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Zack Godley

Tigers Release, Re-Sign Jordy Mercer, Zack Godley

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In advance of the MLB-wide roster freeze, the Tigers released and re-signed veterans Jordy Mercer and Zack Godley, per Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. It was a procedural move, per Chris McCoskey of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter), no doubt relating to their opt-out clauses. Both players remain with the organization on minor-league pacts.

*The original version of this post misinterpreted the underlying story and failed to recognize that both players had been re-signed. We regret the error.

Mercer, the long-time Pirates shortstop, spent the 2019 season with the Detroit organization and returned as a non-roster invitee in the past offseason. He missed a lot of time due to injury but turned in a sturdy .270/.310/.438 batting line when healthy. Mercer has hit well thus far in camp and would appear to be a solidifying presence in a largely uncertain infield mix.

As for Godley, 29, he handed out eight walks in 4 1/3 innings of spring action. But he’ll still have a shot at earning a bounceback opportunity in Detroit. Godley emerged as a quality rotation piece in 2017 with the Diamondbacks but took a step back in the ensuing season and struggled mightily last year. His deal includes a $1.5MM salary and $1.5MM in possible incentives, if he can earn his way to the majors.

Tigers Sign Zack Godley

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The Tigers announced that they have signed righty Zack Godley. He’ll receive a minor-league deal with an invitation to participate in MLB camp.

There’s a $1.5MM salary if Godley can crack the roster, with another $1.5MM in available incentives, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets. Godley also receives a March 23rd opt-out date to force the Tigers’ hand. If all goes well Godley can elect free agency at season’s end rather than being subject to the arbitration process.

Godley looks to be an intriguing buy-low candidate for the Detroit organization. He has at times demonstrated an intriguing blend of skills that could make him quite a valuable starter. But more recent struggles forced the 29-year-old into a make-good, minor-league arrangement.

Last year, Godley limped through 92 innings of 5.97 ERA pitching, generating only 6.9 K/9 to go with 4.1 BB/9 and a 43.0% groundball rate. That was a far cry from his excellent 2017 season, when he ran up 155 frames of 3.37 ERA ball while striking out 9.6 and walking only 3.1 per nine and generating grounders at a hefty 55.3% rate. Godley wasn’t quite as effective in 2018 but still carried sub-4.00 FIP and xFIP numbers.

Godley has been hampered of late by a loss of fastball velocity, though it did trend up over the course of the season. He also increasingly experimented late in the ’19 campaign with abandoning his frequently used curve in favor of his cutter. Whether he’s already on track or still needs to find the right tweak, Godley will have to find a way to reverse the trends. If he can return to generating a combination of a 13+% swinging-strike rate and 50+% groundball rate, as he did in 2017, he could become a nice trade chip. If not, the Tigers will at least hope Godley can fill some innings in a respectable manner.

Zack Godley Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Zack Godley has chosen to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate, MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams reports (Twitter link).  Godley cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Jays earlier this week.

It’s been a tumultuous season for Godley, who began the year in the Diamondbacks’ rotation but fell out of favor after a rough start.  A move to the bullpen also didn’t help, as Godley was designated for assignment after posting a 6.39 ERA over 76 innings.  Toronto claimed Godley in August, and while his bottom-line results (a 3.94 ERA) were improved, the righty’s 6.8 K/9 and 1.71 K/BB rate over his 16 innings as a Blue Jay didn’t catch the eye of team brass.

Godley is eligible for arbitration for the first time this season, and it remains to be seen if he’ll catch on with another team and prove that tendering a contract to him this winter is a worthy investment, or if clubs could just wait until after the tender deadline has passed before offering him a contract.  It’s possible Godley elected free agency because he and his representatives already have a line on an interested team, as the 29-year-old does have two seasons of solid work under his belt in 2017-18.  Even a first-year arbitration salary wouldn’t be too pricey given Godley’s struggles in 2019, so a team in need of rotation depth could opt to sign him now rather than risk losing him elsewhere in December.

Blue Jays Designate Zack Godley, Select T.J. Zeuch

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5:00pm: Toronto announced that Godley has indeed been designated for assignment. His roster spot goes to right-hander T.J. Zeuch, whose contract has been formally selected from Triple-A Buffalo (whose likely promotion had been previously reported). Zeuch is in line to make his MLB debut tonight, following opener Wilmer Font.

Zeuch is generally considered to be among the Jays’ top 20 or so prospects. The 2016 first-rounder has had a solid season spent mostly at the Triple-A level, where he’s logged a 3.69 ERA in 78 innings of work. However, Zeuch also managed just 4.5 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in that time. His hefty 57.1 percent grounder rate can help offset the lack of missed bats to an extent, but he’ll need to up his strikeout totals in order to find sustained success in the big leagues.

Toronto also recalled infielder Richard Urena along with outfielders Anthony Alford and Jonathan Davis.

2:59pm: The Blue Jays have designated righty Zack Godley for assignment, per MLBTR’s Steve Adams (Twitter link). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known, but the club has a need for space for forthcoming promotions.

Godley, 29, struggled quite a bit with the Diamondbacks before they cut him loose. He’ll have enough service time to qualify for arbitration after the season, though that won’t matter unless he’s claimed by a team with designs on tendering him a contract.

Clearly, the Jays decided against that course of action after watching Godley up close. He was able to provide 16 innings of 3.94 ERA ball in Toronto, but produced only 6.8 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 with a 43.0% groundball rate. Those numbers are well shy of the quality peripherals Godley produced in each of the past two campaigns.

Blue Jays Claim Zack Godley

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TODAY: The Jays officially added Godley to the active roster, optioning right-hander Brock Stewart to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

YESTERDAY: The Blue Jays have claimed righty Zack Godley off waivers from the Diamondbacks, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter). Toronto will owe Godley the remainder of his $609K salary.

It’s easy to see why the Jays took a shot on the 29-year-old Godley. In need of some additional arms to finish out the season, there’s no harm in giving him an opportunity. And the club could tender Godley a contract for 2020 if he manages to bounce back.

Make no mistake, though: it has been a rough campaign to this point for Godley. His strikeout rate has plummeted to just 6.9 K/9 after sitting at better than a batter-per-inning in the prior two seasons. Godley is giving up more homers than he had in those immediately preceding campaigns as well. The result: a 6.39 ERA over 76 innings.

A mid-season move to a multi-inning relief role did help, as Godley’s velocity turned up a bit. He held opposing hitters to a .218/.297/.414 batting line and posted an improved 28:13 K/BB ratio. But he was also tagged for seven long balls and a 4.62 ERA in his 37 relief frames.

Godley is just two years removed from an excellent 2017 campaign and also posted reasonably promising peripherals last year. But he’ll have to figure some things out if he’s to get back on an upward trajectory. Rediscovering some of the lost velo would help. He’s generating swinging-strikes at a significantly lower rate than he did in his ’17 effort (10.1% vs. 13.3%), with the difference residing almost entirely in the fact that hitters have made way more contact on pitches out of the zone. His groundball rate has sagged from 55.3% at its peak to to just 43.0% this year.

D-Backs Announce Pitching Roster Moves

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The Diamondbacks announced a series of pitching moves. Heading onto the roster are lefty Robby Scott and righty Kevin Ginkel. The latter had to be added to the 40-man roster.

Clearing the 40-man spot was accomplished by designating Zack Godley for assignment, as expected. To procure an additional active roster spot, righty Taylor Clarke was optioned down.

Ginkel, 25, heads up to the bigs for the first time after an impressive showing in the upper minors this year. In 35 1/3 total frames on the season, he carries a 1.78 ERA with an eye-popping 16.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. Ginkel has allowed only 19 base hits.

Diamondbacks To Designate Zack Godley For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks have told right-hander Zack Godley that he has been designated for assignment, the Arizona Republic’s Richard Morin reports.  MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert tweeted that such a move seemed imminent earlier today, as Godley was seen saying his goodbyes to teammates in the Arizona clubhouse.

The news ends a nightmare of a season for Godley, who posted a 6.39 ERA, 1.66 K/BB rate, and 6.9 K/9 over 76 innings for the D’Backs.  He lost his rotation job at the end of April (minus a few spot starts the rest of the way) and couldn’t get on track coming out of the Snakes’ bullpen.

After posting solid results as a starter for the D’Backs in 2017-18, Godley looked like a promising mid-rotation arm before his numbers fell off virtually across the board from his performance in the previous two seasons.  Godley’s strikeout fell markedly after he averaged better than a strikeout per inning in 2017-18, while his grounder rate, home run rate, swinging strike rate, and hard-contract rate all went in the wrong direction.

Since Godley was out of options, Arizona couldn’t send him to the minors and had no choice but to designate him and expose him to outright waivers.  Despite his struggles, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a team make a claim on Godley, given how difficult it is to obtain pitching now that the trade deadline has passed.  Godley isn’t even arbitration-eligible yet until this winter, so non-contenders are also likely to have interest in seeing if they can land a controllable arm that could be a potential bargain if he can get on track.  While his career home-road splits are pretty even, Godley has pitched a bit better outside of Chase Field this year, so perhaps a change of scenery is required.

Mike Hazen: D-backs Will Likely “Look To Add” Starting Pitching

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The Diamondbacks’ starting staff has been a respectable unit this season, though the club hasn’t been able to find a capable fifth option to plug into a rotation that includes Zack Greinke, Luke Weaver, Robbie Ray and Merrill Kelly. Zack Godley has received ample rope this year, having racked up eight of the nine starts that haven’t gone to Greinke, Weaver, Ray or Kelly, but hasn’t come close to replicating his useful production from either 2017 or ’18. Godley turned in his latest unappealing performance of the year Saturday in a loss to the Giants, whose normally impotent offense chased him after totaling four earned runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Earlier this week, before Godley’s outing against San Francisco, Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told reporters (including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic) that it would be “ideal” for the 29-year-old to regain form and lock down a rotation spot going forward. However, with Godley battling a velocity drop and ranking last in ERA (7.90), fifth worst in K/BB ratio (1.52) and 15th from the bottom in FIP (5.45) among 109 major leaguers who have thrown at least 40 innings this season, it doesn’t look as if the Diamondbacks can continue holding out for a resurgence.

Hazen, cognizant of Godley’s struggles, revealed in the wake of Taijuan Walker’s newest arm injury that Arizona will likely “look to add” starting pitching leading up to the July trade deadline. Hazen didn’t even close the door on a pursuit of free-agent left-hander Dallas Keuchel, per Piecoro, saying: “We’re going to look at starting pitching now, I would imagine, as we move forward. We’ll see how we get through this next brief period of time. And then I’m sure we’ll be looking at all options of starting pitching.”

Keuchel may finally end his holdout and sign somewhere once the first few days of June pass, given that a team would no longer have to surrender draft pick compensation for inking the qualifying offer recipient. But the longtime Astro might not be able to help a club for at least a few weeks after signing, considering he’d probably have to ramp up before returning to a major league mound, and could still score a payday outside the Diamondbacks’ comfort zone.

Whether or not the Diamondbacks land Keuchel or swing a summer trade for rotation help, it appears they’ll have to continue trying to make do with in-house possibilities for the time being. That could mean demoting Godley from the rotation – something the Diamondbacks already did earlier this season before reinstating him – in favor of one of their younger choices.

Promising prospect Taylor Clarke, the only other D-back to get a start this year, has impressed over a limited sample of work and is eligible for a recall after the team optioned him May 9. The 26-year-old Clarke has turned in ugly results with Triple-A Reno this season, though, which could give the big league club pause. On the other hand, fellow prospect Jon Duplantier has been Reno’s top starter and has held his own in Arizona across 12 innings as a reliever. Duplantier, 24, may be the team’s best hope right now to stabilize the back of its rotation. Either way, the 25-21 Diamondbacks are going to have to figure something out quickly in order to maximize their chances of earning a wild-card spot.

NL West Notes: Tatis Jr., Giants, Godley

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Though Padres fans are anxiously awaiting the return of Fernando Tatis Jr., it seems he’ll be down for at least another week. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Tatis is not yet even running at full speed. Yesterday was an off-day in the budding superstar’s rehab work, and there’s no definite timeline on his activation.  The 20-year-old Tatis posted an outstanding .300/.360/.550 slash with six homers, five doubles, a triple and six stolen bases through his first 27 games and 111 plate appearances and helped fuel a surprisingly strong April for the upstart Padres. Since Tatis went down with his hamstring injury, San Diego has gone 6-7, though they’ve had a tough schedule that included a four-game set in Atlanta, three games hosting the Dodgers and three games at Coors Field.

More from the NL West…

  • USA Today’s Bob Nightengale spoke to a number of Giants players about the likely rebuild that is on the horizon. The writing has been on the wall in San Francisco for some time now, and many in the clubhouse sound almost resigned to their fate. “It would definitely suck to leave these guys, but it’s a business,” said closer Will Smith — an obvious trade candidate given that he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. “We’ve all pretty much been traded. So, it’s not anything new to us. We’d just hate to see it happen.” Manager Bruce Bochy, who has already announced that he’ll retire after 2019, said he understands whatever path the new front office takes but also voiced that it’d be painful to see a rebuild begin when he won’t be around to see it through. “If you’re in a rebuilding situation, that can be a fun challenge if you’re there for the rebuild,” the skipper stated. “But I’m not going to be here.”
  • Of course, if (or when) the Giants do indeed embark on a sell-off, Madison Bumgarner will be the top piece available. Bumgarner updated his no-trade clause over the winter, and the lefty said this weekend that he did so in order to gain more control over the process in a theoretical trade scenario (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly). While his former list included losing clubs in markets Bumgarner did not want to pitch, he updated the list to reflect eight likely contenders, giving him some leverage when the Giants begin shopping him around. Relievers Smith, Sam Dyson, Tony Watson and Nick Vincent all seem like clear trade candidates in addition to Bumgarner. Smith, Watson and Vincent can all become free agents this winter, while Dyson is only controlled through 2020.
  • The Diamondbacks gave Zack Godley a start Sunday not long after initially pulling him from the rotation, but he only faced the Braves’ lineup one time before being pulled after two scoreless innings. Per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, manager Torey Lovullo said after the game that that pitching plan was “by design,” though it curiously sounds as if that was not communicated to Godley himself. The right-hander didn’t voice any frustration and said he wouldn’t have prepared for the game any differently had he known he’d be used more like an opener, but he also said he simply wasn’t aware of the plan. Godley, in his career, has held opponents to a .225/.298/.320 batting line during his first trip through the lineup, but those numbers soar to .281/.363/.482 on his second trip through the lineup. It’s not clear if the D-backs plan to continue that manner of usage at this time, though yesterday’s results were undoubtedly encouraging.

Diamondbacks Move Zack Godley To Bullpen

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The Diamondbacks are removing right-hander Zack Godley from the rotation and placing him in the bullpen, manager Torey Lovullo said in an appearance on the Burns & Gambo show on 98.7 FM Arizona Sports. A replacement for Godley in the rotation has yet to be decided upon.

It’s been an awful start to the season for the 29-year-old Godley, who has seen his walk rate increase as his strikeout rate and velocity have decreased over the past couple of seasons. Through six starts (29 2/3 innings), he’s limped to a 7.58 with 25 strikeouts against 18 walks, two hit batters and three wild pitches.

Control has obviously been a significant struggle for Godley, but his ground-ball rate is also down a whopping 14 percent from his career year in 2017. He’s also seen his average fastball dwindle from 91.9 mph in ’17 to 89.9 mph this year, and his swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates rates have each dipped at least three percent. Sending Godley to the minors to try to get back on track wasn’t on the table, as the righty is out of minor league option and would’ve needed to pass through outright waivers in order to be sent down.

As far as in-house options, top prospect Jon Duplantier is the most appealing potential replacement for Godley, but as 98.7’s Kevin Zimmerman notes, Duplantier was just optioned to Triple-A on Sunday and would need to remain in the minors for 10 days before he could be recalled (unless he came up as an injury replacement). Well-regarded prospect Taylor Widener is off to a dismal start in Reno this season, and that’s largely true of the team’s entire collection of starters in Triple-A. Righty Emilio Vargas has thrown well for Double-A to open the season and is already on the 40-man roster, but his experience above A-ball is limited.

The struggles for Godley could scarcely come at a worse time. The late-blooming righty fell just weeks shy of arbitration eligibility this past offseason and came into the season with two years, 112 days of MLB service. A solid — or even passable — season in the rotation would’ve set him up for his first seven-figure salary in pro ball. While it’s certainly possible that he’ll return to form and move back into the rotation by season’s end, the ugly start and a move to what figures to be a low-leverage relief role won’t do his earning power any favors — assuming he sticks on the roster and ultimately qualifies for arbitration.

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