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David Dahl Elects Free Agency

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The Phillies announced that outfielder David Dahl has cleared waivers and elected free agency. He was designated for assignment earlier this week. Players with a previous career outright or three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, with Dahl qualifying on both counts.

Dahl, 30, was able to manufacture a feel-good comeback story a few weeks ago but it eventually ran out of steam. The veteran was mostly hurt for the 2020-23 period but looked great after signing a minor league deal with the Phils in the winter. He got into 43 Triple-A games and ripped 12 home runs in that time while also drawing walks at an 11.4% clip. He slashed .340/.416/.660 during his 166 plate appearances as an IronPig.

That got him called up to the majors as the Phillies put Brandon Marsh on the injured list. It seemed for a moment that Dahl was going to be able to keep the good times rolling, hitting two homers in his first three games with the Phils. But he hit a wall after that with a .154/.196/.231 line in his next 56 plate appearances, getting bumped off the roster when Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper returned from IL stints.

Dahl will now look for his next opportunity elsewhere, though the fact that all clubs passed on the opportunity to grab him off waivers suggests he’ll likely have to settle for another minor league deal. Some teams may be intrigued by his blistering start in Triple-A this year, as well as his past record. He hit .297/.346/.521 in 240 games with the Rockies from 2016 to 2019 but, as mentioned, has been hamstrung by injuries since then.

He has suffered a lacerated spleen that led to the organ needing to be removed entirely, as well as a stress fracture in his ribcage, a broken foot, a high ankle sprain, a shoulder strain, multiple back injuries and a quad strain. He has hit .200/.237/.318 in his 390 major league plate appearances since the end of 2019, split between the Rangers, Padres and Phillies.

Dahl passed five years of service this year but won’t be able to get to the six-year mark. If he winds up hitting somewhere and gets back on a roster, he could be retained via arbitration for 2025. With the trade deadline now less than three weeks away, perhaps some upcoming roster shuffling will open a nice opportunity for him somewhere.

Rangers Sign Matt Festa To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have signed right-hander Matt Festa to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The righty, who elected free agency last week, has been assigned to Triple-A Round Rock.

Festa, 31, started the year on a minor league deal with the Padres. He tossed 16 innings for their Triple-A club with a 4.50 earned run average, 21.6% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 46% ground ball rate. Those peripherals were all fairly close to average but a .360 batting average on balls in play helped push some more runs across, with his 3.43 FIP painting a nicer picture of his work with the Chihuahuas.

The righty was released by the Padres in mid-May, which was perhaps the results of an opt-out since his numbers with El Paso weren’t bad. He then landed another minor league deal, this one with the Mets, and posted even better numbers. In 15 1/3 Triple-A frames with Syracuse, he had a 1.76 ERA, 32.2% strikeout rate, 5.1% walk rate and 45.7% ground ball rate.

He was called up to join a struggling Mets bullpen but his one outing with that club was a disaster. On June 30, the Mets and Astros were tied at five after 10 innings and Festa was sent to the mound in the 11th. The inning started with Alex Bregman as the free runner on second, then the Mets intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez. Festa went on to surrender four hits in the inning from there, allowing Bregman and four others to score as the Mets lost 10-5.

He was designated for assignment a few days later and elected free agency after clearing waivers, which was his right as a player with a previous career outright. He has now landed his third minor league deal of the year, this time with the Rangers.

The relief corps in Texas has a combined 4.37 ERA on the year, which places them 22nd in the majors. Festa will give them a non-roster depth arm with some major league experience. He has 94 2/3 big league innings on his track record with a 4.66 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate. If he gets added to their roster, he is out of options but has between one and two years of service time, meaning he can be retained beyond the current campaign if he finishes the year on the roster.

Marlins Outright Matt Andriese

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The Marlins have sent right-hander Matt Andriese outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago. He has the right to elect free agency but accepted an outright assignment with the Marlins earlier this year.

Andriese, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in February. He has twice been selected to the big league roster this year but both times resulted in a fairly short stay before he was designated for assignment and passed through waivers. Over those two stints, he has tossed six innings over four appearances with four earned runs allowed, leading to an earned run average of 6.00. He’s spent most of the year working a multi-inning role in Triple-A, logging 32 frames over 13 appearances with a 4.78 ERA, 15.6% strikeout rate, 8.5% walk rate and 37.4% ground ball rate.

The Miami pitching staff has been decimated by injuries and might get even further thinned out at the deadline. Braxton Garrett, Sandy Alcántara, Eury Pérez, Jesús Luzardo, Sixto Sánchez, Ryan Weathers and Josh Simpson are all currently on the injured list, with some of those guys out for the year. Tanner Scott seems very likely to be traded as an impending free agent on a club at the bottom of the standings, while guys like A.J. Puk, Anthony Bender, Andrew Nardi, Calvin Faucher and Declan Cronin have been mentioned in trade rumors or are speculative candidates to be moved.

If Andriese decides to report to Jacksonville, as he did when outrighted in April, there’s a decent chance he’ll be called up to the big leagues again as the Marlins wind down the season. From 2015 to 2021, Andriese tossed 509 innings between the Rays, Diamondbacks, Angels, Red Sox and Mariners with a 4.63 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 46.1% ground ball rate. He didn’t pitch in the majors in 2022 or 2023, spending time with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball and the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Yankees Sign Tim Mayza To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have signed left-hander Tim Mayza to a minor league deal, according to a report from Brendan Kuty and Katie Woo of The Athletic. The lefty will presumably be assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre shortly.

Mayza, 32, was recently released by the Blue Jays as he’s had an awful season thus far. He made 35 appearances for the Jays, logging 24 2/3 innings with 8.03 earned runs allowed per nine. His 9.9% walk rate on the year is passable but he has only struck out 13.2% of batters faced and his ground ball rate has been subpar at 39.1%.

Despite the recent struggles, it’s easy to see why the Yanks would be interested. Mayza underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2019 and missed all of 2020, but has was quite good between that absence and this year’s dip. Over the 2021-23 period, he made 193 appearances for the Jays with a 2.67 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 58.3% ground ball rate. He earned four saves and 56 holds for the Jays in that time.

All those numbers have moved in the wrong direction here in 2024, but there are reasons to suspect he’s not been as bad as an 8.03 ERA would suggest. His .367 batting average on balls in play and 54.8% strand rate have both been on the unfortunate side of average, which is why his 4.91 FIP and 5.08 SIERA paint a rosier picture of his work this year. The lack of strikeouts and ground balls this year undoubtedly exacerbated that bad luck a bit, but expecting some better results going forward is within reason.

The Yanks have been trying to solve the left-handed relief portion of their roster this season. Victor González was recently bounced off the roster after some shaky outings. Caleb Ferguson has held onto his spot despite a 5.46 ERA this year. They recently bought low on veteran groundballer Tim Hill and have also given limited looks to Anthony Misiewicz and Josh Maciejewski.

If Mayza can turn a corner and show that the first half of 2024 was just a bad stretch, there’s a path for him to get into that mix. The Yanks can get an up-close look at him for the next few weeks while they also assess who could be available on the trade market prior to the July 30 deadline.

Mayza is making $3.59MM this year but the Jays are on the hook for that since they released him. If the Yanks add him to the roster at any point, they would only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum for any time Mayza spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays pay. Mayza crossed over five years of service time earlier this year and can no longer be optioned to the minors, but if he gets a 40-man roster spot at some point, he can be retained via arbitration for the 2025 season.

Mariners Release Michael Perez

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The Mariners released veteran catcher Michael Perez, who’s been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, per Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto. His release clears way for Seby Zavala, who’s returning to the Rainiers after clearing outright waivers. Zavala and Michael Papierski will handle catching duties in Tacoma and stand as experienced depth options behind Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver.

Perez, 31, came to the Mariners alongside reliever Mike Baumann in a small trade sending minor league catcher Blake Hunt to Baltimore earlier this season. Perez has played in parts of six big league seasons between the Rays, Pirates and Mets. He’s a career .179/.248/.306 hitter in 599 trips to the plate. It’s a well below-average line (48% worse, by measure of wRC+), but Perez grades out quite well in terms of his throwing and blocking. He boasts a career 29% caught-stealing rate, and Statcast credits him as one of the game’s best blocking catchers on a rate basis. He’s typically drawn negative framing grades, however.

While Perez has struggled in Triple-A this season and last, he’s also had plenty of success at the level. In parts of six Triple-A campaigns, the lefty-swinging backstop is a .236/.324/.405 hitter with 36 homers, 31 doubles and a pair of triples in 975 plate appearances. He’ll head back to the open market in search of a new opportunity and should latch on with a club lacking catching depth — particularly if said club is seeking a glove-first option to stash in the upper minors.

Mets Acquire Phil Maton From Rays

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The Mets have acquired right-hander Phil Maton from the Rays, per announcements from both clubs. The Rays will receive a player to be named later or cash considerations. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said the club is taking on all of Maton’s remaining salary, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com on X. The Mets designated left-hander Joey Lucchesi for assignment to get Maton onto their 40-man roster. The Rays recalled right-hander Manuel Rodríguez to take Maton’s place on their active roster.

Maton, 31, signed with the Rays as a free agent in the offseason. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal with a $6.5MM guarantee, in the form of a $6.25MM salary and a $250K buyout on a $7.75MM club option for 2025.

Thus far, that deal hasn’t played out the way the Rays had hoped. Maton has tossed 35 1/3 innings, allowing 4.58 earned runs per nine. He has struck out just 19.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 11.8% clip. His 49.5% ground ball rate is strong but he’s also allowed six home runs on the year, a rate of 16.2% per fly ball.

That performance is significantly worse than what Maton provided in recent seasons. From 2020 through 2023, with Cleveland and Houston, he tossed 220 innings with a 3.93 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate. He was also quite good at avoiding damage, with his average exit velocity being among the best in the league in his career.

The Mets are essentially buying low in this deal, getting a veteran reliever without giving up any prospect talent. Perhaps that will change if the PTBNL turns out to be a player of significance, but they may be effectively buying Maton.

The bullpen has been the biggest issue for the Mets this season. Their relievers have a collective 4.16 ERA, which is in the bottom half of the league. A couple of their better relievers have been lost to season-ending elbow surgeries, with Brooks Raley and Drew Smith both done for the year. Sean Reid-Foley and Shintaro Fujinami are also on the injured list due to shoulder issues.

Despite those bullpen struggles, the club has stayed in the playoff race. They are currently 44-45, just 2.5 games back of the Padres for the final Wild Card spot. It was reported last week that the club was going into the deadline with a buyer’s mentality and could focus on bullpen help, with this move fitting into that framing.

Obviously, the Mets will be banking on Maton’s struggles this year being a bit of a blip and he’s already shown some positive signs of a turnaround. After a four-run outing on June 9, he was sitting on an ERA of 6.56. But over the past month, he has only allowed one earned run in 12 innings, striking out 11 opponents while giving out just one walk. Even if he can’t fully maintain that level of dominance, it’s not unreasonable to expect something better than his season-long numbers.

For the Rays, they have been doing some modest selling of late, though nothing that would necessarily tank their chances of competing here in 2024. They flipped starter Aaron Civale to the Brewers, netting a prospect and some cost savings. But that didn’t really downgrade the rotation as they were able to call up Shane Baz to take Civale’s rotation spot. They are 44-46 and 5.5 games back in the playoff race, giving them a chance of climbing back into it.

Now they have been able to shed a bit more money, getting rid of a player that has largely been underperforming on the season, recent hot streak notwithstanding. The Rays are generally quite good at finding or developing relievers and Rodríguez could fill in for Maton, as he has a 2.79 ERA in the majors this year and a 1.09 mark in Triple-A.

Speaking of that money, the Mets will be taking on more than the Rays are saving, thanks to the competitive balance tax. Maton is still owed about $2.74MM on his salary, as well as the $250K buyout. The Rays will scrub that from their books but the Mets are a third-time CBT payor and well over the fourth and final tax threshold. That means they are paying a 110% tax on any additional spending, so will be actually paying around $6MM to get Maton on the club for the final few months of the season.

Under owner Steve Cohen, the Mets have been pretty unafraid of spending money and are once again flexing some financial muscle to upgrade the club. The Mets have been walking a fine line since about this time last year, looking to keep the big league club in contention without significantly harming the pipeline of young talent in the farm system and also trying to avoid adding long-term costs to their ledger. They still spent money in the offseason but limited themselves to short-term deals and this move is essentially a midseason version of that.

The cost is primarily financial but they also could lose Lucchesi. The lefty made one spot start for the big league club this year but has primarily been kept on optional assignment. He has made 15 Triple-A starts this year with a 4.20 earned run average, 17.9% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 53.6% ground ball rate.

Lucchesi is a decent depth option but he may have been on the road to getting squeezed off the roster anyway. He is in his final option year and will therefore be out of options next year. The Mets have also had improved rotation depth as the season has gone along. David Peterson and Kodai Senga each started the season on the injured list but Peterson has since returned and Senga recently started a rehab assignment. The Mets have also seen Christian Scott jump up from the minors and take hold of a rotation spot.

The current rotation consists of Scott, Peterson, Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea, with Senga on his way back. José Buttó and Adrian Houser are currently in the big league bullpen but either could be considered rotation depth and the club also has Tylor Megill on optional assignment. That’s enough starting depth that the club is reportedly considering trading someone from that group while still trying to compete here in 2024, much like the Rays did with the aforementioned Civale deal.

Whether that comes to fruition or not, Lucchesi was largely buried in that rotation picture. The Mets have bumped him off the roster and will now have five days to see if they can work out a trade. DFA limbo can last for a week, but the waiver process takes 48 hours.

The lefty has some track record as a viable big league starter, as he posted an ERA just over 4.00 with the Padres in 2018 and 2019, logging 130 innings or more in both of those seasons. He then struggled in 2020 and got flipped to the Mets as part of the Joe Musgrove trade in January of 2021. He required Tommy John surgery that summer and missed most of the 2021-2022 seasons. He returned to the mound last year and his results were fairly comparable to this year. He was mostly kept on optional assignment and posted a 4.74 ERA in Triple-A.

Perhaps a club in need of some starting depth will take a flier on Lucchesi since he can be optioned for the remainder of this year and can also be retained beyond this season via arbitration. But as mentioned, he will be out of options next year and will have less roster flexibility going forward. If he were to clear waivers, he could reject an outright assignment by virtue of having more than three years of service time. But since he has less than five years, electing free agency would mean walking away from the rest of his $1.65MM salary. In that instance, he would likely accept an outright assignment and stick with the Mets as non-roster depth.

Pirates Outright Justin Bruihl

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Pirates reliever Justin Bruihl accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis, the team announced. Pittsburgh had designated the left-hander for assignment over the weekend. Pittsburgh also reinstated Quinn Priester from the 15-day injured list and optioned Edward Olivares to Indianapolis.

Bruihl has been a member of the Bucs for around a month. Pittsburgh signed him to a big league contract on June 6 (coincidentally in tandem with Priester’s IL placement). Manager Derek Shelton called upon Bruihl seven times. He surrendered six runs on nine hits and a walk across 5 2/3 frames. That brief stint at PNC Park marked Bruihl’s fourth consecutive season logging MLB action. He split the 2021-23 campaigns between the Dodgers and Rockies, combining for a 4.22 ERA over 72 appearances.

While Bruihl was hit hard in his limited MLB action this season, he has had a solid year in Triple-A. Splitting his time between the top affiliates of the Reds and Pirates, he owns a 2.89 ERA in 28 innings. He has fanned around a quarter of batters faced against a slightly elevated 10.2% walk rate.

Bruihl has been outrighted once before, as he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Rockies last August. That gave him the right to elect free agency, but he bypassed that to remain with Indianapolis. He’ll try to pitch his way back into a bullpen that entered play Tuesday ranked 26th in the majors with a 4.51 earned run average. Bruihl would be eligible for minor league free agency next offseason if Pittsburgh doesn’t add him back to the 40-man roster.

Reds Sign Tony Kemp To Minor League Contract

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The Reds brought back Tony Kemp on a minor league contract. The move was announced by Cincinnati’s Triple-A team in Louisville, where the second baseman/left fielder has been assigned.

It’s the second time this year that Kemp has signed a non-roster deal with the Reds. He first joined the organization in February. The Vanderbilt product played in eight Spring Training games with Cincinnati. He didn’t make the team and was granted his release. A week later, Kemp signed a big league deal with the Orioles that guaranteed him $1MM.

The veteran’s stay in Baltimore was fairly brief. Kemp appeared in five games before being designated for assignment in tandem with Jackson Holliday’s first big league call. Kemp inked a minor league deal with the Twins after being released by Baltimore. He appeared in 46 games for Minnesota’s Triple-A team, hitting .279/.358/.436 while striking out just 12.8% of the time. Kemp opted out of that contract last week and returned to free agency.

Cincinnati still doesn’t have a path to playing time at second base. Jonathan India went on a tear in June to reestablish himself as David Bell’s leadoff hitter. India was scratched from tonight’s starting lineup with a left knee contusion (h/t to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer), but there’s nothing to suggest that’s more than a day-to-day concern.

Barring an injury to India, Kemp’s better path to playing time is probably in left field. The Reds are shorthanded in the outfield at the moment. Jake Fraley is away from the team attending to a family matter. TJ Friedl, Nick Martini and Stuart Fairchild are all on the injured list. Kemp has more than 2100 innings of second base and left field experience at the MLB level. If the Reds were to call him up, they’d only be responsible for the prorated portion of the $740K minimum salary for any time he spends in the majors. The Orioles remain on the hook for the rest of his salary.

Giants Designate Nick Ahmed For Assignment

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves today, with left-hander Blake Snell as well as infielders Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada all reinstated from the injured list. One spot on the active roster was already opened when they traded outfielder Austin Slater to the Reds. They opened two more by optioning left-hander Kolton Ingram and designating shortstop Nick Ahmed for assignment. The latter move drops the 40-man roster count to 39.

Ahmed signed with San Francisco on a minor league deal early in Spring Training. The longtime Diamondback essentially took over for Brandon Crawford as a glove-first veteran shortstop. Ahmed hit well during exhibition play and made the roster, locking in a reported $1.5MM base salary in the process. He picked up the Opening Day nod at shortstop — the first time a player other than Crawford got that honor since Miguel Tejada back in 2011 — and went on to start 50 games overall.

As is typically the case with Ahmed, virtually all of his contributions came on defense. Statcast credited him as four runs better than average across 426 innings. Defensive Runs Saved was less bullish, grading him one run below par. He hit in the bottom third of the batting order and ran a .232/.278/.303 slash line with one homer over 172 plate appearances.

Ahmed is a two-time Gold Glove winner who has been one of the sport’s preeminent defensive shortstops throughout his career. While he’s still a good defender, his numbers have taken a step back from elite levels as he has gotten into his mid 30s. Ahmed has never been much of an offensive threat and has particularly struggled over the past few seasons. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, he owns a .222/.273/.330 line in a little more than 900 trips.

Estrada’s return from the IL will likely push Brett Wisely from second base to shortstop, at least against right-handed pitching. Righty hitting Tyler Fitzgerald is in the lineup tonight against Toronto southpaw Yusei Kikuchi. While the 25-year-old Wisely is stretched defensively at shortstop, he provides a higher offensive ceiling than Ahmed brought. Wisely owns a decent .278/.313/.421 slash through 135 plate appearances in his second MLB campaign.

The Giants have five days to trade Ahmed or place him on waivers. He has well over five years of MLB service time and would retain his entire salary if he clears waivers and becomes a free agent. A release is the likeliest outcome. Once Ahmed clears waivers, he could sign with another team for the prorated portion of the $740K minimum.

Meanwhile, Snell returns for his first MLB action in nearly six weeks. San Francisco’s late signing could hardly have gone worse to this point. Snell has battled groin issues throughout the year and been limited to six starts. Opponents have teed off on the defending NL Cy Young winner for a 9.51 earned run average through 23 2/3 innings. Snell will try to get his season on track when he takes on the Blue Jays this evening.

Phillies Reinstate Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber; Designate David Dahl For Assignment

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The Phillies announced today that both first baseman Bryce Harper and designated hitter Kyle Schwarber have been reinstated from the injured list. In corresponding moves, infielder/outfielder Kody Clemens was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley while outfielder David Dahl was designated for assignment.

The Phils had to subtract two big bats from their lineup when both Harper and Schwarber landed on the 10-day IL back on June 28, Harper due to a left hamstring strain and Schwarber due to a left groin strain. Thankfully, both are now back after just a minimum stay on the shelf with the club managing to go 5-4 without those two.

But to get them back onto the roster, the club is moving on from Dahl. He seemed to be engineering a nice comeback story as of about a month ago, but the magic faded. After several years of injury struggles, he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Phillies in February and then demolished Triple-A pitching. He hit 12 home runs in 43 games for the IronPigs and produced a slash of .340/.416/.660 in that time.

He was selected up to the big league club in the first week of June as Brandon Marsh went on the injured list. He seemed to be carrying the good vibes over with a home run in his first game and then another in his third contest of the year, but things have tailed off significantly since then as he has a dismal line of .154/.196/.231 in his 56 most recent plate appearances. He has more than five years of service time and can’t be optioned without his consent, so the Phils have been forced to bump him off the 40-man entirely.

He’ll now be in DFA limbo for a maximum of seven days. Since waivers can take 48 hours, that means the Phils could take five days to try to find a trade partner. Dahl was once a solid regular with the Rockies, slashing .297/.346/.521 in 240 games from 2016 to 2019, but the injury bug has bit him hard since then. He has suffered a lacerated spleen that led to the organ needing to be removed entirely, as well as a stress fracture in his ribcage, a broken foot, a high ankle sprain, a shoulder strain, multiple back injuries and a quad strain.

He has received 390 plate appearances in the majors since the end of the 2019 season but has hit just .200/.237/.318 in those, bouncing to the Rangers, Padres and Phillies. That’s clearly unsatisfactory production but Dahl has the past track record and the recent run of success in Triple-A to start this year. If any club believed in him and gave him a chance, he could be retained via arbitration for the 2025 season. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.

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