Cardinals Designate T.J. McFarland For Assignment
The Cardinals announced that they have recalled right-hander Jake Woodford from Memphis, with lefty T.J. McFarland being designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
McFarland, 33, is a veteran playing in his tenth MLB season, having previously suited up for the Orioles, Diamondbacks and Athletics. Last year, he signed a minor league deal with the Nationals but was granted his release in order to pursue an opportunity with the Cardinals. That ended up working out very well for McFarland and the Cards, as he registered an ERA of 2.56 over 38 2/3 innings with the club. McFarland was always a low-strikeout, high-grounder guy, which he continued with a 14.6% strikeout rate and 63.7% ground ball rate.
It seems both sides were quite happy with the arrangement, as the Cardinals quickly re-signed McFarland on the first day of free agency last year. The southpaw is making a salary of $2.5MM this year, with $500K of incentives also in the deal. Unfortunately, things have taken a sour turn here in 2022, with McFarland currently wearing an ERA of 6.61. His ground ball rate, while still above average, has slid to 53%. His strikeout rate has slid even further below average, coming in at 11% on the season. He’s also seen his BABIP jump up to .333 after being at .261 last year and his HR/FB jump from 12% to 16.7%. Based on the poor results, the Cardinals have decided to go in a different direction.
With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, the Cardinals will only be able to choose between placing McFarland on outright waivers or release waivers. It’s effectively a moot point, as McFarland has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and return to free agency. Though his salary isn’t exorbitant, he’s likely to go unclaimed on waivers and become a free agent again. Once that happens, he could garner interest from teams around the league, despite his down year. Left-handed relief is always in demand and many teams are lacking in that department. Both the Mariners and the Blue Jays, for instance, are currently without even a single southpaw in their respective bullpens.
Tigers To Select Kerry Carpenter
Aug. 10: The Tigers have announced Carpenter’s selection to reporters, including Woodbery, with righty Beau Brieske being transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. He will be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was due to forearm soreness on July 21. He could technically return in late September, though with the Tigers well out of contention, it seems possible that his season may be finished.
Aug. 9: The Tigers are bringing up corner outfield prospect Kerry Carpenter to make his major league debut, the team informed reporters (including Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). Daz Cameron is being optioned to Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding move. The club will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster before tomorrow’s game to formally select Carpenter’s contract.
Carpenter, 25 next month, entered pro ball as a 19th-round draft choice back in 2019. The Virginia Tech product wasn’t regarded as a draft prospect of much note and lost his first full professional season to the pandemic cancelation of the minor leagues. He spent last year with Double-A Erie, hitting at a roughly league average level. Few would’ve anticipated he was on the verge of a breakout, but Carpenter has torn the cover off the ball in 2022.
The left-handed hitter started this season back in Erie. He played there through late June, blasting 22 home runs in 63 games. Carpenter’s strikeout and walk rates weren’t great, but his power output was so overwhelming the Tigers bumped him up to Toledo. He’s played 33 games with the Mud Hens and hit even better there than he had in Erie. Carpenter is hitting .342/.433/.667 through 134 Triple-A plate appearances, connecting on eight homers and 11 doubles with matching strikeout and walk rates (12.7% apiece).
Carpenter doesn’t offer much defensive value, so he’ll have to hit at an above-average level to be productive. Baseball America credited him with plus power in ranking him the #12 prospect in the Detroit system midseason, writing that he made some swing changes last offseason that appear to have paid off. He’d have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft if not added to the 40-man roster at the start of the offseason. As they turn their attention to 2023, the Tigers will get their first look at a player they hope can carve out a regular corner outfield role in the coming years.
Mariners Option Kyle Lewis
The Mariners announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game, with utility player Dylan Moore and right-hander Diego Castillo each being reinstated from the injured list. To make room on the active roster, the club has optioned both left-hander Brennan Bernardino and outfielder Kyle Lewis to Triple-A Tacoma.
The optioning of Lewis is arguably the most significant detail here, as he is a former Rookie of the Year and once seemed a lock to be part of the next great Mariners team. Now 27, he burst onto the scene in 2019, making his MLB debut and getting into 18 games. He hit six homers in that small sample and slashed .268/.293/.592 for a wRC+ of 128. He carried that over into the shortened 2020 campaign, hitting 11 homers, stealing five bags and producing a batting line of .262/.364/.437, wRC+ of 127. He was unanimously voted the American League Rookie of the Year that season.
Unfortunately, Lewis has been having a miserable time over the past two years. He suffered a meniscus tear in 2021, which ended his season after just 36 games. His recovery even lingered into 2022, with Lewis beginning the season on the injured list and not getting activated until May 24. Just five days later, his misfortune continued, as he landed on the concussion IL. The M’s sent him out on a rehab assignment over a month later, in early July, returning to the big league club in late July.
Lewis has hit very well in the minors during his various rehab assignments, putting up a batting line of .293/.408/.741 this year for a wRC+ 177. However, his MLB playing time has been much less successful, as he’s hit .143/.226/.304, striking out in 30.6% of his plate appearances in that 18-game sample.
With Mitch Haniger recently returning from the injured list, it seems Lewis got squeezed out of the outfield picture, as Haniger will take regular playing time next to Jesse Winker and Jarred Kelenic, with Moore, Sam Haggerty and Jake Lamb also capable of seeing some time on the grass. Julio Rodriguez is also expected to return from the IL later this week, which will only crowd things further.
The option could potentially have repercussions for Lewis from a service time perspective, as he came into this season with his service time clock sitting at two years and 20 days. Since 172 days is considered a full season, Lewis would need to accumulate 152 days on the active roster this season to cross the three-year mark. The season is about 125 days old at this point by my unofficial count, meaning Lewis is about 27 days shy of crossing over that barrier. If he gets recalled later in the season and makes up that difference, he would qualify for free agency after the 2025 season, but it would be pushed back by a year if he comes up short. He would almost certainly still qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player regardless, as he should finish the season at 2.145 even if he never returns to the big league club. The Super Two cutoff moves from year to year, as it includes the top 22% of players between two and three years of service time. The most recent cutoff was 2.116, with the highest of the past decade-plus being the 2.146 in 2011.
The option of Bernardino is also a notable development as he was the only lefty in the club’s bullpen, with Ryan Borucki getting placed on the IL recently. For the time being, it seems the club will operate with an entirely right-handed relief corps.
That relief corps will evidently include Chris Flexen, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times notes that he has been moved to the bullpen. With the acquisition of Luis Castillo at the trade deadline, the M’s are suddenly dealing with an abundance of starting pitching, as Castillo joins Robbie Ray, Marco Gonzales, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby in the rotation. It seems Flexen has been edged out for the time being and will work out of the ‘pen. Flexen is just 3 1/3 innings away from securing himself an $8MM guarantee for next year, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently examined. Moving to the bullpen will delay Flexen vesting that salary for next year, though he should still have plenty of time to get over the line.
Braves Select Top Prospect Vaughn Grissom, Activate Kirby Yates
The Braves announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of top infield prospect Vaughn Grissom from Double-A Mississippi and activated right-hander Kirby Yates from the 60-day injured list.
To open space on the 40-man roster, Atlanta activated first baseman Mike Ford from the 10-day IL and designated him for assignment and also transferred outfielder Adam Duvall from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Atlanta also announced that infielder Orlando Arcia is headed to the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain and that righty Huascar Ynoa has been optioned to Triple-A. That frees up a pair of spots on the 26-man roster for Grissom and Yates.
Still just 21 years old, Grissom was an 11th-round pick in 2019 who has skyrocketed through the minors, culminating in a .363/.408/.516 slash through his first 98 plate appearances in Double-A. That’s his only experience above A-ball, though this year’s .312/.404/.487 output in 344 plate appearances at High-A bear mention as well. It’s the second time this season that the Braves have aggressively promoted a top prospect directly from the Double-A ranks, and it’s easy to imagine that the major success of Michael Harris II may have emboldened the front office to go back to the well a second time.
Despite that humble draft status, Grissom has ascended to the No. 77 spot on Baseball America’s latest top-100 prospect ranking and No. 98 over at MLB.com. He’s cracked 14 home run, 20 doubles and two triples across those two minor league levels this season, all while going 27-for-32 in stolen base attempts. Grissom doesn’t walk much (8.1% on the season but just four walks in 98 Double-A plate appearances), but he’s also fanned in only 12.2% of his plate appearances this season.
Grissom has been primarily a shortstop this season and throughout his minor league career, but the Braves have given him seven starts at second base and six at third base so far in the minors this year. Scouting reports at BA. MLB.com and FanGraphs question his ability to remain at shortstop in the long run, but his bat is thought to be solid enough to profile at second, third or even in the outfield (though he’s played infield exclusively to this point in his pro career). In the short term, with Arcia headed to the IL and Ozzie Albies still mending a broken foot, it seems likely that Grissom will be ticketed for work at second base.
Starting Grissom’s service clock now sets him up for a potential trip to free agency in the 2028-29 offseason, although plenty can change that trajectory along the way. Albies and third baseman Austin Riley are signed long-term in the infield, and it’s not yet known whether the Braves will be able to retain free-agent-to-be Dansby Swanson beyond the current season. Even if Swanson were to depart, Grissom wouldn’t be a lock to step right into the fray. He’s largely untested above Class-A, and while Harris’ success story is encouraging, it’s more common for players — even top prospects — to struggle following such aggressive promotions. Regardless, he’ll earn some big league service time this season, and his placement on the 40-man roster a year sooner than was required will accelerate his minor league option schedule.
Turning to the veteran Yates, he’ll add yet another high-profile, potentially dominant arm to an Atlanta bullpen that is hardly short on such commodities. The 35-year-old inked a two-year, $8.25MM deal this winter — a backloaded contract that pays him just $1MM in 2022 due to the fact that Yates has been shelved for the entire season to this point while rehabbing from last year’s Tommy John surgery. When healthy most recently, in 2018-19, he was an All-Star closer with the Padres, pitching to a combined 1.67 ERA with 53 saves, a huge 38.7% strikeout rate and a tiny 6.1% walk rate.
It remains to be seen whether Yates can recapture that form, but his work on a minor league rehab assignment thus far certainly creates some optimism. Across three Braves affiliates, Yates logged a combined 8 1/3 innings of one-run ball with just four hits allowed and a 10-to-2 K/BB ratio. He’ll join Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek and Collin McHugh near the back of an outstanding bullpen.
As for the 30-year-old Ford, he’s gone hitless in eight big league plate appearances with the Braves this season and logged a combined .150/.320/.175 batting line in 50 plate appearances between Atlanta, Seattle and San Francisco. The former Yankees minor leaguer was never considered among the top prospects in the New York organization but does carry a .258/.355/.481 batting line and 61 homers through 1294 career plate appearances in Triple-A. With trades of players who’ve been on Major League rosters this season now prohibited after the Aug. 2 deadline, Ford will be placed on waivers within the next week and be made available to all 29 other clubs.
Giants Outright Dixon Machado
Infielder Dixon Machado went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento by the Giants, tweets Evan Webeck of the San Jose Mercury News. The Giants designated Machado for assignment just a week after acquiring him from the Cubs in a minor swap that sent 30-year-old righty Raynel Espinal to Chicago. Machado’s acquisition helped the Giants to patch a brief infield need with Thairo Estrada in concussion protocol and veterans Brandon Crawford (knee inflammation) and Evan Longoria (minor oblique strain) all on the injured list. That trio has since been reinstated, pushing Machado from the roster.
It’s uncommon to see a team give up a player in move designed as only a short-term stopgap, but Espinal is a 30-year-old right-hander who’d signed as a minor league free agent, pitched to a 5.29 ERA with San Francisco’s top affiliate in Sacramento, and can again become a minor league free agent at season’s end. Viewed through that lens, the Giants didn’t exactly surrender any potential long-term value in the swap, which will simply provide the Cubs with a bit of rotation depth in the final couple months.
Machado, also 30, appeared in five games and took 17 plate appearances with the Giants, hitting .200/.294/.200 in that tiny sample. He’s had a nice season in the upper minors, batting .312/.402/.394 in 391 plate appearances during his first season back in North American ball after a nice showing in the Korea Baseball Organization. Machado spent the 2020-21 campaigns with the KBO’s Lotte Giants and turned in a .280/.359/.393 in 1095 plate appearances. His power and prowess on the basepaths both faded in his second KBO season, but Machado posted nearly identical batting averages (.280, .281) and on-base percentages (.356, .361) in two otherwise consistent seasons abroad.
Because he’s been outrighted in the past, Machado will have the opportunity to reject this assignment in favor of free agency. There’s been no indication to this point that he plans to do so, however. Assuming he indeed sticks with the Giants for the remainder of the season, he’ll give them some depth behind veterans Longoria, Crawford, Estrada, Wilmer Flores and Tommy La Stella over the final couple months. He can again be a free agent at season’s end.
Outrights: Thomas, Charles, Zabala
A few players recently designated for assignment have passed through waivers unclaimed. We’ll round up the latest outrights around the game.
- The Angels announced that outfielder Dillon Thomas has been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. The 29-year-old has the right to refuse the assignment in favor of free agency, having previously been outrighted by the Mariners last year. Thomas has only played in eight MLB games this season, but he’s bounced around the waiver wire a bit. Signed to a minor league deal by the Halos, he was briefly selected onto the big league roster. He was quickly waived, landed with the Astros, then went back to Orange County before going unclaimed. Thomas has an excellent .294/.389/.500 showing through 319 Triple-A plate appearances this season.
- A’s right-hander Wandisson Charles cleared waivers and was sent outright to Double-A Midland, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. It’s the first career outright for Charles, so he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency at the moment. The 25-year-old (26 next month) will stick with the RockHounds and try to play his way back onto the 40-man roster. Charles has a power arm, but he’s had a disastrous season in Double-A. He owns a 9.53 ERA across 34 innings of relief, striking out and walking batters at a matching 18.6% clip. If he’s not selected back onto the 40-man by the start of the offseason, Charles would qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the year.
- Marlins reliever Aneurys Zabala has been sent outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, according to his MLB.com transactions log. It’s the second outright of the season for the righty, who has the right to elect free agency this time around. Zabala has made his first two MLB appearances this season, working 2 2/3 scoreless frames while averaging north of 99 MPH on his fastball. Zabala clearly has high-octane stuff, but he’s walked an unacceptable 27.9% of batters faced in Triple-A this year. Those strike-throwing concerns have prevented him from finding a roster spot despite his elite arm strength.
Travis Jankowski Elects Free Agency
The Mariners announced that outfielder Travis Jankowski has passed through waivers unclaimed. He’s refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Tacoma in favor of free agency. As a player with five-plus years of MLB service time, Jankowski can head to the open market while still collecting the remaining guarantees on his contract.
Jankowski had a very brief stint in the Seattle organization. The Mariners claimed him off waivers from the Mets on August 1. He appeared in one game, striking out in his only plate appearance, before being designated for assignment after the club bolstered its bench at the trade deadline. Now that he’s gone unclaimed on waivers, he’ll set out into free agency in search of a new opportunity.
Before landing in the Pacific Northwest, Jankowski had spent the year in Queens. He hit .167/.286/.167 without an extra-base hit in 63 plate appearances over 43 contests. The 31-year-old has never been a huge offensive threat, but his career .236/.319/.310 line is more acceptable than his 2022 production. Paired with elite speed and quality defense across all three outfield spots, that’s been sufficient to get Jankowski frequent action as a fourth outfielder with the Padres, Reds and Phillies before this season.
It’s possible Jankowski will have to settle for a minor league offer during this trip to the open market. He should draw some interest as an outfield depth option for clubs, particularly within the next couple weeks. Players have to be in an organization (although not on a 40-man roster) by September 1 to be eligible for postseason play.
Red Sox Sign Jeurys Familia To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox have signed right-hander Jeurys Familia to a minor league deal, per Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Chris Cotillo of MassLive relays that it’s a minor league deal.
Familia, 32, is a veteran who is in his 11th MLB season, having previously donned the jerseys of the Mets, A’s and Phillies. For his career, he’s thrown 532 2/3 innings with a 3.46 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 54.7% ground ball rate. His best stretch was with the Mets from 2014 to 2018, though his performance has fallen off since then.
A free agent this offseason, Familia was signed by the Phillies to a one-year deal that came with a $6MM guarantee and incentives. Through 34 innings on the year, Familia has registered an ERA of 6.09, along with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 48.1% ground ball rate. He was designated for assignment and then released last week.
The Red Sox will be taking a chance that Familia can bounce back, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility. He has a .408 batting average on balls in play this year, well above his .303 career rate. He also has a strand rate of just 68.3% on the season, compared to a 74.9% clip for his career. As such, the advanced metrics feel he deserved better than that 6.09 ERA, as he has a 4.71 xERA, 4.88 FIP, 4.15 xFIP and 3.91 SIERA.
Since Familia was released by the Phillies, they are paying out the remainder of his contract. If the Red Sox eventually select him to the big league club, they will only be responsible for the prorated league minimum, with that amount being subtracted from what Philly pays. That means this is effectively a no-cost way for Boston to improve its bullpen depth.
Mariners Sign Anthony Banda To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have signed left-hander Anthony Banda to a minor league deal, per Mike Curto, broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle’s Triple-A team.
Banda, 28, joins his third organization of the year, as he began the season with the Pirates but was designated for assignment and traded to the Blue Jays in July. He lasted a month with the Jays before being a roster casualty on deadline day, getting bumped out of the picture when the Jays made several additions to the club. After clearing waivers, he was eligible to reject an outright assignment and return to the open market by virtue of having been previously outrighted in his career.
Between the Pirates and Blue Jays, Banda has thrown 26 innings on the year with a 5.88 ERA, though much more impressive peripherals. He has a 23.2% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 33.3% ground ball rate. A .446 batting average on balls in play seems to be pushing that ERA up, leading to all advanced metrics valuing Banda as deserving better. He has a 4.34 xERA, 3.92 FIP, 3.92 xFIP and 3.45 SIERA this year.
For the Mariners, adding another lefty to their system is fairly sensible, given their dearth of options in that department. Ryan Borucki was placed on the 15-day injured list earlier today due to a flexor strain, with Brennan Bernardino being recalled to take his place as the only southpaw in the big league bullpen. The only other lefty on the 40-man roster that’s not in the big league starting rotation is Justus Sheffield, who was been working as a starter in the minors. Banda will add to the club’s thin crop of left-handed relief depth.
Dodgers Sign Jahmai Jones To Two-Year Minor League Deal
The Dodgers have signed infielder Jahmai Jones to a minor league contract, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports that it’s a two-year contract, since Jones will miss the remainder of this year after having undergone Tommy John surgery.
Jones, 25, was a second-round pick of the Angels and made his MLB debut with them in 2020. He was a highly-touted part of their system, with Baseball America placing him on their list of top Angel farmhands starting in 2016 and even ranking him #89 in all of baseball in 2018. He went to the Orioles in the trade that sent Alex Cobb to the Halos prior to the 2021 campaign. Between the two clubs, he’s gotten into 29 MLB games, hitting .176/.228/.216 in that small sample.
He’s generally fared better in the minors, however, hitting .243/.337/.431 in Triple-A last year. He walked in 11.9% of his plate appearances and stole 11 bases in just 70 games. His offense was 6% better than league average by measure of wRC+ and he was also versatile enough to play both second base and left field, along with a very brief cameo in center.
This year, his production slipped a bit, though in a small sample of 27 games, with his injury potentially playing a role there. He underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of May. Jones was on optional assignment at the time, continuing to occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. The Orioles could have added him to the 60-day IL, which would have removed him from the 40-man, though that would have also entitled him to MLB service time and pay. Instead, the club designated him for assignment and, since injured players can’t be put on outright waivers, put him on release waivers.
Though Jones won’t return this season, the Dodgers are making a long-term play with these two-year deal. In the short term, Jones can use team facilities and staff as part of his rehab, later allowing the Dodgers to add a former top prospect as a depth option.