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Josh Staumont

Reds, Josh Staumont Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Reds and free agent reliever Josh Staumont have agreed to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll be invited to major league camp this spring. The right-hander is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Staumont has spent his entire career to date in the AL Central, pitching for the Royals from 2019-23 before spending the 2024 season with the Twins. The former Kansas City second-rounder showed some breakout potential early in his career when he pitched to a 2.93 ERA in his first 110 2/3 innings, punching out 27% of his opponents along the way. That ability to miss bats was keyed in large part by a fastball that sat north of 98 mph and often climbed into the triple digits.

Command troubles have long been an issue for Staumont, however, and his location issues were compounded by injury problems as his career progressed. He walked more than 15% of his opponents in 2022-23 while arm troubles limited him to 57 2/3 innings. His average heater “dipped” to a still-strong 96.2 mph. In 2023, Staumont was eventually diagnosed with symptoms concurrent with thoracic outlet syndrome. He underwent season-ending surgery that July.

The Twins signed Staumont to a one-year deal worth $950K last winter, hoping that he could recapture some of his early-career form. His bottom-line 3.70 ERA in 24 1/3 innings wasn’t bad by any means, but Staumont sat at a career-low 94.3 mph with his four-seamer and 95.1 mph with his sinker. His once-excellent strikeout rate fell to a well below-average 17.6%, and he walked a weighty 13.7% of his opponents. He was designated for assignment prior to the trade deadline and released in early August. Staumont signed a minor league deal with the Cubs but wasn’t called to the majors. He pitched in just two Triple-A games for the Cubs’ Iowa affiliate, facing nine batters and walking five of them.

At this point, Staumont is a project and depth piece for the Reds. He’ll need to regain velocity (or learn to succeed with diminished stuff) and scale back his increasingly worrisome walk rates if he’s to get back into his 2019-21 form. There’s no risk bringing him aboard on a minor league deal, however. He’ll compete for a spot in a bullpen that just added the former Royals closer for whom Staumont served as a setup man: Scott Barlow. Cincinnati’s bullpen will include Barlow, Alexis Diaz, Taylor Rogers, Sam Moll, Brent Suter and Tony Santillan, health permitting, but there should be at least a pair of relief jobs up for grabs this spring.

Cubs Release Josh Staumont

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The Cubs released reliever Josh Staumont from his minor league contract, tweets Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. It’s not clear if the right-hander triggered an opt-out or if the Cubs simply decided they weren’t going to call him up.

In either case, Staumont returns to the market just two weeks after signing with Chicago. The 30-year-old pitched twice for Chicago’s top affiliate in Iowa. He walked five batters while recording only three outs. Staumont had run a much more impressive 16:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 10 2/3 frames with the Twins’ top affiliate earlier in the season. He clearly did not have any kind of command in his very small sample in Iowa.

A former second-round pick of the Royals, Staumont pitched parts of five seasons with Kansas City. He posted an above-average 26.2% strikeout rate but walked more than 13% of batters faced through 168 1/3 innings. The Royals non-tendered him last winter. Staumont signed a big league deal with Minnesota that guaranteed him $950K. He made 25 appearances for the Twins, working to a 3.70 ERA over 24 1/3 innings. His walks remained high and his strikeout rate dropped sharply to 17.6%, so Minnesota cut him loose when they brought in Trevor Richards at the trade deadline.

Staumont’s camp can again look for minor league opportunities for the next few weeks. He’d need to sign with a team by September 1 to be eligible for postseason play with his new club, though that’s a secondary consideration to pitching his way back to the majors.

Cubs, Josh Staumont Agree To Deal

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The Cubs have agreed to a deal with free-agent righty Josh Staumont, reports Darren Wolfson of KSTP and SKOR North Radio. The Twins released Staumont recently after designating him for assignment. He’s headed to the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa.

Staumont, 30, pitched to a solid 3.70 ERA in 24 1/3 frames with Minnesota prior to being cut loose, but his velocity was down considerably from peak levels and he managed that run-prevention mark in spite of a rough strikeout and walk rates. The now-former Twins and Royals right-hander fanned just 17.6% of his opponents — well below league-average and well below the 26.2% mark he carried into the season. The dip in strikeouts didn’t come with improved command, either. Staumont, who walked 13% of his opponents with the Royals between 2019-23, issued a free pass to 13.7% of his opponents with the Twins. His 5.06 SIERA casts a far less encouraging picture than his baseline ERA.

Even with sub-par command, Staumont at one point looked to be breaking out as a solid member of the Kansas City bullpen in 2020-21. The 2015 second-rounder pitched 91 1/3 innings out of the Royals’ bullpen between those two seasons and turned in a sharp 2.76 ERA with an impressive 29% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate. Staumont averaged better than 98 mph in 2020 and just shy of 97 mph in 2021. Injuries have since taken their toll, however. He’s missed time with biceps, knee, calf and a pair of neck injuries all since 2021, and his 2023 season ended when he underwent thoracic outlet surgery last summer.

The Twins inked Staumont to a one-year, $950K contract in free agency over the winter. They’re on the hook for the remainder of that sum, minus the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the Cubs’ big league roster (which would be paid by Chicago). If Staumont makes it up to the majors with the Cubs and impresses them, he’ll be eligible for arbitration once more this winter and could thus be retained through the 2025 season.

Twins Release Josh Staumont

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The Twins have released right-hander Josh Staumont, as noted by The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman. Staumont was designated for assignment amid a league-wide flurry of transactions on the day of the trade deadline. Staumont is now free to sign with any major league club.

Staumont, 30, was a second-round pick by the Royals back in 2015 and made his big league debut for Kansas City back in 2019. He enjoyed a great deal of success out of the bullpen with the club early in his career with a sterling 2.93 ERA (159 ERA+) and a solid 3.95 FIP in 110 2/3 innings of work through the end of the 2021 season. He struck out a solid 26.7% of batters faced, though he struggled somewhat with throwing strikes as he walked 11.4% of batters faced. That lackluster command came back to bite him over his final two years with Kansas City, as he posted a brutal 6.09 ERA in 57 2/3 innings despite a 4.08 FIP that was largely similar to his previous efforts.

Staumont’s command was the clear culprit of these struggles as he saw his walk rate spike to 15.8% from 2022 to 2023 while his strikeout rate fell a tick to 25.3%. Those additional control woes may have been brought on by injury, however, as Staumont was limited to just 20 innings of work last year after undergoing surgery to correct Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in July of last year. The combination of injury and under-performance concerns led the Royals to non-tender Staumont last November, but he didn’t last long on the open market as the Twins snapped him up on a major league deal just before the new year.

The right-hander’s tenure in Minnesota was a fairly solid one. He posted a respectable 3.70 ERA with a 3.54 FIP in 24 1/3 innings of work for the Twins, though those overall numbers are somewhat inflated by a blow-up appearance against the Mets on July 29 where he surrendered five runs while recording just one out. Prior to that disastrous outing, Staumont boasted a sterling 1.88 ERA with a higher but still strong 3.17 FIP. That being said, Staumont’s peripheral numbers leave some room for concern about the sustainability of his success going forward. While he’s generating an impressive 47.7% groundball rate this year, his 13.7% walk rate is still quite high while no longer being balanced out by strong strikeout numbers as he’s struck out just 17.6% of opponents this year.

Even so, Staumont’s solid results and previous track record of success make it easy to imagine a club overlooking his shaky peripherals to offer him an opportunity in their organization, especially on a no-risk minor league deal. With the trade deadline now in the past, clubs are limited in their ability to make moves that bolster their depth and protect against injuries, and adding an accomplished veteran like Staumont who’s been squeezed off another club’s roster is often the best way to do that in the run-up to the end of the season.

Minor 40-Man Moves: Twins, A’s, Blue Jays, Red Sox, White Sox

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With the trade deadline behind us, here’s a look at a handful of smaller 40-man transactions from throughout the day that weren’t previously covered:

  • The Twins selected the contract of right-hander Randy Dobnak and designated Josh Staumont for assignment. Dobnak, 29, signed a five-year extension with Minnesota prior to the 2021 season following a strong start to his career where he posted a 3.12 ERA (142 ERA+) with a 3.56 FIP in 75 innings of work across 19 appearances (15 starts). Unfortunately, things haven’t gone well since he inked that deal as he struggled to a 7.64 ERA in 14 appearances in 2021 and hasn’t appeared in the majors since. He was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in September of 2022 but has put up a decent 3.61 ERA in 99 2/3 innings of work at Triple-A this year. Staumont, meanwhile, signed a big league deal with the club over the winter and has posted decent numbers with a 3.70 ERA and 3.53 FIP this year but has struggled badly in recent weeks with 11 runs (10 earned) surrendered in his last 5 1/3 innings of work.
  • The Athletics selected the contract of right-hander Gerardo Reyes. The 31-year-old made his big league debut with the Padres back in 2019 but struggled to a 7.62 ERA in 26 innings of work. More recently, he’s pitched for the Angels in each of the past two seasons with a 6.94 ERA in ten appearances. Despite those lackluster numbers, he’s struck out a solid 27% of batters faced during his big league career and has a solid 3.82 ERA in 33 innings of work at the Triple-A level this year. He’ll step into the Oakland bullpen after the club dealt Lucas Erceg to Kansas City earlier today.
  • The Blue Jays selected the contract of infielder Luis De Los Santos today in order to replace Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the active roster following his trade to Pittsburgh. The 26-year-old initially signed with the club out of the Dominican Republic back in 2015. He’s bounced between the Double- and Triple-A levels in recent years with a career .217/.342/.375 slash line at the highest level of the minors, although this year he’s managed to flash a bit more offense with a solid .243/.393/.400 line and 16.7% walk rate in 28 games. The youngster has experience at all four infield spots and figures to step into the club’s bench mix.
  • The Red Sox designated right-hander Trey Wingenter for assignment today. Wingenter was acquired by Boston earlier this month in a trade with the Tigers after he triggered an assignment clause in his contract, prompting the club to add him to their 40-man roster. Wingenter made just two appearances for the Red Sox and struggled badly in each of them, allowing a combined seven runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three in 2 1/3 innings of work. Prior to that rough tenure in Boston, Wingenter had a career 5.28 ERA and 3.82 FIP in 90 games with the Padres and Tigers. His career 31.9% strikeout rate stands out from his otherwise lackluster results and could garner him some interest from bullpen-needy clubs on the waiver wire.
  • The White Sox selected the contract of left-hander Fraser Ellard today. Ellard, 26, was an 8th-round pick by the club back in 2021 and climbed the minor league ladder to reach the Triple-A level this year. In 40 2/3 innings of work this season, Ellard owns a 3.76 ERA with an eye-popping 33.5% strikeout rate against an elevated 11.6% walk rate. That big-time strikeout stuff should get Ellard plenty of opportunities in a Chicago bullpen that has been brutally bad this year with a collective 4.79 ERA, including a league-worst 6.22 ERA in the month of July. He’ll step into the lefty spot in the bullpen vacated by Tanner Banks earlier today, joining fellow southpaws Jared Shuster and Sammy Peralta.

Twins Sign Josh Staumont

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8:51pm: Jon Becker of Roster Resource reports (on X) that Staumont is guaranteed $950K. The deal also contains undisclosed incentives, per Darren Wolfson of SKOR North (X link).

12:04pm: The Twins announced that right-hander Josh Staumont has been signed to a one-year deal, and the Athletic’s Dan Hayes (X link) reports that Staumont will earn slightly less than $1MM.  Staumont was projected to earn a $1.7MM arbitration salary this winter, but the Royals designated him for assignment in November and he elected free agency rather than an accept an outright assignment. Staumont is represented by Excel Sports Management.

The righty dominated Twins hitters to the tune of an 0.90 ERA over 20 career innings against Minnesota, so the Twins have seen plenty of Staumont over his five seasons in Kansas City.  The results were pretty good overall for Staumont in his first three seasons, as he posted a 2.93 ERA and 26.7% strikeout over 110 2/3 relief innings from 2019-21.  However, a 4.07 SIERA, .268 BABIP, and an 11.4% walk rate in that same stretch hinted that some regression was coming, and Staumont’s luck turned over the last two seasons.

Staumont has a 6.09 ERA over 57 2/3 innings since Opening Day 2023, with an ungainly 15.9% walk rate contributing to his issues.  Injuries played a role in both tough seasons, yet Staumont’s chief concern is now getting healthy after a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last July.  The exact nature of Staumont’s TOS procedure isn’t known, and given how the treatment is still relatively new, there isn’t yet a lengthy track record of pitchers who returned from TOS surgeries to pitch effectively at the big league level.

Minnesota obviously felt good enough about Staumont’s recovery to give him a big league contract, and it could be a long-term play since Staumont is arbitration-controlled through the 2025 season.  If Staumont is able to recover and get back to his early-career form, he could be a very nice low-cost add for the Twins bullpen (and from an AL Central rival, no less).  The deal is also a nice late birthday present for Staumont, who just turned 30 last week.

The Twins haven’t done much beyond a few minor league signings this offseason, as the club may still be figuring how to balance both payroll cuts and a sturdy defense of its AL Central title.  A low-cost and low-risk signing like Staumont may not be a huge factor in Minnesota’s spending plans since adding inexpensive and potentially high-upside relief pitching is standard business for any team, yet naturally these are the types of deals that can pay particularly big dividends for lower-payroll teams.

American League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

Latest Moves

  • Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that the Rays non-tendered righty Cooper Criswell. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday.
  • The Mariners announced this evening that the club has non-tendered first baseman Mike Ford. Ford hit well (.228/.323/.475) in 83 games with Seattle this season but had already been designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Yankees announced this evening that the club has non-tendered right-handers Albert Abreu and Lou Trivino in addition to left-hander Anthony Misiewicz. Trivino didn’t pitch in the majors this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in May. Abreu pitched to a 4.73 ERA and 5.26 FIP across 59 innings of work while Misiewicz posted a 7.36 ERA across 11 innings of work for the Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Tigers.
  • The Twins have non-tendered left-hander Jovani Moran and right-hander Ronny Henriquez, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Moran finished the season on the injured list and, per Hayes, will require Tommy John surgery this offseason. Henriquez did not appear in the majors this year and struggled to a 5.68 ERA in 37 appearances at the Triple-A level.
  • The Angels announced this evening that they have non-tendered right-hander Jose Marte. Marte had gotten brief looks out of Anaheim’s bullpen across the past three seasons but struggled to a 8.14 ERA in 24 1/3 combined innings of work over those cups of coffee.
  • The Red Sox have non-tendered right-hander Wyatt Mills, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Mills, 28, did not appear in the big leagues this year and underwent Tommy John surgery over the summer.

Earlier Moves

  • The Rangers announced this evening that they have non-tendered right-hander Matt Bush and left-hander Brett Martin. Bush, 37, struggled to a 9.58 ERA with the Brewers this year and did not make an appearance with Texas. Martin missed the entire 2023 campaign with shoulder issues.
  • The Royals announced this evening that they have non-tendered outfielder Diego Hernandez, left-hander Austin Cox, catcher Logan Porter and right-hander Josh Staumont. All but Hernandez had already been designated for assignment by the club earlier this week. Hernandez has yet to appear in the majors during his career and slashed .245/.302/.291 in 60 games at the Double-A level this season.
  • The Athletics announced today that they did not tender a contract to infielder Kevin Smith. Smith joined the club in the trade that sent Matt Chapman to Toronto and slashed just .182/.218/.314 in 297 trips to the plate with Oakland over the last two seasons.
  • The Blue Jays are expected to non-tender right-hander Adam Cimber this evening, per Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2. A veteran of six MLB seasons, the 32-year-old Cimber struggled badly in 2023 with a 7.40 ERA in 22 appearances despite a strong 2.53 ERA in 149 appearances with Toronto between 2021 and 2022.

Royals Designate Logan Porter, Josh Staumont For Assignment

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The Royals announced that they have selected right-hander Will Klein and outfielder Tyler Gentry to the 40-man roster. Today is the deadline to add players in order to prevent them from being available in the Rule 5 draft. In order to open roster space, they designated catcher Logan Porter and right-hander Josh Staumont for assignment.

Klein, 24 later this month, was a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft. On his way up the minors leagues, he has racked up plenty of strikeouts and ground balls but has also given out batches of walks. In 2023, he pitched 64 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.62 earned run average. He struck out 30.5% of opponents in that time but also walked 12.8% of them and kept about 45% of balls in play on the ground at both levels.

Gentry, 25 in February, was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft. As he has ascended towards the majors, he has shown an ability to put the ball over the fence as well as take a walk. He spent all of 2023 at the Triple-A level, hitting 16 homers, walking in 14.2% of his plate appearances and also stealing 14 bases. His .253/.370/.421 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 103. He’s not considered an especially strong defender but has a chance to become a regular option in a corner based on his bat.

Baseball America considers Gentry to be the club’s #9 prospect and has Klein in the #22 spot. The two of them will give the club some optionable depth going forward and should be battling for their respective major league debuts by Spring Training.

But their gain is a loss for a couple of other players. Staumont, 30 next month, was a second-round pick in 2015 and had some success in his first tastes of the majors but has hit some speed bumps of late. He made 106 appearances from 2019 to 2021 with an ERA of 2.93 but a 6.09 in the past two years, walking 15.9% of batters in that latter timeframe.

In July, he underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, making his path forward uncertain. He made a salary of $1.025MM in 2023 and would have been due a raise via arbitration in 2024, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a modest bump to $1.2MM, but it seems the Royals didn’t want to bring him back at that price point.

Porter, 28, was just added to the club’s roster in September as they were dealing with injuries to catchers Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin. It seems they didn’t have him in their long-term plans, as he’s now been bumped off the roster. He had a strong season in 2022, hitting .301/.442/.476 in the minors for a wRC+ of 145, but that line fell to .232/.339/.377 at Triple-A in 2023.

The Royals will have one week to trade or outright both players. Staumont has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

Royals’ Josh Staumont To Undergo Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Surgery

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TODAY: Staumont will undergo thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, according to Anne Rogers (Twitter link).  It’s a big setback for Staumont, who will miss the rest of the season and face something of an uncertain recovery timeline, given the still-new nature of TOS procedures.  Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post recently wrote about the two different kinds (vascular and neurogenic) of TOS, and how vascular cases are by far the less-serious of the two, while neurogenic TOS surgery could be career-threatening.

JULY 14: The Royals announced today that left-hander Ángel Zerpa was reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Omaha. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Josh Staumont was sent the other way, transferred to the 60-day IL.

Staumont, 29, has been on the injured list since June 6 due to a neck strain. A couple of weeks ago, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported that he suffered a setback and would require further testing. His current timeline isn’t known, but he’ll now be officially ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which rules him out until early August. He’s yet to begin a rehab assignment, so it doesn’t seem like he’s especially close to returning anyhow. The righty has an ERA of 4.01 in his career, striking out 26.2% of batters faced but walking 13%.

Zerpa, 23, suffered a shoulder injury during Spring Training and has been on the injured list for the entire season until this point. He was able to collect major league pay and service time for the past few months, crossing over the one-year mark in the process, but that will stop for the time being. He has 16 innings of major league experience from the previous two seasons with a 1.13 ERA in that small sample.

He was stretched out as a starter during his recent rehab assignment and will provide the club with some rotation depth. He has just one option year remaining and will burn that last option as soon as he spends 20 days on optional assignment here in 2023. If he’s not quickly recalled in the next few weeks, he’ll be out of options in 2024.

Royals Place Zack Greinke, Josh Staumont On Injured List

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The Royals announced that starter Zack Greinke is headed to the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 21, with forearm tightness. Reliever Josh Staumont is also going on the 15-day IL with biceps tendinitis. Collin Snider and Anthony Misiewicz were recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take the vacated active roster spots.

Greinke last took the mound on Sunday but came out of his start against the Rays after four innings due to forearm discomfort. How severe the issue is remains unclear, but it’s worrisome enough the Royals will keep him out of action for at least the next two weeks. It comes at an unfortunate time, as Greinke had allowed only three earned runs in 16 1/3 innings over his most recent three starts. Of course, with the Royals near the bottom of the American League standings and looking ahead to 2023, there’s little reason for Greinke and the club not to exercise caution with any arm issues.

Signed to a one-year, $13MM guarantee over the offseason, Greinke has made 21 starts during his second stint in Kansas City. He owns a 4.14 ERA through 108 2/3 innings despite a career-low 13.7% strikeout rate. The 38-year-old no longer throws hard or misses many bats, but he retains elite command and has provided the club with generally solid back-of-the-rotation production. He’ll again hit the free agent market this winter.

Staumont has had a very inconsistent 2022 campaign. Long considered one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, Staumont looked to have settled in as a quality late-game reliever over the prior two seasons. Between 2020-21, he tossed 90 1/3 innings of 2.76 ERA ball while striking out 29% of batters faced. As he had throughout his minor league career, he struggled to throw strikes at times, but his power arsenal was on full display.

He’d remained generally effective through the first few months of this season, working to a 3.67 ERA with a 27.1% strikeout percentage through the All-Star Break. Things have gone completely off the rails in the second half, however, as he’s been tagged for 16 runs with 11 strikeouts and walks apiece in 10 2/3 innings over his past 12 outings. Staumont will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter and is controllable through 2025.

Misiewicz is now in position to make his team debut. Acquired from the Mariners at the start of the month, he was promptly optioned to Omaha. He’s allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings there since the trade, striking out seven with just one walk. The left-hander had made 104 MLB appearances with Seattle over the past three seasons, working to a 4.48 ERA over 88 1/3 frames.

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