Angels Outright Six Players
The Angels began the process of clearing space on their 40-man roster today, sending six players outright to Triple-A Salt Lake: right-handed pitchers Carson Fulmer, Andrew Wantz, and José Marte, and infielders Charles Leblanc, Jack López, and Michael Stefanic. Evidently, all six players were designated for assignment and cleared waivers earlier this week. They will be eligible to elect free agency and seek new opportunities in free agency this winter.
Fulmer, 30, made 37 appearances, including eight starts, for the Angels in 2024, pitching to a 4.15 ERA and 4.39 SIERA over 86 2/3 innings. It was the most productive season of his career, which began in 2016 with the White Sox and took him to the Tigers, Orioles, Reds, Dodgers, and Mariners before he signed a minor league deal with the Angels in 2023. While his moderate success this year was promising, the former first-round pick has a career 5.38 ERA and 4.92 SIERA in 227 1/3 frames. He offers versatility as both a bullpen arm and a serviceable spot starter, though his splits aren’t much different whether he’s pitching out of the rotation or the bullpen.
Wantz, 29, was attempting to stretch back out as a starter in 2024 after several years as a bullpen arm. However, the initial results were poor in spring training and at Triple-A. Then, he managed to make just one appearance for the big league club before he landed on the IL with an elbow injury, which ultimately required surgery. It is not clear what, exactly, the surgery was, though it was not a Tommy John procedure. The Angels originally hoped Wantz would be ready to return next spring, but according to MLB.com, he suffered a setback in his recovery and it is unclear when (or if) he will be able to pitch in 2025. Prior to this past season, he had a 3.85 ERA and 3.93 SIERA over 117 innings pitched with the Angels between 2021-23.
Marte, 28, also finished the 2024 season on the IL. He pitched well for the Angels over 14 appearances, tossing 19 1/3 innings with a 2.33 ERA, and he made another 25 appearances with a 2.22 ERA at Triple-A. Unfortunately, a viral infection forced him to the IL in August. To make matters worse, he felt pain in his shoulder while attempting to return from the infection and ultimately underwent shoulder surgery in September. It’s unclear if he will be ready to pitch again by next spring. Despite his impressive ERA this past season, Marte has a career 5.56 ERA and 5.64 SIERA in 43 2/3 innings of big league work. His 4.46 ERA in 74 2/3 innings at Triple-A isn’t much more inspiring.
Leblanc, 28, made his MLB debut with the Marlins in 2022. He performed reasonably well, slashing .263/.320/.404 with four home runs over 48 games but was outrighted over the offseason. Despite continuing to produce solid numbers at Triple-A (.807 OPS), he failed to make it back to the majors the following year. He inked a minor league pact with the Angels last November and appeared in a handful of games for the big league club in August and September, putting up an impressive .869 OPS in 28 trips to the plate. Leblanc split his playing time between all three bases in 2024, though he also has a bit of experience in left field. He still has minor league options remaining and can offer a team some defensive versatility and righty pop off the bench.
López, 31, made his way back to the majors with the Angels for the first time in nearly three years. After several seasons in the Royals minor league system and a brief stint in the Braves organization, he debuted with the Red Sox in 2021. He went 2-for-13 over seven games. The infielder spent the 2022 season at Triple-A for the Tigers before joining the Angels in 2023 and finally making it back to the big leagues in August 2024. He appeared in 27 games, splitting his time between second base and shortstop while slashing .254/.286/.343 (.629 OPS). López also has minor league options remaining, and his biggest asset is his ability to play shortstop.
Finally, Stefanic, 28, appeared in 40 games for the Angels this past season, largely at second base. He continued to tear the cover off the ball at Triple-A, which he has done for the past several years, but failed to make an impact at the MLB level. He slashed .218/.301/.255, and, unfortunately, his first big league home run continues to elude him. Stefanic has played 90 games for the Angels since his debut in 2022 and has yet to hit a single home run. He will be out of minor league options in 2025.
Pirates Sign Yohan Ramírez To Minor League Deal
The Pirates have signed right-hander Yohan Ramírez to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He will presumably receive an invitation to major league spring training.
Ramírez, 29, returns to the Pirates, one of several teams he has pitched for in his career. The righty has logged 169 innings over the past five seasons with a 4.58 earned run average, suiting up for the Mariners, Guardians, White Sox, Mets, Orioles, Dodgers and Red Sox, in addition to his time as a Pirate.
When his career started, he was on the wild side. He has reined things in more recently, but has sacrificed a few strikeouts in the process. Over the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, he struck out 29.3% of batters faced but also gave out free passes at a 15.3% clip. Since then, he has only punched out 20.3% of opponents but reduced his walk rate to 9.8%.
Ramírez spent most of 2023 with the Bucs but went to the White Sox via waivers in September of that year. He was out of options going into 2024, which led a very nomadic season. He bounced to the Mets, O’s, back to the Mets, then to the Dodgers and Red Sox via small trades or waiver claims. Boston passed him through waivers in August and Ramírez elected free agency a few weeks ago.
Around all those transactions, he tossed 45 innings in 2024 with a 6.20 ERA but average-ish strikeout and walk rates of 21.6% and 8.2%. His .346 batting average on balls in play and 59.4% strand rate were both on the unlucky side, which is why ERA estimators such as his 4.26 FIP and 3.84 SIERA paint a rosier picture than his actual ERA.
The Bucs are about to lose Aroldis Chapman, Jalen Beeks and Ryan Borucki to free agency, so they’ll quickly add a bit of non-roster bullpen depth by bringing back a familiar face. Ramírez still has less than three years of service time and can theoretically be retained for multiple seasons, but his out-of-options status will make it hard for him to hang onto a roster spot if he gets one.
Franmil Reyes Re-Signs With NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
After a strong first season in Nippon Professional Baseball, Franmil Reyes is planning an encore, as the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters announced that the slugger has signed a new contract with the team for the 2025 season. Japanese media reports from last weekend suggested that Reyes was likely to stay with the Fighters and the club was prepared to offer him a multi-year contract, but he’ll instead return on a one-year deal.
In taking the one-year contract, Reyes might well be keeping his options open about a possible return to the majors next winter, as another big season in NPB would help his case for a guaranteed contract with a North American team. Reyes hit .290/.348/.564 with 25 homers over 368 plate appearances this season, mostly as a designated hitter and with a handful of appearances at first base. This production helped the Fighers to a second-place finish in the Pacific League and then a victory over the Chiba Lotte Marines in the first postseason round, though a sweep at the hands of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks denied the Fighters a spot in the Japan Series.
It was a needed bounce-back season for Reyes after his MLB career seemed to stall out after a pair of very rough seasons. Reyes hit only .217/.268/.356 with 16 home runs over 538 PA with the Guardians, Cubs, and Royals in 2022-23, plus a stint in the Nationals’ farm system came and went without a big league call-up.
Reyes hit a much more impressive .260/.325/.503 with 92 homers in 1540 PA over his first four seasons in the majors, slugging 92 homers for San Diego and Cleveland. Though strikeouts were always a big part of his game and his shaky defense indicated a DH-only future, Reyes still seemed to be on track to be a three-true-outcomes type of force before his sudden decline. While Reyes was still making a lot of hard contact in 2022, his walk rate dropped off sharply and his strikeout rate continued to rise.
Reyes is still only 29 years old, with his 30th birthday coming up in July. He could well pursue a third act to his career back in the big leagues in the wake of what seems to be a successful second act in Japan, or perhaps likes it enough in NPB to eventually pursue a multi-year deal with the Fighters if he keeps hitting.
Rays Re-Sign Michael Flynn To Minor League Deal
The Rays have re-signed right-hander Michael Flynn to a minor league deal, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams on X. The righty, who is represented by Dynamic Sports Group, receives a spring training invite and will make a salary of $900K in the majors next year if he gets there.
Flynn, 28, has yet to make his major league debut but was recently part of a deadline deal. He joined the Rays a few months ago, coming over in the trade that sent infielder/outfielder Amed Rosario to the Dodgers.
Prior to the 2024 season, Flynn had spent time in the minors with the Pirates and Mariners but had allowed 7.05 earned runs per nine innings in his 97 frames. That was surely a misleading ERA, as he had solid strikeout and walk rates of 25.3% and 8.4% in that time. His 4.36 FIP for that stretch perhaps better represents his work, with his unfortunate .364 BABIP and 55.3% strand rate pushing extra runs across the plate.
He reached free agency after 2023 and signed a minors deal with the Dodgers. He went on to throw 42 1/3 innings in that organization, between Double-A and Triple-A, with a 4.25 ERA. He struck out 33.1% of batters faced with a 9% walk rate.
That strikeout rate surely intrigued the Rays and motivated them to take a flier on Flynn in the Rosario deal. Unfortunately, Flynn spent time on the injured list after the trade and was only able to make six appearances in the Rays’ system. But they apparently liked what they saw enough to bring him back for another look in spring training next year.
The Rays opened up their bullpen a bit last summer, sending out relievers Phil Maton, Jason Adam and Shawn Armstrong as part of their sell-off. Pete Fairbanks is a speculative trade candidate for this offseason now that his deal has just one more guaranteed year and a club option. In general, the Rays are one of the clubs most willing to rotate arms through the roster, which could give Flynn a chance to crack the big leagues.
Six Players Elect Free Agency
As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com or MLB.com logs.
Catchers
- Joe Hudson (Mets)
Infielders
- Eddy Alvarez (Mets)
- Pablo Reyes (Mets)
Outfielders
- Estevan Florial (Guardians)
Pitchers
- Tyler Beede (Guardians)
- Carlos Carrasco (Guardians)
Ian Hamilton Replaced By Mark Leiter Jr. On Yankees’ ALCS Roster
Major League Baseball announced that it has approved a roster substitution for the Yankees, with right-hander Ian Hamilton replaced by fellow righty Mark Leiter Jr. Playoff rules dictate that a player removed due to an injury is ineligible to play in that series as well as the following one, so Hamilton won’t be eligible to play in the World Series if the Yankees advance.
The move doesn’t come out of nowhere, as Hamilton was removed from last night’s game against the Guardians with an injury that he appeared to sustain while covering first base on a ground ball. The Yankees described his injury as left calf tightness and it now appears that it’s serious enough that they felt compelled to make a switch.
That could be because they don’t expect Hamilton back in the next few weeks or simply because they didn’t want to play short-handed for the next few days. The Yanks are about to play their second of three consecutive games and used six relievers in last night’s ten-inning contest that they eventually lost. Even if there was a chance that Hamilton’s calf would be healed by later in this series or in the World Series, they might need the extra arm to get through tonight and tomorrow.
Hamilton, 29, wasn’t the most important arm in manager Aaron Boone‘s bullpen. Last night’s appearances was just his second of this year’s playoffs. But he was solid during the regular season, making 35 appearances with a 3.82 earned run average. He struck out 25.2% of batters faced, walked 8.2% of them and got grounders on 43.8% of balls in play. He earned one save and 11 holds this year, the latter number coming in third on the team behind Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle.
Leiter, 33, had some strong recent results with the Cubs but struggled after a deadline deal that sent him to the Bronx. From the start of 2022 until the trade, he posted a 3.85 ERA in 168 1/3 innings for the Cubs. In that time, he had a 28.9% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 47.8% ground ball rate.
At the end of July, the Yanks sent minor leaguers Ben Cowles and Jack Neely to the Cubs in order to acquire Leiter, but he posted a 4.98 ERA in his 21 appearances for the Yanks after that deal. While many Yankee fans groan at the mere mention of Leiter’s name, the baseball gods were seemingly responsible for a lot of those runs.
As a Yankee, Leiter’s 39% ground ball rate was subpar but his 31.7% strikeout rate was strong and his 8.7% walk rate around average. But he had a .407 batting average on balls in play and a 26.1% homer to fly ball ratio, both of which are unsustainably high. His 2.86 SIERA in that stretch suggests that he was far better than his ERA would have you believe in that small sample.
Leiter was left off the Yankee roster for the ALDS and ALCS but Hamilton’s injury opens the door for him. He and the Yankees will be hoping for better fortune as they look to defeat the Guardians and move on to the World Series. They lead the ALCS two games to one with game four set to begin in Cleveland at 8:08 local time tonight.
Jake Cave, Peter Lambert, Dakota Hudson Elect Free Agency
The Rockies announced that outfielder Jake Cave as well as right-handers Dakota Hudson and Peter Lambert passed through outright waivers unclaimed. Each of the three players elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque. The moves drop the club’s 40-man roster count to 38, as Hudson was on the 60-day IL and not taking up a spot.
All three players were eligible for arbitration this winter, so these moves effectively act as early non-tenders. Each player has more than three years of service time, meaning each has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Cave, 32 in December, was acquired from the Phillies in a cash deal coming into the 2024 season. He got into 123 games for the Rockies and stepped to the plate 346 times. Unfortunately, he hit just .251/.290/.396 in that time for a 75 wRC+. He now has a career batting line of .236/.292/.400 and an 80 wRC+ in over 1500 trips to the plate. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a salary of $1.8MM next year but the Rockies will move on instead.
Hudson, 30, spent many years as a groundballer with the Cardinals. He had a 3.14 earned run average through 2021 but his ERA jumped to 4.45 in 2022 and 4.98 in 2023, so the Cards decided to non-tender him.
The Rockies brought him aboard via a modest $1.5MM guarantee but Hudson went on to post a 6.17 ERA this year. There may have been some bad luck in there, as he only stranded 63.5% of runners, but he also made things hard on himself. His 12.4% walk rate was not only above league average but also above his 12.1% strikeout rate. Colorado could have brought him back for a projected $2.3MM salary next year but understandably decided not to.
Lambert, 27, was a second-round pick of the Rockies back in 2015. He was a notable prospect for the club on his way up the ladder but hasn’t been able to cement himself in the big leagues. He debuted in 2019, making 19 starts that year but with a 7.25 ERA. He required Tommy John surgery in July of 2020, keeping out of action for all of that year and most of 2021. Right forearm inflammation limited him to just four minor league appearances in 2022.
He’s been largely healthy for the past two seasons, with the Rockies using him a frequently-optioned swingman. He has thrown 148 2/3 major league innings since the start of 2023, but with a 5.51 ERA. His 8.7% walk rate in that time is fine but his 18.5% strikeout rate is subpar.
He was projected for a $1.5MM salary next year, which is almost nothing in MLB terms, but he has exhausted all of his option years. That would make it harder for the Rockies to keep him on the roster going forward, so they have decided to bump him off today.
Eight Players Elect Free Agency
As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com or MLB.com logs.
Catchers
- Aramis Garcia (Phillies)
Infielders
- Abraham Toro (A’s)
Pitchers
- Brandon Bielak (A’s)
- Caleb Boushley (Twins)
- Jake Brentz (Royals)
- Humberto Castellanos (Diamondbacks)
- Domingo Germán (Pirates)
- Jeff Lindgren (Marlins)
Alex Cobb Replaced By Ben Lively On Guardians’ ALCS Roster
Major League Baseball announced that it has approved a roster change for the Guardians, with right-hander Alex Cobb replaced by fellow righty Ben Lively. MLB didn’t announce the specific nature of Cobb’s injury but the Guards announced it as an acute left low back strain. Per MLB playoff roster rules, a player removed with an injury is not eligible to return during that series nor in the subsequent series. That means that Cobb won’t be available for the World Series if Cleveland makes it, so his season is now over.
It’s an unfortunate development both for Cobb and the Guardians. The club acquired him prior to the deadline a few months ago in the hopes of bolstering their rotation, which had been slowed down both by injuries and underperformance. But Cobb had been having his own injury issues prior to the trade and struggled to stay healthy after it, which will impact his earning power as he heads into free agency this winter.
Cobb, 37, has a lengthy track record that includes a 3.84 earned run average in 233 starts dating back to his 2011 debut. He signed a two-year deal with the Giants for the 2022 and 2023 seasons and pitched rather well. He made 28 starts in each of those seasons, with his ERA coming in a bit below 4.00 in each of them. He tossed 301 innings in those two years with a 3.80 ERA, 22.1% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate and 59.4% ground ball rate.
He underwent hip surgery in October of 2023 with a six-month recovery estimate but the Giants still felt good enough about his prognosis to exercise a $10MM club option for the 2024 season. The news of his recovery was fairly positive throughout the winter and it seemed there was a chance that he could be pitching in the majors early in 2024, but he got transferred to the 60-day injured list in mid-April after he was slowed by shoulder inflammation. Even at that point, the Giants were hoping for a late-May return but his shoulder discomfort lingered.
He was still on the IL as the trade deadline was approaching but he was rehabbing at the time and the Guardians decided to take a shot on him, sending minor league left-hander Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named later (later announced as minor league infielder Nate Furman) to San Francisco. The Guards had lost Shane Bieber to Tommy John surgery while hurlers like Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco had struggled badly. Despite the challenges in the rotation, the Cleveland bullpen was the best in baseball in 2024, helping them lead the American League Central for most of the way.
Cobb made his debut for the Guards on August 9 but only made two starts before going back on the IL, this time due to a fractured nail on his right hand. He was reinstated from the IL and made another start for Cleveland in early September but returned to the IL after that, this time due to blisters on his pitching hand.
Though he missed the final few weeks of the season, the Guards added Cobb to their roster for the ALDS against the Tigers. He started the third game of that series but was pulled after three innings, having thrown 41 pitches while allowing two earned runs. He then started the first game of the ALCS against the Yankees last night, tossing 65 pitches but without making it out of the third inning and with three earned runs on his ledger.
Now it seems this back injury will add to a very frustrating season for the veteran, as it’s evidently serious enough that they felt compelled to remove him. As mentioned, he won’t be eligible to return in the ALCS. If they make it to the World Series, he won’t be an option there either.
He’ll be heading into free agency having just turned 37 years old and without much of a platform season. Around the hip recovery, the shoulder problems, the hand issues and now this back strain, he only made the three regular season starts and two more in the postseason, logging a total of 22 innings.
For the Guardians, they will have to try to stay alive with their pitching depth thinned out even further. Without Cobb, they have Tanner Bibee, Matthew Boyd and Gavin Williams as their top three starters, with those three able to start the next three contests. By game five, scheduled for Saturday, they may have to consider a bullpen game, with guys like Joey Cantillo or Lively possibilities for bulk innings.
Lively, 32, had a solid year for the Guards in terms of surface-level results but less in terms of underlying numbers. He made 29 starts and logged 159 innings with a 3.81 ERA, but his 18.7% strikeout rate and 41.9% ground ball rate were both subpar. He did keep his walks down to a 7.8% clip and his 6.5% barrel rate was considered by Statcast to be in the 73rd percentile, but his 4.66 FIP and 4.58 SIERA suggest his ERA could be at least slightly misleading. Game two of the ALCS kicks off in the Bronx tonight at 7:38pm local time.
Orioles Sign David Banuelos To Minor League Contract
The Orioles signed catcher David Banuelos to a new minor league contract, MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports (X link). The deal contains an invitation to Baltimore’s big league Spring Training camp.
Banuelos had been eligible for minor league free agent but the contract ensures that he’ll remain in the Orioles organization for a second year. After signing a minors deal with the O’s last winter, Banuelos made his Major League debut in the form of a pinch-hit appearance in Baltimore’s 11-3 win over the Twins on April 16. That lone game marked Banuelos’ only MLB appearance of the season, and he also played in only 22 games for Triple-A Norfolk.
The lack of proper playing time was due to Banuelos’ status as a regular member of the Orioles’ taxi squad, as the O’s wanted an emergency catcher available to back up Adley Rutschman and James McCann. With Rutschmann playing almost every day as either a catcher or DH, the Orioles wanted extra depth if an injury hit either of their two regular backstops. This left Banuelos without much playing time since Rutschman and McCann both avoided the injured list — somewhat remarkably in McCann’s case, given how he was hit in the face with a pitch back on July 29.
Banuelos also spent part of the season in roster limbo, as the Orioles designated the catcher for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster on three separate occasions. After being outrighted the first time, Banuelos gained the right to reject any future outright assignments in favor of free agency, though Banuelos opted to remain with Baltimore after he cleared waivers the next two times.
Even with just a cup of coffee in the Show, Banuelos can now officially call himself a big leaguer after seven pro seasons. A fifth-round pick for the Mariners in the 2017 draft, Banuelos spent just his first season in Seattle’s organization before he was dealt to the Twins, and he played in Minnesota’s farm system from 2018-23. Banuelos has hit .216/.283/.354 over 1265 career plate appearances in the minors.