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Guardians Re-Sign Zak Kent To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians re-signed righty Zak Kent to a minor league contract yesterday, the team announced. Cleveland had released him a couple weeks after designating him for assignment on June 29 as the corresponding move for the Matthew Boyd signing.

Kent has not pitched in Triple-A since April 14. The team announced yesterday that he’s battling a strain in his throwing elbow and is going on the minor league injured list. Players cannot be placed on outright waivers while they’re hurt. The Guardians could only trade or release Kent once they’d designated him for assignment. The injury meant there’d be no trade interest, so Cleveland had to release him. After a couple weeks on the market, the VMI product returns to the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 26-year-old Kent is trying to reach the big leagues for the first time. He was taken by the Rangers in the ninth round of the 2019 draft. Kent pitched his way to Triple-A by the end of the ’22 campaign and secured a spot on the 40-man roster as Texas decided to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. That put Kent on the doorstep of the big leagues, but he has spent most of the past two seasons on the injured list. He was limited to 34 innings across 10 starts in Triple-A a year ago and has pitched just three times this season.

Cleveland acquired Kent on Opening Day in a deal that sent international signing bonus space to Texas. While the elbow issue cost him his spot on the 40-man, he remains of interest to the Guards’ front office as a depth starter. Kent has a 3.99 ERA with an above-average 26.7% strikeout percentage over parts of five seasons in the minors.

Twins Outright Zack Weiss

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The Twins have sent right-hander Zack Weiss outright to Triple-A St. Paul, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic on X. He had been on the 60-day injured list but was reinstated and passed through waivers. The club’s 40-man roster count stays at 40.

Weiss, 32, has never appeared in a big league game for the Twins. He was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox in February and then began the season on the IL due to a teres major strain, getting transferred to the 60-day version in early April. He recently began a rehab assignment, making five appearances in the minors since the end of June. He was going to need to retake a spot on the 40-man roster but the Twins decided to put him on waivers instead.

Since he passed through unclaimed, he’ll stick in the organization as depth without taking up a roster spot. He doesn’t have three years of service time, nor does he have a previous career outright, meaning he can’t elect free agency.

The Twins will therefore get to keep a guy who has put up some intriguing numbers in recent years. Over 2022 and 2023, he tossed 27 1/3 innings in the majors with a 3.29 earned run average. His 11.4% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 28.9% of batters. In that same period, he also tossed 91 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.93 ERA, 29.9% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate.

Weiss will report to St. Paul and try to earn his way back onto the 40-man roster. If he succeeds in doing so, he still has two options and less than a year of service time.

Giants Outright Kolton Ingram

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The Giants have sent left-hander Kolton Ingram through waivers and outrighted him to Triple-A Sacramento, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle on X. With left-hander Alex Young also being claimed off waivers by the Mets today, the Giants’ 40-man count drops to 38.

Ingram, 27, has been on and off the waiver wire all year but had enough interest around the league to keep getting claimed. Designated for assignment by the Angels in January when that club signed Aaron Hicks, he has gone to the Tigers, Mets, Rangers, Cardinals and Giants via successive waiver claims, though he has now passed through unclaimed. That means the Giants will be able to retain him as relief depth but without using a 40-man roster spot on him.

The lefty has just five games of major league experience, which came with the Angels last year. He allowed five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, meaning he currently sports an earned run average of 8.44 in that small sample.

The interest from clubs around the league undoubtedly stems from his larger body of work in the minors. He logged 121 2/3 innings in the Angels’ system over 2022 and 2023 with a 2.81 ERA. His 10.4% walk rate in that time was on the high side, but just barely, while his 30.5% strikeout rate was quite strong and he also generated a decent number of ground balls.

This year, he has a 4.30 ERA in 29 1/3 minor league innings with a 22.1% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk rate. Those numbers are obviously less impressive than what he did in the previous two seasons but it’s perhaps fair to wonder if the lack of stability this year has been a challenge for him.

While he’s surely not pleased to lose his roster spot, he might at least get the consistency of sticking with one organization long enough to unpack his suitcase. If he can get back in a good form and earn his way back onto a roster spot, he can be optioned for the rest of this year and one additional season. He also has less than a year of service time and therefore would be controllable well into the future.

Mets Claim Alex Young, Designate Tyler Jay

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The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed left-hander Alex Young off waivers from the Giants and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse. Fellow lefty Tyler Jay was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s a quick turnaround for Young, whom the Giants acquired just last week in the trade that sent outfielder Austin Slater and cash to the Reds. San Francisco seemingly hoped to pass Young through waivers and retain the southpaw as a depth option, but the Mets didn’t allow that to happen and will keep Young on their 40-man roster for the time being. The unusual sequence leaves the Giants with no return of which to speak for Slater, a 2014 eighth-rounder who’s been a solid role player for them over the years before struggling to career-worst results at the plate in 2024.

Young, 30, has pitched in parts of six big league seasons — including a brief two-inning stint with Cincinnati earlier this season. The former second-round pick has a career 4.40 earned run average in 264 big league innings and has fanned 19.5% of his opponents against an 8.5% walk rate. Though he debuted as a starter with the 2019 Diamondbacks, Young has worked primarily as a reliever since that time and hasn’t started a game since 2022.

Young didn’t allow a run in his two innings with the Reds this season, and he’s been excellent in 24 2/3 Triple-A frames as well, logging a tidy 2.19 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate between the affiliates for the Reds and Giants. The southpaw has a shaky 4.99 ERA in 209 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, although that’s skewed by a pair of dismal debut campaigns in Triple-A with the D-backs in 2018-19. He’s pitched well at the top minor league level in each of the past three seasons now.

This is Young’s final minor league option year. The Mets can shuttle him between Syracuse and Queens for the remainder of the season, but Young would need to stick on the big league roster in 2025 and beyond. He crossed four years of big league service time earlier this season while on the 60-day injured list with a back issue, meaning he can be controlled for another two seasons, through the 2026 campaign, if he makes a good impression on his new club.

For Jay, this will be the second time this season the Mets have designated him for assignment. He was also DFA’ed after making his big league debut back in April. He stuck with the organization after clearing outright waivers.

The 30-year-old Jay was the No. 6 overall draft pick out of Illinois back in 2015 and for years ranked as one of the more promising arms in the Twins’ system. He dealt with repeated shoulder and neck injuries throughout his time in Minnesota’s system, however, and eventually underwent thoracic outlet surgery. He was out of affiliated ball at one point, before parlaying a showing with the Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League into a minor league look with the Mets.

Jay has only pitched 4 2/3 big league innings for the Mets this season. He’s surrendered four runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts in that time. He’s spent the remainder of the season in Syracuse, working to a strong 2.40 ERA with a below-average 18.6% strikeout rate but a sensational 2.5% walk rate. The Mets will either trade Jay or place him on outright waivers in the next five days. Waivers would then be an additional 48-hour process. If he goes unclaimed, Jay will have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, as is the case for any player who’s been outrighted multiple times in his career.

Dallas Keuchel Elects Free Agency

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Veteran left-hander Dallas Keuchel cleared waivers and elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Brewers, Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. He’s now free to sign with any club.

Keuchel, 36, signed a minor league deal with the Mariners over the winter but was acquired by Milwaukee for cash last month. He’d gotten out to a nice start with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma (71 innings, 3.93 ERA, 15.6% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate, 59.5% grounder rate), and a Brewers club in dire need of rotation innings turned to the former Cy Young winner to help patch their injury-ravaged staff. Keuchel had two tough starts and two solid ones for the Brew Crew, pitching a total of 16 2/3 innings with an 11-to-8 K/BB ratio and 52.5% ground-ball rate before being designated.

Keuchel had a similar but lengthier stint as a depth starter with the Twins down the stretch in 2023, appearing in 10 games (six of them starts) and posting a 5.97 ERA in 37 2/3 frames. As with Milwaukee, he had his share of solid appearances in the Twin Cities but was also hit quite hard on a few occasions.

It’s been years since Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young winner, was a solid member of a big league rotation. He made 11 starts and tossed 63 1/3 innings of sparkling 1.99 ERA ball with the White Sox in the shortened 2020 season, but the final two seasons of his three-year, $55.5MM deal in Chicago was a disaster. Dating back to 2021, Keuchel has pitched to a grisly 6.24 ERA in 277 innings — a far cry from the 1126 innings of 3.25 ERA ball he compiled in his 2014-20 peak.

Rough as Keuchel’s recent results have been, the veteran southpaw has pitched quite well in Triple-A over the past few seasons. This year’s 88.1 mph average velocity on his sinker obviously sits well below the league average but is also his best mark since a strong 2019 season with the Braves, when he averaged 88.3 mph. Keuchel worked with Driveline Baseball during the early part of the ’23 season to restore some of his dwindling velocity and parlayed that into his deal with the Twins. He’s now added a bit more life to the sinker and still looked sharp in two of his four Milwaukee appearances. A club in need of some rotation depth figures to scoop him up on a minor league pact in the coming weeks.

Domingo German Opts Out Of Pirates Deal

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Right-hander Domingo German was released by the Pirates this week, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been pitching with their Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis. Robert Murray of FanSided reports that German exercised an opt-out clause in his contract, prompting the release. The Bucs remain open to bringing him back, per Murray — presumably on a new minor league pact.

German, 31, has started ten games in Indy and pitched to a 5.36 ERA with a below-average 20.6% strikeout rate and a bloated 12.6% walk rate. However, a good portion of the damage against German came in one brutal outing that saw him yield eight runs (seven earned) in just five frames. In six starts since that ugly outing, he’s logged a more palatable 3.60 ERA with slightly improved strikeout and walk rates of 22.7% and 10.9%.

German’s entire big league career has been spent in a Yankees uniform. He pitched parts of six seasons in the Bronx, logging 522 1/3 innings of 4.41 ERA ball while working primarily out of the starting rotation. He’s had a fair bit of big league success but also saw his time with the Yankees marred by off-the-field issues.

In 2020, German was suspended for 81 games under the MLB-MLBPA joint domestic violence policy. He did not pitch in the shortened 2020 season as a result. German also missed the final portion of the 2023 season after “voluntarily submitting to inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse” (as announced by the Yankees at the time) following an incident in which he was reportedly intoxicated in the clubhouse. Earlier in the 2023 season, he also served a 10-game suspension in 2023 after an umpire ruled that the pitcher had violated MLB’s foreign substance policy on the mound.

The Pirates are relatively deep in rotation options, even with Jared Jones, Bailey Falter and Johan Oviedo currently on the injured list. Pittsburgh’s rotation currently includes Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Martin Perez, Quinn Priester and Marco Gonzales. Righty Luis Ortiz and top prospect Braxton Ashcraft give the Bucs further options, with Ashcraft in particular in the midst of a breakout season between Double-A and Triple-A. Falter is on the shelf with tendinitis in his left triceps and isn’t presently expected to be in for a lengthy absence. Jones was shut down for two weeks in early July after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 lat strain. It’s not yet clear when he’s expected to resume throwing off a mound, let alone return to the big league staff. Oviedo underwent Tommy John surgery in the offseason and will be out until 2025.

White Sox, Nick Senzel Agree To Major League Deal

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The White Sox are reportedly in agreement with free agent infielder Nick Senzel on a major league contract. Senzel, a client of the Boras Corporation, was released by the Nationals last week. Chicago will need to open space on the active and 40-man rosters once the move is finalized, which might not happen until after the All-Star Break.

As MLB’s clearest rebuilding team, the Sox are a sensible fit for Senzel. No team has gotten less from its third basemen this year. Through 371 plate appearances, Sox third basemen are hitting .206/.246/.315 with six home runs and a 4.6% walk rate. That’s in part because Yoán Moncada has been on the injured list since the second week of the season. Yet even with Moncada on a minor league rehab stint and nearing a return, there’s ample opportunity for Senzel around the Chicago infield.

The Sox have turned to Nicky Lopez, Paul DeJong and Lenyn Sosa as their primary options alongside first baseman Andrew Vaughn. DeJong has popped 16 homers and would certainly be dealt if the Sox can drum up any level of trade interest over the next two weeks. Sosa and Lopez have been well below-average hitters.

DeJong and Moncada are impending free agents. (The latter has a $25MM club option that certainly isn’t getting exercised.) Lopez would be due a raise on this year’s $4.3MM salary in his final year of arbitration, so he could be a non-tender candidate. Chicago’s infield could look quite a bit different next year.

Senzel is a long shot to emerge as a key piece himself, but there’s minimal risk for Chicago in taking a look at the former #2 overall pick. The one-time top prospect hasn’t met expectations on either side of the ball over his five-plus MLB seasons. He’s a career .235/.302/.368 hitter in just over 1600 big league plate appearances. Most of that came in one of the sport’s most favorable home hitting environments in Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park.

Injuries perhaps played some role in diminishing Senzel’s production. He has never topped 420 plate appearances in a season and battled knee and toe issues during his time with the Reds. Cincinnati also bounced him around the diamond without much success in trying to expand his defensive versatility.

After the Reds non-tendered Senzel last winter, he landed with the Nationals on a $2MM free agent deal. Washington moved him back to his customary third base position in the hope that a more stable defensive setup could allow him to unlock some of his offensive upside. That’s not how things played out. Senzel hit .209/.303/.359 with below-average defensive grades over 64 games. Washington decided to move on and turn third base over to rookie Trey Lipscomb.

The Nationals are on the hook for the majority of Senzel’s contract. The White Sox will only pay him the prorated portion of the $740K minimum for any time he spends in the big leagues (which comes out of Washington’s obligations). Senzel surpassed the five-year service threshold earlier this season. That means he can no longer be sent to the minor leagues without his consent. He would be eligible for arbitration for the 2025 campaign if he plays well enough to hold a roster spot down the stretch.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported Senzel was signing with the White Sox. James Fegan of Sox Machine reported it was a big league deal.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Cubs Acquire Jesus Tinoco From Royals

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The Cubs announced this evening that they’ve acquired reliever Jesús Tinoco from the Royals for cash (X link via Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). Tinoco had signed a minor league deal with Kansas City three weeks ago and was not on their 40-man roster. Unless tonight’s trade was spurred by some kind of upward mobility clause in that contract, the Cubs don’t need to immediately place Tinoco on their 40-man.

Tinoco made six appearances for the Royals’ top affiliate in Omaha. He fired 6 2/3 frames of three-run ball, striking out 10 while issuing one walk. Tinoco also missed plenty of bats in Triple-A with the Rangers earlier this season, fanning 30.3% of batters faced across 21 1/3 innings. His control was quite a bit spottier than he showed in his small sample with K.C., as he walked upwards of 11% of opponents with the Texas affiliate.

The 29-year-old Tinoco has appeared in parts of five MLB seasons between the Rockies, Marlins and Rangers. He tossed a career-high 36 innings of 4.75 ERA ball for Colorado as a rookie in 2019. Tinoco saw more sporadic work over the following few years, only narrowly topping the 20 inning threshold once. He spent last season in Japan, working to a 2.83 ERA despite pedestrian strikeout and walk numbers for the Seibu Lions.

Tinoco returned to the affiliated ranks on a minor league deal with the Rangers over the winter. He made nine MLB appearances with Texas earlier in the season, allowing nine runs over 10 innings. That pushes his career earned run average to 4.58 through 76 2/3 MLB innings. He has a below-average 18.1% strikeout rate with a near-14% walk percentage over that stretch.

While Tinoco hasn’t had much success against big league hitters, his recent form in Triple-A evidently intrigued Chicago. The Cubs rank 16th in the majors with a 4.01 ERA from their relief group. They’re in the top 10 in strikeout rate, but only the Rangers and White Sox have issued more free passes.

The Cubs also have six relievers — Julian Merryweather, Adbert Alzolay, Colten Brewer, Yency Almonte, Keegan Thompson and Luke Little — on the injured list. Chicago optioned Daniel Palencia to Triple-A Iowa today, opening a spot in the major league bullpen. If they decide to install Tinoco directly into the MLB staff, they’d need to create a 40-man roster space.

Brian Anderson Elects Free Agency

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July 16: Anderson has elected free agency, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

July 15: The Braves announced that infielder/outfielder Brian Anderson has been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. There wasn’t any previous reporting to suggest he was on waivers but it appears he was quietly passed through without being claimed in recent days. No corresponding move was announced so Atlanta will have an open spot on the active roster to be filled after the All-Star break. Their 40-man roster count drops to 39.

Anderson, 31, started the year with the Mariners on a minor league deal but opted out at the start of June. He then landed a major league deal with Atlanta shortly after Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a season-ending ACL tear and Austin Riley missed a couple of weeks with a side injury.

Since Anderson has split his time between third base and the outfield in his career, he was a natural fill-in under those circumstances. Shortly thereafter, Michael Harris II suffered a left hamstring strain, further thinning Atlanta’s outfield depth.

Despite the need, the club never really used Anderson. He appeared in just three games from June 5 to 12 and then landed on the IL June 25, retroactive to the 22nd, due to a bacterial infection. He was reinstated on Wednesday last week but didn’t get into any of the club’s most recent games.

Anderson is a veteran with more than enough service time to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency, though it’s not yet clear whether he will choose to do so. Roster shakeup should be high in the coming weeks with the July 30 trade deadline just over the horizon. Perhaps that will open up some opportunities for him elsewhere if he decides to head to the open market.

He had a solid three-year run with the Marlins from 2018 to 2020. Over those campaigns, he hit .266/.350/.436 for a 115 wRC+ while providing solid defense at the hot corner and in the outfield. Since then, his results have tapered off with injuries playing a significant role. His line from 2021 to the present is .229/.316/.360, 87 wRC+, not hitting the 100-game plateau in any of those seasons with shoulder and oblique injuries holding him back.

Caleb Boushley Accepts Outright Assignment With Twins

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Right-hander Caleb Boushley has cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago, with Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com among those to relay the transaction on X. The righty had the right to elect free agency but has accepted his outright and will report to Triple-A St. Paul.

Boushley, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the offseason. He was added to the club’s roster in May but mostly kept on optional assignment, only getting into one big league game. That brought his tally of big league appearances to two, as he also appeared in one game with the Brewers last year. He has a 6.23 earned run average in his 4 1/3 innings at the top level.

He’s made 16 Triple-A starts this year with a 4.68 ERA. His 20.8% strikeout rate is a bit below par but he’s limited his walks to a tiny rate of 4%. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has a 4.55 ERA in 463 1/3 minor league innings with a 19.4% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate.

He still has a full slate of options yet the other 29 clubs passed on the chance to claim him and bring him aboard as pitching depth. Since he was outrighted by the Brewers last year, he had the right to elect free agency but has chosen to stay in the Twins’ system.

Minnesota lost Anthony DeSclafani for the year to flexor tendon surgery but their rotation is currently pretty healthy apart from that. At the moment, it consists of Pablo López, Bailey Ober, Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack and Simeon Woods Richardson. Guys like David Festa and Louie Varland are on the 40-man and currently in Triple-A, with Boushley now providing more depth alongside them in a non-roster capacity.

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