October brings postseason play for a handful of teams and their fanbases. Just over two-thirds of the league is now in offseason mode after being eliminated, however. As the season comes to a close, a number of veterans will hit minor league free agency.
These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.
Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. The first group, courtesy of the transaction tracker at MiLB.com:
Catchers
- Zack Collins (Guardians)
- Caleb Hamilton (Red Sox)
- Francisco Mejia (Rays)
Infielders
- Matt Beaty (Royals)
- Brandon Dixon (Padres)
- Josh Lester (Orioles)
- Taylor Motter (Cardinals)
- Kevin Padlo (Angels)
- Cole Tucker (Rockies)
- Tyler Wade (A’s)
Outfielders
- Abraham Almonte (Mets)
- Kyle Garlick (Twins)
- Derek Hill (Nationals)
- Bryce Johnson (Giants)
- Cody Thomas (A’s)
Pitchers
- Archie Bradley (Marlins)
- Jose Castillo (Marlins)
- Chase De Jong (Pirates)
- Geoff Hartlieb (Marlins)
- Zach Logue (Tigers)
- Mike Mayers (White Sox)
- Tyson Miller (Dodgers)
- Tommy Milone (Mariners)
- Reyes Moronta (Angels)
- Daniel Norris (Guardians)
- Spencer Patton (A’s)
- Peter Solomon (Orioles)
- Duane Underwood Jr. (Pirates)
- Spenser Watkins (A’s)
Always enjoy seeing Tommy Milone on a list. Proof that as long as you are left-handed and can throw from a mound you have a shot at a MLB career. 950+ innings and a little over 4 WAR in 10+ seasons. Folks, when your child is born you should tie their right hand behind their backs until they are about 8 years old…
That’s what they did to Todd Marinovich and he would later get drafted by the raiders then get on drugs and arrested a bunch and in rehab numerous times.
Who got arrested? Tommy Milone? Did I miss that story, where is the link to find the story?
Seriously dude?
He’s talking about Todd….
But he made it all the way to the pros. So Zach might be on to something here.
He was drafted by the Raiders in the first round of the 1991 draft. In 1992 he was doing LSD (among other drugs) after games, which led to multiple substance abuse suspensions and was out of the NFL by 1993.
His father had a short lived NFL career due to over training.& too much focus on weight and bulk. He even had his wife on a very strict diet while she was pregnant with Todd.
It’s a sad story actually.
He was pushed very hard since virtually birth to be an NFL quarterback..
He exploded once he got out from under family control. I don’t think it is that unusual to see kids with a strict upbringing start to experiment once they have the freedom to do so.
I still have 100 of his rookie cards.
Ty Blach had a family friend teach him to throw left-handed at a young age to improve his value.
It made me wonder if Blach would’ve always mediocre player (by MLB standards) that increased his value by throwing with his left hand, or if sacrificed the dexterity of using his right hand long-term (and perhaps been an even better pitcher) by gaining attention short term by throwing left-handed.
Billy Wagner is a natural RH.
Hyun-Jin Ryu is actually right handed, which blows my mind.
I tried this with my son when he was born. Sadly he would still turn out to be right handed. Instead of D1 offers he’s stuck with D3. I’ve never been more disappointed or embarrassed in my life.
@A Raul Cassanova,
You’re an inspiration to all of us, literally the wind beneath our wings!
Mike Magnante made a career out of being a lousy lefty
Mike Magnante made a career out of being a lousy lefty
.
@arnold
As did Scott Schoeneweis. In fact, they were teammates in 1999.
Gooooooodbye Motter!!!!
Until STL brings him back on a minors deal. Cards just can’t choke out the words “good-bye”.
Cardinals resign Motter to a six year 60 million dollar deal. Might see if he can pitch as well.
Well the Mets won’t have a spot in the minors for Abraham Almonte next year. They have so many Short Stops they have to convert one or two to the outfield. Good Luck Abe!
Mark my words – he’ll be in someone’s minor league camp by February, and I’ll be right there to question the entire organizational philosophy as I have for many years now. If you feel you need Abe Almonte as a depth piece, you’re in big trouble.
a lot of who are they? and they are still around questionable types .
It would be interesting to create a virtual expansion team from this list and run it through a simulator to see how many games they would win.
13-149
Surprised to not see IKF on this list. Ain’t no way the Yankees re-sign him.
He’s still on their 40-Man roster
For what purpose if he’s no longer eligible for arbitration and will be a free agent going into 2024?
They just haven’t DFA’D him to remove him from the 40-Man Roster. So he won’t come off of the roster until after the World Series. Not like it matters since they are not even in the playoffs.
Well, I realize if I had read the actual article instead of the headline and the list of names, I would already know all this. My bad lol.
It’s all good lol. I’ve done that before as well. Sometimes MLBs free agency can be a little tricky
Same (hopefully) as Vogelbach and the Mets.
Isiah kiner-Falefa is not MiLB player. This is just minor league free agents
I’m pulling for Derek Hill
Peter Solomon= Diamondbacks
I was gonna say, I felt like I at least perused the O’s minor league affiliates from time to time this year and had never seen that name!
Lot of guys chasing too few jobs. The shut down and abbreviated season cost jobs. Japan, and Korea, and perhaps China is an option.
Would another team please sign Taylor Motter so Mozaliak is not tempted to sign him as a pitcher.
maybe he’ll sign him as a janitor this time – lot less game exposure in those mop up duties
Caleb Hamilton, we barely knew ye.
All you International League and Pacific Coast League fans….. Here they come!
Since MLB is so hot to expand, let’s do just that and populate those rosters with all these players plus the ones who end up non-tendered this winter. It will enable the real teams to pad their schedules and prevent those very teams from sniffing around those stiffs in the spring.
Thank God Bloom was fired or this topic title would be, “2024 future roster additions!”
Josh Lester did a nice job for the Orioles in AAA and should get a chance to compete for a roster spot with someone in the spring.
He did, that’s true. His MLB stint was less encouraging, but I could see him sticking on a rebuilding team.
Solomon was not with the Orioles…
Feels like Abraham Almonte is, like, 44 years old.
Something to look at for those of us whose teams are not in the playoffs…
The list is like the MLB version of the Goodwill outlet store.
Kinda like the 80s, almost 1 hit wonders!
and the clearance bin to boot!
Farhan?? Is that you digging around in that box of broken stuff?
Reyes Moronta should be on any good hot dog eating contest team. Boy is a hoss
Peter Solomon has never been in the O’s system. That should get fixed.
Pretty sad list…..yikes !
Why wasn’t Blake Hunt called up? I find it hard to believe he’s a worse catcher than mejia. Hopefully he gets a legitimate shot going forward.
Meet some of the newest members of the Pirates 2024 pitching staff. They said they are going to sign free agents.
First of all, four of the guys in the pitcher’s section have spent time in the Pirates’ system (De Jong, Hartlieb, Solomon and Underwood). Here’s hoping none of them are in line for a reunion.
I see zero problem with signing someone like Jose Castillo to a minor league contract as a free agent. The Pirates are still very thin on left-handed pitching overall, it’s worth a shot to see if he can recapture what he was in 2018 as a rookie. He’ll be 28 by season’s start with very few innings on his arm, mostly due to injuries.
That being said, your comment is probably prescient regarding Zach Logue. He was drafted by Ben Cherington in 2017, and Ben has a soft spot for guys he knows. Again, lefty depth never hurts. Same age as Castillo, better injury history, I believe he has options left.
Wow Boston fans can thank their lucky stars Bloom is gone otherwise we might have already signed 3 or 4 from the useless list of ball players. Not one of note in the long list.
Shocked Zak Collins is still around, remember Carson Fulmer, all they need is Don Cooper, not the White Sox greatest moment