Pirates Re-Sign Domingo German To Minor League Deal
The Pirates have re-signed right-hander Domingo German to a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf. Stumpf adds that German’s new pact with the club includes an opt-out on August 9. German has spent the entire 2024 season to this point pitching for the Pirates but opted out of his deal with Pittsburgh last week, though now it seems he’ll remain in the organization for at least a few more weeks.
German, 32 next month, made his big league debut with the Yankees back in 2017. While the righty appeared in just seven games as a multi-inning relief arm in his first MLB season, he went on to carve out a much more significant role for himself in the following years. 2018 saw German pitch in 21 games, including 14 starts, as a swing man for the Yankees, and by 2019 he had been promoted to a full-time starter. Off-the-field issues, including an 81-game suspension for violating the MLB-MLBPA joint domestic violence policy, saw him miss the 2019 postseason and the entire 2020 campaign, but upon his return to action in 2021 he spent three more seasons as a semi-regular fixture in New York’s rotation mix.
In all, German posted a 4.22 ERA (102 ERA+) with a 4.56 FIP in 422 1/3 innings of work for the Yankees between 2019 and 2023. German’s Yankees tenure including highs such as his outing against the A’s last June, where he threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history, but also lows such as his aforementioned suspension, a subsequent ten-game suspension for violating the league’s foreign substance policy on the mound, and a trip to the restricted list last September while he underwent treatment for alcohol abuse. Those numerous off-the-field issues help to explain why German, despite a track record as a fairly reliable back-end starter when healthy, settled for a minor league deal with the Pirates back in March.
Upon joining the Pirates, German was placed in the club’s Triple-A rotation, where he has struggled through ten starts. In 50 1/3 innings of work at the level this year, German has posted a lackluster 5.36 ERA with a similar 5.50 FIP. While his 20.6% strikeout rate is respectable enough, he’s walked a bloated 12% of batters faced at the level this year. That 8.6% K-BB% ratio is a far cry from the much more respectable 17.5% ratio he’s posted throughout his career in the major leagues, where he’s punched out 24.9% of batters faced while walking just 7.4%.
With Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Martin Perez, Marco Gonzales, Luis Ortiz, and Quinn Preister all seemingly ahead of German on the organizational depth chart among healthy starting options, it was hardly a surprise that German departed the club in hopes of finding a more pitching-hungry team interested in his services. Evidently, however, German was unable to find a deal he liked in free agency with another club, and as a result re-upped with Pittsburgh on a new deal that provides him an opt-out date after the Trade Deadline on July 30. It’s easy to imagine German exercising that opt-out opportunity as well, in hopes that a club that wasn’t able to address its rotation needs before the deadline at the end of the month shows interest in adding him to their mix as an innings-eating depth option. Until then, however, he figures to continue pitching in his current non-roster depth role with Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate as he waits for his next big league opportunity.
Ozzie Albies To Miss Eight Weeks With Wrist Fracture; Braves To Select Nacho Alvarez
4:58pm: The Braves announced this afternoon that X-Rays on Albies’s wrist revealed a fracture in his left wrist. He’s expected to miss approximately eight weeks. Atlanta is “expected” to select Alvarez’s contract tomorrow to replace Albies on the roster, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Bowman suggests that the youngster will play second base despite Alvarez’s lack of experience at the keystone, leaving Arcia as the club’s everyday shortstop.
4:33pm: Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies exited today’s game in the ninth inning due to a left wrist injury. As noted by David O’Brien of The Athletic, Albies’s wrist was bent backwards when he attempted to tag a runner out a second base amid a stolen base attempt. The Braves have not made an official move yet, but manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including O’Brien) after the game that Albies will be placed on the injured list and that while further evaluation necessary, the outlook on the injury is “not good.”
The loss of Albies is another devastating blow to a Braves club that has already seen both reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. and right-handed ace Spencer Strider undergo season-ending surgery. With Albies set to join that duo as well as center fielder Michael Harris II and star lefty Max Fried on the shelf, the Braves will limp towards the trade deadline protecting a four-game lead in the NL Wild Card race without five of their biggest stars. While Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez have stepped up this season as front-of-the-rotation arms and Jarred Kelenic has performed admirably since being thrust into an everyday role as the club’s center fielder in place of Harris, there are no obvious solutions for replacing Albies on the club’s active roster.
Even average offensive production would be an adequate replacement for Albies at the plate, as the 27-year-old has been dealing with a bit of a down season this year. In 89 games this season, the infielder has slashed a roughly league average .255/.308/.403 across 390 trips to the plate. Even so, the club’s dearth of quality infield depth means that the Braves are likely to be scrambling for solutions in Albies’s absence, particularly if it proves to be a lengthy one as Snitker implied.
Earlier this year, infielder Zack Short was tapped to handle third base in place of an injured Austin Riley and rose to the call effectively. While he has experience at second base as well, he’s slumped badly in bench role since Riley’s return to the lineup and sports a slash line of just .077/.250/.077 since the start of June. That could lead the Braves to look toward the minor leagues. The club turned to David Fletcher in a utility role earlier this year, but he is no longer on the 40-man roster and has begun attempting to convert to pitching at the Double-A level, suggesting he’s unlikely to be called up to replace Albies. One option currently on the 40-man would be infielder Luke Williams, although his career .220/.280/.287 slash line in the majors certainly leaves something to be desired.
Perhaps the most exciting moves the Braves could make, barring a trade to improve the club’s overall infield mix, would be the promotion of top infield prospect Nacho Alvarez. Alvarez is ranked as the club’s #5 prospect by MLB Pipeline and has lit up the scoreboards in the minor leagues this year. In 75 games split between the Double- and Triple-A levels this year, the 21-year-old has slashed an eye-opening .295/.398/.420 while going 21-for-24 on the basepaths. One potential hiccup in that plan would be Alvarez’s complete lack of experience at second base, though the club could always plug him in at shortstop and shift veteran Orlando Arcia, who played 50 games for the Braves at the keystone in 2022, over to the right side of the infield alongside first baseman Matt Olson.
It’s possible that a lengthy absence for Albies could prompt the Braves to explore the infield market, particularly if the club feels Alvarez isn’t ready for his big league debut. Pieces such as Amed Rosario of the Rays and Brandon Drury of the Angels are among the veteran rentals who could be made available this summer, although the Rays have gone 6-3 over their last nine games to put themselves back into contention while Drury has suffered through an abysmal season at the plate this year. With clear needs in the starting rotation and outfield as well, it’s possible at Atlanta brass opt instead to rely on their internal options at the keystone while Albies is injured, instead working to add an outfield who can replace Acuna while taking pressure off of Kelenic and Adam Duvall, both of whom have been forced into everyday roles by injuries after starting the season as platoon partners.
Brewers Acquire Tyler Jay From Mets
The Mets have dealt left-hander Tyler Jay to the Brewers in exchange for minor league right-hander TJ Shook, per a club announcement. Jay had been designated for assignment by New York last week to make room for lefty Alex Young on the club’s 40-man roster. The Brewers had an open spot for Jay on their 40-man roster after designating Joel Kuhnel for assignment earlier today.
Jay, 30, was the sixth overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Twins. Jay struggled to establish himself in the upper levels of the minors, however, and he departed affiliated ball following the canceled 2020 minor league season to pitch the 2022 campaign for the Frontier League’s Joliet Slammers. He pitched well in Indy Ball with a 3.53 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 79 innings of work between the 2022 and ’23 seasons. The lefty returned to affiliated ball on a minor league deal with the Mets partway through last year and after struggling in his Triple-A debut last year, looked solid in 41 1/3 innings of work as a multi-inning reliever at the level this year with a 2.40 ERA despite a relatively lackluster 18.6% strikeout rate.
That performance was strong enough to earn Jay his first taste of big league action with the Mets back in April. He looked good in two appearances with the Mets, allowing one run on five hits and a walk while striking out one in four innings of work, but was designated for assignment after a week in the majors to make room on the club’s roster for Michael Tonkin. Jay remained with the Mets following his outright assignment and continued to put up strong numbers at the Triple-A level, earning him another big league opportunity on July 1. That appearance went poorly, however, as Jay surrendered four runs (three earned) while recording just two outs against two hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. That was Jay’s only appearance of his second stint in New York, and his time with the organization now comes to an end with a career ERA of 7.71 at the big league level.
Now, Jay is headed to the Brewers where he figures to join a bullpen full of reclamation relief arms who have managed to put together strong results in Milwaukee. The club is currently relying on Bryan Hudson, Jared Koenig, Hoby Milner, and Rob Zastryzny as lefty relief options, and Jay figures to be the next man up behind that group from the left side while Kevin Herget acts as the top depth option behind the bullpen’s right-handed pitchers.
In exchange for Jay’s services, the Brewers are parting ways with Shook, who they signed as an undrafted free agent back in 2020. The 26-year-old right-hander worked his way through the minor league system fairly quickly in his first few years in the organization but has stalled out a bit at the Double-A level in the years since then, having pitched there since partway through the 2022 season. In 242 career innings at the level, Shook has a 5.06 ERA despite a solid 24.2% strikeout rate thanks to an elevated 10% walk rate and a tendency towards allowing home runs. Things have improved slightly for Shook this year, however, as he’s posted a 4.90 ERA with a 27.4% strikeout rate against a more manageable 8.9% walk rate with just seven home runs allowed in 64 1/3 innings of work.
White Sox Release Martín Maldonado
Today: Maldonado has cleared waivers, and the White Sox have granted the catcher his unconditional release (per the White Sox via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).
July 17, 7:11pm: Chicago will recall Robinson from Charlotte for his first MLB work since 2022, reports Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
July 17, 6:10pm: The White Sox have designated catcher Martín Maldonado for assignment, per Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X. The Sox don’t play again until Friday, so the corresponding move or moves may not be immediately known.
Maldonado, 37, signed a one-year deal with the Sox in the offseason. The veteran backstop secured a $4.25MM guarantee in the form of a $4MM salary with a $250K buyout on a $4MM club/vesting option for 2025. The option would have vested with Maldonado making 90 appearances at catcher but he’s only at 48 this year.
He’s never been much of a hitter but has long received praise for his defense and his leadership abilities in working with a pitching staff. Teams have generally been willing to take that tradeoff over his career but he has declined on both sides of the ball to the point that it pushed him off his roster spot with the Sox.
Coming into this year, Maldonado had a career batting line of .207/.282/.349. That production translated to a wRC+ of 72, indicating he had been 28% below the league average hitter overall. Catchers tend to be roughly 10% below par, so that kind of hitting isn’t disastrous if there are defensive contributions to go with it. But his bat has been even less effective that unusual this season, as he has a dismal line of .119/.174/.230. His wRC+ of 11 is dead last in the majors among batters with at least 140 plate appearances this year.
On top of that, the marks on his glovework have also declined. He has 58 Defensive Runs Saved in his career but was at -10 last year and is at -8 already here in 2024 despite limited playing time. FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered him to be a positive pitch framer in his career but he’s been in negative territory in 2024. The subpar bat was once palatable with strong defense, but declines in both departments have made him harder to stomach, so the Sox will apparently be moving on.
The Sox will need to call up another catcher to share time with Korey Lee and they have a couple of options. Chuckie Robinson was added to their 40-man about a month ago but kept on optional assignment. He’s hitting .246/.292/.382 in Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 70 but the Sox presumably like him as they gave him that roster spot to prevent him from triggering an opt-out clause.
There’s also prospect Edgar Quero, who came over in last year’s trade that sent Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López to the Angels. He’s having a great year, with a batting line of .274/.362/.462 and 141 wRC+ between Double-A and Triple-A so far. He’s a consensus top 100 prospect and arguably the club’s catcher of the future. He has just six games above the Double-A level on his track record and isn’t yet on the 40-man roster, but perhaps the Sox want to use the second half to have him get acquainted with some of their staff and/or face major league pitching.
The Sox will technically have a week from when the move becomes official to either trade or pass Maldonado through waivers, though the he’s likely to end up released in the coming days. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and no club will want to take on what’s left of his salary. If any team really believes in his game-calling abilities, he could perhaps garner interest after he’s released, when the Sox will be on the hook for the majority of the money he’s still owed. Another team could sign him at that point and only pay him the prorated version of the $740K league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay.
Dodgers To Sign Nick Anderson To Minor League Deal
The Dodgers are signing right-handed pitcher Nick Anderson to a minor league deal. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the two sides were in agreement on a contract, while Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic confirmed that it would be a minor league pact. Bob Nightengale of USA Today later added that the deal has opt-outs on August 15 and 28. Anderson was designated for assignment by the Royals before the All-Star break and cleared release waivers on Saturday.
Anderson pitched well for the Braves over the first half of the 2023 season, posting a 3.06 ERA and 3.47 SIERA in 35 games, while collecting four wins, one save, and 15 holds. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ended his year in mid-July. Despite his promising first half, the Braves dealt Anderson to the Royals following the season in exchange for cash considerations.
The 34-year-old right-hander was unable to replicate his first-half success in 2024, pitching to a 4.04 ERA and 4.39 SIERA in 37 outings with Kansas City. Although his fastball velocity is slightly up from last season, Anderson has struggled in almost every respect: His strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is up, and he has given up twice as many home runs as last year in close to the same number of innings. Considering his poor numbers this season and extensive injury history over the past few years, it wasn’t too surprising that Anderson was DFA’d after the Royals traded for fellow right-handed reliever Hunter Harvey. That said, Kansas City might have been hoping another team would claim Anderson off of waivers and take his 2024 salary off its books.
Instead, the Dodgers waited and signed Anderson to a minor league deal, which means they will only need to pay him a prorated portion of the league minimum salary. Although Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow are set to return from the IL this coming week, the Dodgers can still use all the pitching help they can get. The injury bug has hit their rotation much more than their bullpen, but L.A. is currently missing relievers like Brusdar Graterol, Ryan Brasier, and Michael Grove. More to the point, the Dodgers simply need to ensure they have enough healthy arms – starters or relievers – to get them through the remainder of the season.
That being said, the Dodgers are surely hoping Anderson can be more than just a warm body. This organization has a great reputation for developing arms and helping veteran pitchers reinvent themselves. Perhaps L.A. can help Anderson rediscover what has made him such an effective reliever at previous points in his career. In addition to his strong 2023 campaign with the Braves, he was dominant from 2019-20 with the Marlins and Rays, pitching to a 2.77 ERA and 2.14 SIERA in 87 games.
Royals Release Jordan Lyles
Today: The Royals reinstated Lyles from the restricted list today, the team announced. He cleared release waivers and is officially a free agent.
July 20: The Royals have released veteran right-hander Jordan Lyles, according to Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Should he pass through waivers unclaimed, he will become a free agent in the coming days. Lyles, 33, was placed on the restricted list back in April due to an undisclosed personal matter. Per Rogers, Lyles reported to the organization last month, opening up a 30-day window for him to either be added back to the roster or released. Today was day 30 of that window, prompting the right-hander’s placement on release waivers.
A veteran of 14 MLB seasons, Lyles has posted an above average season by measure of ERA+ just once in his lengthy career but has nonetheless managed to stick around the majors consistently thanks to his workhorse tendencies. From 2019 to 2023, the right-hander posted a lackluster 5.20 ERA with a similar 5.09 FIP, both well below the league average. In doing so, however, he covered a whopping 735 1/3 innings of work. Just fifteen pitchers in the league ate more innings than Lyles over that period, and that ability to handle a sizable workload has earned him big league deals with rebuilding clubs such as the 2020 Rangers and 2022 Orioles that were in need of reliable volume in the rotation.
The latest rebuilding club to offer Lyles a contract to solidify its rotation mix was the 2023 Royals. The right-hander signed a two-year, $17MM pact with Kansas City during the 2022-23 offseason, and while the righty posted his typical volume of 177 2/3 innings and 31 starts, the results were borderline disastrous. His 6.28 ERA was by far the worst among all qualified pitchers last year, as were his 5.62 FIP and 5.34 xFIP. Only Patrick Corbin and Miles Mikolas stuck out batters at a lower clip than Lyles’s 16% rate last year, and his 39 home runs allowed last year was less than only Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito.
Those lackluster numbers led the Royals to aggressively pursue rotation upgrades this winter, adding veterans Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha to a rotation that had already acquired young lefty Cole Ragans over the summer. The new additions pushed Lyles to the bullpen to open the 2024 campaign, and the veteran actually took to the new role quite well in the early going. He made just five appearances prior to being placed on the restricted list, but each of those outings was scoreless. In all, Lyles allowed just two hits and two walks across five innings of work while striking out three in his limited work as a short relief arm prior to his departure from the club.
Rival organizations will now have the opportunity to claim the veteran (and the remainder of his $8.5MM salary for 2024), though it’s extremely unlikely that any club will do so between the hefty price tag and the fact that the veteran seemingly hasn’t pitched competitively since mid-April. In the likely event that he clears waivers, Lyles will become a free agent and be available for any club to sign at the pro-rated league minimum, which would be subtracted from the amount Kansas City owes Lyles for the remainder of the season.
Guardians Designate Spencer Howard For Assignment
The Guardians announced that right-hander Peter Strzelecki has been recalled from Triple-A Columbus. In a corresponding move, right-hander Spencer Howard has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Howard opened the 2024 season in the Giants organization, making 10 starts at Triple-A and pitching another seven games (two starts) for the big league club. He gave up 33 hits, 11 walks, and 16 runs (15 earned) in 24 innings for San Francisco before he was designated for assignment at the end of June. The Guardians scooped him up soon after in exchange for cash considerations, and Howard made his first appearance for Cleveland on July 11, giving up four earned runs on seven hits and three walks in three innings of work. The right-hander pitched one more game for the club after the All-Star break, giving up another four runs (one earned) in two innings of relief.
Once a top prospect in the Phillies organization, Howard has struggled to hold down a job in the majors since his debut in 2020. The Phillies dealt him to the Rangers ahead of the trade deadline in 2021, and he spent parts of three seasons in Texas beset by inconsistency and IL stints. The Rangers traded him to the Yankees on deadline day in 2023, and he pitched for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for a month before he was released. Howard signed on with the Giants toward the end of the 2023 season.
Since Howard, now 27, used up his final option year in 2023, the Guardians had to designate him for assignment to add a fresh arm to the active roster. The team now has a week to trade the righty or pass him through waivers. Although Howard has struggled throughout his MLB career (7.00 ERA in 144 IP), another team in need of a live arm could be interested in taking a chance on the former top prospect.
Speaking of a fresh arm, that’s exactly what Strzelecki represents for Cleveland’s league-best bullpen. The 29-year-old has already enjoyed three brief stints with the club since the Diamondbacks traded him to the Guardians on Opening Day. In four big league games this year, the righty has thrown 5 2/3 scoreless frames, striking out three and walking one. Meanwhile, in 29 games (32 1/3 innings) at Triple-A, Strzelecki has a 4.18 ERA and 3.00 FIP. He has struck out more than 30% of minor league batters he has faced this season, nearly six times as many as he has walked.
While Strzelecki has struggled to stick in the majors, his Triple-A numbers are certainly promising. Perhaps this time around he will finally get to pitch more than one or two games for the Guardians before he is optioned back to the minor leagues.
Brewers Designate Joel Kuhnel For Assignment
The Brewers have reinstated left-hander Jared Koenig from the 15-day injured list. Right-hander Joel Kuhnel was designated for assignment. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed the moves on X. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
It seems as though Kuhnel has been Milwaukee’s “break glass in case of emergency” pitcher but without that emergency ever arising. He has been selected to the Brewers’ roster twice this year and both of those stints on the roster resulted in him getting designated for assignment without pitching in a game.
Kuhnel has an option year remaining and they could have just sent him down to Nashville, but it’s possible they will be using that 40-man roster spot in the coming days. Each of Devin Williams, Joe Ross and DL Hall are on the 60-day injured list but each is rehabbing and could rejoin the big league club soon. Each of them will require roster spots once they are activated so the Brewers have opened one by designating Kuhnel for assignment today.
They will have one week to work a trade or pass Kuhnel through waivers, though the waiver process takes 48 hours, leaving a five-day window for trade talks. Kuhnel has 85 2/3 innings of major league experience with a 6.30 earned run average. His 19% strikeout rate is subpar but he’s limited walks to a 6.3% clip and kept 52.2% of balls in play on the ground.
This year, he has bounced between the Astros, Blue Jays and Brewers with only two innings in the majors. His 27 1/3 Triple-A innings have resulted in a 2.30 ERA, 15% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and his typical big ground ball rates.
Tigers Place Reese Olson On Injured List, Select Bligh Madris
The Tigers announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game. Right-hander Reese Olson was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right shoulder strain and infielder/outfielder Ryan Vilade was optioned to Triple-A Toledo. To take those two roster spots, the Tigers selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Bligh Madris and recalled left-hander Easton Lucas. To open a 40-man spot for Madris, outfielder Kerry Carpenter was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Olson started for the Tigers yesterday against the Blue Jays but departed after just two innings with the club announcing his injury as right shoulder soreness. Now it seems a strain has been discovered and he’ll need to miss at least 15 days, though it’s unclear how severe the strain is or exactly how long the club expects to be without him.
That will interrupt a very nice season for Olson, as he has made 19 starts with a 3.23 earned run average. His 21.6% strikeout rate is subpar but he’s limited walks to a 7.3% clip and kept 51.2% of balls on the ground.
The Tigers’ rotation is also without Casey Mize and Sawyer Gipson-Long, as both of those hurlers are currently on the IL. Gipson-Long had internal brace surgery in April and is done for the year while Mize has a left hamstring strain and has yet to begin a rehab assignment. In recent days, Matt Manning suffered a lat strain in the minors and won’t be an option anytime soon either.
Detroit has been hot lately, with 11 wins in their last 14 games, pulling them to within five games of a Wild Card spot in the American League. Prior to that, they looked like clearcut deadline sellers, but that looks a bit more questionable after they recent climb.
A couple of weeks ago, Jack Flaherty was the top name on MLBTR’s list of deadline trade candidates. That was due to the combination of his excellent season, his status as an impending free agent and Detroit’s place in the standings. Guys like Gio Urshela, Mark Canha and Andrew Chafin also made some sense as deadline trade candidates, while plenty of clubs have seemingly been trying to pry Tarik Skubal loose as well.
Skubal was always a long shot with his two extra years of control and he’ll probably be even harder to acquire now that the Tigers are back in the playoff picture. Whether the club trades any impending free agents in the weeks to come will be an interesting situation and could perhaps depend on how they perform in the next week.
For now, they will have to proceed without Olson, Mize, Manning or Gipson-Long. That leaves them with a rotation consisting of Flaherty, Skubal and Keider Montero. They could perhaps return Kenta Maeda to the rotation, after bumping him to the bullpen recently. Prospect Ty Madden is in Triple-A but has an 8.43 ERA there and isn’t on the 40-man roster. Other non-roster options could include Bryan Sammons, Brant Hurter or Lael Lockhart. The Tigers also have one of the best pitching prospects in the league in Jackson Jobe, though he has not yet reached Triple-A and doesn’t even have 40 innings at the Double-A level yet.
Madris, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Tigers in the offseason and has been performing well in Triple-A this year. Through 80 games at that level, he has hit 14 home runs and walked in 12.8% of his plate appearances. The offensive environment is quite strong in the International League this year so his .236/.339/.464 batting line only translates to a wRC+ of 105, but he’s also stolen 17 bases and lined up at first base and all three outfield spots.
Since optioning Spencer Torkelson to the minors, the Tigers have been rotating first base duties mostly between Canha and Urshela but neither is having an especially strong year and both of them can play other positions. They also both hit right-handed while Madris is a lefty, perhaps creating platoon opportunities. Madris has hit just .217/.314/.383 against lefties this year but .241/.346/.488 against righties. Madris is in today’s lineup at first base against righty Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays. Madris has a couple of options and less than a year of major league service time, so he could potentially be a long-term piece for the Tigers if he continues to hold onto his 40-man spot.
As for Carpenter, this move is largely a formality as he’s almost been on the IL for 60 days already. He landed there at the end of May due to a lumbar spine stress fracture and still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment. He’ll be eligible to come off the IL once it’s been 60 days from his initial placement. That’s only a few days away but he’s not close to a return anyhow.
Angels Sign Johnny Cueto To Minor League Deal
The Angels and veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto are in agreement on a minor league deal, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The news comes on the heels of Cueto opting out of his minors deal with the Rangers earlier this month.
Cueto, 38, is a two-time All-Star and a veteran of 16 MLB seasons. From 2010 to 2016, he was among the very best starters in the entire league with a 2.86 ERA (141 ERA+) that was second to only Clayton Kershaw among qualified starters with at least 500 innings of work during that span. As the righty entered his 30’s, injuries began to cost him more and more time on the mound, and after a dominant 2016 season in the first year of his $130MM pact with San Francisco he managed just 394 1/3 innings of work over the next five seasons, with a middling 4.38 ERA (95 ERA+) during that time.
Cueto ended up signing on with the White Sox on a minor league deal entering the 2022 season, and things appeared to be turning around for the veteran upon his arrival in Chicago. The deal could hardly have gone better for the South Siders, as the right-hander enjoyed a return to form with a 3.35 ERA (118 ERA+) and 3.79 FIP in 158 1/3 innings of work across 25 appearances (24 starts.) Those ERA, ERA+, and FIP figures were all the best Cueto had posted in a full season since his dominant 2016 campaign in San Francisco, though his career-worst 15.7% strikeout rate offered reason for concern.
That didn’t stop the Marlins from pursuing Cueto during the 2022-23 offseason, however, and they signed him to a one-year deal that guaranteed him $8.5MM that winter. It’s a contract that did not go how either side was hoping, to say the least. Cueto struggled badly with Miami during his age-37 campaign, posting an ugly 6.02 ERA with a 7.02 FIP in 52 1/3 innings of work amid trips to the injured list for biceps tightness and a viral infection. While it’s at least feasible that Cueto’s injury and illness issues last season played a role in his deep struggles, the right-hander was unable to find a big league deal this winter and eventually settled for a minor league deal in Texas back in April.
The veteran ultimately made eight starts with the Rangers at the Triple-A level, struggling to a 5.92 ERA in 38 innings of work as he did so, before opting out to return to the open market. He’ll now get a chance to prove himself with the Angels, and it’s relatively easy to imagine the pitching-hungry Halos affording Cueto a big league opportunity as long as he proves able to hold his own at Triple-A. After all, lefty Tyler Anderson and righty Griffin Canning are the club’s most established starters at the moment, and both of those arms have been the subject of plenty of trade speculation ahead of the deadline. Even if a trade doesn’t open up a spot in the club’s rotation, however, there’s plenty of room for Cueto to push his way into a mix that currently features the likes of Carson Fulmer and Jack Kochanowicz.