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Chasen Shreve

Tigers Sign Chasen Shreve To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers have signed left-hander Chasen Shreve to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training. Shreve, a client of CAA Sports, can make up to $2MM if he’s in the majors. That comes in the form of a salary of $1.25MM if he makes it to the majors, with several incentives available based on innings pitched. He will get another $75K for getting to 20, 30, 35 and 40 innings pitched, $100K for 45 and 50 innings and $125K at 55 and 60 innings.

Shreve, 32, has pitched in the past nine major league seasons, spending time with the Braves, Yankees, Cardinals, Mets and Pirates. For his career, he’s made 317 appearances with a 3.87 ERA, striking out a strong 25.6% of batters faced and getting grounders at a fairly average 41% clip. His 11.4% walk rate is on the high side, but he’s largely been able to work around that.

In 2022, he signed a minor league deal with the Mets and was selected to their Opening Day roster. Unfortunately, Shreve posted a 6.49 ERA in 25 games and was released by the club in July. There are reasons to suspect bad fortune played a significant role and that Chasen deserved much better. His 25.4% strikeout rate was still strong and his 8.8% walk rate was actually better than many of his other seasons. A low 62.9% strand rate probably helped push his ERA northwards, as did 20.7% of his fly balls going over the fence. The advanced metrics were much more fond of his work last year, including a 5.01 FIP, 3.68 xFIP and 3.42 SIERA.

It’s possible that this deal for Shreve was referenced by Detroit’s president of baseball operations Scott Harris this weekend. After the club traded Gregory Soto to the Phillies, Harris spoke to reporters and said the club was looking to bolster their left-handed relief options in the wake of that deal. “We are hard at work on” this new acquisition, Harris said. “It may not be a major league deal, but [it’s] someone we’re excited about.”

After the Soto deal, the club is fairly short on left-handed relievers. Eduardo Rodriguez, Tarik Skubal, Matthew Boyd and Joey Wentz will likely all be starting, leaving Tyler Alexander as the lone southpaw relief option. Even Alexander is more of a swingman, having started 42 of his 95 games thus far in his big league career. It makes plenty of sense that the Tigers would look to add a lefty reliever who has past success. The club isn’t seen as an especially likely contender in 2023 after they had such dismal results in 2022. If Shreve can make the team, he can provide a veteran stabilizing force in the ’pen while also potentially turning into a midseason trade candidate.

Robert Murray of FanSided first reported that Shreve and the Tigers were in agreement on a minor league deal that could see him earn $2MM in the majors. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press added that the deal had been signed and also provided the specific breakdown of the financials.

Which Remaining Free Agent Relievers Are Coming Off The Best Seasons?

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The offseason floodgates opened this month, with an avalanche of free agent activity once the Winter Meetings got underway. Things have quieted down in recent days thanks to the holidays, but clubs are likely to again get back to attacking the free agent market in earnest this week.

Most of the winter’s top names are off the board, leaving teams to mostly look through lower-cost options as they search for upgrades on the margins of the roster. There are still a number of experienced options available, particularly for teams seeking to round out the bullpen. Using MLBTR’s free agent list, we find 47 pitchers who tossed at least 20 innings out of a team’s bullpen in 2022 and remain unsigned.

We’ll sort the remaining free agent relievers by various metrics of 2022 performance to identify some of the top arms. There are obviously other factors for teams to consider — quality of raw stuff, pre-2022 track record, the player’s injury history, etc. — but a brief snapshot on the top bullpen arms by last year’s performance should provide a decent starting point for players teams might target moving forward. (All figures cited, including league averages, are looking solely at pitchers’ outings as relievers).

ERA (league average — 3.86)

  1. Matt Moore (LHP), 1.95
  2. Alex Young (LHP), 2.08
  3. Matt Wisler (RHP), 2.23
  4. Wily Peralta (RHP), 2.72
  5. Brad Hand (LHP), 2.80
  6. Andrew Chafin (LHP), 2.83
  7. David Phelps (RHP), 2.87
  8. Ralph Garza Jr. (RHP), 3.34
  9. Jackson Stephens (RHP), 3.38
  10. Michael Fulmer (RHP), 3.39

Strikeout rate (league average — 23.6%)

  1. Daniel Norris (LHP), 30%
  2. Darren O’Day (RHP), 27.7%
  3. Andrew Chafin, 27.6%
  4. Matt Moore, 27.3%
  5. Aroldis Chapman (LHP), 26.9%
  6. Steve Cishek (RHP), 25.8%
  7. Chasen Shreve (LHP), 25.4%
  8. Will Smith (LHP), 24.9%
  9. David Phelps, 23.9%
  10. Noé Ramirez, 23.7%

Strikeout/walk rate differential (league average — 14.5 percentage points)

  1. Andrew Chafin, 19.8 points
  2. Daniel Norris, 19 points
  3. Darren O’Day, 17 points
  4. Chasen Shreve, 16.7 points
  5. Steve Cishek, 16.4 points
  6. Craig Stammen (RHP), 15.7 points
  7. Will Smith, 15.3 points
  8. Matt Moore, 14.8 points
  9. Ross Detwiler (LHP), 14.8 points
  10. Luke Weaver (RHP), 13.8 points

Ground-ball rate (league average — 43.5%)

  1. Luis Perdomo (RHP), 62.5%
  2. Joe Smith (RHP), 57.5%
  3. Alex Young, 55.7%
  4. Alex Colomé (RHP), 55.6%
  5. T.J. McFarland (LHP), 53%
  6. Craig Stammen, 52.6%
  7. Garrett Richards (RHP), 52.4%
  8. Bryan Shaw (RHP), 51.8%
  9. Andrew Chafin, 51.3%
  10. Jacob Barnes (RHP), 50.7%

FIP (league average — 3.86)

  1. Luke Weaver, 2.46
  2. Alex Young, 2.65
  3. Matt Moore, 2.98
  4. Andrew Chafin, 3.06
  5. David Phelps, 3.11
  6. Garrett Richards, 3.16
  7. Jackson Stephens, 3.45
  8. Michael Fulmer, 3.57
  9. Brad Hand, 3.93
  10. Darren O’Day, 4.04

Innings Pitched

  1. Matt Moore, 74
  2. Caleb Smith (LHP), 69
  3. Steve Cishek, 66 1/3
  4. Michael Fulmer, 63 2/3
  5. David Phelps, 62 2/3
  6. Hunter Strickland (RHP), 62 1/3
  7. Will Smith, 59
  8. Andrew Chafin, 57 1/3
  9. Bryan Shaw, 54
  10. Jackson Stephens/Hirokazu Sawamura (RHP), 50 2/3 each

Mets Release Chasen Shreve

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The Mets announced that left-hander Chasen Shreve was released.  Shreve was designated for assignment earlier this week, to make room for Max Scherzer’s activation off the injured list.

Shreve signed a minor league deal with the Mets shortly after the lockout, returning to Queens after spending 2020 with the Mets and then the 2021 season with the Pirates.  While Shreve was eligible for arbitration last winter, the Pirates essentially gave him an early non-tender by outrighting him off the 40-man roster after the season, and Shreve then opted for free agency.

After making New York’s Opening Day roster, Shreve locked in a $1.5MM salary for himself, but his performance over 26 1/3 innings had plenty of ups and downs.  As recently as June 10, Shreve had a respectable 3.86 ERA, but then allowed 10 runs over his next 5 1/3 innings of work.  In total, the southpaw has a 6.49 ERA for the season, with an above-average 25.4% strikeout rate but plenty of subpar Statcast numbers in other major categories.  Shreve’s old problems with the home run ball have also resurfaced, as he has given up six homers in his 26 1/3 IP.

The Mets are responsible for paying the remainder of Shreve’s guaranteed salary, so any new team will owe him only the prorated portion of a minimum salary.  With teams constantly on the lookout for (especially left-handed) bullpen help, Shreve seems likely to catch on somewhere, particularly since his 2022 performance is something of an outlier.  Over 181 1/3 relief innings from 2017-21, Shreve had a solid 3.72 ERA, despite some unimpressive walk totals.

Mets Activate Max Scherzer, Designate Chasen Shreve For Assignment

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The Mets announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Chasen Shreve for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for ace Max Scherzer, who has been reinstated from the injured list and is slated to start tonight’s game.

Scherzer’s return comes just over six weeks after his original placement on the injured list due to a strained oblique muscle. The three-time Cy Young winner, who inked a record three-year, $130MM contract this offseason, pulled himself from his May 18 start against the Cardinals after feeling the strain pop up midway through the sixth inning. A subsequent MRI revealed the strain. He’s made a pair of rehab appearances with Double-A Binghamton over the past couple weeks, tossing a total of eight innings with a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio in that time.

Prior to landing on the shelf, Scherzer was every bit the ace the Mets hoped when signing him for the highest annual rate ever received by any player. He’s made eight starts so far in 2022, tallying 49 2/3 innings with a 2.54 ERA with a 30.6% strikeout rate against an excellent 5.7% walk rate. The Mets are in first place even without any contributions from Scherzer over the past week and without a single inning yet from co-ace and fellow multi-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who has been sidelined all year after a stress reaction was found in his right shoulder blade.

With deGrom on a rehab assignment and Scherzer back on the active roster, however, the Mets are nearing the debut of the dynamic rotation they anticipated as the focal point of what they hope to be a World Series contender. Scherzer and deGrom will be joined by Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco when the team is up to full strength. Depth options Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Trevor Williams have all given ample reason to be optimistic about the pitching talent even beyond that quintet, though Megill’s numbers dwindled as the season progressed and he’s now on the injured list himself.

As for Shreve, who’ll turn 32 next week, he’s been unable to build on a strong 2021 showing with the Pirates and a solid 2020 season with this same Mets club. The veteran southpaw notched a tidy 3.43 ERA in 81 1/3 innings from 2020-21  and owns a similarly solid 3.72 mark dating back to 2017. However, his 2022 season has been nightmarish, as he’s been tagged for a 6.49 ERA in 26 1/3 frames in his second stint with the Mets.

Shreve’s 25.4% strikeout rate is nearly identical to his career 25.6% mark, and this year’s 8.8% walk rate is actually his lowest since a 12-inning debut with the Braves back in 2014. Unfortunately for Shreve and for the Mets, he’s been extremely homer-prone in 2022, surrendering an average of 2.05 long balls per nine innings. That’s been a driving factor behind his inability to strand runners (career-worst 62.9% in 2022).

In Shreve’s defense, his numbers through mid-June were roughly in line with his career totals. As late into the season as June 7, Shreve was sporting a 3.86 ERA with FIP and xFIP marks that largely supported his ERA. Over his next five appearances, however, Shreve was tattooed for 10 runs on 11 hits — including three homers — in just 5 1/3 innings. As with any reliever, a few rough outings can inflate your numbers in a hurry, and it seems Shreve won’t be given the opportunity to right the ship with his current club.

The Mets will have a week to trade Shreve, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him. He’s playing the year on a $1.5MM salary and has about $762K of that sum yet to be paid out. As a player with more than five years of MLB service time, Shreve has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency while still retaining his salary. A new team that claims or acquires Shreve would be on the hook for the whole sum (barring any cash included by the Mets in a trade), but if he clears waivers and opts for free agency, a new club would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. The Mets would remain on the hook for the rest of his salary.

Mets To Designate Jordan Yamamoto For Assignment

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The Mets have designated right-hander Jordan Yamamoto for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for left-hander Chasen Shreve, whose contract has been selected to the 40-man roster, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Shreve told reporters earlier this week that he’d been informed he’s made the roster.

Yamamoto, 25, joined the Mets last offseason in a trade that sent minor league infielder Federico Polanco to the Marlins. He only made two appearances with the big league club and tallied only 32 2/3 minor league innings while battling a right shoulder injury. Originally drafted by the Brewers, Yamamoto was part of the Christian Yelich blockbuster with the Marlins and made his big league debut with the Fish in 2019, pitching to a solid 4.46 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate in 78 2/3 frames.

The shortened 2020 season was a nightmare for Yamamoto, as he surrendered 24 runs in just 10 2/3 innings. That ballooned his career ERA north of 6.00, but Yamamoto has generally been a solid pitcher in limited work outside that outlier season. He carries a career 3.79 ERA with a 25.3% strikeout rate, a 6.9% walk rate and a 44.6% ground-ball rate in 495 2/3 minor league innings as well.

Yamamoto does have a minor league option remaining, so it’s certainly possible that another club in need of some rotation depth will take a chance on a still-young righty who has had plenty of minor league success and also some success in the big leagues (2020 aside). The Mets will have a week to trade Yamamoto or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If he clears waivers, they can assign him to Triple-A Syracuse to begin the season, and he’ll continue to serve as depth in the upper levels of their system. Given that Jacob deGrom is expected to miss months and the Mets’ rotation has several other injury risks and situations worth monitoring, that’d be a welcome bonus for the organization.

With deGrom slated to start the year on the injured list, it’s looking increasingly like young righty Tylor Megill will be tabbed as New York’s Opening Day starter (Twitter link via Mike Puma of the New York Post). Max Scherzer has been slowed a minor hamstring issue but is back on track and looks ticketed for the season’s second game. Taijuan Walker recently had what the team hopes to be a minor knee issue pop up in his final spring start. Carlos Carrasco is looking for a rebound after an injury-ruined 2021 season, and righty Chris Bassitt, acquired from the A’s over the winter, is expected to round out the Mets’ rotation to begin the season.

Mets To Select Chasen Shreve

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Veteran left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve has been informed that he’ll make the Mets’ Opening Day roster, Shreve himself tells Tim Healey of Newsday (Twitter link). Shreve signed a minor league deal back on March 17.

This’ll be Shreve’s second stint with the Mets, and it’s a well-earned roster spot for the 31-year-old southpaw, who rattled off four hitless innings with six strikeouts against just one walk allowed during Grapefruit League play with the Mets. Following yesterday’s trade for Joely Rodriguez, Shreve gives new manager Buck Showalter a pair of experienced lefties to help balance out his bullpen.

Shreve spent the 2021 season in Pittsburgh, where he worked to a 3.20 ERA in 56 1/3 innings. However, Shreve also saw his typically strong strikeout rate (career 27.1% prior to 2021) drop to 19.1%, while his 11.9% walk rate was the third-highest mark of his eight-year big league career. The Pirates could’ve retained him via arbitration but instead chose to outright him after the season rather than pay him a raise on last year’s $1.5MM salary.

Shreve’s prior stint with the Mets was a successful one, as he tossed 25 frames during the shortened 2020 season and worked to a 3.96 ERA with a much more robust 33.3% strikeout rate. The Mets will surely hope there’s more of that bat-missing prowess on display in 2022, but so long as he notches something in the vicinity of his career 3.63 ERA (285 innings), they’ll surely be pleased with what already looks like a solid low-risk pickup.

Shreve isn’t your typical lefty specialist with gaudy platoon splits; he hasn’t dominated left-handed opponents in his career but also hasn’t been overmatched by right-handers like so many southpaws. Through 482 plate appearances, lefties have batted .222/.319/.405 against Shreve, while right-handers have posted a very similar .226/.316/.428 slash in a larger sample of 741 plate appearances. Shreve will reach six years of Major League service early this year, so when the 2022 season ends, he’ll be eligible for free agency.

Mets Sign Travis Jankowski To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have signed outfielder Travis Jankowski to a minor league contract, per a club announcement. Jankowski would earn $1.25MM upon making the big league roster, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The team also formally announced its previously reported minor league deal with lefty Chasen Shreve.

Jankowski, 30, appeared in 76 games with the division-rival Phillies last season and posted a solid .252/.364/.351 batting line through 157 plate appearances. Jankowski seldom played in a full game last year but was regularly used as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner and as a late-game defensive upgrade for the Phils. It’s easy enough to see why, as he can play any of the three outfield slots and carries a career +15 Defensive Runs Saved and +8.5 Ultimate Zone Rating through 2356 innings of defensive work at the MLB level. Statcast pegged Jankowski’s average sprint speed in the 88th percentile of MLB players.

Originally a supplemental first-round pick of the Padres back in 2012 (No. 44 overall), Jankowski has seen Major League time in parts of seven big league seasons — five with the Padres, plus a brief 2020 look in Cincinnati and last year’s showing in Philadelphia. He’s a .239/.322/.318 hitter in 1151 plate appearances at the big league level and a .321/.411/.385 hitter in 619 Triple-A plate appearances.

Barring injuries and/or trades of current players, Jankowski won’t have an immediate path to a big league roster spot with the Mets. New York currently has Mark Canha, Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo penciled in as the starting trio, and bench players like J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith have ample experience in the outfield (as does second baseman Jeff McNeil). Younger players like Khalil Lee and Nick Plummer are ticketed for Triple-A and are already on the minor league roster.

That said, it’s widely expected that the Mets will be open to moving either Davis or Smith in the coming days and weeks, which could lead to an opportunity for a speed- and defense-oriented role player to make the roster. Even if Jankowski winds up heading to Triple-A to begin the season, he’s a nice depth option to have on hand, as virtually no team in the league will get through the season without some injuries in the outfield.

Mets, Chasen Shreve Nearing Deal

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The Mets are close to signing free-agent lefty Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract, tweets MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. It’d be the second Mets stint for Shreve, who spent the 2020 campaign pitching in Queens as well.

Now 31, he has pitched in the past eight MLB seasons, seeing some time with the Braves, Yankees, Cardinals and Pirates, in addition to the Mets. He’s played 292 games in his career, logging 285 innings, with a 3.63 ERA. His 25.6% strikeout rate is a few ticks above average, but so is his 11.6% walk rate.

Spending last year with the Pirates, Shreve had an outlier season for him. His strikeout rate dropped to 19.1%, yet he still managed to get good results, as evidenced by his 3.20 ERA. That was largely driven by a .234 batting average on balls in play, leading advanced metrics to rank his work in less favorable light. (3.87 xERA, 4.73 FIP, 4.93 SIERA, 5.15 xFIP) However, looking at Shreve’s Statcast page, he threw his slider more at the expense of his fastball and did a good job at limiting hard contact, perhaps suggesting that it wasn’t just pure luck that kept his ERA low.

The Mets, despite a wild offseason, have a clear lack of lefties in the bullpen. There’s no one on the 40-man roster at the moment who’s likely to fill a regular relief role. However, they have signed Alex Claudio, Mike Montgomery and now Shreve to compete for a job, or perhaps jobs, as the southpaw element of the club’s relief corps. Shreve did fare better against lefties (.200/.288/.344) but wasn’t awful against righties (.221/.321/.398) last year.

Pirates Outright Seven, Chasen Shreve Elects Free Agency

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The Pirates announced a slew of roster moves today, outrighting seven players off the 40-man roster, per the team. Pitchers Chase De Jong, Enyel De Los Santos, Kyle Keller, Connor Overton, Chasen Shreve, and Shea Spitzbarth have all been outrighted to Triple-A. Infielder Wilmer Difo was also outrighted to Triple-A.

Shreve has elected free agency, per Jason Mackey of PGSportsNow (via Twitter).The 31-year-old southpaw posted a 3.20 ERA/4.73 FIP across 57 appearances out of the bullpen. Shreve has suited up for the Braves, Yankees, Cardinals, Mets, and Pirates over an eight-year career.

The Pirates also added a number of players to the 40-man roster, returning most from the 60-day injured list. Steven Brault, Blake Cederlind, Dillon Peters, Jose Soriano, Duane Underwood Jr., and Bryse Wilson are all now on the 40-man roster.

Pirates Announce Roster Moves

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The Pirates announced that they have reinstated outfielder Gregory Polanco from the injured list, selected left-hander Chasen Shreve and designated outfielder Hunter Owen for assignment. They also placed righty Kyle Crick on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 1, with a triceps strain.

Polanco went on the COVID-related IL on May 4, and it was revealed a few days later that his placement came as a result of a violation of MLB’s health and safety protocols. Now that Polanco’s back, he’ll try to rebound from a subpar 90-plate appearance stretch in which he hit .200/.289/.350 with three home runs and four stolen bases.

Shreve, 30, joined the Pirates on a minor league contract last offseason after appearing in the majors in each year from 2014-20. The former Brave, Yankee, Cardinal and Met has thrown 228 2/3 innings with a respectable 3.74 ERA/3.70 SIERA and a 27.1 percent strikeout rate against an 11.5 percent walk rate. Along the way, Shreve has produced almost equal results against right-handed hitters (.228/.328/.422) and lefties (.227/.315/.434).

The Pirates selected Owen when they put Polanco on the IL, but he only totaled five plate appearances before his designation. The former 25th-round pick (2016) owns a .266/.341/.473 line with 55 home runs in 1,425 minor league plate appearances.

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