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Wes Parsons

Guardians Release Wes Parsons

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The Guardians released righty Wes Parsons, according to the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Cleveland had a week to trade him or run him through waivers after they designated for assignment last Friday. That came as the corresponding 40-man roster move when Cleveland landed Spencer Howard in a minor trade with the Giants.

Parsons landed in Cleveland via DFA trade himself. The Blue Jays had taken him off their roster a couple weeks into the season before flipping him to the Guardians for international signing bonus space. Cleveland made a few such moves to try to stockpile rotation and/or long relief depth. Parsons didn’t wind up playing much of a role, as he pitched just twice in April. The 31-year-old tallied four scoreless innings with five strikeouts.

Cleveland otherwise kept Parsons on optional assignment to Triple-A Columbus. He tossed 25 2/3 innings across 12 appearances, five of which he started. Parsons turned in a 4.21 ERA while striking out an excellent 29.3% of opponents. Yet he also walked an untenable 17.1% of batters faced, the second straight season in which he’s struggled to throw strikes at the Triple-A level. Parsons has been on the temporarily inactive list for around a month and last pitched with Columbus on June 12.

Guardians Acquire Spencer Howard From Giants

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The Guardians have acquired right-hander Spencer Howard from the Giants, per Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle on X. The Giants, who designated the righty for assignment recently, will receive cash considerations in return. The Guardians announced that they have designated righty Wes Parsons for assignment to open up a 40-man spot.

Howard, 27, was with the Giants on a minor league deal at the start of this year and opened the season with ten Triple-A starts. He had a 5.90 earned run average in that time, though he probably deserved better than that. His 32.2% strikeout rate was quite strong and his 9.6% walk rate only slightly on the high side. But he had a .406 batting average on balls in play and 66.1% strand rate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, so his 4.12 FIP was almost two runs better than his ERA.

The Giants added him to their roster at the end of May and he spent just over a month with the club in a swing role. He tossed 24 innings over seven outings, two of those being starts, with a 5.63 ERA. It’s possible that luck played a role again, as his .388 BABIP in that time was well above average, but his strikeout rate also plummeted to 18.4% in the majors. His most recent outing was especially tough, as he allowed six earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. Since he’s out of options, he was bumped off the 40-man.

The Guardians are perhaps intrigued by those Triple-A strikeout numbers that Howard had earlier this year, or perhaps his past status as a notable prospect. A second-round pick of the Phillies in 2017, he was considered one of the top prospects in the league, with Baseball America giving him the #27 overall spot in 2020 and 2021. He went to the Rangers in the 2021 deadline deal that sent Kyle Gibson and Ian Kennedy the other way.

Unfortunately, Howard has never been able to find much success in the big leagues. Between his time with the Phillies, Rangers and Giants, he has 139 innings in the majors with a 6.93 ERA, 19.9% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate. His work in the minors hasn’t been much better in recent years, as he’s tossed 143 1/3 innings on the farm since the start of 2021 with a 4.83 ERA, though that minor league work has come with a 31.7% strikeout rate.

Since Howard is out of options, the Guards will be hoping that he can quickly start getting punchouts at the big league level, likely in a long relief role. The rotation has lost Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery and they recently optioned a struggling Triston McKenzie, but they have a starting five of Tanner Bibee, Ben Lively, Gavin Williams, Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco.

If the Guards can figure out how to get Howard on track, there could be long-term benefits. He’s out of options but can be retained via arbitration for three seasons beyond this one if he holds onto his roster spot for the rest of the year.

Parsons, 31, started the year with the Blue Jays but was designated for assignment in early April and flipped to the Guardians for international bonus pool space. He has spent most of the year in a swing role in Triple-A, with 25 2/3 innings over 12 outings, five of those being starts. He had a 4.21 ERA in that time but may have been lucky to have it that low. He struck out 29.3% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a huge 17.1% clip. Were it not for an 84.6% strand rate, he would have fared much worse, which is why he had a 6.06 FIP for Columbus.

The Guards will now have a week to trade Parsons or pass him through waivers. The recent numbers aren’t too exciting but he is in his final option year and could perhaps appeal to club bit by the injury bug that wants a bit more starting depth in the minors.

Guardians Acquire Wes Parsons From Blue Jays

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The Blue Jays have traded right-hander Wes Parsons to the Guardians for $250K of international bonus pool space, per announcements from both clubs. Parsons was designated for assignment by the Jays last week and has now been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. Righty Shane Bieber was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Parsons. It was reported over the weekend that Bieber will undergo Tommy John surgery, thus missing the remainder of the 2024 season.

Parsons, 31, pitched in the majors in 2018 and 2019 but then didn’t make it to the show in 2020 and headed to Korea for a couple of years. Over 2021 and 2022, he threw 176 innings for the NC Dinos of the KBO League with a combined earned run average of 3.68.

He returned to North America by signing a minor league deal with the Jays in 2023, then went on to make 17 starts for Triple-A Buffalo with an ERA of 4.52. He struck out 27.5% of batters faced in that time with a 44.2% ground ball rate but also issued walks at a 12.6% clip. He was added to the big league roster on the last day of the regular season after the Jays clinched a playoff spot the day before, allowing nine earned runs in four innings that day.

He lasted on the club’s 40-man through the winter and cracked the Opening Day roster after the Jays’ pitching staff suffering spring injuries to Alek Manoah, Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson. Parsons tossed five innings over two appearances in the early going but allowed six earned runs and got bumped off the roster in favor of Paolo Espino.

The results have not been pretty over the last three MLB outings for Parsons, but that’s obviously a tiny sample of work. He was in decent form in Triple-A last year and had good results in the KBO over the two years prior to that. The Guardians had a roster spot to burn with the recent news of Bieber’s surgery and will use that, along with that international money, to add some optionable pitching depth to their system.

For the Jays, Parsons got squeezed off their roster but it seems there was enough interest around the league that they were able to get something in return before his DFA window was up. They will now presumably use that extra pool space to sign a young player, or perhaps multiple young players, to add to their farm system.

Blue Jays Designate Wes Parsons For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have selected the contract of right-hander Paolo Espino from Triple-A Buffalo and designated right-hander Wes Parsons for assignment in a corresponding move, the team announced Friday.

Parsons, 31, has spent the past two seasons with the Jays after a two-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s logged just nine innings over three appearances at the MLB level with Toronto dating back to a spot start last October. The results haven’t been pretty. Parsons was tagged for nine runs in four innings against the Rays in that spot start, and this season he’s served up another six runs in five innings of relief. On the whole, he’s yielded 15 runs on 16 hits and five walks with five strikeouts in nine frames for the Jays.

Rough as that showing has been, Parsons pitched decently for the Jays’ Triple-A club in 2023, tossing 81 2/3 frames over 17 starts and recording a 4.52 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. He was effective for the KBO’s NC Dinos as well, making 32 starts and turning in a 3.68 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of his opponents. In his limited time with Toronto, Parsons has shown five pitches — four-seamer, two-seamer, curveball, slider, changeup — averaging 94.7 mph on his four-seamer and 93.5 mph on his sinker. The right-hander, who’s in his final minor league option year, will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released within the next week.

Espino, 37, spent the 2020-23 seasons in the Nationals organization, oscillating not only between the big leagues and Triple-A but also between starting and bullpen roles. He pitched 233 innings with the Nats in the majors, working to a 4.91 ERA with a below-average 19.5% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.4% walk rate.

Espino doesn’t throw hard, sitting just 88-89 mph with his fastball, and his extreme fly-ball tendencies could be a tough fit in the American League East. That said, he excelled in spring training, tossing 17 innings with a 2.65 ERA, 36.4% strikeout rate and 3% walk rate. That brilliant showing earned him a look with the Jays, and he can now add some length to their bullpen in the event of a short start or a game getting out of hand.

Blue Jays Expect To Place Manoah, Swanson, Romano On Injured List

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The Blue Jays will place closer Jordan Romano and setup man Erik Swanson on the injured list to begin the season, manager John Schneider announced to reporters Wednesday (X thread via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet). Right-hander Alek Manoah is also likely headed to the 15-day IL, the manager added, though it seems that’ll just be to allow him some extra time to continue building up after he was slowed by shoulder trouble earlier in camp. Manoah tossed 34 pitches in a simulated game today and will continue to build from there. Righties Nate Pearson and Wes Parsons will open the season on the big league roster in place of Romano and Swanson.

Both Romano and Swanson recently underwent MRIs after experiencing some discomfort, neither of which revealed structural damage. Romano has some inflammation in his elbow, while Swanson is dealing with some tightness in his forearm. Neither is expected to miss significant time, but it’s nonetheless a blow to the Jays’ bullpen in the early stages of the season.

Romano, 31 next month, has become a powerhouse at the back of the Toronto ’pen. Over the past four seasons, he’s pitched to a 2.29 ERA (3.13 FIP, 3.14 SIERA) with a gaudy 30.8% strikeout rate against a 9.2% walk rate. Last year’s K-BB% wasn’t quite as dominant as in the prior three seasons, but Romano’s 17.1% swinging-strike rate was a flat-out elite mark that hints at a potential “rebound” in strikeout rate (as much as anyone needs to “rebound” from a generally excellent 29% mark in that regard). The right-hander also tied a career-high with 36 saves.

The 30-year-old Swanson, acquired from the Mariners in last offseason’s Teoscar Hernandez trade, would’ve been the favorite to step into closing duties for Romano were he healthy. He posted a 2.97 ERA in his first season with the Jays and carries a terrific 2.60 earned run average (3.04 FIP, 3.07 SIERA) over the past three seasons. During that time, Swanson has punched out 29.4% of his opponents against a very strong 6.7% walk rate.

With Romano and Swanson shelved to begin the year, closing duties will presumably fall to veteran Yimi Garcia. Setup options include Chad Green, the aforementioned Pearson, lefty Tim Mayza and fellow southpaw Genesis Cabrera. The Jays still have a decent group of relievers, but any team’s bullpen is going to look a little dicey when subtracting its two clear best relievers, as is the case in Toronto.

As for the rotation, Manoah is slotted into the No. 5 spot as he looks to rebound from last year’s nightmarish season. The Jays were concerned for a bit that staff ace Kevin Gausman would also require an IL stint, but it seems he’s progressed enough to avoid that fate. They’ll still open the season with Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi starting the first three games, but Gausman will be in line for the fourth or fifth game. He just pitched in a final spring tune-up outing Monday and thus won’t be sufficiently rested for an Opening Day nod.

With Manoah out, righty Bowden Francis will get the rotation nod to begin the season. He’s already been confirmed for the roster — his first career Opening Day roster spot — and will look to build on last year’s impressive rookie showing. The 27-year-old tossed 36 1/3 frames of 1.73 ERA ball with plus strikeout and walk rates (25.7% and 5.9%, respectively) over the life of 20 relief appearances. Francis has typically been a starter in the minors, so an early rotation role will be plenty familiar for him. He could be the first man up in the rotation throughout the early portion of the season if the Jays incur injuries on the staff, though top prospect Ricky Tiedemann will also likely make his big league debut at some point this season.

Blue Jays Outright Jay Jackson

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October 6: Jackson cleared outright waivers, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He’ll qualify for free agency at the beginning of the offseason, so it was a lock that he’d go unclaimed.

October 1: The Blue Jays announced this afternoon that the club has designated right-hander Jay Jackson for assignment. In a corresponding move, the club selected the contract of right-hander Wes Parsons. The move brings Jackson’s 2023 season to an end. The 35-year-old hurler signed with Toronto on a one-year deal back in March and was already slated to become a free agent following the 2023 campaign, though the move means that Jackson won’t join the club as they embark on a postseason push this October.

In 25 appearances with the Blue Jays this season, Jackson has posted a 2.12 ERA, good for a whopping 200 ERA+ in 29 2/3 innings of work. The right-hander’s peripherals are less impressive, with a 4.20 FIP and 3.89 SIERA, though even those figures are still better than average. The strong performance in 2023 continues a run of three seasons in the majors where Jackson has been an effective reliever: since returning from Japan prior to the 2021 season, the veteran righty has posted a 2.73 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 50 appearances with the Giants, Braves, and Blue Jays. Jackson is among several solid middle relief options who figure to be a part of the coming free agent class, like fellow righties John Brebbia and Keynan Middleton.

In Jackson’s place, the Blue Jays select Parsons, who last pitched in the majors during the 2019 campaign. He spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons overseas pitching in the KBO, where he combined for a 3.67 ERA in 196 1/3 innings of work despite his career 5.67 ERA at the major league level. Parsons signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays this past offseason and has made 17 starts at the Triple-A level, recording a 4.52 ERA in 81 2/3 innings of work. Parsons, 31, will start today’s season finale against the Rays and figures to help cover innings as the club prepares for the AL Wild Card series, which begins on Tuesday.

Blue Jays Sign Wes Parsons To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Wes Parsons to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the club’s Florida Complex League affiliate but will presumably head to Triple-A once he gets into game shape.

Parsons, 30, was an undrafted free agent who nonetheless worked his way up to the major leagues a few years ago. He tossed 39 2/3 innings over the 2018 and 2019 seasons for Atlanta and Colorado. He posted an ERA of 5.67 in that time along with a 16.1% strikeout rate, 17.8% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate. He was in the Rockies’ player pool during the 2020 season but didn’t get called up to the majors.

The righty went to Korea in 2021, signing with the NC Dinos of the KBO League and having some good results over there. He worked out of their rotation in 2021, tossing 133 innings over 24 starts with a 3.72 ERA. He struck out 148 of the 577 batters he faced, a 26.4% rate, though the 63 walks still amount to a high rate of 10.9%. He re-signed with the Dinos for 2022 but was only able to make eight starts with a 3.56 ERA. He was released in August while dealing with a back injury so the club could replace him with Matt Dermody, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. KBO teams only have three roster spots for foreign players and needed to remove the injured Parsons to get Dermody aboard.

Parsons will now return to North America by entering the farm system of the Blue Jays. It’s unclear if they are interested in him as a starter or reliever, but he will give them some non-roster depth either way. The club’s rotation is fairly stable at the moment, with Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi all healthy and depth starter Mitch White currently rehabbing in the minors. The relief corps has had a couple of recent injuries with Zach Pop and Adam Cimber on the injured list. Thomas Hatch and Trent Thornton are depth options on the 40-man roster, though White is out of options and will need a roster spot when his rehab is up, which could lead to the recently-recalled Jay Jackson getting optioned back to Buffalo in the near future.

Recapping The KBO League’s International Player Signings

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With the lockout slowing MLB-related transactions to a crawl of minor league deals, transactions involving Korean Baseball Organization teams have taken more of a spotlight on MLBTR’s pages since the start of December.  These moves have included the signings of several names familiar to North American baseball fans, as the KBO League’s clubs have looked to address their allocated three roster spots for non-Korean players.  International-born players can only sign contracts worth a maximum of $1MM in total salary, and players new to the KBO League can sign only one-year pacts.

Though the Doosan Bears have one signing that still isn’t yet official, the other 29 slots have been filled.  It is still possible this list could be adjusted in the coming weeks due to a number of factors — injuries, players returning to North America (for personal reasons or a deal with an MLB team), issues related to the pandemic, or teams just changing their minds after seeing the players in training camp.  Here is the rundown of this winter’s international signings for the 10 KBO League franchises….

Doosan Bears
Jose Miguel Fernandez (deal not yet finalized), Ariel Miranda, Robert Stock

NC Dinos
Nick Martini, Wes Parsons, Drew Rucinski

Hanwha Eagles
Ryan Carpenter, Nick Kingham, Mike Tauchman

Lotte Giants
Charlie Barnes, DJ Peters, Glenn Sparkman

Kiwoom Heroes
Tyler Eppler, Eric Jokisch, Yasiel Puig

SSG Landers
Kevin Cron, Wilmer Font, Ivan Nova

Samsung Lions
David Buchanan, Jose Pirela, Albert Suarez

Kia Tigers
Socrates Brito, Sean Nolin, Ronnie Williams

LG Twins
Casey Kelly, Adam Plutko, Rio Ruiz

KT Wiz
William Cuevas, Odrisamer Despaigne, Henry Ramos

Drew Rucinski, Wes Parsons Re-Sign With KBO’s NC Dinos

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Right-handers Drew Rucinski and Wes Parsons have re-signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization for the 2022 season, reports Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. Rucinski will be guaranteed $1.9MM with another $100K of incentives available, tying him for the second-largest salary of any foreign player in the KBO, per Yoo. Parsons, meanwhile, receives $550K in guarantees, plus another $250K of available incentives.

After totaling 54 innings in a nondescript big league career that included stops with the Angels (2014-15), Twins (2017) and Marlins (2018), Rucinski has emerged as one of the top arms in the KBO. He’s started exactly 30 games in each of the past three seasons, averaging 179 2/3 frames per year and posting consecutive ERAs of 3.05, 3.05 and 3.17 from 2019-21. This past season, Rucinski posted the highest strikeout rate (23.5%) and ground-ball rate (a massive 67.8%) of his KBO career. His 7.3% walk rate was strong as well, and he yielded just 12 homers on the year (0.60 HR/9).

Rucinski will turn 33 next week and would be 34 by the time he could plausibly pitch in the Majors again, but given his standout work in the KBO and his eye-popping ground-ball rates, it’s feasible that he could draw MLB interest on next offseason’s market. He’s now racked up a total of 539 innings with a 3.09 ERA, a 20.5% strikeout rate and a 6.9% ground-ball rate during his time in the KBO. Batted-ball data for Rucinski’s first season in South Korea isn’t publicly available, but last year’s ground-ball rate was no fluke; he sat a 63.8% in 2020 and has a combined 65.7% mark over the past two seasons. At the very least, one would imagine that next winter, in a more stable free-agent climate, Rucinski could pique the interest of big league teams with strong infield defenses.

As he enters his fourth season in the KBO, Rucinski has now guaranteed himself $5.7MM over a four-year term in Korea (not including any of the incentives in his prior deals or this upcoming contract). For an undrafted player who had three stints with the independent Rockford RiverHawks of the Frontier League before even finding consistent minor league work, it’s a fairly remarkable journey — and an encouraging tale for players who continue to grind through minimal pay on the minor league and indie circuits.

As for Parsons, who turned 29 back in September, he was also an undrafted minor league free agent who now finds himself on a similar trajectory. His first two contracts in the KBO have been more modest than those of Rucinski, but he’s secured himself more than a million dollars in total after a seven-year minor league journey netted him just 39 2/3 innings in the Majors with the Braves. Parsons tallied 133 innings during his first season with the Dinos in 2021, pitching to a 3.72 ERA with a 25.6% strikeout rate, a 10.9% walk rate and an excellent 64.3% ground-ball rate of his own.

KBO’s NC Dinos To Sign Wes Parsons

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The NC Dinos of the KBO have announced the signing of right-hander Wes Parsons. He will now begin the process of completing a physical and traveling to Changwon to self-isolate before joining the team.

The 28-year-old right-hander can earn up to $600K in the form of a $320K base salary, $80K signing bonus, and $200K in incentives, writes Yoo Hee-ho of the Yonhap News Agency. Parsons will join the Dinos rotation. With Drew Rucinski and Aaron Altherr already on board, the Dinos now have a full slate of foreign players for the 2021 season. The Dinos are embarking on their title defense season after winning their first-ever KBO championship last year.

Parsons originally signed with the Atlanta Braves in 2012 as an undrafted amateur free agent. He made his big league debut in 2018 for the Braves. His five-inning outing was his only appearance of the season. After 17 appearances spanning 15 1/3 innings with a 3.52 ERA/6.08 FIP in 2019, the Rockies selected Parsons off waivers. He made another 15 appearances in Colorado, pitching to a 6.98 ERA/7.09 FIP across 19 1/3 innings. Though Parsons struggled in the Majors, he produced better results in Triple-A: he worked to a 2.86 ERA/3.27 FIP with 8.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 along with a 56.8% groundball rate in 2019.

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