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Nick Burdi

Red Sox Select Nick Burdi

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The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Nick Burdi. Fellow righty Cooper Criswell has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Kutter Crawford has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Burdi, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He has since been putting up some good numbers for Triple-A Worcester. Through 16 2/3 innings, he has only allowed one earned run, leading to a 0.54 ERA. He has struck out 38.5% of opponents while only giving out walks 7.7% of the time.

Throughout his career, the question has been more about health than talent. A former second-round pick of the Twins, he has twice had Tommy John surgery, once in 2017 and the second time in 2020. He also had a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in between those two, in 2018.

He understandably didn’t pitch much from 2016 to 2022 but has been able to log some innings more recently. In 2023, he only pitched three big league frames but also got to 21 innings on the farm, with a 3.86 ERA and 35% strikeout rate. He also walked 15% of opponents that year, perhaps understandably rusty after so much missed time.

Last year, he pitched 9 2/3 major league innings for the Yankees with a 1.86 ERA as well as 17 Triple-A innings with a 2.65 ERA. At both levels, he had high strikeout totals but also a lot of walks. He missed time with a hip injury and was outrighted off the roster late in the season, which allowed the Red Sox to sign him.

It’s a small sample but Burdi’s start this year still features the same strikeout stuff but seemingly with better control. He’s averaging 96 miles per hour on his fastball while also throwing a slider and changeup. The Sox will add him as a fresh arm, at least for a few days. They only have a four-man rotation right now with Walker Buehler expected to be reinstated from the IL in the coming days, perhaps on Tuesday. Burdi has options, so it’s possible he’ll be sent down when Buehler is ready, depending on how things go between now and then. If he manages to stay healthy and post some big numbers in the majors, he can be retained beyond this season via arbitration if still on the 40-man roster.

As for Crawford, this doesn’t change anything with him. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL. He landed there to start the campaign due to right patellar tendinopathy. He will be eligible for reinstatement in late May, but that doesn’t seem likely anyhow. He has been throwing lately but hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment. Even if cleared to start that assignment soon, he would surely need a few weeks to ramp up as a sort of delayed spring training.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Red Sox, Nick Burdi Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have reached agreement with reliever Nick Burdi on a minor league contract, reports Chris Henrique of Beyond the Monster. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo writes that the right-hander will go to minor league camp, as he did not receive a non-roster invite to MLB Spring Training.

Burdi, 32, is a former Twins’ second-round draftee and well-regarded bullpen prospect. His career has been beset by myriad injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in his time in the Minnesota farm system. He landed with the Pirates as a Rule 5 pick, where he battled thoracic outlet syndrome. Burdi’s arm continued to bother him the following year, and he underwent another Tommy John procedure after the 2020 campaign.

The Louisville product didn’t return to the mound until 2023. Burdi landed with the Cubs in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft. Chicago called him up for three appearances, but he quickly went back to the injured list due to a bout of appendicitis. He didn’t return to the majors and the Cubs cut him loose at the end of the season.

Burdi inked a minor league deal with the Yankees last winter. He broke camp but went on the injured list within a few weeks because of a right hip problem. Renewed hip pain sent him back to the IL between May and August. New York outrighted him one month later, sending him back to minor league free agency at the end of the season.

Despite the latest injury-plagued season, Burdi established a career high with 12 MLB appearances for the Yankees. He fired 9 2/3 frames of two-run ball. Burdi fanned 12 with nine walks. It was a similar story in Triple-A, where he turned in a 2.65 earned run average through 17 innings. He struck out a third of opponents against a huge 15.3% walk rate.

The raw stuff remains intriguing. Burdi averaged 97.5 MPH on his fastball while sitting in the upper 80s with his slider. He doesn’t consistently harness that high-octane arsenal, but that could be tied to the stop-and-start nature of so many of his seasons. There’s no real downside for the Red Sox in bringing him to camp and sending him to Triple-A Worcester to open the year.

34 Players Elect Free Agency

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

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

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Yankees Outright Nick Burdi, Phil Bickford

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The Yankees have outrighted relievers Nick Burdi and Phil Bickford, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Both right-handers were designated for assignment over the weekend when the Yanks reinstated Ian Hamilton and Clarke Schmidt from the 60-day injured list.

Burdi, 31, pitched 9 2/3 innings for the Yankees and allowed only two runs (1.86 ERA), but he also walked nine of his 45 opponents and plunked another pair. Put another way, he allowed 24.4% of his opponents to reach base without putting the ball in play, which obviously made that small-sample ERA feel rather unsustainable. The flamethrowing righty and former top prospect still sits 97.7 mph with his four-seamer, but Burdi’s career has been devastated by injuries and this year hasn’t been an exception. He was twice placed on the 15-day IL due to a right hip injury, eventually moving to the 60-day IL after the second of those two placements.

Burdi was the No. 46 overall draft pick in 2014, going to the Twins after a standout career as Louisville’s closer. Multiple arm injuries, including a pair of Tommy John procedures, have derailed him. He’s appeared in 31 big league games and tallied only 25 MLB innings, pitching to a 6.48 ERA with a big 32.5% strikeout rate but also a glaring 16.4% walk rate in that time.

Bickford, 29, pitched in an even smaller slate of 8 1/3 innings for the Yankees this year. He was tagged for nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits and one walk with six strikeouts in that time. Another former top pick — No. 18 overall to the Giants in 2015 — Bickford had a big season with the 2021 Dodgers when he pitched 50 1/3 innings of 2.50 ERA ball out of the Los Angeles bullpen.

He’s been unable to replicate that success in the three seasons since, however, working to a combined 5.07 ERA in 136 1/3 innings while his fastball his dipped by a mile per hour and while his walk and strikeout rates have trended in the wrong direction. Bickford has a lifetime 4.62 ERA in 189 big league frames, but the entirety of his success has been confined to that excellent 2021 showing.

Both Burdi and Bickford can reject their outright assignments in favor of free agency. Even if they accept, they’ll be able to become minor league free agents at season’s end.

Yankees Reinstate Clarke Schmidt, Ian Hamilton; Designate Phil Bickford, Nick Burdi

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The Yankees announced that right-handers Clarke Schmidt and Ian Hamilton have both been reinstated from the 60-day injured list prior to today’s game with the Cubs, and Schmidt will take the ball as the game’s starting pitcher.  To create roster space, New York has designated right-hander Phil Bickford and Nick Burdi for assignment.

Schmidt was off to a tremendous start in 2024, as the former first-rounder and top-100 prospect had a 2.52 ERA over his first 60 2/3 innings of the season.  Unfortunately, that initial success was then cut short by a lat strain, and Schmidt hasn’t pitched in the majors since the end of May.  His work during a minor league rehab assignment (3.18 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings) hints that Schmidt has continued to stay in good form, but naturally the real test will come now that Schmidt is once again facing big league hitters.

With Schmidt returning today and Luis Gil throwing six shutout innings in his own return from the IL yesterday, the Yankees’ rotation is getting healthier for the stretch run.  The club’s plan is to move to a six-man rotation in order to both ease Schmidt and Gil back into action, and to give Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Nestor Cortes some extra rest.

In Cortes’ case, he will likely work behind Schmidt today in a piggyback capacity, and the next week or so could act as an unofficial competition between Cortes, Schmidt, and possibly Gil to see who retains a starting job once the Yankees return to a standard five-man pitching staff.  Obviously further injuries or under-performance from another starter might alter this plan for September and into the playoffs, but simply having more healthy arms available for now gives the Bronx Bombers some flexibility in figuring things out.

Hamilton’s recovery also impacts the bullpen picture, as the right-hander has been out since mid-June with a lat strain of his own.  Hamilton posted a 2.64 ERA over 58 innings in 2023 to seemingly cement himself as an important piece of the relief corps, but he ran into a few more stumbles with a 4.55 ERA across 29 2/3 frames this season.  It is worth noting that Hamilton allowed eight earned runs over his first 25 2/3 innings this year and then seven ER in his last four innings and four appearances before his IL placement, so it is fair to wonder if Hamilton was hampered by trying to pitch through injury.

Since Clay Holmes’ hold on the closer’s job is no longer stable, Hamilton could potentially get some high-leverage work if he returns in good form.  While Hamilton only has two career saves and it might be asking a lot for a pitcher to become a closer after such a long injury layoff, the Yankees figure to explore all options if Holmes can’t stabilize his performance.  Manager Aaron Boone also hinted that even Schmidt or Gil might get consideration as a late-inning reliever.

Burdi has also been through an injury-marred season, as recurring hip problems led to stints on both the 15-day and 60-day injured lists, limiting him to 9 2/3 MLB innings and 13 1/3 innings at Triple-A.  In essence, it has been more of the same for a hard-throwing pitcher whose career has been defined by a lot of strikeouts, inconsistent control, and unfortunately a lot of injuries — Burdi’s health record includes two Tommy John surgeries and a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.

For Bickford, this is the second time New York has DFA’ed the veteran righty in the last three months, and he elected free agency after clearing waivers.  Bickford then re-signed with the Yankees on a new Major League contract and rejoined the active roster a couple of weeks ago.  One disastrous outing against the Blue Jays (five earned runs in two-thirds of an inning) on June 29 accounted for much of the 8.64 ERA Bickford has posted across 8 1/3 innings in the majors this year, and he has looked much sharper in the minors with a 3.00 ERA in 45 frames for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

If Burdi and Bickford each clear waivers, they have the ability to reject an outright assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency, as both pitchers have previously been outrighted in their careers.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see either just re-sign with the Yankees on a new minor league contract, similar to how Bickford previously rejoined the club after his earlier DFA.

Yankees Release Chasen Shreve

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The Yankees released lefty reliever Chasen Shreve from his minor league contract, tweets Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. In another small roster move, New York announced they reinstated right-hander Nick Burdi from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yanks transferred Cody Poteet to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot for Burdi.

Shreve signed with New York in late June. He made 10 appearances for Scranton and pitched fairly well, allowing three earned runs over 11 innings. Shreve surrendered three more unearned runs but struck out 11 while only walking three. New York evidently didn’t believe he’d carry that form over at the major league level. Despite trading Caleb Ferguson and not adding another left-handed reliever at the deadline, they’ll let Shreve depart.

The 34-year-old Shreve hasn’t pitched in the big leagues this season. He has split his time between the Triple-A affiliates with the Rangers and Yankees. He made 50 MLB appearances between Detroit and Cincinnati a year ago, turning in a 4.63 earned run average with slightly better than average strikeout and walk rates over 44 2/3 frames.

New York added a pair of right-handers, Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos, to their relief corps this week. Tim Hill is the only southpaw in their current bullpen while Anthony Misiewicz and Josh Maciejewski are on optional assignment in Triple-A.

Burdi is also headed to Scranton, though he’s evidently healthy after losing more than two months to a right hip injury. The Louisville product has had a very difficult time staying on the mound over his professional career but continues to intrigue evaluators with a fastball that sits around 98 MPH on average. Burdi has fired 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball for New York this season, already setting a personal-high mark with 12 MLB appearances.

Poteet’s 60-day minimum absence is retroactive to his initial IL placement on June 15. He’ll be eligible to return in the second week of August. He has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment due to a triceps injury. Poteet started four games earlier in the year, turning in a 2.14 ERA across 21 innings.

Yankees Acquire J.D. Davis

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired infielder J.D. Davis and cash considerations from the A’s in exchange infielder Jordan Groshans. Davis had been designated for assignment by the A’s earlier this week. The Yankees transferred right-hander Nick Burdi to the 60-day injured list in order to make room for Davis on the 40-man roster.

Davis, 31, signed with the A’s in late spring after the Giants released Davis during Spring Training in order to get out from under most of the $6.9MM salary he had been awarded in arbitration over the winter. He managed to secure a guarantee of just $2.5MM from Oakland, a far cry from his previously-awarded arbitration salary even after factoring in the roughly $1.1MM in termination pay he received from San Francisco.

After that late spring controversy, Davis went on to appear in 39 games with the A’s where he slashed a roughly league-average .236/.304/.366 in 135 trips to the plate while splitting time between first base, third base, and DH. While his offensive numbers this year leave something to be desired, Davis’s positional versatility and track record as an above-average hitter make him a perfect fit for the Yankees’ current needs.

The club lost starting DH Giancarlo Stanton to the injured list earlier today, and first baseman Anthony Rizzo was also placed on the shelf not long ago due to a fractured forearm. Rookie Ben Rice has scuffled a bit in his first few games replacing Rizzo at first base, while the club has no obvious alternative to Stanton as an everyday DH in-house. Even at third base, where the club is currently relying on the combination of Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu, New York has gotten a wRC+ of just 78 — this ranks second-worst of all AL third-base units, ahead of only the White Sox.

Enter Davis, who entered the 2024 season with five consecutive seasons of solid production with the Mets and Giants. Since the start of the 2019 season, Davis has slashed a solid .265/.349/.438 with a wRC+ of 118. While he’s struck out a 27.1% clip during that time, he’s walked at a healthy 10% rate while flashing 20-homer power. That sort of production would be a major upgrade for a Yankees club that has generally struggled to produce offense outside of the outfield this year even before losing Stanton for at least the short-term. Davis seems likely to slide into the everyday DH role for the Yankees while Stanton is unavailable, but could also spell Rice at first base against left-handed pitching and even contribute at third alongside LeMahieu and Cabrera.

On days where Davis is playing the infield, the Yankees could offer Aaron Judge or Juan Soto the opportunity to get a half-day of rest as a DH and improve the club’s outfield defense by inserting glove-first center fielder Trent Grisham into the mix. When Stanton eventually returns to reclaim regular DH, the Yankees could pick and choose from Davis, Rice, Cabrera, and LeMahieu based on how everyone is performingt. That being said, if Davis can even maintain his production as an Athletic in the Bronx he should be a shoe-in for at least semi-regular playing time around the Yankees infield even after Stanton’s eventual return.

In exchange for Davis’ services, the Yankees are sending Groshans to Oakland. The 24-year-old’s stint in the Yankees organization was a relatively brief one, as the club claimed him off waivers from the Marlins back in February. He was outrighted off their 40-man roster in early March and has struggled to this point in the 2024 season with a .232/.310/.281 slash line while playing all four infield spots in 50 games split between the Double- and Triple-A levels. That follows a similarly rough performance at Triple-A with Miami last year; in 528 plate appearances across 125 games in 2023, Groshans slashed a paltry .244/.339/.330 with just six home runs.

Despite Groshans’ struggles over the past two seasons, it’s not hard to see why the A’s would be willing to give the youngster a shot. After all, the infielder was the 12th overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Blue Jays and received plenty of top prospect buzz earlier in his career, including a stint as a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport back in 2021. That pedigree combined with Groshans’ stronger numbers at the Double-A level earlier in his career provide some reason for optimism that he could contribute at the big league level at some point.

That possibility is surely an attractive one for an Oakland club that has struggled to find a consistent option at third base this year while cycling between Davis, Abraham Toro, and Tyler Nevin at the position. Toro will be out until at least the All-Star break recovering from a hamstring strain, leaving even more opportunity for Groshans to win some playing time at the hot corner.

Yankees Place Gerrit Cole On 60-Day Injured List

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The Yankees announced a series of Opening Day roster moves today, with right-hander Gerrit Cole placed on the 60-day injured list. His 40-man roster spot will go to right-hander Nick Burdi, who was previously reported to have made the club.

Over recent weeks, Cole and the Yankees got a big scare when he was dealing with some elbow issues and was sent for testing. While this led to all kinds of panic about possible surgery and lengthy absences, the eventual news ended up being on the mild side compared to those doomsday scenarios. He was diagnosed with nerve inflammation and edema and recommended for non-surgical rehab.

That’s obviously a better outcome than sitting out the entire year or longer, but he’s still going to miss some time. His return will depend on how he progresses in the coming weeks but it’s been suggested he’s at least a month or two away from coming back. This move means he’ll be ineligible to be activated until late May, so the Yankees evidently don’t think he’ll be able to return before then.

In the meantime, the Yanks will roll out a rotation of Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil to start the season.

Yankees Planning To Add Nick Burdi To Opening Day Roster

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Right-handers Nick Burdi and Clayton Beeter have been told that they have won the camp competition for bullpen jobs, per Joel Sherman of The New York Post, though Sherman adds that the Yankees might still change their plans if other opportunities present themselves in the next few days. MLBTR covered Beeter’s news earlier today.

Burdi, 31, signed a minor league pact with the Yanks back in December and has impressed this spring. He had made seven appearances for the Yankees with 13 strikeouts, four walks and two earned runs allowed.

The righty brings a power arsenal, having averaged in the upper 90s with his fastball in his career. But his health, or lack thereof, has been a significant obstacle for him. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2019 and a second Tommy John in November of 2020.

Around all of those surgeries, Burdi has managed to throw 15 1/3 innings in the majors but has accrued almost four years of major league service time, most of that spent on the injured list. He has a 9.39 earned run average in that tiny sample of big league work, but with an impressive 36% strikeout rate. His 13.3% walk rate suggests a lack of control but it also might just be a symptom of so much missed time preventing him from getting into a rhythm. He’s also only thrown 21 minor league innings over the past five years due to those absences.

That makes him a real wild card, as he was once a dominant pitcher in college and the early parts of his minor league career but he has hardly pitched in recent seasons due to those significant surgeries.

He is not yet on the Yankees’ 40-man roster and will need to be added, but as Sherman points out, the club is still giving itself some wiggle room to change course. Teams around the league are making their final roster decisions this week, which is leading to various players being released, opting out or being designated for assignment. If the Yankees find someone in that pile who appeals to them, they may pivot away from Burdi. If they do, Sherman relays that the righty has an April 15 opt-out in his deal.

If Burdi does end up on the roster, the Yankees will need to make a corresponding move. It was reported two weeks ago that Oswald Peraza will be shut down for six to eight weeks due to a shoulder strain, so he could be moved to the 60-day injured list to open up a spot. Gerrit Cole is looking at several weeks of rest and recovery as he looks to get over his elbow issue, though the club may be reluctant to move him to the 60-day IL until they confirm that he can’t return before the end of May.

Right-hander Tommy Kahnle has some shoulder inflammation but Sherman relays that the Yankees are expecting him to be back about two weeks into the season. If that comes to pass, both Beeter and Burdi have options and can be sent to the minors to make room for him, though Burdi will need to officially take a spot on the 40-man roster first.

Yankees, Nick Burdi Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have agreed to a minor league pact with hard-throwing right-hander Nick Burdi, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. The Apex Baseball client will be in big league camp this spring.

Selected 46th overall out of Louisville by the Twins back in 2014, Burdi joined the professional ranks as a power-armed closer who could potentially have a fast track to the big leagues. He’d obliterated the opposition in college, posting a 1.79 ERA while fanning a comical 47% of his opponents during his NCAA career. He looked the part of a big league reliever following the draft, too, climbing to Double-A less than a year after being drafted and posting gaudy strikeout totals along the way.

As is the case with so many flamethrowing young arms, however, injuries intervened. A bone bruise in his upper arm wiped out most of Burdi’s 2016 season, and his 2017 campaign was cut short by Tommy John surgery. The Twins lost Burdi in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft — the Phillies selected him and immediately traded him to the Pirates — and he made his MLB debut with Pittsburgh late in the 2018 season.

Because he spent the bulk of the year on the injured list, Burdi’s Rule 5 designation carried over from the 2018 season into the 2019 season. He pitched just 8 2/3 innings before undergoing thoracic outlet surgery and missing the rest of the year. Burdi returned in 2020 but pitched just 2 1/3 MLB frames before hitting the injured list with an elbow issue that eventually resulted in his second career Tommy John surgery. Burdi finally returned to the mound with the Cubs organization in 2023, but as if the slate of arm injuries hadn’t been difficult enough, he also missed a substantial portion of the ’23 campaign after requiring an emergency appendectomy in late May.

Although we’re coming up on nearly a decade since Burdi was drafted, he’s pitched just 15 1/3 innings in the Majors due to that stunning slate of injuries. The results haven’t been good, as he’s allowed 16 runs in that time. Burdi, however, has a 3.51 ERA in parts of six minor league seasons and has whiffed just shy of 33% of opponents in his professional career (big leagues and minors combined). His durability is an enormous question, of course, but his arm strength is not; in the tiny sample of three MLB innings with Chicago last year, Burdi averaged 98 mph on his heater and reached triple digits at times.

If he can remain healthy enough to emerge as an option for the Yankees, he still has all three minor league option years remaining, which would give New York plenty of flexibility in the ’pen. He has to be viewed as a long shot to remain healthy, given his track record of injuries, but Burdi still looks to have plenty of fire in his right arm and deserves credit for grinding through a grueling slate of injuries that would surely have been enough for many pitchers to call it quits.

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