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Astros Designate Janson Junk For Assignment

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The Astros announced that they have signed outfielder Jason Heyward and optioned outfielder Chas McCormick, two moves that were previously reported. To open a 40-man spot for Heyward, right-hander Janson Junk has been designated for assignment. The club also reinstated right-hander Ryan Pressly from the injured list and optioned left-hander Bryan King.

Junk, 28, was just claimed off waivers from the Brewers at the start of this month and has been kept on optional assignment since then. He made four starts for Triple-A Sugar Land, allowing 10 earned runs in 14 2/3 innings.

Since the trade deadline has passed, the Astros will have to put him back on waivers in the coming days. He could perhaps garner interest from clubs in need of innings. He only has four major league frames on his track record so far, with an unimpressive 5.18 ERA. But from 2021 to the present, he has tossed 356 2/3 minor league innings with a 3.84 ERA. His 20.4% strikeout rate in that time is a bit below average but his 7.4% walk rate is strong and he’s also had solid ground ball rates.

He will be out of options next year but can still be optioned for the rest of the 2024 season. He has less than a year of service time and can therefore be controlled well into the future, but he will have less roster flexibility by the next campaign.

Rangers Place Robbie Grossman, Travis Jankowski On Outright Waivers

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The Rangers have placed outfielders Robbie Grossman and Travis Jankowski on outright waivers, reports ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Both are free agents at season’s end. Grossman and Jankowski can continue to play for Texas while on waivers, as neither was designated for assignment prior to his placement. However, outright waivers are irrevocable, so if either player is claimed when the 48-hour waiver period expires on Saturday, he’ll head straight to his new club with that team taking on the remainder of his contract.

In Grossman’s case, that’s the final 30 days of his prorated $1.5MM base salary — about $242K overall. For Jankowski, who’s on a $1.7MM base, the price would jump to about $274K. Either player would be postseason-eligible for a new team if claimed. If either goes unclaimed, he can remain with the Rangers and does not need to be removed from the 40-man roster. Waiver priority is determined based on the reverse order of MLB-wide standings and — unlike the now-defunct August trade waiver system — is not league-specific.

Grossman, 34, started the season with the White Sox but was traded to Texas just a few weeks into the year. He’s slashed a combined .225/.333/.318 between the two teams — production that’s about 9% below league-average, by measure of wRC+. That looks at his overall production this season, however, and his production is skewed by sub-par output against right-handed pitching. Against lefties, the switch-hitting Grossman has been has typically productive self: .279/.388/.430 (136 wRC+) in 103 plate appearances.

Grossman has made a career out of tormenting left-handed pitchers. He’s usually more productive against righties than he has been this season, but a strong split against lefties has been a hallmark throughout his career. Dating back to his 2013 MLB debut, Grossman’s ultra-patient approach has resulted in a .282/.382/.427 batting line versus lefties, with the switch-hitter drawing a free pass in nearly 14% of his plate appearances from the right side of the dish. A playoff contender seeking a boost against left-handed pitching could definitely have interest in Grossman’s track record and 2024 production against lefties — and the minimal acquisition cost can’t hurt his chances of being claimed, either.

No team is going to claim the 33-year-old Jankowski for his bat. He’s turned in a bleak .195/.257/.234 batting line in 167 plate appearances, rendering him as one of the league’s least productive players at the plate. That said, Jankowski is an above-average defender across all three outfield spots who ranks in the 84th percentile of MLB players in terms of sprint speed.

Jankowski hasn’t been productive at the plate this season, but he’s only a year removed from a decent showing. He hit .263/.357/.332 for the Rangers’ World Series-winning club last year — including a solid .269/.365/.333 slash against right-handed pitching. Jankowski is a typical speed-and-defense focused fourth outfielder who can provide a late-game defensive replacement and/or pinch-running weapon off the bench for a new club. He’s 8-for-9 in stolen base attempts this season and went 19-for-20 in 2023.

Cardinals To Place Tommy Pham On Waivers

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The Cardinals are going to place outfielder Tommy Pham on waivers, reports Katie Woo of The Athletic. He has not been designated for assignment and can continue playing for the Cards for now. He can also stay with them if he goes unclaimed, but the waivers are irrevocable, so he will be changing teams if any other clubs puts in a claim. He will be postseason eligible for his new club as long as he is claimed prior to September 1.

Acquired from the White Sox alongside Erick Fedde in the three-team deadline deal that sent Tommy Edman and minor league righty Oliver Gonzalez to the Dodgers, Pham returned home to the organization that originally drafted him. He debuted with a bang, hitting a pinch-hit grand slam in his return to the Cards, but the 36-year-old outfielder has since fallen into a slump. After posting a Herculean .379/.400/.759 slash in his first eight games back in St. Louis, Pham has just three hits in his past 47 plate appearances.

Even with that downturn over the past three weeks, Pham still owns a solid .254/.321/.378 slash in 374 plate appearances this season. He’s only been about 2% worse than league average at the plate this season overall, as measured by wRC+, and he’s been characteristically solid against lefties: .232/.323/.439 (115 wRC+). He’s drawn poor defensive ratings across the board, though his defensive marks have been weighed down by the White Sox playing him in center field for more than 200 innings — largely out of necessity. Pham isn’t the plus corner outfielder he once was but can still handle left field capably.

Pham is playing the current season on a $3MM base salary, and he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Any team that claims him will owe Pham $484K for the remainder of the season before he returns to the open market this winter.

The Cardinals are seven games back in the Wild Card hunt and even further buried in the National League Central. Both FanGraphs and PECOTA give St. Louis scarcely more than a 1% chance of reaching the playoffs. We’ve seen teams erase larger leads in September in the past, but it seems charitable to even call a playoff berth a “long shot” at this point. Even if the Cards like their chances more than those odds would indicate, the team surely recognizes the slim nature of their playoff hopes and will give Pham a chance to chase down a ring in the event that another club wants to add a veteran right-handed bat to its bench mix for the regular season’s final four weeks.

Rockies Outright Antoine Kelly

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The Rockies announced Thursday that left-hander Antoine Kelly passed through waivers unclaimed and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. The team did not make a corresponding transaction, nor had Kelly previously been designated for assignment. His outright drops Colorado’s 40-man roster to a count of 39 players.

Kelly, 24, was claimed off waivers out of the Rangers organization back on July 15. The 2019 second-rounder went from Milwaukee to Texas in 2022’s Matt Bush trade. He had a breakout 2023 showing in the Rangers’ system, splitting the year between Double-A and Triple-A while working to a combined 2.04 ERA with 11 saves, a 32.1% strikeout rate and a 9.3% walk rate.

That performance had Kelly looking as though he could be on the cusp of joining the Rangers and carving out a permanent place in the bullpen. Had he continued on that trajectory, perhaps that’d have been the case. However, Kelly missed time with a forearm injury this season, and his control has been nonexistent when healthy. He’s posted a staggering 10.98 ERA in 19 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, and he’s walked more batters than he’s fanned. A woeful 25.4% of Kelly’s opponents have reached via base on balls, compared to a 23.7% strikeout rate. He’s also plunked a pair of hitters and thrown five wild pitches.

There’s little doubt that when healthy and at his best, Kelly had the look of a viable big league reliever. He’s never demonstrated plus command, but in the past, his strikeout rate and an above-average ground-ball rate have helped to offset a walk rate that was a tick or two higher than average. This year’s injury-marred and walk-riddled season has clearly thrown the lefty’s future outlook into question. For now, he’ll stick with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate and look to get back on track without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

As for the Rox, they now have a vacancy if they wish to claim any of the recently DFA’ed players or veterans who’ve been placed on outright waivers as teams look to shed salary. Colorado isn’t likely to claim anyone who’s a free agent at season’s end, but speculatively speaking, they could potentially consider taking a look at someone who’s signed/controlled beyond the current season. At the moment, only the Marlins and White Sox have waiver priority over them.

Vinny Nittoli Opts Out Of Mets Deal

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Right-hander Vinny Nittoli opted out of his minor league deal with the Mets and is once again a free agent, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. He’ll head back to the open market and continue his 2024 tour of the league.

The Mets were the fourth organization to sign Nittoli this season alone. He began the year in the A’s system after signing a minor league contract over the winter. After being selected to Oakland’s big league roster and later designated for assignment, Nittoli elected free agency and has since signed a minor league deal with the Orioles, a big league deal with the Cubs and a minors pact with the Mets. The Cubs cut ties with Nittoli before he got into a game with them, but he did also pitch for the Orioles in addition to some work with the A’s.

In 12 innings this year, Nittoli carries a 1.50 ERA, 17.4% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate. He’s only pitched a total of 18 2/3 major league innings overall, during which time he’s logged a 2.41 ERA. Nittoli’s primary pitch this season has been a cutter that’s sat in the 89-90 mph range, and he’s paired that with a slider and occasional curveball. He’s been sharp in Triple-A as well, pitching 30 innings of 3.60 ERA ball between the A’s, O’s and Mets. During that Triple-A run, Nittoli has fanned a hefty 33.9% of his opponents against a 9.4% walk rate.

Nittoli can now look to latch on with another club, and if he’s with a new organization on or before Aug. 31, he’d be a postseason-eligible depth piece. He might not get an immediate look in the big leagues, although with rosters set to expand from 26 to 28 players on Sept. 1, it’d be easier for a new club to give him a look at the MLB level.

Reds Designate Casey Kelly For Assignment

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Brandon Leibrandt from Triple-A Louisville. Right-hander Casey Kelly has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Cincinnati’s pitching staff has been quite banged up of late. Coming into August, they already had Graham Ashcraft, Brandon Williamson, Brent Suter, Ian Gibaut and Tejay Antone on the injured list. Since the month has started, Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Christian Roa have been added to the pile.

The club has already made a few transactions to bolster the pitching staff in recent days, including selecting Kelly. The 34-year-old had been pitching for the LG Twins of the KBO but got released when that club signed Elieser Hernández. That ended an almost six-year relationship, as Kelly had signed with the Twins going into 2019. He had a 3.25 ERA in that time, tossing just under 1,000 innings, but that ERA jumped to 4.51 this year and the Twins let him go.

He landed a minor league deal with the Reds in early August and made two Triple-A starts, allowing four earned runs in eight innings. He got called up to the majors a few days ago and logged 5 1/3 innings over two relief appearances, allowing three earned runs in that time.

The Reds needed six pitchers to get through last night’s game, including Kelly, and have decided to get a fresh arm into the mix. With the trade deadline now passed, Kelly will be placed on waivers in the coming days. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed.

Taking his spot is the 31-year-old Leibrandt. He has a small amount of major league experience, having tossed nine innings for the Marlins in the shortened 2020 season. Since then, he has bounced around to various minor league and indy ball clubs.

He started 2024 with the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League, tossing 19 1/3 innings over four starts with a tiny ERA of 0.93. That got him a minor league deal with the Reds in May and he has been with Louisville since then. He has logged 72 2/3 innings over 15 starts there with a 4.46 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 39% ground ball rate.

Given the club’s aforementioned challenges with the pitching staff, they may call upon Leibrandt to absorb some innings at some point. He still has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, so the club will be able to retain him for a long time. But since they have been rotating guys on and off the roster lately, it’s entirely possible that it will be a short stint for Leibrandt, like it was for Kelly.

Joely Rodriguez Elects Free Agency

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Left-hander Joely Rodriguez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Red Sox and elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.

The 32-year-old Rodriguez had two stints with the Red Sox this season, pitching a combined 13 2/3 innings with a 5.93 ERA but more encouraging secondary marks. While Rodriguez’s 18.8% strikeout rate is a few percentage points shy of league-average, he issued walks at a tiny 3.1% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a gaudy 59.2% rate. Metrics like FIP (4.93) and especially SIERA (2.87) are far more bullish on this year’s work.

In 170 2/3 innings in the majors, Rodriguez has pitched to a 4.80 ERA. That pedestrian mark belies more encouraging strikeout and ground-ball numbers (22.5% and 56%, respectively), although Rodriguez’s ability to miss bats and keep the ball out of the air have both been undercut by sub-par command. He’s walked 10% of his career opponents and struggled to strand the runners he does allow (career 64% left-on-base rate).

This year’s 90 mph average sinker is down nearly five miles per hour from Rodriguez’s peak, but he still pitched reasonably well in Triple-A and still managed to pile up grounders in bulk at the big league level. He’ll be a depth option for clubs seeking lefty relief in the season’s final month.

White Sox Release John Brebbia

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The White Sox released veteran right-handed reliever John Brebbia after designating him for assignment earlier this week, tweets Vinnie Duber of CHGO Sports. He’s now a free agent.

Brebbia inked a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the ChiSox in the offseason and has had a tumultuous tenure with the club. The 34-year-old righty started the season on a run of six scoreless appearances and had a sharp 3.38 ERA in mid-May before falling into a monthlong slump that ballooned his ERA to 7.71. He bounced back with a dominant five-week run kicking off in early June, wherein he rattled off 18 1/3 innings while allowing just two runs with a 27-to-4 K/BB ratio. Since that time, he’s been tagged for another 16 runs in 11 2/3 innings, however.

The end result of that roller coaster is a 6.29 ERA in 48 2/3 innings, although Brebbia’s rate stats are far more encouraging. He’s fanned a strong 26.9% of his opponents against a tidy 7.9% walk rate. Home runs have been a prominent issue for the righty (1.66 HR/9), however, and have typically been at the root of his struggles. That’s been especially true at the homer-friendly Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, where Brebbia has posted an ERA north of 7.00 and allowed seven of his nine homers on the season.

While Brebbia’s run with the White Sox won’t go down as an overall success, the right-hander has a solid track record and an encouraging K-BB profile even during his down 2024 showing. Brebbia entered the 2024 season with a career 3.42 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate in 299 2/3 innings. He’d pitched in six big league seasons prior to the ’24 season and logged a sub-4.00 ERA in five of them.

Now that he’s been released, the Brebbia can sign with any club. If he lands with a new team on or before Aug. 31, he’d be eligible for the postseason roster, provided he can turn things around in the season’s final month. Any team that signs Brebbia would owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster or injured list. The White Sox are on the hook for the remainder of his 2024 salary.

Reds Outright Alan Busenitz

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The Reds have sent right-hander Alan Busenitz outright to Triple-A Louisville, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Busenitz, 34, had the right to elect free agency but it appears he has chosen to accept this assignment. He pitched in Tuesday’s game for the Bats, tossing two scoreless innings. That will give the Reds an extra bit of non-roster depth.

The Cincinnati pitching staff is pretty banged up at the moment. Each of Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Christian Roa have hit the injured list this month. The club already had Graham Ashcraft, Brandon Williamson, Brent Suter, Ian Gibaut and Tejay Antone on the shelf, so it adds up a lot of absences.

They are currently two games into a stretch of playing eight games in seven days thanks to a double-header coming up on Friday, so the group of guys who aren’t on the IL might be fairly taxed in the coming days, which could lead to them reaching into their depth from time to time.

Busenitz signed a minor league deal with the Reds in the offseason and has now tossed 57 Triple-A innings for the year over 41 appearances. He has allowed 3.79 earned runs per nine innings with a 21.6% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 42.7% ground ball rate. He was selected to the big league club last week and tossed one inning for them, but allowed three earned runs. He now has a 4.71 ERA in 65 big league frames dating back to his 2017 debut.

If the Reds need a fresh arm in the future, particularly one capable of tossing multiple innings out of the bullpen, Busenitz could perhaps get back to the majors and have a chance to add to his totals.

KBO’s Kia Tigers Sign Eric Stout

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The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this week that they’ve signed former MLB left-hander Eric Stout. He’s a temporary injury replacement for righty James Naile, who sustained a broken jaw when he was hit in the face by a comebacker off the bat of Matt Davidson (link via Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News).

Stout, a 31-year-old southpaw, has 23 major league appearances under his belt. Three of them came with the Royals in 2018. The remainder were in ’22, when he combined for 20 outings between the Pirates and Cubs. Stout turned in a 5.64 ERA across 22 1/3 innings, striking out 22.7% of batters faced against an elevated 14.5% walk rate. He spent most of last year in Triple-A and signed in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League for the ’24 season. Stout had a 2.77 ERA across 113 2/3 innings spanning 20 appearances to earn the bump to the KBO.

Naile, 31, appeared in 17 games for the Cardinals between 2022-23. While he struggled to a 7.40 earned run average, he parlayed a strong Triple-A season into a deal with the Kia Tigers. The UAB product had a 2.53 ERA with a decent 21.5% strikeout rate over 149 1/3 frames in his debut year in Korea. The jaw injury unfortunately ends his regular season, though Yoo suggests he could return in the playoffs.

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