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Twins Release Matt Shoemaker

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The Twins released right-hander Matt Shoemaker this afternoon, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). Minnesota had already passed Shoemaker through outright waivers earlier this season, so the move won’t clear up a 40-man roster spot.

Minnesota signed Shoemaker to a one-year, $2MM deal over the winter in hopes of stabilizing the final spot in the rotation. The union didn’t pan out, as the veteran tossed 60 1/3 innings of 8.06 ERA/5.41 SIERA ball before being designated for assignment in early July. It was a nightmarish campaign for Shoemaker, who posted a career-worst 14.1% strikeout rate and served up fifteen home runs in sixteen appearances.

To his credit, Shoemaker has tossed 20 innings of four-run ball since accepting an assignment to Triple-A St. Paul. With the Twins expected to use the final few months of their lost season to take a look at younger, controllable arms, it nevertheless made sense to move on. Shoemaker will now get to explore other opportunities, and he’ll presumably latch on somewhere via minor league deal with a chance to pitch himself back to the big leagues down the stretch.

Padres Designate Jorge Mateo For Assignment

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The Padres announced this afternoon they’ve designated outfielder Jorge Mateo for assignment. The move clears active roster space for left-hander Matt Strahm, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

San Diego acquired Mateo from the A’s last June. The former top prospect was out of minor league options, so the Padres had to keep him on the big league club (or injured list) in order to retain his long-term rights. The Friars have kept Mateo on the active roster over the past two seasons, although they’ve never seemed especially eager to give him regular playing time. The 26-year-old has tallied just 121 plate appearances over 79 games, serving mostly as a late-game pinch hitter, pinch runner or defensive replacement.

Mateo’s lack of roster flexibility made him something of an odd fit on a win-now Padres club. He hasn’t shown enough in his limited playing time to force his way into a more regular role, hitting .195/.235/.310 with terrible strikeout and walk rates (31.4% and 2.5%, respectively). That said, the Padres’ front office clearly remained intrigued by his physical gifts and one-time prospect status.

It’s certainly not inconceivable another club will give Mateo a look. He’ll be placed on waivers, and it’s possible a less immediate contender could place a claim and give him more consistent reps than San Diego could offer. Of course, any claiming team would also have to keep Mateo on the big league club or again expose him to waivers.

Strahm hasn’t pitched all season. The 29-year-old has missed the entire campaign recovering from right knee surgery. Last year, he worked 20 2/3 innings of 2.61 ERA/4.24 SIERA ball over nineteen appearances. Strahm will join Drew Pomeranz and Tim Hill as left-handed bullpen options for manager Jayce Tingler.

Nationals Select Javy Guerra

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The Nationals announced they’ve selected the contract of reliever Javy Guerra and recalled catcher Riley Adams from Triple-A Rochester. Righty Wander Suero was optioned to Triple-A, while catcher René Rivera landed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 2, with a right elbow contusion. Washington already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster arising out of last week’s series of trades.

Guerra will be making his season debut when he gets into a game, marking the eleventh consecutive year in which he’s picked up some big league time. Guerra saw action with the Nats in each of 2019-20, tossing 69 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA/4.55 FIP ball. The veteran righty has only struck out 18.5% of opponents over that stretch, but he’s been stingy with walks, doling out free passes at just a 6.4% clip.

The Nationals signed Rivera to a major league contract in mid-July, but he’s only picked up 15 plate appearances over the past couple weeks. While he’s out, he’ll be replaced by the 25-year-old Adams, who came over from the Blue Jays in exchange for Brad Hand in advance of last week’s trade deadline.

Rays Select Dietrich Enns

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The Rays announced they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Dietrich Enns. Righty Chris Mazza was optioned to Triple-A Durham to open active roster space, while fellow righty Ryan Thompson was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Tampa Bay signed Enns out of independent ball last August, and he’s now in line to make his team debut a little less than a year later. The 30-year-old has two career big league appearances under his belt, both of them with the 2017 Twins. He bounced between a couple affiliated organizations and independent teams before landing with the Rays.

Assigned to Triple-A Durham, Enns pitched his way back to the big leagues for the first time in four years with a very strong season. He’s made fourteen appearances (ten starts), totaling 59 innings of 2.44 ERA ball. Enns’ peripherals back up the elite run prevention, as he’s punched out a whopping 32.3% of batters faced against a tiny 6.5% walk rate. Those numbers are even more impressive when considered against the league’s hitter-friendly environment. Enns ranks 3rd in ERA, fourth in strikeout rate, and third in strikeout/walk rate differential among the 49 Triple-A East pitchers with 50+ innings pitched this season.

Thompson landed on the IL with right shoulder inflammation on June 30. He’ll miss at least sixty days from the date of that original placement, meaning he can’t return to the majors until the end of this month. The sidearming reliever has quietly worked to a 2.38 ERA/3.17 SIERA across 34 innings this season.

Rays Sign David Freitas

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The Rays signed David Freitas to a minor league deal last week (h/t to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America). The veteran backstop signed with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization last offseason, but he was waived in late June after putting up a .259/.297/.394 line across 148 plate appearances.

Freitas has appeared in the big leagues in parts of three seasons (2017-19), tallying a cumulative .200/.268/.288 mark over 143 trips to the plate. Freitas has performed much better during a large sample of work at Triple-A. He’s appeared at the minors’ top level in seven seasons and posted a strong .326/.404/.474 slash with 23 home runs in a little under 1100 total plate appearances.

The 32-year-old has been assigned to the Florida Complex League as he works back into game shape after a month-plus layoff. Presumably, he’ll soon be assigned to Triple-A Durham, where he’ll serve as non-roster catching depth behind Mike Zunino and Francisco Mejía, the only catchers on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.

Outrighted: Tauchman, LaMarre, Weigel

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Last Friday’s trade deadline brought about a slew of DFAs as teams made room for newly acquired big leaguers. With the trades of players who’d been on Major League contracts no longer allowed post-deadline, most of these players will hit outright waivers and be made available to all 29 other clubs. (Others may simply be released.) That’s going to lead to a series of outright assignments for those who ultimately go unclaimed on waivers.

As a reminder, players with at least three but fewer than five years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, doing so requires forfeiture of any remaining guaranteed salary. Players with five or more years of MLB service time can reject an outright assignment and retain any guaranteed salary on their deals. Players with fewer than three years of service can also reject outright assignments if they’ve been previously outrighted at any point in their career. We’ll run through the latest crop of outright assignments in this post…

  • Outfielder Mike Tauchman went unclaimed on outright waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, the Giants announced Monday night. Tauchman crossed the three-year mark in terms of Major League service time just last week, giving him the option of rejecting the assignment should he choose. The Giants made no indication that Tauchman was rejecting, though players typically have a day or two from the time of the announcement to weigh whether to accept. Tauchman, 30, has batted just .181/.284/.283 in 191 plate appearances this season. He enjoyed a big 2019 season in the Bronx, however, and carries a generally strong track record (.309/.378/.493) in parts of five Triple-A seasons. As an outrighted player with three-plus years of service, Tauchman could become a free agent at season’s end even if he does opt to remain with the organization in Triple-A.
  • The Yankees announced late last night that outfielder Ryan LaMarre went unclaimed on waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 32-year-old LaMarre has previously been outrighted, so he’ll have the option to reject the assignment should he choose, although he’s already accepted an outright assignment from the Yankees once this summer. LaMarre went 4-for-21 with a pair of homers with the Yankees’ big league club and has batted .308/.400/.479 in 135 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s a career .232/.286/.350 hitter in the Majors and a .283/.353/.420 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A seasons. LaMarre has experience at all three outfield spots but has been deployed primarily as a left fielder with the Yankees’ Triple-A club in 2021. He can be a free agent at season’s end unless added back to the roster.
  • The Brewers announced that right-hander Patrick Weigel went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Nashville. Milwaukee picked Weigel up in the April trade that sent shortstop Orlando Arcia to the Braves. He’s allowed a pair of runs in four MLB frames this year but has struggle mightily in Nashville, where he’s posted a 6.84 ERA and walked a batter per inning (20.8 percent of his total opponents) through 25 frames. Weigel lacks the service time or prior outright assignment necessary to elect free agency, so he’ll remain with the Brewers organization in Triple-A.

A’s Re-Sign Domingo Acevedo

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The Athletics announced Monday that right-hander Domingo Acevedo, who’d been designated for assignment Saturday, cleared release waivers and has re-signed a minor league deal to return to the organization.

Acevedo made his big league debut with the A’s earlier this season, allowing three runs in three innings before being designated for assignment. That DFA was largely a numbers game, as Oakland needed to clear space for deadline acquisitions Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison.

Based on Acevedo’s success in an exceptionally hitter-friendly Triple-A Las Vegas setting, it’s no surprise that the A’s wanted to quickly bring him back. In 23 1/3 innings with Vegas this year, the 27-year-old righty pitched to a 3.09 ERA with an enormous 42.6 percent strikeout rate and a 5.3 percent walk rate. Among 147 pitchers who’ve appeared in at least 20 Triple-A games this season, Acevedo ranks second in strikeout rate and 33rd in ERA.

Acevedo spent seven years in the Yankees system but never got a look in the Majors with them. He carries a career 3.02 ERA in eight minor league seasons, including a 4.12 mark in 52 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. If he continues performing at his previous levels, he ought to get another look in the Majors before too long.

Diamondbacks Claim Sean Poppen

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The D-backs announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Sean Poppen off waivers from the Rays. Right-hander Stefan Crichton, who’d been with the club as a Covid-19 replacement player, was returned to Triple-A Reno in a corresponding roster move. Because Crichton had been selected to the roster as a replacement player, he didn’t need to be put through outright waivers to be sent back to Reno.

Poppen, 27, has seen brief big league action in each of the past three seasons, totaling 21 1/3 innings between the Twins, Pirates and Rays. He pitched just two-thirds of an inning for Tampa Bay this season and another 4 2/3 frames with the Pirates early in the year. The rest of his MLB experience has come in Minnesota. Overall, he carries a 6.33 ERA but a much more palatable 3.85 FIP and 4.12 SIERA in that small sample of work.

Poppen has spent parts of two seasons in Triple-A and pitched quite well — particularly with the Rays’ top affiliate so far in 2021. He’s thrown 28 1/3 frames of 1.59 ERA with Durham while also notching strong strikeout, walk and ground-ball percentages (26.8, 9.8 and 64.3, respectively). Poppen is in his final option year, so he can be shuttled between Reno and Phoenix as the D-backs see fit for the remainder of the 2021 campaign. He’ll be out of options at season’s end, however, so the D-backs won’t be able to send him down next spring unless they first pass him through outright waivers.

Pirates Place Chad Kuhl On Covid List, Select Shea Spitzbarth

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The Pirates announced Monday that they’ve placed righty Chad Kuhl on the Covid-19-related injured list and selected the contract of right-hander Shea Spitzbarth in a corresponding move.

Kuhl, 28, tested positive for Covid-19, per the Pirates, so he’ll be sidelined a minimum of 10 days under this year’s health and safety protocols. The right-hander has been a serviceable back-end starter for the Bucs, pitching to a 4.43 ERA in 67 innings this year. However, he’s also averaged fewer than five innings per outing while posting sub-par strikeout and walk percentages (20.1 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively).

The 26-year-old Spitzbarth will make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game with the Pirates. He’d spent his entire pro career with the Dodgers prior to the 2021 season, having joined the organization as a nondrafted free agent back in 2015. Generally speaking, he’s struggled in the upper minors — at least until the 2021 season. This year, Spitzbarth has pitched to a 1.41 ERA through 32 innings of relief work. Other metrics aren’t as bullish, as evidenced by a 4.42 FIP and 5.09 xFIP. Spitzbarth has benefited from a .202 average on balls in play and a 90.9 percent strand rate so far in Triple-A. Nevertheless, he’ll get his first look in the big leagues more than six years after first signing.

Also of note, manager Derek Shelton revealed to reporters that left-hander Steven Brault is expected to start tomorrow’s game for the Pirates (Twitter link via Mike Persak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). The 29-year-old Brault hasn’t pitched yet in 2021 owing to a forearm strain suffered late in Spring Training. At the time, it was announced that he’d be shut down at least a month and could miss as much as 12 weeks with the injury, but the timetable proved even lengthier than that.

Brault has spent the past several weeks on a minor league rehab assignment, pitching a total of 12 innings between Class-A and Triple-A as he’s begun to build up for a return to the Pirates. He’s tossed four innings in each of his past two outings, totaling 58 and 56 pitches in that pair of starts (and allowing just one earned run). He’s unlikely to jump from that point to 90-100 pitches in a single outing, but he could give the Pirates four or five innings if he’s reasonably efficient tomorrow.

Marlins Sign Bryan Mitchell

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The Marlins signed right-hander Bryan Mitchell to a minor league contract last week. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville, where he made his first appearance over the weekend.

Mitchell pitched in the big leagues every year from 2014-18, spending the first four years with the Yankees before logging his most significant seasonal workload (73 innings) with the Padres in 2018. He flashed some intriguing raw stuff but generally struggled from a results perspective, managing a 5.15 ERA/5.20 SIERA across 171 1/3 cumulative innings. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since, bouncing between a few organizations on minor league deals.

The 30-year-old signed a non-roster pact with the Phillies over the offseason. He spent the year with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, tossing 28 1/3 frames of 6.04 ERA ball with worse than average strikeout and walk rates (15.7% and 12.6%, respectively). The Phils released him a couple weeks ago. Mitchell has worked exclusively out of the bullpen this season but has vast starting experience and offers the Marlins a high minors multi-inning relief/swing option for the stretch run.

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