Brad Keller Elects Free Agency
Right-hander Brad Keller has elected free agency after going unclaimed on outright waivers, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. The White Sox had designated him for assignment on Sunday.
Keller signed a minor league pact with Chicago about halfway into Spring Training. He made three starts for their Triple-A team before being called up in late April. He started two of five appearances at the major league level, pitching to a 4.86 ERA through 16 2/3 innings. Three of Keller’s first four outings were solid, but he gave up four homers in as many innings against the Yankees on Saturday. The Sox decided to go in a different direction, eventually recalling rookie right-hander Nick Nastrini to take the rotation spot.
The 28-year-old Keller has pitched in parts of seven major league seasons. All of that time has been spent in the AL Central. The Royals plucked him out of the Arizona farm system as a Rule 5 pick back in 2017. Keller turned out to be one of the better Rule 5 selections in recent history. He posted a 3.08 ERA as a rookie and turned in 28 starts of 4.19 ERA ball during his second season. His results have fallen off following a strong showing in the abbreviated 2020 season.
Keller allowed more than five earned runs per nine in both 2021 and ’22. He was carrying a 4.57 mark with 14 more walks than strikeouts through 45 1/3 innings last year when he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. Kansas City let him walk in free agency last winter.
Teams seeking rotation depth could offer Keller a minor league deal. While his recent production hasn’t been great, he’s still adept at keeping the ball on the ground. He racked up grounders at a 56.1% clip during his brief run with the Sox. He has only had one season where opponents got the ball in the air more than half the time they put it in play against him.
Angels Re-Sign Amir Garrett To Minor League Contract
Amir Garrett is returning to the Angels on a minor league deal, tweets Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. The veteran reliever will head back to Triple-A Salt Lake, the place where he opened the 2024 season.
Garrett first signed with the Halos after being released by the Giants in Spring Training. He threw 7 1/3 innings in Salt Lake, striking out 10 while issuing four walks. Opponents only managed three hits and two runs over those eight appearances. The Angels called Garrett to the big leagues at the end of April. He had a tougher go in six MLB outings, surrendering three runs on four hits and five walks through 5 1/3 frames. After Garrett gave up a tie-breaking home run to Alec Burleson in a loss to the Cardinals last week, the Angels designated him for assignment.
The 32-year-old cleared waivers and declined an outright assignment in favor of free agency. It didn’t take long for him to circle back on a new deal with the Angels. That’s not uncommon for veterans who go unclaimed on outright waivers. Reliever Jackson Stephens re-signed with the Braves this afternoon days after electing free agency, for example.
Garrett has high-octane stuff and has missed plenty of bats throughout his seven-plus seasons in the majors. Sky-high walk rates tend to be the tradeoff, though, as he has handed out free passes to more than 15% of opponents in each season since 2021. Garrett will again team with Adam Kolarek as experienced non-roster lefties in Triple-A. Matt Moore and José Suarez are the two southpaws currently in Ron Washington’s bullpen. Kenny Rosenberg has pitched in a swing capacity over the last couple seasons. He’s on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment to Salt Lake, where he has been working out of the rotation.
Mariners Select Jhonathan Díaz
The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Jhonathan Díaz from Triple-A Tacoma, then optioned him to Tacoma. Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times relays on X that the lefty had an opt-out in his minor league deal, which is why he got added to the 40-man but not the active roster. They had an open 40-man spot and thus didn’t need to make a corresponding move.
Díaz, 27, signed a minor league deal with the M’s in January. He has since made nine appearances for Tacoma, eight starts, logging 51 innings with a 3.18 earned run average. He has struck out 26.2% of batters faced while giving out walks just 4.3% of the time. He has also kept 56.3% of balls in play on the ground. The fact that all that took place in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League makes it all the more impressive.
The lefty also has 35 1/3 innings of major league experience, which came with the Angels from 2021 to 2023. He had a 4.48 ERA in that time, though with his strikeout and walk rates matching at an unimpressive 14.4% level. He tossed 210 1/3 minor league innings over that same period of time with a 4.45 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate.
The Mariners are clearly intrigued by the recent form Díaz has shown and didn’t want him to get away. He still has options and they had an open spot on the 40-man, they were able to simply add him there and keep him in Tacoma, preventing him from returning to the open market.
The M’s have a strong rotation right now composed of Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller. On optional assignment, they have Emerson Hancock and Levi Stoudt as depth options, with Díaz now joining them as guys who could be recalled for a spot start or as an injury replacement.
Xander Bogaerts To Miss Significant Time Due To Shoulder Fracture
The Padres announced that they have placed infielder Xander Bogaerts on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 21, with a left shoulder fracture. Outfielder David Peralta was selected to take Bogaerts’ place on the active roster. To open a spot for Peralta on the 40-man, right-hander Luis Patiño was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune previously relayed on X that Bogaerts would be going on the IL and a follow-up tweet provided more information about the fracture. At this point, it doesn’t appear as though surgery is required, though Bogaerts will need to miss time as the bone heals, with more tests planned for today. “Late summer” is floated as a possible return time, which leaves a lot of vagaries about the months to come, though Acee says Bogaerts will be out at least two months in a column at the SDUT.
On Monday, Bogaerts appeared to injure himself when diving to field a grounder off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. (video link from MLB.com.) The initial imaging was negative, as relayed on X by Acee on Monday, but it seems subsequent tests have revealed a fracture.
The veteran infielder wasn’t off to a good start this year, currently hitting .219/.265/.316 for the season, but has been far better in the past. He hit .285/.350/.440 for the Friars last year and produced similarly for the Red Sox in the five prior seasons.
The Padres would have been expecting Bogaerts to right the ship in the coming months but that won’t happen now, at least not soon. The club is below .500 at 25-26 but nonetheless currently holds the final Wild Card spot in the National League. They will have to try to cling to that spot without that Bogaerts turnaround in the weeks to come.
The club recently acquired infielder Luis Arráez, largely with the plan of putting him in the designated hitter slot. But he’s played second base since Bogaerts hurt himself and could stay there for the foreseeable future. Arráez is one of the best contact hitters in the game but is generally considered a poor defender at the keystone. Bogaerts just recently moved to the position from shortstop and has -2 Defensive Runs Saved this year but four Outs Above Average.
Offensively, the club may now rotate various hitters through the DH slot if Arráez is going to be playing the field regularly. The past two games have seen Manny Machado and Donovan Solano DHing, with Jurickson Profar in there today.
The 36-year-old Peralta joins the outfield mix alongside Profar, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and José Azocar. It was just over a week ago that Peralta opted out of his minor league deal with the Cubs, which led to a minor league deal with the Padres over the weekend.
With Triple-A Iowa, Peralta was drawing walks at a 14.1% rate but slashing just .217/.341/.348 for a wRC+ of 84. He’s also coming off a down year in the majors, as he hit .259/.294/.381 with the Dodgers last year for a wRC+ of 82.
But Peralta has hit .279/.335/.450 overall in his career, which translates to a wRC+ of 108. He’s also been considered an above average defender in the outfield, mostly in the corners. His lackluster results last year may have been due to a flexor tendon injury, which popped up around the All-Star break and later required surgery. The Padres will surely be hoping for Peralta to return to his pre-2023 results.
Peralta is in left field tonight as Profar is in the DH slot. As mentioned, manager Mike Shildt could give various players DH time for semi-rest days going forward. Though with the Arráez trade, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller has shown he’s not afraid of a midseason deal, even if we’re nowhere near the deadline yet. Perhaps another move will be forthcoming as a response to the Bogaerts injury. But for now, it’s a tough development for a club in an extremely tight playoff race.
As for Patiño, he underwent Tommy John surgery just over three weeks ago and is going to miss the remainder of the season.
Braves Re-Sign Jackson Stephens On Minor League Deal
The Braves have re-signed righty Jackson Stephens to a new minor league contract, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett. Stephens previously cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Ultimately, he’ll stick with the club for the time being, though it’s possible the new deal has new opt-out language down the road.
Stephens pitched 3 1/3 innings for Atlanta earlier this season, allowing a run on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts. The 30-year-old right-hander has spent the past three seasons in the Braves organization, with much of that time coming in Gwinnett. Since 2022, Stephens has a 3.52 ERA in 69 big league innings (3.78 FIP, 4.13 SIERA). Stephens’ 19.7% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate are less appealing than that baseline earned run average, but he’s nevertheless generally been effective with the Braves. He’s posted similar mid-3.00s ERA marks with Gwinnett dating back to 2022 as well.
An 18th-round pick by the Reds back in 2012, Stephens ranked among Cincinnati’s most promising arms through 2018. He pitched in two seasons with the team that drafted him, recording a 4.83 ERA in 63 1/3 innings from 2017-18. Stephens spent the entire 2019 campaign in the minors and became a free agent after the Reds outrighted him following that season. He was out of baseball for the shortened 2020 season (and canceled minor league season) and then spent the 2021 season with the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos before joining the Braves in the 2021-22 offseason.
Born and raised in Oxford, Alabama — just 90 miles west of Atlanta — it’s not that surprising that Stephens has come to feel at home in the Braves organization. He could certainly have found a minor league deal elsewhere — perhaps with a club that has a less-established bullpen group in the majors — but the proximity to home and the familiarity he’s developed over three years in the organization both likely appealed to him. He’ll head back to Gwinnett and try to pitch his way back onto the big league roster this summer.
Royals Release Zach Davies
The Royals have released veteran right-hander Zach Davies from his minor league contract, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s pitched decently with Triple-A Omaha while the major league rotation has been a strength in Kansas City, so it’s possible Davies had a mid-May out clause in his minor league pact.
Davies, 31, signed with Kansas City back on April 8. He’d spent spring training with the Nationals but allowed 14 earned runs in 14 innings over four starts and was cut loose. To some extent, he’s turned things around in Omaha, logging 21 innings (five starts) with a 4.29 ERA. A 12.9% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate combine to create skepticism about Davies’ work with the Royals’ top affiliate. He’s never been one to miss many bats, but those rates are subpar even by his own modest standards.
In 1048 1/3 big league innings, Davies carries a 4.36 ERA (4.48 FIP, 4.80 SIERA). He had a particularly strong run with the Brewers and Padres from 2015-20, posting a 3.79 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 683 2/3 innings. Things have gone awry since then.
While Davies pitched more or less in line with his career norms in a 2022 season with the D-backs, that solid campaign was bookended by disastrous showings: a 5.78 ERA in 32 starts for the Cubs in ’21 as well as a 7.00 ERA in 18 starts with the ’23 D-backs. Overall, Davies’ last three seasons have resulted in a combined 5.43 ERA. An apparent dip in his command has been the main culprit; Davies had a 6.9% walk rate from ’15-’20 but has seen that number spike to 10.3% since. He’s also become far more homer-prone, suggesting some imprecision even within the strike zone.
At the moment, Royals starters rank fourth in the majors with a 3.09 ERA and trail only the Phillies for the MLB lead in innings pitched. The quintet of Cole Ragans, Brady Singer, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh has provided Kansas City with the sort of starting pitching stability the club has lacked for years. Those five have started all but two of the team’s games this season. Daniel Lynch IV and Jonathan Bowlan each got one start while Marsh was on the 15-day IL with an elbow contusion he sustained when hit by a comebacker. He’s since returned from that brief IL stay.
With that strong output from the big league staff, there was no obvious path to the big leagues for Davies in Kansas City. However, with so many pitching injuries popping up around the sport, he’ll likely draw interest from other clubs seeking to deepen their rotation group. The Red Sox, Rays, Rockies, Marlins and Davies’ former Brewers club all have multiple starters of note on the injured list, for instance.
Rangers Sign Nabil Crismatt To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed right-hander Nabil Crismatt to a minor league deal, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News on X. The righty will report to Triple-A Round Rock in the coming days.
Crismatt, 29, returned to free agency earlier this week. He has bounced on and off the Dodgers’ roster a couple of times this year. He signed a minor league deal with that club in the winter and was added to the roster in late March. He pitched in one game before being designated for assignment and accepting an outright. He was selected again in late April and made four more appearances before losing his roster spot yet again.
Around those transactions, the results in his small sample of work have been decent. Crismatt has allowed two earned runs in seven major league innings so far this year, striking out six opponents without issuing a walk. His 12 2/3 Triple-A innings this year have produced a 5.68 ERA, though with some positive signs. He has struck out 28.8% of batters at that level with no walks given out. The high ERA is on account of three home runs surrendered, a 55.6% strand rate and .353 batting average on balls in play.
He had a frustrating 2023 season but was in good form in the two seasons prior to that. Last year, a hip strain cost him a couple of months of the season and he struggled when on the mound. He had an 8.31 ERA in 13 MLB innings as well as a 6.86 ERA in 59 Triple-A innings.
He spent 2021 and 2022 as a long reliever with the Padres. He threw 148 2/3 innings over 95 appearances with a 3.39 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate were close to average but he got ground balls at a strong clip of 50.6%.
The Dodgers frequently churn players through the final spots of their bullpen, which has put Crismatt on the transaction logs a few times. This time, he’ll switch organizations and see if he can carve out a role in Arlington. The Rangers currently have ten pitchers on the injured list, though Dane Dunning is expected to come off the IL and start today’s game. That will still leave them with Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, Cody Bradford, Nathan Eovaldi, Brock Burke, Carson Coleman, Austin Pruitt and Josh Sborz on the shelf.
Crismatt has some decent numbers this year and also has the impressive track record during his time with the Padres. If the Rangers need a fresh arm at some point in the coming weeks, perhaps Crismatt will get the call. If he does so, he’s out of options but also has less than three years of major league service time, meaning he could be retained beyond this season if he holds a roster spot at the end of the year.
Rays To Designate Erasmo Ramirez For Assignment
The Rays are expected to designated right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for assignment, per a report from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times last night. Ramirez’s departure is set to be the corresponding move for the return of righty Ryan Pepiot from the 15-day injured list ahead of his scheduled start against the Red Sox tonight.
Ramirez, 32, is a veteran of 13 MLB seasons who first made his big league debut back in 2012 as a member of the Mariners. From 2012-18 Ramirez split his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen in both Seattle and Tampa, pitching to a slightly below average 4.36 ERA with a 4.54 FIP across 192 appearances in that seven year stretch, 92 of which were starts. Ramirez posted a 6.7% walk rate during that time while generating grounders at a solid 44.4% clip, but he struck out just 18.5% of batters faced while allowing a hefty 13.8% of his fly balls to leave the yard for home runs. Ramirez’s final season with the Mariners in 2018 was a particularly difficult one, as he was torched to the tune of a 6.50 ERA in ten starts with the club.
Those difficulties led Ramirez to bounce around the league, making brief appearances in Boston, Queens, and Detroit over the next three seasons before finally returning to a regular role with the Nationals in 2022. Ramirez took to the nation’s capital quite well as he posted a strong 2.92 ERA in 86 2/3 innings of work that came almost exclusively out of the bullpen. While the righty’s strikeout rate of 17.6% remained below average, he allowed free passes to just 4% of batters that season while seeing his groundball rate tick up to 45.2%. The showing was enough for the Nationals to sign him to a one-year big league deal worth $1MM for the 2023 campaign, assuring him of a spot in the club’s bullpen entering Spring Training.
Unfortunately, the decision to retain Ramirez didn’t work out, as his peripherals regressed slightly in all areas during the 2023 campaign. Those dips in underlying performance combined with an unusually low 62.2% strand rate left Ramirez’s results on the field to swing from well above average to well below as he allowed a 6.41 ERA with a 5.05 FIP in 60 1/3 innings of work split between the Nationals and the Rays, the latter of whom signed the righty to a minor league deal midseason after he was released by Washington.
Ramirez continued his second stint in Tampa by re-signing with the club on a minor league deal this past offseason and was selected to the roster in mid-April, but the 34-year-old has looked unimpressive in ten appearances. He’s allowed a 4.20 ERA with a whopping 6.08 in 15 innings of work while striking out just 13.6% of batters faced, walking an elevated 9.1%, and generating groundballs just 38.1% of the time. Once Ramirez is officially DFA’d, the Rays will have one week to either trade Ramirez or attempt to pass him through waivers, although the righty has more than enough service time to reject outright waivers and test free agency should he go unclaimed.
Josh James Signs With Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks
Josh James signed with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, according to the league’s transaction log. The right-hander became a free agent when he was released from a minor league deal with the Cardinals last week.
James, 31, spent his limited time in the St. Louis organization at Triple-A Memphis. He walked 15 of the 51 hitters he faced. Putting on free baserunners at that rate isn’t tenable, and James was rocked for 18 runs in 7 2/3 innings. He’ll need to demonstrate he can find the strike zone with the Ducks to pitch his way back to affiliated ball.
A former 34th-round pick by the Astros, James had a promising first two seasons in Houston. He worked 23 innings of 2.35 ERA ball as a rookie back in 2018. While his 4.70 mark across 61 1/3 frames the following year wasn’t as impressive, James punched out almost 38% of his opponents. He looked like a potential high-octane relief arm before his control evaporated. He walked more than one-fifth of hitters during the shortened season and has barely pitched in the majors since then.
Various injuries cost James most of the 2021-23 campaigns. He battled hip, hamstring and lat problems before undergoing flexor surgery at the tail end of the ’22 season. Houston non-tendered him that winter. James sat out all of last season before beginning his short-lived stint with the Cardinals this past January.
Rockies Outright Julio Carreras
The Rockies announced that infielder Julio Carreras has been sent outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment on Sunday. The club also reinstated infielder/outfielder Kris Bryant from the injured list, with outfielder Sean Bouchard optioned to Albuquerque in a corresponding move. Thomas Harding of MLB.com relayed the moves on X shortly before the official announcement.
Carreras, 24, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. Prospect reviews have generally considered him talented in terms of his speed and defense but with larger questions about how his bat would play as he climbed the minor league ladder.
He had a good season in 2022, getting into 110 games at High-A and hitting 11 home runs. His .289/.352/.473 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 129 and he also stole 17 bases. That got him a late-season promotion to Double-A and the Rockies put him on their 40-man roster to keep him out of that year’s Rule 5 draft.
Unfortunately, the offensive results haven’t been as impressive since then. He hit .238/.324/.340 last year between Double-A and Triple-A for an 84 wRC+. Back at Triple-A this year, he’s produced a dismal line of .181/.247/.268 while striking out in 32.9% of his plate appearances.
He was bumped off Colorado’s roster a couple of days ago and none of the other 29 clubs were willing to take a chance on him. Since this is his first career outright, he’ll stay in the Rockies’ system and try to work his way back onto the roster.
Bryant will once again try to get into a good groove as a member of the Rockies, something that he has not been able to do thanks to injuries. He hit well in 2022 but only got into 42 contests, dealing with back problems and left foot plantar fasciitis. Last year, IL stints occurred due to a left heel bruise and a fractured left index finger. Here in 2024, a low back strain sent him to the IL just over a month ago.
The Rockies were surely hoping for more when they signed him to a seven-year, $182MM deal going into 2022. So far, they have received just 135 big league games from Bryant with a line of just .249/.329/.391, which translates to an 89 wRC+.
He will likely take over at first base, as Elehuris Montero is hitting just .221/.275/.307 this year. Brenton Doyle, Jake Cave and Jordan Beck will handle outfield duties, occasionally joined by designated hitter Charlie Blackmon.