TODAY: Pallette cleared waivers and was offered back to the White Sox, with MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins writing that Chicago has accepted the right-hander back into the fold. The Sox have assigned Pallette to Triple-A Charlotte.
MAY 24: Right-hander Peyton Pallette has been designated for assignment, the Guardians announced. Lefty Logan Allen is rejoining the big-league club to take his spot in the bullpen.
Cleveland picked up Pallette from the White Sox in the Rule 5 draft. As part of the standard DFA process, the club has five days to trade him or place him on waivers. If another team makes a move to add Pallette, they’ll take on the Rule 5 requirements. If Pallette passes through waivers, he’ll be offered back to Chicago.
Pallette scuffled to a 5.23 ERA in 20 2/3 innings with the Guardians. He punched out opponents at a decent 22.7% clip, but it came with an untenable 16.5% walk rate. The righty led with a 95 mph four-seamer, accompanied by a pair of breaking balls. He threw the occasional changeup. Pallette’s curveball and slider both performed well, generating decent whiffs and preventing hits. The fastball was an issue. Pallette’s heater ceded a 51.6% hard-hit rate and a .410 wOBA.
The White Sox took Pallette in the second round of the 2022 draft. He posted strong strikeout numbers in each level of the minors, which is what likely drew Cleveland’s interest. Walks were becoming a problem before Pallette moved to his new organization. The righty had a 9.9% walk rate last season at Double-A, and it jumped to 10.9% after he was moved to Triple-A.
Allen has pitched in parts of the last three seasons with the Guardians. He’s worked almost exclusively as a starter in the big leagues, posting a 4.48 ERA in 74 appearances (73 starts). Allen has struggled from a run prevention perspective through eight Triple-A outings this season, but he’s notched a solid 25.4% strikeout rate. He’ll likely step into a long relief role with Cleveland. Allen could also operate as a sixth starter if the club wants to get some extra rest for the rotation. The Guardians are playing their 10th straight game on Sunday during a two-week stretch without an off-day.
Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images
I’m a tad surprised by this. His last few outings were a hit rough but the stuff is there. 95+ mph, better than a strikeout per inning. Yeah the walk rate was high but his minor league track record suggests he has better control in him. And I don’t see why they’d need Logan Allen in a relief role when they lack viable starting pitching depth in AAA.
Trying to win the central. They’ll likely add pitching at the deadline and Pallette would be the odd man out anyway
I don’t disagree that Pallette was probably eventually getting the squeeze. I would have expected that if they wanted Aleman or Heuer back up. I thought maybe they’d try to find some phantom injury for him to justify sending him on a AAA rehab assignment for a month.
Logan Allen being up is curious to me. He’s basically their only viable starter in Columbus. Webb is a non prospect with a nearly 8 ERA. Avila is a veteran who is stretching out to start but has also struggled to a 7+ ERA. Denholm is a knuckleballer rocking a 5+ ERA. Maltrud has a decent ERA but also can’t strike people out and throws 90, and nobody seems to believe he can do it in the majors. They did just get prospect Austin Peterson back from injury but he isn’t fully stretched out yet. And they just traded the guy who was most ready to promote from AA in Tugboat Wilkinson.
Maybe Allen just is here for 3 days as insurance and gets sent back down for Aleman in 3 days?
To me it is likely he is just up here to cover some innings… Halpin has struggled and not getting everyday playing time, so they may select Fairchild to the 40 Man and make him the 4th OF instead. Walters was already optioned, so I think they are just going to let him get back to form. Allard may also get added. Plus Dion is having a great season overall, (ERA gets inflated with one bad day for relievers) so we could see him get Added while Herrin goes down to work on somethings… They have a lot of options… I personally do not see Allen up for a long period of time, unless Cecconi is getting a bullpen look…
I don’t understand why Halpin is on the team. He’s young enough where he should still be playing everyday in Columbus instead of rotting on Cleveland’s bench. Perhaps they only see him as a fifth outfielder? He doesn’t even pinch run a lot.
He’s on the roster because Arias went down and the other guys are hitters not defenders. He is a solid defensive OF with speed…
Maybe something’s up with Sabrowski.
Like…elbow inflammation?
Do we know each other ?
Is this an improvement?
Considering LA made 29 starts last year, pitched 156 innings, and had a 4.25 ERA, I’d say it’s a significant improvement.
*Logan Allen.
This seems like a risky move. Logan Allen is SP6 for the Guardians. If any of their starters go down, he will step into the rotation. Moving him into a bullpen role will prevent him from being stretched out for a starter’s workload.
Austin Peterson is now the SP6 and will get called up in case of injury.
The backend of the Guardians bullpen is really bad. After Smith/Sabrowski/Holderman it is a lot of question marks. If Allen can be effective in a multi-inning role that will provide a lot of relief.
I wouldnt call the Cleveland bullpen past the three names mentioned bad.
Every team in MLB would love to have Gaddis, who is rounding into form. Armstrong is not great, but he is a solid vet with backend experience.
Signing Armstrong is reminiscent of when they signed Scott Barlow a few years back
And Sewald last year. They’re on a few year streak of their most expensive rental bullpen arm being terrible lol
Steamer Rest-Of-Season FIP projections:
Smith: 2.78
Sabrowski: 3.74
Holderman: 3.79
Armstrong: 3.82
Allen: 3.91
Aleman: 4.01
Heuer: 4.08
Walters: 4.09
Herrin: 4.15
Festa: 4.19
Espino: 4.20
Gaddis: 4.21
Everyone below Aleman belongs in AAA or DFA. Guardians are two RP short of a playoff caliber bullpen. I like the potential of Walters, Espino and Aleman but relying on 3 injury-prone rookies to bolster your bullpen is foolish.
Gaddis obviously has the track record to show that he’s far above being a AAA reliever. Festa and Herrin are also adequate major-league relief pitchers. Not sure about the others.
They are perfectly adequate regular season relievers for a team not in contention. None of them are playoff-caliber players.
Take those projections with a grain of salt. Gaddis looked a little rusty when he was coming back from injury and essentially having a late spring training. That’s something those projections never really catch.
Similarly if you don’t think Espino is going to be a plus reliever when he throws 99+ with a plus slider… you don’t know ball
I will be blunt @david white… You have not been watching them pitch and the projections have always been bad towards Guardians RPs… Like to start 25, projections had Cleveland middle of the pack in RP stats and we all know they were one of the best. Gaddis missed spring cause of a minor injury… Gaddis in his last 6 outings, no runs, 2 hits, one walk and 5 strikeouts… He is back to being healthy… Sabrowski right now can likely sustain a sub 3 not a sub 4…Holderman should also be able to sustain a sub 3 ERA with his new curveball, Armstrong is a veteran, he knows what to do… Festa is great at limiting runners scored, so he has a niche role, but an important one. Since they DFA’D Pallette, (i was hoping to keep him), They can rotate the last two in the pen to keep the arms fresh… Allen likely isn’t going to the pen, they just wanted a fresh arm. Allard or Dion may be selected to the 40 man to round out the pen. Herrin I think needs to head back to AAA to work on things personally… Walters and Espino are coming off of major injuries, so projections will never be right on those two… Aleman has given up one run between AAA and the bigs and it was on a HR… He pitches in a hitter friendly ball park in AAA so he has the goods when his command is on. Heuer also hit almost 97 the other day, that registered as a sinker not a 4-seam. He hasn’t even thrown that hard before… Guardians have been tweaking his stuff, just like they have been with Holderman, who threw a cutter instead of a curveball (never threw a curveball before this season) Guardians always beat projections in their bullpen, may as well not even look at it..
This could be a crafty move by Cleveland, returning Palette to the righty-starved WhiteSox bullpen could eventually cost the SOX a few games, since Palette is likely to regress from here before improving his control enough to be a league average reliever.
Hopefully the Cubs or Twins claim him!
The White Sox don’t actually have to keep him on their active roster or even 40 man roster. They would get to just send him to AAA Charlotte.
Yes, he would be returned to Charlotte if nobody claims him, though I hope he is claimed by another team. MIN & CHC are my guesses.
SOX have too many other RH relievers in the organization that could outperform Palette that deserve shots, imo, though their 40-man needs some cleanup first & right now isn’t the best time with so many out-of-option guys.
Good time to add Stuart Fairchild to the 40 and bring him up this week.
I don’t mind this idea. I would assume we’d be sending Petey down for this. But I think more likely is that Fairchild is the replacement if Rhys Hoskins doesn’t figure it out. He could essentially platoon with Schneemann, allowing Fry to platoon at 1B with Manzardo instead of the outfield.
With the way Cleveland normally rolls… Hoskins has until the end of July to right the ship, if not, they will move on from him… I do not see him moved before the All-Star break… Then again, Cleveland already made a move no one expected and Arias won’t be back for a minute. It could be when Arias gets back, is when they decide what to do with Hoskins…
Rotofool hopes Pallette goes back to the White Sox or possibly claimed by the Twins or Cubs.
Anyone else here have any predictions or teams that should claim Pallette?
I was hoping they could keep Pallette but their hands were tied. It would be great if they could still work out a deal to keep his rights, but that’s rare and I don’t expect it.
He definitely has some stuff worth developing, but a lot of their bullpen isn’t able to be optioned and the few that are aren’t in danger of losing jobs. Holderman has an option but has been pretty good lately. It’s just hard to use a roster spot on a developmental player while you’re contending.
Inter-division would be even more rare.
I was surprised the WS left him exposed but looks like they’ll get him back unless the Angels put a claim in……
Cleveland’s FO will try to keep him… Can never have too much pitching though in baseball so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else, especially a bad team, would try to keep him for the rest of the year. He has the stuff, it was just too soon for his MLB clock in a sense…
You will go nuts counting on steamer…lol.
You will also go nuts counting on ERA for relievers as a definitive stat.
The Guardians have a quality pen with depth.
April was a rough month, because Gaddis was out and Smith had a couple bad outings. But since the beginning of May the Guardians lead MLB in holds, in saves, and one of only two teams without a blown save. They are also 5-1.
They lead MLB in K/9 and are 4th in LOB%.
Thats not bad, thats not average, thats not good, thats elite.
Yes, they always seem to have a great bullpen. Even after losing Clase they have maintained that level.
They rank:
13th in xERA
12th in FIP
11th in xFIP
It’s an above average pen held together by a great front 3 in Smith/Sabrowski/Holderman. The back half of the pen is very below average.
Again, you are ignoring an admittedly slow…and uncharacteristic start.
And again, you are ignoring the relevent stats for a bullpen.
Jim Thome, when criticized for an early season slump, always had the same rejoinder….
‘Check me out at the end of the season.’
The same applies to the Cleveland bullpen.
@David White
It’s patently obvious you have not watched this team at all, much less followed the progression of the bullpen. You are so far off in your assessment that I have to think you must have some axe to grind with the organization. Not everything in baseball is some static picture; if it were, Cleveland wouldn’t have won three of the last four Central Division races because their numbers rarely add up to that at the end of the season. But over the course of the year, they get better, and since you don’t watch, let me tell you: this pen is getting filthier every day. They wouldn’t be where they are if it weren’t.
@David White
Yeah, you definitely do not watch them pitch… They lead the division… If Cleveland’s bullpen was legitimately bad, they wouldn’t be in first place… End of story… If you told me they need more hitting, then you have a point. Sure, another solid veteran for the stretch, wouldn’t be out of the question, but is it a true need, no..
This is exceedingly interesting.
The Reds should have claimed him.
Why does it seem, alot of the White Sox pitchers
Have control problems? Who do you blame?
The talent, the coaches, the scouts?
Ironic that the White Sox of all teams feel the need to use a colorful Peynton Palette….