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Logan Porter

Poll: Giants Backup Catcher

By Nick Deeds | February 25, 2025 at 2:37pm CDT

Entering Spring Training, there was some belief that veteran catcher Tom Murphy’s job backing up Patrick Bailey in San Francisco wasn’t entirely assured even in of the $4.25MM guaranteed remaining on his contract with the Giants. The door has opened for other alternatives even more since then, as the club announced yesterday that Murphy will miss multiple weeks with a herniated disc in his mid-back.

While Murphy is still tentatively expected to be available at some point in the first half, his availability for the start of the season is in serious doubt. With the club’s incumbent likely to miss at least the start of the season due to injury, the Giants have little choice but to seriously consider the number of alternative options currently in camp with them. The club has four catchers in camp aside from Bailey and Murphy as things stand: Sam Huff, Max Stassi, Logan Porter, and Adrian Sugastey. Sugastey is just 22 years old and slashed a meager .210/.241/.304 at Double-A last season, leaving him extremely unlikely to be called up to the majors until he’s had more time to develop. Huff, Stassi, and Porter all appear to be legitimate contenders for the job, however.

To the extent that there’s a favorite for the job, it seems that status would fall to Huff now that Murphy is out of commission. Unlike the other options in camp with the club, Huff is already on the 40-man roster after being plucked off waivers from the Rangers shortly after the new year. A former consensus top-100 prospect, Huff was a seventh-round pick by the Rangers in 2016 who blossomed into an intriguing bat-first catcher during his time in the minor leagues. Above-average offense isn’t necessarily a must from a club’s backup catcher, but given Bailey’s light-hitting, defense-first profile it’s easy to see why the Giants might be attracted to Huff as a potential complement.

A career .263/.334/.480 hitter across all levels of the minors, Huff has 78 games in the big leagues under his belt across four seasons with Texas. Unfortunately, that big league playing time has been something of a mixed bag. While he’s posted a solid 112 wRC+ in 214 career MLB plate appearances, he’s struck out at a massive 33.6% clip and largely been buoyed by a .353 BABIP that seems unlikely to be sustainable. Huff has generally been regarded as a below-average defender behind the plate as well despite a strong throwing arm and decent framing ability. That lack of defensive excellence puts more pressure on Huff’s bat, and it can be difficult for a high-strikeout profile like Huff’s to offer consistent production in a bench role.

Those potential question marks surrounding Huff could open the door for Stassi to take the job. The most experienced catcher in the backup mix for the Giants (even including Murphy), the soon to be 34-year-old has participated in parts of 10 MLB seasons, including a three-year run of regular at-bats with the Angels from 2020 to 2022. While the 2020 and ’21 seasons saw Stassi briefly break out offensively with a solid 113 wRC+, Stassi is mostly a glove-first catcher; he hit just .180/.267/.303 across 102 games in 2022 and has a career wRC+ of just 83. With +20 framing runs since the start of the 2018 season according to Statcast, however, Stassi makes up for his lack of offense with excellent defense that could pair with Bailey to give the Giants the best defensive tandem behind the plate in the sport.

Stassi comes with his own flaws, however. Most notably, he hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2022 due to a combination of family considerations and injuries. At nearly 34 years old, Stassi has reached the age where many catchers start to struggle to stay effective due to the toll the position takes on the body, and that concern is exacerbated for Stassi in particular due to both his checkered recent history and the fact that he regressed both offensively and defensively during the 2022 campaign.

Of course, that regression may have also had something to do with his career-high workload that year, an issue that would not come up in 2025 should he serve as Bailey’s backup. On the other hand, Stassi offers little upside, with even a solid rebound from his 2022 season likely ending with him being a below-average hitter. Huff offers significantly more upside, both due to the potential of his bat and because he has less than two years of MLB service time under his belt at this point, allowing him to be controlled through the end of the 2029 season.

Porter, meanwhile, stands as less likely to earn the job than either Huff or Stassi but also represents something of a middle ground between the two. The 29-year-old is the least experienced of the trio at the big league level, having appeared in just 11 games with the Royals back in 2023. With that being said, he has a reputation as a strong defender and pairs that with a bat that showed some life at Triple-A last year, where he slashed a combined .267/.370/.453 (114 wRC+) in 73 across the Royals, Mets, and Giants organizations. Given his lack of big league experience, Porter could be controlled long-term and even optioned to the minor leagues if added to the 40-man roster, while Huff is out of options and Stassi has enough service time to decline an optional assignment.

Assuming Murphy begins the season on the injured list, which catcher should the Giants pair with Bailey? Is Huff’s former top prospect status and offensive upside worth the lackluster defense and potential contact issues? Should the club gamble on Stassi’s track record of MLB success despite his long layoff from big league games and worrying signals in his 2022 campaign? Or should the club take a chance on Porter despite his minimal big league experience? Have your say in the poll below:

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MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls San Francisco Giants Logan Porter Max Stassi Sam Huff Tom Murphy

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Giants, Logan Porter Agree To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | November 6, 2024 at 9:34am CDT

The Giants and catcher Logan Porter have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The backstop is represented by Gaeta Sports Management.

Porter, 29, was briefly in the Giants’ organization last year. He started 2024 in the Royals organization on a minor league pact but was flipped to the Giants in June for cash considerations. After about a month of struggles, he opted out of that deal. He then briefly landed a spot on the Mets’ 40-man roster but was kept on optional assignment and later outrighted.

He has a sliver of major league experience, hitting .194/.324/.323 in 38 plate appearances for the Royals in 2023. He has produced some interesting minor league numbers, though not consistently. He split 2022 between Double-A and Triple-A, producing a robust combined slash line of .301/.442/.476, leading to a 145 wRC+. In 2023, despite getting called up to the majors, his minor league performance fell. He hit .232/.339/.377 in Triple-A for an 83 wRC+.

His 2024 started out strong, as he had a .319/.428/.575 batting line and 159 wRC+ through his first 138 Triple-A plate appearances. But his bat wilted as soon as he was traded away from the Royals, as he slashed .224/.318/.351 the rest of the way for a 74 wRC+ between the Triple-A affiliates of the Giants and Mets. Baseball Prospectus gives him solid grades for his minor league defense, so he can be a solid contributor at the times when the bat is producing.

The Giants have Patrick Bailey as their primary catcher but the backup spot is more open. They signed Tom Murphy to a two-year deal going into 2024 but a left knee sprain limited him to just 13 games this year. His current status is unclear but he told Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle in August that he was still in pain and seemed uncertain about the path ahead. Blake Sabol is also on the 40-man roster but he was mostly kept in the minors this year despite Murphy’s injury, so perhaps the club views him more as a depth piece.

Perhaps there’s a path there for Porter to get back to the big leagues, depending on how the offseason progresses for the Giants. If he makes it onto the roster, Porter has a full slate of options and just a handful of service days, meaning he can be cheaply retained well into the future.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions Logan Porter

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Minor MLB Transactions: 8/6/24

By Darragh McDonald | August 6, 2024 at 5:49pm CDT

The frenzy of moves before the trade deadline always has ripple effects of players being nudged out of their roster spots. 15 players were designated for assignment on deadline day and several in the days leading up to it as well. That has led to many recent waiver claims, with the Marlins claiming seven different players in the past two weeks. But they can’t claim them all, so here’s a round-up of some guys who passed through unclaimed recently.

As a reminder, players can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have a previous career outright or at least three years of major league service time. Players need at least five years of service to both elect free agency and keep their salary intact.

  • The Diamondbacks released Miguel Castro, according to his transactions tracker on MLB.com. The righty signed with the Snakes heading into 2023 on a one-year deal with a vesting option for 2024. He reached 60 appearances last year and locked in a $5MM salary for himself in 2024. Unfortunately, his results have tailed off as he has a 5.93 ERA this year. That has come in just 11 appearances as he missed close to three months with a shoulder strain. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and keep all of his money. Another club could now sign him and pay him just the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster with that amount subtracted from what Arizona pays. He has a career 4.20 ERA in 419 appearances with the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles, Mets, Yankees and Diamondbacks.
  • The Pirates sent Ryder Ryan outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. This is his second career outright and he therefore has the right to elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so. The righty has an ERA of 5.00 in his 18 major league innings. He has thrown 27 1/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.61 ERA, 15.5% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 48.8% ground ball rate.
  • The Mets sent catcher Logan Porter outright to Triple-A Syracuse, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. It’s his first career outright and he has just a few days of service time, so he’ll have to accept the assignment. The backstop was signed just a couple of weeks prior to the deadline after opting out of his minor league deal with the Giants, which had been acquired from the Royals. He was hitting .319/.428/.575 for the Royals’ Triple-A club before the Giants acquired him, but then his results tapered off. The Mets were still intrigued enough to give him a 40-man spot but the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.
  • The Dodgers sent left-hander Nick Ramirez outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has previous career outrights and therefore has the right to elect free agency. Acquired from the Yankees in early April, he spent most of the year on optional assignment. He logged 11 1/3 big league innings over seven appearances with a 6.35 ERA. In his 23 Triple-A innings since the trade, he had a 2.35 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, 3.3% walk rate and 54.5% ground ball rate.
  • The Braves have sent right-hander Darius Vines outright to Double-A Mississippi, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. This is his first career outright and he doesn’t have the necessary service time to elect free agency. He has a 5.82 ERA in 34 big league innings between last year and this year. His 2024 output at Triple-A includes 77 innings over 14 starts with a 5.14 ERA, 16.6% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 40.3% ground ball rate.
  • The Cardinals sent right-hander Jacob Bosiokovic outright to Triple-A Memphis, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty had his contract selected at the end of June, his first time added to a big league roster, but was optioned a few days later without getting into a game. That means this is his first outright and he doesn’t have the necessary service time to elect free agency. He has 43 1/3 innings at Triple-A this year with a 4.15 ERA, 28.9% strikeout rate, 13.4% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate.
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Arizona Diamondbacks Atlanta Braves Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals Transactions Darius Vines Jacob Bosiokovic Logan Porter Miguel Castro Nick Ramirez Ryder Ryan

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Mets Acquire Huascar Brazoban From Marlins

By Anthony Franco | July 30, 2024 at 4:43pm CDT

The Mets acquired reliever Huascar Brazoban from the division-rival Marlins. Infield prospect Wilfredo Lara went back to Miami.

Brazoban wasn’t the subject of much trade speculation until today. He emerged as a late target for teams seeking relief help amidst a quietly strong season. Brazoban has tossed 30 2/3 innings through 20 appearances. He’s allowing only 2.93 earned runs per nine while striking out 27.2% of batters faced. Brazoban is getting grounders half the time opponents do make contact while limiting his walk rate to a solid 8.8% clip.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Brazoban has pitched in Miami for the past three seasons. He spent a decade in pro ball before getting his first major league look. Brazoban pitched in the Colorado system and spent some time in independent ball. It wasn’t until 2022 that he got a big league opportunity, shortly before his 33rd birthday.

Since he got such a late start to his MLB career, Brazoban is in an odd spot. He’s under team control for another four seasons beyond this one and won’t even qualify for arbitration for two seasons. The Marlins were under no financial pressure to move him, but he’s also very unlikely to be pitching at this level the next time Miami makes an effort to compete. The Fish fielded offers on a number of their relievers and ultimately cashed Brazoban in for a future asset.

Lara, 20, is a right-handed hitting infielder out of the Dominican Republic. He’s hitting .244/.349/.343 across 332 plate appearances in High-A this season. He’s drawing walks at a robust 12% clip while striking out 22.6% of the time. He’s a low-level developmental flier for the Fish.

The Mets designated catcher Logan Porter  to open a spot on their 40-man roster for Brazoban. New York signed him to a split contract a couple weeks ago. They’ve kept him in Triple-A on optional assignment. Porter’s major league experience comprises 11 games with the Royals last season.

Christina De Nicola of MLB.com first reported the Mets were acquiring Brazoban. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reported Miami was getting Lara in return.

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New York Mets Newsstand Transactions Huascar Brazoban Logan Porter

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Mets Designate Cole Sulser For Assignment

By Steve Adams | July 22, 2024 at 1:52pm CDT

The Mets have designated right-handed reliever Cole Sulser for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to catcher Logan Porter, whose previously reported split major league deal is now official. Porter, who still has multiple minor league option years remaining, has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Sulser, 34, signed a minor league deal over the winter and pitched 4 2/3 innings for the Mets back in April and May. He allowed five runs on six hits and three walks with seven punchouts during that short stint. He’s spent the majority of the season in Triple-A, where he’s posted a sparkling 1.48 earned run average in 30 1/3 frames. Excellent as that mark has been, however, Sulser has also walked 13.2% of his opponents and benefited massively from a .182 average on balls in play. Even with a sharp 28.1% strikeout rate and huge 56.7% grounder rate, it’s fair to expect a good bit of ERA regression.

For one season with the Orioles, Sulser looked to have broken out as a quality big league reliever. He pitched 63 1/3 innings for Baltimore in 2021 and turned in a 2.70 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 41.3% ground-ball rate. Traded to the Marlins alongside Tanner Scott the following offseason, Sulser hit an immediate wall. From 2022-24, he’s pitched 44 MLB innings between the Fish, D-backs and Mets but limped to a 5.93 ERA. He’s still fanned just over a quarter of his opponents, but Sulser has done so with an 11.3% walk rate and with immense susceptibility to home runs (1.84 HR/9). He’s also seen a heater that averaged 93.2 mph back in ’21 dip to an average of 91.9 mph this year (both figures via Statcast).

The Mets will either trade Sulser, release him or place him on outright waivers within the next five days. Waivers would be an additional 48-hour process from the point at which he’s placed. Within a week’s time, he’ll know the outcome of his DFA.

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New York Mets Transactions Cole Sulser Logan Porter

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Mets To Sign Logan Porter To Major League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | July 18, 2024 at 12:40pm CDT

The Mets and catcher Logan Porter are in agreement on a major league deal, according to Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The deal for the Gaeta Sports Management client is pending a physical. Porter has options and won’t necessarily be added to the active roster, but it appears he’ll get a 40-man spot. The Mets will need to open a spot there to make the move official.

Porter, 29, spent most of his career with the Royals until recently. An undrafted free agent signed by Kansas City in 2018, he got a brief look in the majors last year, getting into 13 games. He was non-tendered at season’s end and re-signed with the Royals on a minor league deal.

He was acquired by the Giants about a month ago in a cash deal, but he triggered an opt-out clause on Tuesday. The Giants could have kept him by adding him to their roster but it appears they let him go and now the Mets will be the ones to give him that roster spot.

Porter hit just .194/.324/.323 in the majors last year, though in a brief sample of 38 plate appearances. His work on the farm has been far more impressive, as he has slashed .277/.401/.466 in his 1,766 minor league plate appearances. That translates to a 131 wRC+, indicating he’s been 31% better than league average.

That includes a line of .293/.390/.500 and a 127 wRC+ this year, though in uneven fashion. He hit .319/.428/.575 with the Royals but then put up a line of .253/.329/.387 after being traded to the Giants. However, that latter line was in just 85 plate appearances and the overall work appears to have been good enough to interest his new club.

The Mets currently have a tandem of Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens handling their catching duties at the major league level. Alvarez was one of the top prospects in baseball not too long ago and has handled himself well in the majors thus far, having hit .231/.305/.450 in his career for a 110 wRC+ with strong defensive grades as well. Torrens joined the club six weeks ago and has been killing it in that time, with a line of .283/.333/.547 and 149 wRC+ since becoming a Met. That’s far better than his career line of .231/.292/.367 but the Mets will probably ride the hot hand for as long as they can.

But those two are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Once Porter’s deal becomes official, they will have some optionable depth on hand if either Alvarez or Torrens suffer an injury. Porter has a full slate of options and only a handful of service days, meaning he could be a long-term piece for the Mets if he holds onto his roster spot. Porter also has some first base and third base experience, which could help him carve out a utility role at some point down the line as long as he keeps hitting.

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New York Mets San Francisco Giants Transactions Logan Porter

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Giants’ Logan Porter Triggers Opt-Out Clause

By Steve Adams | July 16, 2024 at 11:52am CDT

Catcher Logan Porter has triggered an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Giants, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. San Francisco has 48 hours to either add Porter to its 40-man roster or trade him to another team that will do so. He’ll become a free agent if neither happens.

Porter, 29, made his big league debut with the Royals in 2023 but appeared in only 11 games and took 38 plate appearances. He hit .194/.323/.324 in that brief cup of coffee. He became a free agent at season’s end, and Kansas City re-signed him to a minor league deal over the winter. However, he was traded to the Giants earlier this season in exchange for cash or a player to be named later.

While Porter’s small-sample numbers in the bigs last year aren’t going to turn any heads, he’s slashing a combined .293/.390/.500 in 223 plate appearances between the Triple-A affiliates for the Royals and Giants. He’s also nabbed a solid 26% of runners who’ve tried to steal against him (11-for-43). In parts of three Triple-A seasons, Porter is a .260/.373/.424 hitter with a 24.6% strikeout rate and a huge 14.6% walk rate.

The Giants don’t have a dire need for catching help in the majors, not with former first-round pick Patrick Bailey in the midst of a breakout year. Bailey debuted in 2023 and quickly established himself as perhaps the game’s premier defender behind the dish but did so while posting a tepid .233/.285/.359 batting line. This year, he’s erupted with a .283/.354/.430 slash that checks in 25% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. That massive step forward has cemented Bailey as the franchise’s catcher of the future.

Backing up Bailey is veteran Curt Casali, who’s in his second stint with the team. The 35-year-old isn’t hitting much, just .220/.350/.260 in 61 plate appearances, so it’s at least possible the Giants could look at Porter as a potential upgrade. If not, the opt-out clause ensures that the league’s other 29 clubs will have the chance to bring him aboard. Even if no club is interested in putting Porter directly onto its 40-man roster, there’s still value in taking the opt-out and exploring opportunities. A team with a less-entrenched starting catcher or a club that’s planning to trade away some big league catching help could offer Porter a more realistic path to the big leagues on a new minor league contract.

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Kansas City Royals Transactions Logan Porter

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Giants Acquire Logan Porter From Royals

By Darragh McDonald | June 14, 2024 at 3:20pm CDT

The Royals announced via their player development account on X that they have traded catcher Logan Porter to the Giants for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Porter was not on the Royals’ 40-man roster and won’t need to be added to that of the Giants.

Porter, now 28, has a small amount of major league experience. He got into 11 games for the Royals last year while both Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were battling injuries. Porter hit just .194/.324/.323 in his 38 plate appearances. He was non-tendered after the season and re-signed on a minor league deal.

He has generally performed well in the minor leagues but slumped last year, though he now seems to be back in good form here in 2024. From 2018 to 2022, he hit .293/.428/.497 across various minor league levels, drawing walks 16.6% of the time while being struck out at just a 21.9% rate.

Last year, his batting line fell to .232/.339/.377 in 110 Triple-A contests, but he’s cranked that up to .319/.428/.575 in 32 games this year. He isn’t going to maintain a .400 batting average on balls in play forever but he has six home runs and is drawing walks at a 15.9% clip. His overall production this year translates to a 157 wRC+, indicating he’s been 57% above league average.

Porter would have had a hard time making it back to the majors with the Royals this year, with Fermin and Perez healthy. The club also has Austin Nola on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment, as well as having Brian O’Keefe around as non-roster depth. It seems they decided to give Porter a path to playing time elsewhere while perhaps pocketing a bit of cash.

For the Giants, they have been playing a bit of musical chairs at the catcher position this year. Offseason signee Tom Murphy has a significant knee sprain and an uncertain future. It was about six weeks ago that a timeline of four to six weeks was provided but there hasn’t been an update since then and he hasn’t started a rehab assignment. Patrick Bailey missed some time on the concussion injured list but has been back for about three weeks now. Curt Casali has replaced Murphy as Bailey’s backup but is hitting just .161/.297/.161 this year. Blake Sabol is on optional assignment but plays other positions. Jakson Reetz got a brief look while both Bailey and Murphy were hurt but has since been removed from the 40-man.

There are a lot of moving parts in that group but it’s possible Porter will be the next man up if there’s an injury or if Casali keeps struggling. If Porter gets a roster spot, he has a full slate of options and won’t be able to get to one-year of service time this year.

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Kansas City Royals San Francisco Giants Transactions Logan Porter

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Royals Sign Four To Minor League Contracts

By Mark Polishuk | November 18, 2023 at 8:25am CDT

The Royals announced that right-hander Luis Cessa, left-hander Austin Cox, catcher Logan Porter, and outfielder Diego Hernandez have all been signed to minor league deals.  Cessa is a newcomer to the organization, while Cox, Hernandez, and Porter are making quick returns after being non-tendered yesterday.

Best known for his team with the Yankees as a starter, reliever, and swingman, Cessa had a 2.51 over 64 2/3 bullpen innings with New York and Cincinnati during the 2021 season.  Cessa moved back into swingman work in 2022 with mixed results (a 4.57 ERA), and things went south for the right-hander in 2023.  Pressed into rotation work at the start of the year, Cessa struggled to a 9.00 ERA over 26 innings and was released by the Reds in May.  That marked the end of Cessa’s big league work last year, as he caught on with the Rockies and Nationals on minor league contracts but continued to struggle badly at Triple-A.

Cessa’s career 4.43 ERA and 4.41 SIERA are virtually identical, so the righty hasn’t exactly gotten away with a lack of missed bats throughout his career.  Cessa has gotten by with some good whiff and chase rates despite the low strikeout totals, and he had been good at limiting heavy contact in the form of barrels prior to 2023.  Control had also never really been an issue for Cessa prior to 2023, yet his walk rates crept upwards at both the MLB and minor league levels, leaving him even less margin for error.

The 31-year-old will try to get on track with the Royals, who need pitching of all kinds whether in the rotation or bullpen.  Since Kansas City isn’t expected to be a big spender this winter, it seems likely that the team will look to bring any number of veteran arms into camp on minor league or low-cost deals, in the hopes that at least a couple of them could break out and win jobs on the Opening Day roster.

None of Cox, Porter, or Hernandez were eligible for salary arbitration, but Cox and Porter were designated for assignment this past week and ultimately cut to open up some space on Kansas City’s 40-man roster.  In Hernandez’s case, the outfielder will return for his sixth season in the Royals’ farm system, and will probably start 2024 back at Double-A.

Cox made his MLB debut in 2023, posting a 4.54 ERA over 35 2/3 innings before his rookie year came to an unfortunately early end.  Cox tore his ACL while trying to cover first base during a fielding play in the Royals’ game with the Blue Jays on September 8, and he’ll now miss most or all of the 2024 season in recovery.  It seems quite possible that a handshake deal was in place for Cox to rejoin the Royals, as he was only DFA’ed yesterday and quickly passed through waivers, so he’ll now get to rehab in a familiar environment.

Porter was another 2023 debut, as he had a .647 OPS in 38 plate appearances over his first 11 games in the Show.  An undrafted free agent who signed with the Royals in 2018, Porter hit .248/.367/.394 over 594 PA at Triple-A over the last two seasons, and should again serve as a depth option at the minor league level behind the Royals’ big league catching tandem of Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin.

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Kansas City Royals Transactions Austin Cox Diego Hernandez Logan Porter Luis Cessa

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American League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

By Nick Deeds | November 17, 2023 at 8:24pm CDT

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.
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Boston Red Sox Kansas City Royals Los Angeles Angels Minnesota Twins New York Yankees Oakland Athletics Seattle Mariners Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Adam Cimber Albert Abreu Anthony Misiewicz Austin Cox Brett Martin Cooper Criswell Diego Hernandez Jose Marte (b. 1996) Josh Staumont Jovani Moran Kevin Smith Logan Porter Lou Trivino Matt Bush Mike Ford Ronny Henriquez Wyatt Mills

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