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)
Orioles Outright Josh Lester
July 26: The Orioles announced that Lester went unclaimed on waivers and has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll remain with the organization but is no longer on the 40-man roster.
July 19: The Orioles announced they’ve designated corner infielder/outfielder Josh Lester for assignment. The move clears a 40-man roster spot for Shintaro Fujinami, who has officially been acquired from Oakland.
Baltimore signed Lester to a minor league contract over the winter. The left-handed hitter had debuted with two MLB games for the Tigers last season after seven-plus years in the minors. Baltimore selected his contract in early June and has gotten him into 11 more MLB contests. He has collected four hits (all singles) and a walk in 23 plate appearances.
The 29-year-old has spent the rest of the season with the O’s top farm team in Norfolk. His .273/.326/.504 batting line over 292 plate appearances is around league average in a very offense-oriented International League. Lester can bounce around between the corner positions but is more of a bat-first player.
Baltimore will trade him or put him on waivers within the next week. Detroit successfully ran Lester through outright waivers at the start of last offseason. If he goes unclaimed again, he’d have the ability to test minor league free agency as a player with multiple career outrights.
Orioles Reinstate Cedric Mullins From 10-Day IL
The Orioles have reinstated outfielder Cedric Mullins from the 10-day injured list. Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was also called up from Triple-A, while righty Logan Gillaspie and utilityman Josh Lester were optioned to Triple-A in corresponding moves.
Mullins missed just short of four weeks recovering from a right groin strain suffered when he was trying to beat out a grounder to first base. Fortunately, Mullins had a pretty straightforward recovery process that included three minor league rehab games, and he’ll now get back into action with an impressive 45-29 Orioles team.
The outfielder has been a big part of that success, hitting .263/.356/.479 with eight homers over 224 plate appearances this season. A .319 xwOBA (well under his .362 wOBA) does hint at regression, especially since Mullins’ hard-contact rate is below average, but Mullins has traditionally outperformed his xwOBA over the last few seasons. His 12.5% walk rate is also a career best, adding a new dimension to Mullins’ work at the plate.
Despite losing Mullins for four weeks and Ryan Mountcastle for the last two weeks, the Orioles have kept winning even without these two regulars in the lineup. In replacing Mullins, the O’s signed veteran Aaron Hicks, who has experienced a resurgence since his arrival in Baltimore. The Yankees released Hicks in late May to end his eight-season run in the Bronx, marked mostly in recent years by injuries and a severe lack of production. However, Hicks has rebounded to the change of scenery, hitting .310/.412/.552 over his 68 PA in an Orioles uniform.
While Mullins isn’t in danger of being Wally Pipp’ed out of the center field job, Hicks’ production will certainly merit more playing time, giving the O’s a nice problem to have in figuring out how to juggle their several quality position players. Hicks could take some at-bats away from Anthony Santander in right field and the DH spot is somewhat available, though the Orioles like to give Adley Rutschman plenty of DH time in order to keep him fresh and to keep his bat in the lineup.
Orioles Select Josh Lester
The Orioles announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Josh Lester from Triple-A. In corresponding moves, righty Dillon Tate was moved to the 60-day injured list, and left-hander Danny Coulombe was placed on the bereavement list.
Lester was a 13th-round pick for the Tigers in the 2015 draft, and he spent his entire career in Detroit’s organization until this past offseason, when he elected to become a minor league free agent rather than an accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo. Lester’s stint in Motown at least culminated in his Major League debut, as he appeared in two games for the Tigers last season.
After catching on with Baltimore on a minor league deal, Lester has been crushing Triple-A pitching, hitting .282/.339/.549 with 14 homers over 231 plate appearances at Norfolk. Even with all of the star prospects in the Orioles’ farm system, it could be that the O’s prefer giving what might be a brief stint in the majors to a more experienced player, rather than interrupt the development of a more long-term asset. It’s hard to argue that Lester’s slash line wasn’t worth at least another cup of coffee in the Show, and he’ll provide some depth as a corner infielder and corner outfielder.
Tate suffered a flexor strain back in November and hasn’t yet pitched in the majors in 2023, but he has logged 10 appearances in the minors as he works his way back. The move to the 60-day IL doesn’t impact Tate’s timetable, as the 60-day placement retroactively applies to his initial 15-day placement on Opening Day.
Orioles Sign Josh Lester To Minor League Deal
The Orioles have signed third baseman Josh Lester to a minor league deal, according to his MLB transactions page. Lester elected free agency last month after being outrighted off the Tigers’ roster.
Lester, 28, was a September callup for the Tigers this year, getting a brief taste of the big leagues for the first time before being optioned four days later. He appeared in two games, striking out three times in his five plate appearances and failing to record a hit. He showed a fair bit of power at Triple-A, mashing 29 home runs in 621 plate appearances on the way to a .246/.311/.479 line.
Originally drafted in the 13th round of the 2015 draft, Lester spent parts of seven seasons in the minors for Detroit before finally getting his first big league action this year. He’s mostly split time between third base and first base, logging 288 games at the hot corner and 311 appearances at first.
He’ll provide a bit of corner infield depth in the upper minors for the Orioles. Although these sorts of deals often come with invites to spring training, it hasn’t been reported that Lester has received one in this case.
Orioles Claim Daz Cameron
The Orioles have claimed outfielder Daz Cameron off waivers from the Tigers, per announcements from both clubs. The Tigers added that infielder Josh Lester went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Toledo.
Cameron, 26 in January, was the No. 37 overall pick by the Astros back in 2015, when current O’s general manager Mike Elias was the scouting director in Houston. The son of three-time Gold Glove winner Mike Cameron, Daz at one point ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects at several outlets, including Baseball America and MLB.com, but has endured his share of struggles both in the upper minors and in parts of three big league seasons.
The Tigers acquired Cameron alongside Jake Rogers and Franklin Perez from the Astros in what has become an increasingly lopsided Justin Verlander trade back in 2018. Cameron has logged 73 games with Detroit over the past three seasons but managed only a .201/.266/.330 batting line through 244 trips to the plate. He hasn’t fared all that much better in Triple-A, slashing .236/.324/.398 in 1201 career plate appearances.
Cameron is out of minor league options, so if the Orioles will have to carry him on the Opening Day roster next year or else pass him through waivers at some point between now and then. For the time being, he seemingly bumps fellow righty-swinging outfielder Ryan McKenna (who does have a minor league option remaining) down the depth chart and more squarely back to the Triple-A ranks.
Lester, 28, was a 13th-round pick by Detroit back in 2015 and made his MLB debut in 2022, going hitless with three punchouts in a tiny sample of five plate appearances. He hit for plenty of power in Triple-A this past season, smashing 29 homers and 39 doubles with a .246/.311/.479 batting line in 621 trips to the plate. Lester has experience all over the infield but primarily played first base and in the outfield corners with Toledo in 2022.
Tigers Place Miguel Cabrera On 10-Day IL, Select Josh Lester
TODAY: Cabrera was officially placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to September 3. Lester’s contract was selected from Triple-A, and Meadows was moved to the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man roster spot.
SEPTEMBER 3: After tonight’s game, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that the club is going to place Miguel Cabrera on the 10-day injured list with a left biceps strain. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic was among those to relay the news on Twitter. Infielder/outfielder Josh Lester will be called up to take his place on the active roster. Lester isn’t currently on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move of some kind will be required to make room for him. That might be as simple as transferring Austin Meadows to the 60-day IL, after he announced that he will miss the remainder of the season.
Hinch says that Cabrera will miss 10-14 days but that they want to get him back to the club this year. That doesn’t leave them with a huge window, as there’s just over four weeks remaining in the season at this point. However, the club is well out of contention at this point, meaning they could probably bring Cabrera without a rehab assignment for a few at-bats if he’s able to get his strain under control by early October. The 39-year-old is in the penultimate season of the extension he signed with the club in 2014.
Lester, 28, was a 13th-round draft pick of the Tigers back in 2015. That means he is currently in his seventh minor league season, which would have been his eighth if not for the pandemic wiping out the minors in 2020. He’s never been listed as one of the club’s top prospects at Baseball America or FanGraphs but has earned his way up to the big leagues with a solid showing here in 2022. In 124 Triple-A games on the season, he’s hit 24 home runs and is slashing .242/.304/.469. He’ll be making his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.