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Rangers Designate Andrew Knizner For Assignment

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The Rangers announced that right-hander Tyler Mahle has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding moves, the club optioned left-hander Walter Pennington and designated catcher Andrew Knizner for assignment.

Knizner, 29, signed with the Rangers in the offseason after being non-tendered by the Cardinals. Texas gave him a one-year deal with a $1.825MM salary, knowing that he could be retained via arbitration beyond this season as well.

Unfortunately, the club has been struggling to get much production from the catcher position this year. Jonah Heim hit .258/.317/.438 last year for a 103 wRC+ but he has dropped to a line of .232/.277/.346 and a 73 wRC+ this year. The falloff from Knizner has been even more drastic as he slashed .241/.288/.424 with the Cards last year for a 92 wRC+ but he is hitting .167/.183/.211 this year for a wRC+ of 4.

Perhaps some of that can be attributed to a .206 batting average on balls in play but Knizner has also drawn walks at a paltry 1.1% clip and hit just one home run in his 93 plate appearances, compared to the ten he hit in 241 trips to the plate last year. The Rangers fortified their catching corps by acquiring Carson Kelly from the Tigers prior to the deadline and then optioned Knizner to Triple-A, though he has now been bumped off the 40-man roster altogether.

With the trade deadline now passed, the Rangers will have to put Knizner on waivers in the coming days. Despite his rough season, he could perhaps garner interest based on his past performance and contract status.

He has one option left and therefore a claiming club wouldn’t need to give him an active roster spot right away, though he would be out of options next year in that scenario. He has not yet spent 20 days on optional assignment this year, so it’s possible he could retain that option next year if he either doesn’t get claimed or is kept in the majors by some other club. He also came into this season with four years and 21 days of service time, putting him just shy of the five-year mark at present. If any club felt especially bullish about Knizner’s future, they could claim him, keep him on optional assignment for the rest of the year and then control him via arbitration for two more years.

As for Mahle, he will be taking the mound for the first time in over a year. He required Tommy John surgery in May of last year, just a few months from free agency. The Rangers signed him to a two-year, $22MM deal with the knowledge that they would have to wait for his arrival.

With Mahle and Jacob deGrom both on their way back from surgeries last year, the club felt good enough about their rotation depth to deal Michael Lorenzen to the Royals prior to the deadline. But both Jon Gray and Max Scherzer recently landed on the IL, thinning the group out further. As of right now, the group consists of Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, José Ureña and Cody Bradford, with Dane Dunning in a long-relief role in the bullpen.

Rockies Designate John Curtiss For Assignment, Select Chasen Shreve

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The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Chasen Shreve. In a corresponding move, right-hander John Curtiss has been designated for assignment. Their 40-man roster count stays at 39.

Shreve, 34, has been struggling to get to the majors this year. That’s a bit surprising as he’s generally been solid in his major league career and has been producing decent numbers in the minors this year. In 367 big league appearances dating back to his 2014 debut, he has a 3.97 earned run average. His 10.8% walk rate in that time is on the high side but only slightly. His 25.3% strikeout rate is quite strong and he’s also kept 41.6% of balls in play on the ground.

Coming into this year, he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers but opted out in early May and re-signed with that club on another minors pact. In mid-June, he signed a minors deal with the Yankees, presumably after opting out from his Rangers deal yet again. The Yanks released him a few days ago, perhaps due to another opt-out situation, and he quickly landed with the Rockies on another minor league deal.

Across all those deals, he has a 2.61 ERA in 34 1/3 Triple-A innings this year. He has struck out 26.7% of batters faced while walking 9.2% of them. Despite those decent numbers, the Rangers and Yankees didn’t find room for him in their respective bullpens but the Rockies will.

He’ll take the spot of Curtiss, who has been on and off the Colorado roster this year. He was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and has now twice has his contract selected but has been designated for assignment a few days later in both instances. He has allowed four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings around those transactions, giving him an unsightly 15.43 ERA on the year.

He had some intriguing results a few years ago but hasn’t got his strikeouts back after his Tommy John surgery. With the Rays, Marlins and Brewers in 2020 and 2021, he tossed a combined 69 1/3 innings with a 2.86 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate. He went under the knife in September of 2021 and was then non-tendered by Milwaukee.

The Mets signed him for 2022 and 2023, knowing that he would miss the first year of that stretch. He eventually returned and tossed 19 2/3 innings with the Mets last year but with a 4.58 ERA and 19.8% strikeout rate. He was outrighted off their roster after last year, which led to his deal with the Rockies. He’s tossed 38 Triple-A innings this year with a 4.03 ERA and 18.5% strikeout rate. With the trade deadline now passed, the Rockies will have no choice but to put Curtiss on waivers in the coming days.

Astros Select Zach Dezenzo

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3:05pm: The Astros have now officially announced that they have selected Dezenzo. In corresponding moves, they optioned outfielder Trey Cabbage to Triple-A Sugar Land and designated right-hander Dylan Coleman for assignment. Coleman was acquired from the Royals in an offseason trade but has just one big league appearance for Houston, having spent the rest of the year on optional assignment. In his 36 Triple-A innings, he has a 6.50 ERA with a 23.9% walk rate.

2:25pm: The Astros are going to call up infielder Zach Dezenzo, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X. They will need to make corresponding moves to open space for him on the active and 40-man rosters.

Dezenzo, 24, gets the major league call for the first time. A 12th-round pick of the Astros in 2022, he has made a quick rise through the farm system. He split his time between High-A and Double-A last year, hitting 18 home runs in 94 games. His 25.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but he also drew walks at a solid 10.2% clip. His combined batting line was .304/.383/.531 for a 141 wRC+, though with an unsustainable .382 batting average on balls in play.

Coming into 2024, Baseball America ranked him #5 in the club’s system. They noted that his bat-to-ball skills are low but he makes good decisions and crushes the pitches that he does make contact with, leading to strong exit velocities.

He began this year on the shelf due to a wrist issue and began a rehab assignment at the Complex League in early June. It was around that time that FanGraphs ranked him #6 in the system, suggesting he could wind up like Eugenio Suárez as a guy who strikes out a lot but puts the ball over the fence enough to still be a useful contributor, though perhaps in streaky fashion.

Once he overcame his wrist issue, Dezenzo returned to Double-A and hit a tepid .222/.308/.370 in 22 games there but was nonetheless promoted to Triple-A and debuted at that level on July 24, less than two weeks ago. He has since been on a massive heater, hitting .391/.472/.739 in his 11 Triple-A games. He won’t maintain a .438 BABIP but it’s encouraging that he has four home runs and an 11.3% walk rate in that time.

It’s an aggressive move for the Astros to promote him despite his lack of a track record, but it reflects how much they have struggled to get production out of their first base slot. José Abreu had an awful time this year, struggling so much that he agreed to be optioned for a time. Around that stint on the farm, he hit .124/.167/.195 in the majors and was released in the middle of June.

Jon Singleton has picked up the bulk of playing time at first base in Abreu’s absence but has hit .230/.311/.354 this year for a 91 wRC+. That’s not disastrous production, only 9% below league average overall, but clubs generally expect first base to be a position where they can count on strong offensive output. He’s also been slumping of late, with a line of .167/.196/.315 dating back to July 13.

Dezenzo has been splitting his time between third base and first base this year but it seems unlikely he’ll see significant time at the hot corner with the presence of Alex Bregman and the struggles at the other end of the diamond. It’s a bold move, with Dezenzo having just 85 Double-A games and 11 Triple-A contests on his ledger but the Astros are in a tight race and didn’t get any first base help prior to the deadline.

Houston started out dreadfully this year but managed to climb back into the race. They are currently five games back of a Wild Card spot but just a game and a half behind the Mariners in the West division. Perhaps Dezenzo can give them a bit of a boost if he can quickly acclimate to big league pitching. It’s also possible that this is a bit of an audition for next year, with Bregman slated for free agency. Prospect reports generally cast some doubt on Dezenzo’s ability to stick at third, which will likely be a long-term question, but the first test will be handling himself at the plate.

Diamondbacks Select Adrian Del Castillo

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2:30pm: The Diamondbacks have officially announced these moves and others. Del Castillo has been selected and Moreno has been placed on the IL with a strained left adductor. They also reinstated left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez from the 60-day IL, a move that was reported last week. To activate Rodriguez, the club optioned right-hander Humberto Castellanos and transferred righty Bryce Jarvis to the 60-day IL. It was also reported last week that Jarvis is unlikely to return this year due to his sprained right elbow.

12:40pm: The Diamondbacks are going to place catcher Gabriel Moreno on the 10-day injured list with a groin injury, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on X. Fellow backstop Adrian Del Castillo will have his contract selected to take Moreno’s place on the roster. The Snakes already had a 40-man vacancy so no further moves will be required.

Moreno came up limping during yesterday’s game while trying to run out a ground ball. He was removed from the contest with what the team described as a strained left groin. It’s still unclear how long he is expected to be out of action but it’s a rough blow for the Diamondbacks regardless. Moreno is slashing .262/.344/.385 this year for a 107 wRC+ with strong defensive grades as well. FanGraphs considers him to have been worth 2.4 wins above replacement in 86 games.

It’s the second IL stint of the year for Moreno, who also missed some time at the end of June due to a sprained left thumb. Prior to that, he had been sharing the catching duties with Tucker Barnhart, with José Herrera called up to pair with Barnhart in Moreno’s absence. Once Moreno was ready to return in early July, the club decided to keep Herrera around, with Barnhart designated for assignment and eventually released.

That left the Diamondbacks with Moreno and Herrera as the only two backstops on the 40-man roster. Now that Moreno is heading to the IL again, they need to reach into their non-roster depth, which gets Del Castillo up to the majors for the first time.

Now 24 years old, Del Castillo was selected with a competitive balance pick in 2021, going 67th overall in that year’s draft. Baseball America ranked him #29 in Arizona’s system coming into this year but he has launched himself up to #16 in their most recent update. He was #36 at FanGraphs earlier in the year.

BA considers him subpar defensively but strong at the plate, which has shown up at times during his minor league career. That’s especially true here in 2024, which is likely why he earned such a notable bump in the BA rankings. In 100 Triple-A games this year, he has 24 home runs, an 11.5% walk rate and a 16.8% strikeout rate. His .319/.403/.608 batting line translates into a 143 wRC+ even in the hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League.

If he can bring even a small portion of that production up to the big leagues with him, it will go a long way towards compensating for the loss of Moreno. Herrera has hit just .229/.308/.286 this year for a 72 wRC+ with his glovework graded as near league average. Perhaps Del Castillo can outperform him at the plate but even top prospects can struggle when first exposed to the majors. The club will also have to consider that Herrera has a head start on Del Castillo in terms of building relationships with the pitching staff.

The Snakes are currently 61-52 and essentially in a three-way tie for the National League Wild Card spots with Atlanta and San Diego. Atlanta is 60-51 and percentage points ahead of the two other clubs, who are each 61-52. The Mets are just 1.5 games back of that group and five other clubs are just behind New York. With that crowded playoff race, the importance of every game will be magnified going forward. The catching situation will likely evolve in the coming weeks, depending on how much time Moreno needs to miss and how Del Castillo performs in his first taste of the majors. Herrera is in his final option year and will be out of options in 2025.

Reds Sign Tucker Barnhart To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed catcher Tucker Barnhart to a minor league deal, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post on X. Barnhart was released by the Diamondbacks almost a month ago. He will presumably report to Triple-A Louisville at some point in the coming days, though he may also report elsewhere for a tuneup after having a few weeks off.

Barnhart, now 33, returns to the organization that he has spent most of his career with. He was drafted by the Reds in 2009 and played in the big leagues with them from 2014 to 2021. He got into 744 big league contests in that time, hitting .248/.324/.371 for a wRC+ of 82. He generally received strong grades for his blocking and work with the running game. His framing grades were poor early in his career but improved significantly starting in 2019.

Since leaving Cincinnati, his offense has fallen off from what was already a fairly low baseline. He was traded to the Tigers going into 2022 and hit .221/.287/.267 that year for a 61 wRC+. Despite that lackluster performance at the plate, the Cubs signed him to a two-year deal with a $6.5MM guarantee going into 2023. He hit .202/.285/.257 with the Cubs for a wRC+ of 53 and was released by August. He joined the Diamondbacks this year, with the Cubs still on the hook for the second year of his deal, but slashed .173/.287/.210 for a 51 wRC+ and got released last month.

All told, Barnhart has hit .208/.286/.255 in 527 plate appearances since the start of 2022 but his defensive work continues to get decent grades. There’s no real cost to the Reds, as the Cubs are still paying him for the latter portions of that two-year deal, so the Reds would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time he eventually spends on their roster.

The club has Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile as their catching duo at the moment but lost a bit of depth recently. Austin Wynns has been the club’s third catcher for much of the year and he was recently up with the Reds while Maile was on the IL, but then Wynns himself hit the IL with a lat strain. Eric Yang was briefly added to the roster to cover for Wynns but then Maile came off the IL and Yang was outrighted.

With Wynns hurt, Stephenson and Maile are the only two healthy catchers on the 40-man. Barnhart will join Yang and P.J. Higgins as non-roster depth options who could be called upon if either Stephenson or Maile need to miss time again.

Giants Select Jakson Reetz

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The Giants made a few roster moves today, relayed on X by Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle. They have recalled right-hander Hayden Birdsong and selected the contract of catcher Jakson Reetz. In corresponding moves, catcher Curt Casali has been placed on the paternity list while right-hander Spencer Bivens has been optioned to Double-A Richmond. The club already had a couple of 40-man vacancies after the flurry of deadline transactions and their count now climbs to 39.

Reetz, 28, will be in his second stint with the Giants this season. San Francisco selected him to the 40-man roster back in May. He went just 1-for-12 in a brief five-game stint, though his lone hit in that run was a big fly. The Giants designated Reetz for assignment and passed him through waivers later in the month when opening a roster spot for veteran lefty Drew Pomeranz.

Between his brief look with the Giants and an even shorter look with the 2022 Nats (two plate appearances), Reetz has just 14 trips to the plate under his belt in the majors. He’s hitting .250/.362/.428 with Triple-A Sacramento this season and carries a career .240/.336/.467 line in parts of four seasons at the top minor league level. With Casali only headed to the paternity list — a three-day maximum — it could be a brief stay in the majors for Reetz. However, he’s in the second of three minor league option years, so he could simply be optioned rather than designated for assignment whenever Casali returns. That’d at least keep him on the 40-man roster.

Birdsong, 22, will come back to the majors after an impressive debut earlier this season. He’s made six MLB starts and posted a 2.97 ERA in 30 1/3 frames, fanning a huge 30.2% of his opponents against an 11.9% walk rate that’ll need to improve if he’s to sustain his small-sample success. The 2022 sixth-rounder is one of the organization’s more promising pitching prospects and has carved up Double-A this season in addition to yielding five runs in nine Triple-A innings (two starts). With Jordan Hicks now in the bullpen and Alex Cobb traded to Cleveland, Birdsong should have a runway to establish himself as the fifth starter behind Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Kyle Harrison and the resurgent Blake Snell in the Giants’ rotation.

Athletics Agree To Sell Their Share Of Coliseum Land

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The African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG) announced today that they have agreed to a deal to acquire 50% of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum site from Coliseum Way Partners, the Athletics affiliate, for $125MM. AASEG already has a deal in place for the other 50%, so this will give them full ownership of the land once everything is complete. It still needs to be approved by Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The press released was sent out on X and on MLB.com.

In 2019, CWP acquired an interest in Alameda County’s half of the Coliseum site for $85MM. Of course, much has changed since then. Negotiations over a new stadium to be built in Oakland eventually broke down, with reporting from April of 2023 revealing that the A’s had bought land in Las Vegas and were pivoting to a relocation plan. Just a few months later, MLB owners approved the move to Nevada in November of 2023.

There was still a chance that the A’s would stay in Oakland for a while, as their Vegas stadium isn’t scheduled to be ready until 2028. Their lease at the Coliseum runs through 2024 and they had some talks with the city of Oakland about staying through 2027. During those discussions, the city attempted to get the club’s share of the land and also have the A’s pay to convert the facility to a soccer pitch for United Soccer League’s Oakland Roots SC franchise. But the A’s then announced in April that they would relocate to Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons.

That left the unresolved matter of what the A’s would do with their remaining stake in the stadium site. Back in February, it was reported that the club and AASEG had opened talks about a sale. Per the reporting at that time, AASEG also tried to purchase the land the prior year but were rebuffed. Last week, AASEG and the city of Oakland signed a term sheet that would see AASEG acquire the city’s 50% stake in the land for $105MM. Now that they are set to get the other 50% from the A’s, they will eventually own the entire property for a total outlay of $230MM.

“The AASEG is grateful to have reached this historic agreement with the Oakland Athletics to purchase their interests in the Oakland Coliseum complex,” said AASEG Managing Member Ray Bobbitt in the press release. A’s president Dave Kaval, Alameda County Supervisor Dave Haubert and Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Nate Miley also provide quotes supporting the project in the press release linked above.

Carlos Castañeda of CBS covered today’s deal and also provided some more details about what’s next for the Coliseum site. His piece notes that “AASEG is planning a $5 billion redevelopment project to include housing, an amphitheater, restaurants, and a new convention center.” He adds that 25% of the housing built on the land must be affordable, per the term sheet of the deal between the city and AASEG.

The A’s will likely use the cash to help with their moving process. Per reporting from back in May, the club had secured $380MM in government funding for the project, roughly a third of the $1.1 billion projected price tag. Reporting at that time indicated that the A’s were looking to raise $500MM in private funding and may have been willing to offer minority ownership shares of the franchise to incentivize investment. The expected costs have seemingly grown in the past few months, as Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote about the ongoing demolition of the Vegas site last week and listed the projected cost of the stadium at $1.5 billion. Akers added that the A’s are planning to make up some of the difference with $300MM in debt refinancing and $850MM in equity from the family of team owner John Fisher. Fisher’s parents Don and Doris Fisher founded The Gap, the clothing chain, and Forbes estimated the family’s net worth at $8.9 billion in December of 2020.

Perhaps the $125MM will help them balance the books there but they also may have to make some upgrades to Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park to get it more in line with MLB standards. Currently home to the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants, the A’s are slated to play there for the next three major league seasons. Concerns have been expressed by various parties that the facilities are of a lower quality than players have come to expect from other big league ballparks and the club may have to pump some money into renovations there as well. Back in April, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to current MLB players, including Cody Bellinger and Rhys Hoskins, about some of the notable challenges with the environment.

Marlins Claim Brett de Geus

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The Marlins have claimed right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Mariners and optioned him to Triple-A Jacksonville, per announcements from both big league clubs. Seattle had designated him for assignment last week when they claimed righty Jonathan Hernández off waivers from the Rangers. The Fish opened a 40-man roster spot earlier today when infielder/outfielder Nick Gordon was designated for assignment to open an active roster spot for Derek Hill, another waiver claimee.

de Geus, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in the offseason and was selected to their roster in the second week of April. He spent most of the season on optional assignment, only making four appearances for the big league club.

He also pitched for the Rangers and Diamondbacks in 2021 and the combination of those different MLB stints now gives him 53 1/3 big league innings with a 7.26 ERA. His 17.1% strikeout rate is subpar but his 9.9% walk rate is passable while his 51.4% ground ball rate is strong.

That’s generally been the recipe with de Geus. He has 32 Triple-A appearances this year with a 15% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 56.6% ground ball rate. The 6.60 ERA at that level this year isn’t pretty but a .365 batting average on balls in play and 59.4% strand rate have surely helped pushed some extra runs across the plate. He spent most of last year with the Double-A affiliate of the Royals, tossing 35 1/3 innings with a 2.80 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 56.4% ground ball rate.

The Marlins have undergone a massive roster shakeup in the past two weeks. They traded away A.J. Puk, Jazz Chisholm Jr. Trevor Rogers, Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing, Bryan De La Cruz, Huascar Brazobán, Josh Bell and JT Chargois prior to the deadline. They brought back numerous prospects in those deals and also had open roster spots to claim Forrest Wall, David Hensley, Jesús Tinoco, Cristian Pache, John McMillon, Hill and de Geus off waivers.

de Geus will provide the Marlins with some depth in the minors who could be called upon whenever they need a ground ball specialist or just a fresh arm in general. He can still be optioned for the rest of this season and two additional campaigns. He also has just over one year of service time, meaning he could theoretically stick on the roster for a long time if he continues to justify his spot.

Braves Place Reynaldo López On Injured List

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The Braves announced that they have recalled right-hander Bryce Elder, who will start tomorrow’s game, per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on X. To open a spot for Elder, righty Reynaldo López was placed on the 15-day injured list with right forearm inflammation, retroactive to August 2.

López last took the mound on July 28 but left after three innings and the club later announced he was dealing with right forearm tightness. He was sent for an MRI that thankfully revealed no structural damage and the club was initially hoping the righty could avoid the IL. However, he still hasn’t thrown a bullpen since that start, per David O’Brien of The Athletic on X. It seems the soreness and/or inflammation aren’t receding as quickly as hoped and so the club put him on the shelf. Though he hasn’t pitched in almost a week now, IL stints can only be backdated a maximum of three days.

While it’s good that López isn’t facing some kind of season-ending surgery, it is still a notable challenge for the rotation. After working as a reliever in recent years, López moved into a starting role with Atlanta and was having great success with a 2.06 earned run average through 19 starts. His 86.1% strand rate has undoubtedly played a role in lowering his ERA but even his 3.18 FIP and his 4.05 SIERA suggest he’s been a serviceable starter this year.

The club still has Chris Sale, Charlie Morton, Max Fried and Spencer Schwellenbach but subbing in Elder or one of the club’s other depth starters for López is going to be a downgrade. Subtracting a pitcher with a 2.06 ERA would be less than ideal for any club but Elder has a 5.67 ERA on the year. That’s only nine starts and there’s a bit of bad luck in there from his .352 batting average on balls in play and 66.6% strand rate, but even his 4.23 FIP and 4.18 SIERA are a downgrade from López.

Even if one considers the drop from López to Elder manageable, it thins out the overall depth. AJ Smith-Shawver is having a poor year with a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A while Hurston Waldrep has been hurt and just allowed four earned runs over 2 2/3 innings in his most recent Triple-A start after coming off the IL. Ian Anderson is coming back from Tommy John surgery but has a 6.23 through three Triple-A starts so far.

Atlanta came into the season as the division favorites and started the season strong but they have fallen back this summer. They were 19-9 at the end of April but have gone 41-42 since then, leaving them at 60-51. That’s still good enough for the top Wild Card spot in the National League but there are three teams within two games and then another five clubs within seven games, making the grip on a playoff berth fairly tenuous at the moment.

Ideally, López will see be able to recover fairly quickly and make this a temporary issue, but the rotation will feel on the flimsy side until then. Sale is having a great year but missed most of the past four years due to injury and is now 35 years old, while Morton is well past his 40th birthday. Schwellenbach has been doing very well but still has just 11 major league starts under his belt. Fried just returned from an IL stint due to forearm neuritis but his first start back resulted in five walks and five earned runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings despite facing a hollowed-out Marlins lineup. The fans in the Atlanta area will undoubtedly be hoping for López to make a speedy recovery and return some time in the middle of the month.

Doug Creek Passes Away

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Former major leaguer Doug Creek has passed away, according to multiple sources, including The Journal out of Martinsburg, West Virginia. The left-hander died at the age of 55 due to the effects of pancreatic cancer.

Creek was born in Winchester, Virginia in 1969 and went on to attend Georgia Tech. He worked as a starting pitcher for the Yellow Jackets and was drafted by the Cardinals with a seventh-round pick in 1991. In the minor leagues, he continued working out of the rotation until he got near the majors and was then shifted into a relief role.

He was able to make his major league debut with the Cards in 1995, tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings that year. Prior to the 1996 season, he was traded to the Giants alongside Rich DeLucia and Allen Watson for Royce Clayton and a player to be named later, who was later named as Chris Wimmer.

Creek made 63 appearances for San Francisco in 1996 but with a 6.52 ERA. In 1997, an attempt was made to get Creek stretched back out, though without success. He had a 6.75 ERA in three major league starts and a 4.93 ERA in Triple-A. He went overseas for the 1998 season, pitching for the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He made six starts and one relief appearance with a 5.65 ERA.

He returned to North American ball and then spent the next few years as a journeyman left-hander, pitching for the Cubs, Devil Rays, Mariners, Blue Jays and Tigers. He finished his career with 289 1/3 innings pitched over 279 appearances. He had a 5.32 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate and 15.1% walk rate. After leaving the baseball field, he headed out to the water. According to his obituary, he became a charter boat captain in Tampa Bay and competed as an angler on the Redfish Circuit.

We at MLBTR join the baseball world in sending our condolences to Creek’s family, friends, former teammates and coaches and all those mourning his passing.

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