Reds Claim Bubba Thompson From Royals
The Royals announced that outfielder Bubba Thompson has been claimed off waivers by the Reds and that left-hander Taylor Hearn cleared waivers and elected free agency.
The Royals have been trying to trim down their roster before the offseason. Players on the 60-day injured list don’t take up a spot on the 40-man, but the IL goes away between the World Series and Spring Training, which can lead to a squeeze. Yesterday, they outrighted catcher Tyler Cropley and lost left-hander Tucker Davidson off waivers to the Orioles. Today’s moves clear a couple more spots but they are still slated to be at 41 once the offseason begins.
Thompson, 25, just came over to the Royals via a waiver claim in August, having previously spent his entire career with the Rangers. He’s a speed-and-defense specialist but his work at the plate isn’t quite as strong. He received 241 plate appearances with the Rangers over the past two seasons but hit just .242/.286/.305 in those. Between the Rangers and Royals organizations, he hit .259/.338/.395 in 302 Triple-A plate appearances this year, a line that translates to a wRC+ of 82. He has had some better results in past minor league seasons, but often with high strikeouts and few walks.
His speed does seem to be elite, however. He racks up double-digits steals with ease, including 31 last year between the majors and minors. On Statcast’s Sprint Speed leaderboard, he trailed only Elly De La Cruz and Bobby Witt Jr. in 2023. At worst, it seems like Thompson can serve as a speedy fourth outfielder, while any step forward at the plate would only increase his value. He is still optionable, meaning he can be sent to the minors to get regular reps if the Reds so choose.
Hearn, 29, also spent most of his career with the Rangers prior to 2023. He served as a solid swingman in Texas over 2021 and 2022 as the club wasn’t competitive. He tossed a combined 204 1/3 innings over those two campaigns with a 4.89 earned run average. He struggled in 2023, eventually going to Atlanta in a cash deal, then to Kansas City in exchange for infielder Nicky Lopez. He tossed 15 innings on the year between those three clubs with an ERA of 11.40 in that small sample.
The lefty has more than three years of service time, giving him the right to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment. His rough 2023 results in the majors obviously limit his appeal, but he was much better in Triple-A. Between the Rangers and Royals, he tossed 54 innings at that level in 2023 with a 3.33 ERA and 30.9% strikeout rate, though the 13.4% walk rate is concerning.
Cardinals Claim Buddy Kennedy From Athletics
October 26: Right-hander Adam Wainwright has officially retired, per the transactions tracker at MLB.com. That appears to have opened up the 40-man roster spot to make this claim possible. Wainwright announced coming into the 2023 season that it would be his last.
October 25: The Cardinals announced that they have claimed infielder Buddy Kennedy off waivers from the Athletics.
Kennedy, 25, has a small amount of major league experience, getting into 40 games over the past two seasons with the Diamondbacks. He hit .206/.293/.299 in his 123 plate appearances while playing second and third base. He was claimed off waivers by the A’s in September, though they kept him in the minors on optional assignment.
The infielder has fared far better in the minors, including in 2023. He hit .318/.444/.481 in 417 Triple-A plate appearances while with the D’Backs, walking more than he struck out and producing a 133 wRC+. He slumped after getting claimed by the A’s, though in a small sample size of just 46 trips to the plate. In addition to playing second and third base, he also saw some time at first base and left field in the minors.
The Cardinals have plenty of multi-positional players on the roster but never seem to have enough, with players like Taylor Motter, José Fermín and Juniel Querecuto getting playing time in 2023. It is speculated that the Cards will put some of their position players on the trading block this winter, since they are in dire need of starting pitching upgrades. If that indeed comes to pass, adding Kennedy to the roster gives them an extra layer of depth to call upon when the time comes. Kennedy still has one option season remaining.
Braves Sign Pierce Johnson To Two-Year Extension
The Braves signed reliever Pierce Johnson to a two-year, $14.25MM extension, the club announced. (Atlanta is one of the few teams that publicly discloses contract terms.) Johnson, who was a couple weeks from free agency, is set for consecutive $7MM salaries between 2024-25 and is guaranteed a $250K buyout on a $7MM team option for 2026. For luxury tax purposes, the contract’s average annual value is $7.125MM. Johnson is a client of John Boggs & Associates.
Johnson, 33 next May, first joined the Braves in a deadline deal that sent minor league pitchers Victor Vodnik and Tanner Gordon to the Rockies. It wasn’t an especially high-profile move at the time. The right-hander owned a 6.00 ERA over 38 innings after signing a $5MM free agent deal with Colorado. Johnson had punched out a quality 30.9% of opponents with the Rox, so he wasn’t without upside, but few would’ve anticipated how resoundingly he’d turn his season around.
The Missouri State product tossed 23 2/3 regular season innings for Atlanta, allowing 0.76 earned runs per nine. His strikeout rate jumped more than five percentage points, as he fanned 36% of batters faced. His swinging strike rate spiked from a solid 12.3% to an elite 17.8% mark. He more than halved his walks and doubled his ground-ball percentage. Johnson pitched his way into high-leverage work and added three scoreless appearances in the Division Series.
Leaving Coors Field offers a partial explanation for the improved results, but it’s certainly not the entire story. Johnson has always had promising raw stuff, pairing a 96 MPH fastball with a mid-80s power curve. Upon landing in Atlanta, he dramatically upped the use of the breaking ball. Johnson turned to the hook nearly three quarters of the time as a Brave after deploying it in a near-even division with the fastball while in Denver. Given the results, it’s hard to find fault with that plan of attack.
The question is how much stock to place in two-plus months of dominance amidst an otherwise inconsistent career. Johnson had never shown anything near the level of control he did in Atlanta. He carried a career 12% walk rate in parts of six big league campaigns with the Cubs, Giants, Padres and Rockies before that trade. As a Brave, he handed out free passes to just 5.6% of opponents.
Johnson has flashed solid ability before, albeit never to the level he demonstrated in Atlanta. He turned in a 3.22 ERA over 58 2/3 frames with San Diego three seasons back. His 2022 campaign was derailed by forearm tendinitis that kept him to 15 appearances, setting the stage for his rebound deal with Colorado. Now, he has locked in the strongest guarantee of his career.
It still has the potential to be solid value for the Braves, as Johnson is being paid towards the lower end of the established range for quality setup arms in their mid-30s. Chris Martin secured $17.5MM over two years with the Red Sox last offseason, while Adam Ottavino got an opt-out clause in a $14.5MM deal with the Mets. Ryan Tepera ($14MM) and Joe Kelly ($17MM) landed similar pacts entering their age-34 campaign two years ago.
Atlanta has a solid bullpen, finishing 11th in ERA (3.81) and fifth in strikeout percentage (25.9%). They were set to potentially lose a few pieces from the group, with Joe Jiménez hitting free agency and various option scenarios for Collin McHugh, Kirby Yates and Brad Hand. The club is likely to decline its options on McHugh and Hand, while a net $4.5MM call on Yates is borderline. Re-signing Johnson locks him in alongside A.J. Minter and potentially Nick Anderson or Tyler Matzek as setup options to Raisel Iglesias. Further augmenting the middle relief seems a priority for president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos and his front office.
The Braves are up to roughly $138MM in guaranteed commitments for next season. The arbitration class could tack on roughly $30MM. Roster Resource projects their luxury tax number in the $206MM range (including arbitration estimates), around $30MM below next year’s $237MM base threshold. The organization opened 2023 with a player payroll around $203MM, so there should still be a decent amount of short-term flexibility. In addition to the bullpen, bolstering the starting staff and perhaps upgrading on Eddie Rosario in left field could be offseason goals.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Astros Claim Oliver Ortega From Twins
The Astros have claimed right-hander Oliver Ortega off waivers from the Twins, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Ortega is on the 60-day injured list.
Ortega, 27, pitched for the Angels in 2021 and 2022 but came to the Twins last offseason via a waiver claim. Between the two clubs, he has tossed 58 major league innings over 45 appearances, posting an earned run average of 4.03 in that time.
The Twins placed Ortega on the injured list in late August due to a lumbar strain and transferred him to the 60-day injured list a few days later. There’s no 60-day injured list between the World Series and Spring Training, meaning players have to be added back onto the 40-man roster. The Twins put Ortega on waivers instead but the Astros have swooped in to make a claim.
The Astros are likely intrigued by Ortega’s strong work in Triple-A this year, as he had an ERA of 1.82 in 34 2/3 innings at that level. He struck out 32.6% of batters faced, walked just 7.4% and kept the ball on the ground at a 48.1% rate. Ortega has yet to reach arbitration and has one option season remaining, allowing him to serve as a cheap depth arm with roster flexibility for the Astros.
Royals Outright Tyler Cropley
The Royals announced that catcher Tyler Cropley has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Omaha. They also announced that left-hander Tucker Davidson was claimed by the Orioles, something that was reported on earlier. The moves clear a couple of spots on the club’s 40-man roster before the offseason.
Cropley, 28 in December, was twice selected to the Royals’ roster in 2023. The first stint resulted in him getting designated for assignment after just a few days without getting into a game. He passed through waivers and was outrighted, getting selected back to the roster again a couple of weeks later. He was able to make his major league debut as the season was winding down, getting seven plate appearances over two games.
It’s possible that Cropley was mostly viewed as an emergency fill-in, as both Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin were on the injured list at the time. He has never really been a highly-rated prospect and has two games of experience at the Triple-A level. The Royals have now removed him from the roster and he will have the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, since this is his second career outright. It’s unclear if he plans to do so or not.
Including players on the 60-day injured list, the Royals currently have 46 players on their 40-man roster. Zack Greinke, Matt Duffy are Brad Keller are set to become free agents at season’s end, which will drop the count to 43. The 60-day IL goes away between the World Series and Spring Training, so the Royals will have to clear at least three more spots.
Orioles Claim Tucker Davidson From Royals
The Orioles announced that they have claimed left-hander Tucker Davidson off waivers from the Royals. The O’s already had an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Davidson, 28 in March, was once a notable prospect in Atlanta’s system but hasn’t quite delivered on that hype just yet. That has led to a fairly nomadic couple of years, starting with a trade to the Angels as part of the Raisel Iglesias deal in 2022. But he was designated for assignment by that club a year later and was flipped to the Royals for cash. Now it appears the Royals tried to pass him through waivers but the O’s have swooped in and grabbed him.
The lefty was a starter as a prospect but worked primarily in relief in 2023, likely due to the fact that he was out of options and couldn’t be easily sent to the minors. The results in the bullpen were mixed. On the negative side, he finished the year with an ERA of 5.96 between the Angels and Royals, with a subpar 19.5% strikeout rate.
On the positive side, his 8.1% walk rate and 44.2% ground ball rate were both close to league average and he was in the 81st percentile in terms of limiting hard contact. His FIP and SIERA both came in at 4.27, suggesting his .358 batting average on balls in play and 63.1% strand rate both made his ERA look worse than he perhaps deserved.
The Orioles have a few left-handed options for their bullpen already, with Cionel Pérez, DL Hall, Danny Coulombe, Nick Vespi and Keegan Akin on the roster. But some of those guys have options or could perhaps still be considered for starting gigs. Adding Davidson gives them another option to add into the mix, though the O’s have also been known to claim players and then attempt to pass them through waivers later.
Giants Hire Bob Melvin As Manager
October 25: The Giants have made it official, announcing today that Bob Melvin is now their manager.
October 24: The Giants “are poised to announce” that Bob Melvin has been hired as the team’s new manager, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reports. It isn’t known when the official announcement could be made, though the league prefers that teams save major news for between postseason rounds, so the Giants may wait until for the two days between the end of the NLCS and the start of the World Series on Friday.
Between the late-season firing of Gabe Kapler as manager and the reports of discord between Melvin and Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, there has been plenty of speculation over the last month that Melvin might find himself on the move from San Diego to San Francisco. Padres chairman Peter Seidler’s stated preference was that both Melvin and Preller remain with the organization in 2024, and Preller even said in a post-season wrapup press conference that “Bob is our manager, and he’s going to be our manager going forward.”
However, Melvin remained on the Giants’ radar, and a parting between Melvin and the Padres seemed inevitable once San Diego granted Melvin permission to interview with the Giants this past weekend. As Baggarly reports, that interview took place on Monday, and involved several members of San Francisco’s ownership group and baseball operations staff, not to mention franchise icon Buster Posey. It seems as though the interview was enough to confirm Melvin’s status as the favorite for the job, and the veteran skipper will now get a new job as an early birthday present, as he turns 62 on Saturday.
Melvin’s resume includes three Manager of the Year Awards, eight postseason appearances, and a 1517-1425 record over 20 seasons with the Padres, Athletics, Diamondbacks, and Mariners. The hiring in San Francisco is also something of a homecoming for the Palo Alto native, and a continuation of Melvin’s linkage of the Bay Area and his baseball career. Melvin played with the Giants for three of his 10 seasons as a big league catcher, and had an 11-year stint managing the A’s from 2011-21.
As it happens, this is the second time in almost exactly two years that Melvin take a new managerial job while leaving another job with one year remaining on his contract. The A’s had contractual control over Melvin for the 2022 season but chose to let him walk to the Padres without compensation, with reports stating that Melvin’s $4MM salary was seen as onerous for an Oakland club that was about to embark on a major teardown. It is also fair to assume that the Athletics front office was open to letting Melvin make a graceful exit to a better situation, rather than keep him as manager for at least one season of what looks like it will be a lengthy rebuild process.
This past weekend’s reports from Baggarly and Dennis Lin suggest that Melvin’s current salary (also $4MM for 2024, the last year of his Padres contract) might have been a factor in San Diego’s decision, as the organization is planning to reduce expenditures in a number of different areas. With a mounting debt that could be in conflict with MLB regulations and some broadcasting uncertainty due to the Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy proceedings, the Padres look to be cutting back on the high-spending ways, including a reported reduction in player payroll to around $200MM for next season.
Finances aside, the simpler answer is probably just that the Giants’ interest allowed for the Padres to part ways with Melvin in relatively smooth fashion, without the awkwardness of a firing. Preller has already fired three different managers (Bud Black, Andy Green, Jayce Tingler) during his nine-plus years in charge of San Diego’s front office, and three other men (Dave Roberts, Pat Murphy, Rod Barajas) have also worked as interim managers. Of course, whether it was a firing or a “parting of the ways,” the bottom line is that the Padres have had another manager come and go while Preller remains.
Lin and Ken Rosenthal examined how the Preller/Melvin relationship soured in a piece for The Athletic last month, and the criticisms of Preller’s management style also predated Melvin’s arrival in San Diego. In fact, Melvin’s hiring was seen as a stabilizing element after the clubhouse turmoil that marked the end of Tingler’s managerial stint, yet it seems as though the ship was only steadied through the success of the 2022 season. This year, the Padres underachieved despite their massive payroll, with a very poor record in one-run (9-23) and extra-inning (2-12) games undermining a team that, by all other statistical measurements, should’ve won a lot more than 82 games.
With even more pressure on Preller to get the Friars on track, the next managerial hire will be one of the most crucial decisions of his tenure. Two internal candidates (Mike Shildt and bench coach Ryan Flaherty) have already emerged as leading contenders for the job, and it might be that the Padres wanted to start lining up some candidates before officially green-lighting Melvin’s interview with San Francisco. San Diego will surely interview some other people out of due diligence, though it wouldn’t be a shock if the job does end up going to either first-time manager Flaherty, or former Cardinals skipper Shildt.
As for Melvin, he’ll now take over another team in need of a culture change. After winning 107 games in 2021, the Giants are 159-163 over the last two seasons, and Kapler’s hands-off managerial style was starting to seem more like a detriment than a plus. Several Giants players, either on or off the record, felt the club was somewhat directionless, with Logan Webb outright stating he felt “we have to make some big changes in here to create that winning culture.”
These criticisms extended not only to Kapler but to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, whose contract is believed to run only through the end of the 2024 season. As such, Zaidi is also certainly feeling the pressure to build a contending roster, and the Giants are expected to be aggressive shoppers this winter after missing out on both Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa as a big-ticket addition last offseason. Faced with what might be a make-or-break scenario, it probably isn’t surprising that Zaidi has turned to a familiar face as manager — Zaidi previously worked as the Athletics’ assistant GM during Melvin’s tenure in Oakland.
The terms of Melvin’s contract aren’t yet known, though Baggarly suggests it could be a relatively short-term deal, should Melvin view the San Francisco job “as a fitting place to round out” his career. There has been some buzz about possible coaching changes coming to the Giants’ staff, though Baggarly suggests that the majority of San Francisco’s 13-person staff could be retained. That perhaps puts a different spin on the Giants’ managerial search, as the focus on internal candidates and others with past Giants ties (i.e. Stephen Vogt) might have been a way of gauging how any of these candidates might have been willing to mesh with Melvin, if he was Zaidi’s preferred choice all along.
Eric Lauer Elects Free Agency
Starting pitcher Eric Lauer has elected minor league free agency, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. That was the anticipated outcome when Milwaukee sent the left-hander outright from the 40-man roster last week.
Lauer pitched four seasons in Milwaukee. The Brewers acquired the former first-round draftee alongside Luis Urías in a 2019-20 offseason deal that sent Trent Grisham and Zach Davies to the Padres. He was a non-factor during the shortened season but rebounded with consecutive solid years in 2021 and ’22. Lauer combined for a 3.47 ERA with a slightly above-average 23.8% strikeout percentage in 277 1/3 innings over that stretch.
The 28-year-old didn’t replicate anything near that kind of production this past season. He struggled to a 5.48 ERA in his first nine outings. An impingement in his non-throwing shoulder sent him to the injured list in late May. While he returned within a few weeks, the Brewers had decided not to keep him on the big league staff. They optioned him to Triple-A upon his reinstatement from the IL.
Lauer started nine of 12 appearances at Triple-A Nashville, posting a 5.15 ERA in 43 2/3 innings in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He punched out a strong 31.1% of minor league opponents while walking over 11% of batters faced. He didn’t get another MLB look until the final weekend, when the Brewers had already clinched the NL Central and were keeping their top starters in reserve for the playoffs. Lauer was tagged for eight runs on nine hits (including three homers) in four innings against the Cubs in what turned out to be his final start with Milwaukee.
The Kent State product has between four and five years of major league service. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $5.2MM arbitration salary, which no team was prepared to offer. Now that he’s a free agent, Lauer will at least draw minor league interest and may well find a low-cost MLB deal.
He’s only a season removed from looking like a viable #3/4 starter, although this year’s rough production came in tandem with a drop in velocity. His four-seam fastball averaged 90.8 MPH during his major league work, more than two ticks below last summer’s 93.3 MPH average. He lost three MPH on both his cutter and curveball. As the season was winding down, Lauer told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he’d battled inflammation in his throwing elbow and shoulder in addition to the right shoulder injury, contributing to the Brewers keeping him out of minor league action between June 12 and July 28.
Five Mets Elect Free Agency
The Mets announced this afternoon that five players — infielders Jonathan Araúz and Danny Mendick, outfielder Rafael Ortega, catcher Michael Pérez and right-hander Vinny Nittoli — went unclaimed on outright waivers. All five players declared minor league free agency. The Mets had waived that group along with left-hander Anthony Kay, claimed by Oakland, last week.
It’s not surprising to see any of the others go unclaimed. Only Mendick held a spot on the 40-man roster for the entire season. The righty-hitting utilityman had signed a $1MM free agent deal after being non-tendered by the White Sox. He spent the bulk of the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Syracuse, where he had a decent .282/.369/.424 batting line. Mendick didn’t produce much in a limited MLB look, hitting .185/.232/.277 in 35 games.
Ortega has the most MLB experience of the group. The lefty-swinging outfielder has appeared for six teams over a seven-season big league run. He topped 100 games with the Cubs in both 2021 and ’22, operating as their starting center fielder and leadoff man for a time. The 32-year-old played most of this past season in Triple-A, hitting .228/.352/.388. He got into 47 games for New York late in the year, running a .219/.341/.272 line over 136 trips.
Pérez has played in nine games for the Mets over the last two seasons. The depth catcher owns a .179/.248/.306 line in 599 career plate appearances between the Rays, Pirates and Mets. Araúz has played parts of four seasons between the Red Sox, Orioles and Mets. The switch-hitting infielder owns a .184/.253/.308 slash in 95 games, including a .136/.203/.288 showing this past season.
Nittoli made three MLB appearances after coming over from the Cubs in a minor trade. He turns 33 next month and has six big league outings between three teams. The Xavier product posted a 4.64 ERA over 42 2/3 innings in Triple-A this year.
A’s Claim Anthony Kay
The A’s announced they’ve claimed lefty reliever Anthony Kay off waivers from the Mets. New York had attempted to outright him off the 40-man roster last week.
Kay, a UCONN product, was selected by the Mets with the #31 pick in the 2016 draft. The Mets sent him to the Blue Jays as part of the Marcus Stroman deal. Kay pitched parts of four seasons with the Jays, working to a 5.48 ERA through 70 2/3 innings. Toronto lost him on waivers to the Cubs last offseason.
While Chicago quickly ran Kay through waivers themselves, they added him back to the roster in mid-June. He pitched 13 times for the Cubs, allowing eight runs in 11 1/3 innings. The Mets snagged him back via waivers with a couple weeks left in the season. He made four appearances with his original organization, working 3 2/3 frames of three-run ball to close the year. Kay’s fastball sat just under 95 MPH on average, yet he managed just an 11:9 strikeout-to-walk ratio between the two clubs.
The 28-year-old has yet to find much major league success. He has allowed 5.67 earned runs per nine, striking out an average 22.4% of batters faced against a lofty 12% walk rate. Kay showed some intriguing swing-and-miss numbers in Triple-A this year, combining for a 3.76 ERA while fanning over a third of opponents in 40 2/3 frames. While a 13.3% walk percentage still hints at real control woes, the solid minor league season and his decent velocity intrigued the A’s front office.
Kay is out of options, so the A’s can’t send him to the minors without first running him through waivers (at which point he’d have the ability to elect free agency). If they keep him on the 40-man roster all offseason, he’d need to secure a job in the MLB bullpen.