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J.T. Chargois

Marlins To Acquire JT Chargois, Xavier Edwards From Rays

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The Rays are dealing reliever JT Chargois and infielder Xavier Edwards to the Marlins for prospects Marcus Johnson and Santiago Suarez, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).

Chargois will step directly into the Miami bullpen. The hard-throwing righty owns a 2.49 ERA through 76 innings split between the Mariners and Rays over the past two seasons. He’s fanned a solid 23.2% of opponents against a manageable 8.3% walk rate, missing bats at a roughly league average clip. Chargois missed a couple months this past season due to tightness in his left oblique, but he managed a 2.42 ERA with a huge 59.7% ground-ball percentage when healthy.

It’s unlikely Chargois will continue to strand upwards of 80% of baserunners, as he has the last two years. ERA estimators have pegged his performance more in the mid-3.00s range, but he should still be an affordable power arm in the middle innings for first-year manager Skip Schumaker. Chargois held right-handed batters to a woeful .200/.235/.385 line this year. He’s in the first of three seasons of arbitration eligibility and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $1MM salary.

Edwards, a former Padres draftee, was a key piece of the deal that sent Blake Snell to San Diego. A switch-hitting infielder, he draws praise for his top-of-the-line speed and has played almost exclusively in the middle infield as a professional. Edwards appeared among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects during the 2019-20 offseason and ranked among the top ten in the strong Tampa Bay system as recently as this year.

The 23-year-old seemed to stall out at Triple-A Durham this season, however. Over 400 trips to the dish, he hit just .246/.328/.350 with five home runs. A 10.8% walk rate and 18.8% strikeout percentage are each solid, but the Florida native didn’t find much extra-base impact. He also swiped a career-low seven bases in 11 attempts.

Edwards would have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft if not added to the 40-man roster this evening. Tampa Bay apparently wasn’t planning to do that, so they’ll deal him to a club that ostensibly is willing to put him on the roster. Moving Chargois clears a roster spot, and while it subtracts a productive big league reliever, it’s the kind of churn at the back of the 40-man roster to which the Rays have been accustomed.

In return, they’ll add a pair of further-away players to the farm system. Johnson was Miami’s fourth-round pick this year out of Duke. A 6’6″ right-handed pitcher, he signed for just north of $507K. Baseball America’s draft report noted the high spin rate on his slider and added that the 21-year-old sits in the 92-95 MPH range with his fastball. Suarez, 17, just signed with Miami as an amateur prospect from Venezuela. He made 11 starts in the Dominican Summer League this year.

Rays Designate Tommy Romero, Kevin Herget For Assignment

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The Rays announced Tuesday that right-handers Tommy Romero and Kevin Herget have been designated for assignment, thus clearing space on the 40-man roster for right-hander JT Chargois and lefty Brendan McKay to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list. McKay has been optioned to Triple-A Durham, while Chargois will step directly into the big league bullpen. Both Romero and Herget will be placed on waivers within the week, as neither can be traded now that the Aug. 2 deadline has passed.

Romero, 25, figures to be more appealing to other organizations than your typical DFA, given his relative youth, full slate of remaining minor league options and strong performance in Triple-A to this point in the season. Through 66 2/3 innings in Durham thus far, he’s pitched to a 3.51 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 37.7% ground-ball rate. That walk rate is a bit of an abnormality, as Romero turned in lower walk rates in recent years and was credited with plus-plus command in Baseball America’s most recent scouting report, wherein they pointed out that Romero posted one of the highest strike rates in the minors last year (68.8%).

Earlier in the season, Romero was working out of the rotation in Durham, and he got the ball to “start” one game with the big league club as well (albeit as an opener). More recently, the Rays have been deploying Romero in short-relief stints down in Triple-A, perhaps taking a look at him in that role for a late-season add to the bullpen. The progression of other arms on the injured list, however, has squeezed him out of the mix for the time being, even in spite of excellent numbers since sliding to the bullpen (0.59 ERA, 18-to-3 K/BB ratio in 15 1/3 innings).

A former 15th-round pick of the Mariners (2017), Romero landed in the Rays organization by way of the 2018 Denard Span/Alex Colome trade between Tampa Bay and Seattle. He’s never ranked among the Rays’ very top tier of prospects, but Baseball America tabbed him 22nd among Tampa farmhands just a few weeks ago when updating their ranking of the Rays’ system. Every team is going to have its own evaluation of Romero, of course, but it’d be somewhat of a surprise if another team didn’t claim him — particularly with so many non-contenders in need of cost-controlled arms.

It’s unfortunate, to say the least, that Herget didn’t get into a game during his brief time with the big league squad. Selected to the roster on Aug. 19, the 31-year-old, former 39th-round pick’s ascent to the Majors after a nine-year minor league grind was a feel-good story for any baseball fan, regardless of where one’s allegiance may lie. Herget surely relishes the mere call to the big leagues, the few days of service time and the few days of Major League pay he’ll receive, but it’d have been a thrill for both him and for fans to see him get at least an inning in the show.

It’s possible, of course, that he may yet receive that opportunity. Herget’s promotion to the Majors was well earned based on his Triple-A performance this season. In 80 1/3 innings, he’d logged a 2.45 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate, a minuscule 3.4% walk rate and a 34.4% ground-ball rate. A 31-year-old journeyman of this nature isn’t typically claimed off waivers, but perhaps a team in need of some immediate rotation depth will be heartened by those gaudy results in Durham and speculate on a more-or-less free look. Failing that, he’ll head back to Durham and continue the grind, hoping for another shot at the Majors that includes an actual appearance on the bump.

Rays Select Dusten Knight, Place Andrew Kittredge On IL

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The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Dusten Knight, with fellow righty Andrew Kittredge landing on the 15-day injured list due to low back tightness. In order to open a spot for Knight on the 40-man roster, righty J.T. Chargois was transferred to the 60-day IL.

This will be Knight’s second stint on the Rays’ roster this year, as he had his contract selected in the middle of April but was designated for assignment after just a single appearance. After being outrighted, he’s thrown 16 2/3 innings in Triple-A, putting up an ERA of 3.24 along with a strong 30.6% strikeout rate but elevated 13.9% walk rate.

The loss of Kittredge is an unfortunate one for the Tampa bullpen, as he’s emerged as a key cog in the relief corps. Last year, he threw 71 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 53.5% ground ball rate. He racked up eight saves and seven holds on the year as he increasingly earned higher-leverage assignments. This year, however, things have gone in the wrong direction, perhaps due to this back injury. Over 18 innings, his ERA is an even 3.00, with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 44.2% grounder rate, though he’s limited walks to just 1.5% of batters faced. The club will surely hope that a few weeks of downtime can help him recuperate and regain the form he showed last year.

As for Chargois, he was only able to make a single appearance this year before being placed on the injured list with left oblique tightness. He recently made an attempt to start a rehab assignment, appearing for the Triple-A Durham Bulls on Friday. However, he left after throwing just a single pitch, with Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relaying that he suffered a strain of that same oblique. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial April 12 IL placement, though it doesn’t seem like he’s close to a return given this unfortunate setback.

Rays Place Luis Patino, JT Chargois On Injured List

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The Rays announced this afternoon that right-handers Luis Patiño and JT Chargois have each been placed on the 10-day injured list. Tommy Romero and Ralph Garza Jr. were recalled from Triple-A Durham in corresponding moves.

Patiño was forced out of yesterday’s start against the A’s in the first inning. The team quickly announced he’d been diagnosed with a left oblique strain, and it seems that injury will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote this afternoon that strains of similar magnitude can cost pitchers around two months, but manager Kevin Cash said the team will know whether that kind of absence is in the cards next week.

It’s another hit to a Rays rotation that has also lost Shane Baz and Ryan Yarbrough to the IL recently. The aforementioned Romero now looks as if he’ll slide in alongside Shane McClanahan, Corey Kluber and Drew Rasmussen, although Yarbrough’s absence isn’t expected to be especially lengthy. The Rays also have Josh Fleming on hand as a possible starter or long relief option.

Chargois, meanwhile, is dealing with left oblique tightness. That’s not as worrisome as Patiño’s issue, but it’ll still keep him out of action for the next couple weeks. Tampa Bay acquired the hard-throwing righty from the Mariners in last summer’s Diego Castillo deal. He posted a 1.90 ERA in 23 2/3 innings down the stretch, although that came with an alarming 14.3% walk rate. Chargois joins Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks as late-game options on the Tampa Bay injured list.

Mariners, Rays Finalizing Deal Involving Diego Castillo And JT Chargois

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The Mariners are finalizing an agreement to acquire reliever Diego Castillo from the Rays, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). In return, Seattle is sending fellow bullpen arm JT Chargois and third base prospect Austin Shenton to Tampa Bay, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link).

Castillo steps in, presumably, as the piece that Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto foreshadowed two days ago when the Mariners sent breakout closer Kendall Graveman to their division rival in Houston. Castillo reinforces Seattle’s bullpen not only now, but into the future. Unlike Graveman, who is a free agent at the end of the season, Castillo will remain under Seattle’s control through the 2024 season. He will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter.

The Rays, after all, often treat arbitration the way other franchises treat impending free agency, so it’s not a shock to see them move off Castillo, much like they did with shortstop Willy Adames earlier this season.

That said, Castillo had taken on a more premium position in Tampa’s bullpen than ever before this season, slotting in as their nominal closer. In 37 appearances, Castillo marked a 2.72 ERA/3.16 FIP across 36 1/3 innings while notching 14 saves, two more than he’d had overall in his career before the start of the season.

He’s striking out more batters than ever with a very strong 33.8 percent strikeout rate. He’s limiting free passes with a career-best 6.9 percent walk rate. The Mariners will be able to slot Castillo directly into Graveman’s vacated closer role, should they so choose.

As for the Rays, they are taking yet another opportunity to restock their farm system. Shenton was the Mariners’ 12th-ranked prospect per Baseball America. The 23-year-old third baseman started the year in High-A before earning a promotion to Double-A with a .295/.418/.576 line through 273 plate apperances.

The other piece in the deal, Chargois, should step into Castillo’s spot in the bullpen, if not his exact role. Chargois, 30, doesn’t have Castillo’s pedigree, but he’s been perhaps as effective this season, pitching to a 3.00 ERA/3.19 FIP across 30 innings for the Mariners. He’s slider-dominant with a 95.8 mph sinker to compliment, utilized more heavily against right-handers.

He seems to have figured out the control problems that plagued him in his youth. Chargois has a 5.1 percent walk rate this season after posting a double-digit percentage from 2015 through 2019 while bouncing between the upper minors and Majors with the Twins and Dodgers. As a cheap, rehabilitated arm with a keen point-of-view on the mound, Chargois fits the Rays’ profile to a tee.

More to come.

Mariners Select JT Chargois, Place Ljay Newsome On Injured List

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The Mariners announced they’re selecting the contract of reliever JT Chargois. Right-hander Ljay Newsome has been placed on the 10-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.

Chargois, 30, was once a well-regarded relief prospect in the Twins’ and Dodgers’ systems. The righty has a power sinker/slider combination that allowed him to miss bats and induce ground balls at the major league level between 2016-19. Despite posting career-best strikeout and walk numbers in 2019, though, Chargois only managed a 6.33 ERA in 21 1/3 innings for Los Angeles. He then signed with the Rakuten Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but posted terrible numbers there last year, working to a 5.81 ERA with only 19 punchouts and 14 walks in 26 1/3 relief innings.

Seattle signed Chargois to a minor-league deal over the offseason, and he’s now in line for his first MLB action in two years. The opportunity presented itself after the Mariners used seven pitchers in last night’s 9-8 loss to the Rangers. Newsome left his appearance yesterday early with the aforementioned elbow injury (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). The 24-year-old swingman has a 7.98 ERA/3.56 SIERA in 14 2/3 innings this season.

Mariners Sign Taylor Guerrieri, JT Chargois To Minor League Deals

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The Mariners have signed right-handers Taylor Guerrieri and JT Chargois to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training, per a paid of club announcements.

Now 28 years old, Guerreri once ranked as one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects. The Rays selected him with the No. 24 overall pick back in 2011, and he was considered to be among the game’s 100 best prospects for the next three years.

As is the case so often with promising young hurlers, however, Guerrieri’s development was halted by Tommy John surgery. Guerrieri underwent that operation midway through the 2013 season and missed all of 2014 as a result. He’s battled other arm troubles since that time and, to this point in his career, has only topped 100 innings in a season on one occasion. He was healthy for the 2019 season, splitting the year between the Majors and Triple-A in a relief role with the Rangers.

Guerrieri tossed 28 1/3 innings with Texas that year and another 9 2/3 with the Blue Jays a year prior, but his results at the MLB level haven’t been impressive so far. In 36 frames, he’s been tagged for a 5.50 ERA with nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (27). However, Guerrieri was quite good with the Rangers’ Nashville affiliate in 2019, and he’s displayed elite spin on his curveball in limited big league action.

Chargois, 30, was a second-round pick by the Twins back in 2012 and at one point looked like he could be a future closer in Minnesota. He posted dominant minor league numbers with sizable strikeout rates and an upper-90s heater, but Chargois hasn’t yet found his footing in the big leagues. The Rice University product has just a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 MLB frames, though his 3.40 SIERA, 26.3 percent strikeout rate and 9.9 percent walk rate are a bit more encouraging. Chargois pitched with Japan’s Rakuten Eagles last year and struggled to a 5.81 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work in that tiny sample, but he has a lengthy minor league track record of success — including a 1.90 ERA in 85 1/3 Triple-A frames.

Dodgers Release JT Chargois

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Sunday: Chargois, as it turns out, has been acquired by the Rakuten Golden Eagles of NPB’s Pacific League, according to a report from Jim Allen of the Daily Yomiuri.

Saturday: The Dodgers have released right-handed pitcher JT Chargois in order to facilitate his signing with a team in Japan’s NPB, according to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times.

Chargois, 29, spent the last two years in the Dodgers organization, splitting time between the big league club and its Triple-A affiliate. In 60 games with the team, he posted a respectable 4.53 ERA over 53 2/3 innings, to go with an even better FIP (3.98). He struck out 68 batters over that same span (11.4 K/9) and was generally a fine reliever for the Dodgers, though he ran into trouble with the home run ball in 2019, allowing four in 21 1/3 innings of work.

A former second-round draft choice, Chargois broke into the Majors with the Twins after a nice collegiate career at Rice University. Since his professional debut in 2012, he’s stormed through the minors at every stop but has struggled to stick on a big league roster. The path to regular playing time would’ve again been tough in 2020, and Chargois figures to be in line for a bigger role with whichever Japanese team he’s chosen to join.

This could be the last we’ve seen of Chargois in the Majors, but then again, it’s not unheard of for American players to make pit stops abroad in hopes that their value will build with more consistent playing time. Eric Thames, Josh Lindblom, and Miles Mikolas are some recent examples of Americans who have struggled in their first crack at the Majors but parlayed their performance in Asia into another MLB contract.

Dodgers To Place Kenta Maeda On 10-Day Injured List

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The Dodgers will place right-hander Kenta Maeda on the 10-day IL before tomorrow’s game, according to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).  Maeda’s placement caps off a busy day of roster-shuffling for the Dodgers, as the team also activated lefty Caleb Ferguson from the IL and sent catcher Rocky Gale and right-hander J.T. Chargois to Triple-A.  Prior to tomorrow’s game, the Dodgers will also call up utilityman Matt Beaty from Triple-A and select the contract of outfielder Kyle Garlick.

Maeda fouled a ball off his thigh in last night’s game, and the Dodgers are thusly putting him on the IL “as a precaution,” Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets.  Since the Dodgers have two off-days next week, it looks like Maeda will miss one start at the most while he recovers from what looks like a minor injury.

Los Angeles has deployed Maeda exclusively as a starting pitcher in 2019, and the righty has delivered his usual strong results.  Though nine starts and 51 1/3 innings, Maeda has a 3.51 ERA, 9.1 K/9, and 2.60 K/BB rate, numbers that are largely backed up by advanced metrics.  Maeda is inducing soft contact on 27% of his batted balls this season, the second-highest total of any qualified starter in the game.

A 28th-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2015 draft, Garlick will get his first MLB exposure after posting a 1.002 OPS over 136 PA for Triple-A Oklahoma City this season.  The 27-year-old Garlick has a .283/.341/.519 slash line through 1678 career minor league plate appearances.

Quick Hits: Defense, Chargois, Adolfo

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How has the decrease in balls in play over the past few years affected defensive opportunities? Travis Sawchik of Fangraphs seeks to answer this question with an in-depth look at different positions on the diamond. Because of the trend of rising strikeout rates and home run totals among MLB hitters, there are fewer opportunities overall for defenders to make plays in the field. But it turns out the decrease in putout chances hasn’t spread evenly among the positions. While first basemen and third basemen on the whole have seen a similar number of opportunities, outfielders and middle infielders have seen theirs decrease significantly. Perhaps, then, this could lead to more focus on offense at these premium positions. Sawchik notes that the Indians weren’t shy about testing Jason Kipnis in center field at the end of last season, and reminds readers that the Reds are giving third base prospect Nick Senzel a test run at shortstop this spring. He also posits that there could be less of a concern with moving an “offensive-minded but large-framed” shortstop off of the position, citing Corey Seager and Carlos Correa as players of that type. Sawchik’s article provides helpful visuals that make the trends clear.

Other items from around the major leagues…

  • Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press takes a closer look at the Twins’ decision to place the once-promising J.T. Chargois on outright waivers. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted yesterday, Chargois was not long ago considered to be one of the club’s top relief prospects and perhaps a future closer. Twins GM Thad Levine says he isn’t surprised that Chargois was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers. “He’s got plus-plus stuff and he’s got an option remaining,” said Levine. “He’s got a lot of positive attributes. Probably, if anything, (I’m) maybe a little surprised he got that far in the process.” As the World Series runner-up, the Dodgers had the second to last waiver priority, meaning that 28 teams passed on Chargois before L.A. got its shot to claim him.
  • White Sox prospect Micker Adolfo will miss six weeks with an elbow injury, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago reports. The 21-year-old outfielder complained of soreness in his elbow recently, and the results of an MRI determined that he had both a UCL sprain and a flexor tendon strain in his right arm. “We do not yet have a plan for him moving forward,” said GM Rick Hahn on the injury. “In the coming days, we will. As we sit here now there is a decent chance that rehab will allow him an ample time to heal. If that does not work, surgery is an option at some point. We are not there yet.” Adolfo was rated as the White Sox’ 14th overall prospect by MLB.com headed into the season. He spent the 2017 season at Class-A Kannapolis, where he hit .264/.331/.453 across 473 plate appearances, though his .366 BABIP suggests that some luck was involved, while his 31.5% strikeout rate is further cause for concern.
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