Yankees Sign Joel Kuhnel To Minors Deal
The Yankees announced today that right-hander Geoff Hartlieb elected free agency in lieu of accepting an outright assignment. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. Because he has been previously outrighted in his career, he has the right to reject all future outright assignments. The Yankees also added an arm, signing right-hander Joel Kuhnel to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was with the Phillies on a minor league deal but was released yesterday.
Hartlieb, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Yanks in the offseason. He was selected to the roster on Monday and designated for assignment on Wednesday. In between, he tossed one inning against the Blue Jays on Tuesday, allowing three earned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three. He is out of options so the Yankees effectively had to designate him for assignment in order to remove him from active roster while making space for a fresh arm.
That was a rough outing but he was in good form in the minors prior to getting called up. He tossed 35 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a 3.34 earned run average, 26.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 41.3% ground ball rate.
He also has some previous big league work on his résumé, though it’s not especially sparkling, as he has a 7.62 ERA in 80 1/3 innings. His 48% ground ball rate is strong but his 20.3% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate are both subpar figures, particularly the latter. He’ll head to the open market and see what kind of opportunities are out there for him.
Kuhnel, 30, may have triggered an opt-out provision in his deal with the Phils because he has been putting up good numbers this year. In 32 1/3 innings for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he had a 3.62 ERA. His 20.6% strikeout rate was a bit below average but his 3.1% walk rate was tiny and he got ground balls on a huge 66.3% of balls in play.
That’s generally been Kuhnel’s recipe. In 93 2/3 big league innings in his career, he has only struck out 18.7% of batters faced but has limited walks to a 5.9% pace and gotten opponents to pound the ball into the ground at a 52% clip. That’s led to a 5.86 ERA but his .311 batting average on balls in play and 63.8% strand rate are both on the unfortunate side. His 4.46 FIP and 3.77 SIERA paint him in a more favorable light.
The Yankees love groundballers and, as the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. Kuhnel has been assigned to the RailRiders and will try to work his way onto the big league roster.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Yankees Designate Geoff Hartlieb For Assignment
The Yankees announced that right-hander Clayton Beeter has been recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Fellow righty Geoff Hartlieb has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
The 31-year-old Hartlieb only joined the Yankees yesterday. He pitched one inning, was tagged for three runs in that lone appearance, and will now give way to a fresh arm. It’s not how Hartlieb envisioned his call-up in the Bronx going, particularly not after such a strong performance in Triple-A. He pitched 35 innings for the Yankees’ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate and logged a 3.34 ERA with a 26.2% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. That success came with some tweaks to his pitch usage, as the Yankees have had Hartlieb throw his slider at the highest rate of his career so far in 2025.
Hartlieb won’t get the chance to rebound from that rough outing — at least not with the Yankees’ big league club. He’ll be traded or placed on waivers within the next five days. He’s been outrighted in the past, so if he goes unclaimed, he could reject an outright assignment to the minors and instead choose free agency.
The Yankees were Hartlieb’s fifth big league club. He’s also pitched with the Pirates, Mets, Rockies and Marlins. The right-hander has logged only 80 1/3 innings in the majors and been tagged for an unsightly 7.62 ERA. Hartlieb carries a much more presentable 4.17 ERA in 261 Triple-A innings.
Yankees Select Geoff Hartlieb, Place Fernando Cruz On 15-Day IL
9:13pm: Cruz is suffering from what manager Aaron Boone described as a “high-grade” oblique strain and will be out for a significant amount of time, as relayed by Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, and Mark Leiter Jr. appear likely to be the club’s go-to leverage arms while Cruz is out.
3:14pm: The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of right-handed reliever Geoff Hartlieb and placed fellow righty Fernando Cruz on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. Infielder CJ Alexander was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Hartlieb.
Hartlieb, 31, is a journeyman righty who’ll be suiting up for his fifth big league team in seven years. The former Pirates draftee broke into the majors with Pittsburgh in 2019 and has since suited up for the Mets, Rockies and Marlins. He’s tallied 79 1/3 innings in the majors and has a rough 7.37 ERA to show for it, but he’s been very sharp for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton so far this season.
In 35 innings with the RailRiders, Hartlieb touts a 3.34 earned run average. He’s punched out 26.2% of his opponents against a tidy 6.9% walk rate. The Yankees have Hartlieb throwing sliders at far and away the loftiest rate of his career. More than 53% of Hartlieb’s pitches with Scranton this season have been sliders — a notable increase over his previous career-high 45% back in 2020 and a massive increase over last year’s 37.3% clip with the Rockies’ Triple-A club. Hartlieb’s strikeout rate is up considerably, and his 17.2% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A is terrific. He’s not likely to carry quite such a gaudy mark over to the majors, though if he did, it’d rank tenth among the 310 pitchers (starters and relievers alike) who’ve pitched at least 30 innings this season.
Cruz, acquired from the Reds in an offseason swap sending catcher Jose Trevino to Cincinnati, is a tough loss for Aaron Boone‘s bullpen. The 35-year-old has been brilliant, pitching to an even 3.00 ERA with a mammoth 41.2% strikeout rate against a 10.7% walk rate. Cruz is “only” averaging 93.8 mph on his heater, but he’s throwing his devastating splitter more in 2025 and overwhelming opponents with the pitch. Hitters are batting just .136 and slugging only .222 against Cruz’s splitter. He’s ended 86 plate appearances with the pitch, and 48 of them (55.8%) have resulted in a strikeout.
Alexander, 28, was claimed off waivers from the A’s earlier this month. He hasn’t appeared in a big league game with the Yankees and hit just .196/.302/.196 in 53 Triple-A plate appearances. That’s a far cry from the .252/.348/.509 slash he turned in with the Athletics’ Triple-A club in Las Vegas prior to his first DFA of the season. Alexander has four hits in 25 total MLB plate appearances between the Royals and A’s. He’s a lifetime .260/.329/.486 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons.
The Yankees will either trade Alexander or place him on waivers within the next five days. Waivers take 48 hours, so his DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.
Yankees Sign Geoff Hartlieb To Minor League Deal
The Yankees and right-hander Geoff Hartlieb are in agreement on a minor league deal, as noted in the transactions tracker on Hartlieb’s MLB.com profile page. The deal presumably includes an invite to big league Spring Training next year.
Hartlieb, 31 in December, got his start in pro ball as a 29th-round pick by the Pirates in the 2016 draft. The righty made a fairly speedy ascent up the minor league ladder in order to debut with the Pirates during the 2019 season. The then-25-year-old Hartlieb struggled badly in his first taste of big league action as he surrendered a 9.00 ERA in 35 innings of work during his rookie year, thanks primarily to a 10.5% walk rate and a whopping eight home runs surrendered during that time. Things seemed to turn around for the right-hander during the shortened 2020 campaign as he settled in at the big league level and posted a solid 3.63 ERA in 22 1/3 innings of work, but a look under the hood revealed that Hartlieb walked as many hitters (19) as he struck out that year.
In the years since then, Hartlieb hasn’t gotten very much playing time at the big league level. He’s appeared in the majors during the 2021, ’23, and ’24 seasons but has combined for a total of just 22 innings during that time, posting an 8.59 ERA with a 17.3% strikeout rate against a 16.4% walk rate across stints with the Pirates, Mets, Marlins, and Rockies. Colorado was his most recent stop, and he surrendered ten runs (nine earned) while striking out seven and walking four in nine innings of work for the club this year before being outrighted off the club’s roster back in June.
Despite his lackluster results in the majors, the right-hander has looked solid enough at Triple-A throughout his career with a 4.30 ERA and a 24.8% strikeout rate across 226 career innings at the level. His control leaves something to be desired even at that level, however, as he’s surrendered free passes to 10% of his Triple-A opponents over the years. For a Yankees club that’s currently playing in the World Series, the addition of Hartlieb is far from an obvious needle-mover. With that being said, however, the club’s bullpen has generated generally impressive results by utilizing players like Luke Weaver, Tim Hill, and Ian Hamilton who hadn’t been able to find consistent success at the big league level prior to joining the club.
Given the club’s solid track record of turning the castoffs of other organizations into quality big league contributors in recent years, it’s easy to see why the Yankees might think they could turn Hartlieb and his 97.3 mph heater into a legitimate big league weapon. Unearthing another hidden gem for the bullpen this winter could be extremely helpful for the club given the impending free agencies of Hill, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes. Each of those arms have been a major part of the club’s success this year, with Holmes in particular serving as the club’s closer in the early part of the season before being replaced in the role by Weaver down the stretch.
11 Players Elect Free Agency
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
- Seby Zavala (Mariners)
Infielders
- Keston Hiura (Angels)
Outfielders
- Edward Olivares (Pirates)
Pitchers
- Dan Altavilla (Royals)
- Matt Andriese (Marlins)
- Aaron Brooks (Athletics)
- Justin Bruihl (Pirates)
- Paolo Espino (Blue Jays)
- Anthony Gose (Guardians)
- Geoff Hartlieb (Rockies)
- Jake Woodford (Pirates)
Rockies Outright Geoff Hartlieb
Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Rockies, per a club announcement. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. As a player who’d previously been outrighted in his career, Hartlieb had the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, but a source tells MLBTR he’ll accept the outright and return to Triple-A.
The 30-year-old Hartlieb pitched nine innings out of the Colorado bullpen and was tagged for nine runs during his short time with the club. He fanned seven batters, walked four and kept the ball on the ground at a 40.6% clip. While the raw run-prevention numbers obviously weren’t encouraging, Hartlieb sported a career-high 97.1 mph on his heater, per Statcast — a notable uptick from the career 95.9 mph mark he carried into the season. His sinker (95.7 mph vs. 94.3 mph career average) and slider (87 mph vs. 84 mph) also had pronounced velocity increases. Additionally, Hartlieb introduced a new cutter that sat at 92.8 mph.
For now, Hartlieb will head back to the Isotopes to continue working on his new-look arsenal. He’s pitched to a 5.61 ERA in a hitter-friendly setting there but carries a solid overall track record at the Triple-A level, including a nice showing with the Marlins’ affiliate last year (3.63 ERA in 44 2/3 frames). In 205 1/3 innings of Triple-A work, Hartlieb has a 4.21 earned run average while fanning 24.8% of his opponents against a 10% walk rate.
Given the general state of the Rockies’ bullpen (collective 5.73 ERA and 4.52 SIERA — both last in MLB) and the potential for some trades of relievers (impending free agent Jalen Beeks, in particular), there’s a decent chance that Hartlieb could get another big league look later this summer. In parts of five MLB seasons between the Pirates, Mets, Marlins and Rockies, the former 29th-round pick carries a 7.37 ERA with a 20% strikeout rate, a 14.4% walk rate and a 47.9% ground-ball rate.
Rockies Select Austin Kitchen
The Rockies announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Austin Kitchen. Right-hander Geoff Hartlieb was designated for assignment in order to make room for Kitchen on both the 40-man and active rosters in Colorado.
Kitchen, 27, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game with the Rockies. The southpaw went undrafted out of Coastal Carolina University back in 2019 and spent the 2020 season pitching for the independent Washington League as a member of the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies. After impressing with a 1.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 12 innings of work as a reliever in indy ball that year, the Rockies decided to bring Kitchen into the fold and assigned him to Single-A Fresno during the 2021 season.
Kitchen’s first season in affiliated ball left something to be desired, as he struggled to a 4.97 ERA while striking out just 16.6% of batters faced across 50 2/3 innings of work split between the rotation and bullpen. From 2022 onward, Kitchen moved into something closer to a full-time relief role and saw his results improve noticeably. That first season after moving out of the rotation saw Kitchen strike out a far more respectable 21.2% of batters faced while surrendering an ERA of just 3.32 between the High-A and Double-A levels, and the following season saw him return to Double-A with similar numbers across 59 2/3 relief frames. Kitchen got a taste of Triple-A action at the end of last year but was blown up for six runs in a single inning of work across two appearances.
This year, the southpaw has made 18 relief appearances at the Triple-A level that have gone much better. Kitchen sports a 3.00 ERA that’s all the more impressive given the fact that he plays in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, although his strikeout rate has dipped to a somewhat worrying 17.6% figure in 33 innings of work this year. Nonetheless, Kitchen’s performance has been enough to get him an opportunity in the majors with the Rockies, who could certainly use all the help they can get given their disastrous 5.75 ERA out of the bullpen this year, good for dead last among all big league clubs.
Making room for Kitchen on the active and 40-man rosters is Hartlieb, a 30-year-old righty who has pitched in parts of five big league seasons since making his debut with the Pirates back in 2019. Hartlieb’s big league opportunities have been relatively few and far between since the end of the 2020 season, as he’s appeared in just 14 big league games over the past four years. He’s not exactly impressed in those 22 innings of work, however, surrendering an ERA of 8.59 and striking out just 17.2% of batters faced. That includes a rough stint with Colorado this year, where he’s allowed ten runs (nine earned) on 13 hits and five walks while striking out seven in nine innings of work.
The Rockies will now have one week to either work out a trade involving Hartlieb or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Hartlieb clears waivers, the Rockies can attempt to outright him to the minor leagues, although the right-hander would have the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency after being outrighted previously in his career.
Rockies Designate Matt Carasiti, Select Geoff Hartlieb
The Rockies have designated right-hander Matt Carasiti for assignment, according to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (X link). The move creates a roster spot for Geoff Hartlieb, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.
Carasiti has pitched for Colorado in each of the last two seasons, rejoining the organization on a minors contract last winter. The contract was selected to the big league roster two weeks ago, and the righty has struggled to a 10.38 ERA across 8 2/3 innings and seven appearances.
Between these results and a 5.91 ERA in 21 1/3 Triple-A innings, it’s been a rough season all around for Carasiti, and he’ll now head to DFA limbo to await the next step. If he clears waivers and the Rockies outright him off the 40-man roster, he has the right (due to a previous outright in his career) to reject a Triple-A assignment in favor of free agency.
The 32-year-old has a 7.41 career ERA over 58 1/3 innings across parts of four Major League seasons — with the Rockies in his 2016 rookie season, with the Mariners in 2019, and the last two years in a return trip to Colorado. Carasiti has bounced around to a few other spots in his journeyman career, including stints in independent ball and with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball, as well as some time in the Cubs’ and Giants’ farm systems.
Hartlieb’s career arc is somewhat similar, as the Rockies represent his fifth MLB organization since was initially a 29th-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2016 draft. He has a 7.17 ERA over 70 1/3 career innings with three different teams at the big league level, with all but four of those frames coming with the Pirates and Mets from 2019-21. After spending 2022 in the Red Sox farm system, he then spent most of 2023 also in the minors with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate, though he did make it back to the Show for two appearance and four innings for Miami.
He’ll now get another shot as a fresh arm in Colorado’s bullpen, and any sort of good results will help Hartlieb stick on a Rockies team starved for any kind of relief help. The Rox rank at or near the bottom of the league in most major pitching categories, particularly on the bullpen side of the ledger. Hartlieb is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to be designated for assignment himself if the Rockies wish to move him back to Triple-A.
Rockies, Geoff Hartlieb Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent righty Geoff Hartlieb, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The former Pirates and Mets reliever, a client of Paragon Sports International, will presumably head to spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Hartlieb, 29, spent the 2023 season in the Marlins organization and tossed four innings of one-run ball in the Majors. The rest of his season was spent in Triple-A Jacksonville, where he notched a solid 3.63 ERA with a 23.8% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 47.6% ground-ball rate in 44 2/3 innings of bullpen work.
Through parts of four Major League seasons, Hartlieb has been tagged for a 7.17 ERA in 70 1/3 innings, due largely to lackluster command. He’s averaged better than 96 mph on his four-seamer and better than 94 mph on his sinker, generating grounders at a healthy 49% rate and missing enough bats (20.4% strikeout rate) to get by if he could pare down the free passes. Hartlieb, however, has walked 15.1% of his opponents in the Majors, which has unsurprisingly proven untenable.
The Rockies have minimal certainty in their bullpen and figure to have multiple spots up for grabs heading into the 2024 season. It stands to reason that Hartlieb will be one of many experienced bullpen options brought in on minimal or no-commitment deals such as this one. He’s out of minor league options, so if he cracks the big league roster at any point, he’ll have to stick in the Majors or else be designated for assignment and exposed to waivers.
29 Players Elect Free Agency
October brings postseason play for a handful of teams and their fanbases. Just over two-thirds of the league is now in offseason mode after being eliminated, however. As the season comes to a close, a number of veterans will hit minor league free agency.
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. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:
Catchers
- Zack Collins (Guardians)
- Caleb Hamilton (Red Sox)
- Francisco Mejia (Rays)
Infielders
- Matt Beaty (Royals)
- Brandon Dixon (Padres)
- Josh Lester (Orioles)
- Taylor Motter (Cardinals)
- Kevin Padlo (Angels)
- Cole Tucker (Rockies)
- Tyler Wade (A’s)
Outfielders
- Abraham Almonte (Mets)
- Kyle Garlick (Twins)
- Derek Hill (Nationals)
- Bryce Johnson (Giants)
- Cody Thomas (A’s)
Pitchers
- Archie Bradley (Marlins)
- Jose Castillo (Marlins)
- Chase De Jong (Pirates)
- Geoff Hartlieb (Marlins)
- Zach Logue (Tigers)
- Mike Mayers (White Sox)
- Tyson Miller (Dodgers)
- Tommy Milone (Mariners)
- Reyes Moronta (Angels)
- Daniel Norris (Guardians)
- Spencer Patton (A’s)
- Peter Solomon (Orioles)
- Duane Underwood Jr. (Pirates)
- Spenser Watkins (A’s)