White Sox Designate Brad Keller For Assignment
May 20: The team has now formally announced both moves. Keller’s weeklong DFA window will begin today.
May 19: The White Sox are designating right-hander Brad Keller for assignment, James Fegan of Sox Machine reports (links to X). Dominic Leone is being activated from the 15-day injured list to take Keller’s spot on the active roster.
After three increasingly rough seasons with the Royals, Keller caught on with Chicago on a minor league deal over the offseason and that contract was selected to the big league roster at the end of April. Keller’s five games in a Sox uniform have consisted of two starts and three relief appearances, and his most recent outing saw him allow five earned runs to the Yankees over four innings of work in yesterday’s 6-1 Chicago loss.
That boosted Keller’s ERA to 4.86 over 16 2/3 total frames, with an underwhelming 17.7% strikeout rate and an okay 7.9% walk rate. Keller’s 56.1% grounder rate is impressive but he has also benefited from a .231 BABIP and been hit hard when he hasn’t been able to keep the ball on the ground. Over his small sample size of work, Keller has allowed five home runs, including four from the Yankees yesterday.
To be fair, Keller had a 2.84 ERA in his 12 2/3 innings before facing New York, and he is hardly the first pitcher to have problems with the dangerous Yankees lineup. While this move might seem like something of a quick trigger from the White Sox, it could be that the team is looking to open a rotation spot for Jared Shuster, who has looked very sharp in multi-inning relief outings this season. Since the Sox are obviously looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, they could simply see more value in letting Shuster pitch more meaningful innings now, and parting ways with a veteran like Keller who isn’t in their long-term plans.
It should be noted that Keller’s 2023 season was cut short by thoracic outlet syndrome, and he underwent TOS surgery last October. While the procedure has led to diminished results for many pitchers in their returns to the mound, Keller’s work to date has been somewhat promising, and his numbers could improve once he gets more fully comfortable in the aftermath of such a notable surgery.
This means that Keller could certainly draw some attention on the waiver wire from any team looking for a quick influx of innings in the rotation or the bullpen. The White Sox could work out a trade or might let Keller go on waivers entirely without any return. If he clears waivers, Keller has enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
Leone will return after just the minimum 15 days after dealing with some back tightness. The veteran right-hander has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 14 2/3 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen this season, and has already allowed 11 walks and four home runs.
Mets Sign Matt Festa To Minor League Deal
The Mets signed right-hander Matt Festa to a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Syracuse and actually made his team debut yesterday, tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief while picking up a pair of strikeouts. Festa was granted his release from a minor league deal with the Padres last week and had a rather brief stay on the free-agent market.
The 31-year-old Festa has pitched in parts of four big league seasons, all coming with the Mariners. He’d spent his entire career in the Seattle organization prior to signing with San Diego in the offseason. Festa is a former seventh-round pick whose career has been slowed by injuries, most notably including 2020 Tommy John surgery. That wiped out his entire 2020 campaign and the bulk of his 2021 season as well.
Festa saw big league time in the two years prior to that surgery (2018-19) and the two years following the completion of his rehab (2022-23). In 93 2/3 innings, he has a career 4.32 earned run average with an above-average 25.3% strikeout rate and plus swinging-strike rates despite fairly pedestrian velocity. His 10.9% walk rate is also a couple percentage points above the league average, however.
Festa pitched fairly well with the Padres’ top affiliate in El Paso. He logged 16 innings and yielded eight runs, though a .360 average on balls in play didn’t do him any favors in that small sample. He fanned 21.6% of his opponents during that brief stay in the Padres organization and turned in a 9.5% walk rate. Yesterday’s outing with Syracuse brought Festa to a total of 110 Triple-A frames in his career. He’s been excellent at the top minor league level, notching a 2.13 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate across parts of five seasons.
Even with Edwin Diaz struggling to a 5.50 ERA in his return from last year’s knee injury, the Mets still have one of the top bullpens in baseball. No team’s relievers have combined to post a higher strikeout rate than their 28.5% mark, and the Mets also sit sixth in reliever ERA (3.27), fourth in FIP (3.45) and fifth in SIERA (3.39). Command has been the bullpen’s primary flaw, as manager Carlos Mendoza’s relief corps has the third-highest walk rate in baseball at 11.8%.
The Mets have already used a whopping 17 relievers this season, showing no reluctance to shuffle up the few flexible spots in a veteran-laden bullpen. None of Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Jorge Lopez, Jake Diekman or Sean Reid-Foley can be optioned, and the same was true of southpaw Brooks Raley, who’s now facing a lengthy absence due to an elbow injury. Righty Reed Garrett has a minor league option left but has made himself indispensable and won’t be sent down anytime soon after posting a 0.72 ERA and 41% strikeout rate through a team-high 25 innings out of the ‘pen.
The Mets have cycled Josh Walker, Grant Hartwig, Michael Tonkin, Yohan Ramirez, Tyler Jay, Danny Young, Cole Sulser, Dedniel Nunez and others through the final couple spots in the bullpen in an effort to keep a stable of fresh arms available for Mendoza. It’s possible Festa could join that growing line of arms riding the Mets’ bullpen carousel at some point, although he’s also out of minor league options, so if he’s added to the roster he’ll have to stick in the big leagues or else be designated for assignment.
Cardinals To Promote Ryan Loutos
The Cardinals are calling up right-hander Ryan Loutos, according to the WashU Baseball Updates X feed. The team will need to make adjustments to both its 26-man and 40-man rosters, as Loutos isn’t on the Cards’ 40-man.
This will be the first MLB exposure for Loutos, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis who signed with the Cards as an undrafted free agent in 2021. It means that the 25-year-old has now beaten the vast majority of players from that draft class to the majors, marking another step in Loutos’ unusual baseball career. As Geoff Pontes of Baseball America wrote in a 2022 interview with the right-hander, “the Cardinals coveted Loutos as much for his potential fit as a front office candidate as they did for his skill as a baseball player.” Loutos is a computer science major who has already been working with the Cardinals’ analytics department.
In terms of on-field contributions, Loutos pitched pretty well in 2022 before struggling to a 6.40 ERA over 71 2/3 relief innings at Triple-A Memphis in 2023. Loutos had a solid 24.1% strikeout rate but also a 11.3% walk rate, and that latter number has actually gotten worse to the tune of a 13.6BB% this season. However, Loutos also hasn’t allowed any homers, has generated a 50% grounder rate, and upped his K% to 27.3% in posting a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 frames for Memphis in 2024.
It was enough to merit Loutos a ticket to the Show, even if it might be just a short-term stint to provide a fresh arm to the St. Louis bullpen. The Cardinals have leaned pretty hard on their pen over the last few games, so some extra help could be required when the Cards begin a series Monday with the hot-hitting Orioles.
Braves Reinstate Pierce Johnson, Jackson Stephens Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Stephens has again rejected the outright assignment and opted for free agency, the Braves announced.
MAY 18: The Braves announced that right-hander Pierce Johnson has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. Now recovered from some elbow inflammation, Johnson will take the roster spot of Jackson Stephens, who has been outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Johnson’s initial IL placement was backdated to May 1, so the reliever will end up missing only slightly beyond the 15-day minimum stint. As noted by MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (X link), Stephens’ status seems to have played a role in Johnson not being immediately reinstated when first eligible, as it gave a bit of extra time for Stephens to pass through waivers. There hadn’t been any public indication that Stephens had been designated for assignment before today’s outright announcement.
Over his first 12 innings of the 2024 season, Johnson had a 3.00 ERA, 32% strikeout rate, 10 percent walk rate, and a 58.6% grounder rate. Control has long been Johnson’s chief issue as a big league pitcher, as he carried an 11.5% walk rate across his 137 2/3 innings with three different teams from 2017-22. That number spiked to a 13.3% in 39 innings with the Rockies last season, and a 6.00 ERA before Johnson’s career was turned around in a deadline trade to Atlanta. Johnson delivered an exceptional 0.76 ERA as well as a 5.6% walk rate and 36% strikeout rate in 23 2/3 innings for the Braves, immediately cementing his place as a key member of the bullpen mix. The Braves were impressed enough to offer Johnson a two-year, $14.25MM contract extension to keep him from testing free agency.
Since Stephens is out of minor league options, the Braves have repeatedly cycled him through the DFA/outright process in order to send him to Triple-A. Stephens has usually elected for free agency in this scenario (as is his right as a player who has previously been outrighted off a 40-man roster) only to re-sign with Atlanta on a new minors contract. It seems quite likely that history could repeat itself here, if Stephens wants to first test the market out of due diligence if nothing else, before returning to his role as a depth arm in the Braves’ system.
Amidst the constant transactions, Stephens has pitched pretty well since initially joining the Braves in the 2021-22 offseason. He has a 3.52 ERA across 69 total innings, with 53 2/3 of those frames coming in 2022 since he missed a good chunk of last season due to injuries.
Rockies Select Matt Koch
The Rockies announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Matt Koch. Right-hander Jake Bird was placed on the 15-day IL with elbow inflammation to clear a spot on the club’s active roster, while infielder Julio Carreras was designated for assignment to open up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Koch, 33, was a third-round pick by the Mets in the 2012 draft but made his debut with the Diamondbacks in 2016. In parts of four seasons with Arizona, Koch swung between the rotation and bullpen but generally struggled badly throughout his time in the majors with a 4.88 ERA and 6.00 FIP in 125 1/3 innings. Koch departed the Dbacks organization following the 2019 season and did not pitch in the big leagues over the next two seasons before eventually resurfacing with the Mariners for four appearances in 2022, though he struggled badly with an 8.31 ERA and 8.42 FIP in 4 1/3 frames.
That eventually led Koch to sign with the Rockies on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season. He was a serviceable member of the club’s bullpen last year, pitching to a 5.12 ERA (good for a roughly league average 97 ERA+ due to the inflated offensive environment of Coors Field) with a roughly matching 5.07 FIP in 39 appearances for Colorado last year. While he struck out just 16.6% of batters faced, he limited walks to a 5.5% clip while generating groundballs and a strong 49% clip. Looking ahead, the Rockies are surely hoping that Koch will offer the club adequate middle relief from the left-hand side once again this year, as he’ll enter the club’s bullpen as the only lefty relief option besides closer Jalen Beeks.
Making room for Koch on the active roster is Bird, who is headed to the injured list with elbow inflammation. The 28-year-old righty was a fifth-round pick by the Rockies in the 2018 draft and has pitched for the club in each of the last three seasons, including a solid 2023 campaign where he posted a 4.33 ERA and 3.55 FIP in 89 1/3 innings of work. While that seemingly set Bird up to handle key leverage innings for Colorado out of the bullpen this year, things haven’t gone according to plan as he’s struggled badly to the tune of a 6.10 ERA and nearly matching 6.34 FIP in 20 2/3 innings of work prior to his placement on the injured list today. Bird’s timetable for return is not currently clear, though the Rockies are surely hoping he’ll look more like his 2023 self upon his return.
As for Carreras, the 24-year-old first appeared in pro ball with the Rockies back in 2018 and entered the season as a fairly well-regarded prospect in the club’s farm system thanks to his strong infield defense, power potential, and proximity to the big leagues. That was enough for the club to decide to add Carreras to the 40-man roster this winter, and a strong .304/.388/.461 performance in the Dominican Winter League this past offseason seemingly further set up Carreras as a potential infield depth option for the big league club this year.
Unfortunately. Carreras’s prospects have taken a turn for the worse since the season began. In 38 games at the Triple-A level this season, Carreras has slashed just .181/.247/.269. That’s a tough slash line to swallow at any level of pro ball, though it’s especially weak given the heightened offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, where the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate plays its games. Colorado will have one week to either trade Carreras or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he successfully clears waivers, the Rockies will have the opportunity to assign Carreras outright to the minor leagues and maintain him as non-roster depth.
Dodgers Add Anthony Banda To Active Roster
The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves today, highlighted by the club adding left-hander Anthony Banda to the active roster. Right-hander Landon Knack was recalled from Triple-A alongside Banda, while righties J.P. Feyereisen and Ricky Vanasco were both optioned to Triple-A. Right-hander Connor Brogdon was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Banda on the 40-man roster.
L.A. acquired Banda, 30, from the Guardians on Friday, but the lefty had not been on Cleveland’s 40-man roster and therefore did not require a corresponding 40-man move until he was formally added to the roster today. The lefty signed a minor league deal with Cleveland back in January and impressed over 17 innings of work at the Triple-A level, where he struck out a whopping 37.9% of batters faced en route to a 2.12 ERA in 12 appearances prior to the trade.
A tenth-round pick by the Brewers in the 2012 draft, Banda has appeared in parts of seven big league seasons since he made his debut with the Diamondbacks in 2017. In all, the lefty has collected 90 big league appearances with seven different clubs but struggled at virtually every stop along the way. His career ERA sits at 5.69 in the big leagues despite a decent 4.35 FIP, although Banda’s big strikeout numbers in the minors could change his fortunes if they manage to translate to the big league level. After all, Banda has posted a career strikeout rate of just 19.9% to this point in his career, and his minor league strikeout rate over a full season peaked at just 26.9% at Triple-A with the Rays back in 2018. Clearly, the Dodgers are intrigued enough by the possibilities of Banda’s newfound swing-and-miss to give him a shot in their bullpen.
Joining the club’s roster alongside Banda is Knack, 26. The rookie right-hander is set to make his fourth spot start at the big league level of the season today and has generally gotten strong results despite weak peripherals to this point in his big league career. In 16 innings of work in the majors this season, Knack has posted a 2.81 ERA despite a meager 16.9% strikeout rate and three home runs allowed during that time. Those shaky underlying numbers have left Knack with a 5.52 FIP, although he’s posted a decent 4.15 ERA across five starts at the Triple-A level to this point in the season.
Making room for Banda and Knack on the roster are Feyereisen and Vanasco, both of whom are headed to Triple-A after brief stints in the Dodgers bullpen. Vanasco ultimately appeared in just one game for L.A. before being optioned, though he impressed with two perfect frames and recorded a strikeout in his big league debut. As for Feyereisen, the 31-year-old’s return from shoulder surgery has been an uneven one, as he’s allowed a 6.00 ERA and 4.81 FIP across nine appearances thanks in part to an elevated 13.2% walk rate. He’ll head to Triple-A in hopes of sorting things out and returning to the big league bullpen later this year. As for Brogdon, the righty has been out since mid-April after being placed on the injured list due to plantar fasciitis shortly after being acquired from the Phillies and has no clear timetable for return.
Amir Garrett Elects Free Agency
TODAY: The Angels have announced that Garrett has elected free agency. He’ll return to the open market in search of a new contract elsewhere.
May 15: The Angels designated veteran reliever Amir Garrett for assignment before tonight’s game with the Cardinals. Righty Davis Daniel has been recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake to take the vacated active roster spot. The move drops their 40-man roster count to 39.
Garrett pitched in six games for the Halos after they selected his contract in late April. The hard-throwing southpaw tallied 5 1/3 innings. He punched out 11 behind a huge 14.4% swinging strike rate but also walked five of the 24 hitters he faced. Garrett surrendered three runs on four hits, including a homer.
That’s par for the course for the 32-year-old. Garrett has posted higher than average strikeout and walk rates in every season since the Reds moved him to the bullpen in 2018. He was a setup arm for a couple seasons in Cincinnati before falling on harder times since 2021. Garrett combined for a 5.52 ERA over 123 appearances between 2021-22. While he had a solid 3.33 mark in 24 1/3 frames for the Royals last year, Kansas City released him around the All-Star Break because of his scattershot command.
Garrett struggled with Cleveland’s Triple-A team late last season and had a nightmarish Spring Training with the Giants. He had a good month for Salt Lake before being called up, working 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball with 10 strikeouts and four walks. Garrett started with three scoreless appearances for the Halos before surrendering runs in two of his last three outings. That includes last night’s loss to St. Louis, as he coughed up a two-run homer to Alec Burleson to break a 5-5 tie in the seventh inning.
The Angels will likely place Garrett on outright or release waivers within the next few days. He’d have the right to test free agency if he goes unclaimed.
Padres Sign David Peralta To Minor League Deal
The Padres have signed outfielder David Peralta to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A El Paso, per an announcement from the El Paso Chihuahuas (X link). The move comes just days after Peralta opted out of his previous minor league deal with the Cubs.
Peralta, 36, is very familiar with the NL West after spending all but 47 games of his 10-year big league career in the division. The veteran made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks at the age of 26 back in 2014 and spent the better part of nine years patrolling the outfield in Arizona. A generally solid left-handed bat who could be relied on for production around 5-10% better than the league average, Peralta slashed a respectable .283/.340/.463 with a wRC+ of 111 during his time with Arizona, which included a Silver Slugger award in 2018 and a Gold Glove in left field in 2019.
Peralta’s Dbacks tenure came to an end at the 2022 trade deadline, when he was shipped to Tampa Bay in exchange for catching prospect Christian Cerda. Peralta’s power disappeared down the stretch with the Rays, however, as he failed to hit a home run throughout his Rays tenure and slashed just .255/.317/.335 in 161 trips to the plate with the club. Despite that downturn in production, the Dodgers rolled the dice on Peralta the following offseason and signed him to a one-year deal that guaranteed the veteran $6.5MM. Unfortunately, a return to the NL West did not revive Peralta’s bat as he hit a paltry .259/.294/.381 in 133 games with L.A. last season.
Looking ahead, Peralta figures to offer the Padres veteran depth in the outfield, an area where they’re severely lacking in reliable options. Fernando Tatis Jr. has locked down right field since moving off shortstop last season while journeyman Jurickson Profar is off to an incredible start for the club in left field and top shortstop prospect Jackson Merrill is taking to the center field job quite admirably while learning the position on the fly. Even so, an outfield mix of three converted infielders speaks to the lack of outfield depth in the Padres organization, leaving bench bat Jose Azocar as the only career outfielder on the club’s 40-man roster.
Given that, it’s easy to see Peralta breaking into the club’s outfield mix at the big league level should an injury the team to make a roster move. Until then, Peralta figures to act as non-roster depth for San Diego alongside fellow veterans Oscar Mercado and Tim Locastro at the Triple-A level, where Peralta. The 36-year-old will hope for better results at the Triple-A level in El Paso than he had during his time with the Cubs organization, as he was slashing just .217/.341/.348 in 20 games before he opted out.
Pirates Outright Josh Fleming
TODAY: The Pirates announced this evening that Fleming has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, as relayed by Noah Hines of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
May 14: The Pirates have recalled right-hander Ryder Ryan and designated left-hander Josh Fleming in a corresponding move. Robert Murray of FanSided reported Fleming’s DFA prior to the official announcement.
It’s an unfortunate early birthday present for Fleming, who will turn 28 years old on Saturday. The southpaw signed a split deal with the Pirates in February and has been primarily working out of the club’s bullpen. He technically made one start but went just 2 1/3 innings as the first guy in a bullpen game on April 24.
The results have not been great for the lefty, who has a 5.68 earned run average in 19 innings over 17 appearances. His 15.1% strikeout rate is subpar but right in line with his career rate of 14.9%. He’s still getting ground balls at a good rate, with his 57.1% mark this year just barely below his 58.9% career clip.
The baseball gods have seemingly played a role, as Fleming has a .344 batting average on balls in play and 56.3% strand rate this year, both of which are on the unlucky side. But he also hasn’t done himself any favors with the free passes, as his 10.5% walk rate is above league average and well beyond the 7.1% rate he carried into this season.
Fleming is out of options, so the Bucs didn’t have much choice but to remove him from the 40-man entirely if he’s worn out his welcome on the active roster. They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Fleming’s deal pays him $850K in the majors and $240K in the minors, per the Associated Press.
He has more than three years of service time and would have the right to reject an outright assignment if he were to clear waivers. However, with less than five years of service time, exercising that right would involve walking away from the remaining money on his deal. Per the recent collective bargaining agreement for minor league players that was signed last year, the minimum salary for a Triple-A player is just $35.8K.
That would be a moot point if another club wanted to acquire Fleming. His career numbers aren’t far off what he’s done this year, as he had a 4.88 ERA with the Rays from 2020 to 2023 before being non-tendered by that club and signing with the Pirates.
Giants Claim Ryan McKenna
2:32PM: Both teams have announced the transaction, and MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado (via X) reported that the Giants placed Lee on the 60-day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for McKenna.
1:57PM: The Giants have claimed outfielder Ryan McKenna off waivers from the Orioles, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (X link). McKenna was designated for assignment earlier this week, and he’ll now change teams for the first time in his nine pro seasons.
It’s an obvious fit for a Giants team that is battling through a swath of injuries, particularly in the outfield ranks. Jung Hoo Lee just underwent season-ending shoulder surgery, and both Michael Conforto and Austin Slater are also currently sidelined. With shortstop Nick Ahmed and both catchers (starter Patrick Bailey and backup Tom Murphy) out, San Francisco has been forced to dig deep into its depth chart, and also pursue outside help like the recent signing of veteran catcher Curt Casali.
McKenna represents another external add, and he brings versatility in his ability to play all three outfield positions at at least an average level. Luis Matos and Heliot Ramos have gotten a lot of the playing time in the outfield with so many of the regulars out, and both have played well alongside Mike Yastrzemski in the makeshift starting arrangement. McKenna will bring some extra depth to that mix, since Blake Sabol has been limited to catcher and utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald could be deployed more strictly in the infield.
McKenna is also a right-handed hitter who can complement the lefty-swinging Yastrzemski, though McKenna has never brought much punch at the plate. Over 517 career MLB plate appearances, McKenna has hit just .224/.302/.332 with eight home runs. He also has a much more impressive .261/.359/.556 slash line over 274 PA at Triple-A, with much of that damage taking place during a big 2021 campaign.
Despite the lack of pop, it is possible the Orioles might not have felt compelled to part with McKenna if the team wasn’t so absurdly stacked with outfield talent. In a sense, having a clear-cut bench player like McKenna was valuable for the O’s since it wasn’t a huge deal if McKenna only received sporadic playing time, whereas sitting a Heston Kjerstad or a Kyle Stowers for days at a time wasn’t helpful for their development. Matos and Ramos are both playing well enough that this type of situation might not present itself in San Francisco, as there should be plenty of playing time available until some of the injured position players return.