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White Sox Designate Yoendrys Gomez For Assignment

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The White Sox announced Tuesday that right-hander Yoendrys Gomez has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster goes to veteran righty Adrian Houser, whose previously reported major league deal with the South Siders has now been formally announced. Chicago had just claimed Gomez off waivers from the Dodgers ten days ago.

The Sox were Gomez’s third team of the still-young season. A former top prospect in the Yankees’ system, he’s bounced from the Bronx to L.A. to Chicago’s South Side. Along the way, he’s totaled 17 2/3 innings and allowed 13 runs (6.62 ERA) on 20 hits and 13 walks with 13 strikeouts. He tossed 3 1/3 innings with Chicago and allowed three runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batter. Gomez has now pitched 31 innings in the majors and yielded a 5.23 ERA.

Lackluster major league track record notwithstanding, Gomez sports near-identical ERAs of 3.64 and 3.67 in Double-A and Triple-A, respectively. Those have come in samples of 83 1/3 innings and 81 2/3 frames. Gomez has fanned 27% of his opponents in Triple-A against an 11.3% walk rate, and his Double-A rates (28.3% and 12.6%) are again quite similar.

Any team that claims or acquires Gomez will have to plug him right onto the MLB roster. He’s out of minor league options and can’t be sent down without first clearing waivers. The once-promising righty’s development has been slowed by the canceled 2020 minor league season and a Tommy John procedure that wiped out most of his 2021-22 campaigns. He could potentially benefit from some additional time in the upper minors, but it’s not a luxury teams can pursue until he passes through waivers. If Gomez goes unclaimed this time around, he’ll stick with the Sox as a depth option; he lacks the major league service time or the prior outright assignment needed to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

White Sox Sign Adrian Houser

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May 20: The Sox announced today that they have signed Houser to a one-year, $1.35MM deal. Assuming that’s prorated, Houser will get about $950K. James Fox of FutureSox previously reported that Houser was expected to start tonight’s game for the Sox, indicating it would be a big league deal. The Sox designated right-hander Yoendrys Gómez for assignment as the corresponding move.

May 19: The White Sox are nearing an agreement with free agent righty Adrian Houser, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’s not clear if he’ll jump right onto the big league roster or head to Triple-A Charlotte. Houser, a client of BBI Sports Group, was granted his release from a minor league contract with Texas last week.

Houser signed with the Rangers during the offseason. He has worked out of the rotation at Triple-A Round Rock, tallying 39 1/3 innings across nine appearances. While his 5.03 earned run average is pedestrian, that’s not all that uncommon in the Pacific Coast League. Houser has stronger peripherals. He struck out a decent 22.8% of opponents while running an excellent 57.3% grounder rate.

Ground balls are Houser’s speciality. He has gotten grounders at a near-52% clip over parts of eight seasons in the majors. That was up in the 58-59% range during his best seasons with Milwaukee but has been down to a more normal 46-48% mark over the past few years. That caught up to him last year, as he allowed 5.84 earned runs per nine across 69 1/3 frames with the Mets. Houser had begun the season in New York’s rotation but was kicked to the bullpen after seven starts. His results in relief were much better. He carried an ERA north of 8.00 as a starting pitcher but turned in a 3.28 mark across 35 2/3 relief innings.

Texas signed him as rotation depth, which seems likely to be his role in Chicago (assuming the deal is finalized). The rebuilding White Sox have baseball’s least experienced rotation. Bryse Wilson is the only member of the current starting staff who entered the season with even one year of MLB service. Wilson, who had begun the year in the bullpen, stepped into the starting five after Martín Pérez suffered a forearm injury. He has allowed a 6.62 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts over four starts.

Rule 5 pick Shane Smith has been the team’s best pitcher, turning in a sterling 2.05 ERA with average strikeout and walk numbers over his first nine MLB starts. Davis Martin and Jonathan Cannon have each been a little worse than average. Opening Day starter Sean Burke has struggled, though he’d been better this month until giving up six runs to the Cubs on Saturday. If Houser jumps right onto the MLB roster, he could nudge Burke or Wilson from the rotation. Burke still has a full slate of minor league options. Wilson is out of options and would need to be designated for assignment for the Sox to take him off the big league roster.

Rangers Release Adrian Houser

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Righty Adrian Houser was granted his release from his minor league contract with the Rangers, the team announced. Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reports that Texas hopes to bring him back (presumably on a fresh minor league deal), but he’ll have the opportunity to explore other offers.

Houser signed with the Rangers during the offseason. He has worked out of the rotation at Triple-A Round Rock, tallying 39 1/3 innings across nine appearances. While his 5.03 earned run average is pedestrian, that’s not all that uncommon in the Pacific Coast League. Houser has stronger peripherals. He’s striking out a decent 22.8% of opponents while running an excellent 57.3% grounder rate.

Ground balls are Houser’s speciality. He has gotten grounders at a near-52% clip over parts of eight seasons in the majors. That was up in the 58-59% range during his best seasons with Milwaukee but has been down to a more normal 46-48% mark over the past few years. That caught up to him last year, as he allowed 5.84 earned runs per nine across 69 1/3 frames with the Mets. Houser had begun the season in New York’s rotation but was kicked to the bullpen after seven starts.

His results in relief were much better. Houser carried an ERA north of 8.00 as a starting pitcher but turned in a 3.28 mark across 35 2/3 relief innings. Texas seemingly preferred him as rotation depth, though it stands to reason he could find interest from other clubs as both a starter and reliever.

Rangers Release Nick Ahmed, Re-Sign Hunter Strickland To Minors Deal

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The Rangers announced this evening that they’ve released shortstop Nick Ahmed. In addition, they’ve re-signed right-hander Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal after Strickland was himself released by the club yesterday. The news comes not long after president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters (including MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry) that a group of eight non-roster veterans had been informed they would not be making the Opening Day roster. Aside from Ahmed, that list includes Adrian Houser, JT Chargois, Joe Barlow, David Buchanan, Tucker Barnhart, Chad Wallach, and Matt Festa. While the specific contract situations aren’t known for all of those players, Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports writes that the Rangers won’t block any non-roster invitee from pursuing a big league opportunity elsewhere should they so desire.

So far, Ahmed appears to be the only player in that group to take the Rangers up on that and seek his release. The 35-year-old veteran spent the first ten seasons of his career in Arizona, winning two Gold Glove awards during that time and serving mostly as a capable glove-first option at shortstop for the Diamondbacks. Ahmed began to struggle with injuries and ineffectiveness later in his tenure with the club, however, and appeared in just 89 games with a .216/.258/.332 (58 wRC+) slash line in 264 trips to the plate between the 2022 and ’23 seasons. That led Ahmed to hit the open market for the first time in his career last winter, and he ultimately spent the 2024 campaign bouncing around the other contending NL West clubs with 52 games in San Francisco, 17 with the Dodgers, and two as a Padre.

Ahmed’s numbers at the plate last year were once again lackluster, as he hit a paltry .229/.267/.295 overall with a 59 wRC+, though he provided steady defense in L.A. and San Diego amid injuries to incumbent shortstops Mookie Betts and Ha-Seong Kim. If a club suffers an injury at shortstop, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine him finding a role with a big league club as a glove-first placeholder, though it’s also possible he’ll simply search for a minor league opportunity with a club that’s less settled at shortstop than the Rangers, for whom Corey Seager is entrenched as an everyday player.

As for Strickland, the veteran of ten MLB seasons has had an up-and-down career. The righty debuted in 2014 with the Giants and dominated out of the bullpen with a 2.64 ERA and 3.15 FIP over his first four years in the big leagues, but things took a turn for the worse after that. In three seasons split between the Giants, Mets, Mariners, and Nationals, Strickland posted a brutal 4.68 ERA and 4.92 FIP, both well below league average figures. He enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in 2021, pitching to a solid 2.61 ERA across 57 appearances for the Rays, Angels, and Brewers, but struggled for the Reds in 2022 and did not pitch in the majors the following year. He returned to the big leagues for Anaheim last year and posted a solid enough 3.31 ERA, though his 4.45 FIP and issues with the long ball (ten homers allowed in 73 1/3 innings) both left much to be desired. Now that he’s back in the fold, he’ll stick with the Rangers as a non-roster depth option headed into the season.

As for the other players besides Ahmed told they will not be making the team today, the most notable among those is Houser, who appeared to be in the mix for the club’s rotation after injuries sidelined Cody Bradford and Jon Gray. The club signed Patrick Corbin to a big league deal so he could serve as rotation depth, but with Corbin not expected to be ready for Opening Day the exclusion of Houser from the big league rotation would seemingly leave the final two rotation jobs behind Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, and Tyler Mahle for youngsters Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker despite uneven spring performances from both former first-round picks.

Rangers Sign Adrian Houser To Minors Contract

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The Rangers have signed right-hander Adrian Houser to a minor league deal, according to Just Baseball Media’s Aram Leighton (via X).  The contract contains an invitation to the Rangers’ big league spring camp.

It was just under a year ago that the Mets acquired Houser and Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers, as New York president of baseball operations David Stearns looked to bolster the Mets’ roster with two familiar faces from his old position in Milwaukee.  Taylor delivered respectable production as part of New York’s outfield mix, but Houser had a much rougher time in the Big Apple, posting a 5.84 ERA over 69 1/3 innings.

Injuries to other pitchers opened the door for Houser to begin the season in the Mets’ rotation, and he temporarily moved back to starting pitching when the Mets briefly adopted a six-man rotation.  The splits were pretty stark — Houser had an 8.55 ERA in 33 2/3 innings as a starter and a 3.28 ERA in 35 2/3 innings as a reliever, with those bullpen assignments usually coming in multi-inning form.

While it seemed like Houser had found his groove as a long reliever, the Mets opted to designate him for assignment and then release him in late July.  The Cubs and Orioles each signed Houser to minor league contracts during the season but those deals failed to translate into any more big league playing time for the righty.

Houser has started 104 of his 152 career Major League games, delivering solid-to-passable results as a swingman for the Brewers for much of his career.  A grounder specialist whose career strikeout rate is only 18.5%, Houser’s results in 2024 could somewhat close the door on his usage as a starter, even if the Rangers could see value in having a swingman around as rotation depth.  Beyond just last year’s splits, Houser has a 2.32 ERA in 97 career innings as a reliever, as compared to a much less impressive 4.57 ERA in 511 2/3 frames as a starter.

Relief pitching is also a much more significant need for a Rangers team could lose most of its 2024 bullpen (Kirby Yates, David Robertson, Jose Leclerc, Jose Urena, and Andrew Chafin) to free agency, plus Josh Sborz will be out until at least the start of June due to offseason shoulder surgery.  A multi-inning reliever like Houser could eat some up valuable innings out of the bullpen, while also providing a rotation safety net.  The current Texas pitching staff of Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray, Tyler Mahle, Kumar Rocker, and Jack Leiter is full of health question marks or inexperienced arms, so in addition to depth signings like Houser, the Rangers are also hoping to re-sign at least one of Nathan Eovaldi or Andrew Heaney.

Orioles Sign Adrian Houser To Minors Contract

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The Orioles announced yesterday that right-hander Adrian Houser was signed to a minor league contract.  Houser had been in the Cubs organization on a minors deal but he was released yesterday, paving the way for the righty to quickly latch on with a new team.

Because Houser joined the O’s before the September 1 cutoff date, he is eligible to be added to a playoff roster.  However, the veteran hasn’t done much this season that would seemingly merit postseason action, as Houser has a 5.84 ERA over 69 1/3 innings with the Mets as well as a subpar 10.4% walk rate and a 14.6% strikeout rate that is among the lowest in baseball.

While Houser pitched better after being moved out of New York’s rotation and into a long relief role, the Mets opted to release him at the end of July, and the Cubs didn’t feel compelled to call Houser up during his few weeks at Triple-A Iowa.  Houser was used as a starter again in Iowa and had a 3.86 ERA and 6.6% walk rate in 18 2/3 frames, but still with a 15.8K%.

Strikeouts have never been Houser’s game, as he has relied on grounders and soft contact to find success over his eight MLB seasons.  Batted-ball luck tended to weigh heavier on Houser’s bottom-line results given the nature of his approach on the mound, but he had overall decent results in seven seasons with the Brewers before he was traded to the Mets last December.

The Orioles have been hammered by rotation injuries all season, and their attempts to bolster the staff at the deadline went awry when Trevor Rogers struggled so much that he was optioned to Triple-A.  Zach Eflin was another pre-deadline pickup who was sidelined by injury, but returned from the IL today to give the O’s a rotation of Eflin, Corbin Burnes, Dean Kremer, Albert Suarez, and Cade Povich.

Houser adds some experienced rotation depth to that mix, and since Kremer left yesterday’s game with a forearm contusion, Houser might get a call to the majors sooner rather than later.  Baltimore might also look to use Houser in the bullpen, as a solid long man could bolster the pitching staff in another manner, and perhaps lead to something of a piggyback situation with Houser and another starter.

Houser is still owed around $840K of his $5.05MM salary for 2024.  The Orioles would be paying only the prorated portion of a MLB minimum salary if he joins their active roster, with the Mets covering the remainder of the owed salary.

Cubs Sign Adrian Houser To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have signed right-hander Adrian Houser to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He started yesterday’s game for Triple-A Iowa, tossing 46 pitches over 2 2/3 innings.

Houser, 31, started the year in the Mets’ rotation but was later bumped to the bullpen and eventually off the roster entirely. By the first week of May, he had made six starts but allowed 26 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings for an 8.16 earned run average. He then made two relief appearances before making his seventh start of the year, in which he allowed six earned runs in five innings.

He only pitched in relief from that point forward and had much better results. From May 26 to July 24, he tossed 31 2/3 relief innings with a 3.41 ERA. His 18.6% strikeout rate was low but his 6.2% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate were both strong.

Those numbers were roughly in line with his previous track record. From 2019 to 2023 with the Brewers, he made 120 appearances, 97 of those being starts. In that time, he had a 4.04 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 52.5% ground ball rate.

That suggests Houser was more or less the same guy with the Mets this year, apart from the rough start to the campaign. Though he had gotten things back on track, the Mets were getting various injured pitchers back from the IL and needed roster spots, nudging Houser off.

Since Houser has more than five years of major league service time, he had the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining all that remained of this year’s $5.05MM salary. Since he was bound for the open market anyway, the Mets simply released him. That leaves them on the hook for what’s left of that salary while the Cubs will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.

The Cubs’ major league rotation is in a decent spot, consisting of  Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Kyle Hendricks. But they have some starting depth on the shelf right now, as each of Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski are on the IL. Prospects like Cade Horton and Kohl Franklin are also injured at the moment, further thinning out the emergency options. Based on yesterday’s usage, it seems the Cubs will stretch Houser out and he will give them some experienced non-roster depth who can be called upon for essentially no cost at some point.

Mets Release Adrian Houser

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The Mets released right-handers Adrian Houser and Ty Adcock this afternoon. Houser’s release was first reported by Will Sammon of the Athletic (on X), while MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweeted the Adcock news.

New York had designated both pitchers for assignment. Houser lost his roster spot last Friday. New York kept him in DFA limbo in an apparent hope of finding a trade partner before yesterday’s deadline. That obviously didn’t transpire, so they had no choice but to put him on waivers. Houser has more than five years of service time and would’ve retained his entire salary if he declined an assignment to Triple-A. The Mets therefore opted for a release instead.

Houser landed in Queens in an offseason trade with Milwaukee that also brought in outfielder Tyrone Taylor. First-year baseball operations president David Stearns was plenty familiar with both players from his time running the Brewers. While Taylor has been a decent fourth outfielder, Houser struggled. He pitched his way out of the rotation by allowing nearly a run per inning over seven starts.

The 31-year-old has fared better in a long relief capacity. Houser carries a 3.28 ERA in 35 2/3 frames out of the bullpen spanning 16 appearances. He hasn’t missed bats in either role (12.5% strikeout rate as a starter, 16.8% in relief), but he has managed a hefty 53.2% ground-ball percentage out of the bullpen.

That wasn’t enough for another team to line up with the Mets on a trade. It’s not likely to convince a club to take the approximate $1.63MM remaining on Houser’s $5MM+ salary off release waivers. Once he gets to free agency, another team could sign him for the prorated portion of the $740K minimum. Houser should at least get minor league offers and may find a club willing to plug him directly onto the MLB staff — likely in a relief role — for the stretch run. He’ll be a free agent again at the start of the offseason.

New York designated Adcock for assignment yesterday as the corresponding move for the Tyler Zuber acquisition. The Mets had claimed the Elon product from the Tigers in May. Adcock made three appearances, surrendering seven runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Mets Designate Adrian Houser, Shintaro Fujinami For Assignment

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves Friday, designating righties Adrian Houser and Shintaro Fujinami for assignment in order to open roster space for the return of Kodai Senga and the recall of righty Eric Orze from Triple-A Syracuse. (Fujinami was technically reinstated from the injured list prior to his DFA.) The Mets also placed righty Dedniel Núñez on the 15-day injured list due to a right pronator strain.

Houser, now 31, was acquired from the Brewers in the offseason alongside outfielder Tyrone Taylor. David Stearns had just been installed as the Mets’ new president of baseball operations and was familiar with both players from his time in Milwaukee.

The righty was coming off five fairly solid seasons with the Brewers, primarily as a starter. From 2019 to 2023, Houser had made 120 appearances for Milwaukee with 97 of those being starts. In his 523 2/3 innings, he allowed 4.04 earned runs per nine. His 19.2% strikeout rate was subpar but his 9.1% walk rate was close to average and he kept the ball on the ground at a strong clip of 52.5%.

It was hoped that he could serve a similar back-end role in the rotation in Queens but that didn’t go according to plan. Houser made six starts through early May but had an 8.16 ERA in those and got bumped to the bullpen. Since losing his rotation spot, his results have looked similar to his old self. In his last 40 2/3 innings, he has a 4.20 ERA, 16.9% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 50.8% ground ball rate.

Despite his results evening out, he has been squeezed off the Mets’ roster, perhaps not coincidentally just before the trade deadline. The Mets started the season with Senga and David Peterson on the injured list but both are now back on the roster. Though Christian Scott is now on the IL with a sprain of his UCL, the rotation mix now includes Senga, Peterson, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Tylor Megill with José Buttó in the big league bullpen.

Houser was largely blocked from getting another rotation gig there but perhaps he could be of interest to another club in need of starting pitching. Houser won’t be as exciting as aces like Garrett Crochet or Tarik Skubal but there are clubs who arguably just need solid back-end innings, such as the Guardians, Astros, Padres, Atlanta or Houser’s former club in Milwaukee. He is making $5.05MM this year, with roughly $1.7MM still to be paid out. He’s on pace for free agency at season’s end.

Fujinami, 30, put up huge strikeout numbers in Japan but also with worrying control problems. Those trends continued last year, his first in North America, split between the Athletics and Orioles. In 79 innings, he struck out 23.2% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a 13.2% clip. His 7.18 ERA last year was gruesome but likely not indicative of his true talents as he only stranded 53.4% of runners, with his 4.61 FIP and 4.60 SIERA finishing in nicer shape.

The Mets took a shot on him by signing him to a one-year, $3.35MM deal in the offseason but he hasn’t yet pitched for them. He began the year on optional assignment, getting recalled in mid-May to be placed on the injured list with a shoulder strain. He began a rehab assignment a couple of weeks ago but the Mets evidently didn’t want to make room for him on their roster.

The results prior to hitting the IL were very bad, as Fujinami had a 14.09 ERA in 7 2/3 innings. Since starting his rehabbing assignment, things have been better, with a 3.12 ERA in 8 2/3 innings, but evidently not impressive enough for the Mets to want to hang on to him.

The club will now have until the trade deadline to explore trades of either player. Houser could perhaps entice clubs based on his track record while Fujinami has some theoretical upside via his potent but wild arsenal. If the Mets can unload either player, they would likely save more money than any other club would take on. As a third-time competitive balance tax payor, they are paying a 110% tax on all spending over the top tier. Though Fujinami is only owed about $1.16MM at this point, the Mets could save more than double that amount when factoring in the taxes.

Mets Notes: Senga, Peterson, Houser, Alvarez

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Kodai Senga underwent an MRI on Friday and was diagnosed with triceps inflammation, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including Dan Martin of the New York Post).  Senga received a cortisone shot to deal with the issue and will be shut down from throwing for the next 3-5 days.

The news represents another setback for Senga, who has yet to pitch this season after suffering a moderate posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder during Spring Training.  Senga’s rehab process didn’t have any formal timeline attached, as the most recent reports indicated that he was first working on his mechanics before embarking on any clear ramp-up regiment.  Senga was supposed to toss a bullpen session on Friday before the triceps discomfort shelved that plan.

If there is any silver lining, Mendoza noted that Senga’s shoulder and elbow looked good in the MRI scan, so the triceps area seems to be the only concern at this point.  However, Senga and the Mets will now have to wait out this shutdown period before again re-evaluating the righty’s status.

Senga is already on the 60-day injured list and obviously won’t be activated when he hits the 60-day threshold this coming week, and it would now seem like he might not make his 2024 debut until perhaps after the All-Star break.  Assuming he emerges from this shutdown period feeling better, Senga’s rehab assignment will still take at least a month given that he has to essentially start his preparation from scratch after missing all of Spring Training.  From the Mets’ perspective, surely they weren’t going to take any risks with their ace righty’s health anyway, but there’s even less of a rush to get Senga back onto a big league mound since New York is 21-29 and doesn’t look like a contender.

An inconsistent rotation has been a big reason behind the Amazins’ lackluster record, as only five teams have a worse rotation ERA than the collective 4.59 posted by Mets starters.  Some potential help could be on the way since David Peterson is nearing the end of his 60-day IL stint, and he made his second and potentially final Triple-A rehab start last night. Peterson has a 2.79 ERA over 9 2/3 innings in those two rehab outings, tossing 81 pitches in his first start and then 89 pitches last night.

Peterson underwent hip surgery last November, necessitating a season-opening stint on the 60-day injured list given the procedure’s recovery timeline of 6-7 months.  It seems as though Peterson has gotten through his rehab in good form, so barring any last-minute health issues, the left-hander appears to be on track to be activated from the injured list this week.

Over four seasons and 333 innings for New York, Peterson has a 4.51 ERA while starting 64 of his 80 appearances.  While nobody expects Peterson to step in and be a savior for the struggling rotation, Peterson might at least represent an upgrade over Adrian Houser, who Mendoza said could be moved back to the bullpen.  Houser has a 7.88 ERA in 37 2/3 innings this season, starting his first six games before a shift to the relief corps, and was then inserted back into the rotation as the Mets moved to a six-man staff during a busy stretch of the schedule.  Things didn’t go smoothly for Houser in his return to starting duty, as he allowed six earned runs over five innings in the Mets’ 10-4 loss to the Guardians on May 21.

In another injury update, catcher Francisco Alvarez is expected to take batting practice today for the first time since undergoing thumb surgery back on April 23.  (MLB.com was among those to report the news.). Alvarez was given an eight-week recovery timeline, so it’s a good sign that he is already feeling better enough to face any sort of live pitching.  He has also been taking some pitches behind the plate, catching with a splint inside of his glove — a process that is likely to continue for at least some time after Alvarez returns to action.  The former top prospect was hitting .236/.288/.364 in 59 plate appearances prior to his torn thumb ligament, and this lengthy injury rehab has already drastically reduced what was supposed to be Alvarez’s second full Major League season.

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