Wojciechowski has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons since 2015, including a single game with the Yankees during the 2021 campaign.  After being released by New York last summer, Wojciechowski signed on with the Mariners on a minors contract but didn’t receive a call to the big leagues, and he elected free agency once the offseason began.

The righty has a 5.93 ERA over 202 career innings, in large part due to a whopping 45 home runs allowed.  A first-round pick for the Blue Jays back in 2010, the 33-year-old Wojciechowski has become a journeyman, pitching with nine different organizations at the major and minor league levels across 13 pro seasons.

McKinney is only 27 years old, but has nine seasons in the minors on his resume, pitching in the Cardinals system from 2013-18 and then joining the Mariners in 2019 following a brief stint in independent ball.  The southpaw didn’t reach the Triple-A level until 2021 but the results haven’t been good — McKinney has a 7.22 ERA, 15.86% strikeout rate, and 12.75% walk rate over 76 innings in Tacoma in 2021-22.

While neither pitcher was performing well for the Rainiers, the releases do remove two swingman/long relief options from the Mariners’ depth chart.  The M’s have gotten a lot of stability out of their rotation this year, with Marco Gonzalez, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, and Chris Flexen all making their starts, and star prospect George Kirby stepping with some quality work after Matt Brash struggled over five outings.

Wojciechowski, 33, has seen action in parts of five big league seasons, including in each of the past three. He appeared in just one game with the 2021 Yankees, allowing a pair of runs over four innings in a spot start, but was a fairly consistent presence with the Orioles in 2019-20. Baltimore originally acquired Wojciechowski from Cleveland in a cash deal back in 2019, and it looked as though he might simply make a spot start or two at the time of the swap.

Instead, Wojciechowski pitched well enough to quickly grab a spot in a patchwork O’s rotation. He worked to a 3.60 ERA in his first 30 innings, providing the Orioles plenty of reason to give him some leash from there on. Overall, while Wojciechowski didn’t exactly dominate, he gave an Orioles roster that was desperate for pitching a total of 82 1/3 innings of 4.92 ERA ball from July 2 through season’s end.

That proved enough for the O’s to keep Wojciechowski on the 40-man roster all winter, and he headed into the shortened 2020 season with a rotation spot. He continued to hold his own through the first four starts of the 2020 season, but after a swift decline — 19 runs over his next 18 1/3 frames — Wojciechowski was designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers.

Overall, Wojciechowski has 202 innings at the big league level, albeit with an unsightly 5.93 ERA to show for it. He’s fanned a respectable 21.9% of his opponents and posted a better-than-average 7.9% walk rate, but Wojciechowski is also an extreme fly-ball pitcher who’s shown a proclivity for surrendering the long ball. Most of his big time in the Majors has been spent in homer-friendly home parks — Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, the Bronx — so if he makes it to Seattle, perhaps T-Mobile Park could help to slightly reduce that problem. Still, with an average of 2.0 homers per nine innings pitched, Wojciechowski’s struggles go beyond the dimensions of his home parks.

As things stand, Wojciechowski is a pure depth option for the M’s. Seattle inked reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to lead its staff in 2022 and beyond. He’ll be followed by stalwart southpaw Marco Gonzales, promising sophomore Logan Gilbert and righty Chris Flexen — a KBO reclamation project that has turned into a resound success for the M’s. Former top prospects Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn could factor into the mix as well, but the general expectation is that the Mariners will add another veteran to round out the rotation in the days and weeks coming out of the lockout.

Wojciechowski isn’t likely to emerge as an option unless the Mariners incur several injuries, but as far as depth options go, a well-traveled veteran with a 4.33 ERA in 664 2/3 Triple-A innings is a solid one to have on hand.

Seattle will be Wojciechowski’s second organization of the 2021 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees over the winter but spent much of the year on the injured list. New York selected Wojciechowski to make a spot start against the Phillies last week. He tossed four innings of two-run ball but was designated for assignment the following day.

New York passed Wojciechowski through outright waivers, but he rejected a new minor league assignment and elected free agency. He’ll now add some depth to a Mariners starting staff that’s still pretty thin, even after yesterday’s acquisition of Tyler Anderson from the Pirates. Over 12 2/3 innings with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Wojciechowski allowed eight runs but struck out seventeen and issued only five walks.

After signing a minors deal with the Yankees this past offseason, Wojciechowski’s tenure in the Bronx lasted just one Major League game — a spot start against the Phillies on Wednesday that saw the righty allow two runs in four innings of what ended up as a 6-5 Yankees victory.

Wojciechowski will now head back onto the open market, after having already been a member of 10 different organizations during a pro career that began when the Blue Jays selected him 41st overall in the 2010 draft.  Wojciechowski has pitched for five teams at the MLB level, with a 5.93 ERA over 202 career innings over parts of five seasons.  Since Wojciechowski had also been outrighted off a big league roster in the past (by the Orioles last September), it was his right to refuse another outright assignment and opt for free agency.

Wojciechowski, 32, was selected to the roster just yesterday and started last night’s game for the Yanks, holding the Phillies to a pair of runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts in four innings. That’ll prove to be little more than a spot start for the well-traveled Wojciechowski, who must now be traded, released or placed on outright waivers within the next week.

The Yankees were Wojciechowski’s fourth big league club in seven years. He spent the 2019-20 campaigns with the Orioles and got out to a solid start in 2019 before struggling mightily during last year’s shortened schedule. Last night’s outing took Wojciechowski past the 200-inning mark in his MLB career, and he’s worked to a 5.93 ERA with a 21.5 percent strikeout rate and a 7.9 percent walk rate in that time. Home runs have been a problem for the former No. 41 overall pick, but he’s continued to find work as a depth option for situations much like this one. Wojciechowski owns a career 4.29 ERA in 647 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball.

In Romano, the Yankees are turning to another former Reds right-hander. The 27-year-old New York native was once considered one of the more promising arms in the Reds’ minor league ranks, but he’s struggled in several opportunities after a solid rookie showing back in 2017. Romano worked to a 4.45 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 87 innings as a rookie, but he’s been worked over for a 5.48 ERA/5.13 FIP in 184 innings since.

To his credit, Romano has consistently fared well in Triple-A — including in a relatively short look with the Yankees’ Scranton affiliate in 2021. He’s spent parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level and logged a combined 3.42 ERA in 142 frames. Romano’s 20.3 percent strikeout rate there is below average, but he’s also notched a solid 7.8 percent walk rate and a strong 49.8 percent ground-ball rate in that time.

Park, 25, received just one plate appearance with the Yankees during his initial call to the Majors. Yanks fans have been clamoring for him to get a look in the big leagues after he batted .325/.475/.541 in 206 Triple-A plate appearances this season, but it seems that in spite of that strong showing, Park won’t get much of a big league look — at least for the time being.

July 20: The Yankees are planning to select the contract of right-hander Asher Wojciechowski, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). He’ll get the ball tomorrow evening against the Phillies. The Yankees have a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary in that regard.

Wojciechowski has previously pitched in the big leagues for the Astros, Reds and Orioles. He’s tallied 198 innings at the highest level over parts of four seasons, working to a cumulative 5.95 ERA/4.67 SIERA. Wojciechowski throws a high number of strikes, but he misses bats at a slightly below-average level and is an extreme fly ball pitcher, which has led to some problems with the home run ball.

New York signed Wojciechowski to a minor league deal in January. The 32-year-old didn’t make his season debut with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre until late June after leaving a Spring Training outing with lat discomfort. He’s made four appearances since returning, none of which have lasted more than four innings, so he’s unlikely to work particularly deep into tomorrow’s start. Wojciechowski has a decent 4.29 ERA over parts of eight Triple-A campaigns.

The 32-year-old Wojciechowski spent the 2019-20 seasons with the Orioles, who acquired him from Cleveland in exchange for cash midway through the 2019 campaign. While he at first looked to have been picked up just to make a spot start or two, Wojciechowski held his own throughout the balance of the 2019 season, earning a spot in the O’s rotation both that year and again in 2020 in the process. The 2020 season, however, proved another story, as Wojciechowski was tagged for a 6.82 ERA in 37 innings before being cut loose by the O’s.

Overall, Wojciechowski has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors but struggled to a 5.95 ERA through 198 innings. He’s turned in a respectable 21.6 percent strikeout rate in that time, sitting right around the league average, and Wojciechowski has a solid track record in Triple-A, as well. Through 635 innings at the top minor league level, he’s logged a 4.27 ERA.

Wojciechowski has only hit the injured list four times in his professional career — twice within a year of being drafted back in 2010 — so he’s a durable depth piece to stash in the upper minors for a Yankees club that currently has some question marks on its starting staff.

Barring a new minor league pact this winter, it seems likely that this will end Wojciechowski’s time with the Orioles. He’s been outrighted in the past and will be eligible to opt for free agency after the season. (Technically, he could do so immediately, although it’s hard to imagine him latching on with another club with such limited time remaining on the schedule.)

Baltimore picked Wojciechowski up from Cleveland in exchange for cash last summer, plugging the journeyman into a rotation vacancy that he he ultimately turned into a full-time spot for more than a year. He posted serviceable numbers in 2019, logging a 4.92 ERA with an 80-to-28 K/BB ratio in 82 1/3 frames, and even tossed a 10-strikeout, 7 1/3-inning scoreless gem against the Red Sox in his best Baltimore outing. However, the 2020 campaign saw Wojciechowski limp to a 6.81 ERA and 6.67 FIP in 37 frames, and the O’s eventually moved on to younger options.

The 31-year-old Wojciechowski has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors, also appearing with the Astros and Reds, although that 2019 season in Baltimore was his best in the Majors. He has a solid Triple-A track record and plenty of experience at that level (635 innings), so he could serve as a depth option elsewhere in the league this winter or perhaps field interest from teams overseas.

As for the 29-year-old Williams, he appeared in 21 games with the O’s from 2019-20 but hit just .208/.250/.271 in 52 plate appearances. He was outrighted to the alternate site earlier this month. The former top prospect has never found his footing in the Majors. He did slash .293/.331/.398 in 132 plate appearances with the 2018 Reds, but that marked his career-high in plate appearances at the MLB level. He’s a .272/.309/.370 hitter in the big leagues and carries a .746 OPS through parts of five Triple-A seasons.

11:44am: The Orioles have designated right-hander Asher Wojciechowski for assignment, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (via Twitter). The team announced the move shortly thereafter, adding that righties Branden Kline and Evan Phillips are up for Game 1 of today’s doubleheader. Phillips is listed as the 29th man for the day.

It seems Wojciechowski’s 40-man roster spot will go to lefty Bruce Zimmermann. Kubatko tweets that Zimmermann is with the team, and MLB.com’s Joe Trezza reported last night that Zimmermann was being considered for his MLB debut on Thursday. The Orioles have since announced Zimmerman as the “probable” starter for the second game of today’s twin bill, so a move to formally add him to he roster will be made between the two games.

Acquired from the Indians in exchange for cash last July, Wojciechowski first looked to be a depth option to make a spot start or two but instead wound up holding down a spot on the pitching staff for more than a year. The 31-year-old appeared in 27 games for the O’s — 23 of them starts — and posted a 5.51 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 30.2 percent grounder rate through 119 2/3 innings28. Wojciechowski’s K/BB numbers and swinging-strike rate were solid, but he proved far too susceptible to the long ball, surrendering 28 dingers in that time for an average of 2.11 per nine frames.

The 25-year-old Zimmermann was a fifth-round pick of the Braves back in 2017 but was traded to his hometown Orioles a year later in the deal that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to Atlanta. He ranks as Baltimore’s No. 19 prospect on Baseball America’s midseason update and currently sits 25th on FanGraphs’ latest rankings of a much-improved Baltimore farm system. Both BA and FanGraphs list him as a potential back-of-the-rotation starter. Zimmermann sits 90-93 mph with his heater and has three secondary offerings, with his slider considered the best of the bunch.

Zimmermann split the 2019 season between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching to a combined 3.21 ERA with 8.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.77 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. He’s not the highest-upside arm in the Orioles’ system — far from it — but Zimmermann still has a chance to either pitch at the back of the rotation or out of the bullpen for a good while in Baltimore. The team will control him through at least the 2026 season, though future optional assignments could push back his potential to reach free agency.

Still, from everything Elias has said so far this winter, his primary goal is to add enough pitching depth at the major league level such that they don’t get caught promoting prospects up the totem pole before they’re ready. Baltimorebaseball.com’s Rich Dubroff explores potential retreads, casting Kevin Gausman as likely out of Baltimore’s price range, while he sees an Andrew Cashner reboot as within the realm of possibility. Cashner does check a lot of boxes in that he won’t cost much, he’s good for 150 innings or so a year, and he won’t be cowed by having to wear one here and there for the rebuilding Orioles. The Athletic’s Dan Connolly adds his own list of potential rotation options like Martin Perez, Shelby Miller, Drew Smyly, Chad Bettis, and other reclamation projects of that ilk.

Caleb Joseph is another ex-Oriole who could return. Elias won’t necessarily be drawn to former Orioles the way others in the building might, but he is on the lookout for a veteran backstop to complete their catching quartet. Pedro Severino, 25, is a lock for one roster spot after a mini breakout at the plate that saw him put up a .249/.321/.420 line while starting just over half of Baltimore’s games. Statcast ranked his glovework in the bottom half of the league in both poptime and framing, while by Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average, a -13.8 FRAA mark landed him next to last (Josh Phegley).

Chance Sisco should have a chance to claim the other spot, though his defensive marks didn’t grade out much better (-11.1 FRAA). Austin Wynns rounds out the group as presently constituted, though he spent most of last year in the minors.

The other well-known area of focus simply from the standpoint of needing to roster enough bodies to make it through a 162-game season is the middle infield. Hanser Alberto figures to see significant playing time at second, while Stevie Wilkerson, Dilson Herrera, Pat Valaika, Jose Rondon and Richie Martin make up the contenders, though nobody from that group is guaranteed – or even necessarily favored – to secure an Opening Day roster spot.

Rogers, 24, came to the Orioles as part of the trade that sent Zack Britton to the division-rival Yankees prior to last year’s non-waiver trade deadline. At the time, he looked like a near-MLB-ready arm that could occupy a spot at the back of the rotation or in the bullpen. Last year saw Rogers pitch to a combined 3.54 ERA in 139 2/3 innings between the Triple-A affiliates for the two organizations. Given his proximity to the Majors, he was viewed as a candidate to log a fair share of innings for the Orioles in the first full season of their rebuild.

However, Rogers has struggled immensely both in the Majors and in Triple-A this season, logging an ERA north of 8.00 in a combined 69 1/3 innings. It’s certainly possible that issues in his elbow contributed to his poor results in 2019, though. While he’s not considered a premium prospect, Rogers ranked 28th among Baltimore farmhands heading into the season, according to Baseball America, who tabbed him as a potential fifth starter. For an Orioles club that is desperately thin on arms behind John Means, Andrew Cashner and Dylan Bundy, that would’ve been a most welcome outcome. Rogers is the second pitching prospect acquired in last summer’s fire sale to undergo Tommy John surgery this year, joining fellow righty Zach Pop, whom the Orioles acquired as part of their return for Manny Machado.

Instead, the Orioles have looked to a pair of minor trades to try to help stop the bleeding in the final two spots of the rotation. Baltimore acquired right-hander Tom Eshelman from the Phillies in exchange for international bonus money last month and acquired righty Asher Wojciechowski from the Indians in exchange for cash on Monday this week. Eshelman made his big league debut Monday, and the well-traveled Wojciechowski followed him in the rotation last night. There will likely be plenty of fluctuation in the composition of the team’s rotation between now and season’s end, but Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets that the out-of-options Wojciechowski will remain in the starting five for now.

In other roster machinations, the Baltimore organization reinstated righty reliever Josh Lucas from the 10-day injured list. To create space, the team optioned Tom Eshelman, who took a spot start for the club yesterday.

The O’s had selected Wotherspoon to the roster in late June, but he was tagged for eight earned in just 4 2/3 innings over two appearances. He’s through 34 1/3 innings of 4.93 ERA ball at Triple-A, where he carries 10.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Wojciechowski, 30, has pitched to a 3.61 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in 84 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball so far in 2019. Like many other pitchers in Triple-A this season, he’s been exceptionally home-run prone after the league switched the baseball. Wojciechowski has averaged two long balls per nine innings pitched, prompting fielding-independent metrics like FIP (5.80) and xFIP (5.50) to paint an uglier picture. It should be noted that homers have been a longstanding issue for Wojciechowski, but he’s never struggled with them to this extent in the minors.

Wojciechowski isn’t a stranger to the big leagues, having pitched 78 2/3 innings in the Majors between the Astros in 2015 and the Reds in 2017. Like recently acquired Tom Eshelman, who’ll start tonight for the O’s, Wojciechowski is something of a familiar face for Baltimore GM Mike Elias, whose time in the Houston front office overlapped with Wojciechowski’s four years in the Astros organization. The 6’4″ righty has yet to find much big league success (6.44 ERA), but he’s averaged better than a strikeout per inning in the Majors. In 635 career innings of Triple-A ball, Wojciechowski has a 4.27 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.

Wojciechowski, 30, will give Cleveland some depth in both the rotation and the bullpen. He’s struggled to a 6.64 ERA with 9.2 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 in 78 2/3 MLB innings, most of which came with the 2017 Reds, but he has plenty of experience at the Triple-A level. In 550 1/3 innings at the top minor league level, Wojciechowski has a 4.37 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9, with all but 15 of his 108 appearances there coming as a starter. He split last season between the Triple-A affiliates for the White Sox and Orioles, working to a combined 4.53 ERA in 119 1/3 frames but with a 126-to-37 K/BB ratio. Wojciechowski’s ability to miss bats has jumped considerably in the past two seasons, and his walk rate has dropped along with that spike, which likely piqued Cleveland’s interest.

As for Federowicz, the 31-year-old has appeared in parts of seven MLB seasons split between the Dodgers, Giants, Reds, Cubs and Astros. He’s never hit much as a big leaguer, managing just a .199/.247/.323 line in 360 plate appearances. That said, he’s an accomplished (and then some) hitter in Triple-A, where he owns a terrific .303/.374/.501 line in nearly 1900 plate appearances.

With Yan Gomes traded to the Nationals, Cleveland is relying on some combination of Roberto Perez, Eric Haase and trade acquisition Kevin Plawecki to shoulder the bulk of the workload behing the plate in 2019. Federowicz will add another depth option to the equation, though it’s unlikely that he’ll emerge as a viable candidate to crack the Opening Day roster with his new organization.

• The White Sox have signed right-hander Asher Wojciechowski to a minor league deal, as announced by the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte (Twitter link).  The 29-year-old opted out of his minors contract with the Orioles last week in order to test free agency, and he has quickly caught on with another organization.  Wojciechowski received his first significant amount of MLB experience last season, tossing 62 1/3 innings over 25 appearances (eight of them starts) with the Reds, posting a 6.50 ERA, 9.2 K/9, and 3.37 K/BB rate.  The inflated ERA was due in large part to 14 homers allowed, as the righty has continually been plagued by the long ball from the Triple-A level and upwards.
• The Red Sox released right-hander Kyle Martin so he could pursue an opportunity to play in Japan, the Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham reports (via Twitter).  The 27-year-old made his Major League debut last season, appearing in two games for the Sox, but he hasn’t since made a return trip to the Show.  A ninth-round pick in the 2013 draft, Martin has a 3.55 ERA, 9.4 K/9, and 2.98 K/BB rate over 334 1/3 career innings in the minors, all as a reliever.