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Fernando Rodney

Astros Release Fernando Rodney

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The Astros have released veteran hurler Fernando Rodney, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (via Twitter). He had been in the team’s 60-man player pool on a minor-league deal.

Rodney opened the year throwing with the indy ball Sugar Land Skeeters, giving the ’Stros a chance to determine he was worthy of a closer look. But the 43-year-old hurler evidently didn’t impress at the team’s alternate training site.

When last we saw Rodney in action, he had enough in the tank to be a significant contributor to the 2019 World Series-winning Nats. He worked to a 4.05 ERA in 33 1/3 regular-season innings and was handed the ball six times in the postseason.

It remains to be seen whether this is the end of the line for the ageless reliever. He was still averaging better than 94 ticks on his heater last year. In his 17 total MLB campaigns, Rodney carries a 3.80 ERA over 933 innings.

Astros Sign Fernando Rodney

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JULY 31: The club has announced the signing. Rodney will go to the team’s alternative training site.

JULY 28: The Astros are nearing a deal with veteran right-hander Fernando Rodney, Adam Spolane of SportsRadio 610 in Houston reports. The Octagon client is currently playing for the independent Sugar Land Skeeters, and the Astros have been negotiating a buyout of that arrangement. The deal is till pending a physical for Rodney, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets.

Rodney, now 43 years of age, would join his 12th MLB club if he ultimately gets into a big league game with the Astros. The longtime late-inning reliever split the 2019 season between the A’s and Nationals, struggling with the former but serving as a steadying presence in what had been a tumultuous bullpen with the latter. Rodney has a reputation for making any given appearance a rather adventurous outing, but his overall body of work with the World Champion Nationals was solid. In 33 1/3 frames, he logged a 4.05 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 0.81 HR/9 and a 48.3 percent ground-ball rate. Rodney’s heater still averaged 94.2 mph with the Nats last year.

The Astros’ bullpen has some notable names at the back of the mix, including Roberto Osuna and Ryan Pressly, but the pitching staff on the whole lacks experience. That’s particularly true with Justin Verlander currently shelved. Other Astros arms on the sidelines include Brad Peacock (shoulder), Austin Pruitt (elbow), Rogelio Armenteros (elbow) and Jose Urquidy (no reason provided). Rodney would add some depth and experience to a pitching staff that right now is carrying an eye-opening seven rookies.

When The Padres Fleeced The Marlins

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Padres general manager A.J. Preller’s tenure atop the club’s baseball department certainly hasn’t been a smash success. The Padres hired him late in the 2014 season and haven’t even posted a .500 season since then. To Preller’s credit, though, the Padres have put together an enticing group of young talent with his help. And in one of Preller’s greatest moves to date, the Padres acquired a right-hander who has evolved into a potential ace in exchange for a fading reliever.

If we go back to June 30, 2016, shortly before the trade deadline, the Padres were well under .500 and on their way to a 68-win season. Meanwhile, the Marlins were 41-38. The long-suffering Fish were under the impression they were playoff contenders at that point. As a result, they traded young right-hander Chris Paddack to the Padres for grizzled reliever Fernando Rodney. Big mistake.

After signing for a guaranteed $2MM in the prior offseason, Fernando enjoyed an unbelievable few months in San Diego, where he recorded an almost perfect 0.31 ERA in 28 2/3 innings and converted 17 saves in as many chances. Unsurprisingly, those numbers proved to be impossible to sustain in Miami. As a member of the Marlins, Rodney logged a ghastly 5.89 ERA (thanks in part to 25 walks in just 36 2/3 innings) and blew three of 11 save opportunities. For their part, the Marlins floundered after the trade en route to a 79-82 finish and yet another non-playoff showing. They lost Rodney to the Diamondbacks via free agency in the ensuing offseason.

In hindsight, the Rodney gamble clearly wasn’t worth it for Miami. On the other side, selling high on him has already paid dividends for San Diego and looks as if it will go down as one of the franchise’s top trades in recent memory. In return for Rodney, the Padres received Paddack, then a low minors prospect who Keith Law of The Athletic (then with ESPN) noted when the swap occurred “hasn’t given up a hit in forever.” MLBTR’s Steve Adams observed that “it seems fair to say that his star is on the rise.”

Paddack’s production was indeed ridiculous that year, during which he managed a 0.85 ERA with 15.1 K/9 against 1.1 BB/9 in 42 1/3 innings between the Marlins’ and Padres’ Single-A teams. However, despite those numbers and the aforementioned praise, he wasn’t necessarily viewed as a can’t-miss prospect at the time of the trade. When the deal went down, MLB.com ranked Paddack 17th in a Marlins farm that was not particularly respected.

In August of the year that the trade occurred, Paddack underwent Tommy John surgery. The procedure wound up costing him all of 2017, but he returned the next season to dominate at the High-A and Double-A levels. That was enough to convince the Padres that Paddack was ready for major league action in 2019, and indeed he was. As a 23-year-old pitching in the bigs for the first time, the fiery Paddack tossed 140 2/3 innings of 3.33 ERA/3.96 FIP ball with 9.79 K/9 and 1.98 BB/9 to emerge as one of the brightest up-and-comers in baseball.

For Preller, another 2016 trade – one in which he gave up James Shields for Fernando Tatis Jr. – looks like his most successful move so far. But Paddack for Rodney comes off as a masterstroke in its own right. With Paddack atop their current rotation, and with excellent prospects MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino closing in on the majors, the Padres’ long-term rotation picture appears to be in enviable shape.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Fernando Rodney Drawing Interest

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If you ever troubled yourself with the question whether Fernando Rodney would seek to continue pitching — well, put those fears to rest. At least four teams have shown some level of interest in the veteran hurler, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).

Rodney, 43 in March, still delivers a mid-nineties fastball and devastating changeup — sufficient to support an 11.0% swinging-strike rate, 9.3 K/9 strikeout rate, and 49.6% groundball rate in the just-completed campaign. Of course, he also permitted more than five free passes per nine and surrendered a good bit of hard contact. It’d be a stretch to call Rodney a Statcast darling, but he did fare better in the eyes of the fancy cameras than he did on paper (.308 xwOBA vs. .332 wOBA).

There’s reason, then, to believe Rodney is better than the 5.66 ERA he logged in 47 2/3 total frames last year. Perhaps Rodney’s 4.05 mark with the Nationals, accrued over his final 33 1/3 innings of the regular season, is a more accurate read on his true talent at this advanced age.

While we wait to see which tilted cap Rodney will don this spring, it’s worth pausing to appreciate just how remarkable he has been to this point. Once a forgettable pitcher who seemed destined to fade away, Rodney emerged as a late-inning monster in his mid-thirties, stole MLB’s heart with his arrow-launching celebrations, and then forgot that his body was supposed to break down. There’s no hope of a return to his silly-good 2012 form; even the 3.36 ERA performance of 2018 would be a stretch. But would anyone be all that surprised if Rodney throws 50+ mostly useful, always entertaining innings in 2020?

Offseason Notes: Nationals, Free Agents, Rays, Cubs, Bryant, Contreras

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The World Champion Washington Nationals are likely to move on from their remaining free agents, save for local institution Ryan Zimmerman and perhaps his first base partner Matt Adams, per MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. That means Daniel Hudson has likely priced himself out of the Nationals’ plans. Fernando Rodney could get another shot on a minor league deal, but GM Mike Rizzo has handed those out rather liberally this winter, and the bullpen barracks are looking pretty full: Javy Guerra, Fernando Abad, and David Hernandez are all competing for bullpen spots on minor league deals while Sean Doolittle, Will Harris, Tanner Rainey, Wander Suero and Roenis Elias look pretty good to secure their seats at the table. Hunter Strickland, and one of Joe Ross, Austin Voth, and Erick Fedde could also very well end up in the bullpen, leaving just a spot or two as truly up for grabs. Brian Dozier, the last of the Nats’ five remaining free agents, is all but gone now that Starlin Castro and Asdrubal Cabrera have been signed.

  • The Rays have pretty consistently made themselves a good place for January free agents to take their career to the next level, per John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times. A list of short-term additions late in the free agent season have gone on to produce in Tampa Bay and earn themselves a raise the following winter. The partial list of players who went on to earn bigger paydays after leaving Tampa includes Avisail Garcia, Logan Morrison, C.J. Cron, and Corey Dickerson. The time is now for the Rays, who typically strike about this time of year, and they still have needs to fill. Expect Tampa to add another bat and another catcher before the winter is out.
  • The Cubs have lingered in the shadows throughout the winter, and though a Kris Bryant trade has been clearly telegraphed, the star third baseman remains in Chicago due to asking price, per David Kaplan of NBC Sports Chicago. Speaking to people around the game, Kaplan found real skepticism that Bryant remains the foundational superstar he was in 2016. That hasn’t stopped the Cubs from asking for the moon, with the same being true of their asking price for Willson Contreras. Theo Epstein and the Cubs are in a tough place after seeing their championship window slam closed last season, and it’s understandable for the braintrust in Chicago to hold out hope for a franchise-altering return for one of their homegrown stars. But if the return they seek never materializes, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of alternative plan they can cook up to keep these Cubs viable.

Nationals To Select Fernando Rodney On Tuesday

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The Nationals will add right-handed reliever Fernando Rodney to their roster before Tuesday’s game against the Marlins, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports. Rodney’s not on the Nationals’ 40-man roster, though they do have an opening after releasing fellow reliever Trevor Rosenthal on Sunday.

Rodney’s addition will be Washington’s latest attempt to repair what has been a horrible bullpen in 2019. The Rosenthal signing didn’t work, leading the team to jettison him, nor has picking up Kyle Barraclough over the winter. Barraclough has been on the IL since June 16 with a forearm issue.

Including Rosenthal and Barraclough, the Nationals have shuffled threw 17 relievers this year. The group has combined for an unsightly 6.29 ERA, which helps explain the Nationals’ 37-40 record. It’s anyone’s guess whether Rodney will be able to help the team’s cause, though there’s little risk in trying from its perspective. Washington brought in the 42-year-old on a minor league contract three weeks ago. He then allowed five runs (four earned) with 11 strikeouts and nine walks in eight innings with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate in Fresno.

Rodney has been a solid major league reliever for most of his career, though the journeyman began so poorly this season that the low-budget Athletics paid him to go away. Oakland had to pay $3.53MM to part with Rodney, who logged a 9.42 ERA/5.55 FIP with 8.79 K/9 and 7.53 BB/9 in 14 1/3 innings. Rodney’s just a year removed from recording a 3.36 ERA/4.03 FIP with 9.79 K/9, 4.48 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent groundball rate in 64 1/3 frames, though. The Nationals, who haven’t found capable bridges to closer Sean Doolittle this year, would sign up for that type of production.

Nationals Sign Fernando Rodney

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June 4: Rodney’s deal with the Nats is official, per an announcement from Paul Braverman of the Fresno Grizzlies’ communications department (Twitter link). He joined the Grizzlies in New Orleans and is active for tonight’s game.

June 1: The Nationals have agreed to a minor league deal with reliever Fernando Rodney, according to Craig Mish of SiriusXM. Rodney will report to Triple-A Fresno.

The well-traveled Rodney was last with the Athletics, who designated him for assignment a week ago before releasing him on Tuesday. Even though Oakland had to eat the remaining $3.53MM on Rodney’s club option in moving on from him, the club decided the 42-year-old was no longer worth a roster spot. It was an understandable call on the part of the A’s, for whom Rodney turned in 14 1/3 innings of 9.42 ERA/5.52 FIP ball with 8.79 K/9 and 7.53 BB/9 this season.

While 2019 has been a nightmare for the arrow-slinging Rodney, he was a useful reliever between Oakland and Minnesota just a year ago. Since his career began with the Tigers back in 2002, the right-hander has notched a 3.79 ERA/3.77 FIP with 9.08 K/9, 4.48 BB/9, a 50.2 percent groundball rate, 325 saves and 96 holds in 899 2/3 innings.

Rodney’s typical production would be welcome in Washington, whose bullpen has been one of the majors’ worst this year. The Nationals haven’t been able to find solutions leading up to closer Sean Doolittle, and the Rodney signing is their latest low-risk attempt to repair their unenviable late-game situation. Rodney follows Jonny Venters and George Kontos as the third veteran reliever the Nats have brought in on a minors pact since last Saturday.

Athletics Release Fernando Rodney

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The Athletics announced Tuesday that they’ve released veteran right-hander Fernando Rodney. He’d been designated for assignment over the weekend.

Rodney, 42, got out to an awful start with the A’s this season, pitching to a 9.42 ERA through 14 1/3 innings of work. In that series of 17 appearances, he’s allowed 20 hits (two homers) and a dozen walks while picking up 14 strikeouts. While he’s still throwing fairly hard, particularly given his age, the right-hander’ 93.1 mph average fastball is down noticeably from last season’s 94.2 mph average.

Rodney showed some cracks in 2018 after the A’s acquired him from the Twins in an August swap that sent minor league righty Dakota Chalmers to Minnesota — namely issuing 13 walks in his 20 2/3 frames following the trade. His overall season, however, was solid, and the A’s felt comfortable enough that they exercised a $5.25MM club option over the righty for the 2019 season.

There’s still about $3.53MM of that salary remaining to be paid out through season’s end, and the A’s will be on the hook for the entirety of that sum. Rodney will be free to sign with any club, and a new team would only need to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on the big league roster. That sum would be subtracted from the Athletics’ remaining obligation to Rodney.

A’s DFA Fernando Rodney, Select Wei-Chung Wang

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The Oakland Athletics have designated veteran reliever Fernando Rodney for assignment, their PR department announced. Wei-Chung Wang’s contract has been selected from Triple-A Las Vegas in a corresponding move.

This could spell the end of the road for 42-year-old Rodney, whose days of slinging arrows may be numbered after a 9.42 ERA in 17 appearances. Still, given the state of bullpens around the league, it would not be a shock to see Rodney hitch his cart to a different horse for another go-round. His 5.46 FIP isn’t all that far off the 4.52 mark he chalked up last season, and he’s striking out batters at just a slightly lower rate. On the flip side, his velocity is down a full mph, and his walk rate is up to 17.1 BB%, all of which and more has led to an ugly -0.6 rWAR mark on the year.

Rodney debuted as a 25-year-old way back in 2002 for the Tigers. He has twice led the league in games finished, while he took home the saves title with 48 for the Mariners as a 37-year-old. On the whole, he has appeared in 913 major league baseball games, thrown 899 2/3 innings, and struck out 908 professional baseball hitters at the game’s highest level. He sports a career 3.79 ERA and almost identical 3.77 FIP.

Wei-Chung Wang will make his first appearance in the majors since 2017 with the Brewers. This season in Triple-A he’s gone 1-1 with 16 appearances and a 3.75 ERA and 3.75 K/BB rate. The lefty spent last season with the NC Dinos of the KBO, going 7-10 with a 4.26 ERA across 25 starts.

Athletics Notes: Davis, Canha, Rodney, Bullpen, Mateo

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Some items from Oakland…

  • Khris Davis has been hampered by a left hip contusion, though manager Bob Melvin told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters that the team hopes to have Davis back in the lineup for Friday’s game.  Davis suffered the injury crashing into the wall to make a catch in foul territory on Sunday, which necessitated an early removal from the game.  He attempted to return on Wednesday, though was removed in the fifth inning once his hip again caused discomfort.  While this abbreviated appearance means an IL stint couldn’t be backdated three more days, it doesn’t yet appear as though the problem is serious enough for Davis to miss much more time.
  • Mark Canha is slated to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Friday and is expected to be activated from the injured list next week. (MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos was among those who reported the news.)  A sprained right wrist sidelined Canha on April 29, though he’ll likely end up missing only slightly beyond the minimum 10 days.  Canha was off to a solid start prior to the injury, hitting .200/.377/.375 over his first 53 plate appearances of the season.  As Gallegos notes, Canha’s return could mean the end for Kendrys Morales on the Oakland roster, as Davis’ health issues may have given Morales only a brief respite now that Matt Olson is back from the IL.
  • Pitching is the main focus of Slusser’s latest fan mailbag piece in the Chronicle, as the A’s continue to deal with uncertainty in both their rotation and bullpen.  Slusser figures the A’s will look to add a reliever or two if the team is in contention at the trade deadline, though in terms of in-house names, Oakland isn’t likely to part ways with Fernando Rodney any time soon.  Four of Rodney’s 15 appearances this season have resulted in multiple runs allowed, including an ugly outing on Sunday that saw him allow four runs in just a third of an inning in a walkoff loss to the Pirates.  Rodney has an 8.78 ERA and a 6.1 BB/9 over 13 1/3 innings for the Athletics this season, though Slusser says the A’s will give Rodney time to get back on track in lower-leverage situations.
  • Sonny Gray took the mound for the Reds against the A’s on Wednesday, leading The Athletic’s Julian McWilliams (subscription required) to look back on the trade that sent Gray from Oakland to the Yankees back in July 2017.  Specifically, the piece looks at Jorge Mateo, who is off to a .340/.378/.578 start in 156 Triple-A plate appearances after struggling at the Triple-A level in 2018.  That lost year knocked back from his previous status as a top-100 prospect in baseball, though it might have ended up being something of a needed “wake-up call” for Mateo, McWilliams writes, as scouts had questioned Mateo’s effort level and focus.  “At some point in time he’s going to be in the big leagues, whether it’s this year or next year. He’s a really talented kid,” Melvin said.  Mateo has played exclusively at shortstop and second base over the last two seasons, potentially tabbing him as a replacement for Marcus Semien (who is scheduled for free agency following the 2020 season).
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