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Gus Varland

Nationals Claim Gus Varland

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The Nationals have claimed right-hander Gus Varland off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Arizona designated him for assignment last week after signing righty Taylor Clarke to a one-year deal.

Varland, 29, is the older brother of Blue Jays setup man Louis Varland. He missed most of the 2024-25 seasons due to injury, most notably a significant lat strain. He didn’t pitch in the majors this past season but logged 26 1/3 frames between the Dodgers and White Sox in 2024, turning in a 3.42 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. Varland sits 95-96 mph with his four-seamer and complements the pitch with an 88-89 mph slider and a rarely used show-me changeup that he’s tossed at only a 5% clip in the big leagues.

Varland has generally been hit hard in the upper minors but still throws relatively hard and shows a penchant for missing bats and limiting walks at a passable clip. Home runs have been a modest issue, but he’s also been plagued by lofty BABIP numbers and low strand rates. Assuming he’s healthy now, there’s little harm in a rebuilding club like the Nats taking a speculative look in hopes that he can hold down a bullpen spot. Varland still has a minor league option remaining, so even if he doesn’t break camp with the Nationals, they can send him to Triple-A Rochester without first needing to pass him through outright waivers.

Diamondbacks Sign Taylor Clarke

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The Diamondbacks announced they’ve signed reliever Taylor Clarke to a one-year contract. They designated right-hander Gus Varland for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. It’s a $1.55MM guarantee, reports Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic. The deal includes incentives that could push the Ballengee Group client’s earnings above $2MM.

Clarke, 33 in May, should be a familiar name to Arizona fans. The Snakes selected him out of the College of Charleston as a third-round pick in 2015. He debuted in a swing role four years later and spent parts of three seasons with the MLB club. Clarke moved almost permanently to the bullpen by the shortened season and has been a full-time reliever for most of the last half-decade. He got some work as a starter with Milwaukee’s Triple-A team in 2024 but has worked from the bullpen as a big leaguer.

Arizona non-tendered Clarke after he posted a near-5.00 earned run average during the 2021 season. He landed a big league deal with the Royals a couple weeks later and spent the next two seasons in the Kansas City bullpen. Clarke posted decent strikeout and walk numbers but was plagued by an elevated average on balls in play, leading to a combined 5.08 ERA over those two seasons. The Royals traded him to Milwaukee, who ran him through waivers and kept him in Triple-A.

The Royals liked Clarke enough to bring him back on a minor league deal last offseason. They called him up by the beginning of May and were rewarded with the best season of his career. The 6’4″ righty tossed 55 1/3 innings of 3.25 ERA ball. His 21.4% strikeout rate and 10.1% swinging strike percentage were each a little worse than average. Clarke was the beneficiary of an unsustainably low .208 BABIP against him, but he limited his walks to an excellent 4.4% clip and pitched particularly well in the second half.

It came as a surprise that Kansas City nevertheless opted not to tender him an arbitration contract that would likely have landed in the $2MM range. That set the stage for a reversal of the sequence from the 2021-22 offseason. Clarke follows up a non-tender from K.C. by signing a major league deal with Arizona.

Clarke has over five years of service time, meaning he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. He’s locked into the Opening Day bullpen alongside Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel. The Diamondbacks don’t have any elite back-end arms to cover leverage situations while A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez are injured. Clarke raises the floor in the middle innings but doesn’t have much high-leverage experience. The back of the bullpen remains arguably the biggest weakness as Arizona tries to compete for a playoff spot.

Varland, the older brother of Toronto righty Louis Varland, was a waiver claim from the White Sox in August. The 29-year-old righty was on the minor league injured list at the time due to a season-ending lat strain. He held a spot on Arizona’s 40-man roster for a few months but hasn’t thrown a pitch for the organization. The former 14th-round pick has a 4.82 ERA in 42 big league appearances between 2023-24. Varland divided that time between Milwaukee, the Dodgers, and the White Sox.

Arizona has five days to trade Varland or put him on waivers. He has never been outrighted and doesn’t have three years of big league service, so he’d remain in the organization if they get him through waivers unclaimed.

Image courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images.

Diamondbacks Claim Gus Varland; Designate Kendall Graveman, Jeff Brigham For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have claimed right-hander Gus Varland from the White Sox and optioned him to Triple-A Reno. He was previously listed as released by the Sox but it appears he had not yet cleared released waivers. The Diamondbacks also recalled right-hander Juan Morillo. In corresponding moves, righties Kendall Graveman and Jeff Brigham have been designated for assignment.

Varland, 28, still has a limited track record but finished 2024 on a strong note. The Sox claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers in the second half of last year. After that claim, he tossed 20 1/3 innings for the Sox with a 3.54 earned run average, 28.2% strikeout rate and 4.7% walk rate.

That positioned him to have a nice role on the 2025 team but things didn’t go according to plan. He had a bad spring and got optioned to the minors to start the year. After just two outings, he landed on the minor league injured list due to a lat strain. That injury has essentially kept him on the shelf since then. He started a rehab assignment in June but that was shut down after just six appearances.

Varland was designated for assignment last week when the Sox selected infielder Jacob Amaya to the roster. At that point, the trade deadline had already passed. Injured players can’t be put on outright waivers. That left release waivers as the only option for the Sox.

The Snakes are playing out the string on a lost season. Their bullpen has been hit hard by injuries this year. A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez both required UCL surgeries. Kevin Ginkel is out for the year with a shoulder sprain. Ryan Thompson and Christian Montes De Oca are also on the IL. The Snakes traded Shelby Miller ahead of the deadline.

The club is hoping to compete again in 2026, which means they have work to do on rebuilding the bullpen. Grabbing Varland now could perhaps be a part of that process, if he can get healthy and back in good form by next year.

As for Graveman, the Diamondbacks took a low-cost flier on him this offseason. He was a risky play, as he missed 2024 while recovering from shoulder surgery. However, the $1.35MM guarantee on his deal was barely above the $760K league minimum and he was quite in the years before his surgery.

The gamble hasn’t paid off. Graveman has had a couple of stints on the IL, one due to a right lumbar strain and another due to a right hip impingement. Around those ailments, he has posted a 7.13 ERA in 17 2/3 innings. His 11% strikeout rate and 14.6% walk rates are both awful figures.

Since the trade deadline has passed, he’s destined for the waiver wire. Given his performance, no club will want to claim him, as doing so would involve taking on what’s left of his salary. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so the Snakes might just release him. At that point, he could sign with another club for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Diamondbacks pay.

Brigham, 33, signed a minor league deal with Arizona in the offseason. His contract was selected to the roster in May. He has mostly been on optional assignment, with just four big league appearances. In Triple-A this year, he has thrown 20 2/3 innings with a 5.23 ERA, 37.2% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.

He’ll be out of options next year and will be eligible for arbitration. The Diamondbacks presumably weren’t planning to tender him a contract, so he’s been bumped off the roster today. Like Graveman, he’s destined for the waiver wire, though a claim seems somewhat more possible here. He is presumably playing on a salary close to the major league minimum and has at least been striking batters out on the farm. His ERA is high thanks to the long ball, though pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League might be a factor there.

For his big league career, he has thrown 120 2/3 innings with a 4.85 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has 116 1/3 minor league innings with a 4.87 ERA, 32.9% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate. He is still optionable for the remainder of this season.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

White Sox Release Gus Varland

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The White Sox have released right-hander Gus Varland, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Sox selected infielder Jacob Amaya.

A release was inevitable once Varland entered DFA limbo. A trade wasn’t possible since the deadline had passed. Varland was also on the minor league injured list at the time of his DFA. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers.

He’ll now head to the open market and see what offers await him. He won’t be able to help any club in the short term. Per Scott Merkin of MLB.com, a forearm strain sent him to the IL earlier this year. James Fegan of Sox Machine reports that Varland now has a lat strain, suggesting he may be out for the rest of the year.

Clubs should still be interested in Varland as a long-term play. The 28-year-old has some major league success on his track record. Overall, he has a 4.82 earned run average in 46 2/3 innings, but his most recent big league stretch was better than that. The Sox claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers in August of last year. After that claim, he went on to toss 20 1/3 innings for the Sox down the stretch with a 3.54 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.

Here in 2025, he had a rough spring and started the season on optional assignment in the minors. He made just two appearances before landing on the IL. He tried rehabbing in June but that rehab assignment only lasted six appearances. Varland will still have an option remaining after this season and less than a year of service time. Even though he can’t help this year, teams will be interested in him for 2026 and beyond.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

White Sox Select Jacob Amaya, Designate Gus Varland For Assignment

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The White Sox announced today that infielder Chase Meidroth has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 4th, with a right thumb contusion. Infielder Jacob Amaya has been selected to take his place on the roster. To open a 40-man spot for Amaya, right-hander Gus Varland has been designated for assignment.

Meidroth’s injury actually dates back over a week. On July 30th, he was hit on the hand by a pitch from Taijuan Walker, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. The club evidently didn’t think it was a serious issue, as they didn’t put him on the IL right away. However, he hasn’t started a game since then. He did play on Sunday, entering as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning.

Presumably, the thumb hasn’t healed as hoped, so the Sox will give him some more rest. IL stints can be backdated by three days if the player hasn’t played in that time frame, which the Sox have done here, so Meidroth could be back in a week if his condition improves.

While he’s been out, Colson Montgomery has moved over from third to shortstop, with Brooks Baldwin taking over at the hot corner. Curtis Mead, Lenyn Sosa and Josh Rojas have been splitting first and second base duties.

Amaya gives them an extra infielder to have on hand. He has 62 games of big league experience, mostly having played shortstop but also with some second base sprinkled in. He’s also played some third base in the minors. He’s considered a good defender but hasn’t hit much, with a .144/.176/.158 line in the big leagues. He is out of options and got passed through waivers earlier this year. Since then, he’s been hitting well in Triple-A, with a .291/.402/.464 line in 132 plate appearances. He struck out in 28.8% of those trips to the plate but also walked at a 15.2% pace.

He’ll try to carry some of that over to the big leagues. His out-of-options status may give him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. On the other hand, Mead can still be optioned while Rojas is having a terrible season and is on pace for a non-tender at season’s end. When Meidroth returns, perhaps Amaya could stick around since he’s still relatively young and years away from qualifying for arbitration.

As for Varland, he was optioned to the minors in mid-March, ahead of Opening Day. He made two Triple-A appearances before landing on the minor league IL due to a forearm strain, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. He started a rehab assignment in June but that lasted just six appearances before he was shut down. James Fegan of Sox Machine says Varland is out for the year.

The trade deadline has passed and injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the Sox will have no choice but to release Varland. Though he’s hurt now, he could garner interest from other clubs based on his past results. He tossed 20 1/3 innings for the Sox last year with a 3.54 earned run average, 28.2% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate. He will still have one option season after this year and has just under a year of service time.

Photo courtesy of Peter Aiken, Imagn Images

White Sox Claim Enyel De Los Santos Off Of Waivers From Yankees

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The White Sox have claimed right-handed pitcher Enyel De Los Santos off of waivers from the Yankees, the team announced. The club also recalled right-hander Gus Varland from Triple-A Charlotte and placed fellow right-hander Steven Wilson on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain. In addition, the White Sox transferred righty Mike Clevinger to the 60-day IL. The veteran underwent season-ending neck surgery in July. Transferring Clevinger to the 60-day IL frees up a space for De Los Santos on the 40-man. However, the White Sox will need to make an additional transaction in order to add him to the 26-man roster.

De Los Santos, 28, started the 2024 season with the Padres, who acquired him over the winter in exchange for Scott Barlow. Across 44 games for San Diego, De Los Santos pitched to a mediocre 4.46 ERA, giving up 21 runs (20 earned) on 39 hits over 40 1/3 innings. His underlying numbers were a little more promising (3.22 SIERA, 3.91 xFIP), and he was solid for the Guardians from 2022-23, putting up a 3.18 ERA and 3.57 SIERA over 120 appearances. Nonetheless, the Padres ran out of room for him after acquiring several new relievers at the trade deadline, so they flipped him to the Yankees alongside pitching prospect Thomas Balboni Jr. in exchange for minor league outfielder Brandon Lockridge.

The Yankees quickly soured on De Los Santos, however, designating him for assignment earlier this week. Funnily enough, the final straw for De Los Santos in the Bronx might have been his outing against the White Sox on Monday, when he gave up seven earned runs to his future team in 1 2/3 innings of work.

At this point in the season, the White Sox are simply looking for live arms to help them get to the finish line. They rank last in the AL with a 5.03 bullpen ERA, and their relief corps has been even worse as of late, pitching to a 6.17 ERA since the All-Star break. De Los Santos should be more than capable of providing the White Sox with innings over the final weeks of the season, and he could prove to be quite a smart pickup for Chris Getz and Co. if he rediscovers his 2022-23 form. He will be eligible for arbitration in 2025 and ’26, should the White Sox choose to keep him around.

The White Sox claimed Varland, 27, off of waivers from the Dodgers earlier this month. Neither his Triple-A numbers nor his MLB stats are particularly inspiring, but he can serve as additional bullpen depth for Chicago. Varland has a career 5.81 ERA and 5.45 SIERA across 26 1/3 innings with the Brewers and Dodgers over the past two years. Meanwhile, he has a 7.47 ERA and 5.00 FIP in 37 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season.

Wilson, 29, joined the White Sox this offseason as part of the trade that sent Dylan Cease to the Padres. Although he put up solid numbers during his two seasons in San Diego (3.48 ERA, 4.20 SIERA in 106 IP), he has had a difficult year in Chicago. Not only is this his second stint on the injured list with back troubles, but he has a 5.71 ERA and 5.38 SIERA in 40 appearances. According to Win Probability Added (WPA) and FanGraphs WAR, he has been one of the ten least valuable relievers in the AL this season.

White Sox Claim Gus Varland From Dodgers

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The White Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Gus Varland off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. The righty was recently designated for assignment in the wake of the Dodgers making multiple deals ahead of the trade deadline. The Sox had three open roster spots from their own trades and their 40-man roster count now jumps to 38.

Varland, now 27, was able to make his major league debut with the Brewers last year after that club took him from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 draft. But he allowed 11 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings and was sent back to the Dodgers in late May.

The Dodgers selected him to their 40-man roster in August of last year but he has mostly been on optional assignment since then. He made eight major league appearances for the Dodgers last year and seven more this year. Between those and his time with the Brewers, he has a 5.81 earned run average in 26 1/3 innings with a 17.3% strikeout rate, 15% walk rate and 46.5% ground ball rate.

The Sox are surely more interested in his Triple-A output. Last year, he logged 33 1/3 innings for Triple Oklahoma City with a 2.16 ERA while striking out 29.3% of opponents and giving out walks just 6% of the time. This year, the results haven’t been as nice, but with a lot of bad luck. In 32 2/3 innings at Triple-A in 2024, he has a .372 batting average on balls in play and 18.5% home run per flyball rate, which undoubtedly helped produce his 53.1% strand rate. The 7.99 ERA isn’t pretty but his 23.8% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 44.3% ground ball rate are all decent metrics.

The Sox already had one of the weaker pitching staffs in the league and just subtracted from it by trading away Erick Fedde, Michael Kopech and Tanner Banks prior to the deadline. By claiming Varland, they can fill in some of the lost depth with potential benefits down the line. Varland still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, making him a potential long-term play if things break right for him.

Dodgers Designate Nick Ramirez, Gus Varland For Assignment

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After a busy deadline day, the Dodgers cleared some space on the 40-man roster by designating left-hander Nick Ramirez and right-hander Gus Varland for assignment.  Ramirez has previously been outrighted in his career, so if he clears waivers, he can opt to reject another outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Ramirez came to L.A. in a trade from the Yankees back in early April, and he has a 6.35 ERA over 11 1/3 innings this season amidst several trips back and forth from the majors and Triple-A Oklahoma City.  Because he has been recalled the maximum five times from the minors, Ramirez no longer be sent down again without first clearing outright waivers, so the Dodgers may be parting ways entirely by simply pursuing a DFA route.

Over 162 2/3 innings in parts of five Major League seasons, Ramirez has a 4.20 ERA, a 47% grounder rate, 18.5% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate.  He has been a pretty durable reliever capable of pitching more than one inning, and his big league tenure was highlighted by a 2.66 ERA over 40 2/3 IP with New York last season.

Varland is in his second MLB season, and he has also been a frequent visitor on the Triple-A shuttle though he hasn’t hit his maximum number of recalls.  The righty has made seven appearances and posted a 3.00 ERA in six relief innings for Los Angeles, though with more walks (four) than strikeouts (three) in that small sample size.  A member of the Dodgers organization since 2021, Varland briefly went to the Brewers via the Rule 5 Draft in 2023 and he made his big league debut in a Brewers uniform, but Milwaukee returned him to Los Angeles later in the season.

With the trade deadline now passed, either pitcher could have an increased chance at being claimed off waivers, as teams can now no longer freely pursue trades in order to add new arms to their depth charts.  Ramirez in particular might have extra appeal as a left-hander, which could make him more apt to elect free agency should he clear waivers.

Dodgers Select Justin Wrobleski

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TODAY: The Dodgers officially announced the selection of Wrobleski’s contract today and optioned right-hander Gus Varland to make room for the lefty on the active roster. The club previously cleared a 40-man roster spot by trading lefty Matt Gage to the Mets earlier today.

July 5: The Dodgers are planning to promote left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski this weekend, according to a report from Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. He will make his MLB debut in a spot start on Sunday against the Brewers. Corresponding moves will be necessary for the Dodgers to add Wrobleski to the 26 and 40-man rosters.

Wrobleski, 23, has quickly risen through the Dodgers’ minor league system since making his professional debut in 2022. He made a name for himself last season at High-A, tossing 102 1/3 innings over 25 games (23 starts) with a 2.90 ERA and 3.22 FIP. That performance helped him rocket up Dodgers prospect lists ahead of the 2024 season; Baseball America ranked him #6, FanGraphs ranked him #11, and Keith Law of The Athletic ranked him #9. All three publications agreed he was the top left-handed pitching prospect in the organization.

The southpaw received a promotion to Double-A at the beginning of the 2024 season, and he continued to pitch just as well as he had the year before. In 13 starts for the Tulsa Drillers, Wrobleski put up a 3.06 ERA and 2.98 FIP, walking just 4.8% of batters he faced. After pitching what was arguably the best game of his career to date (seven shutout innings against the Arkansas Travelers), he earned another promotion.

Wrobleski has since made a couple of starts for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Baseball Club. Although his surface-level stats leave something to be desired (five earned runs in 10 1/3 innings of work), he went at least five innings in both games and struck out 17 of the 43 batters he faced.

Although Wrobleski only has two starts at Triple-A under his belt, the Dodgers seem to have decided he is ready for a new challenge. That challenge will come in the form of the NL Central-leading Brewers, who currently rank fourth in the NL with 4.8 runs scored per game. It’s no easy task, but it helps that the Brewers have struggled against left-handed pitching this season. Their offense has a .749 OPS and 114 wRC+ against righties, compared to a .679 OPS and 95 wRC+ against southpaws.

The Dodgers have lost several starting pitchers to injury the season, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler the latest casualties. The team is currently relying on Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, James Paxton, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack as the starting five, and Wrobleski’s spot start will allow those five arms to take an extra day of rest.

Dodgers Outright Dinelson Lamet

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April 9: Lamet cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He has more than enough service time (nearly six years) to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, if he chooses.

April 6: The Dodgers announced that right-hander Dinelson Lamet has been designated for assignment. The move opens up a roster space for fellow righty Gus Varland, who has been called up from Triple-A.

Lamet’s minor league deal was selected to the active roster on April 1, and he has posted a 2.08 ERA over three appearances and 4 1/3 innings of work. While a small sample size, Lamet’s 16.7% strikeout rate was uninspiring, and he allowed a solo homer to Michael Busch during 1 1/3 frames in yesterday’s 9-7 Dodgers loss to the Cubs. If Lamet is the proverbial 26th man on the roster, Los Angeles seems willing to risk losing him on outright waivers in order to add a fresh arm in Varland, though it is certainly possible Lamet clears waivers and remains in the organization.

This cup of coffee with the Dodgers represents one of Lamet’s better stretches of pitching in the last four years, as he has a 6.63 ERA over 111 1/3 innings with four different big league clubs since the start of the 2021 campaign. Once a promising starter in the Padres’ rotation in 2019-20, Lamet has been set back by injuries and a consistent lack of control when facing MLB batters.

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