A’s To Promote Jack O’Loughlin
The A’s are set to call up left-hander Jack O’Loughlin, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (via X). The corresponding move isn’t yet known.
O’Loughlin is a veteran of six minor league seasons, all in the Tigers’ farm system prior to his minor league deal to join the Athletics this past winter. The 24-year-old Adelaide native has also played in parts of four seasons in the Australian Baseball League, and pitched on Australia’s roster during the last World Baseball Classic. This unique career path has now taken O’Loughlin to Oakland and to the doorstep of his Major League debut.
His time in Detroit’s farm system never resulted in any big league call-ups, as O’Loughlin’s 4.78 ERA over 86 2/3 innings with Triple-A Toledo last season wasn’t enough to catch the Tigers’ attention. Somewhat unusually, O’Loughlin has never played any Double-A ball, as the Tigers promoted him from high-A West Michigan to Toledo last season without a stop in between. After catching on with the Athletics this past offseason, O’Loughlin has pitched exclusively at Triple-A Las Vegas, posting a 5.12 ERA over 38 2/3 innings, starting eight of his 10 appearances.
As always with Pacific Coast League numbers, a deeper look is required given the league’s hitter-friendly nature. O’Loughlin hasn’t been helped by a .371 BABIP or a 17.5% home run rate, and the latter statistic stands out as particularly PCL-generated considering that O’Loughlin has done a pretty good job of keeping the ball in the park earlier in his career. His 9.3% walk rate isn’t anything special but he has missed bats to the tune of a 25.6% strikeout rate.
It seems likely that the A’s will give O’Loughlin a look as a starting pitcher, given how Oakland is trying to navigate several injuries within the rotation. Paul Blackburn, Alex Wood, and Joe Boyle have all been placed on the 15-day IL within the last three weeks, resulting in starts for journeyman Aaron Brooks as well as rookie Mitch Spence and Joey Estes. There would appear to be plenty of opportunity here for O’Loughlin to stick around in the majors if he pitches decently well and eats enough innings until the Athletics start to get some of their personnel back.
Nationals Release Stephen Nogosek
The Nationals have released Stephen Nogosek, according to the right-hander’s MLB.com profile page. Nogosek signed a minor league deal with Washington during the offseason but will now return to the open market after a rough stint at Triple-A Rochester.
Over 11 appearances and 15 2/3 innings with the Red Wings, Nogosek posted a 9.77 ERA with 18 walks against only 15 strikeouts. While Nogosek’s control has been spotty over his eight pro seasons, the situation has greatly worsened in the last two seasons, as the righty also had an 18.18% walk rate over 36 combined innings at the Triple-A and Double-A levels in 2023. This issue surely contributed to the Mets’ decision to designate Nogosek for assignment last June, and why the Diamondbacks didn’t give him a look on the big league roster after signing him to a minors deal in the wake of his departure from New York.
Nogosek’s control problems haven’t really manifested themselves at the big league level, over a sample size of 57 1/3 innings in parts of four MLB seasons. Debuting with the Mets in 2019, Nogosek has a 5.02 ERA over his 33 career appearances in the Show, with an 8.9% walk rate and 22% strikeout rate. Home runs have been Nogosek’s biggest sticking point against Major League hitters, who have taken him yard 14 times over those 57 1/3 frames of work. Nogosek had generally done a pretty good job of keeping the ball in the park in the minors, yet his home run issues cropped up at Triple-A this season with five homers allowed during his brief time in Rochester.
The 29-year-old now returns to the open market in search of another minor league deal, and hopefully a fresh start in another organization. Nogosek is out of minor league options, which adds another layer of complication to his efforts to find a new contract and stick in a big league bullpen.
Braves Sign Joey Wendle
The Braves announced a series of roster moves today, signing infielder Joey Wendle and recalling left-hander Ray Kerr. In corresponding moves, infielder Luke Williams was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett while right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left oblique. The club already had a 40-man vacancy for Wendle. Smith-Shawver has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain, the team told reporters (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). The team didn’t provide any kind of timetable, but Toscano writes that a Grade 2 oblique strain typically requires a six-to-eight absence.
Wendle, 34, is a veteran utility player who signed with the Mets in the offseason, a one-year deal with a $2MM guarantee. He was kept in a limited role, only getting into 18 games during his roughly six weeks on the Mets, stepping to the plate 37 times in that stretch. He hit just .222/.243/.250, a continuation of his rough 2023 with the Marlins, as he hit just .212/.248/.306 last year.
The Mets released him earlier this week and are on the hook for the remainder of Wendle’s salary. Atlanta will only be responsible for the prorated league minimum for as long as Wendle is on their roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.
Atlanta has been rotating various players through their bench infielder role this year, with each of David Fletcher, Luis Guillorme, Zack Short and Williams getting a look for that job. Short is still on the roster and has been the club’s regular third baseman lately with Austin Riley battling an an intercostal strain.
By bumping Williams down to Gwinnett and adding Wendle, the club adds a bit more infield depth at essentially no cost, given that the Mets are covering the bulk of the money and that Atlanta had an open roster spot to use anyway. Wendle hasn’t been hitting much lately but has plenty of experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base, as well as brief stints in the outfield corners. He has generally received strong grades wherever he has played and can give Atlanta some glove-first depth all over the diamond, while Williams can get more regular playing time on the farm.
On the pitching side of things, Atlanta got thrown off their plans a bit on the weekend. Saturday’s game against the Padres was rained out and pushed to a Monday double-header. In Sunday’s game, Bryce Elder was torched for six earned runs in three innings, forcing Kerr to come in and throw 3 1/3 innings of relief, followed by two other pitchers and then Williams mopping up a frame.
Elder was optioned prior to the double-header so that the club could bring in two fresh arms, one of them being the “27th man” for Monday. That allowed Atlanta to bring up both Darius Vines and Daysbel Hernández. Over the two games, five different relievers were used, leaving the bullpen fairly taxed. Kerr was optioned to get the roster back down to 26. Thanks to the double-header, each of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Charlie Morton and Max Fried started in a span of three days from Monday to Wednesday. With Elder having been optioned, they had to recall Smith-Shawver to start yesterday’s game and now Kerr will take the ball today in what is likely to be a bullpen game. Pitchers normally have to wait 15 days after being optioned before they can be recalled, but an exception is made when someone else goes on the IL.
Atlanta has seemingly been stretching out Kerr of late, either by design or necessity or both. His four appearances for the big league club this year have gone one inning, two innings, three innings and then three and a third. Overall, he has a 2.89 earned run average in 9 1/3 innings, striking out 27% of opponents without issuing a walk.
That’s a small sample size but perhaps intriguing enough for Atlanta to ride the hot hand for a while. Smith-Shawver is going to miss at least 15 days with this injury and Spencer Strider is out for the year. Elder was just optioned after posting a 6.46 ERA in five starts this year. Huascar Ynoa and Ian Anderson are injured in the minors. Allan Winans and Dylan Dodd each have a 4.50 ERA in Triple-A this year but with uninspiring peripherals.
Kerr was a starter in the minors back before the pandemic but has been kept in relief since then. His numbers as a reliever certainly catch the eye, as he has punched out 27.9% of batters faced in the majors, between his time with San Diego and Atlanta. In 134 minor league innings from 2021 to the present, he has a 3.69 ERA, 33.4% strikeout rate but 12.9% walk rate. Perhaps Atlanta can manufacture another reliever-to-starter success story as they have done with López this year, or perhaps this will just be a spot start for Kerr, which may depend upon how he looks against the Pirates today.
Rays Outright Erasmo Ramirez
Rays right-hander Erasmo Ramírez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Wednesday. While the veteran had more than enough service time to test free agency, Tampa Bay announced that he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham.
Ramírez seems comfortable with the organization. He played for the Rays between 2015-17 and returned on a minor league deal after being released by the Nationals last summer. Ramírez got to the majors for 15 appearances last season and inked another non-roster contract over the winter. Tampa Bay selected him to the MLB team in April.
The 34-year-old pitched 11 times over the last few weeks. He allowed 10 runs (eight earned) in 16 relief innings. While his 4.50 ERA was reasonable, he managed only a 9:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and gave up four home runs. Ramírez allowed 6.41 earned runs per nine over 60 1/3 innings a year ago. His most recent MLB success came in 2022, when he provided the Nats 86 1/3 frames of 2.92 ERA ball.
Shortly after Ramíez’s DFA, skipper Kevin Cash lauded the veteran’s professionalism and willingness to handle multiple innings (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). The Rays clearly value him as a depth arm and could call upon him again at some point during the season when they need a long relief option.
Rockies Select John Curtiss, Matt Carasiti
The Rockies made a pair of bullpen moves before tonight’s matchup with the Phillies. Colorado selected righties John Curtiss and Matt Carasiti onto the MLB roster. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Peter Lambert to Triple-A Albuquerque and designated Matt Koch for assignment. To open the second necessary 40-man roster spot, the Rox transferred Kyle Freeland to the 60-day injured list.
Colorado played consecutive extra-inning games against the A’s on Wednesday and Thursday. The Rox won the former in 12 innings but dropped yesterday’s 11-inning contest in disappointing fashion. The bullpen blew leads in the ninth, tenth and eleventh frames — surrendering five runs in the final inning to get walked off after scoring four in the top half.
Koch and Lambert were the last two arms out of Bud Black’s relief corps yesterday. Koch didn’t record an out, allowing hits to Max Schuemann and Abraham Toro before serving up a game-tying homer to JJ Bleday. Lambert managed two outs before walking Tyler Soderstrom with the bases loaded to end the game. That likely took both players out of the picture for tonight and ultimately squeezed them each off the MLB roster.
The 33-year-old Koch signed an offseason minor league deal and was just selected to the big league roster over the weekend. Yesterday’s outing was his second of the season. The righty worked to a 5.12 ERA over 38 2/3 innings for Colorado a year ago. The Rox will likely put him on waivers in the next few days.
Curtiss, 31, inked a minor league deal in January. He has been hit hard for a 6.75 ERA over 21 1/3 innings with the Isotopes. The 6’5″ righty had solid results with the Rays and Marlins between 2020-21 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. He returned to the majors with the Mets a year ago, allowing 4.58 earned runs per nine with a modest 19.8% strikeout rate through 30 appearances. Curtiss is out of options, so the Rox would need to designate him for assignment if they don’t keep him in the MLB bullpen.
Carasiti still has one option remaining, so the Rockies could move him between Denver and Albuquerque. He’s in his second season in the organization and threw 24 1/3 MLB frames a year ago. Carasiti turned in a 6.29 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts in the majors. He has been tagged for 5.91 ERA in the Pacific Coast League this year, but he’s punching out nearly 27% of opposing hitters at that level.
Freeland’s 60-day minimum is retroactive to his original IL placement on April 16. The veteran left-hander suffered an elbow strain after four starts. He’s throwing off a mound but hasn’t begun a rehab assignment. Freeland can pitch in the minors before his 60 days are up; he’ll be eligible for a return to MLB action in the second week of June.
Giants Sign Drew Pomeranz To Major League Deal
The Giants announced that they have signed left-hander Drew Pomeranz to a one-year deal. It was reported earlier that he had been released from his minor league deal with the Dodgers. In corresponding moves, right-hander Mason Black was optioned and catcher Jakson Reetz was designated for assignment.
Pomeranz, 35, returns to the major leagues for the first time since 2021. With the Padres at that time, he required flexor tendon surgery and repeatedly hit setbacks in his attempts to return to the mound in the following two years.
This year, he signed a minor league deal with the Angels and threw eight innings for them in Spring Training. He didn’t crack the Opening Day roster with that club, getting released and signing a new minor league deal with the Dodgers.
Since signing with the Dodgers, Pomeranz has been pitching for Triple-A Oklahoma City, with a couple of interruptions. He once opted out but then re-signed shortly thereafter. He also landed on the minor league injured list April 21 but returned from the IL a couple of weeks back.
He’s made two appearances since coming off the IL, striking out seven batters in three scoreless innings. Overall, he’s has thrown nine innings for OKC with six earned runs allowed this year, but four of those came in his first appearance of the season. In eight frames since then, he has a 2.25 earned run average, 48.3% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate.
That good form perhaps gives the Giants some optimism that Pomeranz can get back to the pitcher he once was. Prior to his injury woes, he spent a decent chunk of time as a lockdown reliever, a period of his career that began with the Giants. That club signed him to a one-year deal in 2019 but he had a 6.10 ERA through 17 starts. They moved him to the bullpen and he looked good enough in four relief outings that the Giants were able to trade him to the Brewers alongside Ray Black for Mauricio Dubón.
Pomeranz dominated for the Brewers and parlayed that showing into a four-year deal with the Padres going into 2020. He continued pitching well for the Friars and had a 1.91 ERA from the time of the trade to Milwaukee to the end of 2021. He struck out 37.8% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 10.2% clip and got grounders at a 46.2% rate.
As mentioned, the last two years of his deal with the Padres were lost in the injury wilderness. But he seems to have mostly been in good health this year, pitching for the Angels in the spring and for Oklahoma City since then. That sets him up for a nice comeback story and perhaps gives the Giants a chance to catch lightning in a bottle.
The Giants have won seven of their last 10 and are now just one game out of a Wild Card spot. That’s been despite a poor performance from the bullpen, as San Francisco’s relievers have a collective 4.59 ERA on the year, which puts them 25th in the league. If Pomeranz is in good form, he can help bolster that group for a playoff chase this summer. Or if the Giants should fall out of contention, perhaps Pomeranz will find himself traded away from San Francisco at the deadline for a second time.
Reetz, 28, was added to the club’s roster a few weeks back as their catching depth was suddenly thinned out. Tom Murphy suffered a significant knee sprain and Patrick Bailey was battling concussion symptoms. But the Giants later signed Curt Casali to share the catching duties with Blake Sabol, nudging Reetz back down to the minors. Bailey has since been reinstated from the concussion IL, knocking Reetz even farther down the catching chart.
The Giants will now have a week to trade Reetz or pass him through waivers. He hit .083/.083/.333 with the Giants in 12 plate appearances and only had two previous major league trips to the plate. Since the start of 2022, he’s hit .254/.356/.537 in the minor leagues. He still has a couple of options and could perhaps appeal to clubs looking for some extra catching depth.
Black being sent down will mean the Giants need another starter at some point. Blake Snell is currently on the paternity list but should be back with the club shortly. He’ll join a rotation that also consists of Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison. They have guys like Kai-Wei Teng and Landen Roupp on the 40-man roster while Spencer Howard is a non-roster option with some major league experience, but they could also consider deploying a bullpen game at some point.
Brewers Select Enoli Paredes
2:30pm: The Brewers have made it official, selecting Paredes and optioning right-hander Bradley Blalock as the corresponding move.
2:10pm: The Brewers are calling up right-hander Enoli Paredes, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 on X. The righty is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster, but the Brewers are only at 39 at the moment. They will need to make a move to open a spot on the active roster.
Paredes, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Brewers in the offseason. He’s been with Triple-A Nashville so far this year with excellent overall results, though some slight control issues. He has tossed 20 2/3 innings for the Sounds over 18 appearances, allowing 1.31 earned runs per nine frames. 56.8% of the balls in play he’s allowed have been on the ground and he has struck out a massive 41.5% of batters faced.
His 11% walk rate is on the high side but he’s obviously been able to work around that with those strikeouts and grounders. It will likely be something to monitor going forward, however, as the free passes have been a problem for him before. He pitched 32 1/3 innings in the majors for the Astros over the 2020-22 seasons with a solid 3.90 ERA. In that time, he had a 23.6% strikeout rate and 44.7% ground ball rate but also gave out walks to 19.7% of batters that stepped to the plate. In 141 1/3 minor league innings from 2021 to 2023, he punched out 31.4% of opponents but gave out walks at a 15.7% clip.
The Astros outrighted him off their roster at the end of last season, which allowed the Brewers to land him on a minor league deal. Paredes exhausted his final option last year, which likely played a role in Houston moving on from him.
His strong performance this year will now get him another chance in the big leagues. If he can keep the walks under control, as he has been doing in Triple-A this year, he could be a nice find for the Milwaukee bullpen. He has less than two years of service time and could be kept around for years to come if things click for him. But since he’s out of options, he’ll need to pitch well enough to justify his spot on the active roster.
Royals Designate Tyler Duffey For Assignment
The Royals announced today that right-hander Carlos Hernández has been reinstated from the injured list. To open a spot for him on the roster, right-hander Tyler Duffey has been designated for assignment. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase reported on X prior to the official announcement that Hernández was coming off the IL.
Duffey, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Royals in the winter. He revealed in March that he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mole from his left shoulder. He noted at that time that post-surgery checks came back negative but that he would continue to get check-ups during the coming months.
The Royals added him to their big league roster just over a month ago. He has since made nine appearances, throwing nine innings, with five earned runs allowed. His 23.8% strikeout rate in that time is around league average but his 19% walk rate is very high and he also hit one batter. Though his 5.00 ERA isn’t disastrous, it’s possible that it’s been kept low by the fact that he hasn’t yet allowed a home run this year. Given the free passes he’s been giving out, it’s possible the Royals didn’t want to wait around and see his luck run out.
They will now have a week to trade Duffey or pass him through waivers. He had a solid run for the Twins a few years back but has struggled more recently. From 2019 to 2021, he threw 144 innings for Minnesota with a 2.69 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 44.4% ground ball rate. But his ERA jumped to 4.91 in 2022 and he spent most of last year in Triple-A for the Cubs. He struck out 29.1% of batters faced for Iowa but also gave out walks 12.6% of the time.
If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would be able to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining what remains of his salary, as a player with more than five years of major league service time.
Dodgers Release Drew Pomeranz
Left-hander Drew Pomeranz has been released by the Dodgers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had opted out of a previous deal with the Dodgers in April before re-signing. Whether he triggered an opt-out this time or not is unknown, but the result is that he’ll head back to the open market.
Pomeranz, 35, has been looking to mount a comeback this year after years in the injury wilderness. He signed a minor league deals with the Angels in the offseason but was released from that pact and, as mentioned, signed two separate minor league deals with the Dodgers.
Per his transactions tracker, Pomeranz was placed on the minor league injured list on April 21, but he recently returned to the mound. He tossed a scoreless inning on May 15, striking out two of the three batters he faced. On May 18, he tossed two innings, striking out five of the seven batters he faced while allowing one hit. Dodgers Daily provided video of that outing on X.
Based on those recent results, it would appear Pomeranz is in good form. Overall, he’s tossed nine innings this year with six earned runs allowed, but four of those were in his first appearance. In the eight innings since then, he has a 2.25 earned run average, 48.3% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate.
The southpaw had a good run as one of the best relievers in baseball. The Brewers acquired him at the 2019 deadline and moved him to the bullpen with great results, which prompted the Padres to sign him to a four-year deal. He continued to pitch very well in the first two years with San Diego. From the time Milwaukee traded for him through the end of 2021, Pomeranz threw 70 2/3 innings with a 1.91 ERA, 37.8% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and 46.2% ground ball rate.
But he finished that 2021 campaign on the IL due to flexor tendon surgery and hasn’t been back in the majors since, missing out on the final two years of his deal with the Padres. His attempts to get back on the mound frequently resulted in setbacks and he required a “cleanup surgery” on his elbow in May of last year.
This year, he’s at least been on the mound and throwing more than he has in a while. He tossed eight innings for the Angels in the spring and has thrown nine more for Triple-A Oklahoma in the past two months. Since he circled back to the Dodgers on another minor league deal after opting out last month, perhaps the two sides will reunite yet again in the coming days. But the Dodgers also have a fairly crowded bullpen, which could perhaps lead Pomeranz to consider other clubs with a more open path back to the big leagues.
Yankees Outright Colby White
The Yankees announced that right-hander Colby White has been sent outright to Double-A Somerset. That indicates the righty cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.
White, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Rays two weeks ago. By keeping him on their roster for that short amount of time and then passing him through waivers, the Yankees will get to keep him as non-roster depth. This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, meaning he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.
The righty was a sixth-round pick of the Rays in 2019 but hasn’t been able to pitch much in the early parts of his professional career. After a brief stint in Low-A in 2019, the minor leagues were cancelled by the pandemic in 2020. The year after, White went through four levels, finishing at Triple-A. He had a 1.44 earned run average in 62 1/3 innings, striking out a massive 45% of batters faced while giving out walks just 6.5% of the time.
Tommy John surgery early in 2022 wiped out that entire season, but the Rays nonetheless added him to their roster at the end of that year. After the numbers he put up in 2021, they understandably feared that he might get poached in the Rule 5 draft.
He returned to the mound last year but control, or the lack thereof, has become a mounting concern. He tossed 22 innings last year with a 1.64 ERA, striking out 27.6% of batters faced but also giving out walks 19.5% of the time. The free passes have finally caught up to him here in 2024, as he has walked a massive 23.1% of batters faced. That’s led to 17 earned runs allowed in 8 1/3 innings for an ERA of 18.36.
Now White will try to get over those control problems and get back on track. If he can get anywhere close to the kind of form he showed prior to his surgery, he could be a useful piece down the road for the Yanks.