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34 Players Become Free Agents

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The Wild Card round of the 2022 postseason begins today, but for the majority of teams and players, the offseason is now underway. With that will come plenty of roster formalities, including veteran players who’ve been outrighted off their respective teams’ rosters reaching minor league free agency. This week, there have been 34 such instances throughout the league, per the transactions log at MiLB.com.

None of these are a surprise, to be clear. Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of Major League service time, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minors has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group of players falls under that umbrella. The majority of the group will likely find minor league deals over the winter, although a few of the players in question could potentially find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

There will be several more waves of players of this ilk, and we’ll make note of them in bunches over the coming weeks as we await the launch of Major League free agency, when all unsigned players with at least six years of Major League service time will reach the open market. For now, here’s the first of what will likely be several waves of newly minted minor league free agents:

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Pitchers

Reds Outright Luke Farrell To Triple-A

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TODAY: Farrell cleared waivers, and he chose to accept his outright assignment to Triple-A.

SEPTEMBER 15: The Reds announced they’ve designated reliever Luke Farrell for assignment. Cincinnati also placed righty Justin Dunn on the 15-day injured list with tightness in his throwing shoulder. Dauri Moreta and Raynel Espinal were recalled from Triple-A Louisville to take the vacated active roster spots. Cincinnati’s 40-man roster tally drops to 39.

Farrell’s stint with Cincinnati lasted less than a week, as he was just added off waivers from the division-rival Cubs on September 9. He made two appearances in a Red uniform, working four innings and surrendering five runs (four earned) while walking four and striking out five. He’d previously tossed 11 frames with the Cubs, starting two of his four appearances for the North Siders. Between the two clubs, he has a 5.40 ERA with a 20% strikeout percentage and a 10% walk rate.

The 2022 campaign has been Farrell’s sixth straight year logging some big league action. He’s appeared with five different teams (including two separate stints each with the Cubs and Reds), compiling an even 5.00 ERA in 102 2/3 innings. Farrell has a solid 23.3% strikeout rate and 10.2% swinging strike percentage over that time, but he’s also issued walks at an elevated 11.7% clip and surrendered nearly two home runs per nine innings.

Farrell is out of minor league option years, so the Reds had to designate him for assignment to remove him from the big league bullpen. He’ll land on waivers for the second time in the past week. If he goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to refuse a minor league assignment and elect free agency, as he’s previously been outrighted in his career.

Dunn was acquired from the Mariners in Spring Training as part of the Jesse Winker/Eugenio Suárez trade. The former first-round pick was battling shoulder discomfort at the time — the Reds were aware of the issue before making the deal — and he spent the first three months of the season on the injured list. Dunn made his Cincinnati debut on August 8, and he’s started seven games for the club over the past month and a half. They’ve not gone well, as he’s surrendered more than three home runs per nine innings with mediocre strikeout and walk rates (15.2% and 12.3%, respectively) en route to a 6.10 ERA.

Renewed shoulder issues now send the 26-year-old back to the IL. With only three weeks remaining in the season, it’s possible this will conclude what has mostly been a lost year. Dunn will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, leaving the Reds to decide whether they want to tender him a contract.

Reds Claim Luke Farrell

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The Reds have claimed righty Luke Farrell off waivers from the Cubs, per a team announcement. Cincinnati already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move wasn’t required.

Farrell, 31, has spent parts of six seasons in the big leagues. This will be his second stint with the Reds, for whom he pitched in nine games back in 2017. The son of former Red Sox skipper John Farrell, Luke has totaled 98 2/3 innings at the MLB level and posted a 4.83 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate. He’d tossed 11 innings with the Cubs this season, allowing five runs on a dozen hits and three walks with nine punchouts.

Two of Farrell’s four appearances with the Cubs were starts, and he worked multiple innings in every outing with Chicago dating back to late August. He’s maxed out at 71 pitches during this stretch, so he could give the Reds an option to make a spot start, if needed, or otherwise provide some length in the bullpen. Farrell is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent down to Triple-A without first clearing waivers; he’d need to be designated for assignment if Cincinnati wishes to remove him from the 28-man roster at any point.

Cubs Make Series Of Roster Moves

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The Cubs have activated left-hander Wade Miley from the 60-day injured list, per reporter Mark Gonzales. Right-hander Luke Farrell was designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Additionally, Gonzales relays that catcher Willson Contreras has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 3. He’s been dealing with an ankle injury of late. Outfielder Michael Hermosillo has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list to take his place on the active roster, with right-hander Nicholas Padilla getting designated for assignment to open up a 40-man spot.

Farrell, 31, is in his sixth MLB season, having pitched for the Royals, Reds, Rangers and Twins, in addition to the Cubbies. However, he’s logged just 98 2/3 innings over those six campaigns, with a 4.83 ERA, 23.3% strikeout rate, 11.4% walk rate and 31.8% ground ball rate. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs this year, getting selected in August. He’s thrown 11 MLB innings on the season with a 4.09 ERA. In 59 Triple-A innings, he has a 5.03 ERA for the year.

Miley, 35, will be looking for a strong finish to a frustrating season. Due to both elbow and shoulder issues, Miley has spent much of the season on the injured list and has made only four starts this year. That’s come on the heels of a tremendous 2021 season with the Reds that saw him throw 163 innings with a 3.37 ERA. The Reds could have kept him around via a $10MM club option but instead put him on waivers and saw the Cubs snatch him up. Chicago was surely hoping for Miley to act as a veteran stabilizer in a rotation experiencing much turnover as part of the club’s rebuild. Instead, he’s been absent for much of the year while trying to get healthy. He recently spoke to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times about his intention to continue pitching. The Cubs are well out of postseason contention, but Miley will have the remaining four weeks of the regular season to showcase his arm before the offseason begins.

Contreras, 30, hasn’t played in a week due to this lingering ankle issue. The Cubs didn’t place him on the IL until now, likely hoping that a few days’ rest would help it go away. However, that doesn’t seem to have happened, based on today’s move. Because it was backdated, Contreras could potentially return in a week if he heals up. Like Miley, Contreras is an impending free agent, which made him a clear trade candidate prior to the deadline. However, he ended up sticking with Chicago in one of the more shocking developments of early August. This ankle injury will be a snag on what has been the best season of his career. Contreras has hit 21 home runs and is slashing .246/.351/.471. The resulting 132 wRC+ and 3.1 fWAR are both career highs. Like Miley, he’ll be looking to get back on the field before the offseason kicks into gear. With Contreras out of action, Yan Gomes will likely get the bulk of the playing time behind the plate, with P.J. Higgins on hand as a backup.

Padilla, 25, was selected to the big league roster for the first time just two weeks ago. He made just a single MLB appearance, having spent most of his time this year in the minors. He’s thrown 47 innings on the farm this year across three different levels, registering a 2.11 ERA with a strong 30.5% strikeout rate but a high 13.7% walk rate. Given his youth, years of control and full slate of options, he could hold appeal for a team looking for some bullpen depth. He and Farrell will each be placed on waivers in the coming days, since the trade deadline has already passed.

Cubs Select Luke Farrell

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AUGUST 24: Chicago has formally selected Farrell’s contract, relays Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune (on Twitter). Hendricks, who is unlikely to pitch again this season after revealing the presence of a small capsule tear in his throwing shoulder, was indeed transferred to the 60-day IL to create the 40-man roster spot. Chicago also placed southpaw Steven Brault on the 15-day IL with a should strain, recalled reliever Kervin Castro from Iowa, optioned Anderson Espinoza and sent Padilla back to Triple-A after yesterday’s doubleheader.

AUGUST 23: The Cubs are adding right-hander Luke Farrell to the big league roster before tomorrow evening’s game against the Cardinals, manager David Ross told reporters (including Tim Stebbins of NBC Sports Chicago). He’ll get the start for the contest.

It’ll be the first MLB outing of the season for Farrell, who signed a minor league deal in April. He’s spent the entire season at Triple-A Iowa, starting 11 of his 17 outings. Over 59 innings, Farrell has a 5.03 ERA with a below-average 19% strikeout rate and a higher than average 10.9% walk percentage. It’s the first extended rotation stretch for the Northwestern product since 2018, also a stint in the Chicago farm system.

Farrell has come out of the bullpen for 58 of his 63 big league outings, working 87 2/3 innings between the Royals, Reds, Cubs, Rangers and Twins. He owns a 4.93 ERA at the major league level, including a 4.74 mark in 20 outings with Minnesota last season. Farrell typically runs solid swing-and-miss rates, but he’s had spotty control and given up quite a few home runs at the major league level.

The Cubs will need to formally select Farrell’s contract tomorrow. He’ll be the third pitcher added to the 40-man roster in two days, as Chicago also brought up Javier Assad and Nicholas Padilla today. Those transactions brought the 40-man to full capacity, but the Cubs could easily transfer either Kyle Hendricks or Wade Miley to the 60-day injured list to free a spot.

Cubs Sign Luke Farrell

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The Cubs have signed Luke Farrell, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America.  This is Farrell’s second stint in Wrigleyville, as he previously pitched for the organization in 2018, tossing 31 1/3 innings at the big league level.

Farrell has seen action in each of the last five MLB seasons, amassing 87 2/3 career innings with five different clubs.  Most recently, the righty pitched for the Twins in 2021, posting a 4.74 ERA, 22.1% strikeout rate, and 11.5% walk rate over 24 2/3 innings of work, as Farrell missed over two months recovering from a right oblique strain.

Problems with walks and home runs have kept Farrell from enjoying consistent success at the big league level, though he has shown flashes of impressive strikeout ability in both the majors and minors.  Farrell has worked mostly as a starter in the minors but has only started five of his 63 career Major League contests.

Farrell joins a long list of experienced pitchers in Chicago’s farm system, as the Cubs have stocked up on seasoned hurlers to augment what had been a very young bullpen mix.  He’ll provide some depth for a Cubs team that continues to add as many pitchers as possible to cover innings.

Players Recently Electing Free Agency

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As the offseason gets underway, players around baseball continue to elect minor league free agency.  While the threshold for big league free agency (six-plus years of Major League service time) is well known, there are several methods of qualifying for minor league free agency.  The most common criteria: players with 3+ years of MLB service time who have been outrighted off their teams’ 40-man rosters this season, players who have been outrighted off a 40-man roster multiple times in their career, or unsigned players not on a 40-man roster who have spent parts of at least seven seasons on a minor league roster or injured list.

Each of these players has recently hit the open market in the last few days, according to the official transactions pages for both Triple-A East and Triple-A West.

Twins Outright Six Players

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The Twins have outrighted six players off their 40-man roster after they went unclaimed on waivers, as first noted on the transactions page at MLB.com. Right-handers Kyle Barraclough, Nick Vincent, Ian Gibaut and Luke Farrell were all removed from the roster, as were lefty Andrew Albers and infielder Drew Maggi.

All of the players dropped from the roster today will be eligible to become free agents. The 30-year-old Farrell spent more time in the big leagues than any of the bunch this season, tossing 24 2/3 innings with a 4.74 ERA, a 22.1 percent strikeout rate and an 11.5 percent walk rate. It was the fifth straight season with some Major League action for Farrell, although the Twins are already his fifth big league team as well. In 87 2/3 innings at the MLB level, Farrell carries a 4.93 ERA.

Vincent, 35, is the most experienced of the group, having accrued more than seven full years of Major League service time across the past 10 seasons. He held opponents to just one run in 12 2/3 innings, albeit with a tepid 19.1 percent strikeout rate, a higher-than-average 10.6 percent walk rate and a fastball that averaged just 89.3 mph. Vincent was set to become a free agent anyway, based purely on service time, so his outright is largely a formality.

The 31-year-old Barraclough worked in a setup role for the Marlins from 2015-18, logging 218 2/3 innings of 3.21 ERA ball with a hefty 29.8 percent strikeout rate but also a bloated 14.3 percent walk rate. He’s bounced around the league a good bit since that time, and in 13 frames with Minnesota this season allowed eight runs on 12 hits and eight walks with 18 strikeouts — a 5.54 ERA on the whole.

Albers, 36, returned for a third stint with the Twins and was tagged for 16 runs in 19 innings (7.58 ERA) in a late-season call back to the big leagues. He had a solid year in the rotation for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate, logging a 3.88 ERA in 102 innings. Albers had spent the three prior seasons pitching with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, logging a 4.02 ERA in 266 1/3 innings.

Gibaut, 27, only pitched 6 2/3 big league innings with the Twins. He held opponents to a pair of runs in that time but spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A St. Paul, where he posted an unsightly 6.80 ERA with a solid 26 percent strikeout rate against a 10.1 percent walk rate. He’s now seen MLB time with the Rays, Rangers and Twins but only managed a 5.40 ERA in 33 1/3 innings.

Maggi, 32, had his contract selected to the Majors late in the season, but the Twins somewhat surprisingly didn’t get the veteran minor leaguer into what would’ve been the first big league game of his career. He’s spent two seasons in their system and turned in a .252/.354/.456 batting line with a career-best 16 home runs and a dozen stolen bases while playing shortstop, second base, third base and left field in Triple-A this year.

Today’s slate of subtractions will help to open roster space for a Twins club that finished the year with eight players needing to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list. They’ll still need to open a couple more spots to accommodate a 60-day IL group that includes Kenta Maeda, Taylor Rogers, Alex Kirilloff, Cody Stashak, Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, Kyle Garlick and Lewis Thorpe.

Twins Reinstate Luke Farrell, Designate Derek Law For Assignment

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The Twins have reinstated right-handed pitcher Luke Farrell from the 60-day injured list, per a team announcement. To make room on the active roster, lefty Andrew Albers was optioned to Triple-A. Righty Derek Law was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Farrell has been out since late June with an oblique strain. Before that, the 30-year-old was having a nice season out of the Twins’ bullpen, though in a small sample size. In 13 big league games so far this year, the righty has logged 15 1/3 innings with an ERA of 1.76, along with a strong strikeout rate of 27.0% and a walk rate of 9.5%.

As for Law, he was placed on the injured list July 17th with a shoulder impingement and just began a rehab assignment on August 28th. In 15 innings with the big league club this year, he has an ERA of 4.20 but mediocre strikeout and walk rates of 20.9% and 11.9%. He’s already been designated for assignment by the Twins once this year, accepting an outright assignment back in May. If he clears waivers again, he could elect free agency or choose to stay with the organization by accepting another assignment to Triple-A.

Twins Activate Byron Buxton From Injured List, Select Ian Gibaut

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5:12 pm: Minnesota also announced they’ve reinstated Byron Buxton from the injured list. He’s getting the start in center field for this evening’s game against the Brewers. It’s Buxton’s first action in over two months, as the star outfielder has been out since June 22 due to a fracture in his left hand. Catcher Mitch Garver is going on the 10-day IL with lower back tightness in a corresponding move.

It has been a frustrating season for Buxton, who also missed over a month earlier in the year with a right hip strain. When healthy, he’s been nothing short of brilliant. Across 110 plate appearances, the 27-year-old has a .369/.409/.767 slash with ten home runs.

3:27 pm: The Twins announced they’ve selected reliever Ian Gibaut to the big league roster and reinstated Jorge Alcalá from the 10-day injured list. In corresponding moves, Edgar García and Kyle Barraclough were optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. To open space for Gibaut on the 40-man roster, Minnesota transferred righty Luke Farrell from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Gibaut was drafted by the Rays in 2015 and developed into a solid bullpen prospect after posting dominant numbers throughout his early minor league career. He reached the big leagues with Tampa Bay in July 2019 but was traded to the Rangers after a lone appearance. The right-hander spent parts of the next two seasons in Texas, working to a 5.84 ERA over 24 2/3 innings. Gibaut struck hitters out at a roughly league average rate (24.6%) but he issued far too many walks (14.9%) in that brief showing.

Minnesota claimed Gibaut off waivers over the offseason. They passed the 27-year-old through waivers in February and he’s spent the entire season with St. Paul. Gibaut has just a 7.20 ERA over 40 innings of relief with the Saints, but he’s posted passable strikeout (24.2%), walk (10.5%) and ground-ball (49.6%) numbers at the minors’ highest level. Gibaut’s results have been skewed by opponents’ .402 batting average on balls in play, and the Twins will give him a big league opportunity late in the season.

Farrell’s IL transfer is a procedural move. The righty has been on the IL for more than sixty days already, so his eligibility to return is unaffected. The 30-year-old began a rehab assignment with St. Paul over the weekend.

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