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Blue Jays Announce Five Minor League Deals

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The Blue Jays today announced five minor league deals, including the previously reported deals for right-handers Julian Fernández and Casey Lawrence. The other three are right-hander Drew Hutchison, lefty Paul Fry and catcher Rob Brantly. All five will receive invitations to major league Spring Training.

Hutchison, 32, returns to the organization that drafted him in 2009. He worked his way up to the majors in 2012 and had some success with the Jays, including a 2014 season where he made 32 starts with a 4.48 ERA. Unfortunately, his performance dipped in subsequent years and he was traded to the Pirates in 2016. He’s gone into journeyman mode since that time, also suiting up for the Phillies, Rangers and Tigers. With Detroit in 2022, made 18 starts and 10 relief appearances, posting an ERA of 4.53 over 105 1/3 innings. His 14.7% strikeout rate was well below par, but his 9.1% walk rate and 40.3% ground ball rate were close to league average. He’ll give the Blue Jays some veteran rotation depth in the minors, should injuries create a need during the season.

Fry, 30, seemed to have a breakout in 2020. He made 22 appearances for the Orioles that year with a 2.45 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 57.6% ground ball rate. His 9.2% walk rate was a tad high, but it was a few ticks better than the 11.4% rate he posted the year before. Unfortunately, his improved control slipped from his grasp over the next two seasons. In 2021, his walk rate shot up to 16.3%, pushing his ERA to 6.08 in the process. His 2022 was similar, with a 14.8% walk rate and 6.23 ERA, a year that included a trade to the Diamondbacks, who outrighted him in August.

Assuming Yusei Kikuchi is in the club’s rotation, then Tim Mayza and Matt Gage are the only lefty relievers on the 40-man. If Fry can improve his command at all, he still has a couple of option years remaining and between three and four years of MLB service time. If he earns his way back on the 40-man, he could be retained for future seasons via arbitration.

Brantly, 33, is a journeyman catcher who has spent time in the big leagues with the Marlins, White Sox, Phillies, Giants and Yankees. Though he’s played in parts of eight MLB seasons, he’s gotten into just 135 big league games and made just 456 plate appearances. He has a .225/.287/.326 batting line for his career for a wRC+ of 68. He’s made it to the bigs in each of the past four seasons but didn’t get into more than six games in any of them. The Jays have Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk to handle the big league catching duties but traded Gabriel Moreno to the Diamondbacks in the Daulton Varsho trade. Varsho himself has plenty of catching experience but seems ticketed for outfield work for the Jays. Brantly gives the club a veteran depth option to have on hand in the minors.

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

Outrights: Clay, Marrero, Fry

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A roundup of some recent outright assignments for players who cleared waivers following a DFA…

  • Mets lefty Sam Clay passed through waivers unclaimed and was assigned outright to Syracuse, tweets Michael Mayer of MetsMerized. The ground-ball specialist appeared in just one big league game with the Mets this season and allowed an unearned run on a hit and a walk with two punchouts. Clay carries a 5.90 ERA in 50 1/3 Major League innings but also boasts a mammoth 62.5% ground-ball rate in that time. He also has a career 3.81 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate in 59 Triple-A innings, making him a nice depth piece to have on hand in the upper minors, even if he’s yet to find real success in the big leagues just yet.
  • Veteran infielder Deven Marrero also cleared outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse by the Mets after being designated last week. The team didn’t make a formal announcement on the matter, but Marrero, who could’ve rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, was back in the Syracuse lineup last night. Marrero, who’ll turn 32 tomorrow, appeared in three games at the big league level and went hitless in four plate appearances, though he did swipe a base. He’s a career .192/.247/.280 hitter in parts of seven big league seasons but is a well-regarded defender capable of handling any of shortstop, second base or third  base. He’s appeared in 33 games with Syracuse and hit .229/.323/.349 in 125 plate appearances.
  • Left-hander Paul Fry cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks and was assigned to Triple-A Reno, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Fry has previously been outrighted and could rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, but he’d have punted the remainder of this year’s $850K guarantee in doing so, as he doesn’t yet have five years of Major Leaguer service time. The 30-year-old pitched just one MLB frame with the Snakes this season, plus another dozen with the Orioles, with whom he’s spent the prior four years. Fry was a solid lefty in the Baltimore ’pen in 2020 and for much of the 2021 season before a late collapse last year (due primarily to repeat drubbings at the hands of the Rays). Fry hasn’t regained his form in either the big leagues (6.23 ERA in 13 innings) or Triple-A (5.50 ERA, 18 innings).

Diamondbacks Select Stone Garrett, Designate Paul Fry

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Stone Garrett. To create room for him on the active roster, infielder Seth Beer was optioned to Reno. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, left-hander Paul Fry was designated for assignment. Robert Murray of FanSided reported Garrett’s promotion before the official announcement.

Garrett, 26, was a second round pick of the Marlins in 2014. He got some love from prospect evaluators in that time, ranking among the top ten Marlin farmhands in 2016 and 2017 by Baseball America. He made it as high as Double-A in Miami’s system in 2019, getting into 119 games, hitting 14 home runs and stealing 15 bases. His 28.7% strikeout rate and 4.1% walk rate were both worse than average, however, leading to a final batting line of .243/.289/.413, wRC+ of 103.

The minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020, with Garrett reaching free agency that fall. He signed on with the Diamondbacks and has since taken steps forward at the plate. He spent most of last year at Double-A, hitting 25 homers and swiping 17 bases, also making slight improvements in terms of walks and strikeouts. His .280/.317/.516 batting line in that time was 16% better than league average, by measure of wRC+. This year, a bump up to Triple-A has resulted in more progress, particularly in terms of plate discipline. His 7.6% walk rate and 23.4% strikeout rate are vaguely average-ish, a marked improvement over previous seasons. That doesn’t seem to have cost him in other areas, as he’s added 28 more long balls this year and another 15 steals. His .278/335/.574 batting line amounts to a 114 wRC+.

Arizona currently has a record of 53-63 and is 10 1/2 games out of the final Wild Card spot in the National League. Given that they’re unlikely to be in serious contention down the stretch, they can give Garrett some playing time to see if he can translate any of those minor league results to the big league level and perhaps earn himself a role on next year’s team. He will jump into an outfield mix that includes Alek Thomas, Daulton Varsho, Jake McCarthy and Jordan Luplow. Down the road, that group will also include Corbin Carroll, who is widely considered one of the best prospects in all of baseball and was promoted to Triple-A in July.

As for Fry, 30, he was acquired from the Orioles in a trade earlier this season. He’s only thrown one inning for the big league club, spending most of the year in the minors. In 18 Triple-A innings, he has a 5.50 ERA, 18.8% strikeout rate, 11.8% walk rate and 40.7% ground ball rate. Given those lackluster results, he will relinquish his spot on the 40-man roster. Since the trade deadline has passed, Arizona’s only options will be to place Fry on outright waivers or release waivers.

Players who clear waivers can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have previously been outrighted in their career or if they have over three years of MLB service time. Fry qualifies in both cases, but since he has less than five years of service time, electing free agency would mean forfeiting the remainder of his salary. While still with the Orioles, Fry qualified for arbitration and agreed to a salary of $850K. That leaves just under $223K left to be paid out.

Diamondbacks Acquire Paul Fry From Orioles

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The Orioles announced they’ve traded reliever Paul Fry to the Diamondbacks for minor league righty Luis Osorio. Arizona immediately optioned him to Triple-A Reno, and the club had a pair of 40-man roster vacancies after placing Cooper Hummel and Kyle Nelson on the COVID-19 injured list this afternoon.

Baltimore had designated Fry for assignment over the weekend. That marked a fairly swift downturn after the southpaw got off to an excellent start to the 2021 campaign that seemed as if it’d make him a deadline trade chip. From the start of the 2021 season through the All-Star Break, Fry held opposing hitters to a pitiful .210/.326/.218 slash in 33 innings. His 4.09 ERA was fairly ordinary, but he struck out 31% of opposing hitters while inducing grounders on over half the balls in play against him.

Unfortunately, Fry’s performance has taken a sharp downward turn since that point. Going back to the All-Star Break, the Michigan native has an 8.54 ERA in only 26 1/3 frames. Fry has continued to keep the ball on the ground, but his strikeout rate has plummeted to a below-average 22% while his walk percentage has spiked to an untenable 19.7%. The O’s have optioned Fry a couple times in that span and eventually moved on altogether after he allowed nine runs in his 12 frames this year.

It’s possible the Snakes’ acquisition was motivated by Nelson’s loss to the virus list, but that they relinquished a minor league arm would seemingly indicate Fry could hold a 40-man roster spot. Osorio, 19, signed with the D-Backs out of Venezuela. He spent last season in the Dominican Summer League.

Orioles Claim Beau Sulser, Designate Paul Fry

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The Orioles announced that they have claimed Beau Sulser off waivers from the Pirates and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. Lefty Paul Fry has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Sulser had his contract selected three weeks ago and made his MLB debut in late April. He pitched 9 2/3 innings out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen over four outings. His 3.72 ERA and 21.7% strikeout rate were acceptable, but he also had a concerning walk rate of 13%. The Pirates designated him for assignment a couple of days ago when they claimed Tyler Beede off waivers.

As for Fry, his designation is at least somewhat surprising, given that he was garnering trade interest at the deadline less than a year ago. Despite a penchant for walks, Fry’s ability to rack up strikeouts and ground balls seemed to give him appeal to other clubs around the league. For his career, he’s thrown 176 1/3 innings over this season and the previous four. His 4.80 ERA isn’t terribly enticing, but he has struck out 24.6% of batters he’s faced as well as inducing grounders at a 56.4% clip. His 12.2% walk rate has put a damper on his overall results, though.

This year, through 12 innings, the pattern is largely intact. His 6.00 ERA comes with a 22.2% strikeout rate, 65.6% ground ball rate and 13% walk rate. However, he’s been undone by a 25% HR/FB ratio. That’s a small sample, but it comes at a time when power is down across the league.

Given the interest he’s garnered in the past, it seems likely that he’ll latch on somewhere. He qualified for arbitration for the first time and is making a salary of $850K this year, just a hair above the $700K league minimum. He came into the season with three years and 75 days of service time and still has a pair of option years, meaning he could certainly be of interest to teams lacking in lefty bullpen depth.

Tender Deadline Signings: 11/30/21

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With the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players looming tonight at 8pm ET — the MLBPA and MLB jointly agreed to move the deadline up a couple days due to the looming expiration of the collective bargaining agreement — we’ll likely see a slew of arbitration-eligible players signing one-year deals.

It’s commonplace for a large batch of players to sign deals in the hours leading up to the tender deadline. “Pre-tender” deals of this nature often fall shy of projections due to the fact that teams use the looming threat of a non-tender to enhance their leverage. Arbitration contracts at this juncture are often take-it-or-leave-it propositions, with the “leave it” end of that arrangement resulting in the player being cut loose. Given the widely expected lockout, there could be more incentive than usual for borderline non-tender candidates to take those offers rather than being cast out into free agency just hours before a transaction freeze is implemented.

As a reminder, arbitration contracts are not fully guaranteed. In a typical year, a team can cut a player on an arb contract at any point before the halfway point in Spring Training and only be responsible for 30 days’ termination pay (about one-sixth of the contract). Releasing a player in the second half of Spring Training bumps the termination pay to 45 days of his prorated salary.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for each team’s arbitration-eligible players last month, although for many of the players listed below, this isn’t so much avoiding arbitration as it is avoiding a non-tender. Here’s a look at today’s agreements…

  • The Yankees have agreed to deals with infielder Gio Urshela and right-hander Domingo German, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links). Urshela will make $6.55MM, while German has agreed to a $1.75MM deal. Urshela has two seasons of control remaining; German is controllable for three years. Urshela is coming off a .267/.301/.419 showing while playing third base and shortstop. German tossed 98 1/3 innings of 4.58 ERA ball.
  • The Twins have signed three arbitration-eligible pitchers, per reports from Feinsand and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North (on Twitter). Right-hander Jharel Cotton signed for $700K, reliever Caleb Thielbar lands $1.3MM and reliever Tyler Duffey signs for $3.8MM. Thielbar and Duffey were both productive members of the Minnesota relief corps in 2021. Cotton was recently claimed off waivers from the Rangers.
  • The Giants have agreed to terms with outfielder Austin Slater on a $1.85MM deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 28-year-old (29 next month) appeared at all three spots on the grass while hitting .241/.320/.423 over 306 plate appearances in 2021.
  • Reliever Emilio Pagan and the Padres have agreed on a $2.3MM deal, reports Rosenthal (on Twitter). The 30-year-old worked 63 1/3 innings of 4.83 ERA/3.93 SIERA ball this past season.
  • The Diamondbacks agreed to a $2MM deal with left-hander Caleb Smith, reports Zach Buchanan of the Athletic (via Twitter). The 30-year-old posted a 4.83 ERA/4.68 SIERA across 113 2/3 innings in a swing capacity in 2021.

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Two Orioles Lefties Commanding Trade Interest

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Baltimore left-handers Paul Fry and Tanner Scott aren’t household names, but both are drawing ample trade interest as Friday afternoon’s deadline approaches, per both Dan Connolly of The Athletic and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Right-handers Cole Sulser and Dillon Tate have also drawn some interest, but they’re both controlled four more years after the current season and won’t even be arbitration-eligible until the 2022-23 offseason at the earliest.

The 29-year-old Fry and 27-year-old Scott both offer plenty of club control in their own right. Both pitchers have an additional year of MLB service time over Sulser and Tate, making both arb-eligible this winter and controllable through the 2024 campaign. Either pitcher would make for an affordable upgrade who could impact his new club for several years down the road, and both pitchers have become increasingly appealing as the market context has changed this week.

This summer’s trade market was never particularly deep in high-quality left-handed relief help. But the injury to Minnesota’s Taylor Rogers, recent struggles for Washington’s Brad Hand, and the Athletics’ Monday acquisition of Andrew Chafin from the Cubs can only make the pair of Baltimore lefties all the more appealing.

Fry (60 2/3 innings) and Scott (61 innings) have near-identical innings totals over the past two seasons and have been similarly effective, relying on well above-average strikeout and ground-ball rates. Scott’s 2.51 ERA in that time has the edge on Fry’s 3.12 mark, but Fry has the edge in strikeout percentage (31.9 to 30.9) and ground-ball percentage (54.6 percent to 52.2 percent). Fry’s walk rate of 10.8 percent is worse than the league average but considerably lower than Scott’s mark of 14.3 percent. Scott, however, offers a blazing heater that has averaged 97 mph in 2021 and generates far more swinging strikes than Paul and his 93 mph fastball. It’s easy to see a club dreaming more on Scott’s stuff, but Fry’s demonstrably better control of the strike zone is a major point in his favor.

Naturally, Connolly suggests that there’s a split in other teams’ opinions on the pair of southpaws. Some figure prefer Fry’s less-dynamic repertoire but steadier control. Others will be drawn to Scott’s power arsenal. Kubatko reports that the Phillies, who have several former O’s execs in their front office, have been keeping tabs on the Baltimore bullpen. He also lists the Padres as a possibility.

Generally speaking, Fry and Scott are two of the market’s most appealing lefty relievers. The aforementioned Hand is sure to be available as the Nationals pivot to selling, but he’s also earning a $10.5MM salary this season and has surrendered eight runs in his past nine innings of work. It’s feasible that the Angels could move veteran Tony Watson, but their deadline direction remains unsettled and he’s a free agent at season’s end. Chasen Shreve, having a solid but unspectacular year in Pittsburgh, would also be a rental. Miami’s Richard Bleier is a quietly effective name who could likely be had in a trade, and even with Rogers down, the Twins have another interesting lefty in Caleb Thielbar. Both Bleier and Thielbar are 34 and lack even average fastball velocity, however.

Fry and Scott arguably offer the best combination of bottom-line results, quality stuff, age and remaining club control on the market at this point. That makes them more expensive in terms of prospects than rental veterans like Hand, Watson or Shreve, of course, but either would be a quality get for a contender’s relief corps.

An Underrated Reliever Who Could Find Himself On The Trade Market

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Still amidst a multi-year rebuild, the Orioles are one of a handful of teams around the league certain to trade players off the big league roster in advance of the July 30 deadline. Much of the discussion about the club in the coming weeks figures to revolve around the potential availability of staff ace John Means and first baseman Trey Mancini, with good reason. But there’s a lower-profile Oriole whose excellent performance should draw plenty of attention from contenders: lefty reliever Paul Fry.

A former 17th-round pick of the Mariners, Fry was traded to Baltimore for international signing bonus space back in 2017. He made his MLB debut the following year. While Fry began as a rather nondescript middle reliever, he’s quietly been lights-out for the past two seasons. Since the start of 2020, Fry has pitched to a 2.22 ERA that ranks twelfth among big league relievers (minimum 40 innings).

Relievers can sometimes fluke their way into strong ERA’s given their generally small sample workloads, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with Fry. He’s among the top 25 bullpen arms in strikeout rate (33%), strikeout/walk rate differential (22.9 percentage points), SIERA (2.98) and ground ball rate (55.3%) over the last two years. Quite simply, he’s done almost everything teams want from a pitcher. He’s shown the ability to both miss bats and keep the ball on the ground, so it’s no surprise he continues to post scoreless innings. His 10.1% walk rate, while slightly worse than league average, is far from disastrous.

Fry was very good in 2020, and he’s seemingly taken his game to another level this season. Fry’s punching out hitters at a career-best 36.7% rate this year, helping him pitch to a 1.99 ERA across 22 2/3 frames. He’s averaging a career-high 93.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball, which is missing bats at an elite level. And Fry’s been equally dominant against hitters from both sides of the plate, holding left-handed and right-handed batters alike to a sub-.500 OPS.

That level of on-field dominance is interesting enough, but Fry’s contractual status makes him all the more appealing a trade target. He’s making just more than the league minimum salary this season and comes with three additional years of team control via arbitration. Even the lowest-payroll contenders would have no issue adding Fry to the books; the same is true of big-market teams seemingly set on staying underneath the luxury tax threshold (i.e. Astros, Red Sox and Yankees).

While that level of production and cost control certainly appeals to the Orioles as well, Baltimore figures to at least entertain offers on Fry. They’re not going to contend this season, and it’d be a stretch to envision them hanging around the postseason picture in 2022. The performance of relief pitchers can be volatile, and the late-blooming Fry will be 29 years old by deadline day. It’d make sense for the Orioles to move him to a more immediate contender if they’re offered high-end prospect talent to continue to stockpile the farm system. Contending clubs are seemingly always on the lookout for relief help at the deadline, so there should be no shortage of teams in touch with the Orioles about one of the game’s most underrated arms in the coming weeks.

Orioles To Select Ryan Meisinger, Paul Fry

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The Orioles will select the contracts of right-hander Ryan Meisinger and left-hander Paul Fry on Friday, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). Baltimore has a full 40-man roster, so the O’s will need to make a pair of corresponding moves to accommodate the pair of new additions.

Meisinger, 24, was the Orioles’ 11th-round pick back in 2015. After a solid season in Double-A last year (3.00 ERA, 9.3 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 in 63 innings), he opened the 2018 season for a second stint there but moved up to Triple-A in relatively short order. He’s been lights out in Norfolk since that promotion, tossing 22 innings with a 30-to-5 K/BB ratio and a 2.05 ERA. He wasn’t considered to be among the organization’s top tier of prospects heading into the season, though he’s certainly elevated his stock with a terrific showing so far in Triple-A.

For the 25-year-old Fry, this’ll be his second call to the Majors, though he’s still looking for his first MLB appearance. Baltimore recalled him last April, but he never got into a game in the two days he spent in the Majors. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster later that season.

Like Meisinger, Fry has pitched well between Double-A and Triple-A this season. In a combined 42 1/3 innings of relief, he’s worked to a 3.19 ERA with 12.1 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Fry posted a 68.6 percent ground-ball rate in 19 innings of Double-A ball and has a 51.7 percent grounder rate in 23 1/3 innings in Triple-A. He’s allowed just four home runs on the season, and lefties have logged an awful .194/.286/.323 slash against him so far in 2018.

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