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Padres Announce Several Roster Moves

By Nick Deeds | September 30, 2023 at 4:22pm CDT

The Padres announced this afternoon that the club has selected the contract of catcher Chandler Seagle. In corresponding moves, catcher Luis Campusano was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right ankle sprain, while right-hander Joe Musgrove was transferred to the 60-day IL to open space on the 40-man roster.

Seagle, 27, was a 30th-round pick by the Padres in the 2017 draft. He’s never hit much throughout his career in the minors, with a career .204/.277/.287 slash line in 287 games as a professional. Still, Seagle has managed to climb through the minor leagues steadily throughout his career thanks to a strong glove behind the plate. That defensive prowess has now earned him his first big league opportunity, where he’ll provide insurance for the Padres behind Brett Sullivan. If Seagle gets into a game before the regular season comes to a close tomorrow, it will be his major league debut.

The opportunity for Seagle comes at the expense of Campusano, whose season has ended prematurely. The 24-year-old backstop dealt with injuries throughout much of the 2023 campaign, with a sprained thumb causing him to miss three months. Since returning from the injured list, however, Campusano has done nothing but hit with a .331/.375/.500 slash line in 152 trips to the plate. The offensive potential Campusano flashed through the season’s final months serves as a reminder of the young catcher’s former top prospect status; he was a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport as recently as the 2022 season. Looking ahead to 2024, Campusano figures to get every opportunity to seize an everyday role as the club’s catcher coming out of Spring Training.

Musgrove’s move to the 60-day IL comes as no surprise and is nothing more than procedural; the right-hander has been out since late July with shoulder inflammation and was announced as shut down for the season earlier this month. Musgrove was limited to just 97 1/3 innings across 17 starts this season due to injuries but was effective as always when healthy, with a 3.05 ERA and 3.52 FIP. Heading into next year, Musgrove figures to again be a front-of-the-rotation piece for the club during his age-31 season.

Mets Place Brandon Nimmo On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 1:45pm CDT

Brandon Nimmo’s 2023 season is over, as the Mets placed the outfielder on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder sprain. The placement is retroactive to September 29, and catcher Michael Perez was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.

Manager Buck Showalter told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (X links) and other reporters that Nimmo’s injury is related to his AC joint. An MRI didn’t reveal any damage to the rotator cuff, so it doesn’t appear to be a particularly serious issue or anything that would hamper Nimmo’s readiness for Spring Training. Nimmo even told the Athletic’s Tim Britton and other media that he would’ve kept playing if the Mets had still been in playoff contention, and that he should need only 10-14 days to recovery.

Injuries have often plagued Nimmo during his career, yet he followed up a career-best 151 games and 672 plate appearances in 2022 by narrowly topping both marks in 2023, playing 152 games and making 682 trips to the plate. Nimmo his .274/.363/.466 with a career-high 24 home runs this year, with a 130 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR.

While the Mets’ season as a whole was a disappointment, Nimmo was a bright spot, and his continued good health provides some extra relief given his long-term importance to the team. New York re-signed Nimmo to an eight-year, $162MM free agent deal last winter, which outpaced even the most optimistic projections for a player whose injury history (though not his production when healthy) was such a question mark. It’s obviously too early to call the signing a clear win just yet, but Nimmo’s continued strong play beyond his contract year is a good sign that he can be a big part of what the Mets hope will be an eventual return to contention.

Phillies Place Dylan Covey On 15-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 12:57pm CDT

The Phillies announced four roster moves today, including the news that right-hander Dylan Covey was placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 28) due to lower back pain. Infielder Rodolfo Castro was also optioned to the club’s Spring Training complex now that the minor league season is over, while right-hander Luis Ortiz and utilityman Weston Wilson were called up from Triple-A to fill the two open spots on the active roster.

Covey is now ineligible to return until at least October 12, so he wouldn’t be available for a playoff roster unless the Phillies reached the NLCS. Even in that best-case scenario, the Phillies might not prefer to activate a pitcher coming off an extended layoff, and Covey might have been something of a borderline candidate to make the postseason roster even if healthy.

Regardless of the unfortunate ending, 2023 has still been Covey’s most successful season in the big leagues. He posted a 6.57 ERA over 264 1/3 innings with the White Sox and Red Sox from 2017-20 before heading to the Chinese Professional Baseball League for two seasons with the Rakuten Monkeys. Covey pitched well enough to attract the attention of North America, and he inked a minor league deal with the Dodgers that resulted in a single MLB game in Dodger Blue.

Covey was designated for assignment after that lone game in May but quickly claimed off waivers by the Phillies. Powered by a 54.3% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact, Covey has a 3.69 ERA over 39 innings with Philadelphia, posting some quality bottom-line results despite a very modest 15.7% strikeout rate. Even his ERA is somewhat skewed by Covey’s lone start with the Phillies, as he lasted just two-thirds of an inning while allowing five earned runs. In 42 1/3 other innings as a reliever in 2023, Covey’s ERA is 2.76.

Orioles Designate Jorge Lopez For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 12:19pm CDT

The Orioles announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez was designated for assignment. Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was called up from Triple-A to take Lopez’s spot on the active roster.

Baltimore claimed Lopez off waivers from the Marlins at the start of September, and Lopez posted a 6.10 ERA over 10 1/3 innings of work in the orange-and-black. While Lopez had a 28% strikeout rate and a 4.0% walk rate over his brief time with the O’s, he also allowed four home runs, sending his ERA skyrocketing. Lopez was ineligible for postseason play since he was acquired after September 1, and since he was looking like a clear non-tender candidate anyway, the Orioles look to have started his path to free agency a little early. In all likelihood, Lopez will clear waivers and then be released, unless a team wants to take a quick evaluation before the offseason officially begins.

Lopez has a 5.53 ERA over 478 1/3 innings in the majors, appearing with five different teams over an eight-season career that began in 2015. The clear highlight of Lopez’s career came during his first stint with the Orioles, when his exceptional first-half performance earned him a spot on the 2022 All-Star team. The O’s were in postseason contention at last year’s trade deadline, but the team opted to sell high on Lopez by dealing him to the Twins for a four-player package that included Yennier Cano (an All-Star himself in 2023) and left-hander Cade Povich, arguably Baltimore’s top current pitching prospect.

It was a wise move on the Orioles’ part, as Lopez immediately started to regress in Minnesota. Those struggles deepened in 2023, as Lopez posted a 6.12 ERA over 57 1/3 combined innings with the Twins, Marlins, and Orioles. Minnesota dealt Lopez to Miami at the trade deadline for Dylan Floro in something of a mutual change-of-scenery deal for both relievers, though neither got on track on a new team. (By coincidence, the Twins just released Floro yesterday.)

Lopez earned $3.625MM in 2023, and would be in line for some kind of minimal raise in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility. The 30-year-old may have to settle for a minor league deal this winter, in the wake of such a disappointing season.

NL Central Notes: Wainwright, Azolay, Hoerner, Duarte

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 9:13am CDT

Adam Wainwright’s 200th career win (from seven innings of shutout ball against the Brewers on September 18) has been confirmed as the last pitching appearance of the right-hander’s outstanding career, but Wainwright stepped up to the plate one final time in yesterday’s 19-2 Cardinals loss to the Reds. With the game already out of hand by the sixth inning, Wainwright pinch-hit for DH Luken Baker, and grounded out to second to conclude the 847th plate appearance of his career.

There was a loose plan in place to give Wainwright at least one PA during the final series of his career, though with the Reds still alive in the playoff race, the Cardinals weren’t going to do anything to do impact the integrity of the game just for the sake of a ceremonial at-bat. However, the lopsided score Friday provided an opportunity for Wainwright to hit for what will likely be the final time, barring another blowout result in the next two games or if the Reds are officially eliminated from contention. Wainwright has a .194/.221/.293 slash line and 10 homers during his career.

Twins Release Dylan Floro

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 7:49am CDT

The Twins released right-hander Dylan Floro, according to the club’s official transactions page. Floro was designated for assignment earlier this week, and it isn’t yet known if the Twins just released Floro entirely, or if he rejected an outright assignment off Minnesota’s active roster.

Regardless, the outcome is the same for the veteran reliever, who will now hit free agency and look to turn the page on a disappointing 2023. Floro posted a 4.76 ERA over 56 2/3 innings with the Marlins and Twins, as a trade deadline move to Minnesota didn’t help the righty turn things around. Miami dealt Floro for another struggling pitcher in Jorge Lopez, and the Marlins have also since parted ways with their end of the trade, as Lopez was put on waivers and claimed by the Orioles at the start of September.

While Lopez’s overall numbers have been lackluster, Floro’s performance is harder to parse, as the 32-year-old has a case as one of the unluckier players of the 2023 season. Floro’s inflated ERA could simply be attributed to an enormous .401 BABIP, which is particularly lethal for a pitcher who relies so heavily on grounders — Floro has a 51.7% career groundball rate, including a 54.4% mark this year.

Playing for two lackluster defensive teams like Minnesota and Miami certainly didn’t help in this regard, and Floro’s defense-independent numbers (2.95 FIP, 3.29 xFIP, and a 3.34 SIERA) indicate that he deserved a much better fate. Floro’s 23.4% strikeout rate was middling, but his walk and hard-hit ball rates were both well above average, and his 2.9% barrel rate was one of the best of any pitcher in baseball. Floro only allowed three home runs over his 56 2/3 frames, continuing his career-long knack for keeping the ball in the park.

Between these metrics and the 2.96 ERA he posted over 252 2/3 innings from 2018-22, Floro will surely get plenty of looks in free agency, and he is one of the more intriguing bounce-back candidates on the open market. Since this obviously isn’t the platform season Floro wanted heading into free agency, it seems likely that he’ll aim for a one-year contract in the hopes of re-establishing himself for a bigger payday in the 2024-25 offseason. Floro’s relative lack of strikeouts might put something of a ceiling on his earning power even in the best of times, yet his solid track record (when he has even a modicum of batted-ball luck) is hard to ignore.

Rockies Sign Charlie Blackmon To One-Year Extension

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

The Rockies announced they’ve signed Charlie Blackmon to a one-year contract extension. He’ll return for a 14th season with the club in 2024. The ACES client receives a $13MM guarantee that offers an additional $2MM in incentives. Blackmon would receive $500K apiece for tallying 425, 450, 475 and 500 trips to the plate.

Blackmon has spent his entire career in Colorado. A second-round pick in 2009, he debuted two years later. By 2014, he’d established himself as a very good everyday center fielder. That season, Blackmon secured his first of four career All-Star nods. His best campaign came in 2017, when he finished fifth in NL MVP balloting and won the NL batting title. Colorado signed him to a $108MM extension the following April — including player options running through 2023.

The two-time Silver Slugger winner remained a well above-average hitter through 2019. He still hit above .300 during the shortened 2020 season, albeit with diminished power. Blackmon slumped to a .267/.332/.415 line between 2021-22, raising the possibility that this would be his final year in Denver. He exercised a $15MM option for this season and was set to hit the free agent market for the first time in the coming weeks.

Blackmon rebounded from his down couple seasons. Still working largely out of the leadoff spot, the 37-year-old has turned in a .283/.370/.451 slash through an even 400 plate appearances entering play Friday. He’s still not hitting for much power, but only Nolan Jones has more consistently gotten on base among Rox’s batters. Blackmon is drawing walks at a personal-best 9.8% clip while striking out just 13.5% of the time. He’s still performing well against pitchers of either handedness.

As one would expect for a player in his late-30s, Blackmon hasn’t provided much on the other side of the ball. The Rox moved him off center field after the 2018 season. Since logging 134 starts in right field two seasons ago, the veteran has seen increasing action at designated hitter. Skipper Bud Black has penciled him into the outfield on just 26 occasions while turning to him at DH 60 times.

Blackmon will presumably continue working as Colorado’s primary DH for another season. Jones has had a strong rookie year to take over left field. Kris Bryant was the primary right fielder early on, although he’s been a first baseman or DH since returning from a finger fracture. Bryant could move back to the outfield next season, which would allow the Rox to keep Blackmon out of the field on most days. If the Rockies keep their $182MM signee at first base, they could look to add a corner outfielder in free agency or trade over the winter.

It’s the second late-season extension for Colorado. The club agreed on a two-year, $20MM pact with starter Germán Márquez three weeks ago. Márquez underwent Tommy John surgery in May, so that move is primarily about 2025. This deal ensures veteran continuity for a young roster while keeping around a fan favorite who’s still a productive hitter — albeit in more of a rotational role than an everyday capacity. Reliever Brent Suter and depth starters Chris Flexen and Chase Anderson are the club’s remaining free agents.

Colorado had just over $98MM in guaranteed commitments for the ’24 campaign before re-signing Blackmon. The extension brings their commitments to around $111MM before considering arbitration-eligible players. They opened this year with a player payroll around $172MM, as calculated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts, so there should still be a decent amount of breathing room headed into the offseason.

At the same time, it’s a surprisingly strong sum for the Rox to commit. They’ll likely need to add at least three starting pitchers this offseason. Bullpen and/or center field help could be targets as well. Blackmon’s status in franchise history surely played a part in the deal, though it’s still above market expectations for a non-elite veteran hitter limited to a part-time DH/corner outfield role.

It’s a bit above the $10MM and $12MM respectively secured by J.D. Martinez and Michael Brantley last winter. Martinez indicated he took less than was available to join the Dodgers, while Brantley was coming off a season-ending shoulder procedure. Yet both players have been more productive hitters over the last few seasons than Blackmon has been. The Rockies are willing to go beyond what the veteran likely would’ve received as a free agent in order to ensure he’ll be back at Coors Field for another season.

MLBTR’s Steve Adams first reported the contract details.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

D-Backs Release Zach Davies

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2023 at 10:11pm CDT

The Diamondbacks have released veteran righty Zach Davies, per the transaction log at MLB.com. That was expected after the Snakes designated him for assignment on Wednesday.

Davies spent two years in Arizona. He turned in a 4.09 ERA through 27 starts last season after signing a $1.5MM free agent deal coming out of the lockout. While that came with middling strikeout and walk numbers, he provided stable enough innings out of the fifth spot in the rotation on a generally young pitching staff.

That secured him a raise when he re-signed with the Snakes in January. Davies landed a $5MM guarantee taking the form of a $4.7MM salary and a $300K buyout on a mutual option for 2024. He tacked on another $950K in incentives and added $200K to the option buyout by topping 16 starts, meaning he’ll collect $6.15MM overall. Arizona will remain on the hook for the buyout once he officially clears release waivers.

Davies will likely be limited to minor league offers this winter. The 30-year-old is coming off a career-worst season, allowing exactly seven earned runs per nine through 82 1/3 frames. His 19.1% strikeout rate is actually his best mark since 2020, though it’s still a few points below league average. The nine-year MLB veteran walked just over 10% of batters faced while allowing hard contact on an elevated 42.4% of batted balls.

Brewers Select Caleb Boushley, DFA Julio Teheran Amid Flurry Of Roster Moves

By Leo Morgenstern | September 29, 2023 at 3:39pm CDT

The Brewers have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Caleb Boushley, the team announced. To make room on the roster, Julio Teheran has been designated for assignment. In addition, the team has swapped out one lefty for another, optioning Ethan Small and recalling Clayton Andrews in his place. Lastly, the Brewers also placed right-hander Trevor Megill on the restricted list.

Boushley will be making his MLB debut, just two days ahead of his 30th birthday. Selected by the Padres in the 33rd round of the 2017 draft, he played in the Padres system throughout the first five years of his professional career. He joined the Brewers organization ahead of the 2022 season and pitched well for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, starting 25 games and posting an ERA of 3.25. The righty hasn’t performed quite so well this year, pitching to a 5.11 ERA in 29 games (26 starts). Still, he has evidently done enough to earn a call to the show after seven years in the minor leagues. It seems unlikely the Brewers are considering Boushley for a spot on the postseason roster, and with the NL Central crown already locked up, they might just be giving the career minor leaguer a long-awaited cup of coffee with the big league squad.

As for Teheran, this marks an unceremonious end to his mini-comeback season. The two-time All-Star had not played a regular role for an MLB club since 2020. He spent most of the 2021 campaign on the injured list and then split his time in 2022 between the Atlantic League and the Mexican League.

The 32-year-old looked excellent through his first six appearances with Milwaukee, posting a 1.53 ERA and averaging nearly six innings per start. However, he struggled through his next four outings before landing on the injured list and missing the next eight weeks of the season. Teheran returned in mid-September as a long reliever, and while he looked capable, giving up just two earned runs in nine innings of work, it was far from a guarantee that the Brewers would find a spot for him on the postseason roster.

Small was recalled on Wednesday and threw a single scoreless inning against the Cardinals. It was a substantial improvement over his last big league appearance back in May, when he gave up five runs on nine hits in three innings of mop-up work against the Giants. Nonetheless, the Brewers have decided to replace him with Andrews, another 26-year-old lefty with limited major league experience. Andrews made his MLB debut in July and has thrown a grand total of 1 2/3 big league innings, giving up eight earned runs on eight hits. Both pitchers have much better numbers at Triple-A, although Andrews was especially dominant over the final two months of the minor league season, pitching to a 2.12 ERA in August and September.

The Brewers have three southpaws higher up on the depth chart (Hoby Milner, Wade Miley, and Andrew Chafin), so it’s unlikely they’re auditioning Andrews for a postseason role. More likely, they’re just taking stock of the various arms in the organization over the final days of the regular season.

Finally, while the restricted list can sound ominous, Megill is simply spending an extra day with his wife and newborn baby, having maxed out his three days on the paternity list. He is expected back tomorrow, Craig Counsell told reporters (including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

Nationals Activate Tanner Rainey From 60-Day IL

By Nick Deeds | September 29, 2023 at 1:51pm CDT

The Nationals announced this afternoon that the club has activated right-hander Tanner Rainey from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, left-hander Robert Garcia was placed on the paternity list, opening up a spot on the club’s active roster, while catcher Riley Adams was transferred to the 60-day IL to clear space on the 40-man roster.

The move sets Rainey, 30, up for his 2023 season debut. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery last August and has been working his way back ever since, but prior to his injury had posted solid numbers out of the Washington bullpen in 2022 with a 3.30 ERA and 4.18 FIP while racking up 12 saves in 30 innings of work. Since being traded from Cincinnati to the Nationals prior to the 2019 season, Rainey has largely been a quality bullpen arm. While his 4.42 ERA (97 ERA+) and 4.54 FIP as a National leave something to be desired, the mediocre career numbers can be attributed entirely to a brutal 2021 campaign that saw Rainey post a ghastly 7.39 ERA and 5.63 FIP in 38 appearances. Across his other three years in the majors with the Nationals, he’s posted ERAs below 4.00.

That being said, Rainey’s strong results in 2019, 2020, and 2022 hide serious control issues. He’s walked a whopping 15.5% of batters faced in his big league career, with figures north of 10% in every season except for the shortened 2020 campaign. Rainey also runs into further trouble as a flyball pitcher (career 36.1% groundball rate) who allows home runs at an elevated rate, with 17.2% of his fly balls allowed leaving the yard throughout his career. Fortunately, Rainey manages to make up for his lackluster walk rates and home run suppression numbers with tantalizing raw stuff, as demonstrated by his career strikeout rate of 31.2%, including an eye-popping 42.7% figure in 20 1/3 innings of work during the shortened 2020 campaign.

Given the fact that Washington can control Rainey via arbitration through the end of the 2025 season, it’s hardly a surprise that the club would want to see Rainey in action before the offseason as they look to decide whether or not to tend him a contract, which could include a slight raise over this year’s $1.5MM salary. Given Rainey’s past success and high strikeout totals, the right-hander should have a chance to factor into the club’s late inning mix next season if he remains with the club throughout the offseason.

As for Garcia, the rookie southpaw’s placement on the paternity list likely brings his season to an end. The 27-year-old had a solid debut campaign split between the Marlins and the Nationals this year, with a 3.66 ERA, 3.54 FIP, and a 26.6% strikeout rate in 32 innings of work. Adams’s season ended in hamate surgery earlier this month, so the move to the 60-day IL is nothing more than procedural for the young catcher, who slashed an impressive .273/.331/.476 in 44 games in the majors this year.

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