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Mets Select Max Kranick, Designate Eddy Alvarez For Assignment

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The Mets have selected the contract of right-hander Max Kranick and he is on the club’s roster for the Wild Card series that begins today. Infielder Eddy Alvarez has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Kranick, 27, was a waiver claim out of the Pirates organization in January. He’d wrapped up a lengthy rehab process from Tommy John surgery with the Pirates late in the ’23 season and was viewed as an optionable bit of rotation depth for the Mets heading into the season. Kranick sustained a Grade 2 hamstring strain early in spring training, however, which shut him down for the bulk of camp and ensured that he’d open the season on the 15-day injured list.

The Mets wound up designating Kranick for assignment in early May, not long after he’d been reinstated from that hamstring injury and optioned to the minors. He passed through waivers unclaimed and remained with the organization after being outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. Kranick spent the entire season in Triple-A, pitching to a 3.57 ERA in 63 innings across 41 appearances. Few would’ve pegged him as a candidate to make his team debut with the Mets during the postseason, but that opportunity could now present itself — particularly if the Mets race out to a substantial early lead or deficit. Kranick presumably is on the roster to provide bulk relief in either scenario.

Alvarez, 34, was acquired in a rare September trade and quickly selected to the big league roster. New York sent cash back to the Red Sox in that swap. Alvarez wasn’t on a major league deal, thus leaving him eligible to be traded. However, due to the fact that his acquisition came after the postseason eligibility deadline, he was not a candidate to make New York’s playoff roster.

The well-traveled Alvarez went hitless in 11 plate appearances with the Mets during the regular season. He was a depth pickup while the Mets battled some infield injuries, but their club is largely back up to strength for the postseason. In parts of four big league campaigns, Alvarez is a .170/.257/.244 hitter in 154 plate appearances. He’ll now be placed on outright waivers or released. If and when Alvarez clears waivers, he’ll be able to become a minor league free agent.

Cubs Part Ways With First Base Coach Mike Napoli

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The Cubs are making some coaching changes, as relayed by Jesse Rogers of ESPN on X. The club is letting go of first base coach Mike Napoli, assistant hitting coach Jim Adduci, bullpen coach Darren Holmes and “a couple of strength coaches.”

All three of the coaches are former major league ball players. Napoli was in the majors from 2006 to 2017, mostly as a catcher and first baseman. After retiring, he joined the Cubs’ coaching staff going into the 2020 season as quality assurance coach. He became the club’s first base coach going into the 2022 season.

Adduci’s major league career spanned from 2013 to 2019, but with a two-year stint in the KBO sandwiched in there, as he played in Korea in 2015 and 2016. The Cubs hired him going into 2021 with the title of run production coordinator, though his current title is listed on MLB.com as “assistant hitting coach, game planning.”

Holmes pitched in the majors from 1990 to 2003. He has worked as a bullpen coach for multiple organizations in recent years, taking that title with the Rockies from 2015 to 2019, the Orioles from 2020 to 2023 and the Cubs in 2024.

The Cubs hired Craig Counsell to be their manager in November of last year. His first season in Wrigley resulted in a record of 83-79, the same mark the club posted last year. It’s always difficult to tell how much blame/credit should go to any individual coach when staffs are composed of dozens of people, but it seems Counsell and the Cubs have decided to make a few changes as they look to take a step forward next year.

Chaim Bloom To Replace John Mozeliak As Cardinals President Of Baseball Operations After 2025

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The Cardinals held a press conference today featuring chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., club president Bill DeWitt III, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and advisor Chaim Bloom. DeWitt Jr. announced at the press conference that Bloom would be taking over the Mozeliak’s POBO role after 2025 and has signed a five-year contract. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat was among those to relay the details (X links). That contract starts in 2026, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (X link). Mozeliak adds that he will make day-to-day decisions through 2025 but but long-term decisions will involve Bloom and ownership, per Jones (X link). Also, Michael Girsch is no longer the general manager, with his title now changed to vice president of special projects. Mozeliak says he expects player payroll to go down, per Goold (X link).

There had been a lot of smoke in recent days that significant changes were coming to the front office. A week ago, Jones reported that some notable developments would be announced at today’s press conference. Around that same time, Bob Nightengale of USA Today had reported that Bloom was likely ticketed for a larger role. A few days later, Katie Woo of The Athletic provided some more details, noting that Bloom would be overhauling the club’s player development. As part of that overhaul, the club planned to redirect resources away from the major league roster and towards improving their minor league pipeline. On the weekend, Nightengale reported further on the club, noting that the payroll reduction could lead to right-hander Sonny Gray winding up on the trading block. Meanwhile, a report from Goold aligned with Woo’s info, noting that the club planned to take a long-term focus on their player development. Woo herself added another report which noted that the club planned to move on from long-time first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

Today’s announcements all line up with that reporting, though also take it a step further. Though no one is using words like “rebuild” or “retool” or anything along those lines, it seems there is a general understanding that the club will be placing less of a focus on results in the immediate present with more of an eye on long-term and/or sustainable roster construction.

For most of this century, the Cardinals have had a strong track record in terms of finding and developing young talent. That allowed them to generally post strong on-field results despite never being one of the top spenders in the league. From the year 2000 to the present, they have only missed the playoffs nine times and only finished with a losing record twice.

That cutting edge has seemingly gone a bit dull in most recent years, however. From 2000 to 2015, they only once missed the playoffs twice in a row, which was in 2007 and 2008. But that was sandwiched in between two World Series titles in 2006 and 2011. From 2016 to 2024, the club has missed the playoffs five times. Of their four postseason appearances from 2019 to 2022, three of them ended with losses in the Wild Card round. While the club rebounded somewhat from a losing season in 2023, getting over .500 in 2024, they did so with a good chunk of the roster consisting of pricey veterans in their mid-30s. That includes Goldschmidt, Gray, Nolan Arenado, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson and Miles Mikolas.

Per the recent reporting leading up to today’s conference, it seems the decision makers have come to the conclusion that they have been hampered by redirecting their focus to the major league roster, which has hurt the club’s player development pipeline. Recent years have seen players like Randy Arozarena, Adolis García, Zac Gallen and others thriving after departing the organization. Meanwhile, some of the club’s young prospects like Dylan Carlson, Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman and others have struggled to live up to expectations.

Every organization will have some of those misses, but it seems the club realizes that they need to change their hit rate in order to find success. As a mid-market club that doesn’t generally sign top free agents, good player development is fairly essential for running out winning ball clubs.

Bloom will be entrusted with making those changes, though he won’t be given carte blanche right away. As detailed by Mozeliak up top, it seems he will handle the basic running of the club for the next year as Bloom focuses on things under the hood. That presumably will involve tackling things away from the majors, from the minor league facilities, coaches, scouting departments and things of that nature. After a year of making changes in those capacities, he will eventually take over the baseball decisions in a more complete capacity.

During his tenure as the chief baseball officer for the Red Sox, Bloom had some hits and misses but the are good reasons why the Cardinals have picked him for this role. Bloom made some odds choices in Boston, such as selling at the 2022 deadline but staying narrowly above the competitive balance tax. The signings of Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida haven’t really worked out so far.

But a lot of Boston’s future is made up of players acquired during Bloom’s time, either through the draft, international free agency or trades. Though the 2022 deadline was odd at the time, getting Enmanuel Valdéz and Wilyer Abreu for a few months of Christian Vázquez now looks like a big win. Plucking Garrett Whitlock from the Yankees in the in the 2020 Rule 5 draft was a nice pull. Kyle Teel, Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Miguel Bleis and Kristian Campbell are all on top 100 prospect lists and were acquired during Bloom’s time.

As he ramps up to take over, Mozeliak will be preparing to wind things down. Though the recent results have stirred up the anger of many fans in the St. Louis area, Mozeliak is connected to much of the clubs’ aforementioned success earlier this century. He joined the club’s scouting department in 1995, just a few years before they kicked off that strong run of success. He worked his way up to eventually take over the general manager role going into the 2008 season.

The club has largely been a mainstay of the postseason in that time, including winning the World Series in 2011. There has been an apparent tapering off of the club’s momentum in recent years, though even before that, it seemed like Mozeliak was leaning towards transitioning away from his current role. Back in February of 2023, before the club’s disappointing results in the two most recent campaigns, Mozeliak gave some hints that he was heading out the door eventually.

“I know there is going to be some change coming over the next few years,” he said at that time. “We certainly want to give individuals within the organization opportunities to grow and expand some of their roles, and over the course of the next year or so we’ll work through that.”

At that point, it seemed fair to conclude that he was talking about Girsch, who had been in the organization since 2006. He had been promoted to general manager in 2017, working as Mozeliak’s top lieutenant since then. Girsch had been signed to a multi-year extension in October 2022, just a few months prior to Mozeliak’s comments.

But Bloom was fired by the Red Sox in September of 2023 and then landed an advisory role with the Cards in January of 2024. It seems that Bloom has surpassed Girsch at some point, either based on his track record with Boston or something he has shown them since taking on that advisory role.

Girsch has now been given a new title, which is perhaps a favor to him in a sense. With Bloom now blocking his path to a promotion with the Cards, this sends a signal to other clubs. If any front office positions open up elsewhere and another team is interested in Girsch, he will now seem more available than he did a few weeks ago. Clubs generally allow their personnel to interview with other clubs if a promotion is involved, so the Cards could be open to Girsch pursuing a role somewhere else if the opportunity arises. Per Woo on X, the club doesn’t plan to hire another GM in the short term, likely waiting until Bloom takes over next year. Woo also relays in a column at The Athletic that Girsch is under contract for one more year.

As the weeks and months roll along, more specifics should emerge about the organization and their plans. But from the news today and in recent weeks, it’s clear that the main idea is change, a new direction that should have significant ramifications for years to come.

Offseason Outlook: Colorado Rockies

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The Rockies just wrapped up their sixth straight losing season and second straight with over 100 losses. There are some internal reasons for optimism but they have a difficult path out of the National League West basement.

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Mets Select Joey Lucchesi

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The Mets selected left-hander Joey Lucchesi between games of today’s double-header. He is the starter for the second game of the twin bill against Atlanta with left-hander Alex Young optioned in a corresponding active roster move. Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to relay the news on X. The Mets transferred right-hander Christian Scott to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot, per Mike Puma of The New York Post on X.

The Mets and Atlanta came into today’s double-header effectively in a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks. Each of the two clubs playing today only needed to win one game in order to clinch a playoff spot. The Mets won a thriller in the first game, emerging victorious 8-7. They had planned to start Luis Severino in the second game if they still needed to win but will instead hold him back for the Wild Card round tomorrow.

Lucchesi, 31, will get the ball instead. The lefty has been with the Mets since January of 2021, coming over from the Padres in the three-team mega trade that sent Joe Musgrove to San Diego, David Bednar to Pittsburgh and more. The southpaw required Tommy John surgery that summer, which resulted in him missing most of 2022. He has largely been used as optionable depth since then.

This year, his big league results prior to today consisted of just one spot start. He tossed 4 1/3 innings against the Phillies on May 15, allowing five earned runs. He was optioned back to the minors after that outing and later designated for assignment when the Mets acquired Phil Maton in July.

Lucchesi cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. As a player with more than three years of service time, he could have rejected that outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would have involved walking away from what remained of his $1.65MM salary.

Naturally, he accepted that outright assignment and gets his roster spot back today. The Mets likely plan on just using Lucchesi for this one outing, as they have Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, David Peterson and Tylor Megill as starting options for the postseason.

If Lucchesi survives on the 40-man all winter, he could be retained for 2025 via arbitration. However, he will be out of options next year and will therefore have less appeal to the club as a depth option, which should make him a candidate to be bumped from the roster at some point. He has a 4.70 earned run average in 115 Triple-A innings this year.

As for Scott, he underwent a Tommy John and internal brace hybrid procedure recently, so he will miss the remainder of this year and likely all of 2025 as well. He will spend most of that time on the 60-day IL, though there’s no injured list during the offseason, so he will need to retake a roster spot for at least a few months.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 season is moving into the postseason, with the offseason just over the horizon. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the winter or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Previewing The 2024-25 MLB Free Agent Class: Left-Handed Relievers

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MLBTR’s positional preview of the upcoming free agent class continues with a look at the left-handed relief pitchers. Last year’s group was headlined by Josh Hader but there’s no such outlier this time. However, there are still some intriguing options.

Player ages, listed in parenthesis, are for the 2025 season. Stats are through play on September 26. Only players who have appeared in the majors this year are included.

Other Entries: Catcher | First Base | Second Base | Shortstop | Third Base | Center Field | Corner Outfield | Designated Hitter | Starting Pitcher

High-Leverage Relievers

Chapman isn’t quite at the same level he was a decade ago, but he’s still one of the most powerful pitchers in the game. Both of his fastballs average in the high 90s and he still racks up the punchouts. The Pirates signed him to a one-year, $10.5MM guarantee coming into 2024. He has tossed 60 innings for them so far this year with a 3.90 ERA. His 15% walk rate is quite high compared to league average but normal for Chapman. He has struck out 36.5% of batters faced while keeping 44.7% of balls in play on the ground. He has 12 saves and 22 holds for the Bucs and will likely be looking for a fairly similar contract this winter.

Coulombe took a long time to establish himself but is coming off a strong two-year run. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins in four straight offseasons, going into the 2020-2023 campaigns. In the last of those four, he triggered an assignment clause and got traded to the Orioles just before Opening Day. Since then, he has thrown 80 innings for the O’s with a 2.59 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 5.1% walk rate and 44.6% ground ball rate. He has three saves and 34 holds in that time.

Minter won’t be going into free agency at his best. He’s had some good seasons for Atlanta but went on the IL twice this year due to hip issues and underwent surgery in August. From 2020 to 2023, he tossed 208 2/3 innings for Atlanta with a 2.89 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. He recorded at least 21 holds in the three full seasons of that stretch. Here in 2024, his strikeout rate dropped to 26.1%. His 2.62 ERA is still nice, but a .222 BABIP and 94.2% strand rate helped him out there. His market will depend on his health and whether clubs expect him to bounce back.

Scott has had some ups and downs in his career but is coming off a strong two-year run. Most of that has come with the Marlins but he was flipped to the Padres at the deadline, with the Friars sending four prospects to get Scott and Bryan Hoeing out of Miami. Since the start of 2023, Scott has thrown 150 innings with a 2.04 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and 50.4% ground ball rate. He has 34 saves and 35 holds in that time. Judging by the big trade return he netted the Marlins, he should be in high demand this winter and should be able to command a strong multi-year deal. With the Padres having clinched a playoff spot, he also has a chance to give himself some extra momentum if he can post some good results in the spotlight of the postseason.

Middle Relievers

Alexander and the Athletics signed a one-year deal with a $2.25MM guarantee coming into 2024. That investment has worked out quite well for the A’s, as Alexander has tossed 37 1/3 innings with a 2.65 ERA and 10 holds. There could be some luck in there, with his .267 BABIP and 79.4% strand rate both on the fortunate side, leading to a 3.89 FIP and 3.83 SIERA that are closer to his career rates. His 19.5% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate aren’t special but are normal for the groundballer. His 58.5% rate of getting the ball hit into the dirt this year is well above league average but actually a career low for him.

Beeks served as closer for the Rockies for a stretch this year, though that said more about the state of that club’s staff than about him. He was traded to the Pirates at the deadline and has a 4.52 ERA between the two clubs this year. That comes with a 17.5% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 44.6% ground ball rate. He currently has ten saves and eight holds for the season. Signing Beeks would be about hoping for a bounceback. With the Rays in 2022 and 2023, he tossed 103 1/3 innings with a 4.09 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate. He was put on waivers in November and claimed by the Rockies but ended up having a down year.

Diekman has a track record that spans more than a decade. Control has never been his strong suit, as he has walked 13.4% of batters faced overall. He has often been able to overcome that with strong strikeout rates, punching out 28.7% of batters faced in his career. He signed a one-year, $4MM deal with the Mets for 2024 but posted a 5.63 ERA through early August and was released. He struck out 27.6% of batters faced and walked 16.6% but was severely hurt by a 29.2% home run per flyball ratio. His deal originally came with a club option but that’s now moot since he has been released. No one has picked him up in the past couple of months so he might be limited to minor league deals if he wants to keep going next year.

Ferguson is having a down year in terms of surface stats but things aren’t as bad under the hood. After missing 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, he tossed 95 innings for the Dodgers over 2022 and 2023. In that time, he had a 2.84 ERA, 26% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 46.8% ground ball rate. He was flipped to the Yankees coming into 2024, then traded to the Astros at the deadline. Between those two clubs, he has a 4.64 ERA that’s well worse than his previous two seasons. But his 26.9% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and 46.7% ground ball rate are very similar to that stretch with the Dodgers. A .340 BABIP and 66.6% strand rate are probably masking the fact that he’s the same guy he was before this year.

Garrett has mostly been in the minors this year. His major league work consists of just 5 1/3 innings with the Angels, allowing three earned runs while striking out 11 but walking five opponents. He has a 5.08 ERA in Triple-A while punching out 28.5% of batters but walking 10.6%. He has years of experience but his lack of control has generally undercut his ability to strike hitters out. In 330 2/3 big league innings overall, he has a 4.95 ERA and 26.7% strikeout rate but a 13.3% walk rate. He’ll have to settle for a minor league deal if he wants to keep pitching in 2025.

Hill has long had an ability to get ground balls, which is serving him well at the moment. After being non-tendered by the Padres a year ago, he signed a one-year deal with the White Sox with a $1.8MM guarantee. That team cut him loose in June when he had a 5.87 ERA, though that seemingly wasn’t his fault. He had a massive .436 BABIP and 63.5% strand rate during his time on the South Side. The Yankees picked him up, presumably figuring he could fare better with a stronger defense behind him. That has largely been borne out, as Hill has a 2.09 ERA since coming to the Bronx. Overall, Hill has a 3.41 ERA on the year while getting grounders on 68.4% of balls in play. His 10.4% strikeout rate is quite low but he doesn’t issue many walks and can clearly be effective if his grounders are being scooped up.

Matzek has some good results on his résumé but is not coming into free agency on a high note. Back in 2020, he posted a 2.79 ERA, 35.5% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate with Atlanta. In 2021, his walk rate climbed to 14% but he managed to keep his ERA down to 2.57. The year after that, he had a 19.6% strikeout rate and 15.8% walk rate before requiring Tommy John surgery in October. He missed all of 2023 while recovering from that procedure. He made 11 appearances earlier this year, posting a 9.90 ERA, before going back on the IL with elbow inflammation. He was flipped to the Giants as part of the Jorge Soler deal but put on waivers a few weeks later and then re-signed with Atlanta on a minor league deal.

Not too long ago, Moore seemed to be engineering a nice second act as a reliever. He posted a 1.95 ERA with the Rangers in 2022 and then a 2.56 ERA with multiple clubs in 2023. The Angels gave him $9MM for 2024 but things have fallen off a cliff this year. Last year, he had a 27.5% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate but those figures are 19.5% and 12.4% this year and his ERA has shot up to 5.03.

Raley underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of May and won’t be a factor until the middle of 2025 even in a best-case scenario. He plans to continue pitching so he could perhaps sign a deal while he’s rehabbing or perhaps wait until he’s healthy and then showcase himself for interested clubs. He has tossed 184 1/3 innings since returning from Korea for the 2020 season. In that time, he has a 3.42 ERA, 29% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. From 2022 to the present, his ERA is just 2.58, though with similar peripherals.

Rodríguez signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the winter and has been on and off their roster this year. He posted a 5.93 ERA in 13 2/3 major league innings. His 1.88 ERA in Triple-A looks nice but that’s mostly due to a tiny .175 BABIP.

Smith has a shot at an incredible feat this October. It’s already amazing that he has won a World Series ring three years in a row with three different teams: Atlanta in 2021, Astros in 2022 and Rangers in 2023. He can add another year to that if the Royals manage to take home the trophy a month from now. He signed with Kansas City on a one-year deal with a $5MM guarantee but has a 6.53 ERA on the year. His 15.6% strikeout rate is by far the lowest of his career, except for his 2012 rookie season when he was still a starter. From 2013 to 2021, his strikeout rate was always at least 28.7%. That dropped to just below 25% in 2022 and 2023 and even farther this year.

From 2020 to 2023, Thielbar tossed 174 innings for the Twins with a 3.21 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. In 46 innings this year, his ERA has jumped to 5.28. Part of that is a .341 BABIP and 62.1% strand rate, but his strikeout rate has also dropped to 25.1% while his walk rate has climbed to 11.4%. He’ll surely be limited to one-year offers based on his age and recent struggles.

Wilson hardly pitched over the 2022-23 seasons, mostly due to Tommy John surgery. The Reds gave him $1.5MM on a major league deal for 2024, but Wilson hasn’t found success, at least in terms of surface results. In 46 2/3 innings, he has a 5.21 ERA. That’s despite a 24.8% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. Making his home in a hitter-friendly park has led to a .328 BABIP and 15.9% home run per fly ball ratio this year. ERA estimators like his 4.67 FIP and 3.33 SIERA suggest he deserved better. For his career, he has over 500 innings with a 3.57 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate.

Swingman

Across stints with the Rays, Royals, Dodgers and Blue Jays, Yarbrough has been consistently deployed as a swingman/depth starter, making spot starts or working in long relief out of the bullpen. He has 195 major league appearances, including 68 starts, with a 4.23 ERA in 764 1/3 innings thrown. That includes a 3.32 ERA in 95 innings between the Dodgers and Blue Jays this year. His 18.7% career strikeout rate isn’t high but he’s limited walks to a 5.5% clip while limiting damage. His average exit velocity and hard hit rate are often among the best in the league, landing in the 98th and 99th percentile this year respectively.

Options/Opt-Outs

Bummer signed a five-year, $16MM extension with the White Sox back in 2020. Since then, he has thrown 205 1/3 innings with a 4.21 ERA. That figure would be lower if it weren’t for a weird spike in 2023 when his ERA jumped to 6.79 thanks to a .340 BABIP and 55.4% strand rate. During the course of that contract, he has a 29.3% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 64.5% ground ball rate. Atlanta acquired him going into 2024, presumably attracted to his $5.5MM salary in 2024 and two subsequent club options valued at $7.25MM and $7.5MM, each having a $1.25MM buyout. The net $6MM decision seems like solid value but the club also hasn’t been leaning on Bummer too much, as he has only two holds on the season despite his 3.62 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 60.1% ground ball rate.

Chafin signed with the Tigers this offseason, a one-year deal with a $4.75MM guarantee. That came in the form of a $4.25MM base salary, incentives, and a $4.75MM club option for 2025 with a $500K buyout. Traded to the Rangers at the deadline, he has a 3.56 ERA in 55 2/3 innings on the year overall. His 12.3% walk rate is a bit high but he’s striking out 28.8% of batters faced. The net $4.25MM decision is a fair price for Chafin. Whether the Rangers pick it up or not might depend on factors apart from him. They had a budget crunch last winter due to uncertainty in their TV revenue situation and may prefer to keep that powder dry, as opposed to locking Chafin up right as the offseason gets going.

The Padres signed Peralta in the winter to a four-year, $16.5MM deal. That was a bit surprising since the club was dealing with a notable budget crunch but also because of the contract’s structure, as Peralta has the right to opt out after each year of the pact. He is making $3.35MM this year, followed by $4.25MM next year and then $4.45MM in each of the final two seasons. His first year in San Diego hasn’t gone well so far, as he has a 4.10 ERA over 45 appearances. If not for a .239 BABIP, it would probably be worse, which is why he has a 5.44 FIP and 4.46 SIERA. He’s still getting grounders but his 13.9% strikeout rate is a big drop, as he’s usually in the 20% range. He’ll pass on his opt-out chance for now and hope for a better season in 2025.

Suter signed with his hometown Reds coming into 2024, a $3MM guarantee that came in the form of a $2.5MM base salary in 2024 and $500K buyout on a $3.5MM club option for 2025. The veteran has continued to do what he always does, which is get weak contact and post good results despite not getting many strikeouts. He has 64 1/3 innings this year with a 3.22 ERA, 18.9% strikeout rate, 4.5% walk rate and 41.2% ground ball rate. Per Statcast, his average exit velocity allowed is in the 94th percentile while his hard hit rate is in the 96th. In addition to those strong results, Suter has a solid reputation as a veteran clubhouse leader. Given the modest $3MM difference between the buyout and option, it seems like this will be picked up.

Twins Activate Kody Funderburk From Injured List

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The Twins announced that they have reinstated left-hander Kody Funderburk from the 60-day injured list. Catcher Jair Camargo was optioned to open an active roster spot. Outfielder Max Kepler has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Prior to the official announcement, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reported on X that Funderburk would be activated.

Funderburk, 27, had an intriguing debut last year. Called up in August, he was able to pitch 12 innings for the Twins with a 0.75 earned run average. He struck out 40.4% of batters faced and got grounders on 54.5% of batters faced.

He hasn’t been able to maintain results that strong in 2024. He currently has 33 2/3 innings on the year with a 5.61 ERA. His ground ball rate is the same as last year but his strikeout rate has essentially been halved, landing at 20.3% so far. In July, he landed on the 15-injured list due to a left oblique strain, later being transferred to the 60-day version.

The Twins have just one lefty in their bullpen at the moment in Caleb Thielbar. They have had Steven Okert, Cole Irvin and Brent Headrick on the roster somewhat recently but Okert and Irvin were designated for assignment in recent weeks while Headrick was optioned a couple of days ago.

The club’s season is currently hanging by a thread. They are three games back of the Tigers and Royals with each team having three games remaining. The Twins hold the tiebreakers over both of those clubs but still have long odds of getting back into a playoff spot at this point. Funderburk will give manager Rocco Baldelli a second lefty option in the bullpen as they try to hang on. The Twins host the Orioles this weekend as the Royals are in Atlanta and the Tigers host the White Sox.

As for Kepler, this move will end his season, regardless of whether the club makes the postseason or not. He landed on the IL September 2 due to left patellar tendinitis in his knee. He told Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic a couple of days ago that he wasn’t likely to return and might need offseason surgery.

That would be unfortunate timing as he is heading to free agency for the first time in his career. He and the Twins signed a five-year, $35MM extension going into 2019, with that deal containing a $10MM club option for 2024 that was eventually picked up.

Kepler is a strong defender on the grass, with career tallies of 50 Defensive Runs Saved and 66 Outs Above Average. He has occasionally paired that with strong offense, though not consistently. He hit 24 home runs last year and drew walks at a 9.2% clip, leading to a .260/.332/.484 batting line and 123 wRC+. But this year, around multiple IL stints, he has just eight homers and a 5.5% walk rate. His .253/.302/.380 line has led to a 94 wRC+.

Garrett Crochet Open To Extension Talks With White Sox

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White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet spoke to members of the media yesterday, including Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, indicating that he would be open to having contract extension talks this winter. “I would be receptive to conversations,” Crochet said. “Those conversations are not reliant on only myself and what I might want. I know that (GM Chris) Getz does everything with the team’s future in mind. So I think we can trust that to be true.”

It’s perhaps notable that Crochet isn’t immediately shooting down the idea of a long-term deal, but a willingness to have conversations doesn’t necessarily indicate that a deal is likely or even plausible.

Up until this point in his career, Crochet’s earning power has been fairly modest by MLB standards but it is about to shoot up. In 2023, he surpassed three years of service time and therefore qualified for arbitration. However, since he missed significant time while recovering from Tommy John surgery, he was only able to secure himself a slight pay bump. He is making $800K here in 2024, just barely above the $740K league minimum.

But this year, he moved from the bullpen to the rotation with outstanding results. To this point, he has tossed 142 innings over 31 starts. That has come despite the club scaling back his workload in the second half, as he hasn’t thrown more than four innings in an outing since June. He has a 3.68 earned run average on the year and perhaps deserves better. His 35.1% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate are all strong numbers. His 18 home runs allowed are the biggest weak point, which is why an ERA estimator like SIERA that normalizes home run rate has him down at 2.54.

The excellent results turned Crochet into a much-discussed trade chip this summer, though his unique circumstances seemingly prevented a deal from being consummated. The White Sox were well out of contention and Crochet was plenty available, but there were questions about what his second half would look like. After being drafted, he was quickly shot up to the majors during the 2020 season and subsequently missed time due to his aforementioned surgery. As such, he had been able to throw just 85 1/3 professional innings over the 2020-23 period.

Though he had flourished as a starter in the first half of 2024, teams were naturally going to wonder how he would hold up if kept in that role during a pennant race and into the postseason. Crochet and his reps reportedly expressed a desire for him to continue starting and secure a contract extension before pitching in October.

Perhaps due to those complications, no trade occurred prior to the deadline, but it’s generally expected that those talks will be revisited this winter. The workload concerns should be less of an issue going forward with the base he established this year. Crochet has two arbitration seasons remaining and it will be difficult for this historically bad White Sox club to return to contention in that timeframe. His salary will leap up from $800K but will still be quite low compared to free agent rates, giving him plenty of surplus trade value. Rather than continuing to run out Crochet to be the best player on a bad team, there’s logic to flipping him for players that can help the club down the line, which Crochet seemingly alluded to in his comments yesterday.

An extension with the White Sox could change that calculus by keeping him around longer, but there are reasons not to expect that to happen. Crochet is only 25 years old, meaning he is currently slated to hit free agency just after his 27th birthday.

Pitchers almost never reach the open market that young, apart from guys coming from international leagues. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was coming over from Japan this past offseason at the age of 25 and had widespread interest, eventually managing to secure a $325MM guarantee from the Dodgers. That kind of spending on a player with no major league experience, plus the $51MM posting fee the Dodgers had to cough up, suggests that the league values that youth highly.

Crochet will be two years older as a free agent that Yamamoto was, but he could have a decent track record in the big leagues by then. There is risk by going year to year, as Crochet could always suffer another injury between now and then, but it would likely take a fairly notable investment to get him to give up that kind of opportunity. In August, MLBTR’s Anthony Franco wrote a piece for Front Office subscribers that looked at some recent pitcher extensions and compared them to Crochet, suggesting that the lefty could get something close to a nine-figure deal.

The White Sox have never given out a guarantee larger than the $75MM they gave to Andrew Benintendi. Given that they are currently at the nadir of a rebuild, it’s probably not the time where they want to be setting new franchise records in that department.

Taking all these factors together, it still seems fair to expect a trade. If the club is interested in a public relations win after so many losses this year, they could consider breaking the bank on Crochet. If they have such thoughts, he is at least willing to answer the phone and talk, but other clubs will also be calling and trying to pry him loose this winter. In comments made a couple of weeks ago, Getz suggested the club would likely be having trade talks involving Crochet this winter.

Giants’ Reggie Crawford Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Giants prospect Reggie Crawford has undergone shoulder surgery. “Will never be beaten,” Crawford said in a post on X along with a picture of himself recovering from the procedure. “Thank you to Dr. ElAttrache for taking care of the shoulder. I will be back soon [emoji of hands making a heart shape]” The club later announced to members of the beat, including Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (X link), that the labrum surgery comes with an estimated recovery timeline of 10 to 12 months. He will therefore miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season.

Crawford, now 23, was selected by the Giants with the 30th overall pick in the 2022 draft. A two-way player in college, the Giants let him both pitch and hit last year, though his workload was limited. He had undergone Tommy John surgery late in 2021 and didn’t pitch at all in 2022, then dealt with various other ailments during the 2023 season including mononucleosis and a strained oblique. He tossed 19 innings on the year and made 19 plate appearances, splitting his time between Single-A and High-A. He went to the Arizona Fall League but didn’t pitch, hitting .138/.282/.276 in his 71 plate appearances there.

The Giants decided to have him focus exclusively on pitching in 2024. He hadn’t hit much in a small sample of work since being drafted but he had impressed with his stuff from the mound. His fastball is in the triple-digit range while both Baseball America and FanGraphs praised his curveball earlier this year.

Crawford tossed 18 1/3 innings this year, split between Double-A and Triple-A. He allowed 2.95 earned runs per nine while striking out 38.5% of batters faced. His 15.4% walk rate was quite high, perhaps unsurprising for a guy with so much missed time.

But his last appearance was in June and he’s now slated for another lengthy absence. Crawford is clearly talented but the numerous bumps in the road are less than an ideal for a pitcher who is still developing and harnessing his stuff. At this point, between college and the minors, he’s only thrown 53 2/3 of official gameplay.

He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft after sitting out the majority, or perhaps the entirety, of the 2025 campaign. Given his talent and status as a key prospect in the organization, the Giants will likely still protect him by giving him a roster spot. Still, this is a notable development for Crawford and the club. Getting the best version of Crawford was already going to be a project for the Giants and now he’s going to be on ice for close to a year, putting his development on pause.

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