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34 Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

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Blue Jays Outright Brian Serven

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The Blue Jays sent catcher Brian Serven outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Toronto designated him for assignment on Monday when they brought Tyler Heineman back via waivers.

Serven has occupied a 40-man roster spot since the end of Spring Training. He has spent a chunk of the season on optional assignment, hitting .265/.390/.379 with a trio of homers in 40 games for Buffalo. Serven appeared in 28 MLB contests and ran a .179/.243/.222 slash over 71 plate appearances. He’s a career .187/.247/.293 hitter across 101 games split between the Jays and Rockies.

The Arizona State product owns a .244/.325/.435 mark over parts of four seasons in Triple-A. Serven isn’t much of an offensive threat, though he has graded highly by public defensive metrics in 730 career innings. As a player with multiple career outright assignments, he has the ability to elect free agency. Even if he sticks in the Toronto organization for the last week of the season, he’ll be a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason. Serven’s defensive reputation should land him a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.

Blue Jays Claim Tyler Heineman, Designate Brian Serven

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The Blue Jays announced that they have claimed catcher Tyler Heineman off waivers from the Red Sox. Boston had designated him for assignment a few days ago. Catcher Brian Serven has been designated for assignment by the Jays in a corresponding move.

Heineman, 33, clearly has some fans in the Toronto front office as this is his third stint with the club. He signed a minor league deal with the Jays going into 2022 and added to the club’s roster early that year, though he went to the Pirates on waivers in May of that season. In April of 2023, the Bucs designated Heineman for assignment and flipped him to the Jays for utility player Vinny Capra. That stint lasted until December of last year, when the Jays put him on waivers and lost him to the Mets.

The Mets later designated Heineman for assignment in January and flipped him to the Red Sox for cash. Heineman has served as an up-and-down depth catcher for the Sox this year, but perhaps became expendable by Boston acquiring Danny Jansen to bolster their catching depth, the same deal that opened some playing time behind the plate in Toronto.

Heineman has bounced around quite a bit in his career, never securing more than part-time work. He has appeared in five big league seasons but has just 286 plate appearances in 106 games over those. He has a combined batting line of .216/.297/.280 for a wRC+ of 66.

That’s not amazing production but his defense tends to be strong. Each of Statcast and Baseball Prospectus have given him positive grades for his framing, blocking and throwing. FanGraphs also grades him as a plus framer and lists a tally of six Defensive Runs Saved in his career.

It’s also possible that there’s a bit more in his bat, based on his numbers on the farm. From 2019 to the present, he’s hit .279/.372/.432 in the minors for a 107 wRC+, walking 11.3% of the time and striking out in just 17% of his plate appearances. That includes 51 games for Triple-A Worcester this year with Heineman posting a 14.1% walk rate, 16.1% strikeout rate, .252/.379/.403 batting line and 111 wRC+.

Perhaps the Jays see a path to Heineman providing plus defense and at least some adequate offense in the majors. He will finish this season with less than three years of service time, meaning the Jays can theoretically control him for four more years if he carves out a role as backup to Alejandro Kirk. However, Heineman will be out of options next year and will therefore be harder to keep on the roster.

To make room for Heineman, the Jays are risking losing Serven. He has appeared in 28 games for the Jays this year, mostly after the aforementioned Jansen trade opened up playing time alongside Kirk. Serven’s defensive metrics are roughly league average for the most part, but he has struck out in 31% of his plate appearances, leading to a line of .159/.243/.222 and a 38 wRC+. When combined with his earlier time with the Rockies, he has now slashed .187/.247/.293 in 299 big league plate appearances for a 43 wRC+.

The Jays will put him on waivers in the coming days. It’s possible he could attract interest based on his minor league numbers. He has hit .243/.325/.435 for an 87 wRC+ dating back to 2021. That includes a .265/.390/.379 line and 111 wRC+ in 40 Triple-A games this year. He still has one option season remaining after this one and less than two years of service time.

Blue Jays Notes: Romano, Jansen, Serven, Manoah

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The Blue Jays concluded their season-opening 10-game road trip with an 8-3 loss today against the Yankees.  Starter Bowden Francis lasted three innings, pitching well in the first two frames but then surrendering a Giancarlo Stanton grand slam as part of a five-run inning for New York.  The Jays had their share of offensive chances but left 11 men on base and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.  Toronto’s .197 batting average with RISP is the third-lowest in baseball this season, as the Jays’ struggles at cashing in runners have seemingly continued (and even worsened) from 2023.

Some injury updates from the Blue Jays’ roster…

  • Jordan Romano is set to throw a live batting practice session on Monday, manager John Schneider told Sportnet’s Shi Davidi (X link) and other reporters.  The Jays closer started the season on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation but has steadily been ramping up his work and looks to be heading towards a rehab assignment.  The absences of Romano and Erik Swanson have left the bullpen short-handed, though Swanson could potentially be activated as early as Tuesday.
  • Schneider also provided an update on Danny Jansen, who is facing pitches from a high-velocity machine as he work his way back from a small fracture in his right wrist.  Jansen has yet to resume catching duties, though some consideration was given to the idea of Jansen catching a Single-A rehab outing today.
  • With Jansen out, Brian Serven has been acting as the Blue Jays’ backup catcher, though Serven had a bit of an injury scare himself in Saturday’s game with the Yankees.  As Davidi relates in another piece, X-rays were negative on Serven’s left hand after Anthony Volpe’s checked swing hit Serven’s glove on what appeared to be a third strike.  (Volpe was awarded first base on a catcher’s interference call, leading Schneider to describe the unusual play as “almost like a loophole” in the interference rules.)  Serven finished the game but said he couldn’t feel his left hand for the rest of the game.  Alejandro Kirk was behind the plate today as Serven didn’t play, but if Serven also has to miss time due to his hand issue, the Jays might to go further down the depth chart.  Isiah Kiner-Falefa is a former catcher could fill in as a backup in a pinch, and Payton Henry is catching at Triple-A but would need a spot created on the 40-man roster.
  • Alek Manoah began a rehab assignment with a start at Single-A Dunedin today, with some rough results.  As related by MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson, Manoah threw 58 pitches over 1 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) while also hitting a batter and issuing four walks.  Between this outing and a similarly shaky performance in his lone Spring Training performance, Manoah’s recovery from shoulder soreness is only part of the story as Manoah is still seemingly miles away from his pre-2023 form.  An All-Star and a burgeoning ace in 2022, Manoah stumbled badly during a 2023 season that saw him battle severe control issues, deal with some injuries, and spend a good chunk of the year in the minors.  It isn’t clear what the next step in Manoah’s rehab might be, as Matheson notes that today’s outing could delay the eventual plan to move Manoah’s rehab to Triple-A Buffalo.

Blue Jays Designate Yosver Zulueta For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contracts of catcher Brian Serven and designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach. They had previously opened one roster spot by trading Santiago Espinal to the Reds and opened another today by designating right-hander Yosver Zulueta for assignment. The moves for Serven and Vogelbach were previously reported.

Zulueta, 26, came up as a starter but significant control problems got him moved to the bullpen in recent years. The switch to a relief role didn’t help him rein in his stuff and now has contributed to bumping him off the roster entirely.

In 2022, he tossed 55 2/3 innings across four different levels with an earned run average of 3.72. He struck out 33.9% of batters faced that year but also gave out free passes at a 12.9% clip, starting 12 of his 21 appearances.

The Jays moved him more firmly into a relief role in 2023, as he started just seven of his 45 appearances at Triple-A. Even those seven starts were mostly two or three innings as an opener, leading to a tally of 64 innings on the year. He had a 4.08 ERA in that time while striking out 25.4% of batters faced and keeping 51.3% of balls in play on the ground, but also walked 15.7% of batters that came to the plate against him. Here in the spring, he tossed five innings, notching just two strikeouts but giving out four walks.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Zulueta or try to pass him through waivers. Despite his wildness, he has strikeout stuff and still has a couple of options remaining, which could make him appealing for a club with an open roster spot and a need for pitching depth. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Jays in a non-roster capacity.

Blue Jays To Select Brian Serven

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters today, including Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic, that catcher Brian Serven has made the team as the backup to Alejandro Kirk. Serven is not yet on the 40-man roster and will need to be added before the season begins next week.

Serven’s opportunity comes on the heels of catcher Danny Jansen suffering a wrist fracture earlier this month, leaving Kirk’s usual partner behind the plate ticketed for the injured list to open the season. Serven, who will celebrate his 29th birthday in May, has 73 games of big league experience under his belt since making his big league debut with the Rockies during the 2022 season. Since then, he’s hit just .195/.248/.314 in 228 plate appearances, all of which came during his time with Colorado.

While he posted quality framing numbers during his time in the majors, that wasn’t enough for the Rockies to keep him on the 40-man roster this offseason. He was designated for assignment by the club back in January and was promptly claimed off waivers by the Cubs, though he remained with Chicago for less than a week before he was once again DFA’d. This time, he was claimed by the Blue Jays, who were able to sneak him through waivers in late January, allowing them to keep him in the organization as non-roster depth headed into Spring Training.

That decision has now paid off, as Serven made the most of his opportunities this spring by clubbing three home runs while drawing walks at a 14.8% clip in his 27 trips to the plate across 12 spring games. While Spring Training numbers are of course rarely predictive of regular season performance, it’s possible Serven’s hot streak helped his case over fellow non-roster depth option Payton Henry, who appears set to begin the season at Triple-A Buffalo. While Serven has yet to hit much in the big leagues, his decent minor league numbers suggest that he could provide the level of offense associated with a major-league caliber backup behind the plate. He’s a career .240/.310/.418 hitter in the minors, including a .238/.305/.450 slash line in 134 career games at the Triple-A level.

Danny Jansen Diagnosed With Small Fracture In Right Wrist

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Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen has been diagnosed with a fracture of the pisiform bone in his right wrist, manager John Schneider revealed to reporters today (X links via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). He was hit by a pitch during the Jays’ Grapefruit League game earlier this week. The team currently expects him to miss a “couple weeks,” though he has a follow-up appointment today that could reveal more information.

That could point to a season-opening stint on the injured list, though the team has yet to specifically state as much. Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae tweets that the Jays will likely lean on non-roster catchers Payton Henry and Brian Serven to back up starting catcher Alejandro Kirk in the interim. If Jansen indeed opens the season on the injured list, Toronto will need to clear a 40-man roster spot to select the contract of either player.

It’s not an ideal start in what’ll be Jansen’s walk year before free agency. The soon-to-be 29-year-old backstop has been a steadily above-average offensive contributor — particularly relative to his position — over the past three seasons but routinely been hit with injuries along the way.

Since 2021, Jansen carries a stout .237/.317/.487 batting line with 43 home runs in 754 trips to the plate. He’s walked at a respectable 8.6% clip along the way, and his 19.9% strikeout rate is a few ticks lower than the league average. By measure of wRC+, Jansen’s been 21% better than an average hitter over the past three seasons. Considering the average catcher has been about 11-12% worse than average at the plate, Jansen’s contributions with the bat are all the more impressive.

From a defensive standpoint, Jansen is solid. He typically draws average or slightly better marks for his pitch framing at both FanGraphs and Statcast. He’s been a bit below average in terms of controlling the running game (career 22% caught-stealing rate), but Statcast rates Jansen (and Kirk, for that matter) as one of the game’s best at blocking balls in the dirt.

Both Henry and Serven joined the Jays organization in the offseason. The former inked a minor league deal after spending his career to date with the Brewers and Marlins. He hit .294/.341/.454 in 255 Triple-A games last season with the Brewers. He’s yet to make his MLB debut. Serven was a waiver claim who’s played his entire career in the Rockies organization. He appeared in 62 games with the 2022 Rockies and another 11 games last year, batting a combined .195/.248/.314 in 228 trips to the plate. In 534 career Triple-A plate appearances, he’s a .238/.305/.450 hitter.

Blue Jays Outright Brian Serven

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The Blue Jays announced this evening that catcher Brian Serven was outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo. Toronto hadn’t previously indicated that Serven had landed on waivers. They apparently quietly took him off the roster last week. That technically drops their 40-man count to 39, although Toronto has still yet to finalize the Yariel Rodríguez signing, which will put that back at capacity.

Toronto just grabbed Serven off waivers two weeks ago. He has bounced between a few teams this winter. A former fifth-round pick of the Rockies, he was designated for assignment by Colorado in early January. The Cubs placed a claim but DFA him within a week. Toronto pursued a similar strategy and will retain Serven after successfully slipping him through unclaimed.

The Arizona State product has played in 73 MLB games over the last two seasons. Working mostly as a backup catcher to Elías Díaz in Denver, he hit .195/.248/.314 over 228 plate appearances. Serven has logged 534 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He owns a .238/.305/.450 slash there, including a .199/.241/.331 mark in 38 games a year ago.

Serven posted above-average pitch framing numbers in his MLB work. He’ll stick with the Jays as a non-roster depth catcher who’ll very likely get an invitation to big league Spring Training. The Jays are down to Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk as their only catchers on the 40-man roster. Barring further acquisitions this offseason, Serven would have a good chance of being reselected to the MLB club if either Jansen or Kirk require any time on the injured list.

Blue Jays Claim Brian Serven Off Waivers From Cubs

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The Blue Jays announced that they have claimed catcher Brian Serven off waivers from the Cubs. The latter club designated him for assignment last week. Toronto’s 40-man roster is now full.

Serven, 29 in May, had spent his entire career with the Rockies until earlier this month. He was claimed off waivers by the Cubs a couple of weeks ago and now changes organizations once again. He had been serving as a depth catcher for Colorado, getting into 73 big league games over the past two seasons. He’s hit just .195/.248/.314 in his first 228 major league plate appearances, though that’s a small sample and he’s fared better at Triple-A. Over the past three years, he has slashed .238/.305/.450 at the top level of the minors.

On the gloveside, Serven has generally been given strong grades. He has five Defensive Runs Saved in his small sample of big league action while each of FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus have looked fondly upon his framing, with BP also liking his receiving in the minors.

The Jays have Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk set to be their catching duo in the big leagues, but they lost depth catcher Tyler Heineman off waivers earlier in the winter. This claim of Serven gives the club a third catcher who still has a pair of option years remaining. He should be able to take regular at-bats in Triple-A until an injury creates a need for him to join the big league club, assuming he hangs onto his 40-man roster spot through the rest of the offseason.

Cubs Designate Brian Serven For Assignment

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The Cubs announced they’ve designated catcher Brian Serven for assignment. The move clears the necessary opening on the 40-man roster for the two players acquired in this afternoon’s trade with the Dodgers: Michael Busch and Yency Almonte.

Serven is a newcomer to the Chicago organization in his own right. The Cubs claimed him off waivers from Colorado six days ago. They’ll now trade him or, more likely, put him back on waivers within the next week.

Until that claim, Serven had spent his whole career with the Rockies. Colorado selected him in the fifth round of the 2016 draft out of Arizona State. He reached the majors six years later and worked as their backup catcher for a good portion of the ’22 campaign. The right-handed hitter posted a .203/.261/.332 batting line over 62 contests as a rookie.

Colorado went with a catching tandem of Elias Díaz and Austin Wynns for the bulk of last season. Serven only appeared at the MLB level 11 times. He got into 38 contests with their Triple-A team in Albuquerque. Despite an extremely favorable environment for hitters, he managed only a .199/.241/.331 slash over 162 plate appearances.

Serven had turned in better offensive results earlier in his minor league career. He’s a .240/.310/.418 hitter in a little under 1500 minor league plate appearances. That’s still fairly tepid work at the dish, but the Cubs placed a claim a week ago on the strength of his defensive reputation. Serven received solid marks for his pitch framing in 2022 and has strong caught stealing numbers throughout his minor league tenure.

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