Players Entering Minor League Free Agency
Major League free agents became eligible to sign with other teams on Thursday, but the minor league free agent market has technically been open since season’s end. MLBTR has published several posts detailing players who had already elected to become minor free agents, but Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (multiple links) has the full account of all the minor league free agents that officially joined their big league counterparts on the open market on Thursday.
This list details only players who have played in the Major Leagues, and whose minor league free agency hasn’t already been covered on MLBTR in the last month.
Athletics: Aaron Brooks, Carlos Duran, CD Pelham, Bryan Lavastida, Nick Martini, Alejo Lopez
Braves: Ian Anderson, Davis Daniel, Enoli Paredes, Amos Willingham, Brian Moran, Jonathan Ornelas, Chandler Seagle, Matthew Batten, Conner Capel
Orioles: Jakson Reetz, Livan Soto, Thaddeus Ward
Red Sox: John Brebbia, Isaiah Campbell, Mark Kolozsvary, Chadwick Tromp, Seby Zavala, Trayce Thompson
Cubs: Yency Almonte, Zach Pop, Caleb Kilian, Austin Gomber, Forrest Wall, Billy Hamilton, Joe Ross, Tommy Romero, Antonio Santos, Tom Cosgrove, Dixon Machado, Nicky Lopez, Carlos Perez
White Sox: Elvis Peguero, Kyle Tyler, Vinny Capra, Chris Rodriguez, Caleb Freeman, Joe Perez, Owen White, Andre Lipcius
Reds: Tejay Antone, Alan Busenitz, Buck Farmer, Josh Staumont, P.J. Higgins, Eric Yang, Levi Jordan, Edwin Rios, Davis Wendzel, Evan Kravetz, Adam Plutko, Charlie Barnes, Alex Young
Guardians: Riley Pint, Tyler Naquin, Parker Mushinski
Rockies: Xzavion Curry, Sean Bouchard, Owen Miller, Karl Kauffmann,
Tigers: Kevin Newman, Brian Serven, Jordan Balazovic, Nick Margevicius, Blair Calvo
Astros: Jon Singleton, Joe Hudson, Kenedy Corona, Greg Jones, Matt Bowman, Luis Contreras, Tyler Ivey, John Rooney
Royals: John Gant, Spencer Turnbull, Bobby Dalbec, Diego Castillo, Geoff Hartlieb, Jordan Groshans, Nick Pratto, Isan Diaz, Stephen Nogosek, Nick Robertson, Joey Krehbiel, Noah Murdock, Ryan Hendrix
Angels: Shaun Anderson, Brandon Drury, Yolmer Sanchez, Ben Gamel, Evan White, Cavan Biggio, Logan Davidson, Travis Blankenhorn, Oscar Colas, Kelvin Caceres, Dakota Hudson, Chad Stevens, Angel Felipe, Jordan Holloway, Victor Gonzalez
Dodgers: Michael Grove, Luken Baker, Giovanny Gallegos, Kyle Funkhouser, Chris Okey, CJ Alexander, Zach Penrod
Marlins: Jack Winkler, Lane Ramsey
Brewers: Luis Urias, Oliver Dunn, Julian Merryweather, Daz Cameron, Drew Avans, Josh Maciejewski, Jared Oliva
Twins: Jose Miranda, Anthony Misiewicz, Jonah Bride, Thomas Hatch, Daniel Duarte, Connor Gillispie
Mets: Joey Meneses, Jose Azocar, Joe La Sorsa, Gilberto Celestino, Ty Adcock, Bryce Montes de Oca, Yacksel Rios, Oliver Ortega, Luis De Los Santos
Yankees: Kenta Maeda, Jeimer Candelario, Rob Brantly, Andrew Velazquez, Jose Rojas, Joel Kuhnel, Wilking Rodriguez
Phillies: Matt Manning, Adonis Medina, Lucas Sims, Jacob Waguespack, Phil Bickford, Rodolfo Castro, Oscar Mercado, Brewer Hicklen, Christian Arroyo, Payton Henry
Pirates: Brett Sullivan, Nick Solak, Nelson Velazquez, Beau Burrows, Ryder Ryan
Cardinals: Zach Plesac, Anthony Veneziano, Tyler Matzek, Zack Weiss, Drew Rom, Aaron Wilkerson
Padres: Eguy Rosario, Tim Locastro, Reiss Knehr, Nate Mondou
Giants: Sean Hjelle, Miguel Diaz, Max Stassi, Sam Huff, Cole Waites, Drew Ellis, Ethan Small
Mariners: Michael Fulmer, Casey Lawrence, Collin Snider, Jesse Hahn, Nick Anderson, Josh Fleming, Austin Shenton, Jacob Nottingham, Beau Taylor, Cade Marlowe, Jack Lopez, Michael Mariot, Hagen Danner
Rays: Cooper Hummel, Jonathan Hernandez, Jamie Westbrook, Tres Barrera
Rangers: Omar Narvaez, Cal Quantrill, Ty Blach, Alan Trejo, Joe Barlow, Cory Abbott, Michael Plassmeyer, Alex De Goti
Blue Jays: Eloy Jimenez, Buddy Kennedy, Joe Mantiply, Elieser Hernandez, Rene Pinto, Adam Kloffenstein
Nationals: Francisco Mejia, Juan Yepez, Joan Adon, CJ Stubbs, Parker Dunshee, Erick Mejia, Adrian Sampson, Delino DeShields
Angels Sign Angel Felipe To Minor League Deal
The Angels recently signed reliever Angel Felipe to a minor league deal (h/t to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy). While the contract details aren’t clear, it seems fair to presume that was a two-year pact. Felipe underwent Tommy John surgery last month and will miss the entire 2024 season.
Felipe entered Spring Training holding a 40-man roster spot with the A’s. The 26-year-old righty had made his major league debut with Oakland a year ago. A waiver claim out of the San Diego organization, Felipe tossed 15 innings of seven-run ball for the A’s in the second half.
While he held his job over the winter, the surgery marked an end to his A’s tenure. Oakland designated Felipe for assignment shortly after announcing he’d go under the knife. They released him after the DFA, as injured players cannot go on outright waivers.
In parts of eight minor league campaigns, Felipe owns a 4.65 ERA. He allowed 5.46 earned runs per nine innings in 30 appearances between San Diego’s and Oakland’s Triple-A affiliates last season. The 6’5″ hurler missed a decent number of bats, fanning a third of opposing hitters. He also walked nearly 14% of batters faced, continuing a trend of career-long issues finding the strike zone.
A’s Release Angel Felipe
The Athletics released reliever Angel Felipe, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He’d been designated for assignment over the weekend.
Once the A’s took Felipe off the 40-man roster, a release was all but inevitable. The 26-year-old righty underwent Tommy John surgery last week. Injured players cannot go on outright waivers. After the DFA, the only options were to trade Felipe or release him. They weren’t going to find a trade partner due to the injury.
Felipe lost his roster spot when Oakland announced the J.D. Davis signing. The A’s could have placed him on the 60-day injured list, but that would’ve required paying him a $740K salary for the upcoming season. They’d very likely have run him through waivers at the start of next winter anyhow — players can’t stay on the injured list during the offseason — so releasing him instead made sense.
Of course, that’s a tough blow for Felipe. Assuming he clears release waivers, he’ll become a free agent. The A’s could try to bring him back on a two-year minor league deal at that point, but he’d have the freedom to evaluate other opportunities. Oakland grabbed him off waivers from the Padres last June. Felipe debuted with 14 big league outings late last season, allowing seven runs with 19 strikeouts and 13 walks over 15 frames. He has a mid-90s fastball but hasn’t consistently thrown strikes in the minors. Felipe has a walk rate north of 15% over parts of eight minor league seasons, in which he owns a 4.65 ERA.
A’s Designate Angel Felipe For Assignment
After finalizing a one-year, $2.5MM contract with J.D. Davis, the Athletics announced that they have designated Angel Felipe for assignment to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old right-hander recently underwent Tommy John surgery, and he will sit out for the entirety of the 2024 season.
Felipe made his big league debut with the A’s this past summer. In 14 appearances (15 IP), he recorded 19 strikeouts but gave up 13 walks. While he allowed only six hits – five singles and a double – his control problems led him to give up seven earned runs. This was a common theme throughout his time in the minors, as well. Felipe knows how to induce groundballs and limit home runs, but his poor command comes around to bite him more often than he’d like. With all that being said, it’s worth mentioning that Felipe gave up three of his walks and three of his earned runs in his final appearance on August 14. He went on the IL with an elbow injury the next day and would not pitch for the rest of the season. Had his elbow recovered over the winter, he would have been a candidate for Oakland’s Opening Day roster.
Instead, Felipe will sit out until some point in 2025. Given his injury status and lack of prospect pedigree, there’s a good chance he passes through release waivers unclaimed. Oakland could have freed up a roster spot for Davis by placing Felipe on the 60-day IL instead of designating the young hurler for assignment. However, by taking this route, the team avoids having to pay Felipe a major league salary. Presumably, they took those potential savings into account when they offered Davis a contract.
Ángel Felipe To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Athletics right-hander Ángel Felipe will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow, with Jessica Kleinschmidt among those to relay the news. The righty will miss all of the the 2024 season and likely part of 2025 as well.
Felipe, 26, made his major league debut with the A’s last year. Claimed off waivers from the Padres in June, he went on to toss 15 innings over 14 appearances out of the Oakland bullpen in the latter parts of the 2023 campaign. He had a 4.20 earned run average in that time, striking out 29.7% of batters faced and keeping 53.3% of balls in play on the ground, but he showed a lack of control with his 20.3% walk rate.
That’s generally been the recipe with Felipe throughout his minor league career, as he has racked up lots of strikeouts and ground balls but also given out lots of free passes. He tossed 154 1/3 innings in the minors over the past three years, punching out 30.3% of opponents and getting grounders on roughly half of batted balls, but walking 12.8% of batters faced.
The A’s are deep in a rebuild and are coming into 2024 with very little that is certain in their bullpen. Sean Newcomb, Trevor Gott and Scott Alexander are the only relievers on the roster with more than three years of service time. That leaves plenty of room for some young and inexperienced hurlers to step up and seize jobs, but Felipe won’t be able to take advantage of that situation now.
Instead, he will spend 2024 rehabbing and set his sights on a return to the mound in 2025. The A’s will likely transfer him to the 60-day injured list whenever they need a roster spot. If that comes to pass, he will spend the year there collecting major league pay and service time. The A’s could also designate him for assignment but injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, meaning Felipe would have to be placed on release waivers. If they took that route and Felipe went unclaimed, they could try to re-sign him to a minor league deal, but he would be free to pursue opportunities with other clubs as well.
Athletics Select Chad Smith
The A’s announced this afternoon that they had selected the contract of right-hander Chad Smith. Smith will replace right-hander Angel Felipe, who is headed to the paternity list, on the active roster. The club had an open spot on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary to clear space for Smith.
Smith, 28, was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster earlier this month to make room for Manny Pina‘s return from the 60-day injured list. Smith now returns just a few weeks later to help Oakland’s relief corps cover the middle innings alongside the likes of Austin Pruitt and Tayler Scott. Smith struggled significantly in his first stint with the A’s earlier this year, posting a 6.75 ERA in 12 innings of work across nine appearances. The results at the Triple-A level haven’t been much better, as Smith’s 7.88 ERA in 24 innings at the Triple-A level is well below par even for the heightened offensive environment found in the Pacific Coast League.
In joining the active roster, Smith will cover for Felipe, a 25-year-old righty who made his major league debut with the A’s earlier this month after the club claimed him off waivers from the Padres back in June. In 6 1/3 innings of work across five appearances out of Oakland’s bullpen, Felipe boasts a 1.42 ERA with a solid 24% strikeout rate, though his 16% walk rate certainly leaves something to be desired.
Athletics Place Esteury Ruiz On IL With Shoulder Subluxation
The Athletics announced a series of roster moves today, recalling right-hander Angel Felipe and selecting the contract of outfielder Cody Thomas. In corresponding moves, outfielder Esteury Ruiz was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder subluxation while right-hander Rico Garcia was designated for assignment.
Ruiz appeared to injure himself while diving back into first base in a game earlier this week. To this point, the A’s haven’t provided any kind of timeline on his expected absence, but the diagnosis is potentially significant. To use a recent example, Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell suffered a subluxation in April and required surgery that he likely won’t be able to come back from this year. That’s not to say that the same thing will happen to Ruiz, but it demonstrates the potential seriousness.
Acquired from the Brewers as part of the three-team Sean Murphy trade, Ruiz has had a season that more or less lines up with preseason expectations. One of the fastest players in the league, his baserunning is his standout trait, which has been on display this year. Offensively, he’s hit just one home run and walked at a paltry 3.8% clip, with his .257/.310/.329 batting line amounting to a wRC+ of 85. But he’s been on base enough to try stealing a base 51 times, succeeding in 43 of those, placing him two ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr. for the major league lead.
Despite his excellent speed, advanced defensive metrics are conflicted about his glovework. Defensive Runs Saved has him at -15 for the year, Ultimate Zone Rating at -7.6 but Outs Above Average is far kinder at +1. The A’s are the worst team in baseball right now with a record of 25-64, meaning this injury won’t impact their nonexistent competitive chances, but it’s surely unwelcome for a young player with excellent natural gifts to potentially be missing out on important development time.
Thomas, 28, was selected to Oakland’s 40-man roster going into 2022. He got that roster spot on the heels of a huge .289/.363/.665 showing at Triple-A in 2021. Unfortunately, he missed most of 2022 due to Achilles tendon surgery, only taking 32 big league plate appearances on the year and 39 more in Triple-A.
He was designated for assignment in the offseason and outrighted, sticking with the organization in a non-roster capacity. This year, he’s been mashing in Triple-A again, launching 17 home runs and producing a .308/.367/.576 batting line. That performance will get him back to the show for another crack at hitting against big league pitching. He’s capable of playing all three outfield spots but has spent more time in the corners. JJ Bleday played center yesterday and could perhaps get an extended audition there with Ruiz out.
Garcia, 29, signed a minor league deal with the A’s in the offseason and was selected to the big league roster in May. He has an 8.31 ERA in 8 2/3 major league innings this year but a much more palatable 3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 Triple-A innings. He’s struck out 29.2% of hitters in the minors this year but walked 18.6% of them. The A’s will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency in the event he clears waivers.
Felipe, 25, will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He’s only been with the A’s a short time, having been claimed off waivers from the Padres about two weeks ago. He had a 6.20 ERA in Triple-A when the Padres designated him for assignment but has a much nicer 1.80 ERA since being claimed. He posted huge strikeout numbers in both organizations but his walk rate fell from 14.9% with El Paso to 5.9% with Las Vegas. Control has been an ongoing concern for him so it remains to be seen if that’s a small sample blip or if he’s made some kind of adjustment.
A’s Claim Angel Felipe
The Athletics have claimed right-hander Angel Felipe off waivers from the Padres, per a team announcement. Felipe has been optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s transferred righty Zach Jackson from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Felipe, 25, joins the rebuilding Athletics as a power-armed righty reliever with questionable command. Baseball America ranked him 29th among Padres prospects just a few weeks ago, touting a four-seamer and two-seamer that could both reach triple digits, as well as a potentially plus slider and potentially above-average changeup. Felipe is still relatively new to pitching, having played shortstop in his teenage days before moving to the mound upon signing as an amateur with the Rays.
This had been Felipe’s second season with the Padres, with whom he signed a minor league deal in the 2021-22 offseason. He’s yet to make his MLB debut and has spent the entire season in Triple-A El Paso, where he’s posted an ugly 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. Poor command has contributed to those ugly run-prevention numbers, evidenced by a 14.9% walk rate, a pair of hit batters and seven wild pitches in his brief time on the mound this year. However, Felipe has also fanned 32.2% of his opponents and has a history of gaudy ground-ball rates — even if this year’s 46.7% clip is “only” a few percentage points above league-average.
The Athletics have virtually no stability in their big league bullpen at the moment, and given the bleak outlook on their current rebuild, it’s only logical that they’d roll the dice on a big arm even with command issues. Flamethrowers who struggle to locate the ball aren’t exactly uncommon in today’s game, but the A’s can afford a longer leash than most clubs given that they’re not close to competing. Felipe has an option year remaining beyond the current season, so Oakland doesn’t need to make any kind of decision on the right-hander’s future in the short term.
Padres Select Preston Tucker
In a somewhat unusual move, the Padres have selected the contract of outfielder Preston Tucker before promptly placing him on the 10-day IL with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. To make room for Tucker on the 40-man roster, right-hander Angel Felipe was designated for assignment. MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell shed some light on the club’s decision, noting that Tucker had an impending opt-out opportunity in the minor league deal he signed with the Padres back in December.
The 32-year-old Tucker last played in the major leagues in 2018. A seventh round pick by the Astros in the 2012 draft, Tucker made a solid impression with Houston during his 2015 rookie season, slashing .243/.297/.434 with 13 homers and 19 doubles in just 323 trips to the plate. Altogether, Tucker’s debut performance was good for a 104 wRC+ that clocked in just above league average. Unfortunately, things would take a turn for the worse the following season, as Tucker struggled to a .164/.222/.328 slash line in 144 plate appearances. That lead the Astros to option Tucker to the minors for their entire 2017 championship campaign before designating the outfielder for assignment in December.
That led the Braves to take a chance on Tucker, acquiring him from the Astros in a minor trade a few days later. Atlanta surely did not regret their decision, as Tucker hit a respectable .256/.307/.444 in 62 games for the Braves in 2018. His time in Atlanta was interrupted at the trade deadline that year, when he was traded for the second time in eight months as part of the package that brought Adam Duvall to the Braves from Cincinnati. Tucker’s time in Cincinnati was brief, as he appeared in just 17 games with the club before the Reds traded him back to Atlanta in exchange for cash considerations. Tucker scuffled badly in his final 18 games of the season, however, hitting just .083 without an extra base hit upon his return to Atlanta. Those struggles prompted the Braves to outright Tucker off the roster, leaving him to elect free agency after the 2018 season.
Since then, Tucker spent three seasons with the Kia Tigers in the KBO, slashing .284/.372/.466 during his time in Korea before departing the club after the 2021 campaign. Tucker returned to stateside ball in 2022, signing a minor league deal with the Braves before joining San Diego this past offseason. Since signing with the Padres, Tucker has put up impressive numbers at the Triple-A level, slashing .342/.468/.658 in 44 games. While Tucker posted those massive numbers in the offense-inflated Pacific Coast League, they’re impressive even for that offensive environment as demonstrated by a wRC+ of 166.
Looking ahead, Tucker will of course be focused on working back from the plantar fasciitis that landed him on the injured list today. When he’s ready to be activated, he’ll have to be added to the active roster in San Diego, as Tucker does not have options remaining. He would figure to join a bench that currently includes Nelson Cruz, Brandon Dixon and Rougned Odor.
As for Felipe, the 25-year-old reliever has yet to make his big league debut and has struggled to a 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings of work with the club’s Triple-A affiliate this season. Assuming the youngster goes unclaimed on waivers, it seems likely the club will assign outright Felipe to the minor leagues, where he would then act as bullpen depth for the club going forward.