Tigers “Finalizing” Deal To Hire Shane Farrell As Farm Director
8:52AM: The hiring isn’t yet official, as the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky writes (X link) that Farrell and the Tigers “are finalizing a deal.” Farrell’s role with the Tigers would involve assuming some of the duties left open when Garko was promoted.
8:29AM: The Tigers have hired Shane Farrell as their new farm director, according to Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network (links to X). Farrell has spent the last five seasons as the Blue Jays’ director of amateur scouting, and was in charge of the team’s drafts.
As Elliott notes, Farrell has past ties to Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris, as the two previously worked together in the Cubs’ front office when Harris was Chicago’s director of baseball ops and and Farrell was a scout and crosschecker. There is also a distant family connection to Detroit for Farrell, as his father John (the longtime former manager and pitcher) spent his final season as a player with the Tigers in 1996.
It isn’t yet known if Farrell is joining the Tigers’ current front office mix, or if he’ll be taking the place of a departing executive. Ryan Garko is still credited as the team’s VP of player development, but Garko was also promoted to an assistant GM role back in May. Fellow AGM Rob Metzler oversees the team’s scouting operations, and Mark Conner has spent the last two seasons as Detroit’s director of amateur scouting.
Farrell’s departure leaves the Blue Jays with a big hole to fill in their front office, and it represents a shakeup in the club’s player development strategies. While such notables as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Alek Manoah are homegrown products of the Toronto farm system, the Jays have long had difficulty in developing a consistent pipeline of minor leaguers who become productive members of the MLB roster.
This problem predates Farrell’s arrival in the organization, and it is naturally hard to gauge his work in Toronto considering how almost literally all of the players drafted by the Jays in the last five seasons have yet to reach the big leagues. Austin Martin (the fifth overall pick in 2020) is the only player drafted by the Blue Jays from 2020-24 who has made it to the Show, and Martin was traded to the Twins back in 2021 as part of the deal that brought Jose Berrios to Toronto.
Of course, the lack of any immediate help could itself be an issue, as the Jays haven’t had many big prospects coming up to bolster the roster or to be used as trade chips. 2021 first-rounder Gunnar Hoglund was also dealt to the A’s as part of the Matt Chapman trade package in March 2022, and other prominent young pitchers drafted under Farrell (Ricky Tiedemann, CJ Van Eyk, Brandon Barriera) have all had their career slowed by injuries.
Offseason Outlook: Athletics
Outside attention on the A's will center on their temporary move to Sacramento. The front office's focus will be on supplementing a burgeoning offensive core. A decent second half offers hope the A's could push close to .500 with a few additions to the pitching staff. With a completely blank payroll slate, they'll need to spend some money.
Guaranteed Contracts
- None
2025 financial commitments: $0
Total future commitments: $0
Option Decisions
- None
Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via Matt Swartz)
- Austin Adams (5.150): $1.7MM
- Miguel Andujar (5.053): $2.8MM
- Seth Brown (4.096): $3.8MM
- Brent Rooker (3.059): $5.1MM
- Dany Jiménez (2.162): $1MM
Non-tender candidates: Adams, Andujar, Brown, Jiménez
Free Agents
- Ross Stripling, T.J. McFarland, Alex Wood, Scott Alexander, Trevor Gott, Abraham Toro, Aaron Brooks, Brandon Bielak, Gerardo Reyes
The Oakland A's era ended last month after 57 years. The Las Vegas era won't begin for three more. The A's will call Sacramento's Sutter Health Park their temporary home from 2025-27. A's ownership will put the finishing touches on securing $380MM in public funds from Clark County and Nevada to begin construction on their Vegas ballpark. General manager David Forst and his front office get the unenviable task of trying to sell a few veteran players on joining a team that'll call a Triple-A park home.
By default, Forst and his staff will have money to spend. The A's incredibly have zero dollars committed to the 2025 player payroll. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the entire arbitration class to cost $14.4MM. The actual outlay will be a lot less, as only Brent Rooker (projected just north of $5MM) is guaranteed to be brought back.
Each of the A's commitments last winter were one-year deals. The last player they've signed (free agent or extension) for more than two seasons: Ryan Madson in 2015. It's fair to presume the aversion to long-term spending isn't changing in Sacramento, yet the A's will need to add a couple players on short-term pacts. The A's opened the 2024 season with a player payroll around $61MM, as calculated by Cot's Baseball Contracts. Even by John Fisher ownership standards, the A's should add $25-30MM to next season's payroll.
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Offseason Outlook: Detroit Tigers
One of the great late-season surges in baseball history brought the Tigers from eight games under .500 to within a game of the AL Championship Series. With the rebuild now over, the Tigers have plenty of avenues available to bolster the roster for 2025.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Javier Baez, SS: $73MM through 2027
- Colt Keith, 2B: $24,142,500 through 2030 (includes $2.6425MM buyout of $10MM club option for 2030; deal also includes $13MM club option for 2031 with $1MM buyout, and $15MM club option for 2032 with $2MM buyout)
- Kenta Maeda, SP/RP: $10MM through 2025
2025 financial commitments: $38.5MM
Total future commitments: $107,142,500
Option Decisions
- Casey Mize, SP: $3.1MM club option, $10K buyout (if option is declined, Mize is still arbitration-controlled through 2026)
Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Tarik Skubal (4.114): $8MM
- Casey Mize (4.111): $2MM
- Jake Rogers (4.040): $2.5MM
- Will Vest (3.100): $1.4MM
- Zach McKinstry (3.099): $1.3MM
- Jason Foley (3.033): $3.5MM
- Matt Vierling (3.026): $3MM
- Akil Baddoo (3.003): $1.6MM
- Alex Lange (3.003): $1.3MM
- Andy Ibanez (2.170): $1.5MM
- Beau Brieske (2.134): $1.3MM
- Non-tender candidates: Baddoo, McKinstry, Lange
Free Agents
- None
After moving most of their veteran players at the trade deadline, Detroit looked to be playing out the string as late as August 10, when a 3-1 loss to the Giants dropped the Tigers' record to 55-63. That's when the magic started happening, as the Tigers went 31-13 over their last 44 games to surge into the final AL wild card spot, giving Detroit its first playoff berth since 2014. The club then upset the Astros in the Wild Card Series and took the Guardians to the limit in the ALDS before Lane Thomas' clutch grand slam in Game 5 finally put the upstart Tigers away for good.
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Montreal’s Olympic Stadium Ruled Out As Possible Temporary Home For Rays
The Rays are uncertain about where they’ll play in 2025 after Hurricane Milton damaged the Tropicana Field roof. One option that will not be under consideration: Montreal. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the city’s Olympic Stadium — the former home of the Expos and a speculated possibility for the Rays — is undergoing an $870MM renovation to replace its own roof. The stadium will not be available for three years.
“Until 2028, the field of play will be within a construction site and therefore not open to the public,” the stadium’s communications officer told Topkin via email. Montreal is the second city to back away from serving as a potential temporary home for the franchise. The Durham Bulls, home of the organization’s Triple-A affiliate, released a statement earlier this week saying they “do not anticipate hosting (the Rays) for a full season due to schedules overlapping and other logistical challenges.”
The Rays still haven’t confirmed they won’t be able to play all of next season at the Trop. Topkin reported earlier in the week that the facility was unlikely to be repaired by Opening Day, however. The Rays are scheduled to open a new stadium in St. Petersburg in 2028. Assuming that timeline isn’t delayed, it’s not clear if the organization and city will find it worthwhile to repair Tropicana Field if the team is leaving the Trop after three years anyhow.
Montreal was mentioned as a possibility largely because the Rays flirted with the idea of playing there a few years ago. While the Rays were trying to secure public funding for their new stadium, owner Stuart Sternberg floated a plan to divide the team’s home games between Tampa Bay and Montreal. MLB’s executive council killed the idea in January 2022. The Rays turned back to securing the funding for the new facility in St. Petersburg, which was approved this past July. Topkin’s column lists a few other cities the Rays might consider if the Trop is unavailable.
Should The Padres Move Adrián Morejón Back To The Rotation?
Left-hander Adrián Morejón just wrapped up the best season of his major league career, at least so far. He had appeared in each of the seasons from 2019 to 2023 but never reached 35 innings pitched in any of those. In 2024, he made 60 relief appearances, logging 63 2/3 frames. He allowed 2.83 earned runs per nine innings in that time. His 26.1% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 51.4% ground ball rate were all better than league averages. He added another two appearances in the postseason.
Now the Padres and Morejón will have to decide what’s next. The southpaw came up as a starting pitching prospect and was highly regarded as a minor leaguer. The Cuban lefty secured an $11MM signing bonus from the Padres in 2016, before the league introduced the hard-capped international amateur spending system that currently exists. Baseball America considered him one of the top 100 prospects in the league from 2017 to 2021, with Morejón getting as high as #52 going into 2019.
But his trajectory slowed down since that peak of his prospect hype, largely due to injuries. In 2019, he made his major league debut but missed time due to a shoulder impingement. The 2020 season was shortened by the pandemic and there were no minor league games, limiting him to just nine appearances and less than 20 innings that year. In 2021, he required Tommy John surgery after just two starts. He was off the injured list by June of 2022 but missed time in the second half of that year due to shoulder inflammation. In 2023, he spent time on the IL due to a left elbow sprain and right knee inflammation, limiting him to just nine major league innings and less than 30 on the farm.
With all of those injuries, the Padres understandably kept him in a relief role this year. As mentioned up top, he stayed healthy and thrived in the bullpen. Based on the way the past few years went, the club might be tempted to just keep Morejón in the bullpen. With Tanner Scott set to reach free agency, Morejón arguably projects as the club’s best southpaw reliever for 2025, ahead of Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui.
But there’s upside to considering the alternative, with Garrett Crochet being a best-case scenario example of what’s possible. Like Morejón, Crochet was a top prospect who had spent the early parts of his career either hurt or pitching in relief. The White Sox stretched him out for a rotation role in 2024 with fantastic results, as he posted a 3.58 ERA over 146 innings. Even those numbers sell him short, as that club’s poor defense seemingly contributed to a .318 batting average on balls in play for Crochet this year. He struck out 35.1% of batters faced, limited walks to a 5.5% clip and got grounders on 45.1% of balls in play. If it weren’t for that high BABIP, he probably would have kept some more runs off the board, which is why his 2.69 FIP and 2.53 SIERA were far better than his ERA.
That’s not to say that the Padres should consider such a performance from Morejón to be likely, but it demonstrates the proverbial pot of gold they could chase. Crochet is now a borderline ace and he will likely be the top trade candidate of this offseason, with the White Sox looking at bringing back a king’s ransom in terms of young prospects.
Morejón threw five different pitches in 2024, suggesting there’s potentially still a starter’s repertoire in there, without him relying on any one pitch too much. His sinker, slider and four-seamer were all thrown between 23 and 36% of the time, while he also sprinkled in a splitter 7.6% of the time and a sweeper at a 2.6% clip. That helped him avoid the extreme splits that can often doom a pitcher to a specialized relief role. Lefties hit .255/.303/.367 off Morejón this year while righties were only slightly better at .257/.321/.405.
Due to Morejón spending so much time on the IL, he has managed to accrue more than four years of major league service time. That means that, despite his limited track record, he’s slated for free agency after 2026. But the missed time has also prevented him from increasing his earning power. He made $850K this year, barely above the $740K league minimum. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a modest bump to $1.8MM in 2025. He’d be able to secure one more arbitration raise for 2026 before hitting the open market.
That price point is important for the Padres. Due in part to the collapse of their broadcast deal with Diamond Sports Group, the club had to cut the payroll last winter. They flipped Juan Soto to the Yankees to help them duck under the competitive balance tax while also adding some needed starting pitching depth.
Starting pitching is again a concern for the Friars going into 2025, with the recent news that Joe Musgrove is set to miss all of next year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Michael King, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish give the club a strong front three but they have question marks at the back end. Matt Waldron had a 3.71 ERA in the first half but an ugly 8.10 ERA in the second half. Randy Vásquez had a 4.87 ERA this year but with a tepid 14.4% strikeout rate and he also had an 8.21 ERA in his Triple-A starts. Musgrove will hopefully be back by 2026 but King and Cease are both slated for free agency after 2025, meaning there’s even less certainty in the future.
Improving the rotation will undoubtedly be a focus for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller this winter but the budget might again be an issue. The Friars already have an estimated $231MM CBT number for next year, according to RosterResource, just shy of next year’s $241MM base threshold. Assuming the club wants to avoid the tax again in 2025, that doesn’t give Preller a lot to work with and even back-end starters often get eight-figure deals in free agency. Last winter, Kyle Gibson got $13MM on a one-year deal, Lance Lynn got $11MM, Wade Miley and Alex Wood each got $8.5MM while Martín Pérez got $8MM.
In addition to filling out the rotation, Preller will be looking to replace lost offensive production. Each of Jurickson Profar, Ha-Seong Kim, Donovan Solano, David Peralta and Kyle Higashioka are slated to reach free agency, putting some notable dents in the lineup.
Given the club’s tight budget and long to-do list, it would be a great solution if Morejón could become a starter next year. That would be far cheaper than filling a rotation spot via the open market. There’s also the trade market but the Padres have sent out a lot of prospects in recent years and would probably love to avoid doing more of that, if possible.
But despite all the attraction of Morejón jumping into the rotation, there’s also the risk of another injury cropping up. In that scenario, it’s entirely possible that the Padres fall short of upgrading the rotation and also subtract a key lefty from the bullpen mix.
What do you think the Padres should do? Give him a shot at the rotation or stick with what’s working? Have your say in the poll below!
Where should the Padres put Adrián Morejón in 2025?
-
Bullpen 52% (824)
-
Rotation 48% (752)
Total votes: 1,576
Trade Candidate: Taylor Ward
The Angels are coming off the worst season in franchise history. They lost 99 games for the first time. Only the White Sox, Rockies and Marlins had a worse run differential. The Angels are playing like a rebuilding team, even if they haven’t gotten here intentionally.
Halos brass continues to resist the rebuilding label. Owner Arte Moreno said two weeks ago that he plans to approve a payroll increase and expects the team to compete for a playoff spot. General manager Perry Minasian expressed similar sentiments at his end-of-season press conference. The Angels aren’t about to tear the roster to the studs. At the same time, they can’t run things back while only tinkering with the bullpen (as they did last offseason) and expect markedly better results.
Whether they embrace a short-term reset or look to balance the MLB roster without dealing from one of the league’s worst farm systems, there’s a case for moving Taylor Ward. The 30-year-old left fielder has been the subject of trade speculation dating back to last offseason. The Pirates and Royals reportedly checked in at the most recent deadline. Nothing came together. Pittsburgh ended up acquiring Bryan De La Cruz from the Marlins instead. The Royals didn’t address their outfield at the deadline but claimed Tommy Pham and Robbie Grossman off waivers a few weeks later.
Trading Ward over the summer would have been selling a bit low. After a strong first couple months, he had a dismal stretch between June and July. From June 1 to the start of play on deadline day, Ward hit .175/.280/.313 while striking out at a 28% clip. He had a .227/.309/.401 season line at that point. He wasn’t trending well as a lineup boost for a contender.
Ward hit much better once the deadline passed. From July 30 on, he turned in a stout .282/.348/.471 slash over 230 plate appearances. He cut his strikeouts to a more manageable 23.9% clip and drilled nine home runs. Ward concluded the season with 25 longballs and a .246/.323/.426 showing that’s about in line with his career trajectory. He’s a slightly above-average hitter who plays roughly league average defense in left field. He has crushed left-handed pitching (.315/.374/.509) over the past two seasons while putting up league average numbers (.229/.314/.399) without the platoon advantage. It’s not a star profile, but that’s a valuable regular.
The Halos control Ward for another two seasons. He qualified for early arbitration in 2023 as a Super Two player, so he’s already in line for a notable salary. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $9.2MM sum next season, the highest in the Halos’ arbitration class. He’ll probably be in line for around $12-14MM in his final year of club control.
Ward isn’t too dissimilar from Lane Thomas, whom the Nationals traded to the Guardians at this year’s deadline. Thomas was a little more affordable, playing on a $5.45MM deal in his penultimate arbitration year. The midseason trade meant Cleveland was picking up a year and a half of his services rather than two full seasons. Washington landed a trio of prospects, headlined by recent second-round pick Alex Clemmey and upper minors utility infielder José Tena. That’s a general comparison point for what the Angels could seek for Ward if they were willing to move him for prospects.
Based on Moreno’s and Minasian’s comments, that might not be a consideration. The Angels haven’t merely said they believe they can compete in 2025. Their deadline activity backed that up. Los Angeles didn’t trade anyone who was not an impending free agent despite fielding interest in players like Ward, Luis Rengifo and Tyler Anderson.
Even if the Halos don’t want to make a trade with a firm eye to the future, they could look to deal Ward to net big league pitching. The Angels have one of the worst rotations in MLB. They’ve tended to shy away from significant free agent investments in pitchers, an organizational preference that seems to stem from ownership since it crosses multiple front offices. Trading prospects for rotation help only continues the trend of short-sighted moves that got them in this position.
There aren’t many players they’ll probably be willing to move off the MLB roster. They’re not going to trade Logan O’Hoppe or Zach Neto. Rengifo’s value dropped when he underwent season-ending wrist surgery in August. Anderson had a poor second half and has minimal appeal on a $13MM salary. Trading him for a modest return subtracts one of their few stable sources of innings.
The Angels aren’t exactly overflowing with outfield talent either, but left field is a comparatively easier position to address. That could come internally. Mike Trout has already said he could move off center field in an effort to stay healthy. His arm probably fits better in left than in right. Even if they move Trout to right (or kick Ward to that corner so Trout can handle left field), that could block one of the simplest paths to adding some punch to the lineup. This is a decent class for free agent corner outfielders, with players like Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernández, Tyler O’Neill and Michael Conforto available. Trading Ward for a starter would clear a path for a free agent pursuit from someone in that group.
Pittsburgh and Kansas City could renew their interest. The Bucs got very little out of De La Cruz, while Grossman and Pham are free agents. The Reds, Phillies, Braves, Blue Jays and Padres are other teams that could look for corner outfield help this winter. The Tigers and Red Sox are among the teams that’ll be seeking right-handed bats.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Marlins Reach New Broadcast Deal With Diamond Sports Group
Attorneys for Major League Baseball and Diamond Sports Group revealed in court this morning that DSG and the Marlins reached a new broadcasting arrangement for the 2025 season (link via Evan Drellich of the Athletic). The Marlins did not announce the deal, nor has anyone reported specifics on the rights fees.
The Fish were one of 12 teams whose local broadcasts were carried on Diamond’s Bally Sports networks this past season. Diamond announced today that it has agreed to a naming rights deal with the sports gambling company FanDuel. The Bally Sports networks will be rebranded as FanDuel Sports networks, though there’s otherwise little change for consumers.
Amidst its ongoing bankruptcy proceeding, Diamond announced in early October that it would abandon its contracts with every team aside from the Braves. Of the 11 clubs that were dropped, the Twins, Guardians, Rangers and Brewers announced they would look elsewhere. The other seven indicated they might renegotiate deals with Diamond at a diminished rate.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that Diamond paid the Marlins around $50MM to carry games in the Miami area this past season. It’s not clear how much of a cut the Fish will take next year. Various teams have pointed to TV revenue issues as reasons for reducing player payroll. The Marlins don’t have much to cut at this point. They did virtually nothing last offseason, spending $5MM in free agency. They’re now amidst a complete rebuild and presumably aren’t going to spend more than a few million dollars this winter either.
The other six teams that remain in limbo are the Reds, Rays, Tigers, Angels, Cardinals and Royals. Diamond still needs to demonstrate to the bankruptcy court that it has a viable plan to move forward and avoid liquidation. Drellich notes that confirmation hearing is set to begin on November 14. Assuming the court approves the plan, Diamond will move forward with at least the Braves and Marlins for the ’25 season.
Giants Promote J.P. Martinez To Pitching Coach
October 18: San Francisco officially announced Martinez’s hiring as pitching coach on Friday afternoon.
October 15: The Giants are promoting J.P. Martinez to the role of pitching coach, as reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The news comes on the heels of the club’s previous pitching coach, Bryan Price, stepping down from his role with the club earlier today.
Martinez joined the Giants during the 2020-21 offseason as assistant pitching coach, replacing Erik Katz on the staff of then-manager Gabe Kapler. Prior to joining San Francisco, Martinez got his start in professional baseball when he was drafted in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Twins. Though he never cracked the major leagues, he spent four seasons pitching in the Twins organization and a fifth with the Orioles organization before retiring from his playing career in 2008. Martinez eventually returned to the Twins organization in 2015 as a pitching coach at the club’s Florida complex and spent six seasons with the club in various coaching roles through the minor leagues before departing for San Francisco.
Upon joining the Giants, Martinez worked under former pitching coach Andrew Bailey and former director of pitching Brian Bannister. Of that trio, only Martinez remained with the organization in 2024 following Kapler’s firing and the hiring of Bob Melvin as manager. Melvin brought in Price to act as the club’s primary pitching coach, but with Price now set to step down the Giants appear poised to promote Martinez in his place. The move offers some continuity to Giants hurlers after a season where the club’s pitching staff posted strong underlying metrics despite middling performance. While the club’s collective 4.10 ERA wasn’t especially impressive, Giants pitcher posted a 3.80 FIP and a 3.82 SIERA, both of which were top-seven figures in the majors this year.
Looking at individual performances, the Giants enjoyed solid performances from young pitchers such as Hayden Birdsong, Tristan Beck, Kyle Harrison, and Landen Roupp this year. Each of those pitchers figures to be asked to shoulder more significant workloads in 2025 thanks to the impending departure of Blake Snell. The loss of Snell, who dominated with a 1.23 ERA and 1.77 FIP in his final 14 starts with San Francisco, will leave the Giants more reliant on veterans Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks headed into 2025 despite questions regarding the durability of those hurlers in rotation roles.
Of course, it’s certainly possible that the Giants pursue pitching help to further bolster Martinez’s staff this winter, whether that comes in the form of a reunion with Snell or the acquisition of a lower-profile arm or two to help supplement the staff in his absence like Luis Severino or Andrew Heaney. For now, however, the club’s top priority appears to be completing their GM search and locking down a #2 in the front office to serve as a partner for newly-minted president of baseball operations Buster Posey.
Ian Hamilton Replaced By Mark Leiter Jr. On Yankees’ ALCS Roster
Major League Baseball announced that it has approved a roster substitution for the Yankees, with right-hander Ian Hamilton replaced by fellow righty Mark Leiter Jr. Playoff rules dictate that a player removed due to an injury is ineligible to play in that series as well as the following one, so Hamilton won’t be eligible to play in the World Series if the Yankees advance.
The move doesn’t come out of nowhere, as Hamilton was removed from last night’s game against the Guardians with an injury that he appeared to sustain while covering first base on a ground ball. The Yankees described his injury as left calf tightness and it now appears that it’s serious enough that they felt compelled to make a switch.
That could be because they don’t expect Hamilton back in the next few weeks or simply because they didn’t want to play short-handed for the next few days. The Yanks are about to play their second of three consecutive games and used six relievers in last night’s ten-inning contest that they eventually lost. Even if there was a chance that Hamilton’s calf would be healed by later in this series or in the World Series, they might need the extra arm to get through tonight and tomorrow.
Hamilton, 29, wasn’t the most important arm in manager Aaron Boone‘s bullpen. Last night’s appearances was just his second of this year’s playoffs. But he was solid during the regular season, making 35 appearances with a 3.82 earned run average. He struck out 25.2% of batters faced, walked 8.2% of them and got grounders on 43.8% of balls in play. He earned one save and 11 holds this year, the latter number coming in third on the team behind Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle.
Leiter, 33, had some strong recent results with the Cubs but struggled after a deadline deal that sent him to the Bronx. From the start of 2022 until the trade, he posted a 3.85 ERA in 168 1/3 innings for the Cubs. In that time, he had a 28.9% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 47.8% ground ball rate.
At the end of July, the Yanks sent minor leaguers Ben Cowles and Jack Neely to the Cubs in order to acquire Leiter, but he posted a 4.98 ERA in his 21 appearances for the Yanks after that deal. While many Yankee fans groan at the mere mention of Leiter’s name, the baseball gods were seemingly responsible for a lot of those runs.
As a Yankee, Leiter’s 39% ground ball rate was subpar but his 31.7% strikeout rate was strong and his 8.7% walk rate around average. But he had a .407 batting average on balls in play and a 26.1% homer to fly ball ratio, both of which are unsustainably high. His 2.86 SIERA in that stretch suggests that he was far better than his ERA would have you believe in that small sample.
Leiter was left off the Yankee roster for the ALDS and ALCS but Hamilton’s injury opens the door for him. He and the Yankees will be hoping for better fortune as they look to defeat the Guardians and move on to the World Series. They lead the ALCS two games to one with game four set to begin in Cleveland at 8:08 local time tonight.
Jake Cave, Peter Lambert, Dakota Hudson Elect Free Agency
The Rockies announced that outfielder Jake Cave as well as right-handers Dakota Hudson and Peter Lambert passed through outright waivers unclaimed. Each of the three players elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque. The moves drop the club’s 40-man roster count to 38, as Hudson was on the 60-day IL and not taking up a spot.
All three players were eligible for arbitration this winter, so these moves effectively act as early non-tenders. Each player has more than three years of service time, meaning each has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Cave, 32 in December, was acquired from the Phillies in a cash deal coming into the 2024 season. He got into 123 games for the Rockies and stepped to the plate 346 times. Unfortunately, he hit just .251/.290/.396 in that time for a 75 wRC+. He now has a career batting line of .236/.292/.400 and an 80 wRC+ in over 1500 trips to the plate. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a salary of $1.8MM next year but the Rockies will move on instead.
Hudson, 30, spent many years as a groundballer with the Cardinals. He had a 3.14 earned run average through 2021 but his ERA jumped to 4.45 in 2022 and 4.98 in 2023, so the Cards decided to non-tender him.
The Rockies brought him aboard via a modest $1.5MM guarantee but Hudson went on to post a 6.17 ERA this year. There may have been some bad luck in there, as he only stranded 63.5% of runners, but he also made things hard on himself. His 12.4% walk rate was not only above league average but also above his 12.1% strikeout rate. Colorado could have brought him back for a projected $2.3MM salary next year but understandably decided not to.
Lambert, 27, was a second-round pick of the Rockies back in 2015. He was a notable prospect for the club on his way up the ladder but hasn’t been able to cement himself in the big leagues. He debuted in 2019, making 19 starts that year but with a 7.25 ERA. He required Tommy John surgery in July of 2020, keeping out of action for all of that year and most of 2021. Right forearm inflammation limited him to just four minor league appearances in 2022.
He’s been largely healthy for the past two seasons, with the Rockies using him a frequently-optioned swingman. He has thrown 148 2/3 major league innings since the start of 2023, but with a 5.51 ERA. His 8.7% walk rate in that time is fine but his 18.5% strikeout rate is subpar.
He was projected for a $1.5MM salary next year, which is almost nothing in MLB terms, but he has exhausted all of his option years. That would make it harder for the Rockies to keep him on the roster going forward, so they have decided to bump him off today.