Rays Extend Tyler Glasnow Through 2024
The Rays announced agreement Friday on a contract extension with Tyler Glasnow that will run through the 2024 season. The deal reportedly pays the Wasserman client $5.35MM in 2023, his final season of arbitration-eligibility, and jumps to a hefty $25MM in 2024. It also contains potential bonuses dependent upon Glasnow’s finishes in Cy Young balloting over the next two seasons.
Last year, the now-29-year-old Glasnow looked well on his way to establishing himself as one of the sport’s most dominant arms. Long a top prospect in the Pirates organization, Glasnow was infamously traded to the Rays, alongside Austin Meadows and Shane Baz, in exchange for Chris Archer — one of the most lopsided deals in recent memory.
He’s spent parts of four seasons with Tampa Bay — 2018-21 — and posted a combined 3.10 ERA and 3.19 FIP with 34.3% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate. That includes a relatively slow start, as the big righty managed a 4.20 ERA through 11 appearances down the stretch after the 2018 deadline deal. Since the calendar flipped to 2019, Glasnow has been an excellent performer. He posted a microscopic 1.78 ERA across 60 2/3 innings in 2019, striking out a third of opponents while inducing grounders on over half the batted balls against him. While his ERA jumped to 4.08 during the shortened 2020 campaign, Glasnow punched out an even more impressive 38.2% of batters faced that season.
Everything seemed to be coming together last year, Glasnow’s age-27 campaign. He’d been on a potential Cy Young trajectory, starting 14 games and working to a 2.66 ERA over 88 frames through mid-June. He paired that with an elite 36.2% strikeout rate while generating swinging strikes on more than 17% of his offerings, but he blew out his elbow and was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery. That procedure ended his season and led to some speculation the payroll-conscious Rays could consider trading him last offseason, but there’s no indication they ever came close to doing so.
Glasnow maintained over the winter that he hoped to stick with Tampa Bay. He reiterated that sentiment when chatting with Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times this afternoon, saying he’d much preferred to stay in the organization. The Rays held onto him throughout his rehab process, and the former fifth-rounder could make his return to the mound later this season. Glasnow told Topkin he’s headed to Triple-A Durham to throw some live batting practice sessions and could soon embark on a minor league rehab assignment.
It’s a bold move for the Rays, whom Topkin notes have never previously paid a player a $25MM annual salary (although franchise shortstop Wander Franco will reach that mark in 2028 under the terms of the 11-year extension he signed last November). Next year’s $5.35MM figure represents only a marginal bump over this year’s $5.1MM mark, reflecting the fact that he hasn’t pitched all season and wouldn’t have been in line for a notable arbitration raise. It’s the 2024 commitment to buy out Glasnow’s first free agent year that comes as a surprise.
It’s easy to see both the high risk and reward of the move from Tampa Bay’s perspective. If Glasnow picks up right where he’d left off pre-surgery, he’ll immediately form a fearsome pairing with AL All-Star starter Shane McClanahan at the top of the rotation. It’s not uncommon for ace-caliber hurlers to surpass $30MM annually over a multi-year free agent investment, one the Rays seem unlikely to make. Even factoring in the potential bonuses, a $25MM base salary in 2024 would be more than reasonable if Glasnow pitches as he did in 2019-21, and the team isn’t on the hook for any longer-term commitment. It’s a match for the guarantee the Astros gave Justin Verlander last winter coming off two seasons largely lost to a Tommy John surgery of his own. Verlander has returned to the top of the rotation and pitched exceptionally, and the Astros have been handsomely rewarded for their investment.
At the same time, there’s no sugarcoating the downside for Tampa Bay if Glasnow suffers an injury setback or performance regression. The Rays have never opened a season with a player payroll higher than this year’s estimated $83.9MM tab, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Presumably, owner Stuart Sternberg is willing to push that number upwards over the coming two seasons, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll eclipse nine figures by that point. Glasnow’s deal could wind up counting for around one-quarter of the team’s player expenditures, and the club also has fairly notable salaries for Manuel Margot ($10MM) and Brandon Lowe ($8.75MM) for that season. Players like McClanahan, Randy Arozarena and Drew Rasmussen will have reached arbitration-eligibility by then as well.
It’s a bold strike from an organization that doesn’t customarily make this kind of financial investment. If all goes well, the Rays will get an extra season of ace-level performance for a price below the free agent market value. Glasnow, meanwhile, locks in a fair amount of financial security as he wraps up his Tommy John rehab. He tacks on another year with a club for which he’s clearly comfortable playing, and he could still land a multi-year deal once he hits the open market in advance of his age-31 season. There’s risk for the Rays in committing a sizable portion of their expected 2024 payroll to a player who hasn’t thrown an MLB pitch in 14 months, but they’re clearly confident Glasnow will be no worse for wear than he was before he went under the knife.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the Rays and Glasnow were in agreement on an extension that ran through 2024. Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report the salary terms. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic noted the presence of “significant” bonuses based on Cy Young finishes.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Twins Designate Tim Beckham For Assignment
The Twins announced Friday that they’ve reinstated outfielder Kyle Garlick from the 10-day injured list and designated infielder Tim Beckham for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster.
Beckham, 32, inked a minor league deal with the Twins over the winter and recently had his contract selected as Minnesota deals with a deluge of injuries both in the outfield and around the infield. He appeared in a dozen games with the Twins but took just 25 plate appearances and went 2-for-25 with nine strikeouts in that time.
Beckham has had a monster season in Triple-A, hitting .413/.481/.579 in 133 plate appearances, but it was never particularly realistic to expect the journeyman to sustain anything close to that level of output in the big leagues, where he’s a .247/.299/.426 hitter in 1776 plate appearances. He’ll be placed on waivers or released within the coming days now that he’s been designated for assignment.
Garlick, 30, will give the Twins a much-needed healthy outfielder and some desperately needed help against left-handed pitching. He’s hitting .257/.319/.514 in 116 plate appearances this year and has carved out a role with the Twins based on his ability to clobber southpaws. In 172 career plate appearances against lefties, the right-handed-hitting Garlick is a .266/.314/.576 hitter.
Mariners Re-Sign Tommy Milone To Minor League Deal
The Mariners brought back veteran southpaw Tommy Milone on a minor league contract this week, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. Seattle released him on trade deadline day to clear space on the 40-man roster for their acquisitions.
Milone was on the 15-day injured list at the time, having sustained a cervical muscle strain in the preceding days. The 35-year-old has not yet been assigned to an affiliate, so he’s yet to make an appearance since his most recent big league outing on July 29. That was the final of seven MLB outings during his run in the majors with Seattle. Milone worked 16 2/3 innings as a long reliever, posting a 5.40 ERA with six walks, five strikeouts and four home runs allowed.
That’s obviously not a great showing, but Milone excelled over seven starts with Triple-A Tacoma early in the year. He posted a minuscule 1.13 ERA through 32 frames, punching out 24.8% of opponents against a tidy 6.8% walk percentage. He’ll presumably return to that role with the Rainiers at some point as a rotation/long relief depth option.
Despite being one of the game’s softest throwers, Milone has continued to attract interest from myriad teams into his mid-30’s. He’s reached the big leagues in each of the past 12 years, working as a strike-throwing swing option of late. He’ll look to work his way back to the bigs with Seattle before the end of the season.
Yankees Select Greg Weissert
5:56pm: New York officially announced Wiessert’s selection, as well as the previously-reported placement of Nestor Cortes on the 15-day IL and the reinstatement of Giancarlo Stanton. In order to create a spot on the 40-man roster, New York transferred center fielder Harrison Bader from the 10-day to the 60-day IL. Bader has already been on the IL since June 27, so the move is procedural and doesn’t affect his return window. Bader, who’s dealing with plantar fasciitis in his right foot, hasn’t yet begun a minor league rehab assignment.
11:57am: The Yankees will select the contract of right-hander Greg Weissert prior to tomorrow’s game with the Athletics, according to Eric Hubbs of Barstool Sports (Twitter link). A corresponding move will need to be made to officially add Weissert to the 40-man roster, and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports that the Yankees will be placing another pitcher on the injured list.
Weissert’s first MLB appearance will be his debut in the Show. An 18th-round pick out of Fordham in the 2016 draft, Weissert posted solid but unspectacular numbers in his first pro seasons before returning with a flourish after the canceled 2020 minor league season. The right-hander has been getting better as he has gotten closer to the majors, with a 1.47 ERA over 36 2/3 innings of Double-A ball and a 1.85 ERA in 82 2/3 Triple-A frames.
This season has seen Weissert deliver a 36.8% strikeout rate in 46 innings of Triple-A ball, which is more than enough to counter a more average 10.4% walk rate. Batters have simply not been able to do much against Weissert this year, with only 22 total hits. Over his last 23 games and 23 1/3 innings, Weissert also hasn’t allowed a single run, either earned or unearned.
The bullpen went from being a major strength to more of a question mark for the Yankees in recent weeks, as Chad Green and Michael King were both lost to season-ending injuries and the likes of Clay Holmes, Miguel Castro, Albert Abreu, and — just yesterday — trade deadline acquisition Scott Effross were also lost to the injured list. Weissert will provide some reinforcement, while Holmes, Castro, and Zach Britton are all on the way back, though it remains to be seen which new pitcher (as per Sherman’s report) has now also been sidelined.
Tyler Clippard Elects Free Agency
AUGUST 25: Clippard has cleared waivers and refused an outright assignment, according to a team announcement. As expected, he’ll return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.
AUGUST 23: The Nationals are designating reliever Tyler Clippard for assignment, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. The move frees an active roster spot for Erick Fedde, who is back from the 15-day injured list. The club also swapped out backup catchers, recalling Riley Adams from Triple-A Rochester while optioning Tres Barrera. Washington’s 40-man roster tally drops to 39.
A two-time All-Star, Clippard has been a durable and effective reliever for the bulk of his 16-year big league career. He spent an extended chunk of that run in the nation’s capital, pitching with the Nats between 2008-14 before bouncing throughout the league. The changeup specialist remained productive through 2020, but he’s had some injury woes over the past couple years. He lost a good chunk of last season with the Diamondbacks due to a capsule sprain. Clippard returned late in the year and posted a solid 3.20 ERA over 25 1/3 innings, but his peripherals weren’t especially impressive.
The 37-year-old returned to Washington on a minor league deal over the winter. He impressed with Rochester, posting a 2.23 ERA with an excellent 31.5% strikeout percentage through 40 1/3 frames. That earned him another big league call last month, but he quickly suffered a groin strain that sent him to the injured list. Clippard returned a couple weeks ago, but the Nats moved on after just four MLB appearances. He tossed five innings of four-run ball with four strikeouts and walks apiece, averaging a career-low 87.5 MPH on his fastball.
Washington will place the veteran on waivers in the next few days. If he goes unclaimed, Clippard would have the right to elect free agency and look for another opportunity elsewhere. If he lands with a new organization by September 1 — either via waiver claim or new free agent deal upon clearing waivers — he’d be eligible for postseason play this season.
Phillies To Activate Bryce Harper From Injured List On Friday
Reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper will return to the Phillies’ active roster prior to their game with the Pirates on Friday, Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including MLB.com’s Todd Zelecki). The initial plan for Harper’s minor league rehab assignment planned for activation from the 60-day injured list on Monday, but Harper will instead return a bit earlier, as suggested by MLB Network’s Jon Morosi earlier today.
The Phillies first placed Harper on the 10-day IL due to his fractured left thumb back on June 26, so he’ll end up missing only slightly beyond the 60-day minimum. Harper has been making steady progress with his recovery ever since undergoing thumb surgery, and he will now again get to contribute to a Phillies team that has become one of baseball’s hottest teams.
The firing of Joe Girardi and Thomson’s installation as interim manager was the obvious turning point in Philadelphia’s season, as the Phils went 22-29 under Girardi and are currently 47-26 under Thomson. Not even losing one of the sport’s best hitters slowed down the Phillies, since they have a 31-20 record since Harper was sidelined.
Harper’s thumb was broken by a Blake Snell pitch on June 25, interrupting an unusual but still highly successful season for the 29-year-old. Due to a small UCL tear in his right elbow, Harper hasn’t played a game in the field since April 16, but his bat hasn’t been impacted by his new role as a full-time DH. Harper has 21 home runs and a .318/.385/.599 slash line over his first 275 plate appearances, with that .985 OPS standing as the fourth-highest of Harper’s career.
2022 will go down as another Harper season cut short by injury, but that will be a footnote if he is able to help the Phillies reach their first postseason since 2011. Philadelphia holds the second NL wild card slot, well back of the Braves for the first wild card but with a 3.5-game cushion over the Brewers (the top team outside the playoff picture).
Twins Sign Billy Hamilton To Minor League Deal
The Twins have signed veteran outfielder Billy Hamilton to a minor league contract, according to multiple reporters (including The Athletic’s Dan Hayes). Hamilton elected to become a free agent earlier this month, rejecting an outright assignment to the Marlins’ Triple-A team.
Minnesota becomes the 11th different big league organization of Hamilton’s 10-year MLB career, and he has been action at the big league level with seven of those teams. Hamilton’s stint in Miami lasted 20 games and consisted of 15 plate appearances, as the Marlins mostly used him as a pinch-runner and late-game defensive replacement.
It’s safe to assume that Hamilton will be utilized in similar fashion with the Twins if he reaches their active roster, and the 31-year-old will at least provide some center field depth now that Byron Buxton has been placed on the 10-day injured list. Hamilton’s lack of hitting has turned him into a bench player in recent years, but he still brings plenty of his signature speed and excellent defense, making him a sought-after player by multiple teams.
Outfelders Buxton, Kyle Garlick, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, and Royce Lewis are all on Minnesota’s IL, with Garlick perhaps only a few days away from a return and Kirilloff and Lewis both already done for the season. Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, Jake Cave, Gilberto Celestino, and utilityman Tim Beckham comprise the Twins’ outfield options on the active roster.
Angels Claim Rob Zastryzny From Mets
The Angels have claimed Rob Zastryzny off waivers from the Mets, and the left-hander has been optioned to Triple-A. New York designated Zastryzny for assignment earlier this week.
The Mets signed Zastryzny to a minors contract in May, and he made a single appearance for the Mets (tossing one inning in the Mets’ 4-1 loss to the Phillies last Sunday) before being designated for assignment. While a brief stint, it was surely a welcome return to the bigs for Zastryzny, whose last MLB appearance came with the Cubs back in 2018. The left-hander tossed 34 2/3 innings for Chicago in 2016-18 before bouncing around to multiple teams and eventually landing his next chance at the Show.
Zastryzny spent 2019 in the Dodgers farm system, and he’ll now head back to SoCal for an opportunity with Los Angeles’ other team. He’ll provide the Halos with some relief depth in the minors, and with Jose Quijada increasingly getting some save chances, there could be room for the Angels to call up Zastryzny for more of a traditional lefty relief role.
Angels Place Jared Walsh On 60-Day Injured List
1:16PM: Walsh has been placed on the 60-day IL, the Angels announced. This officially ends the first baseman’s 2022 season.
10:06AM: The Angels announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game with the Rays, including the news that Jared Walsh has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to thoracic outlet syndrome. Infielder Phil Gosselin was also designated for assignment. Filling the two roster spots are catcher Matt Thaiss (called up from Triple-A), and first baseman Mike Ford, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.
Thoracic outlet syndrome is a condition much more commonly seen in pitchers, making Walsh something of an outlier as a position player. While Walsh drew some attention as a two-way player early in his career and during his time in the Angels farm system, he has only 26 2/3 professional innings pitched, and none since 2019. Most pitchers who undergo surgery to correct TOS aren’t the same performance-wise after returning to the mound, but it remains to see if Walsh will indeed need surgery, or how such a procedure could impact his future production given that he isn’t pitching.
Even if Walsh opts for treatment without going under the knife, it would seem like the remainder of his 2022 season could be in jeopardy. With the Angels out of contention, they would seemingly not have any reason to rush Walsh back into action.
Walsh hit .280/.338/.531 over 693 PA with the Angels in 2020-21, earning a seventh-place finish in 2020’s Rookie of the Year balloting and a slot on the 2021 AL All-Star team. However, 2022 has been much more of a struggle, as the 29-year-old has contributed only 15 home runs and a .215/.269/.374 slash line. Despite some decent defense at first base, this poor offensive production has resulted in an overall sub-replacement level performance for Walsh, who has -0.5 fWAR and -0.6 bWAR.
Even in 2020-21, Walsh has below-average walk and strikeout rates, but those numbers have sunk further downward in 2022 — Walsh’s 30.4% strikeout rate puts him in only the sixth percentile of batters. He is also hitting with far less power, with an Isolated Power metric of only .158 (down from .354 in 2020 and .232 in 2021). This decline has robbed the Angels of a key bat in their lineup, as Los Angeles has gotten very little from any players besides Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Taylor Ward, and the emerging Luis Rengifo.
Gosselin had enough MLB service time that he can reject an outright assignment to Triple-A, assuming that he clears waivers and the Angels don’t release him. The Angels claimed Gosselin off waivers from the Braves in mid-July, and the veteran utilityman ended up playing 22 games with Anaheim, mostly as a third baseman. Unfortunately, Gosselin provided very little offense, with only a .269 OPS over 51 plate appearances.
Gosselin has only sporadically delivered at the plate over his 10 Major League seasons, with a career .254/.305/.349 slash line over 1199 PA. The 33-year-old has suited up for seven different big league teams, and this is his second stint with the Angels, after playing 104 games with the Halos in 2021.
Ford is in today’s starting lineup as the cleanup hitter, putting Ford on pace to see action for a fourth different Major League team this season. The first baseman has appeared in 22 games combined with the Giants, Mariners, and Braves, with San Francisco and Seattle ping-ponging him back and forth between their rosters a few times earlier in the season and Atlanta releasing Ford earlier this month. He signed a new minor league contract with Los Angeles in mid-August, and might now in line for some consistent playing time if Walsh does miss most or all of the remainder of the season.
In 2019, Ford burst onto the scene with 12 home runs and a .909 OPS over 163 PA as a rookie with the Yankees. Since that initial breakout, however, he has scuffled to a .138/.267/.253 slash line in 206 PA since the start of the 2020 season, and the Yankees dealt him to the Rays in June 2021. Ford also ended up heading to the Nationals on a waiver claim later in the 2021 season, making it quite a whirlwind of organizational change for the Princeton product in just 14 months’ time.
Nationals Claim Tommy Romero From Rays
The Nationals have claimed right-hander Tommy Romero off waivers from the Rays, and assigned Romero to Triple-A. Both Romero and Kevin Herget were designated for assignment by Tampa Bay on Tuesday, and the Rays announced that Herget been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers.
Romero has a 7.71 ERA over three appearances and 4 2/3 innings for the Rays this season, marking the 24-year-old’s first bit of Major League experience. A 15th-round pick for the Mariners in the 2017 draft, Romero has been in the Rays organization since 2018, and posted some quality numbers down on the farm. He has a 2.66 ERA and 25.91% strikeout rate over 473 2/3 career innings in the minor leagues, with some variance both well above and well below that K%.
Romero has started 80 of his 108 games in the minors, though some of those were rather abbreviated outings, as the Rays experimented with some opener/piggyback starter scenarios. Most recently, Romero has been working only as a reliever, with Tampa eyeing him as bullpen depth rather than rotation help if he got another call later in the season.
The waiver claim now makes that a moot point, and it seems likely the Nationals will stretch Romero out again as a starting pitcher. The Nats have been aggressive on the waiver wire (as noted by the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty) in recent months, as the team has used the high waiver priority afforded to Washington’s low position in the standings to audition and check out several players. There isn’t much risk for the rebuilding Nats in seeing if they can find a hidden gem amongst these waiver claims, and in Romero’s case, his age (25), solid minor league track record and his full set of minor league options make him an interesting candidate.