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Steve Cishek

Steve Cishek To Retire

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Relief pitcher Steve Cishek is retiring. “It’s time,” Cishek tells Rich Maclone of The Bourne Enterprise. “It’s gotten harder for me to bounce back game-to-game. The ball wasn’t coming out as crisp as before, and it felt like I had to pitch differently. I know I’ll get the bug and want to get back out there, but I don’t think I’m pulling a Tom Brady.”

Cishek was drafted by the Marlins in 2007 and eventually made his major league debut with them in 2010. He only got to pitch 4 1/3 innings that year but got a more substantial showing in the following season. He made 45 appearances in 2008, tossing 54 2/3 frames with a 2.63 ERA, 24% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 56.8% ground ball rate.

Cishek worked his way up to high-leverage spots, recording three saves and a couple of holds in that 2008 campaign. He followed that up with 15 saves in 2009 and then got 34 and 39 in the two following years. Giving hitters fits with his sidearm delivery, Cishek was able to both get strikeouts and ground ball at above-average rates, a difficult combination to pull off.

In 2015, he was traded from the Marlins to the Cardinals after spending parts of six seasons in Miami. He would go into journeyman mode from there, spending time with the Mariners, Rays, Cubs, White Sox, Angels and Nationals. He pitched in 13 MLB seasons from 2010 to 2022.

In Cishek’s career, he got into 737 games, tossing 710 2/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA. He struck out 24.8% of the batters he faced and got grounders on 48.3% of balls in play. He recorded 133 saves, 109 holds and 33 wins. MLBTR congratulates him on a fine career and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Which Remaining Free Agent Relievers Are Coming Off The Best Seasons?

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The offseason floodgates opened this month, with an avalanche of free agent activity once the Winter Meetings got underway. Things have quieted down in recent days thanks to the holidays, but clubs are likely to again get back to attacking the free agent market in earnest this week.

Most of the winter’s top names are off the board, leaving teams to mostly look through lower-cost options as they search for upgrades on the margins of the roster. There are still a number of experienced options available, particularly for teams seeking to round out the bullpen. Using MLBTR’s free agent list, we find 47 pitchers who tossed at least 20 innings out of a team’s bullpen in 2022 and remain unsigned.

We’ll sort the remaining free agent relievers by various metrics of 2022 performance to identify some of the top arms. There are obviously other factors for teams to consider — quality of raw stuff, pre-2022 track record, the player’s injury history, etc. — but a brief snapshot on the top bullpen arms by last year’s performance should provide a decent starting point for players teams might target moving forward. (All figures cited, including league averages, are looking solely at pitchers’ outings as relievers).

ERA (league average — 3.86)

  1. Matt Moore (LHP), 1.95
  2. Alex Young (LHP), 2.08
  3. Matt Wisler (RHP), 2.23
  4. Wily Peralta (RHP), 2.72
  5. Brad Hand (LHP), 2.80
  6. Andrew Chafin (LHP), 2.83
  7. David Phelps (RHP), 2.87
  8. Ralph Garza Jr. (RHP), 3.34
  9. Jackson Stephens (RHP), 3.38
  10. Michael Fulmer (RHP), 3.39

Strikeout rate (league average — 23.6%)

  1. Daniel Norris (LHP), 30%
  2. Darren O’Day (RHP), 27.7%
  3. Andrew Chafin, 27.6%
  4. Matt Moore, 27.3%
  5. Aroldis Chapman (LHP), 26.9%
  6. Steve Cishek (RHP), 25.8%
  7. Chasen Shreve (LHP), 25.4%
  8. Will Smith (LHP), 24.9%
  9. David Phelps, 23.9%
  10. Noé Ramirez, 23.7%

Strikeout/walk rate differential (league average — 14.5 percentage points)

  1. Andrew Chafin, 19.8 points
  2. Daniel Norris, 19 points
  3. Darren O’Day, 17 points
  4. Chasen Shreve, 16.7 points
  5. Steve Cishek, 16.4 points
  6. Craig Stammen (RHP), 15.7 points
  7. Will Smith, 15.3 points
  8. Matt Moore, 14.8 points
  9. Ross Detwiler (LHP), 14.8 points
  10. Luke Weaver (RHP), 13.8 points

Ground-ball rate (league average — 43.5%)

  1. Luis Perdomo (RHP), 62.5%
  2. Joe Smith (RHP), 57.5%
  3. Alex Young, 55.7%
  4. Alex Colomé (RHP), 55.6%
  5. T.J. McFarland (LHP), 53%
  6. Craig Stammen, 52.6%
  7. Garrett Richards (RHP), 52.4%
  8. Bryan Shaw (RHP), 51.8%
  9. Andrew Chafin, 51.3%
  10. Jacob Barnes (RHP), 50.7%

FIP (league average — 3.86)

  1. Luke Weaver, 2.46
  2. Alex Young, 2.65
  3. Matt Moore, 2.98
  4. Andrew Chafin, 3.06
  5. David Phelps, 3.11
  6. Garrett Richards, 3.16
  7. Jackson Stephens, 3.45
  8. Michael Fulmer, 3.57
  9. Brad Hand, 3.93
  10. Darren O’Day, 4.04

Innings Pitched

  1. Matt Moore, 74
  2. Caleb Smith (LHP), 69
  3. Steve Cishek, 66 1/3
  4. Michael Fulmer, 63 2/3
  5. David Phelps, 62 2/3
  6. Hunter Strickland (RHP), 62 1/3
  7. Will Smith, 59
  8. Andrew Chafin, 57 1/3
  9. Bryan Shaw, 54
  10. Jackson Stephens/Hirokazu Sawamura (RHP), 50 2/3 each

NL Notes: deGrom, Estevez, Cishek

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SNY’s Andy Martino writes that righty ace Jacob deGrom’s openness to returning to the Mets is growing, with a friend of the pitcher saying that although he would’ve said the odds of deGrom returning to Queens were “zero” had he been asked during Spring Training, he would now say they are “50/50”.

deGrom is expected to opt-out of the remainder of his contract, joining teammates Brandon Nimmo, Chris Bassitt, Edwin Diaz, and Taijuan Walker as key players filing for free agency this offseason. While this leaves the Mets with plenty of holes to fill this offseason, retaining deGrom is sure to be a top priority. The two time Cy Young award winner has posted some of the best numbers in baseball over the past few years, with a 2.05 ERA and 2.14 FIP in 645 1/3 innings since the start of the 2018 season. As that low inning total implies, however, deGrom has struggled to stay on the field in recent years, making just 26 starts across the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Those health struggles have done little to damage his reputation as the best pitcher in baseball, however, and he should find a strong market for this services this offseason in spite of them.

With at least 3 starting pitchers set to hit the market this offseason, and the possibility of a fourth if the team declines Carlos Carrasco’s club option, re-signing deGrom to accompany Max Scherzer atop the rotation would seem like a no-brainer for the Mets. That hasn’t stopped both sides from considering other options, however, and Martino notes that the Mets have considered making runs at signing Justin Verlander or even a trade for Shohei Ohtani to replace their ace. While the sides clearly aren’t entirely committed to each other at this moment, the fit between the two is undeniable, and Martino reports that Scherzer has privately made his desire for deGrom to remain with the team clear. As for deGrom, Martino reports that he is “enjoying the vibe around the Mets more than ever” this season.

Elsewhere in the National League…

  • Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette took a look at Colorado’s pending free agents, and noted that the Rockies have particular interest in bringing righty reliever Carlos Estevez back into the fold next season. Estevez pitched to a 3.47 ERA and a 4.08 FIP in 57 innings for Colorado this season, good for an ERA+ of 135. With pitchers who can find success at Coors Field hard to come by and a need for veteran leadership in a mostly young, inexperienced bullpen, a reunion with Estevez would make a lot of sense for Colorado.
  • MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato reports that righty reliever Steve Cishek is contemplating retirement. Cishek just completed his age 36 season, where he posted a 4.21 ERA in 66 1/3 innings for the Nationals. While his 2022 season was largely unimpressive, Cishek has posted a 2.98 ERA over the course of a career spanning 13 seasons and eight organizations. A player with his track record would surely be able to find a job somewhere, though it’s possible he may need to settle for a minor-league deal should he decide to continue his playing career.

Nationals Listening To Offers On Kyle Finnegan

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With Juan Soto on the market, the Nationals will find themselves in plenty of headlines over the next two weeks. Soto is the crown jewel of this year’s potential trade candidates, and the Nats are also expected to part with impending free agent hitters Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz before the August 2 trade deadline.

While that trio (Soto in particular) will be the group that most intrigues fans of rival teams, they’re not the only trade candidates on the roster. The Nats are likely to be open to moving virtually any of their veteran role players, and Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports they’re prepared to field offers on reliever Kyle Finnegan. One of Washington’s higher-leverage arms, Finnegan should hold some appeal to bullpen-needy contenders.

Signed to a major league contract over the 2019-20 offseason after a lengthy stint in the A’s farm system, Finnegan has spent the past few years in the nation’s capital. The right-hander has posted an ERA below 4.00 in all three big league seasons, and he’s generally been a durable arm for manager Dave Martinez. Aside from a two-week injured list due to a minor hamstring strain last year, Finnegan has avoided the IL as a big leaguer.

As for his appeal to rival clubs, that’s rather straightforward. Finnegan throws in the mid-90s, and he’s averaging a career-best 96.6 MPH on his sinker this season. Throughout his time in the big leagues, he’s posted slightly above-average strikeout and ground-ball marks, and he’s missing bats at a personal-best rate in 2022. Finnegan has punched out 28.3% of batters faced this year, a solid uptick over the 23.7% career mark he carried into the season. He has generated swinging strikes on 13.1% of his offerings, a bit above the 11.7% league average for relievers. His 47.9% grounder rate is also a few points higher than the typical mark.

While Finnegan has flashed the swing-and-miss and grounder upside in prior years, he’d been plagued by control issues from 2020-21. Finnegan doled out free passes to around 12% of opponents in each of his first two seasons, but he’s shown much improved strike-throwing through this season’s first few months. The Texas State product owns an 8.6% walk rate, a hair below the league average. A spike in home runs has resulted in a career-worst 3.93 ERA across 36 2/3 innings, but Finnegan’s combination of arm strength and solid underlying numbers make him an intriguing target for contenders.

His value is also buoyed by his affordability. Finnegan is making barely more than the league minimum salary, having not yet qualified for arbitration. He’ll reach arbitration for the first time at the end of the year and remains controllable through 2025. That window means the Nationals aren’t going to be as motivated to deal him this summer as they’ll be for some of their rental players, but there’s also little reason for general manager Mike Rizzo and his staff not to discuss him with other teams. Finnegan’s late-blooming status means he’s soon to turn 31 years old. That the Nats are discussing Soto with other clubs suggests they’re open to a multi-year rebuild — and a Soto trade, if it happens, would formally signify they’re embarking on that course — and a good but not elite reliever isn’t going to be the kind of player the franchise prioritizes as a building block.

That would’ve also been true of fellow high-leverage arm Tanner Rainey, a hard-throwing righty who’s likewise arbitration-eligible through 2025. Rainey’s trade candidacy was dashed last week when he landed on the 60-day injured list with a UCL sprain in his throwing elbow. Dougherty writes that the Nationals had been preparing to shop Rainey this month, but he’s not expected to return this season and could require Tommy John surgery. That saps virtually all of his trade value, making Finnegan the undisputed top player in the Washington bullpen.

Presumably, the Nationals will also make their other late-game arms available. Víctor Arano has excellent strikeout and walk numbers but a 5.01 ERA. Steve Cishek, who’s playing this season on a $1.75MM salary, looks likely to move for a modest return. He’s missing bats, holding right-handed hitters to a .212/.307/.313 line, and will hit free agency at the end of the year. Carl Edwards Jr., who cracked the roster after signing a minor league deal, has a solid combination of strikeouts and grounders and could draw a bit of interest himself.

Nationals To Sign Steve Cishek

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The Nationals have agreed to a one-year contract with Steve Cishek, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The contract comes with a $1.75MM guarantee, along with $500K in performance bonuses, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Signing a veteran like Cishek, who will turn 36 in June, is a fairly logical move for a club that underwent a massive fire sale at last year’s deadline. While the headliners of that selloff were Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, the bullpen also took a hit with the deals of Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand. That left the club with a reliever corps that largely consisted of unproven players with limited big league experience, with the exception of Will Harris. However, Harris turns 38 in August and only threw six innings last year before surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome ended his season, making him a question mark in his own right.

In contrast to that lack of reliability, Cishek has been remarkably consistent in his career. In each season since 2011, he has thrown at least 44 innings, with the exception of the shortened 2020 season, where he still logged 20 frames. Since his debut in 2010, he’s appeared in a total of 668 games, notching 644 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.85, strikeout rate of 24.7%, walk rate of 9.6% and groundball rate of 49%. With the exception of 2020, he’s never had an ERA higher than 3.58 in a season.

Last year, Cishek signed a one-year deal with the Angels late in March for a salary of $1MM. He ended up making 74 appearances for the Halos, logging 68 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.42, strikeout rate of 20.8% and walk rate of 13.3%. That walk rate was the worst of his career, and the strikeout rate just a hair above his previous career lows. That could perhaps be cause for some concern, but the Nationals still game him a modest raise on last year’s salary.

For a team that wiped millions from its books at the trade deadline last year, it’s still an incredible modest sum with little downside. If Cishek has yet another season like he’s had for the majority of his career, he could act as a stabilizing force on a pitching staff with high variance and perhaps be dealt to a contender at the deadline, as the team looks to bolster its farm and reload for their next competitive window.

NL East Notes: Mets, Conforto, Phillies, Marlins

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With the Mets still engaged in extension talks with Francisco Lindor, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets that the team is waiting to resolve things with Lindor before continuing negotiations with their other major extension candidate, Michael Conforto.  Lindor has made it clear that he wants to reach a new deal by Opening Day, whereas Conforto and agent Scott Boras have each expressed a bit more flexibility to talk during the season, though Conforto has said he would “ideally” prefer to also have a potential new contract finalized before games get underway.

More from the NL East…

  • The Phillies announced this afternoon they’ve reassigned outfielder Odúbel Herrera to the alternate training site. Adam Haseley has made the Opening Day roster. Herrera and Haseley were among the group competing for the Phils’ center field job. The latter was set back by an early-March groin strain but has apparently made a quick enough recovery to be ready for Thursday’s season opener.
  • In other Phillies news, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer) that top prospect Spencer Howard will work primarily out of the bullpen in 2021. It’s not a permanent switch, as Dombrowski stressed the organization sees Howard as a starting pitcher long-term. The Phils are being particularly cautious in monitoring the young righty’s innings after he worked just 71 minor-league frames in 2019 and was limited to 24.1 MLB innings during last year’s shortened season.
  • The Marlins have sold the naming rights to their ballpark, Danilo J. Santos of the Fish Stripes blog reported (Twitter link).  Mortgage company loanDepot purchased the rights, and thus the former Marlins Park will now be known as loanDepot Park, according to Fox Sports 640’s Andy Slater (via Twitter).  Terms of the multi-year contract haven’t been announced, though as the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson notes, the news concludes the Marlins’ long search for a naming-rights partner that has been ongoing since the stadium opened in 2012.

Angels To Sign Steve Cishek, Tony Watson

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The Angels continue adding to their bullpen: The team announced Monday that it has agreed to deals with right-hander Steve Cishek and left-hander Tony Watson. Both Cishek and Watson will get one-year, $1MM contracts, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports. The Halos placed injured RHP Luke Bard on the 60-day IL to help make room for these pickups.

Cishek and Watson are among four notable bullpen additions since Sunday for the Angels. They previously brought back old friend Noe Ramirez and then acquired James Hoyt in trade with the Marlins. It’s clearly a late-spring attempt by first-year general manager Perry Minasian to add as much depth as possible to a bullpen which has other newcomers in Raisel Iglesias, Alex Claudio, Junior Guerra and Aaron Slegers.

Cishek and Watson certainly boast the best track records of the quartet of relievers the Angels have brought in over the past couple days. The 34-year-old Cishek had a rough go with the White Sox in 2020, and he didn’t make the Astros’ roster this spring, but he proved himself as a durable option who could keep runs off the board before then. Since his career began in 2010, the former closer has logged a 2.78 ERA, registered an above-average strikeout rate of 25.2 percent and recorded a 48.9 percent groundball rate in 576 innings.

Watson, 35, failed to crack the Phillies’ roster in spring training, but he has also established himself as an effective big league reliever. He owns a 2.80 ERA with a decent strikeout-walk percentage (15.4) across 591 frames. Watson spent last year as a member of the Giants and continued to hold hitters at bay (2.50 ERA), all while limiting hard contact (84.8 mph exit velocity against) and walks (4.1 percent), and inducing grounders at a 50 percent clip in 18 frames.

Astros Release Steve Cishek

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Right-handed reliever Steve Cishek requested and was granted his release from the Astros on Thursday, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic was among those to report. He had been vying for a role in the Astros’ bullpen after signing a minor league contract during the offseason.

Cishek would have earned a $2.25MM salary had he made the Astros, but that looked increasingly unlikely after the team signed starter Jake Odorizzi to a two-year, $23.5MM deal earlier this month. After all, the Astros are hoping to stay under the $210MM luxury-tax threshold, and adding Cishek to their roster would have made that more difficult to accomplish.

The 34-year-old Cishek had a rough 2020 as a member of the White Sox, with whom he put up a 5.40 ERA/4.47 SIERA over 20 innings, but his track record suggests he’ll catch on with another team soon. Cishek has combined for a 2.78 ERA/3.36 SIERA with decent strikeout and walk percentages (25.2 and 9.2) and a 48.9 grounder mark over 576 innings since he first pitched in the majors in 2010. He gave up three earned runs in 7 2/3 innings and posted 12 strikeouts against two walks this spring.

Quick Hits: Cishek, Souza, Herrera

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As spring training games continue and we inch closer to the 2021 season, let’s check in on a couple of notes from around the game…

  • Veterans Steve Cishek and Steven Souza Jr. are working to make the Astros’ roster out of camp, but their chances took a hit yesterday with the signing of Jake Odorizzi, writes the Athletic’s Jake Kaplan. Cishek would make a $2.25MM salary were he to make the team, while Souza would earn $1.15MM. The Astros very much prefer to stay under the luxury tax to avoid the worsening of the draft pick compensation they might receive if Carlos Correa, Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, or Lance McCullers Jr. are offered (and decline) a qualifying offer at year’s end. While the terms of Odorizzi’s deal are not yet known, it’s likely to take them close to the $210 luxury tax threshold.
  • With Adam Haseley on the injured list and likely to miss opening day, Odubel Herrera has jumped into pole position to be the guy in center when the season starts, per Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was an All-Star in the grass in 2017, but an 85-game suspension under the league’s domestic violence policy in 2019 derailed his once-promising career. Said manager Joe Girardi on Herrera’s chances to make the team, “We’re not allowed to punish anyone more than what MLB did. If Odubel doesn’t make the team, it would be what we would consider probably a lack of performance or we’d be more comfortable with getting a few more at-bats. That sort of thing. He’s in the running just like a lot of other guys.” The 29-year-old fell off dramatically after posting a 107 wRC+ from 2015 to 2017. He has not appeared in a big-league game since May 2019.

Astros Sign Steve Cishek To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have signed veteran reliever Steve Cishek to a minor league contract, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The right-hander’s deal includes an invitation to major league camp. He’ll earn a $2.25MM salary with incentives if he makes the Astros’ roster, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The incentives could reach $1.5MM, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Cishek, 34, has taken a big league mound for six teams and generally been quite successful since he began with the Marlins in 2010. Although he has only averaged about 91 mph on his fastball, the former closer has 132 saves to his name and has registered a stingy 2.78 ERA/3.36 SIERA with an above-average 25.2 percent strikeout rate across 576 innings. Cishek has also been a durable late-game option, having piled up 54 or more innings on eight occasions.

While Cishek was effective as recently as 2019 with the Cubs, his production dropped off with the crosstown rival White Sox a season ago, which is why he didn’t get a guaranteed contract this winter. Cishek, whom the White Sox signed to a $6MM deal, mustered a disappointing 5.40 ERA/4.47 SIERA in 20 frames with the club. And though Cishek has usually induced grounders at a solid rate (48.9 percent), he posted a career-worst 32.2 in that department and also put up slightly below-average strikeout and walk percentages of 22.6 and 9.7, respectively.

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