Reliever Trevor Rosenthal, designated for assignment Wednesday by the Tigers, has cleared waivers and elected free agency, the club reports.
Rosenthal began his disastrous 2019 campaign in Washington after signing a one-year deal that guaranteed him $7MM. The longtime St. Louis relief ace, who’d seen his command yo-yo between shaky and adequate in his six-year Cardinal tenure, suddenly couldn’t find the plate at all in his first appearances after a return from Tommy John. The 29-year-old walked a frightening 15 men in just 12 appearances (6 1/3 IP) for the club, many of which were cut short before even an out was recorded.
Another free-market go-round ended swiftly in late June when the righty agreed to a minor league pact with Detroit. Despite six hardly propitious outings at Triple-A Toledo, the Tigers added Rosenthal to their post all-star bullpen in hopes of a rebound. His first few outings were promising – Rosenthal walked just three and set down five in four one-inning appearances – but the wild hairs regrew as the weeks passed: the 2015 All-Star walked multiple batters in four different outings for the Tigers before his dismissal on Wednesday.
Rosenthal’s 98.0 MPH average fastball velocity is actually the second-highest of his career, though his bat-missing ways have mostly been teased out, at least compared to the sky-high rates of years bygone. There may still be a team or two out there who believes it can fix the righty this season, though perhaps it’s in the best interest of all involved to delay such a project ’til the outset of the 2020 campaign.
astrosfan4life
Astros reclamation project.
hunthutch
Same I see either dodgers or Astro’s
astrosfan4life
Both could do wonders with him. Sanchez has thrown his second straight gem for Houston since they acquired him.
Nick Stevens
Enjoy retirement Trevor. Hope you saved some money.
hunthutch
Not retiring when he’s tossing a 98 mph heater
Nick Stevens
People need to get off this throwing heat crap. If it’s a straight ball at 98, MLB hitters crush it. If he can’t throw it for strikes, it’s worthless. He’s a mess, both mechanically and mentally.
SuperSinker
Thank you Nick, biomechanics expert as well as a psychologist.
bigcheesegrilledontoast
Nick’s the self proclaimed baseball guru, when he starts talking people leave the room
Nick Stevens
Yes I am.
baseballwarshipper
Good example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
stevenam
No. You’re not. If Rosenthal was throwing a straight pitch, he’d not be struggling to find the plate, and he wouldn’t be missing bats. Maybe watch a game one day.
Also fun to read your expert psychoanalysis on a complete stranger.
Keep your day job if you have one.
Nick Stevens
You guys have a classic case of insecurity. This forum is notorious for that and complete morons who think THEY have all the answers and no other opinions matter. And when you end comments with, “watch a game sometime”, that seals the deal for me with what I’m dealing with here.
JFactor
The person who is insecure is the one who inflates his baseball knowledge and thinks he can analyze a players mental readiness from a computer screen.
Nick Stevens
About as bad as analyzing me, without knowing me, from a computer screen. See how that goes?
astrosfan4life
I think we are all experts and we all deserve to be compensated for our commentative knowledge on this forum. Since fast food workers think they deserve $15/hr, I hereby state that we deserve $20 per comment!
baseballwarshipper
Mister Rodgers would say” I love you just the way you are! Hey, I have an idea! Lets pretend.”
Chicks Dig the Longball
But he is still talented. That’s why teams will keep signing him because it’s a low investment for a huge bargain if he gets right. If teams only signed players that were already finished products, there would only be two players and every game would be Verlander v Trout.
Mendoza Line 215
Chicks-And as Yogi Berra said,there would be a lot of passed balls since you do not have a catcher.
Mendoza Line 215
Astrosfan-My rates are:
$20 for an expert comment
$5 for a “meh” comment
But dumb ones are still free
PeeWeeGaskins
Watch teh gaemzzz!!1!
johnrealtime
Every reclamation story starts with a shortsighted snarky mlbtr comment about how they’re done.
The guy just turned 29, hit the brakes
gmenfan
Phillies reaching for the phone.
ntorsky
I think he’s a pretty good opener candidate. Just can’t trust him with runners on base.
barkinghumans77
He started in the minors.
joedirte4life
Here’s what he needs to do.
Don’t take an instant big league offer. Take a minor league deal stick in the minors for the rest of this year and stick with a good offseason program. And work on getting his touch back and secondary pitches without the pressure and build yourself up for 2021.
Chicks Dig the Longball
He wont receive a big league offer. He is going to have to take a minor league deal with incentives if he is promoted.
ScottCFA
Rosenthal is frightening. One of the worst cases of the yips I’ve ever seen. You have no idea where the ball is going…and apparently neither does he!
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
Wonder if he should consider the Rick Ankiel route?
stevenam
I don’t necessarily think it’s the yips. He’s coming back from Tommy John. Command is usually the last thing to come around, and he wasn’t exactly Jacob deGrom before the surgery. Time and (minor league) innings might be all he needs.
cars
Ty, Why do you say it might be in the best interest all around for Trevor Rosenthal to sit out the season until free agency? Would it not be better if he could find a team that could straighten him out? Unless he were to go to an independent pitch lab.
eeddiiee909
angels
batty
It might be wise for him to try to get things back in Japan or Korea.
SuperSinker
Go to driveline!
ufo1818
Dodgers will sign him
TJECK109
If he’s hitting 98 someone in MLB will sign him. I’d say come to Pittsburgh but our pitching coach hasn’t done a thing in the past few years with reclamation projects, and may even be fired at years end
DSB Police
You can’t teach 98 MPH heat. He just needs the right situation. With 2 1/2 weeks left before teams can expand their rosters, he should catch on minor league deal and hope to help his value for next year.
musha203
Some low level team with good coaching will attempt a reclamation project whether that works or not is yet to be seen.
DSB Police
My guess is that it is between his ears at this point. You never know, a small tweak to his mechanics and he could dominate. Relievers are a fickle lot.
GarryHarris
Trevor Rosenthal throws hard but, he doesn’t know where its going. He lets one go 10 ft from the plate nearly every other appearance.
JFactor
I’d like it if the cards grabbed him on a minor league deal and sent him to Springfield to try as an opener. Season is lost anyway, have him back off on velocity and focus on throwing three pitches for strikes. Fastball, slider, change. All are plenty effective. If he can show any success, extend him to a new minor league deal next year and invite him to spring training. If it doesn’t work, let him go back to being a free agent
Nick Stevens
Talk about inflated baseball knowledge. This right here. Ladies and Gents, I present, JFactor
Backup Catcher to the Backup Catcher
Braves are trying everyone but Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutor to close out games. Everyone is failing. Their newly minted closer, Mark Melancon, allowed 4 runs to the Marlins earlier this afternoon, and Brave lost in extra innings.
That’s why I say, “Look out for the Mets!”. Duh New Yawkers came from behind and beat the Nats for the second time in two days because their bullpen is almost as bad as the Braves.
Damn, maybe the Nats should try Rosenthal. Oops! been there done that. Oh well, maybe the Phillies will give him a shot. Their bullpen, save (pun intended!) for Hector Neris has also been a disaster.
BobSacamano
No offense to Trevor, but he should not be pitching with anyone in the box till he’s able to “figure it out”. Baseballs uncontrollably thrown 98 mph towards a head, is close to gross negligence as far as I’m concerned. Eventually player safety has to count for something.
troll
people forget trevors last name, blowsemall
SecsSeksSecks
Honest to God… There are many teams that should be clammoring to give this guy a minor league deal and put him straight in the majors. Seattle, Kansas City, Toronto, Baltimore and Miami should all want this guy. They don’t need him as a reliever. They should use him as a Sergio Romo style opener. In fact, they should make him the most frequently used opener in the history of baseball. They are all going finish way out of playoff contention this season regardless of what they do. If Rosenthal opened nearly every game for any of those teams this season it would all but guarantee the #1 overall pick as well as the 1st pick in every round of the upcoming draft for that team. Put him out there to start every game just long enough to make sure the game is blown so far out that your team could never overcome the deficit. You would look charitible for giving this bust a chance and he would instantly become the anti-MVP. Your team could draft the next Bonds/Griffey/Chipper Jones/A-Rod as a result of signing this guy. If the Tigers weren’t so darn stupid they would have done it before releasing him. I guess they weren’t as dumb as Washington though. Giving this guy a guaranteed $7 million contract after he missed more than an entire season due to blowing out his elbow was epic idiocy. Who were they bidding against? Did Bezos want to pay him $6 million to be his personal Butler or something just to rub it in face of MLB teams that were willing to pay him to actually play baseball? As ludicrous as it sounds that is the most logical explanation I can think of for paying him $7 million. $5 mill would have got it done and still been a massive overpay. $1 mill would have been a massive overpay.
twinky
Twins