60-Man Player Pools – MLB Trade Rumors

Player Pool Additions: Phillies, Brewers, Padres, Orioles

Steve Adams — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 18:55:47 +0000

We’ll track the latest additions to teams’ 60-man player pools in this post…

The Phillies added lefty Jeff Singer to their pool, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports (via Twitter). The 26-year-old signed with the Phils as an undrafted free agent in 2016 and has steadily risen through their system, reaching the Double-A level in 2019. Last year, Singer tossed 61 2/3 frames with a 74-to-22 K/BB ratio, a 2.34 ERA and a 2.77 FIP. Singer isn’t considered to be among the club’s top-ranked prospects but will get some developmental reps in Allentown and could conceivably even be an option later this month, given his success in the upper minors.
The Brewers announced three new additions to their player pool: infielder Gabe Holt, outfielder Carlos Rodriguez and righty Bowden Francis. Their 60-man group is up to 59 players. Holt, 22, was a seventh-round pick out of Texas Tech in 2019 and hasn’t played above Rookie ball, so his addition is purely developmental. That’s also true of Rodriguez, a 2017 international signee out of Venezuela who is considered among to be the organization’s top 20 prospects. Francis, meanwhile, was a 2017 seventh-rounder and split the 2019 season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A. In a combined 142 2/3 innings, Francis pitched to a 3.97 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. Francis seems like a viable candidate to debut over the final three-plus weeks of the 2020 season, as he’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft this winter anyhow.
Righty Justin Lange and catcher Blake Hunt have been added to the Padres’ player pool, tweets Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Sanders adds that outfielder Jorge Ona was also quietly added to the pool “some time” ago. The 18-year-old Lange was taken with the No. 34 overall pick in this year’s draft, but as a high school draftee, he obviously won’t be considered for an MLB look this month. Hunt, 21, was the Padres’ second-rounder in ’17 and hit .255/.331/.381 in 376 Class-A plate appearances last year. The 23-year-old Ona was a high-profile signing out of Cuba. He was sidelined for much of the 2019 season but put together a huge .348/.417/.539 slash through 103 plate appearances in a pitcher-friendly Double-A environment last year. He’s already on the 40-man roster after having his contract selected last November.
The Orioles announced that lefty Zac Lowther has been added to their player pool in Bowie. Lowther, 24, was the Orioles’ second-rounder in 2017 and posted a 2.55 ERA with 9.4 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 0.49 HR/9 and a 40.1 percent ground-ball rate in 148 innings. He’s generally considered to be among the Orioles’ 15 best prospects.

Player Pool Additions: Giants, Mets, Rays, Nats

Steve Adams — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 03:51:20 +0000

Teams have been tinkering with their 60-man player pools throughout the 2020 season, at times cutting veterans to make room for prospects and at times cutting bait on some lower-tier organizational pieces in order to make room for more experienced additions (be they via waiver claim, free-agent signing, etc.). There have been several clubs to announce additions to their player pools already Friday, and while such moves seem innocuous, it’s of course worth pointing out that adding a player to the 60-man pool makes him eligible to be traded.

That doesn’t mean all of the players added to pools today are on the trading block — far from it. We’ve also already seen the Marlins (in the Richard Bleier trade) and the Blue Jays (in the Taijuan Walker trade) take advantage of using players to be named later to get around the rule that only players in a 60-man pool are eligible to be traded. Both sent a PTBNL to their trade partner, each of whom is expected to be a non-60-man player that will be announced after the season.

So while not all of today’s additions will change hands, it’s still notable that some of these players now could change hands without needing to be listed as a PTBNL. In that scenario, a new club could get a look at said player at its alternate training site and, if close enough to the Majors, perhaps even promote them in September.

Here’s a quick rundown…

The Giants announced that first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw and righty Melvin Adon were added to the 60-man player pool. Shaw, 26, was San Francisco’s first-round pick (No. 31 overall) back in 2015 and rated among the club’s best prospects for several years. His shine has worn off, however, after some shaky showings in the upper minors and the Majors. Shaw carries a .280/.328/.538 slash in 1092 Triple-A plate appearances but has struck out at a 30 percent clip there. He’s hit .153/.244/.222 in 82 big league PAs. Speculatively, he seems like a change-of-scenery candidate. Adon, also 26, received an 80 grade on his heater at FanGraphs this offseason and was called the hardest thrower in the minors by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel. However, they also gave him just 30 command on the 20-80 scale and called his chances of realizing his ceiling low due to his inability to locate. Adon walked 34 batters, hit another and threw 11 wild pitches in 55 1/3 innings last year.
The Mets added third baseman Brett Baty, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Baty, 20, was the No. 12 pick in the 2019 draft and is considered to be among the organization’s top prospects. He divided last year between rookie and Low-A ball, where he batted .234/.368/.452 with seven home runs in 228 plate appearances. Now that Baty’s in the fold, the Mets have all of their top five prospects in the player pool — including Andres Gimenez in the Majors — as DiComo points out.
Right-hander Brent Honeywell has been added to the Rays’ pool and reported to their alternate site in Port Charlotte, tweets MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. The highly touted Honeywell underwent Tommy John surgery in February 2018, hasn’t pitched since and may not take the mound for the Rays this season. By adding Honeywell to their pool, though, the Rays will give the 25-year-old an opportunity to rehab while facing professional hitters, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes. For now, though, “there are still plenty of boxes” for Honeywell to check before he makes his MLB debut, according to manager Kevin Cash.
The Nationals already added righty Sterling Sharp and outfielder Jeremy De La Rosa earlier today (as covered here), and this afternoon they announced two more additions: infielders Jackson Cluff and Drew Mendoza. Both have reported to the alternate site in Fredricksburg. Cluff was a 2019 sixth-rounder who spent his first pro season in Single-A, where he batted .229/.320/.367 with five homers and 11 steals in 280 trips to the plate. The 23-year-old is now generally regarded as one of the Nationals’ top 20 prospects. Mendoza, another 2019 draft choice (third round, No. 94), hovers around Washington’s top 10 farmhands at multiple outlets. The 22-year-old also spent 2019 at Single-A, slashing .264/.377/.383 with four HRs and three steals in 239 plate appearances.

60-Man Pool Additions: Orioles, Brewers

Jeff Todd — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 02:52:34 +0000

Here are the latest additions to 60-man player pools from around the majors:

Joining the Orioles’ 60-man player pool are righty Kyle Bradish, outfielder Ryan McKenna, and southpaw Bruce Zimmermann. Bradish, a fourth-round pick of the 2018 draft, had a solid year at the High-A level in 2019 and came to the Baltimore organization in the Dylan Bundy swap. The latter two will each be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this fall if they’re not added to the 40-man roster beforehand. McKenna had a tough season last year at Double-A, where slashed just .232/.321/.365 in 567 plate appearances. The 25-year-old Zimmermann topped out at Triple-A in 2019, scuffling in seven starts. But he earned his way there with 101 1/3 impressive frames at Bowie, over which he carried a 2.58 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.
The Brewers have brought outfielder Hedbert Perez and righty Justin Topa into their alternate training site, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports on Twitter. It’s a rather interesting duo. The former only just turned 17 years of age and is obviously still a long ways away from the majors. The organization obviously sees quite a lot of potential. Topa is already 29 but sits in the upper nineties with his fastball, so this’ll be an opportunity for the Milwaukee organization to see if he could ultimately be an option at the MLB level. Last year, Topa worked to a cumulative 3.38 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 over forty frames split between the High-A and Double-A levels.

Each MLB Team’s 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 20:20:04 +0000

Teams had until Sunday at 4:00 pm EST to report their initial 60-man player pools to MLB. Note that these pools can contain up to 60 players but were not required to be full upon their first submission. Teams can — and in some cases already have begun to — make additions at any time, so long as they have an open spot in the pool. If their pool is full and they wish to sign someone, claim a player off waivers or acquire a player via trade, they’ll need to either release, waive or trade a 60-man player of their own.

While a handful of teams waited until Monday to make their player pools public, all 30 have now been announced. Here are the initial lists submitted by all 30 teams…

AL East

AL Central

AL West

NL East

NL Central

NL West

Giants Announce Initial Player Pool

Steve Adams — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 19:00:31 +0000

The Giants on Monday announced their initial player pool for the 2020 season. Pools can contain up to 60 players, and only players in a team’s pool will be eligible to participate in summer training camp or regular/postseason games. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit, but once a team’s pool reaches 60 players, a player must be removed (released, traded, waived, etc.) in order to make a new addition. That player becomes ineligible to return to that same team in 2020.

Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.

Here are the 51 players in the Giants’ initial pool (* indicates player not on 40-man roster)…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Brewers Announce Initial Player Pool

Steve Adams — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 17:40:34 +0000

The Brewers on Monday announced their initial player pool for the 2020 season. Pools can contain up to 60 players, and only players in a team’s pool will be eligible to participate in summer training camp or regular/postseason games. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit, but once a team’s pool reaches 60 players, a player must be removed (released, traded, waived, etc.) in order to make a new addition. That player becomes ineligible to return to that same team in 2020.

Here are the 45 players in the Brewers’ initial pool (* indicates player not on 40-man roster)…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Diamondbacks Announce Initial Player Pool

Steve Adams — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 17:10:36 +0000

The D-backs on Monday announced their initial player pool for the 2020 season. Player pools can contain up to 60 players, and only players in a team’s pool will be eligible to participate in summer training camp or regular/postseason games. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit, but once a team’s pool reaches 60 players, a player must be removed (released, traded, waived, etc.) in order to make a new addition. That player becomes ineligible to return to that same team in 2020.

Here are the 60 players in the Diamondbacks’ initial pool (* indicates player not on 40-man roster)…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Twins Announce Initial Player Pool

Steve Adams — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 15:58:16 +0000

The Twins on Monday announced their initial player pool for the 2020 season. Player pools can contain up to 60 players, and only players in a team’s pool will be eligible to participate in summer training camp or regular/postseason games. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit, but once a team’s pool reaches 60 players, a player must be removed (released, traded, waived, etc.) in order to make a new addition. That player becomes ineligible to return to that same team in 2020.

Here are the 59 players in the Twins’ initial pool (* indicates player not on 40-man roster; ^ indicates restricted list)…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated Hitter

Nelson Cruz

Note: Pineda has 39 games remaining on a reduced 60-game PED suspension. That penalty must be served in full and is not prorated. Romero, meanwhile, is on the restricted list due to ongoing visa issues that make it unclear when he’ll be able to report. So while the team listed 59 players, the Twins technically have three open spots in their 60-man pool.

White Sox Announce Initial Player Pool

Steve Adams — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 15:21:24 +0000

The White Sox on Monday announced their initial player pool for the 2020 season. Player pools can contain up to 60 players, and only players in a team’s pool will be eligible to participate in summer training camp or regular/postseason games. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit, but once a team’s pool reaches 60 players, a player must be removed (released, traded, waived, etc.) in order to make a new addition. That player becomes ineligible to return to that same team in 2020.

Here are the 44 players in the White Sox initial pool (* indicates player not on 40-man roster)…

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Padres Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 02:05:35 +0000

Today marks the deadline for teams to submit their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.

The Padres’ initial 52-player pool consists of the following players…

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Phillies Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 01:56:31 +0000

The Phillies’ initial 53-player pool consists of the following…

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Mets Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 01:18:02 +0000

The Mets’ initial 45-year player pool consists of…

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Angels Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 00:25:53 +0000

Today marks the deadline for teams to submit to Major League Baseball their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.

The Angels’ initial player pool consists of the following 55 players…

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Two-way player

Shohei Ohtani

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Cubs Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 00:15:18 +0000

The Cubs’ initial player pool consists of the following 50 players….

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Royals Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

Anthony Franco — Sun, 28 Jun 2020 23:22:51 +0000

The Royals’ initial player pool consists of the following players…

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders