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Padres Option Stephen Kolek, Connor Joe

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The Padres announced that they’ve optioned Stephen Kolek, Ron Marinaccio, Luis Campusano and Connor Joe to Triple-A El Paso. None of those players will start the season on the major league roster.

Kolek’s demotion is most notable, as it essentially finalizes the Opening Day rotation. Kyle Hart and Randy Vásquez will open the year as the respective fourth and fifth starters behind Dylan Cease, Michael King and Nick Pivetta. (Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote earlier this evening that the team was leaning in that direction.) There were two spots up for grabs with Yu Darvish beginning the season on the injured list as he battles elbow inflammation.

A 2023 Rule 5 pick, Kolek spent last season in the MLB bullpen. He posted a 5.21 ERA across 46 2/3 innings. While Kolek’s 18.5% strikeout rate was mediocre, he got ground-balls at an excellent 55.9% clip. He showed enough that the Padres built him back up as a starter this spring. Kolek had a good camp, pitching 12 1/3 innings of three-run ball with a 61.5% ground-ball rate.

That evidently wasn’t enough to leapfrog Hart and Vásquez on the depth chart. Hart, a 32-year-old southpaw, signed a $1.5MM free agent deal after spending last season in Korea. His four career major league appearances came with the Red Sox in 2020. Hart has given up eight runs over 7 2/3 Spring Training frames, but his 2.69 ERA in the KBO last year made it likely he’d crack the rotation. That was less clear with Vásquez, who started 20 games with an ERA approaching 5.00 for San Diego a year ago. He has recorded seven strikeouts with one walk over eight innings this spring.

Campusano was ticketed for Triple-A once the Padres tabbed Martín Maldonado to work as the backup catcher behind Elias Díaz. Assuming he spends at least 20 days in the minors, this will be Campusano’s final option year. It’s a make or break season for the former top prospect. Joe signed a $1MM free agent deal to work as the short side of a left field platoon with Jason Heyward. He’s been passed on the depth chart by Brandon Lockridge even though he hit .316/.469/.447 this spring. Lockridge, another righty-hitting outfielder, is a superior runner who’ll provide more athleticism on Mike Shildt’s bench.

White Sox Trade Ron Marinaccio To Padres

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The Padres have acquired right-handed reliever Ron Marinaccio from the White Sox in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. Chicago designated Marinaccio for assignment earlier in the week. San Diego’s 40-man roster is now up to 35 players.

Marinaccio, 29, has appeared in each of the past three big league seasons, with all his MLB time coming as a member of the Yankees. He’s posted a sub-4.00 ERA in all three of those individual seasons, working to a composite 3.22 mark with a strong 28.2% strikeout rate but an ugly 12.6% walk rate. Marinaccio averaged 93.6 mph on his heater this past season and paired that offering with a changeup and slider, both of which reside in the low 80s.

The ChiSox claimed Marinaccio off waivers from the Yankees on Sept. 23. He didn’t make it into a game for the South Siders, but given the general state of disarray within their roster, he seemed like he’d have a chance to factor into the 2025 bullpen mix. General manager Chris Getz ultimately felt differently, as Marinaccio was bumped from the 40-man roster this week to open space for veteran innings eater Martin Perez.

Marinaccio’s track record in Triple-A is generally supportive of his output in the big leagues, making it something of a surprise that the White Sox moved on for next to no return. He’s pitched in parts of four seasons there and logged a 3.35 ERA in 91 1/3 innings, fanning 29.9% of his opponents against an 11.3% walk rate along the way. Marinaccio still has one minor league option year remaining, and he’s controllable through the 2028 season as things currently stand (though future optional assignments could change that calculus). He won’t be eligible for arbitration until next offseason at the earliest.

White Sox Designate Ron Marinaccio For Assignment

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The White Sox announced that right-hander Ron Marinaccio has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for left-hander Martín Pérez, whose one-year deal has now been officially announced.

Marinaccio, 29, hasn’t appeared in a big league game for the Sox. He was claimed off waivers from the Yankees with about a week remaining in the 2024 season, but was kept on optional assignment. He has held onto his roster spot for the past four months but has now been nudged off.

The righty was generally a high-strikeout and low-control guy for the Yanks. He tossed 91 1/3 innings over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, allowing 3.05 earned runs per nine. He struck out 29% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a 13.2% clip. In 2024, he got his walk rate down to 10.1% but his strikeout rate also fell to 25.3% as he posted a 3.86 ERA.

Overall, Marinaccio has a 3.22 ERA in 114 2/3 innings, with a 28.2% strikeout rate and 12.6% walk rate. It’s generally been fairly similar in the minors. Over the past four years, Marinaccio has thrown 132 innings on the farm with a 2.86 ERA, 33.5% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate.

The control is clearly an issue but Marinaccio is likely to draw interest based on the strikeouts. He also still has an option remaining and barely two years of service time, meaning he still hasn’t qualified for arbitration and can be sent to the minors fairly freely for another year. The Sox will have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next for the righty, though the waiver process takes 48 hours, meaning any trade talks would need to come together in the next five days.

White Sox Claim Ron Marinaccio

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Right-hander Ron Marinaccio, who was designated for assignment by the Yankees last week, has been claimed off waivers by the White Sox. Both clubs announced the move, with the Sox adding that Marinaccio has been assigned to Double-A Birmingham. The Double-A regular season is done but the Barons are playing in the Southern League championship this week, whereas the Triple-A Charlotte Knights are done for the year. The Sox had a 40-man roster vacancy after righty Chad Kuhl was designated for assignment recently and won’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard.

Marinaccio got nudged out of the Yankees’ plans but it’s unsurprising that he got picked up by the club with the top waiver priority. Now 29, he made his major league debut in 2022 and it was strong first impression. He logged 44 innings for the Yanks that season, only allowing 2.05 earned runs per nine. His 13.3% walk rate was definitely worrisome but he managed to work around that by striking out 30.9% of batters faced.

His results backed up a little bit from there. He had a 3.99 ERA in 47 1/3 innings last year. He still walked too many guys, a rate of 13.2%, with his strikeout rate slipping slightly to 27.3%. Here in 2024, the Yanks have frequently shuttled him back and forth between the majors and Triple-A. His 23 1/3 big league innings resulted in a 3.86 ERA with a reduced 10.1% walk rate but also a diminished 25.3% strikeout rate. At the Triple-A level, he has 39 2/3 innings with a 2.04 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate.

Those are pretty decent numbers overall but he was getting squeezed from the roster in the Bronx. He had already been optioned five times this season, the maximum amount in an individual campaign. He’s also in his final option season and will be out of options next year.

It was therefore going to be challenging for him to continue hanging onto his roster spot on a competitive Yankee club going forward, so he got pushed out last week when Cody Poteet was ending his rehab assignment and needed to get added back to the 40-man.

But for the White Sox, he’s a sensible flier to take. As the worst club of the modern era, the Sox have plenty of room for guys who have shown promise elsewhere. Marinaccio has just over two years of service time and still won’t have qualified for arbitration this winter. He can be controlled for four seasons beyond the current campaign. If things click in Chicago next year, he can be a long-term part of their bullpen or perhaps become a valuable trade chip.

Yankees Designate Ron Marinaccio For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that right-hander Cody Poteet has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. To open a 40-man roster spot, fellow righty Ron Marinaccio has been designated for assignment.

Poteet landed on the 15-day injured list in June due to a right triceps strain, eventually getting transferred to the 60-day IL. He started a rehab assignment on August 20 and was coming to the 30-day limit for that assignment, meaning he had to be added back to the roster. He’ll give the Yanks some extra rotation depth for the next little bit but they’re highly unlikely to need it. They currently have a mix of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes and Luis Gil, with Marcus Stroman bumped into a long relief role.

Marinaccio, now 29, had a strong debut in 2022. He tossed 44 innings for the Yankees that year, allowing 2.05 earned runs per nine. His 13.3% walk rate was on the high side but he overcame that with a 30.9% strikeout rate.

Since then, his results have declined a bit. In 47 1/3 innings last year, he posted a 3.99 ERA. His 13.2% walk rate was almost an exact match from the previous year but his strikeout rate dropped to 27.3%. Here in 2024, he has been frequently shuttled back and forth between the Yankees and the Triple-A RailRiders. In his 23 1/3 big league innings, he has a 3.86 ERA. He reduced his walk rate to 10.1% but his strikeouts also dropped to 25.3%. In 39 2/3 innings for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he has a 2.04 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate.

There are some intriguing results in there but the righty is in his final option year and has already been sent down five times this season, so the Yanks weren’t going to have the same roster flexibility with him going forward.

They will have to put him on waivers in the coming days. He won’t be postseason eligible with any acquiring club, so there would be little short term appeal to a claim, but some club could grab him as a long-term play. He has just over two years of service time, meaning he still won’t be arbitration eligible as of this winter and would come with four years of club control beyond the current campaign.

Yankees Outright Josh Maciejewski

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September 6: The Yankees announced that Maciejewski was outrighted to Triple-A, indicating he cleared waivers. He has the right to elect free agency by virtue of a previous career outright but it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so.

September 1: The Yankees announced this morning that they have designated left-hander Josh Maciejewski for assignment. The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for Anthony Rizzo, whose activation from the 60-day IL was reported on yesterday. Rizzo takes one of four active roster spots created by yesterday’s demotions of Ben Rice and Will Warren as well as today’s expansion from 26 to 28 roster spots. Outfielder Duke Ellis was recalled to the majors alongside right-handers Scott Effross and Ron Marinaccio to fill the other three open spots.

Maciejewski, 29, was added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster back in June and has made four multi-inning relief appearances for the club in total. He has pitched well in that limited exposure in the majors, with a 2.57 ERA and a 25.9% strikeout rate in his seven innings of work at the big league level. Those strong results contrast sharply with his ugly performance in the minor leagues this year, however, as Maciejewski sports a 6.02 ERA in 46 1/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level with the Yankees this year. That’s not far off from his career numbers at the level, either, as in 40 career appearances at the highest level of the minors the lefty has struggled to a 5.61 ERA.

Given Maciejewski’s lackluster body of work in the minors, it’s not necessarily a shock that the club opted to part ways with the lefty despite his small sample success in the Bronx. The lefty’s departure makes room for the return of Rizzo, who figures to step into his previous role as the club’s everyday first baseman down the stretch now that he’s recovered from the forearm fracture that kept him sidelined since mid-June. The 35-year-old will look to return to the form he’s shown in previous seasons after struggling to a .223/.289/.341 slash line in 70 games prior to the injury.

He’ll be joined on the roster by Ellis, a 26-year-old rookie who made his big league debut with the White Sox earlier this year. Ellis has just four plate appearances in the big leagues under his belt and hasn’t hit much throughout his career in the minors, but he nonetheless figures to be a worthwhile addition to New York’s positional mix thanks to his blistering speed and solid defense in the outfield. Ellis has already stolen four bases without being caught in his limited time at the big league level, and he’s stolen at least 50 bags at the minor league level in each of the last three seasons.

As for the pitchers, Effross’s first appearance with the club this year will be his first time pitching on a major league mound since 2022, as he underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after being acquired from the Cubs at the 2022 trade deadline and then had his return to action further delayed by back surgery back in February. The sidearming righty has been very effective at the big league level when healthy enough to take the mound, with a 2.78 ERA and 2.63 FIP in 71 1/3 innings of work. He’ll join the bullpen alongside Marinaccio, who has a 2.53 ERA despite a 4.63 FIP in 21 1/3 innings of work this year.

Yankees Designate Victor González For Assignment

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The Yankees announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Phil Bickford, with left-hander Victor González designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Right-hander Yoendrys Gómez was also recalled, with a roster spot having been opened for him when right-hander Ron Marinaccio was optioned last night.

González losing his roster spot might come as a surprise, since his 3.86 earned run average on the year seems perfectly acceptable. But digging a little deeper, the numbers aren’t nearly as nice. He has issued 13 walks on the year compared to just 11 strikeouts, leading to respective rates of 13.4% and 11.3% that are both significantly worse than average.

His 55.1% ground ball rate is strong but his .149 batting average on balls in play is unsustainably lucky. His 5.93 FIP and 5.59 SIERA suggest that regression is coming, so perhaps the Yanks decided to quit while they’re ahead.

They will now have a week to trade González or pass him through waivers. Though his work this year has been fairly unimpressive, he could garner interest based on his past performance. He made 93 appearances for the Dodgers from 2020 to 2023, missing the 2022 campaign due to an elbow injury that required an arthroscopic debridement procedure. But in his time with the Dodgers, he had a 3.22 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 58.1% ground ball rate.

He exhausted his final option year in 2023, which likely motivated the Dodgers to flip him to the Bronx in the offseason alongside Jorbit Vivas for Trey Sweeney. That inability to send him to the minors will limit interest from other clubs, but he can be controlled through 2026, which may tempt some club to give him a shot. Since his service time count is between three and five years, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment if he clears waivers, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of his $860K salary.

His roster spot will go to another former Dodger in Bickford. The 28-year-old has had a strange offseason. Acquired by the Mets from the Dodgers in August of last year, he qualified for arbitration as a Super Two player.

He and the Mets didn’t agree to a salary, going to a hearing over a tiny difference. He and his reps filed at $900K while the club filed at $815K. He technically won that hearing but it wasn’t a real victory. Under the current CBA, arbitration salaries are guaranteed if the sides agree but not if there’s a hearing. The Mets would only owe him 45 days’ termination pay if they released him prior to Opening Day and they did just that.

That led to a minor league deal with the Yankees in early April, with a $1.1MM base salary in the majors, likely prorated based on when he was selected to the roster. Since signing that deal, he has tossed 27 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 2.93 ERA and 29.9% strikeout rate. His 10.3% walk rate is a tad high but the punchouts are clearly intriguing enough to get him back to the majors.

Those numbers are fairly comparable to his big league numbers in 2021 and 2022. Over those two seasons, he had a 3.85 ERA in 112 1/3 innings, striking out 27.8% of batters faced while walking just 7.3%. Last year, his strikeout and walk rates both moved in the wrong direction a bit to 25% and 12.8%, which led to his aforementioned transactions.

He is out of options and can’t be sent back down to the minors without first being exposed to waivers. But if he manages to stick on the roster, he can be controlled for three more seasons beyond this one.

Yankees Designate Dennis Santana For Assignment

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that they’ve designated right-hander Dennis Santana for assignment. Right-hander Ron Marinaccio was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move.

Santana, 28, signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal over the offseason and quickly broke onto the club’s roster when right-hander Jonathan Loasigia suffered a flexor strain that sent him to the 60-day IL just days into the regular season. The right-hander generally pitched well into early May, with a 3.24 ERA and an even stronger 2.78 FIP despite a lackluster 18.6% strikeout rate. Unfortunately, the wheels came off for Santana from there. Over his last nine outings, the right-hander has been torched to the tune of a 10.97 ERA with a 5.67 FIP. He’s struck out 14% of batters faced, walked 8%, and hit a batter in his last 10 2/3 innings of work.

That brutal stretch ballooned Santana’s ERA to 6.26 on the season, and that left the Yankees to pull the plug on his time in their bullpen. Now, the club will have seven days to either trade Santana or attempt to pass him through waivers, although he’s been outrighted previously in his career and would have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency even if he were to clear waivers.

What stands out about Santana’s time in the Bronx is how different his peripherals have looked compared to his previous struggles at the big league level. Ever since the right-hander made his big league debut with the Dodgers back in 2018, Santana has struggled with his control despite generally solid strikeout numbers. From 2020 to 2023, Santana pitched to a 4.91 ERA and 4.20 FIP that aren’t entirely dissimilar to the results he got with the Yankees this year, but his strikeout rate of 21.1% and walk rate of 12% were both much higher than the 16.5% and 8.7% figures he posted in the Bronx. If Santana is able to find a way to recoup those lost strikeouts while maintaining his more manageable walk rate from this season, it’s conceivable the 28-year-old could become a valuable relief arm for an interested club.

In the meantime, the Yankees will replace Santana with Marinaccio in their bullpen mix. The righty, 29 on July 1, has enjoyed strong results since he made his big league debut with the club back in 2022. In 104 innings of work, he’s posted a 2.86 ERA despite a more pedestrian FIP of 3.98. That elevated FIP stems from command issues; Marinaccio has struck out an excellent 28.2% of the batters he’s faced in his career, but his 10.9% walk rate in 12 2/3 innings of work this year is currently the lowest of his career. In spite of those shaky peripherals, it’s nonetheless an impressive body of work for the righty, who came from humble beginnings as a 19th-round pick in the 2017 draft. Marinaccio figures to resume his role in the middle of the Yankees bullpen going forward alongside Victor Gonzalez and Michael Tonkin.

Yankees Place Jon Berti On 10-Day IL, Designate Josh Maciejewski

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In between games of New York’s double-header with the Guardians today, the Yankees announced a series of roster moves. Utilityman Jon Berti has been placed (retroactive to April 11) on the 10-day injured list due to a left groin strain, and left-hander Josh Maciejewski was also designated for assignment.  Right-hander Ron Marinaccio and infielder Kevin Smith have been called up from Triple-A to take the two open roster spots, and in Smith’s case, his minors deal with the team was replaced with a new Major League contract before being selected.  Left-hander Clayton Andrews was outrighted to Triple-A, while right-hander McKinley Moore was activated from the 15-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A.

Speaking with the YES Network (X link), manager Aaron Boone indicated that Berti’s injury occurred in his most recent at-bat, when Berti beat out an infield single in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 5-2 New York loss to Miami.  While the manager didn’t put a timeline on Berti’s potential return, Boone also didn’t think the issue was overly serious.

Berti was acquired as part of a three-team trade with the Marlins and Rays just prior to Opening Day, and the veteran has been splitting third base duties with Oswaldo Cabrera while DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza have been sidelined with injuries.  Cabrera is off to a scorching start at the plate, but Berti has slashed only .211/.250/.211 over his first 21 plate appearances in the pinstripes.  While Smith can continue acting as a veteran counterpart to Cabrera, Boone said he has “a lot” of confidence that Cabrera can keep producing with a larger share of the playing time with Berti sidelined.

Maciejewski’s contract was selected from Triple-A earlier this week, and the 28-year-old officially became a big leaguer after throwing a perfect inning in last Monday’s 7-0 win over the Marlins.  With his MLB debut behind him, Maciejewski now heads to the DFA wire as part of the roster churn at the back of the Yankees’ bullpen.

There’s a chance that a team in need of multi-inning bullpen help or even swingman help could put in a claim on Maciejewski, who has a 3.52 ERA over 294 1/3 innings (starting 31 of 101 games) in his minor league career.  A 10th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2018 draft, Maciejewski has had limited success at the Triple-A level, with a 4.87 ERA in 61 frames with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

In selecting Maciejewski, the Yankees designated Andrews, and the southpaw will remain in the organization after clearing DFA waivers.  Andrews made his Major League debut in the form of four appearances and 3 1/3 innings with the Brewers last season, and he joined the Yankees in a minor league trade in February after posting a 2.53 ERA over 57 innings for Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate in 2023.  Control problems have limited Andrews’ effectiveness throughout his six minor league seasons, but Andrews has struggled badly in a small sample size this year — the lefty has a 14.73 ERA and six walks over just 3 2/3 innings at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Luis Severino Won’t Return In 2023 Following High-Grade Oblique Strain

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6:44PM: The specifics of Severino’s injury have become clear, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic) that the right-hander had suffered a “high-grade” left oblique strain. The injury brings a difficult 2023 campaign for Severino to an end, and leaves the 29-year-old’s health as a major question mark just two months before he’s scheduled to hit free agency for the first time in his career.

9:39AM: As expected, the Yankees placed Severino on the 15-day IL, and called up right-hander Ron Marinaccio from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  The specific nature of Severino’s injury isn’t yet known, as the club announced he was sidelined with “a left upper body injury (pending further results).”

SEPTEMBER 8: Luis Severino departed this evening’s start against Milwaukee in the fifth inning. The right-hander left in obvious pain after throwing a pitch to Brice Turang.

The Yankees didn’t provide many specifics, saying only that Severino would go for additional testing on a left side injury. After the game, the pitcher said he felt like he’d been shot, calling it “deep, sharp pain” (via Brendan Kuty of the Athletic).

More will be known in the coming days, but it seems as if Severino is trending to a trip to the injured list. With three weeks left in the regular season and the Yankees all but certain to miss the playoffs, it’s fair to wonder if his 2023 campaign will be cut short.

It has been a nightmarish season for the 29-year-old hurler. Severino spent the first six weeks of the season on the injured list after suffering a Spring Training lat injury. He returned in late May and had been healthy up until tonight, but he has posted some of the worst numbers of any pitcher in the league. Including his performance this evening, he carries a 6.65 ERA through 89 1/3 innings. He’s striking out a below-average 18.9% of opposing hitters and has allowed a staggering 2.32 home runs per nine.

It’s a huge drop-off for a pitcher who worked to a 3.18 ERA with a 27.7% strikeout rate in 102 innings a year ago. Severino battled injuries (most notably a February 2020 Tommy John procedure) going back to 2019. Yet his rate statistics last season weren’t much worse than those of his 2017-18 peak when he made consecutive All-Star games and finished as high as third in Cy Young balloting.

Even if Severino were to finish this year healthy, it’d be a tough time for his first career trip to free agency. He already looked like a candidate for a one-year, bounceback deal in hopes of a better platform season going into the 2024-25 offseason. If he requires a stint on the injured list to close out the year, he’d head into the winter with an additional question mark.

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