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Chris Devenski

Mets Re-Sign Chris Devenski

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The Mets announced that they have signed right-hander Chris Devenski to a one-year major league deal. Fellow righty Huascar Brazobán has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster already had a vacancy.

Devenski was just removed from the Mets’ roster a week ago when he was designated for assignment. He later cleared waivers and elected free agency, but he has quickly returned to the Mets on a fresh pact.

Before losing his spot, Devenski gave the Mets 11 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, three walks and hitting three opponents, striking out nine along the way. He has spent more time in Triple-A this year, tossing 25 innings with a 4.32 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate, 4% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate.

The Mets have suffered a number of pitching injuries this year and have been churning through veterans at the fringe of the roster. A.J. Minter, Danny Young, Max Kranick and Dedniel Núñez have all been felled by season-ending surgeries. The club has responded by grabbing guys like Devenski, José Castillo, Génesis Cabrera, Richard Lovelady, José Ureña and others, bouncing them on and off the roster.

The Mets are reportedly setting the bullpen as a high priority ahead of Thursday’s deadline. They have already acquired Gregory Soto from the Orioles and should be making further moves in the next 48 hours. Devenski could get bumped off the roster yet again as those moves get finalized in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/29/25

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Here’s the latest on some players who were recently designated for assignment and cleared waivers, with all info coming from each respective player’s MLB.com profile page…

  • Reliever Chris Devenski elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Mets’ Triple-A team.  New York designated Devenski for assignment last week, and since he has been outrighted in the past, he had the right to reject the Triple-A assignment and return to the open market.  The right-hander signed a minor league deal with the Mets last winter and delivered a 2.38 ERA over 11 1/3 MLB innings, with a solid 6.7% walk rate.  Devenski’s .226 BABIP and 20% strikeout rate weren’t as impressive, which could explain why the Mets took the DFA route instead of optioning Devenski to Triple-A, as they did on three previous occasions this season.  Devenski has enough big league service time that he had to agree to being optioned to the minors, so it could be that he rejected another trip to Syracuse.
  • The Phillies outrighted right-hander Ryan Cusick to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.  Cusick was DFA’ed three days ago, making the fourth time the righty has been designated this season, though this is the first time he cleared waivers without being claimed away by another team.  The flurry of roster moves has seen the A’s, Tigers, White Sox, and Phillies all have Cusick in their organizations within the last two months, though it appears as he’ll be sticking in Philadelphia for a little while longer.  Cusick has a 7.99 ERA over 23 2/3 combined Triple-A innings this season, and the former first-round pick (selected 24th overall by the Braves in the 2021 draft) is still waiting for his Major League debut.
  • The Royals outrighted outfielder Tyler Gentry to Triple-A Omaha.  Gentry was designated for assignment a week ago as part of the corresponding roster moves to officially add Rich Hill to the K.C. roster.  A third-round pick for the Royals in the 2020 draft, Gentry made his MLB debut in the form of three games and five plate appearances during the 2024 season, but hasn’t since returned to the Show.  Gentry has hit only .205/.277/.365 over 249 plate appearances with Omaha this year.

Mets Designate Chris Devenski For Assignment

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder/designated hitter Starling Marte has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Infielder Jared Young has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding move. The club also activated recent waiver claimee Rico Garcia and recalled right-hander Justin Garza. To open spots for those two arms, the club optioned right-hander Kevin Herget and designated right-hander Chris Devenski for assignment. Additionally, left-hander Brandon Waddell’s optional assignment was reversed and he has instead been placed on the major league 15-day injured list due to a right hip impingement.

Devenski, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in April. As a veteran with well over five years of major league service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. The Mets have optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse three times this year, so he presumably agreed to those transactions.

This time, instead of being optioned, he’s been designated for assignment. The Mets didn’t need to open a 40-man spot today, so it’s unclear why they’ve done so. With the deadline coming up, they are expected to pursue bullpen upgrades. Perhaps the Mets, or Devenski, realized that their relationship might not extend much farther. From Devenski’s perspective, if he’s going to get squeezed down the depth chart, perhaps now is a good time to open himself up to other clubs rather than accept another stint in Syracuse.

Whatever the reasoning, he is now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Mets could take five days to explore trade interest. Around his optional assignments, Devenski has tossed 11 1/3 innings big league innings for the Mets this year, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitches while striking out nine. He has also thrown 25 Triple-A innings with a 4.32 ERA, 17.2% strikeout rate, 4% walk rate and 50.6% ground ball rate.

Devenski’s best seasons came with the Astros almost a decade ago. More recently, his results have been up and down. He had an encouraging showing in 2023, split between the Angels and Rays. That year, he tossed 42 1/3 innings with a 4.46 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The Rays re-signed him for 2024 but Devenski posted a 6.75 ERA last year. He was released by July and was stuck in the minors the rest of the year.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Mets Notes: Butto, Senga, Megill

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The Mets placed right-hander Jose Butto on the 15-day injured list on Friday, with a retroactive placement date of July 1.  Right-hander Chris Devenski was called up from Triple-A to take Butto’s spot on the active roster.  Butto is dealing with an undisclosed illness, and manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including the New York Post’s Mike Puma) that the club expects to activate the righty for the first game back after the All-Star break.

Now in his fourth season in New York, Butto has been used as a full-time reliever for the first time in his MLB career and the bottom-line results have been solid.  He has a 2.47 ERA over 43 2/3 innings and 31 appearances, albeit with a troublesome 11.2% walk rate and a 21.8% strikeout rate that is also below the league average.  Butto’s 4.01 SIERA reflects the sizeable gap between his actual performance and expected performance, though he does have a strong 49.6% grounder rate, and very good chase and whiff rates despite his relative lack of strikeouts.

While Butto’s illness doesn’t appear to be too serious, his absence creates yet another hole in the Mets’ injury-riddled pitching staff.  The Amazins now have 13 different pitchers on their IL, ranging from relatively minor situations like Butto to multiple hurlers who have been out for extended periods of time, or won’t pitch again in 2025.

One of the biggest names on the IL might be nearing a return, as Kodai Senga is slated to pitch for Double-A Binghampton in a rehab outing today.  Senga hasn’t pitched since June 12, when a right hamstring strain cut short a start against the Nationals.  Since it was just a Grade 1 strain, however, the Mets were optimistic that Senga wouldn’t miss too much time, and it is possible Senga might need just the one rehab outing before rejoining the big league rotation.

After injuries sidelined Senga for almost all of the 2024 season, he has returned in good form this year, posting a 1.47 ERA over 13 starts and 73 2/3 innings.  A 4.14 SIERA reveals that Senga isn’t nearly as dominant as his ERA suggests, though his Statcast numbers are generally above average apart a 10.6% walk rate is only in the 17th percentile of all pitchers.  Nonetheless, Senga’s relatively quick return is a huge boost to a Mets rotation that has been short-handed by injuries all season, let alone this second wave of health woes that have hit the staff in the last couple of weeks.

Tylor Megill was one of those most recent absences, as the right-hander hit the 15-day IL in mid-June due to an elbow sprain.  Despite the ominous nature of such injuries, Megill said at the time of the IL placement that he was only dealing with inflammation, and MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo wrote yesterday that a recent MRI showed that the inflammation had decreased to the point that Megill can resume throwing.

Since Megill has been shut down for three weeks, he’ll begin with some light work throwing off flat ground today, but the hope is that he won’t take too long to fully ramp up to starting readiness.  Megill has a 3.95 ERA/3.61 SIERA in 68 1/3 innings and 14 starts for New York this season, with an outstanding 29.2% strikeout rate that helps cover for a subpar 10.8% walk rate.

Mets Reinstate Frankie Montas, Transfer Jesse Winker To 60-Day IL

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The Mets announced that right-hander Frankie Montas has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Right-hander Chris Devenski was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse as the corresponding active roster move. He has enough service time where he can’t be optioned without his consent, so he has presumably agreed to be sent down. To open a 40-man spot for Montas, outfielder/designated hitter Jesse Winker has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Montas, 32, will be making his debut as a Met when he starts tonight’s game. At the moment, it’s difficult to guess what sort of quality of performance he’ll be able to provide. He was diagnosed with a lat strain back in mid-February. He started a rehab assignment in late May but hasn’t looked sharp, allowing 25 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings over six minor league starts.

Teams generally care more about health than results on a rehab assignment but a 12.05 earned run average is going to cause some concern. It would be one thing if Montas started rough and had been getting sharper but that hasn’t been the case. He surrendered five earned runs in five innings in his most recent outing, with just two strikeouts. The prior outing had seen him allow eight earned runs without getting out of the second inning.

Even before this year, there were question marks with Montas. He had missed almost all of 2023 due to shoulder surgery. Back on the mound in 2024, his 4.84 ERA wasn’t strong. The Mets seemed to be banking on his late-season strikeout surge. He had struck out just 19% of batters faced with the Reds but then 28.7% of opponents following a trade to the Brewers. He then headed into free agency and secured a two-year, $34MM deal from the Mets, with equal salaries of $17MM and an opt-out halfway through.

That was a notable investment in a pitcher who hadn’t been at his best in a few years. The Mets are also paying a 110% tax on spending beyond the top competitive balance tax threshold this year, making it an even more significant expenditure which they have yet to receive any return on.

Despite that cash outlay, the righty’s recent struggles on his rehab assignment almost pushed him to the bullpen. However, the club’s rotation picture changed quickly in recent weeks. Not too long ago, it seemed the club had so much rotation depth that a Paul Blackburn trade was reportedly considered. But then both Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill hit the injured list in the span of a few days, opening rotation space for both Blackburn and Montas alongside David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning.

If everyone is healthy, another squeeze could be just over the horizon. Sean Manaea is also on the IL and just a bit behind Montas in his rehab process. He recently made his fourth rehab appearance, getting to 62 pitches over 5 1/3 innings. Montas is getting a rotation spot for now due to the club’s need and the fact that his 30-day rehab window was closing but there will be pressure on him to perform in order to keep that spot.

As for Winker, he landed on the IL on May 5th due to a right oblique strain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he’ll be eligible for reinstatement in early July. He was initially given a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks but the Mets recently said that he is still multiple weeks away from starting a rehab assignment.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Mets Select Chris Devenski, Place Danny Young On IL With Elbow Sprain

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The Mets announced today that they have selected right-hander Chris Devenski from Triple-A Syracuse. He takes the active roster spot of left-hander Danny Young, who has been placed on the 15-day IL with a left elbow sprain, retroactive to April 27th. Left-hander Brooks Raley has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Devenski.

The moves suddenly leaves the Mets with no lefties in the bullpen. Young and A.J. Minter are the only lefty relievers to have pitched for the Mets this season. Minter landed on the 15-day IL due to a lat strain a few days ago and there’s a chance he’ll require season-ending surgery. It’s unclear how long Young is going to be out of action but an injury to a pitcher’s throwing elbow is always somewhat concerning.

Raley was just officially signed yesterday. He is recovering from last May’s Tommy John surgery. The fact that the Mets have immediately placed him on the 60-day injured list suggests that they don’t expect him to be with the big league club in the next two months. Brandon Waddell was added to the roster today to serve as a bulk guy behind opener Huascar Brazobán tonight and may return to Triple-A after.

Some of their righties have reverse splits and may be deployed as pseudo lefty specialists. For instance, lefties have a career .165/.304/.239 line against José Buttó, while righties have hit .237/.314/.385 against him.

Devenski, 34, fits into that category as well. Righties have hit .247/.305/.429 against him in his career but he’s held lefties to a .211/.268/.385 slash. He’s a few years removed from his best results, however. He logged 189 innings for the Astros over 2016 and 2017 with a 2.38 earned run average, 28.2% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. Since then, he has a 5.42 ERA in 211 innings for various teams. He had a 6.75 ERA with the Rays last year, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Mets coming into 2025.

He’s out to a good start this year, in a sense, as he has a 1.93 ERA through 9 1/3 Triple-A innings. However, a look under the hood reveals some less impressive numbers. His 20% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate thus far are both subpar numbers. He’s been helped by a .136 batting average on balls in play and 100% strand rate. He has kept the ball on the ground at a 65.2% clip but that’s never been a strength of his over a large sample.

Regardless, Devenski will come up and give the Mets a fresh bullpen arm for the time being. Tonight is their sixth of 13 straight games, leading to heavy usage of the pitching staff. That’s part of the reason why Waddell is coming up to make a spot start and Devenski will try to help the club get through as well.

Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Mets, Chris Devenski Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets and right-hander Chris Devenski are in agreement on a minor league deal, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com on X. The righty also receives a camp invite and will be competing for a job in next year’s spring training.

Devenski, 34 in November, has had an up-and-down career but is coming off a rough campaign. The Rays signed him to a one-year deal with a $1.1MM guarantee after getting a good look at him late in 2023. After being cut loose by the Angels, the Rays signed Devenski at the end of August last year. He posted a 2.08 earned run average over his nine appearances in Tampa so they decided to bring him back.

While the Rays are known for their savvy under-the-radar pickups, this one didn’t work out. Devenski tossed 26 2/3 innings for the Rays in 2024 but with a 6.75 ERA. His 19.7% strikeout rate, 11.5% walk rate and 25% ground ball rate were all below league averages. He missed about a month from late April to late May, going on the injured list due to right knee tendinitis. He was designated for assignment and released at the end of June.

He was then signed by the Mariners and spent the final months of 2024 with Triple-A Tacoma. He was able to finish his 2024 with a strong showing there in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, throwing 23 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 33.3% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 43.1% ground ball rate.

The Mets are presumably intrigued by that performance with Tacoma, though the veteran’s longer track record may play a role as well. He had a dominant showing with the Astros to start his career, tossing 189 innings over 2016 and 2017 with a 2.38 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate.

But as mentioned, his career has been up-and-down, and those highs were followed with some serious lows. Over 2018 and 2019, he tossed another 116 1/3 innings for Houston but with an ERA of 4.56 in that time. His 6.9% walk rate was still good but his strikeout rate dipped to 24.9%. Elbow soreness limited him to just four appearances in 2020 and he eventually required Tommy John surgery in 2021. His attempts to get back on the mound in 2022 and 2023 were largely unsuccessful before his aforementioned stint with the Rays late last year.

Devenski has a 6.46 ERA since the start of 2020 but was injured for a lot of that. He showed some promise with the Rays late last year and with the Rainiers more recently. There’s no real risk for the Mets on a minor league deal, so they’ll take a look at what Devenski has come spring.

President of baseball operations David Stearns did plenty of tinkering with the bullpen this year. He gave one-year deals to Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, Shintaro Fujinami, Jorge López, Michael Tonkin and Austin Adams last winter as well as several minor league deals. As the season progressed, many of those guys ended up losing their roster spots while guys like Phil Maton, Huascar Brazobán, Ryne Stanek and others were acquired from other clubs. Ottavino and Stanek are now about to hit free agency with Maton likely joining them if the Mets turn down his club option. The 2024 Mets were only eliminated about a week ago and the World Series is still ongoing, but the club has already made one move to provide some bullpen depth for next year.

Nine Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Catchers

Infielders

Pitchers

Mariners Outright Chris Devenski

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Chris Devenski has been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma. There was no previous indication he had been removed from their 40-man roster but they evidently passed him through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Devenski, 33, was signed by the Mariners at the start of July after being released by the Rays. Though he is a veteran with enough service time to decline an optional assignment, he apparently consented as he has been with Triple-A Tacoma for the past few weeks. He made six appearances there and allowed two earned runs.

The M’s presumably have other uses in mind for that roster spot, so they bumped Devenski off. They have already been aggressive in upgrading their offense and bullpen, having acquired Randy Arozarena, Justin Turner and Yimi García in recent days. They’ve been connected in rumors to guys like Tanner Scott and Yandy Díaz, so perhaps more roster shake-up is forthcoming.

As for Devenski, he has more than enough service time to reject this outright and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so. Heading to the open market would make some sense, since plenty of clubs will have roster openings after the musical chairs of the deadline plays out.

He was once quite a dominant reliever with the Astros, though he’s a few years removed that performance now. Over 2016 and 2017, he had a 2.35 earned run average in 189 innings for Houston. He struck out 28.2% of batters faced and only gave out walks at a 6.4% clip. Injuries in the coming years, including Tommy John surgery, seemed to hamper his results. His ERA was a combined 4.56 in 2018 and 2019 then a ghastly 9.47 for the 2020-22 seasons.

He then had a pretty unimpressive start to his 2023 season, with a 5.08 ERA with the Angels. But that season finished strong as he had a 2.08 in nine appearances for the Rays. That prompted Tampa to re-sign him but he then had a 6.75 ERA this year, leading to his release and then his deal with the Mariners.

Mariners Select Seby Zavala, Sign Chris Devenski

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The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Seby Zavala, with left-hander Jhonathan Díaz optioned to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding move. Additionally, the M’s have signed right-hander Chris Devenski to a major league contract, though Devenski will report to Tacoma. Seattle had three vacancies on their 40-man roster coming into today, so their count is now at 39.

Zavala, 30, was acquired as part of the Eugenio Suárez trade back in November. He was used as a glove-first backup catcher for a while with Cal Raleigh getting the bulk of the playing time. The M’s had also signed Mitch Garver but with the idea of using him primarily as a designated hitter, though Garver started playing behind the plate more as the season wore on.

That left just 43 plate appearances for Zavala through the middle of June. He hit .154/.214/.282 in that limited time while striking out at a 37.2% rate. As Garver started donning the tools of ignorance, Zavala was designated for assignment and outrighted off the roster. He had the right to elect free agency at that time but stuck with the M’s and is now back in the bigs.

His selection is likely due to Garver’s status, as he was hit by a pitch on his right wrist on Sunday. He was catching that game with Raleigh in the DH slot, but Raleigh moved behind the plate in the third inning as Garver departed, leaving the M’s to play without a DH for the rest of the game.

Per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com on X, Garver is feeling better but still sore and is “going to go feel it out,” in Garver’s words. Since he is seemingly unavailable, at least for a few days, the club was going to be left with just Raleigh and no backup catcher, which prompted Zavala’s return. Once Garver is healthy, Zavala might get squeezed out again since he is out of options.

Devenski, 33, was just released by the Rays last week but has quickly landed a new gig. As a veteran with more than five years of service time, he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. Since the M’s announced that he will report to Tacoma, perhaps he has given his consent, unless that’s just an on-paper move until he reports to the club.

The righty was having a rough season with the Rays, tossing 26 2/3 innings with 6.75 earned runs allowed per nine. His 19.7% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate were both below average, leading Tampa to cut him loose.

The M’s clearly have some kind of idea for getting him back on track. He was once a dominant reliever with the Astros, throwing 189 innings with that club over 2016 and 2017 with a 2.35 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. But he struggled in the following years and missed time due to injuries, including Tommy John surgery. He had a 4.56 ERA over 2018 and 2019 and then a 9.47 ERA from 2020 to 2022.

He seemed to show a bit of life last year, with 42 1/3 innings between the Angels and Rays. He had a 4.46 ERA in that time, as well as a 24.3% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The Rays were encouraged enough to bring him back for 2024 with a $1.1MM guarantee, in the form of a $1MM salary this year and $100K buyout on a 2025 option.

But now that Devenski has been released, the Rays are left on the hook for that money. The M’s will only owe him the prorated version of the major league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Rays pay.

The M’s have taken some hits in their bullpen this year, with each of Matt Brash, Gregory Santos, Jackson Kowar and Gabe Speier currently on the injured list, with Brash and Kowar done for the year due to Tommy John surgery. There’s little harm on taking a low-cost flier on Devenski to see if he can help make up for those losses by returning to form.

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