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Archives for August 2024

Reds Sign Casey Kelly To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed right-hander Casey Kelly to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Louisville, per an announcement from Louisville. Kelly, the son of Bats manager Pat Kelly, was released by the Korea Baseball Organization’s LG Twins last month.

Kelly, 34, was once a first-round pick by the Red Sox back in 2008. Included alongside Anthony Rizzo in the trade that brought Adrian Gonzalez to Boston, the righty was a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport prior to his big league debut with the Padres in 2012. Unfortunately, Kelly’s career in stateside ball didn’t take off the way his prospect status might have suggested. He struggled badly in his rookie season with a 6.21 ERA and 4.78 FIP in six starts for the Padres, and wouldn’t resurface in the big leagues until 2015. He struggled in brief cups of coffee for the Padres and Braves before eventually finding some small-sample size success with the Giants in 2018. In San Francisco, the righty pitched to a solid 3.04 ERA with a 4.22 FIP in seven appearances (three starts) that totaled 23 2/3 innings of work.

That performance wasn’t enough to earn him more playing time in the majors, but it did grab attention overseas, and Kelly signed his first contract with the KBO’s LG Twins prior to the 2019 season. Kelly turned in an excellent season in his first year overseas as he posted a sterling 2.55 ERA in 180 1/3 frames across 29 starts despite a strikeout rate of just 16.9%. Kelly remained with the club for more than half a decade and posted excellent numbers as a stalwart of the Twins’ rotation, with a 3.08 ERA in 875 2/3 innings of work entering the 2024 season.

While some reporting indicated that there was stateside interest in Kelly’s services this year, the right-hander remained with the Twins on a one year deal during the offseason. His results took a turn for the worse this year, however, and he surrendered a lackluster 4.51 ERA while striking out just 13.9% of opponents in 19 starts before he was eventually cut loose to make room on the club’s roster for newly-signed righty Elieser Hernandez. That’s opened the door for Kelly to return to stateside ball for the first time since 2018, though he’ll do so with a Reds organization where he faces some stiff competition to make it to the major league level.

Cincinnati is currently deploying a rotation of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Nick Martinez, and Carson Spiers with Jakob Junis in a multi-inning relief role. Of that group, Junis’s 108 ERA+ is the weakest, leaving no obvious weak link to be replaced. An injury or two could open up spots with the big league club, of course, but even then Kelly would have to put himself ahead of not only fellow non-roster veterans like Justus Sheffield but also pieces already on the club’s 40-man roster like Lyon Richardson in order to crack the big league roster. Still, it’s certainly possible to imagine a strong showing from Kelly in the minors down the stretch leading to further interest in his services in affiliated ball headed into the 2025 campaign, even if he doesn’t receive an opportunity in the majors this year.

Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro Discusses Team’s Future

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In the midst of a season that has been an unmitigated disappointment for Blue Jays fans where the club has fallen to last place in the AL East and sold off pieces at the trade deadline, club president and CEO Mark Shapiro spoke to reporters including Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson about the club’s plans for 2025 and beyond.

Shapiro did not mince words while describing the organization’s failures this season and acknowledged that the team’s performance this year has represented the “biggest disconnect from expectations” he’s overseen during his tenure at the helm of the club, which began in August of 2015. Even as he called this season the “biggest disappointment” of his time in Toronto, however, Shapiro seemed disinclined to entertain parting ways with GM Ross Atkins. While he prefaced his comments by emphasizing that he does not comment on his employees’ job statuses while the season is ongoing, he also made a general case for continuity within the organization:

“I’m a huge believer in stability and continuity and those are competitive advantages in professional sports,” Shapiro said, as relayed by Matheson. “Reacting and changing don’t necessarily mean improvement. We need to be better. We have to be better. Stability, continuity and making adjustments are where I’m focused right now.”

Parting ways with Atkins, who has been the club’s GM in each of Shapiro’s nine seasons at the helm in Toronto, would certainly be considered a move away from that message of continuity and stability. The Jays have seen some success with the duo of Shapiro and Atkins making decisions, as they’ve made the playoffs in four of their nine seasons with the club. The team only advanced beyond the Wild Card round of the postseason once, however, and that came all the way back in 2016 during their first season with the club.

Since then, the Blue Jays rebuilt and constructed a young core centered around stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette before supplementing that group with veterans such as George Springer and Kevin Gausman. Solid as that strategy may have seemed on paper, however, the results on the field have left something to be desired for a club that has failed to win the competitive AL East even once while going 423-338 since the 2019 season where Guerrero made his MLB debut. Now, both Guerrero and Bichette are entering their final seasons of arbitration eligibility, and the possibility of losing one or both in free agency next winter looms as a distinct possibility.

Of course, it’s possible that Toronto could ink one or both of their stars to an extension before they leave town. Shapiro declined to comment on the possibility of extending specific players, though he did acknowledge that it’s “certainly easier” to build a championship-level roster with players of Guerrero’s and Bichette’s caliber in the fold “for extended periods of time.”

An extension for either player would surely require a considerable financial investment, however. Guerrero in particular has re-established himself as one of the league’s premiere offensive talents this year with a fantastic .317/.391/.537 slash line, 29 doubles, and 22 homers in 112 games this year. With the slugging superstar set to hit free agency following his age-26 season next year, he appears to be in good position to cash in on a significant payday in free agency.

On the other hand, Bichette has dealt with injuries and under-performance this year as he’s been limited to 79 games while slashing just .223/.276/.321. With that being said, he’ll be coming off his age-27 campaign when he’s expected to reach free agency next winter and that combination of youth, a strong offensive track record (he was a career 127 wRC+ hitter entering the 2024 campaign), and his ability to play a premium defensive position should allow the shortstop to do quite well in free agency as long as he rebounds to something closer to his previous career levels in 2025.

Fortunately, the club figures to have plenty of payroll flexibility this winter with which they can look to sign the pair long-term while retooling the rest of the roster. The club’s final payroll is expected to land (per RosterResource) just over $218MM, with their estimated payroll for luxury tax purposes sitting just over $241MM. That’s a little more than $4MM over the first threshold of the competitive balance tax, although it’s worth noting that publicly available payroll estimates are just that. For his part, Shapiro suggested (per Matheson) that the Jays currently expect to come in under that $237MM threshold though he did acknowledge that the situation is “fluid.”

Regardless of where the club ends up in terms of final luxury tax calculations this year, they have plenty of money coming off the books this winter. RosterResource indicates that they have just over $124MM committed for 2025, and while arbitration raises for players like Guerrero and Daulton Varsho figure to push that figure up significantly—the Jays’ 2024 arb class cost the club just over $44MM—even that would leave the club with a payroll in the $170MM range, giving them around $50MM to work with this winter if they match this year’s payroll in 2025. Shapiro was vague about Toronto’s exact plans in terms of payroll for next year, however. While he did say that he doesn’t expect there to be a “large-scale pullback” in payroll, he also notes that the difficult season has impacted the club on the business side of things.

Of course, long-term deals for Bichette and Guerrero wouldn’t necessarily impact 2025’s payroll given that Bichette is already under contract for $17.5MM next year while Guerrero is already expected to command a hefty salary in his final trip through arbitration. That being said, if the Jays have their sights set on retaining either or both of their homegrown duo long-term, it’s easy to see that impacting the club’s willingness to sign other top-of-the-market talents to long-term deals this winter. That could create a complicated puzzle for the club as they attempt to return to contention next year while balancing an apparent desire to retain Guerrero and Bichette long-term against the need for significant upgrades to the current roster.

Cardinals Hoping To Retain Paul Goldschmidt Beyond 2024

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In a recent chat with readers, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch discussed the futures of a handful of pending free agents on the Cardinals roster. Most notable among them is seven-time All Star and 2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, who Goold noted the club would talk with after the season “about what a return looks like.” Goold went on to compare the situation with Goldschmidt to the one the club experienced with longtime Cardinal Adam Wainwright late in his career, when Goold notes the club allowed him to reach free agency before finalizing a previously agreed-upon deal.

That framing of the situation indicates that there’s a strong mutual interest in Goldschmidt’s stay in St. Louis extending beyond this season. The veteran first baseman, 37 next month, has spent the last six years with the Cardinals after arriving in St. Louis in a trade that brought his tenure with the Diamondbacks to an end one year before he would’ve otherwise been scheduled to reach free agency. While Goldschmidt’s thirties with the Cardinals haven’t been quite as productive as his twenties in Arizona, he’s still be among the games most reliable offensive talents with a .286/.373/.500 slash line (138 wRC+) with St. Louis entering the 2024 campaign.

Given his consistency at the plate and his still-recent MVP campaign in 2022, Goldschmidt entered the 2024 season looking as though he might be one of the offseason’s most attractive offensive talents despite his advanced age. A difficult 2024 campaign has changed that, however, as the veteran has hit just .228/.288/.384 (91 wRC+) in 110 games this season. Age-related decline becomes a concern for most any player as their career advances into their mid-to-late thirties, and for Goldschmidt to have the first below-average offensive season of his career at age 36 surely sets off alarm bells for some interested clubs.

Given Goldschmidt’s struggles this year, it’s easy to see how a reunion could make the most sense for all sides. After all, the Cardinals lack a clear heir to Goldschmidt at first base among their corps of young hitters, which is populated primarily by middle infield and outfield options. Luken Baker is the only first baseman on the 40-man roster controlled for the 2025 season, and the 27-year-old has yet to appear in the big leagues this year after a 33-game cup of coffee in 2023 where he struck out at a 31.3% clip and mustered a wRC+ of just 79. Retaining Goldschmidt would allow the club to keep a respected and decorated veteran who has had success in the recent past in the fold while they sort out long-term options at first base.

Meanwhile, a reunion would offer Goldschmidt a comfortable and familiar place to try and bounce back in 2025 with an organization that has stuck by him as their everyday first baseman even amid his hitting woes this season. It’s also worth noting that there’s some reason for optimism regarding Goldschmidt baked into his more recent performance this season. After an ice cold start to the season where he posted a paltry .530 OPS in 37 games, Goldschmidt has bounced back somewhat with a more respectable .247/.294/.446 in his last 316 trips to the plate. That figure is good for an above average wRC+ of 108.

Setting aside Goldschmidt, Goold goes on to suggest that there’s at least two other pending free agents the Cardinals could explore reunions with this winter: relievers Keynan Middleton and Andrew Kittredge. Of the two, Goold seems to imply that a reunion with Middleton is more likely, adding that there’s “mutual interest” in working out a deal with the 30-year-old who has missed the entire 2024 campaign due to season-ending flexor tendon surgery.

The Cardinals hold a $6MM club option with a $1MM buyout on Middleton’s services for the 2025 campaign, but after the righty missed his first year with the club it wouldn’t necessarily be a surprise to see St. Louis brass decline that option in hopes of re-signing Middleton to a smaller guarantee. The righty posted a 3.38 ERA in 51 games with the White Sox and Yankees last year and was particularly impressive during his time in the Bronx, when he pitched to a 1.88 ERA and struck out 30.4% of opponents. As for Kittredge, the 34-year-old righty has performed solidly in his first season with the club with a 3.12 ERA with a 4.19 FIP in 49 innings of work and will likely be eyeing a raise over the $2.263MM salary he’s earned in his final trip through arbitration this year.

Red Sox Place Tyler O’Neill On 10-Day IL, Activate Chris Martin

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The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves this evening, headlined by the club placing outfielder Tyler O’Neill on the 10-day injured list due to a left leg infection. The move is retroactive to August 4. Replacing O’Neill on the active roster is infielder Enmanuel Valdez, who has been recalled to the big league roster, and the Red Sox also activated right-hander Chris Martin from the 15-day IL. Lefty Cam Booser was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Martin.

O’Neill, 29, was acquired from the Cardinals over the offseason and has enjoyed an excellent campaign during his first season in Boston. In 342 trips to the plate this season, the 29-year-old has slashed an excellent .268/.357/.544 (142 wRC+) with 16 doubles and 22 homers. While he’s striking out at a hefty 31.9% clip, he’s paired those strong power numbers with a solid 11.1% walk rate that has given him a more well-rounded profile than he flashed in his career-best 2021 campaign when he crushed 34 homers and posted a 143 wRC+ but walked at a clip of just 7.1%.

The slugger’s performance this year seems likely to line the pending free agent up for hefty raise in free agency this winter, although one red flag for O’Neill has been his frequent trips to the shelf. After suffering hamstring, back, foot, and shoulder injuries during his final two seasons with St. Louis, he’s now made three trips to the shelf with the Red Sox this year: once for a concussion in April, once due to knee inflammation in May, and now today’s most recent ailment that manager Alex Cora described to reporters (including Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe) as a worsening infection on his left leg that has caused swelling.

The silver lining in O’Neill’s repeated trips to the IL this year is that they’ve all been fairly short-lived, and Cora indicated that this one should be more of the same as he’s likely to be activated once eligible to return next week. In the meantime, the Red Sox figure to turn to some combination of Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Rob Refsnyder in the outfield. With Rafaela frequenting the outfield in recent days, Valdez should help to shore up the club’s middle infield mix alongside David Hamilton, Nick Sogard, and Romy Gonzalez. The 25-year-old enjoyed a strong rookie season in 2023 but has taken a step back this year with a .226/.282/.402 slash line in 182 trips to the plate at the big league level.

As for Martin, the right-hander’s return to action is welcome news for a beleaguered Red Sox bullpen that has been second-worst in the majors since the start of July, ahead of only the White Sox. The 38-year-old veteran sports a solid 3.42 ERA with a matching 3.40 FIP in 26 1/3 innings of work this year and is coming off an even better season in 2023 where he dominated to the tune of an eye-popping 1.05 ERA in 55 appearances. Adding Martin to the late-inning mix to be the primary set-up man for closer Kenley Jansen should further shore up a bullpen that got reinforcements in the form of Lucas Sims and Luis Garcia prior to the trade deadline. He’ll take the roster spot of Booser, who heads to Triple-A to become the club’s top depth option with an excellent 2.77 ERA and 2.99 FIP in 39 innings of work this year.

While the bullpen will hopefully be revitalized by the return of Martin, Cora suggested to reporters today (including Abraham) that the Red Sox intend to skip right-hander Nick Pivetta’s next start. While the veteran righty doesn’t appear to be injured, Cora indicated that he’s “not responding well” coming out of his last start and that the club had some concerns about a dip in his velocity. With a day off scheduled tomorrow, the Red Sox will be able to utilize the rest of their rotation on regular rest without needing to call up another arm to take the spot on Pivetta. The righty has a middling 4.44 ERA through 18 starts this year thanks primarily due to a trio of brutal outings his last three times out that have seen him surrender 13 runs (12 earned) in 14 innings of work while serving up six home runs.

Dodgers Place Brusdar Graterol On IL With Grade 1 Hamstring Strain

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6:57pm: As relayed by MLB.com’s Juan Toribio, Roberts corrected himself this evening about Graterol’s injury, noting that the right-hander had suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain. A Grade 1 hamstring strain is the most mild form of strain, while a Grade 3 strain constitutes a complete tear of the hamstring. This is, of course, excellent news for Dodgers fans and Roberts went on to suggest that the club “remains hopeful” that the righty can return at some point this season.

5:22pm: The Dodgers announced Graterol’s placement on the injured list this evening and activated Grove to take his roster spot as expected. The club also announced that shortstop Miguel Rojas was being activated from the injured list and optioned outfielder James Outman to make room for him on the active roster.

8:40am: Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol was removed from last night’s game in obvious pain and the club announced that he has a right hamstring strain. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game that the strain was the Grade 3 variety, the most severe type. Roberts stopped short of saying that Graterol is officially done for the year but it seems likely that will be the case. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Alden González of ESPN were among those to report on the details.

It’s a brutal blow for Graterol personally, as he has already missed the majority of the season. He was sidelined in the spring due to hip tightness and inflammation in his throwing shoulder and began the season on the injured list due to the shoulder issue. The shoulder inflammation lingered long enough that he stayed on the IL until Monday. Last night was his first major league appearance of the year, which lasted eight pitches before he hurt himself. Now it seems likely that those eight pitches will be the totality of his major league work for the 2024 season.

For a frame of reference, the Royals put outfielder Kyle Isbel on the IL on May 5 of last year with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and estimated his recovery timeline to be about six weeks. He was reinstated on June 27, just over seven weeks later. Every injury is a unique situation but it seems fair to expect a longer timeline than that, given that Graterol’s strain is a higher grade. There’s just over six weeks left in the regular season now, so the circumstances seem to be pointing to Graterol being done for the year. Perhaps he can make a quick recovery and be a factor in October if the Dodgers make a long postseason run, but even in that scenario, he would have to convince the club that he’s healthy enough to be an upgrade over someone else already on the roster.

It’s a loss for the Dodger bullpen, as Graterol has been a mainstay of their relief corps prior to this year. He made 171 appearances for the club over the 2020 to 2023 seasons with a 2.69 earned run average. His 18.9% strikeout rate in that time was subpar but he limited walks to a 5.5% rate and got hitters to pound the ball into the ground at a massive 62.5% clip. He was able to earn enough of Roberts’ trust to rack up 11 saves and 38 holds.

The Dodgers already have relievers Ryan Brasier, Connor Brogdon, Blake Treinen and Michael Grove on the injured list. Graterol will be joining that group though Grove is likely to be reinstated to take his roster spot, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times on X. The relief corps has a collective 3.61 ERA that places them fifth in the league, so they should be an effective group even without Graterol, but it’s still not ideal when a serviceable arm goes down like this.

Graterol reached Super Two status after the 2022 season and is therefore in his second of four arbitration seasons. He made $1.225MM last year and is making $2.7MM here in 2024. With this season being almost a total wash, he’ll likely be in line for a similar salary in 2025. He would also be eligible for arbitration going into 2026 and is slated for free agency after that season.

Cubs Sign Lucas Luetge To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have signed left-hander Lucas Luetge to a minor league deal, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. Luetge had spent the season in the Red Sox organization to this point but opted out of that arrangement last week.

A veteran of seven MLB seasons, the 37-year-old Luetge made his big league debut with Seattle back in 2012. The lefty spent four seasons shuttling between the majors and the minors with the Mariners, and during that time he posted a 4.35 ERA with a 4.27 FIP in 111 appearances in the majors with a similar 4.21 ERA across 94 appearances in the minors. Luetge’s middling numbers and a subpar 19% strikeout rate that he paired with an elevated 12.1% walk rate led the Mariners to outright him off their 40-man roster in September of 2015.

That outright kicked off a five-year stretch without appearing in the majors for Luetge. During those years, the southpaw bounced between the Reds, Orioles, Diamondbacks, and Angels organizations. He struggled badly with the Reds, Orioles, and Angels but enjoyed a resurgence at the Triple-A level with Arizona in 2019, pitching to a 3.14 ERA in 43 innings of work with a solid 25% strikeout rate at the highest level of the minors. The cancelled minor league season in 2020 prevented Luetge from building on that success, but the lefty finally landed another opportunity in the majors in 2021 when he made the Yankees’ Opening Day roster out of Spring Training.

While in the Bronx, the southpaw enjoyed the best seasons of his career and worked his way into being a preferred left-handed option for manager Aaron Boone while with the club for the 2021 and ’22 seasons. In 129 2/3 frames for the Yankees in those seasons, Luetge dominated to the tune of a 2.71 ERA with a 2.92 FIP while seeing massive improvements in his strikeout and walk rates as compared to his time in Seattle. He struck out 25% of batters faced for New York while walking just 5.8%, making him one of the more valuable relievers in the club’s bullpen during his tenure in the Bronx.

Given that status, it was something of a shock when the Yankees designated him for assignment early in the 2022-23 offseason. He was dealt to the Braves shortly thereafter and began the season in the Atlanta bullpen, although that stint was fairly short-lived as he allowed eleven runs in 9 2/3 innings of work in his first nine appearances as a Brave. The lefty was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster but remained with the organization at the Triple-A level long enough to return to the majors down the stretch for four scoreless innings. The Braves did not retain him for the 2024 campaign, however, and that led him to a minor league deal with Boston. He pitched very well in his stint at Triple-A Worcester this year with a 3.02 ERA and 26.7% strikeout rate, but was unable to crack a fairly deep Red Sox bullpen that had plenty of left-handed options.

Fortunately for Luetge, it’s not difficult to imagine him finding greener pastures in Chicago. While the Cubs’ bullpen has been the best in baseball by ERA since June 1, the club has only veteran lefty Drew Smyly available as a left-handed option following a lat strain that’s likely to put fireballer Luke Little on the injured list for the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Veteran reliever Mark Leiter Jr. helped to fill in the gaps as a rare right-hander who pitched better against southpaws thanks to his impressive splitter, but Leiter was dealt to the Yankees ahead of the trade deadline. That leaves a fairly clear opening in Chicago’s bullpen for another southpaw, and it’s certainly possible to imagine the Cubs opting to give Luetge a look in the majors at some point during the stretch run.

Denny Lemaster Passes Away

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Former All-Star pitcher Denny Lemaster passed away late last month, according to an obituary from a Georgia funeral home. The former Braves, Astros, and Expos hurler was 85 years old.

A California native, Lemaster signed with the then-Milwaukee Braves shortly after graduating from Oxnard High School and made his pro debut in 1958. The southpaw wouldn’t make his big league debut until July of 1962 but pitched quite well for the Braves in 17 games, including 12 starts, with a 3.01 ERA in 86 2/3 innings of work. That audition during his rookie season earned Lemaster a more regular role in the club’s rotation going forward, and the lefty threw 237 innings during his first wire-to-wire big league campaign with a strong 3.04 ERA in 46 appearances, 31 of which were starts. He also launched two of his four career home runs as a hitter during that first full campaign as a big leaguer.

After his strong sophomore season, Lemaster took a slight step back in terms of results from 1964 to 1966 but was nonetheless a valuable source of innings for the Braves as they made the move from Milwaukee to Atlanta. Lemaster began to turn a corner late in the 1966 season with a 1.64 ERA over his final three starts of the year, including a three-hit gem against the reigning World Series champion Dodgers on August 9 where he managed to out-duel future Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, striking out 10 while allowing just one run in a complete game against a lineup that included All-Stars Jim Lefebvre and John Roseboro. Unfortunately, Lemaster’s 1966 campaign would be cut short rather abruptly due to a pinched nerve that kept him out of action after August 19.

The lefty returned to the mound with a vengeance in 1967, however, and had a strong first half with a 2.82 ERA in 127 2/3 innings of work that included six complete games as well as a brilliant 13-inning performance in a 15-inning game against the Dodgers where he struck out 12 and allowed two runs, only one of which was earned. That performance was enough to make Lemaster an All-Star for the first and only time in his career, although he did not appear in that year’s All-Star game due to an injury. The southpaw threw just 87 2/3 innings during the second half, surely hampered by injury woes, and made his final appearance in a Braves uniform on September 22.

Following the 1967 season, Lemaster was dealt to the Astros alongside All-Star infielder Denis Menke in exchange for infielders Sonny Jackson and Chuck Harrison. Lemaster’s first two seasons in Houston went quite well as he pitched to a 3.00 ERA across a combined 69 starts totaling 468 2/3 innings of work. After struggling through the first half in the 1970 season, Lemaster was moved to the bullpen for the second half and remained in a relief role for the rest of his career. The lefty departed Houston following the 1971 campaign and finished his career with the Expos in 1972. He pitched in his final MLB game on June 21 of that year.

Across his 11 seasons in the big leagues, Lemaster posted a solid career 3.58 ERA with a 90-105 record while racking up 1787 2/3 innings of work and striking out 1305 batters. Following his playing career, Lemaster’s obituary indicates he worked as a custom home builder and developed a talent for woodcarving wildfowl.

Those of us at MLBTR extend our condolences to Lemaster’s family, friends and loved ones.

Phillies Release Simón Muzziotti

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The Phillies have released outfielder Simón Muzziotti, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer on X. The outfielder was outrighted off the Phillies’ roster in February, so this won’t impact the club’s 40-man count.

Muzziotti, now 25, was originally an international signing of the Red Sox out of Venezuela but then Boston was found to have violated international signing rules. As a punishment, the Sox were not allowed to make any international signings in the 2016-17 period and five players they had previously signed were declared free agents, one of whom was Muzziotti.

He then landed a new deal with the Phillies and worked his way up through their system. The Phils placed him on their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft but he ended up missing most of 2021 due to visa issues.

In 2022, he was able to make his major league debut, getting into nine games. He hit just .143./.250/.143 in those, but in just nine plate appearances. He spent most of his time in the minors but that season was ended prematurely due to a torn patellar tendon in his right knee.

Due to the pandemic canceling the minor leagues in 2020, Muzziotti’s visa issues in 2021 and injuries in 2022, he was able to play just 66 minor league games in that three-year stretch. Last year, he stayed healthy enough to get into 124 Triple-A games and hit .296/.358/.404 in those. That translated to a 93 wRC+, indicating he was 7% below league average, but that’s passable production for Muzziotti since he’s been considered a strong defender and a speedster on the bases.

Despite finally having a steady season, the Phillies designated him for assignment in February of this year and the 29 other clubs passed on the chance to grab him off waivers. He didn’t have the right to elect free agency so he stuck with the Phils in a non-roster capacity but his results have tapered off this year. He’s slashed .235/.297/.373 in his 61 Triple-A contests for a wRC+ of 70, prompting the Phils to move on and let him go.

Muzziotti and his representatives will now look for opportunities elsewhere. Though his results have been poor this year, he’s still quite young and provides a decent floor with his speed and defense. Coming into this year, Baseball America still ranked him as the #22 prospect in the Phillies’ system.

Orioles Place Grayson Rodriguez On Injured List

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August 7: The Orioles announced today that Rodriguez has been placed on the 15-day IL with right lat/teres discomfort, retroactive to August 4. Left-hander Keegan Akin was recalled in a corresponding move. Additionally, outfielder Heston Kjerstad was placed on the IL with a concussion, retroactive to August 1. He was optioned to the minors on that date but this IL placement presumably rescinds that option.

August 6: Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was scratched from his scheduled start against the Blue Jays due to what the club later announced as “right lat/teres discomfort.” As noted by Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun, Rodriguez began to warm up for his start this evening before appearing to say to pitching coach Drew French, “I don’t feel right.” Rodriguez left the field for the clubhouse after the conversation and was replaced by right-hander Albert Suarez as the game’s starter. Rodriguez is returning to Baltimore to receive further evaluations and have imaging done on his right lat, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Weyrich) following the club’s loss to the Blue Jays this evening.

Details regarding the severity of Rodriguez’s discomfort are minimal, so it’s unclear at this point if the right-hander will require a trip to the IL or when he could next be expected to take the mound. After all, the righty’s discomfort will surely bring to mind his stint on IL due to shoulder inflammation earlier this year that ultimately lasted nearly three weeks. Rodriguez also has a history of lat issues, having dealt with a lat strain as a prospect back in 2022 that ultimately cost him three and a half months.

Regardless of how long Rodriguez ends up missing, the news is a worrying development for the Orioles just one week after the trade deadline as they gear up for a run at their second consecutive AL East crown and another postseason run. Injuries in the starting rotation have been frequent in Baltimore this year. The club lost three starters (Kyle Bradish, John Means, and Tyler Wells) to UCL surgery back in June and has also previously saw right-hander Dean Kremer spend time on the shelf in addition to Rodriguez’s aforementioned shoulder issue early this year. Those injury woes led the Orioles to stock up on starting pitching depth ahead of last week’s trade deadline as they swung deals to bring right-hander Zach Eflin and lefty Trevor Rogers into the fold.

While those additions helped to shore up the club’s shaky back of the rotation, losing Rodriguez for a significant period would be a deeply worrisome outcome as the 24-year-old has emerged as the club’s clear #2 starter behind ace Corbin Burnes. Rodriguez has generally pitched quite well in the sophomore season of his career with a decent 3.86 ERA in 116 2/3 innings of work across 20 starts that’s matched with even better peripheral numbers. He’s struck out 26.5% of batters faced while walking just 7.3%. That’s left him with a strong 3.67 FIP and an even better 3.60 SIERA, the latter of which is good for top 25 among all qualified starters this year and slightly better than Burnes’s own 3.71 figure.

Should Rodriguez end up missing time, it seems likely that the club would turn to Suarez to take over his spot in the rotation on a more permanent basis. The 34-year-old journeyman last appeared in the majors back in 2017 before the Orioles brought him in on a minor league deal and added him to their roster, but he’s done well in a swing role since then, with a 3.75 ERA in 15 starts including his five scoreless innings of work filling in for Rodriguez this evening. Other options to replace Rodriguez in the rotation (or Suarez in a long relief role if he returns to starting) would be youngster Cade Povich, who has struggled to a 6.27 ERA in eight starts in the majors this year, and lefty Cole Irvin, who was recently outrighted off the 40-man roster. Top pitching prospect Chayce McDermott, who made his big league debut in a spot start earlier this year, may have been a possible candidate to help fill in for Rodriguez in the majors but the club announced earlier today that he’s been placed on the minor league IL with a stress reaction in his right scapula earlier today.

Tim Dierkes’ MLB Mailbag: Waivers, Gleyber, Goldschmidt

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This week's mailbag gets into possible waiver contract dumping, Gleyber Torres' free agency, teams' interest in Trevor Rogers, the Cardinals re-signing Paul Goldschmidt, and much more.

Ben asks:

What teams might we expect to see make some last minute, financially-motivated maneuvers to avoid the consequences of the luxury tax? Do you anticipate any notable players being placed on waivers, such as when Lucas Giolito and Matt Moore were made available last August? Which teams would be in prime position to take advantage of this system?

Joseph asks:

You guys recently did a piece on how players could move post-deadline. Could you envision a scenario where a taxpayer like the Giants fall out of the wild-card race then put a bunch of expensive pending free agents (like Snell or Conforto) on waivers to dump salary in an attempt to duck under the CBT? I remember that happening forever ago with the Angels and Vernon Wells, but never with a star player playing really well like Snell. How crazy would that be for an impact player to get claimed on waivers and influence the playoff race?

Since competitive balance tax penalties are compounding up to the third consecutive time a team goes over, there's benefit to "resetting" and getting under the base tax rate so you can become a first-time payor in 2025.  Doing so requires dipping under $237MM this year.  Failing that, it's still beneficial to avoid going over the second surcharge threshold of $277MM, which triggers your highest available draft pick moving back ten spots.

Additionally, CBT payor status affects the mechanics of losing or signing a qualified free agent.

The Rangers have a case.  Cot's Baseball Contracts has their projected CBT payroll at about $251MM, and they paid the luxury tax last year.  If the Rangers were to fall further out, they could put impending free agents such as Max Scherzer, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Jose Leclerc, Kirby Yates, Andrew Chafin, and Carson Kelly on waivers.  Though such a scheme could benefit the Rangers, it's possible it could rankle these veteran players, particularly if it serves as an end-run around Scherzer's no-trade rights.  It may be a moot point, as he's on the IL at present, but this could become an option if Scherzer is healthy and actually wants to finish the season with a contender.  The Rangers are five games out in the AL West at the moment.

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