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Pat Venditte

Marlins’ Roster Moves: Bleier, Venditte, Mejia, Moran

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The Miami Marlins placed recent acquisition Richard Bleier on the injured list with a “mild strain in his elbow in his elbow bicep”, per MLB Network contributor Craig Mish (via Twitter). In corresponding moves, the Marlins selected the contract of Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher recently brought to camp. Humberto Mejia has been optioned to the alternate site. Lefty Brian Moran has been put back on the active roster, per Mish.

Bleier made three appearances with the Fish since coming over via trade from the Orioles. He allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 1 1/3 innings. The 33-year-old southpaw didn’t make his big league debut until 2016 as a 29-year-old. In the 4+ seasons since, he has mustered a respectable 3.02 ERA/3.73 FIP across 169 appearances (179 innings) for the Yankees, Orioles, and Marlins.

Venditte got into a game for the first time in 2020 tonight, but he previously appeared in parts of four seasons for the A’s, Blue Jays, Mariners, Dodgers, and Giants. Venditte’s gimmick is well-known throughout baseball as an ambidextrous pitcher, but he’s struggled on the whole as a major leaguer. In 58 appearances, Venditte owns a 5.03 ERA/5.04 FIP, though the 35-year-old continues to see opportunities. To his credit, he also continues to post solid numbers in Triple-A, including a 2.85 ERA across 47 1/3 innings with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.

Mejia, 23, will no doubt find his way back to the majors after a fine debut. The Panamanian right-hander started one game as an extended opener, going 2 1/3 innings and allowing just one earned run while striking out six. In a year of unprecedented roster moves, it’s a safe bet that Mejia will find his way back to the show at some point in 2020.

Last but not least, Moran, 31, made his major-league debut as a 30-year-old with the Marlins last season. He appeared in 10 games going 6 1/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA/4.00 FIP. The lefty hurler notably made MLB history by striking out his younger brother Colin Moran in the first-ever brother-brother showdown. He signed with the Blue Jays this offseason after the Marlins made him a free agent, only to be claimed off waivers last week.

Marlins To Sign Pat Venditte

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The Marlins have added switch-pitcher Pat Venditte on a minor-league deal, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. He had been with the organization during Spring Training.

Venditte, 35, has long been one of the game’s quirkiest players due to his ability to work off the mound with either arm, depending upon the handedness of the hitter. It’s more than a gimmick. He has done enough to warrant MLB stints with five teams over parts of four seasons.

While Venditte’s unique path to the majors is worthy of celebration, he has had a hard time carving out a permanent role. All told, he owns a 5.03 ERA in 68 innings at the game’s highest level. For the Marlins, who are dealing with a coronavirus outbreak that has covered half of the active roster, the key consideration is to pick up another experienced player who is capable of holding his own in the majors.

Marlins To Sign Pat Venditte

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The Marlins have a minor-league deal in place with reliever Pat Venditte, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link). It includes an invitation to the MLB side of Spring Training.

Venditte, 34, has thrown only 68 MLB innings to this point of his career. But as journeyman middle relievers go, he’s as interesting as they come. Venditte is a true unicorn of the game: a switch-pitcher who utilizes a customized glove to change his throwing hand depending upon the batter.

Things didn’t work out last year with the Giants, as Venditte received only two appearances in the bigs. But he did work to a 2.85 ERA in 47 1/3 innings at Triple-A, with a healthy combination of 11.2 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9.

Pitchers Recently Electing Free Agency

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Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

Giants Designate Yangervis Solarte, Pat Venditte; Venditte Clears Waivers

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May 12: Venditte has cleared waivers, tweets Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. Venditte will remain in the Giants organization and will report to Triple-A Sacramento.

May 7: The Giants announced that infielder/outfielder Yangervis Solarte and ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte have each been designated for assignment. Their spots on the roster will go to outfielder Mac Williamson and infielder/outfielder Donovan Solano — each of whom was reported to be joining the MLB club earlier today. San Francisco also optioned outfielder Mike Gerber to Triple-A Sacramento and recalled lefty Williams Jerez.

Solarte, 31, made the club out of Spring Training after coming to camp as a non-roster invitee, but he hasn’t rebounded to form as the club hoped. From 2014-17 with the Yankees and Padres, the switch-hitter was a .267/.327/.419 hitter capable of playing multiple spots on the infield, but Solarte struggled through an awful 2018 season with the Blue Jays (.226/.277/.378) and was worse in 78 plate appearances with the Giants (.205/.247/.315).

Venditte inked a split big league contract this offseason but has been tagged for six runs on four hits, a pair of walks and three hit batters with two strikeouts in just 3 1/3 innings out of Bruce Bochy’s bullpen so far. Venditte has a 5.03 ERA in 68 big league innings and has never been able to stick at the MLB level despite considerable intrigue surrounding his ability to pitch both right- and left-handed. His best work has come as a left-on-left specialist, as he’s held opponents to a pitiful .179/.226/.349 slash through 115 plate appearances in such matchups.

Giants Sign Pat Venditte

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12:27pm: Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that Venditte’s guarantee is a modest $585K that checks in just $30K north of the league minimum.

12:06pm: The Giants announced Friday that they’ve signed switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to a one-year, Major League contract. The addition of Venditte brings San Francisco’s 40-man roster to a total of 38 players.

Venditte, 33, is the game’s lone ambidextrous pitcher and is a familiar talent to new San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who was the Dodgers’ general manager last season when Venditte pitched for Los Angeles. Venditte threw quite well in his limited time with the Dodgers, logging a 2.57 ERA with nine strikeouts against three walks in 14 innings of relief. In his career as a whole, Venditte owns a 4.45 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 through 64 2/3 innings.

Venditte has generally fared better as a lefty facing left-handed opponents (.190/.291/.307) than as a right-hander facing righty bats (.259/.372/.472). Venditte’s fastball sat at just 85.6 mph in 2018, but his unorthodox delivery has helped him to find some success at the big league level. He’s also induced swinging-strikes at an 11 percent clip — a perhaps loftier rate than one might’ve otherwise expected from a soft-tosser of this mold.

With less than two years of Major League service time under his belt, Venditte won’t even be eligible for arbitration for another two seasons. As such, if he can prove himself a capable bullpen piece in what could be his best opportunity to seizing a regular role, he’d still be a pre-arbitration player next winter. Technically, he can be controlled all the way through 2023 if he cements himself as a definitively big league caliber arm.

Dodgers Acquire Adam McCreery, Designate Pat Venditte

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The Dodgers announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired left-hander Adam McCreery from the Braves in exchange for cash. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, switch-pitcher Pat Venditte was designated for assignment.

McCreery, who’ll turn 26 on New Year’s Eve, made his big league debut in 2018, though he appeared in just one game and tossed just one inning. He spent the bulk of the season with the Braves’ Double-A affiliate but also pitched in eight games for their Triple-A club. In all, his minor league work resulted in a 3.62 ERA with 11.7 K/9 but a troubling 6.1 BB/9 mark. McCreery has regularly topped 60 percent with his ground-ball rate and has long racked up strikeouts at an impressive level, but the control issues he battled in 2018 were nothing new for him; McCreery has averaged 5.7 walks per nine innings pitched in his career. Atlanta designated him for assignment earlier this week to open a roster spot for Brian McCann.

Venditte, 33, pitched well in 14 innings with the Dodgers in 2018, compiling a 2.57 ERA with nine strikeouts against three walks in that small sample of work. As the game’s lone ambidextrous pitcher, Venditte is somewhat of an anomaly, but he’s also been extraordinarily effective in his career against fellow lefties; same-handed opponents have posted an abysmal .186/.230/.354 slash against Venditte in a total of 122 MLB plate appearances.

Dodgers Select Daniel Corcino, Transfer Dennis Santana To 60-day DL

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The Dodgers have selected the contract of right-hander Daniel Corcino, the team announced today. To make room for him on the 40-man, they’ve transferred fellow righty Dennis Santana to the 60-day DL. The switch-pitching Pat Venditte was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the active roster.

It’s been an impressive season thus far for the 27-year-old Corcino, who’s pitched to a 1.95 ERA thus far in 37 Triple-A innings this season. Things haven’t been perfectly rosy, as his 3.54 FIP and 4.62 xFIP might indicate, but he’s struck out almost a batter an inning and has a walk rate (3.5 BB/9) and ground ball rate (41.5%) that are at least passable. He’s made six starts in Triple-A and four relief appearances.

As for Santana, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reports that his rotator cuff injury could potentially sideline him until late August. That’s noteworthy considering he’d be eligible to be activated from the 60-day DL as early as August 8th. Concurringly, manager Dave Roberts has stated that while Santana isn’t a surgery candidate, he won’t even so much as pick up a baseball for at least a few weeks (h/t Bill Shaikin of the LA Times). The righty allowed five earned runs across 3 2/3 innings in his only MLB appearance this season, but carries a solid track record of run prevention and high strikeouts in the upper minors.

Dennis Santana Diagnosed With Rotator Cuff Strain

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7:53pm: The team is now calling Santana’s injury a right rotator cuff strain, Gurnick tweets.

6:43pm: Dodgers righty Dennis Santana has been diagnosed with a torn lat, manager Dave Roberts told reports including Ken Gurnick of MLB.com (Twitter links). In related moves, relievers Pat Venditte and Adam Liberatore are joining the active roster, while Brock Stewart was optioned.

Roberts also provided updates on a few other hurlers (via Gurnick; all links to Twitter). Righty Kenta Maeda is on track for a potential return next week, while southpaw reliever Tony Cingrani has been diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain that isn’t believed to be serious. As for ace Clayton Kershaw, Roberts says his ailing back is currently symptom-free, which seems a promising note at an early stage of his recocvery.

The most important news here involves Santana, the 22-year-old who was just brought up for his first MLB action. Entering the season, there was no real indication that he’d be called upon this soon to play a role in the majors. But even as he worked to a 2.54 ERA with 11.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in ten outings in the upper minors, the big league staff was beset by injuries.

It’s not known how long Santana will likely be sidelined. Roberts indicated that there’s further medical assessment to be done before that will be clear. But it seems reasonable to anticipate a fairly lengthy absence. Santana will accrue MLB service time while he’s on the disabled list. He’ll also occupy a 40-man spot unless and until he’s moved to the 60-day DL.

Dodgers Activate Clayton Kershaw

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve reinstated left-hander Clayton Kershaw from the disabled list and created a roster spot by optioning switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Kershaw, who’s been out since May 1 due to biceps tendinitis in his left arm, will start tonight’s game against the visiting Phillies.

The three-time NL Cy Young winner and five-time NL ERA leader will return to the Dodgers’ rotation just one day after right-hander Kenta Maeda landed on the disabled list with a right hip strain. It’s been an ongoing struggle for the Dodgers to keep their starting staff healthy so far this season, as Maeda is joined on the disabled list by lefties Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Fortunately for the Dodgers, Kershaw’s absence proved to be shorter than his DL trips for back injuries in each of the past two seasons.

Kershaw will step back into the starting mix alongside Alex Wood, rookie sensation Walker Buehler and the breakout righty Ross Stripling. While that may not be a rotation mix the Dodgers anticipated having to lean upon in 2018, the quality of that group serves as a testament to the depth that the Dodgers seem to have a knack for cultivating on a yearly basis.

While the Dodgers’ early struggles garnered plenty of national media attention, they’ve quieted the narrative that their season was on the brink of being lost by rattling off 10 wins in their past 13 contests. Los Angeles is still three games south of the .500 mark, but the collapse of the former NL West-leading Diamondbacks has opened a door for the Dodgers, who now sit 3.5 games back from the Rockies, who suddenly find themselves in first place.

A healthy Kershaw will go a long way toward continuing their recent success, though there are clearly some longer-term implications here for both Kershaw and the team. Kershaw has the ability to opt out of the remaining two years of his contract at season’s end, and he’s all but certain to do so. While the Dodgers clearly possess the financial firepower to match or top virtually any offer another team can make to Kershaw, the price of a new contract with the Dodgers or another club will be impacted in no small part by his ability to put this injury behind him and return to his status as one of the game’s elite arms.

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