Athletics, Zack Godley Agree To Minor League Deal
The A’s have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Zack Godley, MLBTR has learned. He’d been pitching with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the independent Atlantic League. He’s headed to Triple-A Las Vegas for the time being and will make his first start for the Aviators on Friday.
Godley, 33, hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since a brief look with the 2021 Brewers. The right-hander was a solid member of the Diamondbacks’ rotation back in 2017-18 when he tossed 333 innings of 4.10 ERA ball with an above-average 24.7% strikeout rate against a higher-than average 9.4% walk rate.
Though Godley looked to have locked down a spot at the back of the Arizona rotation with that performance, he struggled in three subsequent seasons, in part due to injury. He spent time on the injured list with a flexor strain in 2020 and finger injuries in 2021. Overall, in the three seasons following that nice run in ’17-’18, Godley limped to a 6.75 ERA in 124 innings at the big league level.
Since 2022, Godley has been pitching in the Atlantic League, where he’s amassed 125 2/3 innings of 4.73 ERA ball. It’s not an eye-catching number, but he’s posted nice strikeout and walks rates, fanning 28% of his opponents against a 7.8% walk rate.
For the A’s, adding any and all veteran rotation depth they can find makes sense. Oakland starters have MLB’s second-worst ERA this year, with their 6.37 mark narrowly leading the 30th-ranked Rockies (6.44). Left-hander JP Sears, who has a 3.99 ERA in 106 innings on the year, is the only A’s starter with an ERA under 5.00. Oakland also has James Kaprielian, Mason Miller and Drew Rucinski on the injured list — the latter two on the 60-day IL. Down in Triple-A, 40-man options include Kyle Muller and Adrian Martinez, but both have struggled in a hitter-friendly Vegas setting.
Godley will add some experienced depth to Oakland’s group and give them an option for a spot start or simply to eat some innings at the back of the big league staff if they’re concerned about potential workload management for younger arms in the season’s second half.
Padres Designate Rougned Odor For Assignment, Option Austin Nola
The Padres announced a broad-reaching slate of roster moves Tuesday, most notably designating infielder/outfielder Rougned Odor for assignment and optioning catcher Austin Nola to Triple-A El Paso. San Diego also optioned utilityman Brandon Dixon to El Paso.
That trio of moves creates space for the team to reinstate catcher Luis Campusano from the 60-day injured list, select the contract of outfielder Taylor Kohlwey and recall infielder Alfonso Rivas from Triple-A. The Padres also announced that righty Reiss Knehr has been transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. He’s been on the shelf with elbow discomfort since late June and will now be sidelined until at least late August.
It’s a notable shakeup for a struggling Padres club that has gotten negligible production from the bench and from its catching position this season. Odor, who’ll be traded or released within a week’s time (he can reject an outright assignment), has batted just .210/.306/.370 in 157 trips to the plate this season. Nola (.146/.260/.192 in 154 plate appearances) and Dixon (.204/.244/.329 in 86 plate appearances) have been even less productive. They’ll both remain in the organization in Triple-A, at least for the time being.
The Padres were Odor’s fourth team in as many years. He hasn’t had an above-average season at the plate since 2016 but has continually gotten looks around the league thanks to his glove and considerable left-handed pop. He’s been with the Rangers, Yankees and Orioles in the past three seasons, respectively, and cracked the Padres’ Opening Day roster in 2023 despite a combined .199/.269/.374 showing from 2020-22. In doing so, he continued the long line of former Rangers who’ve made cameos with the Padres under president of baseball operations AJ Preller — a longtime assistant GM in Texas (e.g. Ian Kinsler, Keone Kela, Mitch Moreland, Nelson Cruz, Nomar Mazara, Jurickson Profar, Yu Darvish, Nick Martinez, Carl Edwards Jr.).
Nola, 33, has been San Diego’s primary catcher in recent seasons after coming over from the Mariners in what’s become a lopsided deal for Seattle. San Diego acquired Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla in exchange for infielder Ty France, reliever Andres Munoz, outfielder Taylor Trammell and catcher Luis Torrens. France has since settled in as the Mariners’ primary first baseman and made the All-Star team in 2022. Munoz has stepped up as Seattle’s closer.
While Nola had been enjoying a breakout with the Mariners in 2019-20 and was solid in his first season-plus with San Diego, his bat has since cratered. Dating back to Opening Day 2022, he’s a .222/.304/.291 hitter (75 wRC+) in exactly 162 games and 551 plate appearances. His once-strong framing ratings have also deteriorated, and Nola has thwarted just 16.8% of stolen base attempts over the past two seasons.
With Nola now in El Paso, the Padres will rely on Campusano and Gary Sanchez behind the plate. Sanchez started hot after signing in San Diego, clubbing five dingers in his first 50 plate appearances. However, he’s since gone ice cold at the dish, batting just .150/.253/.250 in his past 91 turns at the plate.
That could open the door for Campusano to at last get a legitimate look behind the plate. The longtime top prospect has appeared in each MLB season since 2020 but has only 114 career plate appearances to his name. He’s mustered only a .198/.237/.302 output in that time, but Campusano is a career .297/.366/.513 hitter in 702 Triple-A plate appearances and has outstanding batted-ball metrics in his limited MLB work. Despite the pedestrian bottom-line results, Campusano has an average exit velocity of 90.6 mph and a massive 48.7% hard-hit rate, per Statcast. Opponents have gone 16-for-16 against him in stolen bases at the MLB level, but Campusano has a 25% caught-stealing rate in the minors.
Also joining the Padres’ roster will be Kohlwey, who’ll be in line for his MLB debut just two days prior to his 29th birthday. A 21st-round pick out of the University of Wisconsin La Crosse back in 2016, Kohlwey has experience at all three outfield spots and is batting .261/.377/.437 with nine homers, 16 doubles, a pair of triples, 10 steals and nearly as many walks (50) as strikeouts (51) in 328 trips to the batter’s box.
Rivas, 26, signed with the Padres over the winter after spending the past two seasons with the Cubs. He’s gone 2-for-7 with a double in his limited sample with the Friars so far this year and is a career .248/.332/.325 hitter in 344 MLB plate appearances. Rivas boasts a colossal .332/.462/.582 slash in Triple-A this season and carries a lifetime .313/.424/.492 line in 150 games at that level.
Braves Place Kolby Allard On 60-Day IL, Select Forrest Wall
The Braves announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Forrest Wall. In a corresponding move, left-hander Kolby Allard has been placed on the 60-day injured list, retroactive to July 17, with left shoulder nerve inflammation.
Allard, 25, came over to Atlanta in an offseason trade with the Rangers, with Jake Odorizzi going the other way. Allard suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain during Spring Training and began the regular season on the injured list. He was reinstated three weeks ago and has made four appearances for the club since then, but departed his most recent start with shoulder tightness.
The club hasn’t provided a specific timeline but it appears the issue is serious enough that they don’t expect him back in the next two months, given his immediate placement on the 60-day version of the injured list. That means he won’t be eligible to return until mid-September at the earliest, perhaps indicating his season is in jeopardy. It seems the trade won’t work out well for either side, since Odorizzi suffered his own shoulder injury during the spring and will miss all of 2023. It’s possible Atlanta could still come out ahead in the long run, as Allard has three more seasons of control beyond this one. Though given his injury and 6.10 career ERA, he could be a non-tender candidate this winter.
Allard wasn’t the most important player on the Atlanta roster but this is nonetheless the latest in a string of serious injuries for their rotation. He’s now the fourth starter the club has on its 60-day IL, alongside Huascar Ynoa, Max Fried and Kyle Wright. That leaves their current rotation mix as Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Bryce Elder and Michael Soroka. Strider and Morton give the club a strong duo at the front. Elder has been good overall this year but was rocked for seven earned runs in his most recent start. Soroka has a 5.40 ERA and might encounter workload limitations at some point after missing most of the past three years.
Fried is on a rehab assignment and could rejoin the rotation in the next few weeks with Wright potentially behind him, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club pursue some staring pitching in the weeks to come. In addition to the injuries to their regular starters, they’ve also seen depth pitchers like Allard and Ian Anderson drop out of the picture, the latter due to Tommy John surgery. Dylan Dodd, Jared Shuster or AJ Smith-Shawver have had brief stints in the big leagues without seizing larger roles. Since the club has a strong lineup and bullpen, the rotation would be a sensible focus for them at the deadline.
As for Wall, the 27-year-old finally cracks a big league roster almost a decade after being drafted by the Rockies in 2014. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 2018 as part of the Seunghwan Oh deal but topped out at Triple-A in that organization. He signed a minor league deal with the Mariners last year but again didn’t get called to the show. Another minor league deal with Atlanta for 2023 has finally paid off with today’s promotion.
He’s now played in 290 Triple-A games across four different seasons, hitting a combined .259/.344/.373 in those. He doesn’t have much power, having never hit more than 11 home runs in a season, but he’s walking at a 13.5% clip this year. He’s also a proficient base stealer, getting over 35 in each of the past three seasons, including 52 last year and another 45 already this year. He’s capable of playing all three outfield slots.
Atlanta has a regular outfield of Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II and Eddie Rosario. Rosario has been dealing with some hamstring tightness of late, which could open up some extra playing time, though the club also has Sam Hilliard and Kevin Pillar on hand. Even if he doesn’t immediately carve out a regular role, Wall should be able to serve as a versatile bench piece who can pinch run or serve as a defensive replacement.
Casey Lawrence Opts Out Of Minors Deal With Blue Jays
Right-hander Casey Lawrence was released by the Blue Jays recently, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Lawrence triggered an opt-out in his deal, reports Eric Treuden of Jays Journal, which led to him returning to the open market. Treuden adds that the righty is already working on a new deal, with the Cardinals and Yankees seeming to be in the mix.
Lawrence, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the offseason and has been pitching for their Triple-A rotation this year. He’s thrown 90 2/3 innings over 18 starts with a 4.67 earned run average in that time. He’s punched out 20.5% of opponents while walking 7.3% and has kept the ball on the ground at a 45% clip.
The Jays have been solid in the rotation this year from a health perspective, with each of Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi having made at least 19 starts this year. Alek Manoah was optioned to the minors for about a month after struggling badly at the start of the season but the club largely used bullpen games to cover for his absence. Lawrence never got the call during that time and seems to have less chance now that Manoah has retaken his spot in the rotation. Also, Hyun Jin Ryu is in the midst of a rehab assignment and should be able to return from last year’s Tommy John surgery in the next few weeks.
Given those factors, and the Jays possibly looking for more starting pitching at the deadline, it’s fairly logical for Lawrence to look for opportunities elsewhere. The aforementioned Cardinals, in particular, make sense as a landing spot for him. They have plenty of rotation uncertainty as it is and seem likely to trade impending free agents Jordan Montgomery and Jack Flaherty prior to the trade deadline, meaning they will likely need veterans to soak up some innings later in the year.
Lawrence has just 96 2/3 innings of major league experience with a 6.80 ERA but he’s pitched in 112 Triple-A games across eight different seasons, posting a combined 3.80 ERA in those. The Yankees have a decent rotation at the major league level but their optionable depth starters haven’t been doing exceptionally well. Jhony Brito has a 6.39 ERA in Triple-A this year while Randy Vásquez is at 5.11, perhaps leading the club to desire a consistent depth arm like Lawrence.
Pirates Designate Travis Swaggerty For Assignment
The Pirates announced several roster moves today, selecting the contract of right-hander Quinn Priester and recalling prospects Endy Rodríguez and Liover Peguero, moves which were reported on over the weekend. In corresponding moves, they optioned catcher Jason Delay, right-hander Cody Bolton and outfielder Josh Palacios. In order to open a 40-man roster spot for Priester, outfielder Travis Swaggerty was designated for assignment.
Swaggerty, 25, was the club’s first round draft pick in 2018, getting selected with the 10th overall pick. He was considered one of their top prospects during his time in the minors but encountered some obstacles on his path to the majors. He suffered a dislocated shoulder in 2021 that required surgery, limiting him to 12 games that year. When combined with the minor leagues being cancelled by the pandemic in 2020, he essentially missed two whole years of normal development.
Those setbacks aside, the club still didn’t want to risk losing him in the 2021 Rule 5 draft and gave him a 40-man roster spot that November. He was able to make his major league debut last year but took just nine trips to the plate in five games. He spent most of the year in Triple-A, hitting .254/.348/.399 at that level for a wRC+ of 102.
Here in 2023, Swaggerty has spent the entire year in the minors but has only been able to play 22 games. A report from Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from last month detailed how Swaggerty has been battling vertigo and migraines while his wife Peyton has been dealing with a rare and painful blood disease caused by a bite from a rabid raccoon. Swaggerty has made frequent trips to the IL in the minors this year, having played in just one game in the past six weeks.
The Bucs have fully embraced their youth movement this year, calling up Priester, Rodríguez and Peguero today, in addition to recent promotions of players like Henry Davis, Jared Triolo and Nick Gonzales. The unfortunate side effect of those aggressive promotions is that they will bump Swaggerty off the roster.
They will now have one week to trade the young outfielder or pass him through waivers. It will be interesting to see how much interest he will receive from other clubs around the league. On the one hand, he’s a former first-round pick and was a notable prospect not too long ago. But he’s faced so many difficulties and hasn’t seemed to be in peak form in quite a while. He does have two option years, one of which he’s burning here in 2023. If some club thinks they can help him figure out the migraine issues and get him back on track, he can still be sent to the minors for another season.
Red Sox Designate Jake Faria For Assignment
The Red Sox have announced they have reinstated left-hander Richard Bleier from the injured list with Jake Faria designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the moves prior to the official announcement.
Faria, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox this offseason and has twice now been added to the club’s roster, getting designated for assignment the very next day in both instances. The first time was back in April, with Faria getting the DFA treatment without making an appearance. He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment before eventually returning to the big league club yesterday.
The Sox were trouncing the Cubs in yesterday’s contest, holding an 11-0 lead in the middle of the eighth when they put Faria into the game for mop-up duty. He did eventually record the final six outs, though he allowed five earned runs on four hits and four walks, throwing 65 pitches in the process. Since he’s out of options, the Sox have designated him for assignment again in order to get a fresh arm into their bullpen.
The Sox will now have a week to trade Faria or pass him through waivers. He’s been previously outrighted in his career and thus has the right to reject another such assignment in favor of electing free agency. The last time this scenario played out in April, he cleared waivers and decided to stick with the Sox. It’s possible the same sequence of events plays out in the coming days, though that remains to be seen.
Bleier, 36, came over to the Sox in the offseason trade that sent Matt Barnes to the Marlins. He tossed 20 innings with a 5.85 ERA before landing on the injured list in May due to shoulder inflammation. The Sox have a $3.75MM club option for Bleier’s services in 2024 with a $250K buyout. He’ll have to finish strong for the club to consider triggering that option.
Cardinals Sign Ryan Tepera
The Cardinals have signed right-hander Ryan Tepera, with Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat relaying word from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. It seems as though Tepera will take the roster spot of Génesis Cabrera, whose designation for assignment was reported earlier.
Tepera, 35, has plenty of years of effective relief work on his résumé but 2023 has been challenging. He began the year with the Angels but posted a 7.27 earned run average through 10 outings before that club designated him for assignment and released him. The righty then landed with the Rangers on a minor league deal and reported to their Triple-A club. He tossed eight scoreless innings for Round Rock but didn’t get a roster spot with the Rangers and opted out of that deal last week.
Although the results earlier in the year weren’t pretty, there’s plenty of logic to this pickup for the Cards. Coming into this year, Tepera had a 3.50 career ERA in 354 2/3 innings, so the rough patch with the Halos to start this season represents a drop in the pocket in terms of his larger body of work. His strikeout rate was over 30% in each of 2020 and 2021 before tailing off to the 20% range in the past two seasons, but he just struck out 37.9% of opponents during his stint in Round Rock.
There’s also no financial risk for the Cards. Tepera signed a two-year, $14MM deal with the Angels prior to the 2022 campaign. Though he had a solid 3.61 ERA last year, his struggles a few months back got him released. The Angels are still on the hook for the majority of what’s left of that deal and the Cardinals will only be responsible for the prorated league minimum for any time Tepera spends on their roster.
The Cards have had a disappointing season and are currently 40-53 on the year, putting them in last place in the National League Central and 11.5 games out of a playoff spot. Mozeliak recently admitted that the club will have to go into the deadline as sellers, making moves that set the club up for 2024. The bullpen features some impending free agents like Jordan Hicks and Chris Stratton would would make sense as trade candidates, with Tepera perhaps moving up the bullpen chart in the wake of whatever moves the Cards make. He could theoretically pitch himself into being a candidate himself, though he’ll only two weeks to do so, with the deadline on August 1.
Nationals Claim Roddery Muñoz From Braves
The Nationals announced that they have claimed right-hander Roddery Muñoz off waivers from the Braves and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester. Atlanta designated him for assignment last week. The Nationals already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster so no corresponding move will be required.
Muñoz, 23, was an international signing of Atlanta out of the Dominican Republic in 2018 and worked primarily as a starter in subsequent seasons. In 2022, he tossed 100 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A. His 4.66 earned run average in that time wasn’t especially eye-opening, but he struck out 26.9% of batters faced while walking 9.5%.
Atlanta evidently liked what they saw enough that they didn’t want Muñoz to get away in the Rule 5 draft and thus added him to their 40-man roster in November. He’s been transitioned into more of a relief role this year, tossing 39 1/3 innings over 22 appearances. He has a 3.89 ERA for the year across multiple levels, striking out 23.4% of opponents but walking 15.2% of them.
Those control issues seemingly led to Muñoz losing his roster spot in Atlanta, but he’s a sensible claim for the Nationals since they are rebuilding and can be patient with his development. He’s still young, has a full slate of options and has yet to reach the big leagues. If he can rein in his arsenal, he could be a long-term fit for the Nats. He was recently ranked Atlanta’s #22 prospect by Baseball America and #8 by FanGraphs.
Reds Promote Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Place Kevin Newman On IL
July 17: Cincinnati has formally announced the move; Encarnacion-Strand’s contract has been selected from Louisville, which fills the team’s 40-man roster. In a corresponding 26-man roster move, infielder Kevin Newman was placed on the 10-day injured list due to gastritis.
July 16: The Reds are calling up another of their top prospects, as FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter) reports that Christian Encarnacion-Strand is on his way to the majors. The club may have to make multiple corresponding moves before Monday’s game, as Encarnacion-Strand isn’t yet on the 40-man roster.
A fourth-round pick for the Twins in the 2021 draft, “CES” has done nothing but mash since beginning his pro career, as he has a whopping .322/.386/.604 slash line and 56 homers over 946 career plate appearances in the minors. This includes hitting .331/.405/.637 with 20 home runs over 316 PA at Triple-A Louisville this year, leaving no doubt that the 23-year-old is ready for a bigger challenge.
It seems quite likely that the Reds would’ve called Encarnacion-Strand up earlier if it wasn’t for the fact that the team is already overloaded with quality prospects. The additions of star rookies Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain have helped spark the Reds back into contention for the NL Central, while Spencer Steer (who made his MLB debut in 2022) has also been a huge contributor.
With the likes of Jake Fraley, Will Benson, and TJ Friedl also producing, the Reds find themselves with an interesting decision to make with Encarnacion-Strand’s position. CES has played almost all of his career as a corner infielder, with only a pair of games in the corner outfield spots. But, De La Cruz has been mostly playing third base since his promotion, and longtime star Joey Votto is still in the regular first base/DH mix since his return from the 60-day injured list. It’s say to predict Encarnacion-Strand as the eventual successor to Votto, but the veteran has been on fire at the plate.
It’s the proverbial “good problem to have” for manager David Bell and Cincinnati’s front office, and it could be the issue may solve itself in the form of an injury or a slump. Or, the Reds might simply rotate everyone through the lineup and make copious use of pinch-hitting opportunities or late-game substitutions in order to keep everyone (Votto in particular) fresh. With the deadline approaching, it also isn’t out of the question that the Reds could create space by trading one of their young prospects in a headline deal for a controllable, frontline starting pitcher. At the very least, it seems like Cincinnati will look to move veterans like Kevin Newman or Nick Senzel, whose playing time has been drastically reduced by the youth movement.
Encarnacion-Strand has made such a rapid rise up the minor league ladder that none of Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB Pipeline, or The Athletic’s Keith Law had the infielder on their preseason top-100 lists. He currently checks in 83rd on BA’s ranking and 88th on Pipeline’s ranking, with both outlets praising his natural power and his arm strength. Questions about CES’ contact hitting seem to have been addressed in his Triple-A season, as his 10.4% walk rate is easily the highest of his three pro seasons, and he has also reduced his strikeout rate to 21.8%. A slightly more patient version of Encarnacion-Strand is a scary concept for pitchers, given his power and ability to hit to the opposite field.
Cincinnati brought Encarnacion-Strand and Steer into the organization less than a year ago, acquired along with southpaw prospect Steve Hajjar in the trade that sent Tyler Mahle to the Twins at the deadline. Since the Reds flipped Hajjar to the Guardians as the player to be named later to acquire Benson during the offseason, the Mahle trade has very quickly become one of the most productive swaps in recent team history. For Minnesota, the trade is already infamous, as Mahle battled injuries and made only nine starts for the Twins before undergoing Tommy John surgery in May.
Rays Designate Yonny Chirinos For Assignment
The Rays have designated right-hander Yonny Chirinos, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). The move is to open an active roster spot for left-hander Shane McClanahan, who has been reinstated from the injured list. Additionally, the club also reinstated infielder Yandy Díaz from the paternity list and optioned infielder Jonathan Aranda in a corresponding move.
Chirinos, 29, has been serving in a bulk role for the Rays this year, often following an opener. He’s tossed 62 2/3 innings over 15 outings, posting a 4.02 earned run average in that time. His 7.6% walk rate and 43.2% ground ball rate are each pretty close to league averages, though his 11.8% strikeout rate is barely half of the 22.7% mean for major league hurlers this year. His .244 batting average on balls in play and 76.5% strand rate have perhaps helped him keep earned runs off the board this year.
It’s likely that Chirinos has deserved worse results, as shown by his 5.52 FIP and 5.31 SIERA, but he has had better stuff in the past. From 2018 to 2020, he tossed 234 1/3 innings with a 3.65 ERA, striking out 20.9% of opponents while walking just 6% and keeping the ball on the ground at a 42.8% rate. But he then had a significant absence, primarily due to Tommy John surgery, missing over two years from August of 2020 until September of 2022.
The results haven’t been quite as strong since that injury layoff but it’s still a bit surprising to see the Rays cut him from the roster since pitching depth has been an ongoing challenge for them this year. Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs were each supposed to be part of the rotation but neither will return this year as both have undergone season-ending surgeries. Shane Baz underwent Tommy John surgery late last year and hasn’t been an option all year. Josh Fleming is also on the 60-day injured list as he deals with an elbow issue.
In addition to those serious ailments, the club has also had to navigate IL stints for McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin, though each are now active with today’s transactions. They form the rotation nucleus alongside prospect Taj Bradley. That still leaves the club one arm shy of a traditional five-man rotation, so there would seemingly be a role for Chirinos, though the Rays evidently have other plans. Perhaps they would simply prefer to deploy some bullpen games or call upon someone like Cooper Criswell to take over as a bulk guy.
It’s also possible that the Rays are confident in their ability to add pitching prior to the August 1 deadline. The list of names generally thought to be available in the next two weeks is very pitching heavy and the Rays have already been connected to some of them. If they are successful in lining up a deal, then their current rotation gap would only be present for a short time.
However they decide to proceed, it’s possible that this move was spurred by Chirinos no longer being optionable. He is in his final option year and was optioned a couple of times earlier this year but has now surpassed five years of major league service time. Players who go beyond that milestone cannot be optioned to the minors without their consent, meaning the Rays had to designate him for assignment if they wanted to remove him from the active roster.
The Rays will now have one week to trade Chirinos or pass him through waivers. Though his results this year haven’t been astounding, it’s possible some club is willing to bank on his past results, especially given the number if pitching injuries around the league. He’s making a modest $1.275MM this year, leaving about $521K left to be paid out. He can also be retained for one more year via arbitration, which should add to his appeal. In the event he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency while retaining all that salary, a right held by all players with more than five years of service time.