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Jordan Weems

Astros Sign Jordan Weems To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have signed right-hander Jordan Weems to a minor league deal, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The righty will report to Triple-A Sugar Land and provide the Astros with some non-roster depth.

Weems, 32, was released by Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. He had signed a minor league deal with that club in the offseason and was at the Triple-A level to start the year. He logged 17 2/3 innings with a 5.09 earned run average. His 12.5% walk rate was on the high side but his 22.5% strikeout rate was decent and his 45.1% ground ball rate was pretty solid.

That wasn’t enough to get him called up to the big leagues but he has some respectable major league work on his track record. Over 2022 and 2023, he logged 94 1/3 innings for the Nationals with a 4.29 ERA. His 10.1% walk rate was a bit worse than par but he struck out 25.4% of batters faced. Unfortunately, things turned sour last year. His strikeout rate dropped to 17.9% and his walk rate ticked up to 12.2%, leading to a 6.70 ERA. He was outrighted to the minors in August and elected free agency at season’s end.

Between last year’s major league work and this year’s stint in the minors, it hasn’t been a great stretch for the righty. However, as mentioned, he was a serviceable big leaguer in the prior two seasons. For the Astros, there’s no real risk in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal to get a close-up look at him. Their bullpen has been pretty good this year but there’s no harm in adding some extra non-roster depth in case some injuries pop up in the coming weeks or months.

Photo courtesy of Mike Lang, Imagn Images.

Braves Release Garrett Cooper, Jordan Weems

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The Braves released a pair of veterans who’d been playing with their Triple-A affiliates on minor league contracts: first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper and right-handed reliever Jordan Weems. Both moves are reflected on the transaction log at MiLB.com.

Cooper, 34, is a veteran of eight big league seasons. He was a regular with the Marlins when healthy from 2019-22, quietly delivering a sharp .274/.350/.444 batting line in 1273 plate appearances over that stretch. Cooper was snakebit by injuries over that four-year period, however, spending time on the injured list due to wrist, hand, elbow and back injuries. He also missed time with a concussion and suffered a broken finger in the final days of the 2022 season.

Miami traded Cooper to San Diego at the ’23 deadline — a deal netting them lefty Ryan Weathers — and Cooper became a free agent at season’s end. He appeared in 36 big league games with the Cubs and Red Sox last year but hit just .206/.267/.299 in 116 plate appearances.

The early returns on Cooper’s minor league deal with Atlanta were good. He opened the season hitting .244/.426/.415 and drew 11 walks in his first 54 plate appearances (20.4%). He’s fallen into a slump since, slashing just .220/.238/.256 with two walks and only three extra-base hits (all doubles) in his 84 most recent plate appearances.

Cooper’s last full, productive season was in 2022, but he was a nearly average bat in 2023 and has a track record of some length in the majors. He’s a career .265/.333/.427 hitter overall, and his right-handed bat plays particularly well against lefties: .283/.333/.468. Teams looking for help at first base — such as Cooper’s old Red Sox club — or just a veteran bat on the bench could take a speculative look now that he’s a free agent.

Similarly, the 32-year-old Weems had a nice start in Gwinnett before falling into a rough patch. The former A’s and Nationals righty tossed 9 2/3 innings with a 2.79 ERA and 12-to-5 K/BB ratio in April but has now yielded runs in five of his past six outings. Since the calendar flipped to May, Weems has surrendered seven earned runs in eight frames and fanned just 15.4% of opponents (compared to 29.3% in April). He’s now sitting on a 5.09 ERA in 17 2/3 innings this year.

Weems has logged big league time in each of the past five seasons and was a consistent presence in the Nats’ bullpen from 2022-24. His year-to-year ERA marks were a rollercoaster that evened out with a combined 5.03 through 136 innings during his time in D.C. The righty fanned 23% of opponents against a 10.8% walk rate with Washington.

Weems’ best year both with the Nationals and in his major league career on the whole came in 2023, when he pitched 54 2/3 innings with a 3.62 earned run average, a 25.7% strikeout rate and a 12.4% walk rate. Manager Dave Martinez typically used Weems in lower-leverage middle relief situations throughout his time as a National.

Braves, Jordan Weems Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Braves have agreed to a minor league deal with free agent righty Jordan Weems, per MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee in spring training. Weems is represented by O’Connell Sports Management.

Weems, who just turned 32, has spent the past three seasons with the Nationals, for whom he’s totaled 136 innings with a 5.03 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate and 10.8% walk rate out of the bullpen. He’s averaged 96.4 mph on his heater during that time, primarily coupling the pitch with a slider that’s averaged 87.7 mph in that same span. Washington passed Weems through waivers back in August, and he became a free agent following the season, as was his right as an outrighted player with three-plus years of big league service time.

Weems’ most effective season came with the Nats in 2023, when he pitched a career-high 54 2/3 big league innings with a 3.62 ERA and 25.9% strikeout rate. That solid showing was bookended by a pair of rough years with ERAs north of 5.00, however. During his three years with the Nationals organization, he’s also pitched to a 3.27 earned run average in 77 Triple-A frames.

The Braves have clearly been operating on a tight budget this winter, looking to stockpile depth in the outfield and bullpen on low-cost deals. Weems joins Enoli Paredes and Ray Kerr as non-roster invitees who’ve signed in the wake of Joe Jimenez’s knee surgery, which will cost the righty most and possibly all of the 2025 season. (Kerr is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will be out until the summer as well.) Atlanta has also inked outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and righty Connor Gillispie to split (non-guaranteed) major league contracts with low salaries.

At present, RosterResource projects the Braves for a $201MM payroll with just over $217MM of luxury obligations. That places Atlanta about $30MM shy of where it ended the 2024 season in terms of payroll — and nearly $60MM shy of last year’s luxury tax ledger. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said earlier this month that his club is willing to pay the luxury tax for what would be a third consecutive season, but to this point anyhow, most of Atlanta’s transactions have centered around scaling back spending and compiling affordable depth. That doesn’t preclude an eventual free agent strike of note and/or an impactful trade, but there’s been little to no inkling of such talks for Atlanta so far in the offseason.

34 Players Elect Free Agency

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

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

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Nationals Outright Jordan Weems

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The Nationals announced Friday that right-hander Jordan Weems cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment a couple days back. Weems has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, should he choose.

The 31-year-old Weems has logged 136 innings out of the Nats’ bullpen dating back to 2022, sandwiching a sharp 2023 campaign between a pair of tough seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s been tagged for a grim 6.70 ERA with career-worst 17.9% and 12.2% strikeout and walk rates, respectively, in 2024. He’s just one year removed from a 3.62 earned run average, 25.9% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate in 54 2/3 innings, however. In 155 2/3 career innings between the A’s, D-backs and Nats, Weems has a 5.26 ERA.

Now that he’s cleared waivers, Weems can choose between free agency and reporting to Rochester. If he stays in the Nats organization, he’d have the right to become a minor league free agent at season’s end anyhow, as is true of all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a major league roster and not added back by the end of the season.

Nationals Release Harold Ramirez

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August 14: Washington announced on Wednesday that they’ve placed Ramirez on unconditional release waivers.

August 13: The Nationals announced that they have selected the contracts of infielder Andrés Chaparro and right-hander Orlando Ribalta, two moves that were previously reported. In corresponding moves, they designated infielder/outfielder Harold Ramírez and right-hander Jordan Weems for assignment.

Ramirez, 29, enjoyed a pair of productive seasons with the 2022-23 Rays, hitting a combined .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, but he stumbled badly out of the gates in 2024 and yet to recover. The righty swinger posted a nice .268 batting average in 169 plate appearances with Tampa Bay but couldn’t couple that with any on-base or extra-base value; he managed only a .284 OBP and slugged just .305. Ramirez was designated for assignment on June 7 and released after no team wanted to acquire/claim the remainder of his $3.8MM salary.

Following his release, Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Nats and was back in the majors just a couple weeks after his release. He’s appeared in 25 games with Washington but hasn’t fared much better at the plate, hitting .243/.273/.365 in 77 plate appearances. The rebuilding Nationals will now use his roster spot to take a look at the younger Chaparro — another right-handed bat that they acquired in the deadline trade sending reliever Dylan Floro to Arizona.

Weems, 31, has been a regular presence in the Washington bullpen since 2022. He’s piled up 136 innings as a Nat but logged a combined 5.03 ERA in that time. Weems sandwiched an impressive 2023 showing between a pair of lackluster seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s pitched 41 2/3 innings this season but been rocked for a 6.70 ERA with a career-low 17.9% strikeout rate and a career-worst 12.2% walk rate (excluding the 20% walk rate he notched in 5 2/3 innings back in 2021).

Weems reached three years of big league service in 2024 and is out of minor league options. That means the Nats would’ve had to tender him a raise in arbitration this winter and carry him on the big league roster to begin the 2025 season. They’ll instead move on from the right-hander and, as with Ramirez, turn that roster spot over to a more youthful option who’s posted some interesting numbers in the minors this year.

With the trade deadline now behind us, the Nationals’ only course of action with Ramirez and Weems will be to place them on either outright waivers or release waivers. The other 29 clubs will all have a chance to claim them. (Ramirez’s salary is still being paid by the Rays, so he’d only cost a new team the prorated league minimum.) Both will have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, by virtue of their MLB service time.

Nationals Designate Andres Machado For Assignment

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June 6: The Nationals have now made these moves official.

June 5, 1:28pm: The Nationals are recalling righty Jordan Weems from Triple-A in a corresponding move to the Machado DFA, per Talk Nats (Twitter link). Weems is already on the 40-man roster, so the Nats’ 40-man will simply drop to a count of 39 players for the time being. It’ll be Weems’ second stint of the season with the Nats. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames earlier in the year and has a 3.75 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in 24 Triple-A innings.

9:29am: The Nationals designated right-hander Andres Machado for assignment Sunday, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post, although the team has not yet announced the move or a replacement for Machado in the bullpen.

Machado, 30, was an oft-used member of the Washington bullpen in 2021-22, appearing in 91 games and pitching to a 3.41 ERA in 95 innings. Those solid bottom-line results came despite pedestrian strikeout and walk rates (18.8% and 9.9%, respectively) and came with a well below-average .261 average on balls in play, contributing to some far less favorable grades from fielding independent metrics (4.56 FIP, 4.45 SIERA).

They also likely aided in the Nationals’ successful effort to pass Machado through waivers unclaimed back in January, when he was designated for assignment after the team signed outfielder Corey Dickerson to a one-year contract. Machado remained with the organization and was selected back to the big league roster at the end of April.

It’s been a tough go for the right-hander since his return. Machado has appeared in 14 games and been clobbered for 16 runs on 25 hits and six walks in 17 innings. He’s punched out just 15.4% of his opponents against a 6.4% walk rate, and opposing hitters have already connected for six home runs — more than half the number he allowed (11) in total from 2021-22.

Machado is throwing harder than ever before, averaging 96.8 mph on his fastball this season, but the uptick in velocity hasn’t done him any favors. Machado has seen a slider that ranked as his best pitch in 2021 hit increasingly hard across the past two seasons, which has prompted him to instead favor his changeup as his primary secondary offering. The changeup has been a good pitch for him this year, but his four-seamer, sinker and now-seldom-used slider have all been hit hard.

The Nats will have a week to trade Machado or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team to acquire him would need to carry him on the big league roster. Because he was also outrighted back in January, Machado would have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency even if he once again goes unclaimed on waivers.

Nationals Select Jordan Weems, Designate Austin Voth

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The Nationals announced a series of roster moves this afternoon. Washington selected reliever Jordan Weems onto the big league roster, designating righty Austin Voth for assignment in a corresponding transaction. The Nats also optioned Andres Machado to Triple-A Rochester and recalled southpaw Francisco Pérez. Washington also announced that righty Aaron Sanchez has cleared outright waivers and elected minor league free agency.

Weems is headed to the majors for the third consecutive season. The right-hander broke into the big leagues with the A’s in 2020, then split last year between the Oakland and Diamondbacks organizations. He had some success during his debut campaign, posting a 3.21 ERA through 14 innings. Weems walked an alarming 12.1% of opponents, but he induced swinging strikes at a strong 13.1% clip and fanned more than three in every ten batters faced.

The following year proved a significantly greater struggle, however. Opposing lineups tagged the former third-round pick for ten runs in 5 2/3 innings, and he saw his swinging strike numbers dip precipitously. Arizona grabbed Weems off waivers from Oakland in July but outrighted him off their roster themselves a month later. He continued to struggle down the stretch in Triple-A and reached minor league free agency at the end of the season.

Washington brought the 29-year-old aboard via non-roster deal in Spring Training. Assigned to Rochester to open the season, he’s earned his way back with an excellent showing. Weems has a 3.38 ERA across 24 innings of relief for the Red Wings, showcasing the best underlying numbers of his career in the process. He’s punched out 33.7% of opposing hitters while walking batters at just a 5.3% rate — a marked improvement over his 11.4% career mark in the minors. Weems still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so the Nats can rotate him on and off the active roster without exposing him to waivers if they’re willing to keep him on the 40-man roster.

Voth has pitched in the big leagues for Washington in each of the last five years. A former fifth-round draftee, he reached the majors midway through the 2018 campaign. He’s worked as a swing option in the seasons since then, starting fairly frequently through 2020 but transitioning primarily into a multi-inning relief role over the past two years. Voth had a nice showing in 2019, posting a 3.30 ERA with quality strikeout and walk numbers through 43 2/3 frames, but he’s struggled in the trio of seasons since then.

The right-hander was a consistent member of the rotation during the abbreviated 2020 season, but he allowed more than six earned runs per nine innings while dealing with significant home run issues. The longball has continued to be a problem even after Voth’s bullpen transfer. Going back to the start of 2021, he’s allowed 1.7 homers per nine. Along the way, he’s posted a 6.51 ERA through 76 frames. That includes a 10.13 mark this season, with Voth allowing multiple runs in each of his last five outings.

Those struggles mounted to the point that Washington decided to move on. The 29-year-old is out of options, so a DFA was the only means for taking him off the active roster. He’ll now be traded or waived in the coming week.

Voth has more than three years of MLB service time, so he’d have the right to refuse a minor league assignment if he clears waivers. That’d require forfeiting the remainder of his $875K salary, however, making it likelier he’d accept an outright to Rochester if another club doesn’t take a shot on him.

Sanchez, meanwhile, was designated for assignment over the weekend. The right-hander was hit hard over seven big league starts after signing a minor league deal during Spring Training. He’ll presumably head out in search of another non-roster pact elsewhere. Sanchez has more than five years of service, so he’ll collect the remainder of his prorated $2MM salary in spite of his refusal of the outright assignment. Any signing team would only owe him the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum for time spent in the majors the rest of the season.

Nationals Sign Jordan Weems To Minor League Contract

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The Nationals have signed right-hander Jordan Weems to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned.  The contract contains an invitation to the Nationals’ big league Spring Training camp, once that camp eventually opens after the lockout ends.

A veteran of 11 professional seasons, Weems made his MLB debut in 2020, posting a 3.21 ERA over 14 innings out of the Athletics’ bullpen.  That solid performance didn’t carry over into a smaller sample size last season, as Weems had a 15.88 ERA over 5 2/3 total big league innings with the A’s and Diamondbacks.  Arizona claimed Weems off waivers in July but only used him in two Major League games before outrighting him off their 40-man roster in August.

It was a tough season all around for Weems, who also had a 7.31 ERA over 28 1/3 combined innings at the Triple-A level with the Athletics’ and Diamondbacks’ top affiliates.  Weems also saw a lot of shuttling back and forth between the majors and Triple-A, and he spent some time on the injured list with Triple-A Reno.

He’ll now look for a fresh start with Washington, and join a notable list of other newly-acquired pitchers (including Luis Avilan, Carl Edwards Jr., Victor Arano and more) competing in camp for a spot in the Nationals’ bullpen.  Weems has a live fastball, though control has been an issue throughout his pitching career.  This perhaps isn’t all that surprising since Weems only became a pitcher in 2016, after spending his first five minor league seasons as a catcher in the Red Sox farm system.

Diamondbacks Outright Jordan Weems

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The Diamondbacks announced that reliever Jordan Weems has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Reno. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster.

Arizona claimed Weems off waivers from the Athletics last month. He’s only made two big league appearances with the D-Backs after pitching in five games for Oakland earlier in the year. Between the two clubs, the righty worked 5 2/3 innings of ten-run ball, striking out seven and issuing six walks. It’s been a disappointing follow-up to a promising showing in brief work in 2020, when Weems posted a 3.21 ERA over fourteen frames with a massive 31% strikeout rate.

Weems doesn’t have the requisite service time to reject an outright assignment, so he’ll remain in Reno — where he’s spent the past few weeks after being optioned. The 28-year-old will look to pitch his way back into the majors before the end of the season. If he’s not reselected onto the 40-man roster before the end of the year, Weems will have the right to elect minor league free agency this offseason.

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