicago’s playoff roster if they made a furious push to snag a spot.

Dodgers Release Jesse Hahn

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Right-hander Jesse Hahn has been released by Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been pitching for that club after signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason.

Hahn, now 35, had his 2021 season ended by a shoulder injury and then didn’t pitch in any official capacity in the following two years. With OKC here in 2024, he tossed 41 2/3 innings over 35 appearances, allowing 4.54 earned runs per nine. His 24.2% strikeout rate and 58% ground ball rate were both strong, but his 18.1% walk rate was abysmal. For reference, the major league average in 2024 is currently 8.2%.

It’s perhaps not surprising that Hahn has had some rust after such a long layoff, but it was also a trend prior to his absence. With the Royals from 2019 to 2021, he tossed 25 1/3 innings with a 26.1% strikeout rate but a 16.2% walk rate.

Hahn will now head to the open market and see if any club is interested in his services, presumably one that has a plan for reining in that control somehow. In 311 1/3 career innings from 2014 to 2021, he posted a 4.22 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 49.5% ground ball rate.

Vinnie Pasquantino To Miss Six To Eight Weeks With Broken Thumb

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3:30pm: The Royals announced that Pasquantino has been placed on the 10-day injured list with Loftin recalled as the corresponding move.

10:30am: The Royals announced that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino has a broken right thumb. He is scheduled for further testing today but the club says he won’t be able to return for six to eight weeks. Given that timeline, he’ll miss the remainder of the regular season and would need the club to put together a deep postseason run to be a factor late in October.

During last night’s game against the Astros, Yainer Diaz hit a comebacker to right-hander Lucas Erceg, who attempted to field the ball with his bare hand. Erceg knocked the ball down, picked it up and fired to first. The ball arrived at the bag around the same time as Diaz, who made contact with Pasquantino as the first baseman attempted to field the throw (Video link from MLB.com). Both Erceg and Pasquantino were visibly injured and removed from the game after the play. Manager Matt Quatraro told reporters after the game that both players would undergo X-rays, per broadcaster Joel Goldberg on X.

The Royals haven’t yet provided an update on Erceg, but the news on Pasquantino is devastating. He’s been a key bat for the club this year, hitting 19 home runs while limiting his strikeout rate to 12.8%. His .262/.315/.446 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 106.

That’s only six percent better than league average but the Royals have had a fairly top-heavy offense this year. Bobby Witt Jr. has been elite and Salvador Perez has been great, but there’s a big drop-off without Pasquantino in the mix. The only others players on the team with an above-average wRC+ this year are Freddy Fermin, Michael Massey and Paul DeJong. Fermin’s output is fuelled by a .344 batting average on balls in play that he will struggle to maintain while DeJong has been a boom-and-bust players for years, alternating between home run surges and big strikeout woes.

The lineup looks a lot less imposing without Pasquantino in it and the Royals will now have to proceed in his absence. Despite that fairly middling offense, the club has been able to ride Witt’s amazing season and a strong rotation to a record of 75-60. They are in the middle of a three-way battle for the Central division, currently 1.5 games back of the Guardians but two ahead of the Twins. Both the Royals and Twins currently hold Wild Card spots, with Boston 3.5 games back of Minnesota for the final slot.

The club will now have to navigate the remainder of the regular season and at least the beginning of the playoffs while figuring out a solution at first base. Perez has gotten into 35 games there, including 31 starts, usually with Pasquantino slotting in as the designated hitter. Perhaps Perez will play first more often but Fermin won’t be able to catch every day, so Perez will have to be behind the plate from time to time.

Perhaps the club will turn to one of Nick Loftin or CJ Alexander, as both are multi-positional guys capable of playing first and each is having a good season in Triple-A. Loftin is slashing .331/.422/.509 for the Storm Chasers while Alexander is hitting .303/.352/.554. But neither player has hit in the majors yet, as Loftin has a line of .236/.316/.305 in 232 big league plate appearances while Alexander slashed .125/.125/.125 through his eight trips to the major league plate.

The Royals could look outside the organization for more offense, though their options will be limited now that the trade deadline has passed. Players like Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman have reportedly been put on waivers this week. Neither is a real first base solution but they could conceivably help with the DH spot. It’s likely there are other names on the wire that haven’t been reported. Any player claimed prior to September 1 is playoff-eligible with his new team.

The next few days should shed some light on how the Royals respond. For Pasquantino, it’ll be a second consecutive season marked by injury. His 2023 campaign was ended in June by shoulder surgery, limiting him to just 61 games. He got into 131 contests this year but he won’t be able to increase that number now. He is slated to qualify for arbitration after 2025 and free agency after 2028.

Second-Half Snell Is Doing It Again

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Over the course of any given calendar year, Major League Baseball is full of oddities. The Dodgers gave the largest pitching contract ever to a starting pitcher who'd never pitched in the majors. The Marlins waved the white flag on their season after about five weeks. Rich Hill signed his eighth career free agent deal with the Red Sox. Heck, Danny Jansen played in the same game for two different teams. All that said, Blake Snell has had one of the strangest calendar years of any player in the game.

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Tigers Designate Joey Wentz For Assignment

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2:55pm: The Tigers made these moves official and also announced that right-hander Alex Faedo was transferred to the 60-day IL. He landed on the 15-day IL on August 22 due to a right shoulder strain and the club announced that his season is over, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic on X. Detroit’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.

2:03pm: The Tigers have designated left-hander Joey Wentz for assignment, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. He’ll be the corresponding roster move for right-hander Casey Mize, who is being reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Wentz, 26, was the No. 40 overall pick by the Braves back in 2016. The southpaw quickly became one of the more prominent pitching prospects in what was then a stacked Braves farm system and made his way to the Tigers alongside outfielder Travis Demeritte in the trade that sent righty Shane Greene to Atlanta. Wentz made his big league debut with the 2022 Tigers and has pitched for Detroit in each of the past three seasons.

That 2022 cup of coffee proved to be a solid debut effort. Wentz started seven games, totaled 32 2/3 innings and posted a 3.03 earned run average along the way. His 20% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate didn’t necessarily stand out, but for a 24-year-old making his debut after just 12 appearances at the Triple-A level, it was an encouraging start all the same.

Unfortunately, that’s the most success Wentz has enjoyed in the majors to date. He appeared in 25 games with the 2023 Tigers — 19 of them starts — and was rocked for a 6.90 ERA with nearly identical strikeout and walk rates to that ’22 debut. Wentz became extremely homer-prone, however, surrendering an average of 2.13 round-trippers per nine innings pitched — the third-worst mark of any pitcher who totaled at least 100 innings last year.

Wentz’s 2024 season has been somewhat better but not enough to save his roster spot. In 55 1/3 innings, he’s pitched to a 5.37 ERA with a career-high 23.6% strikeout rate but also a career-worst 10.6% walk rate. He’s out of minor league options, so the Tigers couldn’t simply send him to Triple-A if they wanted to free up his roster spot. The DFA became a necessity in that regard, and Wentz will now be made available to all 29 other clubs via waivers.

If another club claims him, he’ll need to go right onto the big league roster, as he can’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he lacks the service time and prior outright needed to reject a minor league assignment. As such, he’d stick with the Tigers as a depth option in Triple-A Toledo without occupying a 40-man roster spot.

Cardinals Designate Tommy Pham For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced that they have recalled outfielder Jordan Walker from Triple-A Memphis, with fellow outfielder Tommy Pham designated for assignment in a corresponding move. It was reported yesterday that Pham had been placed on waivers, though without being removed from the roster. It seems the Cards are committed to moving on regardless of whether Pham is claimed off waivers or not.

Teams can place a player on waivers even while they are still on the roster and participating in games. We have seen this happen this year with players like Kevin Kiermaier back when he was with the Blue Jays, as well as guys like Michael A. Taylor of the Pirates, Drew Smyly of the Cubs, Robbie Grossman of the Rangers and others.

The Cards could have waited to see if Pham was claimed and then continued to play him if he passed through, but that won’t be the case now. Pham could still be claimed off waivers by tomorrow and would be postseason-eligible with his new club. But if he goes unclaimed, he will almost certainly end up a free agent. He has more than enough time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so the Cards would probably just release him in that scenario.

Little by little, the Cards are signaling that they are moving on from 2024 and turning their attentions towards the future. Prior to last month’s trade deadline, they acted as buyers, grabbing Pham, Erick Fedde and Shawn Armstrong to bolster the roster for the stretch run. But they have gone 11-15 here in August, dropping them back in the crowded National League Wild Card race. They are currently six games out and would have to pass three different clubs to get in, while also holding off the Giants, who are just half a game behind the Cards. The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs give them just a 1.8% chance of getting in while the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus have them at 1.9%.

Armstrong was designated for assignment earlier this week and is still in DFA limbo, with Pham now joining him there, so the Cards have quickly cut ties with two of their three deadline acquisitions. Fedde is still under contract for next year but Armstrong and Pham were rentals, so the club has little use for them as they have seemingly accepted that their chances in 2024 are low.

They will instead give Walker another crack at major league pitching. He has been up and down since the start of the 2023 season, showing occasional glimpses of his talents but also enduring periods of significant struggles. He hit .276/.342/.445 last year for a 115 wRC+ but his line is just .145/.228/.232 this season, wRC+ of 31. He’s spent most of his time at Triple-A this year, where the numbers have been better but not overwhelming. He has a .263/.326/.427 batting line for Memphis in 2024, which translates to a wRC+ of 94 in the strong offensive environment in the International League this year.

Though he hasn’t exactly been kicking the door down, the Cards have some motivation to get him regular run in the big leagues. Since they have been sending him back and forth between Memphis and St. Louis both last year and this year, he’s only going to have one option year remaining at the end of this season. He’s still just 22 years old and has lots of time to break out as a bonafide major leaguer, but his option status provides a little bit of a narrowing window.

During the offseason, the club could perhaps pursue offensive upgrades to try to compete in 2025. That could potentially make for a roster crunch that leads to Walker getting optioned again next year. For now, with the club outside contention, they have creating some breathing room for Walker to presumably get some significant playing time as the season winds down. Ideally, he can take some notable steps forward and solidify himself as part of the future, though he’ll be in an outfield mix that also includes Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, Victor Scott II, Michael Siani, Brendan Donovan and others.

2024-25 Qualifying Offer Projected To Be $21.2MM

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This winter’s qualifying offer is projected by the league to land around $21.2MM, per Joel Sherman of The New York Post. The number won’t be officially calculated until October but should be in that range. Around this time last year, Sherman relayed the 2023-24 QO was projected to be $20.5MM, though it eventually came in slightly lower at $20.325MM.

The qualifying offer value generally goes up each year since it is calculated by averaging the salaries of the 125 highest-paid players in the league. Salaries naturally trend up with inflation, so the QO moves up in kind. Here is how it has trended in recent history…

  • 2012-13: $13.3MM
  • 2013-14: $14.4MM
  • 2014-15: $15.3MM
  • 2015-16: $15.8MM
  • 2016-17: $17.2MM
  • 2017-18: $17.4MM
  • 2018-19: $17.9MM
  • 2019-20: $17.8MM
  • 2020-21: $18.9MM
  • 2021-22: $18.4MM
  • 2022-23: $19.65MM
  • 2023-24: $20.325MM

A team can issue a qualifying offer, a one-year deal, to an impending free agent if the player just spent the entire season on its roster and has never received a QO in his career before. Here is a list of players who have previously received a QO and are therefore ineligible to receive another. Players traded midseason, such as Jack Flaherty of the Dodgers, are also ineligible.

Once the World Series is over, teams have five days to decide whether or not to issue qualifying offers to eligible players. Per Sherman, the players will have until 4pm Eastern on November 19 to decide whether to accept or reject. In the interim, they will be able to speak with other teams and assess their options before making a decision.

If a player rejects, then his previous team is eligible for draft pick compensation if he eventually signs elsewhere. That compensation will depend upon the size of the contract, the revenue-sharing status of the club and whether or not they paid the competitive balance tax. The signing club will be subject to draft pick forfeiture, which is also dependent on similar criteria.

Last year, seven players received qualifying offers and all of them rejected it, though Cody Bellinger and Aaron Nola eventually re-signed with the Cubs and Phillies respectively. This winter, players like Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Max Fried and Anthony Santander are virtual locks to receive and reject a QO as long as they are healthy. Players like Ha-Seong Kim, Gleyber Torres, Teoscar Hernández, Christian Walker, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jurickson Profar will be tougher calls for their respective clubs.

Red Sox Notes: Hamilton, Story, Hendriks, Martin

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The Red Sox placed infielder David Hamilton on the 10-day injured list yesterday due to a left index finger fracture, which he suffered on a bunt single the day before. He told reporters that the timetable would be four to six weeks but that he’s hoping to get that down to two to three weeks, which would be based on his pain tolerance. Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic was among those who relayed the info on X.

The Sox have had a rotating cast of characters covering second base this year. They had planned on giving the gig to Vaughn Grissom after acquiring him from Atlanta for Chris Sale in the winter. But Grissom has been injured or struggling for most of the year, which opened the spot for others. Apart from Grissom, ten different players have seen at least a bit of action at the keystone for Boston this year.

No one really took hold of the job but Hamilton arguably performed the best of the group. His .248/.303/.395 batting line this year only translates to a 91 wRC+, indicating he’s been 9% below average, but he’s stolen 33 bases in 37 tries and has played both middle infield positions. His work at shortstop hasn’t been graded well but he has nine Defensive Runs Saved and three Outs Above Average at second. Overall, FanGraphs considers him to have been worth 1.6 wins above replacement on the year.

He may not get a chance to alter those numbers in the wake of his injury. The four-to-six-week timeline would essentially wipe out his regular season at this point. Even if he has a chance to come back quicker, that would probably require the Sox to stay in the race. They are currently 3.5 games back of a playoff spot. If they fall back in the coming weeks, there wouldn’t be much point in rushing Hamilton back before he’s 100% healthy.

For now, the Sox will likely keep the carousel of players going through the keystone, with Nick Sogard, Romy González and Mickey Gasper some of the options on the roster. Perhaps they will recall Grissom at some point, though he’s currently getting regular playing time at Triple-A Worcester.

Another X-factor in the club’s middle infield plans will be Trevor Story, who is trying to return to the club before the season is done. He has been trying to come back from April shoulder surgery that was initially thought to be season-ending and tells Rob Bradford of WEEI (X link) that a rehab assignment will be his next step, though he didn’t provide a specific date for starting that rehab.

Even if Story does return to the Sox this year, it’s anyone’s guess what form he will be in. The Sox signed him to a six-year, $140MM deal going into 2022 but haven’t received much on that investment yet. He has missed significant time due to various ailments, including this year’s shoulder surgery and last year’s elbow surgery. He has only appeared in 145 games for the Sox since signing that deal and has hit just .227/.288/.394 in his 598 plate appearances.

It’s fair to conclude that the lack of health has played a big role in tamping down his production, but that also means there might still be some rust if he returns to the club in the next few weeks. Still, it could be good for the long term if he gets some playing time under his feet before the winter. He’s still a big part of the club’s future, with three years remaining on that deal. Ceddanne Rafaela has been playing shortstop of late but he’s not hitting much and still has options. He could be sent down to the minors or perhaps be bumped into a utility role since he’s also a capable outfielder.

Turning to the pitching staff, right-hander Liam Hendriks could be back in the majors soon. The righty underwent Tommy John surgery last year but has started a rehab assignment and made four appearances in the minors this month. He tells Alex Speier of The Boston Globe that he’s targeting a return next weekend.

Now 35, Hendriks has been on quite a tumultuous journey in recent years. He missed the start of the 2023 season while dealing with a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After beating cancer, he returned to the mound with the White Sox but only made five appearances before requiring the aforementioned surgery. The Sox signed him in the offseason to a two-year deal with a $10MM guarantee and another $10MM in incentives, knowing that they probably wouldn’t get much out of the righty in the first season.

That was a logical step for the Sox as Hendriks was dominant prior to this odyssey. From 2019 to 2022, he made 226 appearances with a 2.26 earned run average, 38.8% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate. On top of that, both Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin are set to hit free agency after 2024, so signing Hendriks in the winter was a preemptive move to address the 2025 bullpen ahead of schedule.

It’s also possible that Martin could be back. He tells the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (X link) that he’s planning on pitching again next year, in what would be his age-39 season, as long as he feels good through the end of the current campaign. He also spoke positively of the Red Sox organization and seemed open to a return.

Martin and the Sox signed a two-year, $17.5MM deal heading into 2023. He has thrown 86 2/3 innings over the course of that deal with a 1.77 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate, 48.1% ground ball rate and tiny 2.9% walk rate. Given the continued strong results, he figures to get strong interest from the Sox or any other club around the league if he wants to keep his career going.

Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today at 3:00pm central, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

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Reds Designate Davis Wendzel For Assignment

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Rhett Lowder, a promotion that was previously reported, while also appointing righty Yosver Zulueta the 27th player for the double-header. In corresponding moves for Lowder, they optioned left-hander Brandon Leibrandt and designated infielder Davis Wendzel for assignment.

Wendzel, 27, was acquired from the Rangers in a cash deal at the end of July after Texas had designated him for assignment. He was sent to Triple-A Louisville, where he has slashed .233/.327/.279 in his 101 plate appearances, production that translates to a 66 wRC+.

With the trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, the Reds will have to place Wendzel on waivers in the coming days. Though his recent output wasn’t great, he could garner interest based on his larger track record. Prior to the deal, he had hit .289/.384/.492 in 151 plate appearances for Triple-A Round Rock, leading to a 117 wRC+.

He also hit 30 home runs for the Express last year and drew walks at a 14.1% clip. His .236 /.361/.477 batting line only translated to a 101 wRC+ in the heightened offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, but that may have been held back by a .259 batting average on balls in play. His BABIP corrected to .298 with Round Rock prior to the deal, roughly average, which helped nudge his wRC+ up.

At a minimum, Wendzel provides defensive versatility, with the ability to play all four infield positions. He also has a full slate of options and just a few days of service time, meaning he wouldn’t need an immediate roster spot and comes with years of club control. Despite the offensive downturn since coming to the Reds, he had been hitting pretty well at the Triple-A level in 2023 and in the first few months of 2024.

The overall package could perhaps entice some club to put in a claim. He doesn’t have a previous career outright, nor does he have at least three years of service time, so he would stick with the Reds in a non-roster capacity if he goes unclaimed.

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